Owls and frogs serenaded her as if they wanted her to let go of the past, let go of the stress, let go of the broken dreams. But she couldn’t get Griffin off of her mind. He had burst into her life this morning like the sun, a bright light that mesmerized her.
She found the pair of night vision binoculars her father had given her at the same time he had given her his Jeep, then went to her kitchen window where she had a clear view of the side of his house.
He stood at the kitchen sink with a white tea towel over his right shoulder, scrubbing dishes. His plaid sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. His muscled forearms were spotted with clusters of soap bubbles. He hand washed their plates and wine glasses, as well as a rectangular glass baking dish. She bit half of her lower lip.
There was a strength to him. A force. The authentic kind that came from navigating hardship. From surviving. Overcoming.
Griffin…she meditated on his name. He sipped a glass of wine and stared toward the lake.
Goodness, she thought. That was the only way she knew to describe the quality she saw in him.
Goodness.
10
The knock came early.
Adrenaline skittered through Barbara’s chest and down her arms. She popped up from the floor where she had been stretching into various yoga poses. She grabbed her gun from the coffee table, then peeked through the dining room curtains. An older woman with short and stylish white hair stood on the front door step with a bouquet of flowers.
She knocked a third time. “Yoo-hoo! Barbara? It’s Lillian from the rental office. Your sister-in-law Kris sent me.”
Barbara slid the gun into the back waistband of her yoga pants and opened the door.
“Hey, hon. I’m Lillian.” She handed Barbara the flowers and offered a genuine smile. “Welcome to your home away from home. I usually stop by on the first day a new renter arrives, but I couldn’t make it yesterday. The end of summer is bringing everyone into my spa to get their skin back in shape. Do you have everything you need, sweetheart? Plenty of fresh towels? Hot water heater working okay?” She craned her neck around Barbara and tried to see inside the house.
“Yes, ma’am. Everything’s fine.” The woman on her doorstep bore a slight resemblance to her mother—the gracious smile, the sparkling blue eyes, perfectly smooth skin. Her beaded turquoise necklace hugged the neckline of her floral print dress. Her entire appearance was put together to be soft and welcoming.
“Here’s an extra key for you. You know, just in case.” She pressed the key into Barbara’s hand and patted it in a motherly sort of way. “And here’s my business card. Call me anytime.”
“Oh, thank—"
“Now Kris tells me that you work in a spa, facials and that sort of thing.”
“Yes. Facials, lasers, waxing, no injections.” Barbara suddenly realized how much she missed the morning routine of her work—getting out of the house, greeting clients, hearing about their lives.
“Oh, honey. Listen. I don’t know if you’re looking for some part time work while you’re here, but I could really use some help. If you're interested. I’ll pay you half of what I charge for the service. You just let me know.”
Barbara gave it a moment’s thought. Lillian seemed awfully nice, and it would be good for her to have something to look forward to during the day. Lillian...Lillian... She got a bright, warm feeling when she thought of her name. It was the kind of well-mothered sensation she felt whenever her own mother had served her freshly baked cookies.
“Okay. Maybe I could I stop by and see everything?”
“Of course. Now I don’t have all the latest lasers like what you’re probably used to. My equipment is a little older—my clients like a good galvanic facial. But I think it’s better than what they have out there these days. I have a very loyal client following, so I can keep you as busy as you’d like. Do you want to come by later today? I have clients all day, starting in about an hour.” Lillian looked at her silver watch. “But I could take a break around four and show you around then. Sound good?”
“That would be great.”
“The salon address is on the card. I’ll see you then.” She walked down the front steps and waved. “Remember to call if you need anything. And, oh.” She walked back to the front door, placed her hand next to her mouth as if she had a secret to share. “Have you met Griffin from next door?”
“Yesterday, yes, ma'am.”
“Oh, my.” She fanned herself. “He works at the college, and he’s an archeologist. He’s our very own Indiana Jones.” She winked and pointed to his house, as if Barbara should make a move in that direction and fast.
Barbara waved to Lillian as she pulled out of the driveway. She went back inside and put the spare key on the Star of David keychain. She thought to read Griffin’s name again, to see if he was really going to move to Greece. She realized she was doubting the information she had already gotten. Not being able to read David clearly left her that way, and she wondered if she would ever get back to fully trusting her impressions again.
She watched Griffin walk from his backyard down to the wooden pier. Once there he stretched tall, then tilted his head back, extended his arms wide and faced the lake. A pose of gratitude, she thought. When he pulled his gray t-shirt over his head, she caught herself staring at his physique. Her face flushed warm and she brought a hand to the side of her face.
As if someone had tapped him on the shoulder, Griffin turned and faced her. She took a half step back even though she didn’t think he could see her from his distance. But a smile widened on his face that told her differently. He gestured twice for her to come out and join him.
He faced her house with his hands resting on his hips, seemed to wait for a response for her. Sunlight played on the water that stretched ahead of him, like tiny golden angels dancing on the choppy water.
She looked at the key in her hand and ran her thumb over the Star of David keychain. She tossed it on the couch and stepped onto the deck.
“Mornin’!’” he called and walked toward her.
She waved and leaned on the railing, felt her happiness blossoming into a smile. He was leaving, she cautioned herself. And her life was too complicated at the moment. There was no way they could work out a relationship. But her heart ignored that fact. She was just happy to see him.
When he was just below the deck, he paused, his smile steady and honest. As if there was no hiding the fact that he was happy to see her, too.
“Thank you for dinner last night. You’re quite the chef.”
“You’re very welcome.” He bowed slightly, standing shirtless and tanned with a mystical quality to his gray eyes.
Like reaching for a security blanket, she couldn’t resist the temptation and she tumbled his name over in her mind. She looked again at the different elements of his personality, as if she touched the different curves of a polished stone. She gasped at his sense of fun that was brave and wild—a sharp contrast to the life she had been living for the past year and a half.
“It was perfect, actually. Reminded me of a favorite restaurant of mine back home.”
His smile broadened another inch, and his gray eyes blazed, as if his need for adventure were about to overflow. “What are you doing this morning?”
She shrugged. “No plans, yet.”
“How about a hike and a swim?”
The idea of spending the morning outside with Griffin pulled her lips into a smile. He described the trail he was going to take, how part of it went by a double waterfall. When they made plans to meet out front, she realized she felt lighter than she had in a while. As if some sort of tether had just fallen away.
She remembered how she had seen that Elias wasn’t looking for her anymore. Maybe he finally realized she didn’t have the diamonds. Maybe he had given up on her.
Once inside she took a picture of the key she’d found in the safe deposit box and emailed it to her father and Detective Boone.
After she washed her face and pulled her hair into a ponytail, she found both pieces of her red bikini. She looked at herself in the long mirror and liked what she saw. She threw on shorts and a t-shirt and thought about how it had been so long since she had done something like this with a man. Just a simple outing with someone who was interested in her.
She took the rental house key from the couch cushions. When she turned to lock the door, she caught sight of the gun she had left on the coffee table. She grabbed it and shoved it into her purse.
11
When they returned from their hike, she joined him on his boat dock. He removed his t-shirt and his physique made her catch her breath. Tanned and firm, she didn’t remember any of her college professors looking like that.
“You know rumor has it that this lake was used as a baptismal for that church I showed you yesterday. One jump and the past is washed clean.”
“Has it worked for you?” She slipped out of her t-shirt and shorts and adjusted her bikini top.
“Every day.” His smile lit something in her heart that fluttered and kicked. It made her think of the fun, easy days of her teenaged years, when she had her whole life ahead of her.
When she turned, he lifted his head with a jerk, as if he had been enjoying a long, slow look. She grinned at his guilty-as-charged expression.
He jumped in first, popping up a moment later and flipping his wet hair to the side.
She dove in next to him, the too-cool water hitting every nerve ending like a bucket of ice. “Oh!” she gasped.
His laugh echoed across the lake, bouncing off the mountains as if this were their own private world.
“Thanks for the warning.” She cupped her hand and squirted a stream of water at his face.
“It’s invigorating!”
They swam to the end of the channel and turned back before it opened into the wider body of water. Then Griffin flipped onto his back and gave her a perfect half-moon grin, one that was contagious and ignited her spirit of fun.
“Race?” she said and broke into a fast crawl.
She felt the current from his strokes close to her legs and she knew that she was slightly ahead. Remembering her swim race days from her youth, she powered toward the pier at top speed, focusing on form and timing. When she slapped the top of the pier she lifted her head just in time to see Griffin a half beat behind her.
“So close!” He was out of breath, his smile broadcasting enough electricity to fuel the town for a week.
She lifted herself onto the deck, enjoying the feel that the work gave her muscles.
“You must have been a champion swimmer when you were younger,” he said.
“My room at home is still full of medals and trophies. My dad can’t bear to throw any of them out.”
“At least I feel a little better about myself now.” He laughed and lifted one of the seat cushions on the boat and threw her a towel. He took one for himself and slung it around his neck.
She dried her arms and legs and sat in the sun to dry out before heading inside.
He sat down beside her, leaned onto his hands, looking like a model from a Ralph Lauren ad. “The sunrise is tremendous. Comes up right over that mountain there.”
“I saw it,” she said. “I’m a morning person.”
His smile was soft. “Me, too.”
In the quiet moment between them, his magnetic stare returned. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do since we first met.” He slid his hand to the back of her neck and settled his mouth on hers. Soft, slow, gentle.
With all the things that had gone wrong in her life, she was suddenly aware that he wasn’t one of them. She inhaled the scent of his skin—a mixture of cedar and spice.
His tongue swept her mouth and her desire blazed. The grief and unbearable sadness, the chaos of stolen diamonds and gunpoint threats seemed miraculously far away. She wanted to live again. She pressed her hand to his bare chest, his curves solid beneath her touch. He sighed when her fingers trailed over the tight ripples of his abdomen, one, then the next. His voice was low and its timbre hit a special chord inside of her, a part of herself that used to embrace the future.
He pulled back, ran his thumb over her cheek. “I don’t know how to make this work now that I’m leaving.”
“I don’t either,” she said.
They stood and he took her hand.
“Barbara—”
She turned to face him and a movement behind Griffin caught her eye. She looked at her rental house that stood on the hill behind Griffin. Panic hit her heart with a hard thump.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I just saw a man watching us. From inside my house.”
12
She grabbed the gun from her purse and ran up the wooden steps toward the house.
“Barb!” Griffin yelled behind her. “Barbara!”
She sprinted ahead. Even at a distance she recognized the man who had stood in the window. It was Elias.
Seeing him lit a fire of rage inside of her. She was tired of suffering. Tired of crying. Tired of hiding. She wasn’t going to allow this man to continue to ruin her life.
She ran to the front of the house and found the door unlocked. With her gun drawn and aimed straight ahead, she stepped inside the house.
“Barbara!” Griffin grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the porch and out of the doorway. “Don’t go in there! I’ve called 911, they’re on their way.”
“That man killed my husband, and he’s threatened to kill me. He ruined my life once, I’m not going to let him do it again,” she whispered.
“What? What are you talking about?” He grabbed her arm and bent low, tried to move her off of the front step.
Shots fired and Griffin spun backward, falling to the ground.
Barbara looked up in time to see the man moving out of the hallway and into her bedroom. She aimed and fired twice, hitting her target each time.
After he fell, his black tennis shoes stayed toes down in the hallway. The rest of his body had fallen into her bedroom. She fired another shot into his leg, to make sure he wouldn't get up and run. As she’d hoped, he didn’t move. He didn’t even cry out.
She turned and found Griffin standing, blood draining down his arm and over his hand. She ran to him. “Are you okay?”
Sirens screamed and a man yelled, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!” She turned to find a park ranger near the bottom of the drive, pointing his gun at her.
“She’s with me, Kurt! Don’t shoot!” Griffin yelled.
She glanced back at the man on the floor, the man she thought was Elias. One final check to make sure he wasn’t moving. A pool of blood spread to the side of his leg.
She raised her hands, one of them holding her own gun. She hooked her finger into the trigger guard so that the gun hung loose, making it clear that she wasn’t going to fire.
“I’ve killed an intruder.” Her father had always told her that if she ever shot someone, that cops needed to know that she felt her life was in danger. They needed to know that right away.
“Good God, Griffin. What happened, son?” The park ranger kept his gun drawn.
“There’s a guy inside,” Griffin said. “We were coming back from the lake and he started shooting as soon as he saw us.
Kurt reached the porch and he took Barbara’s gun.
“Let me see,” she said to Griffin.
He removed his hand where the bullet had hit him.
“It looks like it just caught the edge of your arm. Damn it, I was afraid that something like this was going to happen.” She helped him to the ground again, his face pale. “Here, sit down.”
“I’m okay,” he said, breathing hard. “I’m alright. What about the guy inside?”
“He’s dead. I killed him. It’s over. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” When she said the words she wasn’t sure if she was referring to Griffin, herself, or David. Maybe all three. The bastard wasn’t going to hur
t anyone anymore.
“He’s dead alright,” Kurt said from the doorway. “You hit him once in the chest, once in the abdomen. You a trained shot?”
She nodded. “My dad’s a retired cop.”
Kurt looked toward the sound of the sirens. Four police cars and an ambulance wound along the dirt road, lights flashing.
“I want to see him,” she said.
“It’s a bloody mess in there,” Kurt said.
The idea of seeing a dead man in the home where she had been staying made her chest tighten. But she wanted to see for herself that the man who had killed her husband, the one who threatened her, was indeed dead. “I can handle it.”
“Suit yourself.” He gestured for her to come into the house. His lips flattened as if this were against his better judgment.
She saw that her clothes had been tossed around the room, the lining in her suitcase had been cut. She knew Elias had been looking for the diamonds.
He had fallen on his stomach, his head turned to the side. She bent low and studied his face to get a good look. Aside from the picture that Detective Boone had sent, she had never seen his full face. But even if she hadn’t seen the photo, she knew this man was him. The cold brown eyes were dead on.
"Do you know him?" Kurt asked.
Barbara shook her head. There was no sense in going into the long, sordid story. It was over. She headed toward the front lawn to see Griffin.
“Do you always carry a gun with you like that?” Kurt called after her.
“Usually,” she said. “Carry permit is in the car if you need to see it.”
Kurt shrugged as if that wouldn’t be necessary, and she left the house.
She walked quickly toward the other end of the lawn where the EMTs sat with Griffin in the ambulance. One EMT was taking his blood pressure, the other was inspecting his wound. She thanked her lucky stars that he hadn't been killed.
Now that Elias was dead, that part of her past would drift into her history. The horrible ordeal was over. Without someone chasing her, she thought she and Griffin could spend some stress-free time together. Maybe she would be able to work out a short trip to Greece to visit him.
Chasing Secrets Page 7