Читать книгу Her Mysterious Houseguest - Jane Toombs, Jane Toombs - Страница 9

Though not heavy, the cold, persistent rain hadn’t let up since he’d crossed the Mackinac Bridge, entering Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from the lower one. Mikel Starzov grimaced. Great way to spend his two-month vacation—in the rain. And in the wilderness, besides, since towns had proved to be small and far between. Having been raised in and around New York City, he felt more at home in people places rather than places surrounded by trees.

Not that he regretted the promise he’d made to his colleague, Henderson, on his wedding day. He’d find Steve’s bride’s missing sister, just as he’d told both Victoria and Steve he would. He might not have expected the search to lead him into such a desolate area, but he meant to live up to his nickname at headquarters, where they called him “Nemesis” because he’d never failed to track down his quarry. This time would be no exception.

The picture he had of Renee Reynaud at thirteen showed a wiry, thin-faced, undeveloped girl with bright red hair, wary amber eyes and freckles. He’d had the computer expert at headquarters make him a composite of what she might look like now, fourteen years later, but the guy had cautioned him about possible variations since puberty tended to bring about impossible-to-predict changes.

If she was still alive, that is. Always a possibility she wasn’t. His hunch, though, told him she was still walking the earth. His hunches made him uneasy because he felt following them wasn’t professional. And, by damn, a special government agent needed to stay professional at all costs. Still, he and Steve both had survived a couple of times only because he’d paid attention to a hunch.

At the moment he’d better pay attention to where he was. The sign coming up read Ojibway, the village he was looking for. By the time he reached the town, the rain had diminished to a fine mist. Pulling into the first gas station he came to, he filled the tank before asking directions. Buy something and it makes people less suspicious of questions, he thought.

“Aino Saari’s?” the man at the inside counter repeated. “That’s easy. Just go down this here street till you come to the bridge on your left. Cross over the river and go a couple miles. Keep looking for a black barn to the left. Old Aino’s a joker. Some guy told him no farmer ever painted a barn black and so Aino goes and paints his black as the inside of a cow. Well, you find that barn and there you are.”

As he drove on, Mikel realized he’d actually never seen a black barn before, not anywhere he’d been. Saari’s would be a first. And, he hoped, the end of his search.

At the same time as the blue pickup ahead of him signaled for a left turn, he spotted the landmark barn and turned into the private driveway behind the pickup, stopping a short distance behind the truck. He watched the driver, an older man, open the door and climb down, coming alert when he saw the man stagger and clutch at the side of the truck. Drunk? Or in trouble? Not waiting to find out, Mikel leaped from his car and hurried to the pickup.

“Are you okay, sir?” he asked when he reached the gray-haired man, whose cap had fallen onto the wet ground.

“Can’t make my legs work right,” the man gasped.

Mikel slung his arm around the guy’s shoulders, close enough now to smell alcohol if liquor was the cause of the problem. When he didn’t detect that telltale odor, and the man slumped against him, he decided this was an emergency situation. “Think you can make it to my car?” he asked. “I’ll get you to a hospital.”

As he half carried the man to the nondescript older car he was driving, a dark-haired woman rushed out of the nearby house, crying, “Aino, what’s wrong?”

“Help me get him into my car,” Mikel ordered when she came close. “He needs a doctor.”

She obeyed without any fuss, and once they eased Aino into the back seat, she got in beside him. “I need directions,” Mikel told her as he slid behind the wheel. “You do have a hospital in Ojibway, I hope.”

She nodded. “Go right onto the highway, back to town. I’ll tell you where to turn when we get there.”

While they sped into Ojibway, he heard her murmuring to Aino as she supported his head on her shoulder. When they reached the hospital, Mikel jumped out and hurried into the emergency entrance. Moments later he followed a gurney out to the car and helped the male paramedic extract Aino from the back seat and onto the gurney. Once inside the hospital again, he was relegated to the tiny waiting room while Aino was wheeled off and the young woman steered to a desk to answer questions and sign forms. After a time she joined Mikel in the waiting room.

“They won’t let me be with him,” she said, her voice breaking.

“Tests to run,” he told her, feeling inadequate. His impulse was to put his arms around her for comfort, but now that he had time to notice, she was not only young, but a striking brunette who very likely would misinterpret such a gesture from a stranger.

Blinking back tears, she focused on him. “Thank God you were there to help,” she said. “I’m Rachel Hill, Aino’s cousin. Oh, I do hope he’s going to be all right.”

“I hope so, too.” Mikel meant every word. The old man might be his only chance to pick up Renee’s trail. “My name’s Mikel Starzov, by the way.”

“You were coming to see Aino?”

He nodded, then added, “Actually I wanted to talk to him about his son Leo.” He knew it was always good to toss out a bit of info on the chance of picking up something useful. If she was a relative of Aino’s, she must have been acquainted with Leo.

“Leo’s been dead for seven years,” she said.

“I realize that. Did you know him?”

“Yes.” She clenched her hands together. “Do you think if I asked they’d tell me how Aino’s doing? I’m so worried about him.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Mikel managed to catch the attention of a nurse hurrying past.

“Aino Saari?” she said in response to Mikel’s inquiry. “Doctor thinks he’s suffered a cerebral vascular accident. We’ll know more when the tests are done.”

“How is he?” Rachel’s voice was ragged.

The nurse touched her arm. “He’s holding his own. We’ll let you see him as soon as possible. I know it’s hard to wait.” With that she left them.

Watching Rachel’s face start to crumple, Mikel decided that now that she knew his name he no longer qualified as a complete stranger and she really did need comfort. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her back to the waiting room. There she leaned against him, crying, and he held her gently, aware she wasn’t really aware of him as anything but a fellow human who wanted to help.

Which he was, at least for the moment. He truly wanted to offer what comfort he could to Rachel Hill, the questions could wait. He had to admit, though, he couldn’t help being very much aware that she was an attractive young woman who fit perfectly into his arms.

After a few moments, she pulled away. “Eva,” she said in a choked voice, fumbling for a tissue.

Mikel came to attention. “Eva?” he repeated, knowing that was the name of Leo’s daughter.

Rachel wiped her eyes. “Aino’s granddaughter. She’s in Finland visiting relatives. I should call her, but…”

“You think it might be better to wait until you know more.” It wasn’t a question.

“Don’t you?”

He could hardly say he’d prefer to have Eva return as soon as possible so he could talk to her about her father and the missing Renee. “Surely they’ll let you see Aino soon,” he temporized.

She tried to smile at him and her brave effort made his chest tight. This gal was having more of an effect on him than he liked. Cardinal rule—never get involved with anyone, especially a woman, who was connected with a case. He might not be working for the agency in this instance, but that didn’t mean the rule didn’t apply. The one time he’d violated it had not only nearly cost him his job, but his life as well.

If only Rachel’s hair wasn’t so black and glossy, her brown eyes so soft and warm. She was more than pretty—gorgeous from head to toe was closer. Strange some guy hadn’t snapped her up by now. Come to think of it, maybe one had. “Is there anyone you’d like me to call?” he asked.

Rachel shook her head. “No, with Eva away, there’s just Aino and me.”

Mikel took that to mean no husband, but he didn’t like to admit knowing the fact made him feel better. He was not going to get involved.

“Cerebral accident means a stroke, doesn’t it?” she said.

“Yes.”

Rachel sighed. “He’s a good man, he doesn’t deserve this.”

“No one deserves to be sick.”

“You’re right. But Aino’s special to me. He took me in when I was orphaned. Except for Eva, he’s my only relative.”

Thinking his questions might distract her from her worry over Aino, Mikel commented, “You said you’d known his son, Leo. Did he live in Ojibway?”

“No, not really. He was a teacher who taught in various Upper Peninsula towns.”

“Since he had a daughter I assume he was married.”

“His wife died right after he came back to the Upper Peninsula.”

“Oh? Then he lived elsewhere before that?”

“He must have. I didn’t really know him before he returned here.”

Her answers, though brief, came naturally. Mikel was good at detecting lies from truth. He was pretty sure Rachel wasn’t lying.

“How about you?” she asked.

“Me?”

“I’ve told you who my relatives are. It’s your turn.”

“Grandmother.” He hadn’t stopped to see Grandma Sonia on his way through New York and felt guilty because he didn’t visit as often as he should. She was hale and hearty and perfectly able to care for herself, but he knew she was lonesome since his grandfather died.

“Just one grandmother?”

“That’s it.”

The nurse they’d talked to appeared in the doorway. “Rachel,” she said, “Aino’s been transferred to ICU. You can visit him there now, but please keep the visit brief.”

“I’ll wait here,” Mikel said.

Rachel left him there, surprised at her wish that he could come with her. After following the directions she’d been given, she found Aino in the three-bed intensive care unit hooked up to various bags and monitors. He opened his eyes when she stood by his bed.

“Guess this old goat’s gonna make it,” he told her.

Rachel bent and kissed his cheek. “You scared me.”

“That young man who helped get me here—who was he?”

“His name is Mikel Starzov, that’s all I know.” Aino didn’t need to have her tell him that Mikel was kind and comforting and that she liked him, even though his questions about Leo had made her uneasy.

“The doc says if I hadn’t gotten here so quick I might’ve been in a lot worse shape. He thinks I might come out of this pretty good and we got this Mikel Starzov to thank for that.”

She nodded.

“So I want you to invite Mikel to stay at the farm for as long as he has business in the area,” Aino continued. “That’s the least we can do for a Good Samaritan.”

Rachel’s instinct was to tell Aino she didn’t think that was a good idea, since Mikel’s business seemed to involve them, but this was no time to argue with the old man. “Okay,” she said.

“Tell Mikel I’ll be home in a few days to thank him personally. You take him back to the farm now, no use you hanging around here when the cow will need to be milked. And I don’t want you scaring Eva into rushing back from Finland. I’m too ornery to die, Doc said so right out.”

As she returned to where Mikel waited, Rachel tried to tell herself he wasn’t a threat to them all with his questions. Something about him fascinated her against her will. He was attractive, no doubt about that, with his dark hair and chiseled features, but it was those slightly tilted green eyes that got to her. Hunter’s eyes. She took a deep breath. Rachel Hill was no man’s prey.

She waited until they were driving away from the hospital to invite him to stay at the farm, saying, “Aino insists. We have a guest cottage so you’ll have privacy.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Mikel told her, thinking it was just as well he wouldn’t be in the same house with her, the two of them alone, tempting fate.

“Do you mind if I stop to make a phone call on the way?”

“You can use our phone if you like.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to trouble you.”

He’d spotted an outside phone at the gas station where he’d stopped before and so he pulled in there. Even on vacation he was expected to stay in touch, but private phones could be traced and tapped, so he never made agency calls from anywhere but a pay phone.

He was connected immediately and told his only message was from his grandmother who’d called the Riggs and Robinson screening phone number that led to the agency. She wanted him to get in contact with her immediately.

Before he hung up, he asked his researcher friend, Ed, to check out Rachel Hill, probably born in Michigan twenty odd years ago. Mikel had no reason to mistrust her, but a special agent always made sure.

He’d have to call his grandmother. He really should have taken a detour to see her on the way here—she knew he was on vacation. Taking a deep breath he started to punch in her number, then changed his mind and called his colleague Steve first instead.

“You’re where?” Steve asked.

“Ojibway, Michigan, following a lead,” Mikel told him. “No real news yet.”

“If you’re going to be there a few days, I’ve got some photos of Heidi I want to send you. General delivery?”

“I figure it might take a week or so up here to check things out. Send ’em along.”

Mikel smiled as he hung up, Steve thought his adopted baby daughter was the cutest thing on two feet. Which she was, more or less. He called Grandma Sonia then, who, as he’d expected, began to scold him the minute she heard his voice.

“What kind of grandson are you who doesn’t come to see his aged grandmother when he’s on vacation? For all you know I might be on my last legs.”

“As I recall you were wearing shorts when I last saw you,” he reminded her, “and your legs looked pretty healthy then.”

“A lot can happen in two months, my Mikel. Where have you got yourself to now?”

“I’m in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in a town named Ojibway. Sort of a wilderness area. After all, I’m on vacation.”

“Don’t try to fool me, young man. You never were one for hunting and fishing or gawking at wildlife. You’ve got some other reason for being in such a strange place. You’re not working, so it can’t be that. What is it?”

Mikel sighed inwardly. Try as he might, he’d never managed to stop Grandma Sonia from asking questions. When he was on agency business, he simply told her he couldn’t discuss what he was doing, but it was hard to discourage her natural inquisitiveness otherwise. This might not be agency business, but it was his business and he had no intention of revealing the truth. What could he say to keep her quiet?

A thought struck him, making him smile. She was always trying to marry him off to some girl or other, maybe this would stop her. “I’m seeing a woman,” he told her.

“You’re interested in some girl up there in the wilderness?”

“Yes.”

His smile broadened at the few seconds of silence that followed. Gotcha, he told himself.

“May I ask her name?” Grandma Sonia finally said.

“Rachel Hill.” The name was out before he thought to invent a fictitious one. Still, it didn’t matter, Ojibway was a long way from White Plains, New York, where his grandmother lived.

“Well, dear, I don’t want to keep you,” she told him, and hung up before he could promise to come and see her on his way back to his Maryland apartment.

Which wasn’t like Sonia, not at all. He’d been preparing himself to field a hundred questions about “his girl” but she hadn’t asked a one. Odd. He was still puzzling over it when he got back to the car and found the gas station attendant talking to Rachel through the open window.

“I sure am glad he’s gonna be okay,” the man said. “Got worried when I heard he was took bad. Wouldn’t be the same around here without old Aino.” He waved at Mikel and walked back to the building.

“News travels fast in these parts,” Mikel commented as he started the car.

“You can’t keep a secret in a small town,” Rachel agreed.

If that was true, then sooner or later someone in the vicinity was bound to know the answers to Mikel’s questions.

“I have some pasties ready to bake,” she added. “I was about to turn the oven on when I looked out and saw you there in the driveway holding on to Aino. You’re welcome to have supper with me.”

“Pasties?”

“Cornish meat pies. Except not quite, because we Finns put carrots in them, something a true Cornishman would never, ever do.”

“Since I’m not Cornish, I won’t quibble. Thanks for the invitation.”

“I’ll be putting the food on the table in about an hour and a half,” she told him.

Once they arrived at the farm, she gave him the key to the small cottage and he settled himself in, finding the place a bit chilly even though the rain had stopped completely. He decided to light a fire in the fireplace so it’d be warm when he came back to the cottage after supper, as Rachel had called the meal.

Once he got a blaze going he sank into an old armchair, propped his feet on the matching stool and relaxed, thinking it’d been a long time since he’d sat in front of a real fire. Rarely did any agency investigation lead him to such a snug and cozy spot. But this time he was on his own. Was Renee to be found here in Ojibway?

He’d come to the Upper Peninsula, following the only lead he’d been able to uncover. Victoria hadn’t been able to tell him much. She’d been eleven when her sister disappeared and vaguely remembered that Renee once had a crush on a teacher of hers—a man named Leo Saari. Then she’d given Mikel her mother’s address in Florida.

He’d flown down to see Mrs. Reynaud, who was living in a retirement village and had unearthed a few more facts. She’d told him Renee had sometimes baby-sat Leo Saari’s daughter, even though Mr. Reynaud had forbidden his daughters to go anywhere other than school without their mother. Baby-sitting was therefore out of the question unless Renee’s mother had covered up for her daughter, which she admitted having done.

Rusty Reynaud had been a mean alcoholic, an abusive type, according to both Victoria and her mother. They were all terrified of him, especially when he got out his old Colt .45 with the elk embossed on the grip and aimed it at them, threatening to shoot. If Renee had run off, it was no wonder. But it was strange the Colt had disappeared at the same time she did.

Mikel stared into the dancing flames as if they held the answer to what had happened to that thirteen-year-old girl. Her old man hadn’t killed her, because a month after Renee vanished, the mother got a phone call from her, though she’d never told this to Victoria. Before Renee could say much of anything, the father had grabbed the phone, cursed her and demanded she return his gun, threatening he’d find her no matter where she hid. Understandably, the girl had hung up and the family never heard from her again.

Soon after that, the mother packed up and moved with Victoria to another state. Two years later she heard her husband had died. A relief to everyone, Mikel was sure.

Mikel had then checked with the police in what had been the Reynauds’ New Jersey hometown. He learned that the same night Renee had disappeared there had been a shooting in town. A drug dealer had been killed by a bullet from a Colt .45, which was never found. Although Mikel had learned that Rusty Reynaud had been chummy with the dead man, there was no concrete evidence to connect him to the shooting, especially since another thug had left town just about the same time.

With that lead a dead end, Mikel had checked the school Renee had attended. The principal had told him that Leo Saari had resigned the month before Renee had disappeared to care for his sick wife. Saari had given Ojibway, Michigan, as his forwarding address. Although the principal had no idea when Saari had left town, he thought it seemed logical it would’ve been not too long after he resigned.

This brought Mikel’s attention back to what Renee’s mother had confessed to him. She’d never told her husband where their daughter was headed that fateful afternoon for fear of his rage. Renee had gone off by herself to baby-sit the Saari child, making Mikel wonder if she’d ever arrived. No one had asked at the time, because Renee’s mother had been afraid to speak up.

But it meant Saari had still been in town on that day. Though it didn’t pinpoint the exact date of his departure, the coincidence had made Mikel suspicious. So, fourteen years later, he was here in Ojibway, where Leo Saari moved to, trying to trace a possible connection between Saari and the missing girl. Though Leo was no longer alive now, surely if he’d brought a red-haired girl with him all those years ago some people around here would remember.

Certainly his father would. Unfortunately, at the moment, Aino was in no condition to be asked questions. But Rachel Hill was available. For questioning, that is. Not for anything else, Mikel cautioned himself, no matter how well she’d fit into his arms.

The chair was so comfortable and the fire so pleasantly warm that he hated to move. All the cottage lacked was someone for him to share this interlude with.

A female someone. In his mind’s eye he pictured a leggy brunette whose soft brown eyes promised a sweetness he didn’t see too much of in the women he knew. She wasn’t all that far away, either.

What harm was there in imagining her here with him? In reality, far from practical, but no problem at all in a daydream. Rachel had worn no makeup, her pink lips, free of gloss, had looked eminently kissable. He recalled her scent, something faintly flowery but elusive, an enticing fragrance that was on the tip of his memory.

If she were here in this chair with him, he might be able to place that elusive scent. And taste those enticing pink lips. Among other things that he’d best not dwell on or he’d be in no shape to go to the farmhouse for supper.