A Younger Man (Mount Faith Series: Book 7) (10 page)

He liked that. He didn't realize it before, but he enjoyed looking at a woman eyeball to eyeball. Davia had nice eyes: dark, brown, almost black. She was also wearing eye shadow, which gave her eyes the appearance of being larger than they were.

"Because," Davia said swallowing, "she is a good woman to emulate. She has loads of confidence and all of that." No way was she going to tell him that she wanted to emulate Anita to make him notice her.

Vanley accepted her explanation without further argument and they walked into the cafeteria and ordered their food.

"Hey, Davia," a guy in a yellow shirt called to her before they could find an empty table. He was waving in a frenzy.

"You don't mind if we eat with him, do you?" Davia asked Vanley. "That's Raul. I've been having lunch with him for the past week."

Vanley shook his head and watched as she walked toward Raul. She had a lovely shape. Why hadn't he noticed that before? She had all the curves in the right places and was well proportioned.

Raul looked put out when he sat down with Davia, and he made his displeasure known as he directed the conversation at Davia after grunting a greeting to Vanley when they were introduced.

Vanley found himself in the unenviable position of being a third wheel. Usually this would not bother him because he was not supposed to have feelings for Davia, but today it bothered him. He felt a bit of jealousy. Why he would be jealous over Davia was anybody's guess. He loved Anita. He always had. He had been patiently waiting for her to make up her mind about him and tell him her dratted secret, but here he was, jealous over Davia.

"Isn't that right, Vanley?" Davia asked him, intruding on his self-examination.

"Huh?" he asked, looking between her and Raul.

"Sorry," he said, apologetically. "You two seemed to be having a very involved conversation; I zoned out."

Davia winced. Maybe she had encouraged Raul a bit too much. She wanted Vanley to see that someone else was interested in her, but she didn't want for him to zone out.

"I was just remarking to Raul that President Bancroft has been at the school here for close to fifteen years."

"Yes, it's about that long," Vanley said vaguely.

He watched her mouth as she smiled with Raul, and then he looked away. What was the matter with him? Obviously there was a crack in his impenetrable Anita barrier that he had encased his heart in to dissuade all new comers.

Chapter Seven

Davia felt a tiny bit of guilt about the fact that she enjoyed one whole week in the office without Anita. She had gotten the chance to go home earlier than usual and took leisurely lunch breaks. Most importantly, she had had lunch with Vanley once. She had also seen him at church again, and he had offered to drop her home. He kept staring at her contemplatively.

That was a good thing; he had never looked at her that way before, like he was seeing her for the first time and he couldn't figure her out.

She felt vindicated concerning her makeover; though it had cost her almost all of her savings, and now she had to start going to a hairdresser to do whatever it was people who had relaxed hair did.

Anita marched into the office promptly at eight the next morning.

"Good morning, Davia. You look different," Anita said hoping to sound brisk and chirpy, but she still had a stuffy nose and a cough that would not go away, so she didn't quite pull it off.

She sighed when she looked at the pile of correspondence on Davia's desk.

"Okay, bring them in," she said hoarsely. "We can work flat out till lunch time. After that I have a faculty meeting."

Davia grimaced and took up her in-and-out tray. "Yes boss, nice to have you back."

Anita sat at her desk, and Davia handed her the correspondences one by one.

She made notes occasionally as Anita dictated. They paused their frantic working pace when Anita's cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen, sighed, and then answered the phone.

Davia was stapling two documents together when Anita growled into her phone. "No, don't you dare give Chudney bones to eat! It will puncture his delicate stomach."

Davia was trying hard not to listen to the conversation, but she had never heard Anita sound so passionate and bothered. Usually she was so in control.

"He is my dog," Anita said. "I don't need a lecture. I don't care if you gave your dogs bones; Chudney is not an ordinary dog. I am in the middle of something, don't call me again."

She hung up the phone and looked at Davia, sheepishly sorry. "It's just that she brings out the worst in me."

Davia nodded. She wanted to ask who brought out the worst in Anita, but she had been practicing professional restraint. So she dutifully continued her task.

When they broke for lunch and she was sitting at her desk contemplating a soggy cheese sandwich, she wondered about the conversation. First, she didn't know that Anita had a dog, and secondly, she didn't know that she lived with someone. The person sounded like a teenager.

She didn't know whether Anita had a child living with her, but then again, she didn't know a lot about Anita. She was super-private and generally kept conversations about her personal life out of the office, until now.

She looked at the soggy parts of the sandwich where the tomato made a mush of the bread and closed her eyes before she bit into it. She didn't like to see the soggy mess, but she couldn't afford to leave her desk to get something from the cafeteria.

"Looks yummy."

When she opened her eyes in mid chew, a slim guy in a brown suit was leaning on the doorpost.

"Is Miss Parkinson in?"

Davia shook her head and hurriedly swallowed, "No, she's not in."

She put down her sandwich and glared at it; it really looked awful. "May I ask who is asking?"

"Harry Campbell," he flashed a badge at her, "detective."

"Is Anita in trouble?" Davia asked, genuinely concerned.

"No," Harry said. "I just need to ask her a few questions."

"I have no idea when she'll be out of that faculty meeting that she's gone to. The top brass of the university can take ages and ages when they meet."

"Have you seen any unusual person coming to visit Miss Parkinson?" Harry asked casually, sitting in front of Davia's desk and making himself at home.

"Define unusual," Davia said playfully, "because this university has quite a few unusual characters."

"Just anybody out of the ordinary," Harry said. "Somebody looking desperate."

"No," Davia frowned.
Desperate. How does someone look desperate?

"Has Miss Parkinson been acting herself lately?" Harry asked again.

Davia shook her head. "No she hasn't; she was sick with the flu for a couple of days and she still sounds like she should be in bed."

"Not that," Harry said impatiently. "Has she been getting secret phone calls, acting shifty."

Davia thought of this morning when she found out that Anita had a dog and had somebody living at her house. She had been talking low on the phone. That was unusual. She had looked at Davia cagily before she spoke.

However, that was not enough to report on her. Besides, she would never do that, even though Vanley had a thing for Anita and a part of her was jealous of her boss. She would not inform on her.

Davia shrugged. "No detective. I am not aware of anything out of the ordinary."

Harry slipped his card on her desk. "Miss Parkinson is suspected of harboring a fugitive, somebody who escaped a murder charge."

Davia gasped.

"If you hear anything or see anything out of the ordinary, call me," Harry said to her, tapping his finger on the business card. "Do it for her: This person maybe armed and dangerous."

Davia nodded and took up the business card gingerly.

When Harry left she wondered about the conversation she heard this morning. Anita definitely had somebody staying with her; was it the fugitive who was armed and dangerous? She doubted that. Anita sounded like she was scolding a child, not a fugitive. They had been arguing about her dog, for crying out loud.

She looked at the business card again. Something was definitely up with Anita. She was going to be watching her very closely.

*****

Tuesday, Davia flipped the mini calendar on her desk. It was February 1, thirteen days to Valentine’s Day and day one of her campaign to watch Anita more closely. It was also the day when she planned to pursue Vanley. She did not go through a makeover for nothing.

She was tired of being Miss Country Bumpkin. Anita may not know it, or even care, but she had competition for Vanley's affections.

She arranged her stationary supplies in an orderly manner on the desk to give herself a sense of order before she started the workday. Anita was not in yet, but usually came in at eight o'clock on the dot. Davia glanced at her desk clock and got up quickly; it was quarter to eight. Anita had a file cabinet where she kept top-secret information, but she kept it locked. Davia was never allowed to go in there and she had not been curious to see what was in there until now.

Anita usually had the key on a bunch with her car and house keys. She took them with her everywhere. Now that Anita's life had gotten so interesting and mysterious, Davia was dying to know what she had locked in the file cabinet.

She looked around the office. The school had a clean desk policy. Everything had to be packed up and locked away in the evenings.

Davia pulled out the drawers around Anita's desk. She couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. She glanced at Anita's personal work diary and flipped through it quickly. There was an entry there from two weeks ago: singles retreat. Her heart jerked with jealously. So, she had gone to the singles retreat. No coincidence there, she must have gone with Vanley.

"I didn't expect to see you in here," Vanley said from the door.

Davia's head snapped up guiltily. "I work here." Her high-pitched laugh sounded fake, even to her ears.

"I know," Vanley said shrugging. "I expected to see Anita...how are you?"

"Fine," Davia said, smiling brightly. Even though she felt a little let down after what he said.

"You have lipstick on your teeth," Vanley said pointing to her mouth.

Davia groaned and exited the office, pulling out a mirror from her desk and peering into it.

She looked up at Vanley, who had followed her. "Better?"

Vanley nodded. He was looking at her intently now. She was in a dark brown suit, and her hair was in sleek black bun. She looked pretty and sophisticated. She had on way too much lipstick, but it highlighted the fact that she had an adorable pout. He dragged his eyes from her lip's tempting glisten and crossed his arms.

Davia nodded at him and an uncomfortable silence reigned in the air. She was squirming under his intensive study of her. She felt like screaming to him to stop. She looked at the clock, any minute now they would hear Anita's heels clicking on the marble floor.

She stopped squirming under Vanley's stare long enough to check him out. He was dressed in semi-formal wear: a green shirt without a tie and black dress pants. He looked handsome and cool. Her plan to get him to like her better than Anita suddenly seemed silly and childish. Obviously, he came to see Anita; he went to the singles retreat with her. She was barking up the wrong tree.

"Want to meet me for lunch at the cafeteria?" Vanley asked her suddenly. 

"Me?" Davia squealed.

"Yes, you," Vanley pushed his hands into his pants pockets, "but if you are too busy..."

"No, I'll be there," Davia said excitedly. "I usually go for lunch at twelve-thirty."

"Well, twelve thirty it is." Vanley nodded and then exited the room. Duty done. He hoped his uncle was happy. His uncle had called him earlier that morning, reminding him that he had two months left to go out with Davia. His meddling uncle would not take no for an answer, and his uncle might be the only one who would tell him what Anita's secret was.

He passed her in the hallway before he exited the building. She was in her red power suit. She was serious; he could see it on her face.

"Vanley," she greeted him flatly.

"Anita," he nodded to her. Then he stopped. "Is your friend Carol still around?"

"My friend?" Anita spun around and tightened her hand on her briefcase.

"Yes." Vanley nodded. "Didn't she tell you that I stopped by to see you the day after the retreat? You were sleeping. I called your phone the day after that as well. If I didn't have to go out of town for a few days, I would have stopped by again."

"I can't remember you coming by, and Carol never said a thing," Anita said breathlessly. "You talked to her?"

"Yes." Vanley nodded. "She's pretty... how should I put it... zany?"

Anita nodded numbly. "Yes, that's her. What did she tell you?" She asked a bit too sharply.

Vanley grinned. "Your secret."

Anita gasped. "She wouldn't."