Alli hurried into the bathroom and washed her face before any tears dared break loose. She hated to cry, and she’d come close a few minutes ago.
Over the years, she’d stopped sharing her past with friends because their well-meaning advice proved more painful than helpful. One girlfriend had urged Alli to try to locate her dad and had harped on the subject with such tenacity that she’d become an ex-girlfriend. Obviously, she’d had issues of her own.
Kevin hadn’t advised Alli to do anything. He’d simply listened, so steadily and calmly that she’d opened up. His quiet encouragement had enabled her to face the long-suppressed pain.
Yesterday, when she first saw this house, it had seemed like a haven. It had become even more so today, thanks to Kevin.
What if she and Kevin could actually mean something to each other? What if she lived here for real…awakened every morning beside him…could count on his support, whatever might come…
Longing swept through Alli, so powerful that she stared at her mirrored reflection in horror. He didn’t want her to stay. And she didn’t want to. It was dangerous even to think such things.
She was just feeling vulnerable because she’d dredged up old memories, Alli thought sternly. After she dug out her cosmetics bag, she set to work repairing the damage to her mascara.
When she finished, she emerged and tracked Kevin to his desk. He sat frowning at his computer.
“I think I’ll wait until morning to pack, if you don’t mind,” she said.
“Sure.” He didn’t take his eyes from the screen. “Things have changed. We’re going to have to speed our timetable.”
“Care to clue me in?” When Alli came around, she discovered he was exploring a financial site, the kind available by paid subscription.
He flexed his shoulders. “My client called to say the blackmailer is demanding she pay by Wednesday instead of Friday. He cussed at her and made threats about what would happen if she didn’t comply. Scared the heck out of her.”
“This guy’s a monster,” Alli muttered. “I wonder why he’s in a hurry.”
“She’s afraid he’s figured out that she’s having him investigated,” Kevin replied. “Dr. Abernathy must have told someone about my visit. Yours, too.”
“You think Dr. Abernathy ratted us out to the blackmailer? I had the impression he didn’t know what was going on.”
“I think the shots scared him badly enough he called someone in a panic,” Kevin told her. “My best guess would be his old partner. In turn, either Dr. Graybar stepped up the pressure on the victims or, if he isn’t the blackmailer, he passed on the information to someone else.”
“That doesn’t seem to leave much doubt that the doctor’s involved,” she noted.
“It’s suspicious but circumstantial,” Kevin said. “If we jump to conclusions, we could miss important clues.”
“Agreed.”
Alli felt tempted to renew her suggestion about posing as a couple in order to penetrate Graybar’s office, but Kevin had already turned it down. Pressuring him, she’d noticed, had a tendency to bring out his defenses. Although patience had never been her strong suit, she decided to try it in the hope that he’d come around on his own.
She took out her personal organizer. “This creep might have made the same threats to my contact. I’m going to call her.”
“Good idea.” Kevin brought up another screenful of data. “I’m searching Dr. Graybar’s credit report for a motive.”
“It does seem odd for a physician to risk his reputation by stooping so low,” she admitted. “He might even endanger his medical license.”
“You’d be surprised what chances people will take when they need money.” Kevin didn’t remove his eyes from the computer.
Alli moved into the living room so as not to disturb him. Rita Hernandez’s phone rang only twice before someone answered. “Hi,” said a little girl’s voice. “Is this Grandma?”
“Maria! For heaven’s sake!” Rita sounded almost frantic as she grabbed the phone. “Hello?”
Alli had a good idea what had alarmed her. After Alli explained who she was, she heard the woman’s sigh. “Has the blackmailer contacted you again?”
“About an hour ago,” she replied grimly.
“He moved up your deadline?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“You’re not the only one,” Alli said.
“That scumbag! How many people is he squeezing?” Rita asked.
“I don’t know.” Surely he couldn’t be approaching all the adoptive parents, or word would quickly reach the police. On the other hand, if the guy was desperate enough for money, he might not be thinking straight. “Tell me what he said.”
He insisted on being paid by Wednesday. “He believes we can come up with twenty thousand dollars in cash! This is crazy. My husband says we should go to the cops, but I’m terrified we’ll lose Maria. I haven’t slept in days.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Alli responded. “There’s a detective assisting me.” She hoped Kevin wouldn’t mind being demoted to second fiddle. “We’ve got a few leads. Believe me, we’re doing our best.”
“Thank you so much for looking into this. I heard you left the paper. Is that true?”
“Yes. I’m freelancing, but I’ll find a way to stop this guy no matter what it takes,” Alli promised.
“If anyone can do it, you can,” Rita said.
On the other end, the little girl began demanding her mother’s attention, so they brought the conversation to an end. But Alli deeply appreciated the expression of confidence.
When she joined Kevin, he glanced up expectantly. She filled him in on what she’d learned. Afterward, she said, “Since this guy must be hitting a number of families, I can’t figure out why someone hasn’t gone to the police.”
“They probably have,” he replied.
Much as she wanted the blackmailer caught, Alli felt a tick of apprehension at the possibility that her exclusive story was about to become common knowledge. “I guess all the papers know about it, then.”
“Probably not.” Kevin leaned back. “If it were my case, I wouldn’t put out a press release until I’d made an arrest or at least issued a warrant.”
That made sense. However, it still increased the pressure for her to assemble the facts quickly.
With the Wednesday deadline looming, that didn’t leave much time to use the story as a bargaining tool for a new job. Furthermore, even if advance word didn’t reach the papers, Alli knew how vulnerable she’d be once she disclosed her investigation during an interview. There was nothing to stop an editor from assigning one of his own reporters to duplicate her work, cutting her off completely.
Until last week, she’d have trusted the integrity of her prospective employers. After her experience with Payne, she realized how naive she’d been.
“What’s going through your mind?” Kevin asked. “You look like someone just stole your teddy bear.”
“It occurred to me this investigation has a very short life span,” Alli said. “My best bet is probably to use it to leverage my old job back, but I’m not sure I can do that.”
“Would you want it back after the way they treated you?”
“Don’t forget, I worked there for five years. I love my readers and I miss my friends,” she explained. “The problem is, J.J. and Ned believe everything Payne tells them. Unless he screws up badly enough to open their eyes, they’re never going to see things objectively.”
“I can’t help you there,” Kevin said. “But I have found something interesting.” He indicated the screen.
“Dr. Graybar owes money?”
“He was listed as partner when his uncle opened a restaurant in West L.A. that folded in less than a year. The doc co-signed a loan as well as some leases, which put him on the hook for a lot of money.”
Alli whistled. “You have to feel sorry for the guy. He might have been trying to do his uncle a favor.”
“Apparently, he’s not very smart about finances. He tried to recoup in Las Vegas, but he had about as much luck at the tables as he did as a restaurateur,” Kevin said. “He got behind on all his payments, including rent for his office and payroll taxes.”
“Isn’t it illegal to use payroll withholding for anything else?” she asked.
“Absolutely. The guy was not only facing bankruptcy but also possible jail time.”
“So he turned to blackmail?” It certainly looked like a motive, but Alli had a hard time picturing a physician who volunteered at an orphanage turning against his own patients.
“Here’s the twist. A couple of months ago, he paid everything off.” Kevin tapped on the desk. “He got caught up with his bills and made the government happy.”
“Where’d he find the funds?”
“Exactly what I’d like to know. I don’t see any indication that he sold property or took out a consolidation loan that could account for it.”
“He either begged, borrowed or stole,” Alli guessed.
“Most likely he borrowed under the table,” Kevin told her. “He does have considerable income, but such a poor credit rating that he wouldn’t have gotten far with a legitimate lender.”
“Crooks don’t lend money unless it’s worth their while,” she pointed out. “What could he use for security? His house?”
“Already mortgaged to the hilt,” he said.
“So what did he have to offer?” It was a rhetorical question. They already knew what he must have sold: the names of patients who might lose their children if the government of Costa Buena determined that they’d been adopted illegally.
Kevin appended a query of his own. “And who did he offer it to?”
“Whoever it is, I wonder why he’s moving up the timetable,” she said.
“Maybe he’s just greedy. My client would do anything to keep her son from being taken away and he knows it.”
“Whatever the reason, we’ve only got a couple of days before these people have to pay,” she pointed out.
“If we could get inside that medical office, we might be able to determine who on staff has access to patient records.” Kevin released a long breath. “Posing as a couple might not be such a bad idea.”
Alli tried to keep her expression bland. “You think so?”
“We can plan our strategy tomorrow,” he said. “I do have other obligations to follow up tonight.”
“That works for me,” she replied, and, by an immense expenditure of effort, managed not to smile.
ALLI WASN’T SURE what to expect when she accompanied Kevin to his workplace on Monday. She kept trying and failing to imagine how the prickly detective managed his take-charge mother.
They kept matters businesslike, she discovered when Heloise arrived at the sunny two-room setting a few minutes after they did. If Mrs. Vickers had any questions about what the two of them had been doing between Saturday night and Monday morning, she kept them quiet.
“You’ll need to assume another identity,” she advised after they explained their plan. “You can use my maiden name, McKinley, if you like.”
“Good,” Kevin said. “It beats Smith or Jones.”
A call came in for him. While he was tied up, Alli and Heloise retreated to her desk and put their heads together.
They both enjoyed the challenge of inventing details for the newly minted husband-and-wife team of Kevin and Allison McKinley. After a little research on the Internet, they decided the couple feared having children because of a recessive blood disorder that ran in both their families.
“How many do you want?” Heloise asked.
“Children? We only need to ask for one,” Alli said.
The older woman adjusted her glasses and glanced toward the closed door of her son’s office. “What about in real life?”
“You mean, do I want kids?” So Heloise had started thinking along those lines. “I don’t believe in planning my life in advance. It’s better to be spontaneous.”
“That’s a healthy approach,” she replied, not very convincingly.
They decided that the doting McKinleys had been married for three years and that, when they found a child, Alli planned to take leave from her job as a…
“Preschool teacher,” Heloise suggested.
“Me? I couldn’t make a convincing case if they question me. How about aerobics instructor,” Alli proposed. She’d led an aerobics class once when the regular teacher fell ill.
“But you do like children, don’t you?”
Neither of them heard the inner door open. “Mom,” Kevin warned.
“Oops. The boss is back.” Heloise ducked her head. “I’d better mind my own business.”
“I’d appreciate your not mentioning anything about this situation to my sisters,” he said. “Not about Alli being here and not about…any of it.”
“I never gossip about work,” his mother assured him. “We’ve decided you’re a financial consultant. What do you think?”
“It will certainly seem natural when I ask about confidentiality,” Kevin said.
Heloise printed out the profiles they’d devised. “What are you going to do if they ask for social security numbers?”
“At our first consultation? Refuse, of course,” Kevin answered. “As a financial consultant, I believe in reserving that information until absolutely necessary.”
“Speaking of consultations,” his mother said, “let me see if I can make you an appointment today. It’s possible they won’t have an opening.”
Kevin’s expression darkened. “They have to have an opening. We’re on a tight schedule.”
“I’ll call,” Alli offered. “I can be charming when I want to.”
A cleft flashed in his cheek, emphasizing the fact that he’d shaved this morning. “And you’re modest, too.”
“I’m not bragging,” she assured him. “It’s vital to my profession.”
“Really?” Kevin said. “I’ve known a lot of reporters I wouldn’t call charming.”
“They’re probably not very effective,” Alli retorted.
Heloise handed her the phone. “Go for it.” Catching her son’s quelling look, she added, “If the boss agrees.”
“It can’t hurt to let her try,” he conceded.
Alli looked up the number and dialed. The receptionist answered with a cheery, “Dr. Graybar’s office.”
After listening to her explanation, the woman said regretfully that they had no appointments available for at least a month. “There’s incredible demand, as you can imagine, and we spend a great deal of time with each of our clients.”
“I’m sure you do. The Reverend Weatherby told me Dr. Graybar has a heart of gold!” With a catch in her voice, Alli poured out a heartfelt story of weeping at night because of her desperate longing for a child, and how the pastor had lit the flame of hope the day before.
“Today’s my husband’s birthday.” What was one more lie among so many? she wondered. “He never complains, but I can tell he’s down in the dumps. It would be such a wonderful birthday present if I could give him the hope that we’re finally on our way to adopting. I wish I’d learned about you sooner, but I felt yesterday that the timing wasn’t a coincidence. Some things were simply meant to be.”
Listening, Heloise gave her an admiring thumbs-up. Kevin shook his head in disbelief.
“I’ll see what I can do. Could you excuse me a minute? I have to catch the other line.” The receptionist put her on hold.
“Well?” Kevin asked. “Are you going to bake me a cake for my imaginary birthday?”
“Darling! I’ll go it one better. I’m going to give you a child!” Alli joked.
The receptionist came back on the line. “I don’t believe this! That call was to cancel an appointment at four o’clock this afternoon. Could you and your husband make it in then?”
“You bet. See you at four.” After completing the arrangements, Alli hung up and filled in her audience.
“You’re scary,” Kevin said. “You fib like a pro, and you think on your feet.”
“Reporters have to do that,” his mother advised. “They’re always going undercover, right?”
“Actually not,” Alli said. “Normally, I’m up front with people.”
“You don’t badger them about ‘the public’s right to know?’” Kevin teased.
She sniffed. “I never use that cliché.”
“You manage to be pushy enough without it,” he said. After explaining to Heloise that they’d met when he worked at the PD, he added, “I respected the way you did your job, but I used to think you were a royal pain.”
“What a coincidence,” Alli replied sweetly. “That’s what I always said about you.”
Kevin glanced at his watch. “I’ve got work to do. Why don’t we meet after lunch to rehearse our aliases.”
“Okay.”
He vanished into his inner sanctum. While Heloise tackled paperwork, Alli picked up a copy of the morning paper folded on the secretary’s desk. She hadn’t had time to scan it at Kevin’s.
A photograph of Payne Jacobson leaped out from page one. Drive-by Shooting Wounds Reporter, read the headline.
Despite her dislike of Payne, Alli felt a twist of concern. On closer inspection, however, the damage didn’t look bad.
A bandage wrapped around one arm, Payne posed beside the smashed rear windshield of his car. One eye had taken on a discolored pouchiness, presumably where she’d punched him two days ago. This seemed to be his week to take it in the chops, Alli thought.
According to the article, Payne had been backing out of the driveway at his uncle’s house—she hadn’t realized until now that he lived with Ned—when he’d heard a crack. A moment later, he’d experienced a stinging sensation along his arm and noticed a trickle of blood.
Not until he got out to inspect the damage had he found the bullet hole in the glass. The article went on to explain that the police were investigating reports of a gray or blue van sighted in the area at the time of the shooting.
“My fearless pursuit of the truth must have offended some slime bag,” Payne was quoted as saying. “From now on, I’ll be staying with friends and taking other routes to work. So whoever did this can go crawl back into a hole.”
Alli was sorry he’d been hurt. Still, what an irony that the exposé had most likely triggered the attack. Had he not stolen it she might have been the target.
When Kevin emerged from his office, she handed him the section. While he read the article, she reflected that that hadn’t merely been a warning shot. Payne could have been killed. Or she could have, and the danger hadn’t necessarily disappeared just because they’d turned their sights elsewhere.
She needed to stay hidden for at least a few more days. She couldn’t mention it in front of his mother, though, since Heloise didn’t know about their rooming arrangement.
Besides, she’d already decided that pressuring Kevin generally backfired. Tonight, if he didn’t change his mind, she’d have to find somewhere else to camp out.
He finished the article. “That series is a hot potato.”
“Well, it’s Payne’s hot potato now,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go work on my new article.” Sensitive to Heloise’s presence, she avoided specifying that she was returning to his place. She even wrote down her cell-phone number for the secretary.
“When will you be back?” Kevin asked.
“Around two. That should give us a chance to practice.”
He frowned. “There’s no guarantee those guys won’t take a shot at you, too.”
“I’m on foot at the moment,” she noted. “This is southern California. They’ll never think to look for me on a sidewalk.”
Kevin’s gaze darkened. Before he could offer to do something needlessly protective, such as offer to drive her, she called out, “See you!” and hurried off.
A brisk walk carried her the half mile or so to his house, where she used the key she’d borrowed earlier, punched in the security code and fired up Kevin’s laptop. On the Web, the report of the injured reporter had received extensive coverage, along with the fact that he’d been writing about Mayor Le-Mott. Klaus would really hate that, she thought in satisfaction.
Her good mood faded as she considered that Payne was gaining recognition as a crusading hero journalist. The guy had incredible luck. She wondered whether he sacrificed small animals to pagan gods.
Grimly, she made another search for job openings and printed out the few possibilities. Feeling a bit down, she grabbed a bite to eat and walked back to meet Kevin for their practice session.
With Heloise’s help, they reviewed their fictional background and decided what information they should try to pry from Ms. Reed. Finally, the time came to leave.
“Well, Mrs. McKinley?” Kevin said. “Ready to go search out the child of our dreams?”
She slipped her arm through his. “Sweetheart, I’m going to make you the happiest man on earth.”
Heloise made a gagging noise at the computer. But she was smiling.