After leaving the diner, Chris and Danielle headed for Ian’s. It was still too early to get into Marlow House. When they arrived, Lily was asleep in Ian’s bedroom, while he worked in the dining room on his newest project. Chris and Danielle lounged on the sofa, watching an old movie, with Sadie napping by their feet.
They had been watching the movie for about thirty minutes when Danielle glanced over to Chris, silently studying his profile. He really could be a model, she thought. His sandy colored hair was slightly longer than it had been when he had first arrived at Marlow House before Christmas. While it could benefit from a comb—as could hers at this point—she had to admit there was something sexy about the tumbled and casual look. The dark circles below his blue eyes reminded Danielle of their stressful morning.
“You’ve been awful quiet, are you okay?” Danielle asked.
His eyes still on the television, he asked, “Do you think we’ll see Morris?”
“Walt saw him before he woke you up, so it’s possible. But, I really hope he’s moved on.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, watching the old black and white movie, when Chris asked, “Danielle, you know back at the diner when you told Adam we were friends?”
She smiled. “Yeah. We are friends.”
“Actually, you said, just friends.”
“Well…you know what I mean.” Danielle scooted down on the sofa, propping her feet up on the coffee table.
“Before all this happened…I was going to ask you today if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow night…for Valentine’s Day dinner.”
With her arms crossed over her chest as she remained slumped down in the sofa, her feet on the table, Danielle looked over at Chris. “You always ask women out at the last minute? And Valentine’s Day? Sheesh. I always heard Valentine’s Day dates were made at least a week in advance.”
“You’re the one who said we were just friends.” Chris smiled.
Danielle shrugged. “True. But it is Valentine’s Day. Maybe I already have a date.”
“With who, Walt?”
Danielle arched her brows and smiled. “Maybe. After all, he did take me to Hawaii last night. Although, our trip was cut short due to Morris’ untimely demise.”
Chris looked from the television to Danielle. “I know about the dream hop—or at least I figured it was something like that. Walt said you told him you were cold, but you were asleep.”
“If it had been a little warmer, it would have felt just like a beach in Hawaii.”
“It wasn’t real, Danielle.”
“It felt real.”
“You know what I mean.”
“There’s no harm in a dream hop,” Danielle said defensively.
“It is if it becomes a substitute for…” Chris let out a sigh and leaned back in the sofa.
“Substitute for what?” Danielle asked.
He studied her for a moment before answering. “Substitute for a real relationship.”
“I’m not ready for that kind of relationship, anyway,” Danielle said in a whisper.
“Why, because of Joe? And how he didn’t turn out to be what you thought?”
Danielle shook her head. “I know now, I wasn’t ready to get into a relationship when I first went out with Joe. So much was going on back then. I’d lost my husband just six months earlier, had just moved to Oregon, was trying to get a new business off the ground. And then everything spun out of control with Cheryl being murdered. Even if all that hadn’t happened, I wasn’t ready for anything but casual friendship. It was probably for the best that things didn’t work out between Joe and me.”
“Just as long as you don’t allow the—unique relationship you have with Walt to interfere with your—your real life.”
“What Walt and I have is real.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m just not in a hurry to get into a serious relationship. There is so much I need to do first.”
“Then agree to go out with me tomorrow. You know, I’m anything but serious.”
Danielle laughed. “You have a point there. Most of the time I think of you as that unemployed guy who prefers to live on some friend’s boat and enjoy life, rather than a secretive philanthropist.”
“Not sure if I should be insulted or flattered.”
“I suppose a little of both. About tomorrow night; why don’t we see how things are going by then? Who knows if the cops will descend on us again, or what might come up. And it probably will be difficult to get a table at a restaurant anyway.”
“Fair enough.”
Sadie leapt up, knocking Danielle’s feet from the coffee table. The golden retriever started to bark and then ran to the front door.
Leaning toward the coffee table, Danielle picked up the remote and turned off the television. “It sounds like someone’s at the door.”
They both started to stand up when Ian entered the room with Adam Nichols. “I found this guy on my front porch.” Ian flashed Adam a smile and then returned to the dining room to work, leaving the new arrival with Chris and Danielle.
“Are you stalking us?” Danielle teased.
“Be nice,” Chris scolded.
“Sometimes I wonder why my grandmother thinks you’re sweet,” Adam told Danielle.
“What’s up Adam?” Chris asked.
“Figured you two would still be here. I’ve got sort of a good news, bad news thing going on. Couldn’t really deliver the good news by phone, so I thought I’d bring it in person.”
“What good news?” Danielle asked.
Adam held up a set of keys. “Thought I’d bring you the keys to your new house. Technically speaking, you really shouldn’t go in until it records, which should be by four this afternoon.” He tossed the keychain to Chris.
“So what’s the bad news?” Chris asked. He and Danielle sat back down on the sofa.
Adam took a seat in the recliner. “I just got a call from my grandmother. She was telling me all about the nice young man I’d just sold a house to—and how his last name is really Glandon, and he’s loaded.”
“How did she find out?” Danielle asked.
“She already knew I’d sold Chris a house and that it was closing any day now. As for the rest—she heard it on the radio. I guess the story of Peter Morris’ murder—and how Chris Glandon found the body—is out there. I believed they referred to you as the illusive philanthropist who’d been held up in the quaint bed and breakfast—site of today’s grizzly murder. They didn’t mention anything about Chris Johnson, but Grandma figured it out.”
“I’m surprised she still referred to me as a nice young man considering I was found with a dead body—one that had been brutally murdered.”
“Well, Grandmother loathed Morris, and if she thought you were the one who killed him—which I don’t believe she does—she would probably want to give you a medal.”
Chris looked at the set of keys in his hand, giving it a brief toss. Clutching them, he looked from Danielle to Adam. “I guess this changes everything. I suppose I was being overly optimistic thinking I could live here as Chris Johnson.”
“What are you going to do now?” Danielle asked.
“Considering Chris put the house under one of his companies, I don’t think it’ll be all that easy for people to just come into town and find where he lives. At least not by looking in the property records. Hell, half of the houses in my property management program are held in some company set up by the owners for tax purposes,” Adam said.
“I’m not really surprised this came out,” Chris said with a sigh.
“If you decide not to stay in Frederickport, I could list it for you or put it in my property management program,” Adam suggested.
“While I’m not thrilled, I have no intention of leaving. I’d hoped I could fly under the wire for a bit longer, but I always knew this was a possibility. And it’s not like I’ve droves of paparazzi chasing me. I can handle the letters and inquiries from people asking for a donation, I just hate when they show up at my door.”
“What if you purchased another property in the area, under your real name, while you live in the house you just purchased?” Adam suggested.
“Chris could afford that, but wouldn’t it be pretty obvious no one was living at the house?” Danielle asked.
“I was thinking more of a house he could use as his headquarters. He did tell me he was looking for something.”
“Headquarters?” Danielle looked from Adam to Chris.
“Since my parents’ death, I’ve been doing most of my charity work through my attorneys. And while I trust them, I know I need to get more hands on—there’s too much money involved, too much temptation, and possibility for fraud.”
“I told Chris I’d be more than willing to take over the responsibility for him. I already have an office.” Adam grinned.
“Oh my…” Danielle closed her eyes briefly and fought the urge to laugh. “That thought is rather frightening.”
“You have no trust in me, Danielle,” Adam scoffed.
“Do you blame me?”
He shrugged. “Not really…but I do have an ideal property for Chris, one that will solve all his problems.”
“Hmm…and a nice commission for you?” Danielle asked.
Adam smiled, reminding Danielle a bit like Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat. “Oh, yeah.”
“So, what is this great—and undoubtedly expensive—property?” Chris asked.
“The Gusarov Estate,” Adam told him.
“That monstrosity?” Danielle gasped.
“That monstrosity, as you call it, is on prime ocean front real estate and would make an excellent headquarters, with plenty of rooms to use as offices, a state of the art security system and the kind of home people would expect someone like Chris Glandon to live in.”
“I prefer a sailboat cabin,” Chris reminded him.
“No. Chris Johnson likes living on a borrowed sailboat—or in a room at a bed and breakfast—but Chris Glandon has more expensive tastes,” Adam told him.
“You know, he has a point. While I personally wouldn’t want to live at the Gusarov Estate, I could so see it as the Glandon Headquarters.”
“Now we’re calling it the Glandon Headquarters?” Chris asked.
Ignoring Chris, Danielle asked Adam, “Is the property for sale?”
“Yes. It has been for a while.”
Danielle looked at Chris. “It does have a good security system.”
“Isn’t that the house you broke into?” Chris asked her.
“One of them,” Adam answered with a laugh.