Kat and Harry picked at the remains of the Chinese takeout she’d ordered after finding Harry on the courtroom steps two hours before. The food seemed to settle her stomach and it felt good to finally be back at Carter & Associates after this morning’s courtroom drama. Her office’s hundred-year-old brick walls wouldn’t withstand a strong earthquake, but today they felt like a fortress. The sketchy neighborhood and rustic furnishings felt comfortable, especially with her uncle finally safe and sound.
“She’s back, Kat. It’s like she never left.” Harry’s eyes shone as he spoke.
Hillary’s return was one of Harry’s delusions Kat could do without.
She shuddered as she remembered her first week living with the Dentons. She had arrived home from school to find Hillary by the fireplace, grinning. She stood in front of the roaring fire, Kat’s photographs in her hand while she beckoned Kat over with the other. Then she dropped them into the flames, one by one. The pictures of her mother gone forever. All she had left were memories, and those faded further with each passing year.
“Really?” Kat played along. Despite her feelings, reminding Harry it wasn’t true only caused mental anguish. No one wanted to know they were losing their mind.
“Yup. Great, isn’t it?”
Kat reached for a second egg roll. “When did she come back?”
“A while ago. She’s moving back home. I wish Elsie was here to see her. She would be so proud.”
Harry manned the front desk while Kat sat cross-legged on the couch, feeling more relaxed after a quick run. She’d moved a treadmill into the spare office so she could still fit in a workout despite keeping an eye on her uncle.
“Proud?” Proud his daughter had the nerve to show her face after what she did?
“She’s got a new job.”
“Doing what?” Hillary had never worked a day in her life. Unless you counted cheating and manipulating people out of money a career. She’d convinced Harry and Elsie to lend her all their retirement savings, promising to pay it back. They never heard from her again. Some things were better forgotten.
“Can’t remember. But it’s something really important.”
“I’m sure it is,” Kat said. If it wasn’t, Hillary would be quick to embellish, or more likely, fabricate the whole thing.
“And she’s looking forward to catching up with you.”
Kat felt a stab of fear. Nothing about Hillary came without a cost. But that was silly—Hillary now existed only in Harry’s imagination.
“Business lunch?”
Kat snapped to attention at the man’s voice. She wasn’t expecting anyone for another hour.
Zachary Barron stood in the doorway, staring at her. She was suddenly conscious of how she appeared: stringy auburn hair, dried sweat on her face from the run. If he got any closer, he’d smell her damp, stinky running clothes. She chewed her mouthful of Chow Mein as fast as she could, and then Harry rescued her.
Harry swung around the reception desk, surprisingly fast for an eighty-year-old.
“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Harry Denton, Kat’s associate.”
Harry held out his hand. Zachary shook it and had the good grace not to mention their meeting earlier in the day.
The nameplate on the office door read Carter & Associates, but in reality Kat had been associate-less since opening the office two years ago. Nevertheless, Uncle Harry had always drummed up excuses to come by, so Kat had made it official.
At least his presence at the office allowed her to keep an eye on him, important since he had lost interest in just about everything and everyone else. His buddies at the curling rink swept the ice without him now, and weeds were all that grew in his once well-tended garden.
As their time together increased, she became acutely aware of his declining mental state. No matter what, she enjoyed having him at the office and figured the people contact was good for him.
“Mmmm, sorry.” Kat swallowed a mouthful of noodles. She stood up and wiped her hand on her shorts. “I don’t usually—”
“No need to explain. I’ll make this quick.”
Quick riches, quick marriages, quick divorces. Was there any other way with Zachary Barron?
“Didn’t you say two o’clock?”
“I don’t really do appointments. Can we talk or not?” Zachary asked.