The Girl from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 1) (12 page)

“Kenzie, what is going on? I’m being run
off the road and stalked and approached by total strangers with messages for
your father! What did you get me into?”

“What-What kind of messages?” Her
friend’s voice was little more than a whisper.

“Some cryptic message to tell him
someone is looking for him.”

“Wh-Who? This Mandarino person?”

“No, I’m supposed to tell him the same
thing. I think.” Makenna frowned, trying to recall the exact wording. “None of
it made any sense. Maybe the man even thought your father’s name was Joseph
Mandarino, I’m not sure. I thought he had me mixed up with someone else, but he
called me by name. Your name, that is.” When her friend did not reply, Makenna
repeated, “What is going on, Kenzie?”

“I-I don’t know. Honestly.”

“But you have your suspicions.” She
could tell by the hesitancy in her roommate’s voice.

“Yes, I have my suspicions.” Her sigh
carried over the telephone. “I have serious suspicions about my father. I-I
think maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“I think he might have been involved in
something he shouldn’t have been involved in,” Kenzie said quietly.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Honestly. I just know we
moved around a lot when I was a kid.”

“That’s hardly proof of doing something
wrong, Kenzie. A lot of people move around a lot.”

“We never stayed anywhere more than a
couple of years, tops. I was never allowed to join any groups at school, never
allowed to invite any friends over. Half the time I was home-schooled.”

“I know, Ken, and I’m sorry you had such
a lonesome childhood,” Makenna said softly. She could hear the pain in her
friend’s voice, could feel it in her own heart.

“I was never allowed to have my picture
taken with the class. I only have a handful of pictures to show for my entire
childhood.” There was a catch in her voice at the admission.

“Was it a religious thing?”

She laughed, the sound void of humor.
“We never went to church. We never went anywhere, Makenna. We never made
friends, we never socialized, we never had any fun.”

“That doesn’t mean your father was
involved in anything wrong. It means he was a lousy father.”

She could hear someone speaking to Kenzie
in the background. “Look, the physical therapist just came in and I’ve got to
go.”

“Okay, but we’re not done here. We have
some serious talking to do,” Makenna warned.

“You be careful, Makenna. I couldn’t
stand it if anything happened to you, especially because of me.”

“I’m fine,” Makenna said, hoping it was
true. “Call me when you’re done.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Makenna rubbed her hands over her face
wearily. What a day! And she still had one more phone call to make….

She hesitated only a moment before she dialed
the number Lisa Lewis had given her. She almost hoped the other woman didn’t
answer, but after three rings, she heard a soft Southern voice on the other end
of the line. “Hello?”

“Is this Cara Sims?”

“Yes. Who is this?”

“My name is M -” she caught herself just
in time, “McKenzie Reese. I got your number from Lisa Lewis. I had a few
questions I wanted to ask you about a man named Hardin Kaczmarek.”

“Lordy, that was a name I was hoping to
never hear again!” the other woman said bitterly. “What did he do this time?”

“N-Nothing. I met him a couple of days
ago, here in New Hampshire.”

“New Hampshire? I didn’t think he’d ever
leave Texas, but good riddance, I’d say!”

“He’s vacationing here.”

The woman snorted. “Probably running
from the law. I hear he’s mixed up in all sorts of crap these days. You haven’t
fallen for his lies, have you?”

“I-I have no idea what are lies, and
what are not,” Makenna hedged.

“If words are comin’ from his mouth,
they’re lies,” the woman assured her. “Granted, it’s a hot mouth capable of
doing some amazing things, but tellin’ the truth ain’t one of them.”

“Do you mind if I ask how you know
Hardin?”

“Do you mean how did we meet, or how do
I
know
him?”

“I-I suppose both.”

“We met at a barbeque given by mutual
friends. The man swept me off my feet. He was the best lookin’ man I’d ever
seen, and, Lord! What a fine body! He took me home that night, called me the
next day, sent me flowers, did all the things no man had ever done for me
before. He was the most charming, flattering,
nicest
man I’d ever met.”

Able to visualize every word, Makenna
nodded in total understanding. “What- What happened?”

“We moved in together. And all of sudden
it all changed. He became obsessive and jealous and suspicious of everything I
did. I wasn’t allowed to have friends or use the phone or wear makeup or do
anything that didn’t involve him. And if I did, I paid for it. The first time
it was just a busted lip. The last time I ended up in the hospital with a
couple of busted ribs, a concussion, and a restraining order against him. They
threw him in jail, overnight this time, and I high-tailed it out of there
before he could come home and beat me again. I hope to God I never see him
again as long as I live.”

By the time Cara Sims finished with her
story, tears were streaming down Makenna’s face. She felt like the ground had
shifted beneath her feet. She was alone in an unfamiliar state, caught up in
some crazy scheme where people were chasing her and giving her cryptic messages
for a man she didn’t even know, and the one person she thought she could trust
was a violent monster. Despite his charm and his wit and his tantalizing
kisses, Hardin Kaczmarek was apparently guilty of domestic abuse, and it was hardly
an isolated incident.

“You didn’t give him this number, did
you?” the other woman asked suddenly. “If he tracks me down, I’m afraid he
might kill me this time!”

“No, n-no, of course not,” Makenna
assured her hastily. “I would never do that. And I’m sorry to have bothered
you, but I needed to know if what Lisa told me was the truth.”

“If she told you Hardin Kaczmarek was a
low-down, lying, mean, rotten coward who beats on women, then, yes, she was
telling you the truth. If she warned you to stay away for your own good, she
was telling the truth. Believe me. Do yourself a favor and get as far away from
the man as you can.”

“Thank you for your time,” was all she
could manage before she punched the ‘end’ button and threw her cell phone on
the couch, then curled herself into a ball and cried.

Until that moment, she hadn’t realized
just how much she really and truly
liked
Hardin Kaczmarek. It went far
beyond the physical, even though there was a great chemistry between them; he
was so easy to talk to, so seemingly sincere, so charming and witty. He was
interested in
her
, and what she had to say, what she thought, how she
felt. Makenna felt like she had known him for years, rather than a few days.
Hardin made her laugh, made her feel special, made her feel alive. Best of all,
he made her feel safe. Despite the crazy situation she found herself in, she
thought she had an ally in him, a safe harbor in the storm. She had even found
herself thinking there might be a future for them, once they got back to Texas.
It was crazy, but she thought she might actually be falling in love with the
man, even though she barely knew him.

It just went to show that people weren’t
always what they seemed. Apparently an evil and abusive man hid behind the
engaging facade that was Hardin Kaczmarek. And he was armed with a gun.

Ignoring the fact that she, too, hid a
secret, Makenna allowed herself five more minutes to wallow in self-pity. Then
she wiped the tears away, resolved to end her relationship with the handsome
stranger, hardened her heart to love, and deliberately reached for her camera.
She still had a job to do, and the days here were quickly slipping away.

Engrossed in her work, Makenna jerked
when she heard the knock on her door. She glanced at the time as she went to
answer, surprised to see that over two hours had elapsed. Peering through the
peephole and seeing Hardin on the other side, she felt an unfamiliar wave of
fear wash over her. Yesterday, her heart leapt with excitement when he was
near; today she couldn’t forget the terrible stories Cara Sims had told her.

She knew it was important not to make
him angry. She needed to extricate herself from their budding relationship
gently, without making him suspicious of her reasons. Praying she had the
skills to pull it off, Makenna took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

“Hey,” he said. Ever the gentleman, or
so he pretended, he asked, “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” She forced herself to open
the door wide and pretend nothing was wrong. “Did you find out anything?”

Hardin ran his hand over the back of his
head, ruffling his short hair. “Not a thing.” When she hovered near the door,
he sank onto a nearby barstool. She thankfully put the bar between them,
stepping to the other side and casually leaning onto it.

“You didn’t see the gray car anymore?”

“I got a glimpse of it cruising down the
main road. I tried to keep up, following a couple of streets over, but I lost
it. I even made myself visible and headed out of town three different times,
giving them the chance to follow, but they didn’t take the bait.”

“What about the green Malibu?” 

“Haven’t seen it since yesterday.”

“Was that only yesterday?” she asked,
amazed that so much had happened in that time.

“Hard to believe, but yeah.” He let out
a weary sigh, running his hand over his hair again in a gesture of frustration.
They both fell silent, lost in thought, before he straightened on the stool and
changed the subject. “So, what time do you want to meet the Lewises? I say we
get this over with as soon as possible and call it an early night. Say you have
a lot of work to do or something.”

Seeing the perfect opportunity, Makenna
jumped on it. She hoped the wild pounding of her heart wouldn’t drown out her
words. She tried for a normal tone as she said, “Actually, that’s no
exaggeration. In fact, I think I’m going to have to cancel on dinner.”

Hardin looked at her sharply. She saw
the way his shoulders stiffened, even though he gave no other indication of
displeasure. “Oh?”

“Honesty, I have a ton of work to do.”
She motioned to the coffee table, where her laptop sat amid scattered papers
and notebooks and her camera equipment. “I’ve been working on it since we got
back, and I’m nowhere near done. I only have a couple of more days here, and I
need to see what I’m lacking, what I still need to shoot, who I still need to
interview, that sort of thing. Talking to those people today gave me a lot more
to think about. So I think it’s best if I just stay in tonight, and work on the
project.”

Hardin was slow in responding. When he
looked up, his blue eyes were clearly troubled, and Makenna felt her heart
tumble and dive. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, even if what
Cara Sims said was true. For four days, he had been her friend. In spite of
everything she now knew about him, she was going to miss him, and the thought
of what might have been.

“I understand,” he said. He reached out
and took her hand, forcing her to hold hands with him. “Really, I do. But I get
the feeling there’s more going on here. Or maybe I should say, ‘not’ going on.”

“I-I don’t know what you mean,” she
hedged, avoiding his eyes.

He ran his thumb over her fingers,
causing shivers to dance up her arm. There was no denying these were shivers of
delight, not fear. “I’m getting the distinct feeling that something has
changed. For you, anyway. I had a great time yesterday.” His tone was almost
accusatory.

“I did, too!” The moment the words were
out, she regretted them. She was supposed to be wiggling out of their
relationship, not encouraging it. If she admitted how very much yesterday had
meant to her, in spite of the car chase and the man with the gun, he would
assume she was still interested. She was sending mixed messages, even to
herself.

Makenna heaved a sigh and shuffled her
way between honesty and excuses. “I did have fun yesterday. It was all
fantastic… the mountains, the picnic, the waterfalls, the scenery-”

“The bridges,” he broke in softly.

She glanced at his eyes, noting the
twinkle in their blue depths. Darn, but the man was so downright
likable
!
Being honest, she couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, and the bridges. Everything
was wonderful. Except for, of course, nearly being ran off the mountain by a
speeding car and having a man follow us through the woods with a gun. I
definitely could have done without either of those!”

“I’m not making light of all that, or of
what happened today. But I’m not talking about that, Kenzie,” he said
reproachfully. “I’m talking about us. Something has changed between us, and I
don’t think I like it very much. I know I don’t.”

Makenna pulled her hand from his and
straightened. “Look, I-I had an amazing time yesterday, in spite of everything.
But…”

“There’s always a but,” he sighed. When
she said nothing, silently nibbling on her bottom lip without looking him in
the eye, he asked, “Was it something I said? Something I did?”

Makenna hesitated, not sure how to
answer. What she finally said was absolutely the truth, even if not all of it.
“This whole thing has been happening awfully fast, Hardin. I feel like I’ve
known you forever, but the truth is, five days ago we were total strangers.”

“I know,” he admitted. “But I just felt
this instant connection with you.”

“I felt it, too. You’re so easy to talk
to.” For an instant, she stumbled into his clear blue eyes. With a mental
shake, she pulled herself out and continued, “But I came here on assignment,
and I can’t let my personal feelings come between me and the job I was sent to
do. It’s very important that I do a good job here, for a lot of reasons.”
If
you only knew!
“Please understand, I-I can’t put a four day friendship
before a life-long dream.”

If she didn’t know better, she would
think that was admiration shining in his eyes. He nodded, but his brow wrinkled
in consternation. “I do understand,” he insisted. “And I can fully appreciate
your dedication and your professionalism. It’s just that… it felt like it was
more than just a friendship. Whatever it is, I was hoping we could continue
this -” he waved his hand back and forth between them, “once we got home. We
don’t live that far away from one another.”

“I-I can’t make any promises,” she
countered. “I have to concentrate on this assignment right now. That has to be
my focus. That, and finding out what on earth is going on with these crazy car
chases.”

“So that’s what we’ll do. We’ll keep
things casual,
for now
,” he emphasized with a glint in his eyes, “and
we’ll concentrate on finding out who drives these cars and why they’re after
you.”

“I can’t ask you to do that. You have to
practice, and I’ve already taken up so much of your time. I’ll be fine. I’m
only here for two more days.”

“Kenzie,” he said, his voice suddenly
sounding stern. “I may be willing to back off on pursuing a relationship with
you, but there’s no way in hell that I’m leaving you to fend for yourself
against these unknown men. What kind of man do you think I am?”

His amazing blue eyes were filled with
concern and something more. Hurt? Disappointment? Betrayal? She tried telling
herself not to be moved by the azure depths, but he was making it difficult.
Before she had to answer, she was saved by the ringing of her telephone.

“Sorry, let me get this,” she murmured,
racing around the bar to retrieve her phone off the couch. She didn’t recognize
the number, so her voice was a bit cautious as she answered, “Hello?”

“Yes, hello, Kenzie. This is Simon
Hanks. We met this afternoon at the diner.”

“Oh, yes, Simon, hello.” She glanced at
Hardin, who tried to hide the frown that flashed briefly across his handsome
face.

“I enjoyed the talk we had today. You
have a very inquisitive mind.”

“And you were very helpful. You gave me
some very good information and a lot to think about.” Partly for Hardin’s benefit,
she expounded on the topic. “In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing this
afternoon, researching some of the points you made. It’s created some very
intense digging on my part.”

“I’d be happy to share my notes, save
you from all that work.”

“Now you tell me!”

“I was thinking we might be able to have
dinner tonight. I could give you my notes then.”

He was hitting on her? Makenna tried to
keep the surprise off her face as she stole another glimpse at Hardin. “Uhm… I
really have a lot of work I need to do,” she said, biting on her lip.

“You can bring your boyfriend along, if
you want.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she corrected
him quickly. She refused to look at Hardin’s reaction.

“What you asked me today, about the mob
being involved…. I didn’t want to discuss it there, but I may have some
information you’d find interesting.”

“What kind of information?”

“I’d rather not discuss it over the
phone, but I think I have a file you would like to see.”

“I think you might be right,” Makenna
agreed, fully intrigued.

“You’ll have dinner with me then?”

“Yes, I’d love to. Except, I don’t have
a car. My rental broke down.”

“I can pick you up.”

“I’d appreciate it. What time?”

“I could be there in about an hour.”

“That sounds fine.” She gave him
directions and agreed to meet him in the lobby in an hour. When she turned
around, Hardin was no longer trying to hide his scowl. His face was set in hard
lines, his frown obvious.

“That was Simon Hanks, the man from earlier
today,” she explained needlessly.

“So I gathered.”

His cold tone and dark countenance
reminded her of Cara Sims’ accusations. A tiny prickle of apprehension worked
its way up her spine. The last thing she wanted to do was provoke him.

“He-He has some information he wants to
give me. He even offered his notes on all his research.”

“Sounds like that will be helpful.” Even
though his words were conversational, his expression was still hard.

“I wish I had known that two hours ago,
before I spent all that time doing my own research,” she said wistfully. For
some reason, she hesitated in telling Hardin about the mob connection. It was
something Cara had said, although she couldn’t recall exactly what it had been.
Some inner voice cautioned her to keep this latest tidbit to herself for now.

“Then you should definitely go.”

In spite of everything she now knew
about him, her heart was sending mixed signals to her brain again. She was
feeling guilty for breaking her dinner date with him, only to go out with another
man and making the plans in front of him, no less. She could see the hurt in
his blue eyes, the bitter slap of rejection upon his handsome face. He was
being so understanding about it, so supportive. Could she have been wrong? What
if Cara wasn’t telling her the truth?

Stop it!
her mind hissed.
She had covered enough stories on domestic violence to know that most
perpetrators came across as charming and sincere in the beginning. Even after
the abuse, these men could often elicit sympathy from their own victims with
their act of remorse and sincerity. Men like Hardin were excellent actors. She
could not afford to forget that.

“If his information is as good as he
hinted, this could be the angle I was looking for, the one thing that will blow
this project out of the water.” Makenna chattered nervously as she walked
toward the door, signaling that it was time for him to leave. “It could also
save me a ton work on research. Really, I can’t afford
not
to meet with
him tonight.”

At the door, Hardin turned around to
face her. “I get it, Kenzie. And I understand. I may not like it, but I
understand.” He started to reach out to her, thought better of it, and dropped
his hand. “Have a good time tonight. And be careful. Keep your eyes out for
anything suspicious.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“I just want you to be safe, Kenzie.
That’s the important thing.”

She felt the sting of tears behind her
eyes. Why did he have to be so nice? She almost wished he would be mean, yell
at her, accuse her of leading him on and dumping him for another guy. Anything
to keep her from feeling so sad right now, from making her feel like such a
heel; anything to keep her from caring about him.

“Thank you, Hardin,” she said softly.
Sincerely. “For everything.”

He looked as if he wanted to say
something more, to reach out for her again, but he held himself in check.