Bella persistently batted at the coffee cup, sending it closer and closer to the desk’s edge. Hunny stood nearby, watching the calico cat, anticipating the inevitable. Oblivious to her cat’s antics and the potential minor disaster, Heather gave the man on the telephone her lunch order. The crash came at the precise moment the call ended.
Heather jumped up and spied the shattered ceramic cup, its contents spilling on the floor. “Bella!”
The unrepentant cat sat on the edge of the desk, looking down at what she had done, her tail swishing back and forth. Hunny retreated to her dog bed, hiding her head in its cushion.
“You little heathen!” Heather shouted, grabbing the cat from the desk and tossing it away from the broken mess.
Chris, who had been standing in the entry talking to his uncles, peeked his head into the room and asked, “Did Bella kill another cup?”
“She does this to torment me,” Heather grumbled as she got down on her hands and knees to clean up the mess.
Chris laughed and then turned his attention back to his uncles.
“Why do you let her bring that cat to work?” Simon asked.
“Why not? I bring Hunny.”
“Not quite the same thing, son,” Loyd said. “I think that girl takes advantage of you.”
“You don’t like Heather much, do you?” Chris asked.
Loyd shrugged. “I just don’t want to see someone take advantage of your good nature. You’re a lot like your mother, you know. Always trying to save someone.”
“Like an orphan kid?” Chris asked.
Loyd reached out and patted Chris’s arm. “I understand why you think that way.”
“Think what way?” Chris asked.
“That we don’t see you as a real Glandon. It’s understandable you believe that, considering what we tried to do, and how it looked. But in our misguided attempt to protect you, we allowed ourselves to listen to our attorneys when we went to court. They lost sight of what our real intention was—they just wanted to win—and we were too close to the situation to realize what was really happening.”
Chris glanced briefly over to the doorway leading to where Heather was working. “You don’t need to worry about Heather. She’s alright.”
“Can I make one suggestion?” Simon asked.
“What’s that?” Chris asked.
“You said you have a meeting with your Realtor this afternoon, the one who brought you that candy.”
“Umm…yes, what about it?”
“You told us he wasn’t just your Realtor but a good friend. I suspect he’s someone you might discuss business with—maybe even bounce ideas off?” Simon asked.
Chris shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“Then get a second opinion. We don’t expect you to take our advice, especially considering everything. But talk to your friend, tell him some of the things we’ve noticed since we’ve been here. Maybe you’ll be surprised. Perhaps he’s noticed the same things we have and just didn’t want to say anything. You’ve no idea how many times we had to fire someone, and then later close confidants would tell us they were glad we let the employee go, and then they would go on to tell us what they had witnessed the employee do. I always wondered why they didn’t just say something earlier. But they typically won’t, not unless you ask them. Just ask him.”
Chris was spared responding to his uncle’s suggestion when Heather walked into the room the next moment.
“I’m going to go pick up my lunch,” she announced.
Chris glanced at his watch. “And I need to head over to Adam’s.”
Danielle sat alone at the kitchen table, jotting down on a pad of paper what she intended to prepare for Christmas dinner. Lily and Ian were hosting a Christmas Eve gathering, which would mean all she would need to do was bring some of the cookies she had already made. Lily had invited Chris’s uncles, along with the Bishops, but Danielle already knew Mr. Bishop had declined. According to him, he and his wife were planning something else for tomorrow night.
“Danielle, Noah said you wanted to talk to me,” Zara said from the open doorway.
“Hello, Zara. Yes, I’d like to talk to you. Can you come sit with me?” Danielle leaned over to the next chair and pulled it out for her.
Zara smiled at the gesture. She walked into the kitchen and sat down in the chair.
“Noah told me about the police chief stopping by this afternoon. It’s a crazy coincidence, this woman that you say looks just like me, has the same first name, but it isn’t me. Honest.”
Danielle glanced back to the doorway leading to the hallway and then back to Zara. ‘Where is Noah?”
“He’s up in our room taking a nap. Why?”
Danielle leaned forward and started to touch Zara’s hand but stopped when Zara lurched back, obviously terrified at the prospect. Danielle quickly changed course and pulled back into her own chair, folding her hands on her lap. Zara visibly relaxed as Danielle retreated.
“I just want you to know you are safe here. If you need any help, I’m here for you.”
Zara smiled at Danielle. “Oh, you think maybe I’m this other Zara, and Noah is somehow threatening me? Maybe he kidnapped me and is keeping me hostage?”
“I’m just saying if you need help, all you have to do is tell me.”
“I’m fine, Danielle. It’s really sweet of you, but I’m not in danger. I’m not a missing person. And Noah is the kindest man I know. He is the last person in the world who would ever hurt or threaten me.”
Danielle studied Zara for a moment and then smiled. “I hope you understand, I had to ask.”
Zara nodded. “Yes I do. I just don’t want to deal with some police interrogation. I’d rather enjoy my Christmas holiday.”
“No problem, I’ll tell the chief it isn’t you,” Danielle conceded. “It was just so weird…seriously, maybe you have a twin sister out there that you don’t know about.”
“I seriously doubt that. But I do feel bad this woman is missing. What her family must be going through.” Zara shook her head at the thought.
“According to the information, she doesn’t have any family,” Danielle explained.
“Really? Well, that’s sad. Everyone should have family. If her family isn’t looking for her, who is?”
“I don’t think the chief mentioned this to your husband, but the missing person’s notice didn’t come from another police department, it came from the missing woman’s roommate.”
Zara arched her brow. “Her roommate?”
Danielle nodded. “When the other Zara disappeared, she didn’t take anything with her, not even her cameras. She’s a freelance photographer. The roommate didn’t feel the police were putting much effort into finding her, so she sent out the flyers.”
“Do you have any idea why she sent one here?” Zara asked.
“Apparently the roommate decided to do her own sleuthing. The missing woman had used her computer, so she started looking into her search history. A number of websites she had visited were from Frederickport.”
Zara smiled. “Really? My, that is resourceful of the roommate.”
“Yes, and if you had been the missing woman, we could say it was pretty good detective work.”
Zara stood up. “Yes, we could. Thanks again for taking care of this and talking to your police chief for me.”
“Sure, no problem.” Danielle smiled.
“Thank you, Danielle. That makes me feel much better.” Zara stood up and flashed Danielle a smile and then headed to the doorway leading to the hallway.
Danielle turned in her chair, preparing to ask Zara a final question. But she froze when she noticed something on the back of Zara’s neck—a tattoo—a feather tattoo.