The woman who sat at the end of the table was Councilwoman Regina Joralli. She’d been in politics for a while, and Kelly recognized her from when she had lived there in her previous life. Stan was right beside her.
Kelly knew he had aspirations to replace Regina as council president. Or at least he had before. He was so egotistical that Kelly figured the only way that might have changed was if he decided to run for mayor.
Unless, of course, he was concentrating only on raking in bribe money—and hiding her sister’s murder while abusing their son. But with an ego like his, Kelly figured he still wanted it all.
Despite the fact that every seat around the table was filled, it was still twenty minutes before the time Kelly had been told that the session was officially scheduled to begin. Lunch apparently came first. The room was abuzz with conversation as Kelly joined her colleagues from the restaurant and helped to lay out the food on a compact table at the end of the room, turning it into a buffet. She assisted in making it look decorative yet practical, where the council members could pick up tasty sandwiches, small salads and cookies, as well as soft drinks.
“I think we’re all set here,” Ella eventually told Regina Joralli. “Anything else you need?”
“It all looks good,” the council president said. “Thanks.”
That was their cue to leave, Kelly knew. Which was fine. She remained invisible here to Stan as one among many lowly servers he could flirt with, but being inside this room any longer wouldn’t get her any of the information she sought.
She followed the others out the door. They all turned left toward the elevators.
Kelly didn’t want to leave the building just yet, though. Instead, she glanced at the placards of each council member’s name on the wall near the offices. She knew she couldn’t just drop into Stan Grodon’s and find whatever she needed—particularly since she knew that security was present on this floor, although she didn’t see Alan or his buddy Dodd just then. She did, however, see a few cameras mounted near the tops of the walls.
Even so, she could get the lay of the land.
“Excuse me, Ella,” she said, hurrying to catch up with her boss. “I’m going to find the restroom here. I’ll be back at the restaurant soon.”
Ella’s cool eyes scanned her. “You feeling okay?”
Obviously she’d send Kelly home if she was sick with anything she could pass along.
“Fine.” Kelly smiled what she hoped was an embarrassed smile. “I just drank a little too much coffee this morning.”
“Okay. Fine. See you later.” They’d reached the elevators, and the door to one opened as soon as Ella pressed the button—an indication of the woman’s lot in life, Kelly figured. Everything seemed to work out well for her.
Well, it would for Kelly, too—as soon as she was able to find her nephew and help him. He’d be in classes now, and she didn’t want to appear obvious by hanging around his school. She had to figure out a good way to see him. Talk to him.
But while she figured that out, she also wanted to devise a plan to get the right evidence against Stan. No one, not even her thug of a brother-in-law, would suspect that was what Kelly Ladd was up to—unlike Shereen Alsop.
Well, there was one possible exception to that: Alan.
For now, she figured she had better do as she’d told Ella and start at the restroom before conducting any further exploration of this floor. When she came out, she could scout to see who else was around. She had been here before, when she’d been Shereen, and had accompanied Andi on scheduled visits now and then, sometimes even to see Stan. But more than a year had passed. The council members could be in different offices now.
Maybe she could become close friends with someone who worked here—someone who could get her into Stan’s.
But what she’d done before hadn’t gotten her anything useful. And neither would being in here.
Instead, she was feeling rather desperate to plan her next move: figure out how to see Eli and check in person how he was doing...and get him out of here if all was as bad as she thought, assuming his posts on social media reflected his reality.
She had come up with that other identity there so she could at least watch him remotely, even if she couldn’t communicate with him. His sorrow at his mother’s disappearance, and then his aunt’s, had been overtaken by his apparent desperation and fear. That was why she had come. It had been an impulse. It had been a necessity.
She nearly reached the restroom—and stopped. The men’s room door had opened. Kelly thought she must be hallucinating.
Because the first person to walk through that door into the hallway was Alan.
And he was followed by her nephew, Eli.
Chapter 3
Kelly wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. Mostly, she wanted to dash over and throw her arms around her nephew.
No, Shereen’s nephew. That’s what she had to remember.
Realizing that she had stopped walking, she started forward again. Another boy exited the men’s room and caught up with Eli. He bent his head toward Eli, who was about the same height, maybe five feet, and the two of them laughed. They passed her, and Eli, busy talking to his friend, didn’t even look at her.
That was a good thing. Not that he was likely to recognize her, with the way her appearance had been changed—including her posture, gestures and nearly everything about her. Externally, at least.
The hardest part was that she forced herself not to look at him any longer, except for allowing herself to glance at him peripherally down the hall while she strolled by.
Was that a bruise on his cheek? She wanted so much to turn and stare at his sweet young face and check it out.
But she couldn’t. Not here, and not now.
“Hi, Kelly.” It was Alan, and his voice startled her. He had stopped walking and let the kids pass by him.
“Er, hi.” She cocked her head a little and forced herself to send him a flirtatious grin. “Keeping an eye on things everywhere, aren’t you? I’m just hitting the ladies’ room before I head back to the restaurant.” She hurried past him and entered the restroom.
Fortunately it was empty, since she was suddenly breathing hard, her eyes closed, her mind swirling.
She had bumped into hurdle number three without anticipating or planning for it. She had seen Eli. But where could she go from here?
She needed to talk to him. Find out what was really going on with him. Was his father abusing him, as he’d hinted on that social media site? She was sure it had to be true. Eli had always been such a straightforward child.
And that red spot on his face. Was that proof, or her imagination, or just a harmless bruise that kids sometimes got when roughhousing with friends?
She knew where he lived, of course—assuming they hadn’t moved. Even so, he must live with his father. With Stan. And that meant Kelly couldn’t just walk up to their door, ring the bell and invite herself in for a chat.
He was thirteen years old now. She knew he still went to the same school, since Eli mentioned it online. But since she couldn’t start stalking him there, either, she had decided to begin by observing Stan first, someplace where she wouldn’t be particularly noticed. Someplace where a plan was sure to come to her.
Only now that she had seen not only Stan but Eli, too, she was stumped. And frustrated. And scared, and angry, and so many more emotions that she couldn’t put names to.
She had been so close to her sister. Had loved Andi so much. She missed her terribly.
Andi had to be dead, or she would have been in touch. And Kelly’s determination to save Eli was one way of demonstrating her love—and her despair at no longer having her sister around.
Kelly looked into the mirror above the sink, over her shoulder, as if her sister might suddenly appear there. “I’ll take care of him now, Andi,” she whispered aloud. “I promise.”
The restroom door started to open. Kelly fled into one of the stalls and locked the door, then waited until she heard the
other woman leave again before she flushed, washed her hands and exited the bathroom. By then, she had calmed herself a bit.
She had realized one thing, at least. Eli had been talking to Alan when she’d first noticed them. They seemed friendly enough with each other. Did they know each other, or were they just being cordial here, in the plaza?
She had to find that out. She also needed to learn why Eli was there, on an afternoon when his father wasn’t available to meet with him because of the lunchtime council session.
As she walked slowly back down the hall, past the closed office doors, she heard nothing from the one with Stan’s name on the wall plaque outside it. If Eli had come to visit or spend time in his dad’s office, he was being quiet. Those were probably Stan’s instructions to him. He’d never liked interruptions to his work, especially from his family.
From not only Eli, but his wife, Andi, too.
Kelly gritted her teeth but forced her thoughts off her missing—dead—sister. She was here for Eli.
A couple of offices down, she thought she heard a muffled voice. It was probably a secretary talking on the phone.
As she neared the far end of the hallway where the elevators were, she noticed that one door was ajar—Councilwoman Susan Arviss’s office, according to the plaque on the outer wall. She was new, hadn’t been a council member when Shereen had left town. Her office was one of the farthest from Council President Regina Joralli’s.
Kelly heard giggles emanating from inside—like two young boys having a good time?
Would a total stranger, with no hidden agenda, peek inside while walking by? Maybe. She’d play it that way.
Or...no. She had a reason to peek inside. She’d already flirted a bit with Alan. He would be her excuse for checking out that office, even if he wasn’t there. But he’d been chatting with Eli before, when they’d both come out of the men’s room.
Suddenly, the bleak, bland government office hallway seemed to warm a bit.
Kelly stopped outside the partly open door and smiled slightly. It was a smile that she had practiced before, in front of mirrors, to ensure it looked different from Shereen’s smile.
The two boys sat at the secretary’s desk. Their attention seemed fully captured by what they were doing. It appeared that they were stuffing envelopes.
Kelly just watched for a moment. Then she saw a movement near her, to the side of the door. She startled, swallowed a gasp—then intentionally broadened her smile. It was Alan.
“Well, here you are.” She tried to sound as if she’d been searching for him. “I wondered if I should call someone in security since this door was open.”
“No need. I’m right here, and all’s well.”
“It certainly is.”
Was that too much flirtation? At least it gave her a reason for being here. It wasn’t difficult at all to continue looking at Alan that way. She still thought that, at another time, under other circumstances, she would have had fun flirting with a guy as hot as him.
Now, though, it was only a ruse. Too bad.
She noticed then that both boys had stopped what they were doing. She drew her gaze away from Alan’s inquisitive brown eyes as if it were almost painful to do so and looked toward the desk.
“What have we here?” she asked in a friendly manner. “I don’t think these young gentlemen are city council members, are they? Or maybe they’re office staff, although if so, Councilwoman Arviss must have robbed schools to hire them.”
Both boys laughed. “She’s my mom,” said the one Kelly hadn’t met before. “She lets us do stuff here like get things ready to mail for her. We’re like interns, and we get school credit for it.”
“Wow,” Kelly said. “Sounds like fun, and you get credit? Now I know why you’re here.”
She kept her eyes on the Arviss boy, not quite looking into Eli’s face. He wasn’t generally shy, but nor was he particularly outspoken. Still, she wished he would say something.
When he remained quiet, Kelly looked toward Alan. “And you? Do you get any credit for getting things ready to mail for the councilwoman?”
Both boys appeared to find that especially funny and laughed again, louder this time.
“I only gather points here that I hope to turn in someday to my credit if I somehow run afoul of city council,” Alan said, his expression serious, but only for a moment. Then he smiled, too.
“So what kinds of things do you help the councilwoman mail?” Kelly’s gaze returned first to Arviss’s son, then turned briefly on to Eli.
“She says it fosters good relationships with her constituents to send them friendly snail mail letters sometimes that say what’s going on in the city and what new stuff she’s proposing while she’s in office.”
That was Eli! Kelly was thrilled. He sounded like her smart nephew, and it was again all she could do just to stand there and treat him like a young stranger.
Plus, her heart was pounding. Up close and personal like this, would he recognize her? Sure, she looked different. Sounded different. But still...
Fortunately, he just glanced at her without staring too hard.
“Very interesting,” she said, relaxing just a little. She wanted to ask why Eli volunteered here and not for his father, although as Kelly, she wouldn’t know that he, too, was a council member’s son. Besides, she already knew the answer.
Maybe Councilwoman Arviss would encourage kids to come in and help her for school credit, but Councilman Stan Grodon would not—even if one of those kids happened to be his own son.
The kids just looked at her expectantly now, as if they assumed she’d say something else. But as much as she wanted to say—and do—now wasn’t the time.
Reluctantly, she only said, “Well, have fun.” She turned back toward Alan, who was still watching her. “You, too. Maybe I’ll see you again at the restaurant sometime.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said, causing an unanticipated current of heat to flow through her, as if he were suggesting that they do a lot more than just say hi to each other if he came to the Haven to eat.
Kelly made herself leave then in a hurry, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder and waving.
She felt confused. And needy. She had to figure out a way to talk to Eli.
And to avoid talking too much to Alan.
* * *
Alan had an idea what that had been about. A good idea. He didn’t like it. Although...
Oh, he was more than pleased to see Kelly again so soon. And to have her flirt with him again? Under other circumstances, if he weren’t on duty, he’d not only have flirted back, but would have done his utmost to make sure they scheduled a date that night for dinner, drinks...and, if possible, a lot more.
But Alan’s instincts were screaming out that he needed to talk with her, ensure she didn’t ruin things. And he always trusted his instincts.
Which was why he left Councilwoman Arviss’s office briefly to watch Kelly sashay down the hall, still wearing that skimpy waitress’s outfit. Oh, yeah, he enjoyed that view, with her appealing, compact behind flowing gently from side to side.
He saw the elevator door open, and she disappeared inside. Probably a good thing, he told himself. She was most likely going back to her restaurant and wouldn’t cause any trouble, for now at least.
He returned to where the boys were stuffing those envelopes. He wasn’t sure what their schedule was, but while talking with them briefly before, he’d figured that at least one of their study halls, when they could come here and do their volunteer work for credit, was around lunchtime on Thursdays. He had seen them last week at about the same time, and once in between.
He figured a little friendliness by a security staff member wouldn’t look too out of place here by the folks in charge, especially since that was the way they were treated, too.
And eavesdropping on young Eli Grodon just might lead to some information he could follow up on for his real assignment—although it hadn’t yet.
“Hey, Alan,” Cal A
rviss said when Alan was once more standing just inside the room. “Do you know when that big meeting will be over? We need to go back to school in a few minutes, and I want to say bye to my mom.”
“Sorry,” Alan responded. “I got the impression this one could be a long one. Want me to check?”
“Yes, please.”
Alan left the two kids alone for a short while to go into the conference room. He entered the room cautiously, nodding toward Dodd, who had remained there to provide continuous security.
It appeared that the council members—and Dodd—were mostly still nibbling on their lunches and pontificating about how important the road widening under discussion could be to the town. Or not, since there were also opposing council members.
From what he gathered during his quick observation, it appeared that both Stan Grodon and Susan Arviss were in favor of approving the widening proposal, and Council President Joralli was against it for budget reasons.
Nothing indicated a quick end to the meeting. And Alan had no doubt that the kids would be unwelcome here.
He nodded again toward his colleague and left to report to the young men that their parents were still involved in their council session. Cal looked disappointed.
But Eli appeared relieved.
Alan walked them both down the hall, into the elevator, then out of the building. Other security staff members, as well as uniformed members of the Blue Haven PD, were on patrol outside the large plaza building, in the parking lot and around the busy street outside, and the school wasn’t far away. Alan figured the kids would get back just fine.
Besides, the greatest threat to Eli, as far as Alan could tell, remained upstairs in the council meeting.
He needed to return there soon to coordinate with Dodd—but no one would pay attention to him if he took a short break now. He liked to check in with his real employer, the Covert Investigations Unit of the ID Division, as frequently as possible. He’d done so this morning, before reporting to work. He often contacted them in the middle of his workday to make sure there wasn’t anything extra they wanted him to do while the city council members were most easily accessible.
Covert Alliance Page 3