A Great Kisser (32 page)

“You’d think they’d turn it into the rental shop, but—so, did Mabry or one of her staff put it in your room?”

“That’s just it, we don’t know. And there’s more. It was totally busted and mangled, like it had been run over. Several times.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Have you talked to Mabry, or—”

“I did—you’re right, she is a character—but it was her daughter-in-law who was on duty that night, and she’s out of town, out of contact for the weekend with her husband and son, so we haven’t been able to verify how the bike got into my room.”

“Where is it?”

“The guys from the rental shop came and got it. I had insurance, so that wasn’t a big problem, but they were just as stunned as I was.”

“Did you call the chief?”

“The police chief? No, I figured the bike was back and it’ll be covered. Wasn’t sure really what else there was to do about it.”

“So that’s why you bought a bike.”

“Well, that and I was thinking about getting one of my own anyway. I ordered it from Barnabas over at Alpine Bike and Ski.” She grinned. “Did you know Mabry was sweet on him?”

“Sweet on Barnabas? Are you kidding?”

“Not kidding. She told me.”

Jake shook his head. “I guess I really have managed to bury myself away from gossip. How’d I miss that?”

“Well, apparently Barnabas is playing hard to get.”

Jake laughed at that.

“I told her she should just go in there and tell him.”

“You told Mabry to—” He shook his head in disbelief. “Okay, you’re definitely, officially part of the town now.”

At that, Lauren grinned a bit smugly. “I think I already was. They like that we’re together.”

“Do they?” he said, not knowing if he really wanted to think about the town discussing his love life, even though he knew it was inevitable. Didn’t mean he had to ponder what was being said. “Well, that’s good to know.”

Her smug smile didn’t abate.

Jake glanced over at her again. “What?”

“There’s a pool.”

“A what?”

“A pool. On when you’ll get taken off the market. Apparently the kitty has gotten pretty steep.”

Jake opened his mouth, then had no idea how to respond to that, so he wisely closed it again.

“I think Mabry is my new best friend because she now has insider information.”

“What kind of information?”

“She told me where to go buy a bike. And she put two and two together and figured that if I was buying transportation, maybe I intended to stick around a while.”

“That’s insider information I’d like to know, too.”

“I told her that I could always store it out at my mom’s to use whenever I visit.”

“Hmm.” He kept his gaze forward. “And what did Mabry have to say about that?”

“I think I got a knowing smile.”

Jake slid her one of his own. “Hmm.”

“Yeah. Hmm,” Lauren repeated, smiling that crooked smile of hers. “Oh!” she added. “I almost forgot the other odd thing. I never checked it out, either.”

“What other odd thing?”

“Well, two more, I guess.”

Now Jake frowned. The bike was weird enough. “What two more?”

“When I got back to my room, after going out driving with my mom, my computer bag was between the bed and the nightstand.”

He glanced at her. “What’s odd about that?”

“Nothing, except I left it in the nightstand drawer. I always do. I was going to check my laptop, but then you got there, and…” Her lips curved. “Seems it’s slipped my mind since.”

He smiled briefly, but something about this was niggling at him. And not in a good way. “And the other thing?”

“Oh, right. My friend, Daphne—a former coworker and closest friend I have back in D.C.—she called me yesterday.”

“Everything okay back on the home front?”

“Yes, as far as I know—you know, she was supposed to call me back last night. I guess she got hung up.”

“Or we just missed the call.”

Lauren smiled. “I’ve looked at my phone today and there were no missed calls. I’ll have to call her when I get back. But the odd thing was that, the reason she called was to tell me she gave me a good reference.”

“For what?”

“A new job. Problem is, I haven’t applied for any.”

“Did she say who it was with?”

“She didn’t catch it at the beginning of the call, then it ended before she could ask again. We’re both thinking that maybe the senator was trying to help and put my name out there, but Daph said it sounded like they’d interviewed me. At least, that’s the vibe she’d gotten from the headhunter who called her.”

“Did she keep any notes, get a number?”

Lauren shook her head. “She didn’t think to, at the time, which is understandable. She thought she was just giving me a good reference.”

“Did they ask any unusual questions?”

Now Lauren frowned. “You know, I didn’t think to ask her that. I’d chalked it up to it being Todd trying to help me out. It’s definitely something he would do. I know he was really concerned that I was flying free with no safety net in place.”

“You’re going to contact him tomorrow?”

“I was planning on it. I’ll get in touch with Daphne, too. What is your take on it? You seem pretty concerned.”

“I don’t know. It just seems like an unusual sequence of events, that’s all. Could just be coincidental. The bike could have been borrowed by someone who’d intended to bring it back, then maybe it got banged up so they just left it at the motel to avoid getting in trouble. Maid could have moved your computer, and your former employer could have set up the headhunter. All plausible.”

“Except?”

“Nothing, I guess. It is all easily explained.”

“But you think it’s something else.” She didn’t make it a question.

He didn’t correct her. The more they talked it out, the less his reasoning felt right. But that’s all it was, a gut feeling. “What’s your take?”

“I hadn’t really thought of them in conjunction with one another like that, so I don’t. I guess…the bike part definitely freaked me out a little, not knowing how it ended up in my room. But, like Mabry said, it’s a small town; the story would come out eventually, whatever it was. So I sort of tucked it away until we could talk to Debbie. The other things didn’t really connect—”

“You were the one to mention that a few odd things had happened, so it didn’t feel right to you, either.”

“They were odd, but I don’t know that I assigned anything more to it than that.”

“Okay.”

She looked at him. “Okay, what?”

“Nothing. If you’re not feeling weird about it, then…okay.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“I guess exactly what you’re already doing. Contact Debbie when she gets back, check out your laptop when you get back tonight, and call the senator and your friend this week and find out what they know.”

“Okay.”

Now he shot her a look, but she immediately shook her head. “No, I actually mean that sincerely. I think it is the best approach. But, I won’t lie, your reaction is freaking me out a little and making me a bit more concerned about the whole thing.”

He covered her hand with his free one. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“But you do think I should look into it.”

“You were already, right?”

“Right.” But she was still looking pretty wary.

“Until we follow up, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? I just thought it was odd, too. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

She laced her fingers through his and squeezed. “Okay.”

Jake held her gaze a moment longer, then chuckled. He already knew her well enough to know that she’d be on this the moment the wheels hit the ground. But much as he didn’t want to worry her, he’d feel better the sooner they got some answers.

The whole business with Arlen’s possible run for governor cast everything having to do with Lauren and her weird vibes about the man into a different light. If it wasn’t for the fact that his sister worked for the guy and was hitching her star, at least for the immediate future, to his, Jake would be a lot more direct in how he handled it. But the last thing he needed was to jeopardize Ruby Jean’s plans…or for that matter, strain the relationship between Lauren and her family more than it already was, all because he had an odd, unsubstantiated feeling.

Still…perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to do a little digging on his own. Roger was invested in local politics in Denver, and Adam, if he recalled, did his master’s at Stanford, with possible connections there as well. Those guys could care less about the small town goings on of Cedar Springs, so a few discreet questions shouldn’t affect anything on the home front and might give him some insight into just how seriously Arlen was really pursuing his dream.

Jake found it really hard to believe that no one knew anything about his aspirations here in town. Just as he found it hard to believe that Arlen had ever let anything slip accidentally. Especially to Ruby Jean. Not that she couldn’t be trusted. No one was more loyal. But Arlen had never struck him as the kind of man who made accidental slips. He’d informed Ruby Jean for a reason. And Jake had a feeling that reason was sitting in the cockpit beside him.

All he had to do was figure out how it was all connected and what Arlen hoped to get out of the deal.

As soon as the wheels touched down, he’d be making a few calls of his own.

L
auren had loved flying with Jake, both because she enjoyed any time spent with her copilot and because it had been such a rush sitting in the cockpit like that, with an eagle’s eye view of the world. She left the airstrip seriously considering talking to him about lessons. Unfortunately, it was precisely because he had lessons, the ones he’d rearranged for the Vegas trip, that they didn’t get the chance to spend any additional time together once they’d arrived back on the terra firma.

Which was probably just as well. Okay, not really. She wanted all of him she could get. But she did want to follow up on the things they’d discussed on the flight back, and while she didn’t want to call Todd on a Sunday, she had no such qualms about getting in touch with Daphne.

She pulled Jake’s Jeep into the motel parking lot, thinking it felt odd to drive again after steering only a bike for most of the past week. Jake had offered it to her because he’d had students pulling in even as they’d walked back to the front offices. Which had also kept their good-byes brief and a lot more chaste than she’d wanted. Darnit.

She smiled as she walked toward the registration office. They’d make up for it tonight. Jake had already invited her to stay with him for the night. In his magnificent home. With the even more magnificent bedroom. And, at the moment, other than the call to Todd and follow-up on the bike, she didn’t have anywhere she had to be tomorrow. She did plan on continuing her look into Arlen’s business, but otherwise, the day was her own. Maybe she’d see if she could drag Jake away for an hour, but between classes and
Betty Sue
, she highly doubted it.

So…maybe he’d let her take the Jeep for a solo ride out into the mountains. She hadn’t really had the chance to properly enjoy them on the ride in during the storm, and had been mostly preoccupied talking with her mom during their road trip, so she was anxious to head out and see things for herself without distractions. Well, Jake would always be a distraction, even when he wasn’t around. Maybe the drive would give her a chance to step out of the pheromone fog and think through things with a clear head. Both the Jake thing and the Arlen thing.

The little bell jingled as she stepped into the front office. No sign of Debbie or Mabry. “Hi,” she said, introducing herself to the short brunette.

Of course, the woman grinned widely and spoke in a perky Minnie Mouse voice. “Hi, Miss Matthews, I’m Jennifer, Mabry’s daughter. What can I do for you?”

“Lauren, please. And I was wondering if Debbie had checked in, or if you knew when she would be back.”

“Oh, right! Mom told me about that. So odd! And I talked to Debbie right when she got off shift and was heading out and she didn’t say a word. I know she was excited about the weekend, but I can’t help but think she’d have mentioned it. A real shame about your bike. Did you have insurance on it?”

Lauren nodded. “I actually ordered a new one, so that part all worked out okay. But I was—am—curious about how it got back into my room. Especially if Debbie doesn’t know. Does someone other than the three of you have access?”

“Well, the maids do, of course, and the service technicians, but I can’t see Marci or Georgeann either one hauling that bike up those stairs.”

“Could they have gotten one of the service guys to help?”

“Probably, sure. But I can’t see them doing something like that, even thinking they were helping you out, and not mentioning it to us. That would be really out of character for either one of them. And Andy, one of the service guys, has been covering almost all the shifts since Joe’s been in and out of the hospital with his wife.” She smiled and waved away Lauren’s concerned look. “She’s due with their first, and let’s just say they’re a wee bit over-anxious. Anyway, Andy’ll talk your ear blue if you let him, so he’d have mentioned that bike.”

“So…what’s your best guess on how it got put in my room? I’m not upset or anything, but curious for obvious reasons.”

Jennifer reached across the desk and touched Lauren’s arm. “No, no, of course. You’ve every right to be upset. We take security here seriously, even though, to be honest, we have basically no crime. I can’t believe the whole story hasn’t already come to light, but I’m sure it will. Nothing stays a secret in this town for long.”

Lauren would tend to agree, but clearly somebody knew something they weren’t sharing. “I guess we’ll wait to ask Debbie tomorrow. When will she be on?”

“Not until the afternoon. And you’re right, it’s possible in her excitement to get out of town, she just plain forgot. If you’d like, we can call Gerald—that’s the chief of police—and get him involved on it. I’ll be happy to make the call.”

Lauren shook her head but was glad to hear they were, at least, treating this with sincere concern. “I don’t think that’s really necessary. We got the bike back and it was covered, so…I’m not really sure what I’d have him do. Hopefully Debbie will solve the room mystery and whoever stole the bike is probably feeling a bit sorry considering they have to be sporting a few bruises or something given the state of the bike.”

Jennifer was nodding. “All true. But if we can’t solve the mystery to your satisfaction, you just say the word and I’ll be on the horn to Gerald.”

“Thanks for your help.” Lauren left and went up to her room, only remembering about the computer mystery when she got inside. It was where she’d left it this time, so that was a bonus. She had it on the bed, screen up, when her phone rang. She checked her phone, smiling, thinking it might be Jake. It wasn’t, but she was still smiling when she answered. “Daphne, you were next on my call list.”

“Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday—”

“No worries, it turned out to be kind of a crazy evening.”

There was a pause, then Daphne lowered her voice a little and said, “Really? How crazy is crazy? Do tell.”

“Normally I’d say you know me too well to even go in that direction, but in this case…”

Daphne gave a little hoot. “I knew it!”

“You knew nothing of the sort.”

“You said you needed to talk and I knew it wasn’t about your mom.”

“Well, I need to talk about that, too.”

“But?”

Lauren knew she was grinning like an idiot. “But, there might be more to discuss.”

“A-ha!”

She laughed. “I’m here for my mom, and I’m still confused about a few things, not so much from my mother’s viewpoint, but there’s just something about Arlen—”

“Hey, don’t let me forget, I wanted to mention something about that, too, it’s why I called, actually, but first…spill everything! You met someone, didn’t you?”

Lauren frowned, wanting to pursue that line of conversation, but she knew she’d get nowhere until she told Daphne about Jake. “I did.”

“And?”

“And he’s completely not like anyone I’d have ever met in D.C.”

“Thank God.”

Lauren laughed. “Come on, they’re not all that bad.”

“Sure they are. The investment banker I was seeing, Steven? Yeah, he decided it was too difficult to date during such a fluctuating time in the economic marketplace. He’s having too much work anxiety to be emotionally available.”

“Do you think it was just a line? Is he seeing someone else?”

“No, I actually think he means it.”

“Seriously?”

“Could I make this stuff up?”

“Right. I’m sorry.”

“No, that’s okay. Steven is sorry. I’m simply available. Again. So…let me live vicariously through you.”

“For once!”

Daphne laughed. “It was bound to happen, right? So, details, details. You sound giddy. You are so not a giddy person. I want to know everything.”

Lauren filled her in on her less-than-lovely entry into their first meeting, her amazement at how swiftly things were moving, and how simple it all seemed, even counting the little glitch from the night before.

“Sometimes,” Daphne said, “when it’s right, it is that simple. Why needlessly complicate things because they’re going along too well? Just thank your lucky stars that two compatible, right souls have actually crossed paths. That alone is a rare occurrence. So enjoy it for the beauty and uniqueness of what it is and stop looking for trouble.”

“I’m not looking for trouble. It’s already here, anyway.”

“It just sounds to me like he’s trying to work something out for his sister that he can’t really confide in you about because it has to do with her job, and her boss is—”

“Don’t say it.”

Daphne sighed. “Still that bad?”

She filled her in on the barbecue, her talks with her mother, and her still iffy feelings on the subject of Arlen.

“Well, now that you mention it, I might be able to shed some light on that, or possibly just add to the creepy factor.”

Lauren clutched her phone a bit more tightly. “How do you mean?”

“Nothing awful, don’t panic or anything, but you’re telling me you’re getting off vibes about this guy and I’m just saying that maybe your gut isn’t so far off.”

“Why, what do you know?”

“Well, after we talked and I realized you knew nothing about the headhunter who called me, I happened to have a meeting with Todd and I was able to bring it up—”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, other than to ask if he’d put any feelers out on you, job-wise. He was happy to know we’d talked; I told him you were doing well and that you’d talk to him next week, and he said he was looking forward to it. He also said he was absolutely still willing to help you with the job search, but out of respect for your wishes he hasn’t stepped in.”

Lauren’s shoulders rounded a little. “Hunh. I really figured it had to be him. Who else would—”

“Well, I thought so, too, so I did a little digging. I went back to the call logs for that day. With all the new security measures, they keep track of all incoming and outgoing calls, including all numbers dialing in. So, out of curiosity, and because I was so swamped when the call came in that I didn’t take any notes like I usually do, I checked the logs for that headhunter call.”

“And?”

“And the area code is Colorado. Cedar Springs, to be exact.”

Lauren’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? Did you call it? Whose is it?”

“I didn’t call the number because I wasn’t sure what to say and I wasn’t sure what all was going on in your world there, so I figured I’d just call you and let you know about it; go from there.”

“Do you have the number?”

“Do you have a pen?”

Lauren simply tapped open a notepad document on her computer screen. “Shoot.”

Daphne recited the number. “So, what are you going to do with it?”

“Not sure yet. Do a little digging here. What I wonder is how anyone here had our direct office line? I haven’t given it to anyone. Well, my mom has it, of course, but she wouldn’t—”

The pause lengthened, then Daphne said, “I’m pretty sure we’re thinking the same thing here.”

“But what purpose would he have in calling and pretending to be a headhunter? What kinds of questions did you get asked?”

“Well, firstly, you should know, the caller was a woman.”

Lauren got up and paced. “A woman.” And she hated where her thoughts went from there. Was this the little problem that Jake was having? Had Arlen, for whatever reason, put his personal executive assistant—Jake’s sister—up to calling her private office line disguised as a recruiter? And either Jake had gotten wind of it, or Ruby Jean had told him about it, but either way, it put Jake squarely in the middle. It explained a lot. Too much, really, for it to be anything else. “So…do you think it was Arlen putting Ruby Jean up to the call?” she asked Daphne after explaining her thoughts. “But, if so…why? What would he hope to gain out of it that he couldn’t get just by asking me directly? What kinds of questions did she ask?”

“I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to remember exactly, but it was standard stuff. Job performance, compatibility with coworkers, confirming you’d voluntarily left and hadn’t been fired, that sort of thing.”

“They knew that you weren’t my superior, right? Did they ask to speak to Todd?”

“I’m not sure about the first part, but on the latter, no, but I thought that was because he was the one who recommended you for the job, and I was a reference you gave them.”

“Did they ask you personal questions? I mean, as if you were a personal rather than business reference?”

“Other than the trustworthy, dependable, loyal type stuff, no. She did ask if you were fielding other offers, which is a bit unethical, but not entirely out of line if she’s being aggressive. I told her I didn’t know.”

Lauren fell silent, trying to find a linear path through the course of events that made sense. “You know, Arlen told my mom about me quitting my job before I did.”

“Seriously? How did he know?”

“My mother says he follows political news and the Hill quite closely.”

“Okay, but your leaving Todd’s team wasn’t exactly big news on the media circuit, so how would he know that?”

“I know, I thought about that, too. I’m not really sure, unless, after marrying my mother he was keeping specific tabs on me.”

There was a pause, then Daphne said, “Well, that could either be really sweet and conscientious…or kind of creepy.”

“I’ve met him, and I’m voting on the latter. Maybe creepy is too strong. He’s not horrible or anything, but there’s just—”

“Something about him. That’s gut instinct talking; don’t ignore it.”

“I’m not. I’m just not sure what, if anything, there really is to do about it. I’ve looked into his political leanings, his business dealings. I’ve just begun on the latter, really, but nothing is leaping out at me. It might just be that I don’t like the guy and my mom does—end of story.”

“So, she’s crazy about this guy? I guess she must be given the elopement, but if you’re this naturally averse to him, what do you think she sees in him? No offense, just—”

“None taken, truly. I’ve been wondering the same thing.”

“Have you been able to discuss it with her? I know you two have really had it rough this past six months, but I was hoping with you being there face-to-face…”

“We’ve definitely patched things up. And she’s done her best to explain Arlen’s appeal to her. It’s certainly not the love match of the century, and she says she’s okay with that. There are certain things she gets from him, or from being married to him, that have enhanced her life.” Lauren went on to recap the highlights of her conversations with her mother, prompting a few surprised comments from Daphne who had met Charlene on numerous occasions during the time they’d worked together.