Covert Alliance (20 page)

“You’re welcome.” He bent down, and their lips met in a short but heated kiss. When he pulled back, he said, “We can talk about this more. I want to hear your thoughts. Let’s grab dinner, then go to your place.”

The idea of that nearly made Kelly smile despite her mixed feelings. But she didn’t respond immediately, mulling the idea over for a moment. The idea of getting together with him for another evening—another night—sounded wonderful. It also sounded wrong.

She didn’t want him to see the horribly confused and upset fool she suddenly was inside. Or maybe he had seen it—she hadn’t really been hiding it well—and that was the reason for his suggestion.

“Let’s do dinner,” she finally agreed. “I think I need to be alone later tonight, though.”

She wondered if he would try to convince her otherwise.

* * *

Alan suggested Juan’s, a popular Mexican restaurant that wasn’t far from the Haven. Kelly seemed fine with it, and she drove them there.

One good thing about the place was that its walls and outer windows were lined with booths with high backs, so there was a feeling of at least a little privacy when they were seated.

“Margarita?” Alan immediately asked Kelly, sitting on the wooden bench across from her. He intended to have one.

“Strawberry,” she said with a nod.

As at the Haven, the women servers all wore the same outfits, but here it was loose knee-length skirts in different colors, and white blouses with colorful embroidery around the neckline. After their margaritas were served, Kelly ordered a taco salad and Alan asked for a beef burrito.

Then they were alone together.

“I’d been planning on calling you later anyway,” he said, “and not just so we could make a date and be seen together.”

“Really? I thought that was the whole purpose of our getting together.” Her smile looked sad, perhaps as though she actually believed that—despite what they had done in no one else’s presence.

He had an urge to slip off his bench, move onto hers and hold her closely to him.

But the timing didn’t feel right.

“Only part of it,” he said without moving. But before he could give her the small bit of information he had, their server came over with some tortilla chips and salsa, placing them on the table.

“Enjoy,” she said.

“Thanks,” Kelly said with a big smile. Of course she would be more than polite to a server at another restaurant.

She took a chip and dipped it into the salsa, then took a bite. “Good. Spicy but not overly so.”

Keeping things impersonal and far from their common goal might be fine most of the time, but under the circumstances Alan believed that they really needed to talk, to trade information.

He nevertheless grabbed a couple of chips and dipped them, too.

Then he said, “When I saw Paul Tirths and Stan today, my first instinct was to follow them, but even though I was leaving the plaza I was still too far from my car. Now I know where they were heading. But I want to learn why.” He watched the expression on Kelly’s lovely face as he spoke.

She looked as if she wanted to say something, although she didn’t at first. She reached for her margarita and took a sip. “Me, too,” she finally said. And then, her eyes wide and sorrowful, she asked, “How are we going to do this, Alan?
Are
we going to do this?” She glanced around as if sure people were listening in.

“We are,” he assured her. “But this isn’t the time or place to figure it out. However—” He paused, and she regarded him expectantly. “Stan told me about a big afternoon party the council is planning for its members and apparently some townsfolk, too. I suspect both our targets will be there, and they’ll be needing some security. Now that Paul is back, I’m going to get to know him, put into effect the plan I’d been devising when he disappeared. We’re going to become great friends.”

“Really?” Her smile this time was bright but skeptical.

“Oh, he’ll think so. Even if he doesn’t, I’ll get him to reveal all by talking to me about Andi—and also the attempts on Shereen’s life. I can probably get him immunity but only if he helps.”

“That is so great!”

Alan couldn’t help feeling proud that he’d caused Kelly to smile. She believed in him. Or at least she wanted to.

Now all he had to do was deliver.

Could he?

Judge Treena would undoubtedly help with the immunity angle, at least.

As Alan took a healthy swig of his margarita, their server returned with their meals. For the rest of their dinner, they talked mostly about their lives there, nothing relating to what they were really up to. Kelly seemed to relax, even tease him a bit with her sexy expressions at times, and allusions to their seeing each other in different ways, too.

When they were finished, Kelly tried to pay the bill. “It’s my turn,” she said.

“But I’m on an expense account for anything relating to my assignment, so it’s always my turn.” Plus, he knew he earned more than she did. And he hadn’t footed the expense of moving here.

They soon left the restaurant. Alan regretted that they weren’t spending more time together that night, but he wouldn’t push Kelly.

After they were in her car so she could drive him back to the plaza to get his own vehicle, she turned to look at him.

“It might be a dumb idea, but I thought earlier, before I saw Stan and the others, that I’d drive by Stan’s house, just pretend I was sightseeing around the area if anyone spotted me. I’d like to do it now, with you along, if that’s okay.”

“Sure it is,” he said. “And it’s not a dumb idea. I’ve been by there, but you can give me more information about the location that I may be able to use. Let’s go.”

Chapter 17

T
he drive to, and through, the lovely residential neighborhood about two miles from downtown was familiar to Kelly.

Boy, was it.

She had lived nearby, too, in an area closer to the school where she—Shereen—had been a fourth-grade teacher. But she had visited Andi, her husband and her son often at their much more affluent home.

She had wanted, intended, to come by here from the moment she set foot back in town, but she had been afraid to.

She wasn’t afraid of Stan or of being seen here, but of what her emotions would do.

That was a major reason she had invited Alan to join her. He was an outsider to the situation as well as someone on her side, someone she could rely on.

A rock, when she was having a hard time controlling her emotions.

“So you lived in this neighborhood, too?” Alan peered out the windshield toward the nearest of the large homes. It had white stucco walls and multiple archways beneath its peaked roof, as did others along this street, although their exterior colors varied.

Andi’s, Stan’s and Eli’s—no, just Stan’s and Eli’s now—was an attractive beige, just one block away now, on Guilder Street.

“On its fringes,” she told Alan. “My salary as a teacher certainly beat what I’m getting now, but it didn’t compare with a city councilman and real estate agent combined.” She paused, then added, “Not to mention the additional income I’m fairly sure Stan receives from bribes and other under-the-table deals.”

She hadn’t visited the area of her former apartment, not even to drive by and check it out. She’d been nearly run over there—more than once.

She had no interest in seeing it again.

The roads here were fairly straight, wide enough for two-way traffic and for people to park at the curbs. The sidewalks were lined with trees, mostly pines.

Oh, yes, this area was delightful. Or at least that was the way she had once regarded it.

She reached the block where Stan and Eli still lived. She had checked a public records website, and fortunately the information was there. The trees still stood like tall sentries.

Kelly realized she was holding her breath. She was anticipating something that could never happen again.

She visualized Andi on the front porch, using her tablet to go over the latest real estate listings in the area.

Unless...no, if Andi were alive somewhere, she would have contacted Shereen long before now. She had always been a wonderful, thoughtful, kind big sister.

Kelly had been driving slowly but now reduced her speed even more. Many parking spaces on both sides of the street were filled, but at the moment they were the only car on the road. She saw gardeners at a couple of houses, but no one outside who appeared to be a resident.

Then there they were, right outside the Grodon home.

No one was on the porch, although the nice metal outdoor furniture she remembered was still there. No one was in the yard, either. Not Andi, and not even Eli.

Was her nephew inside? Maybe. It was, after all, a Sunday evening. If only she could reach out to him mentally, get him to dash out the front door and...

“Are you okay?” Alan’s voice drew her abruptly back to reality.

“More or less,” she said, hearing the catch in her tone. She sounded as if she was about to cry.

She felt like she was about to cry, too.

“Sounds like less to me. Keep on going, and I’ll take over the driving once we’re on another block out of sight of this place.” He didn’t ask her okay on that, but it sounded good to her. She could still concentrate on driving, but tears had started flowing slowly down her face, so she wasn’t sure how safe she’d be.

“Okay,” she rasped.

She continued driving for another couple of blocks, going just a bit faster than before. She pulled down a side street. After parking, she went around to the passenger seat, and in a minute, Alan was the one driving. But when they left the residential neighborhood he turned in the opposite direction from downtown.

“We need to take you to your car,” she said.

“Not now. In the morning. Right now, you’re coming home with me.”

She felt shocked—but at the same time, relieved. She wouldn’t be alone.

And yet, the last two nights they had been together, the closeness they had engaged in...it was amazing and delightful...well, she didn’t want to even think about that now. Or at least not much.

“I appreciate that,” she began, “but—”

“Don’t worry. I won’t touch you. I just think some company is in order tonight. We can play video games or watch movies if you want. But you’re staying with me.”

* * *

Alan pulled Kelly’s car into the driveway at the front of his triplex unit and parked. She exited and just stood there looking up at his place. She was wearing an attractive blue dress, and her curly brown hair framed her face that was as beautiful as always, despite its pallor this day.

“Very nice,” she said. He tried to view his home from her perspective, both in her past life as Shereen, and now as Kelly.

“Thanks,” he responded, realizing, after seeing where Shereen’s family lived, that this area was nice but impersonal, where people who were employed with good jobs rented without necessarily intending to stay very long. Then there was Kelly’s apartment in the part of town where people probably aspired to those kinds of jobs and relocation to a place like this.

He took her hand and led her to the front door, up a slight rise that held a drought-tolerant garden with pebbles as a base and a few cacti and similar plants. He unlocked the door and motioned for her to enter first.

He tried to see his entry hall from her perspective. It was somewhat elegant, with an antique mirror hung across from the door so he could watch himself—and anyone else—coming in. There were two doorways. One led into the moderate-sized living room on this floor. The other led to the hall from which the stairway to the top two stories rose, and also to the kitchen and a back door to the tiny, fenced backyard.

It worked for the person he had to be here in Blue Haven.

“Very nice,” Kelly said as, holding her hand once more, he led her into the living room. There, he sat down beside her on the beige sectional couch that faced the one thing he had bought here for his own use: a large, wall-mounted television. There was a low coffee table in front of the couch and not much else in this room.

He’d originally planned to try to divert Kelly’s attention from what she had seen, what she had remembered, on her sorrowful trip down memory lane in that other area of Blue Haven. Now, though, he looked into her sad brown eyes, which glimmered with unshed tears.

“Wait here and I’ll get you some wine,” he said.

“I’ll come with you. I’d like to see your kitchen, too.”

He wouldn’t argue with that. He led her down the other hallway, then observed how she looked out the window into what passed as his tiny backyard while he poured their wine into round-bottomed glasses without stems. He handed one to her. “Let’s go back to the living room, okay?”

“Sure.”

She was being much too pliant for the Kelly he had come to know. That worried him. Made him feel sad, too—enough that he knew he had to do something.

Watching the news or even some kind of sitcom on TV wouldn’t do it. Nor would a video game.

No, she needed some kind of catharsis, although it was undoubtedly premature since they’d had no results so far.

But even though complete mental relief might not be achievable, he might be able to help her take a step in the right direction.

Once she was settled on one end of the couch, her wineglass clutched in her right hand and her eyes staring down at it, Alan said, “Tell me about her, Kelly. No, both of them. Tell me some of the good things you remember about your sister and Eli. And then we can talk some more about how to move forward.”

* * *

This was the last thing Kelly had anticipated.

Not that both of her dearest relatives weren’t always on her mind. But talk about them? About all she was missing?

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said softly, then added, “but I’ll try.”

She started way back, how she and Andi had been raised by their parents in Long Beach. “She was always a really nice big sister, protective of me if anyone started hassling me—even our parents.”

She said that both her mother and father had been schoolteachers, which was what inspired her career, although both taught middle grades, not elementary.