Читать книгу The Summit - Kat Martin - Страница 13

Autumn was tired when she got back home. The evening with Ben had been taxing. She knew it was the sexual attraction she felt for him that she didn’t want to feel. She tried to tell herself it was only natural with a man as handsome and charming as Ben, but the truth was that Ben seemed to affect her in a different way than other men.

Usually, she had a knack for keeping the opposite sex at arm’s length. She let men know early on that she enjoyed their friendship but she wasn’t interested in anything more. Most of them accepted it, some were maybe even a little relieved.

Ben was different. There was a look in his eyes that said he saw her as a woman, an object of desire that had nothing at all to do with friendship. It surprised and flattered her. The man dated the most beautiful women in the world. That he would show the slightest interest in her was amazing.

Of course she could be wrong. She could be seeing something that wasn’t really there. Or perhaps he was just that way with women in general, seeing each of them as an object to be conquered.

Ronnie Hillson had been that way—charming her, pretending an interest in her that lasted through the month they had dated, then disappearing the day after he took her to bed. At first she believed she must be a really bad lover, but eventually she decided that more likely it was the conquest that had interested Ronnie and she was just too naive to see.

Autumn yawned as she headed for the bedroom, stripping off her sweater along the way. She had called Josh on her cell on the way home from the restaurant to apologize for breaking off their climbing date again.

“Things happen,” he’d said. “It’s no big deal. Mike Logan’s been bugging me to go. I’ll ring him up, see if he can get his shit together by tomorrow morning.”

“Mike’s not ready for Castle Rock.”

“Yeah, I know. We’ll go somewhere else.” She could almost see Josh grin. “Which is good because I wouldn’t want to tackle Castle Rock with anyone but you.”

“I’m really sorry, Josh.”

There was a pause on the end of the line. “You…uh…seem kind of pre-occupied lately. You’d tell me, wouldn’t you, if something was wrong?”

“I’m fine. I’ve been having a little trouble sleeping is all. I’m sure it will pass. I’ll talk to you next week.” She’d hung up the phone and found Ben watching her.

“Sounds like your friend, Josh, is worried about you.”

“He’s a very caring guy.”

“You sure it isn’t more than that?”

Her head had come up at the odd note in his voice. “Actually, Josh is in love with my best friend, Terri Markham. Unfortunately for Josh, Terri doesn’t know he exists.”

“Poor guy.”

“Yeah. I keep hoping Terri will open her eyes and see how great Josh is.”

The taxi had pulled up in front of her building a few minutes later and Ben insisted on escorting her to her door. She didn’t invite him in and it was clear he didn’t expect her to. She’d said good-bye, then closed the door and leaned against it, surprised to discover how fast her heart was racing.

Damn.

Autumn sighed as she undressed and tossed her clothes on the bed. Feeling any sort of physical attraction to Ben McKenzie was the last thing she wanted. The man was way out of her league and even if he was interested—which he probably wasn’t—she’d be a fool to even consider getting involved with him.

Autumn hung up her clothes—determined not to think of him—slipped into her pink shortie nightgown, drew back the covers and crawled into bed.

That night, she dreamed.

Ben spent all day Saturday at his office, working on the problem of A-1 Sports and their threat to his Issaquah store. He made a phone call to Russ Petrone, the real estate broker who’d been keeping him informed, and Russ told him A-1 had officially made an offer on the vacant lot on the corner across the street from his store.

“Sonofabitch.”

“The sellers haven’t accepted yet, but it looks like they probably will.”

“Not good news.”

“You said A-1 wants to buy your stores. I got this info without much trouble. I think they want you to know. Probably figure the threat of a competing store so close might be enough to get you to accept their offer.”

“I’m sure that’s what they’re hoping but I’m not taking the bait, which means they’ll have to go one step further.”

“You think they’ll actually build across the street?”

“I think they’ll go that far if they have to. They’ll figure if they can drive down the profits on the Issaquah store—maybe even force it to close—I’ll be inclined to accept their offer for the chain.”

“Anything you want me to do?”

“I want you to talk to the owners of that property. Keep it quiet, but see if you can find out the terms of A-1’s offer. Tell the owners we’ll up the price by twenty percent but the sale has to close in three business days. And if they go back to A-1, the deal is no longer on the table.”

For their plan to work, A-1 had to buy that particular piece of property. There was nothing else suitable in the downtown area or anywhere close and it didn’t look like there would be anytime soon. If Ben could quietly make the purchase and keep the land out of A-1’s hands, the company would be out of luck.

“You sure you can close in three days?” Russ asked.

“You make the deal. I’ll find the money.”

Russ hung up with a promise to call him back with any news and Ben made a call to Pete Rossi—the second attempt of the day.

“Sorry I didn’t get back to you,” Pete said. “My cell’s been out of range.”

“Not a problem. Damn phones don’t work half the time.”

“After the deal with Meeks, I’m guessing you want me to take another look into your daughter’s disappearance.”

“Good guess.”

“You figure if Gerald Meeks didn’t kill her, there’s a chance she might still be alive.”

“So far you’re one step ahead of me.”

“So how does the Sommers woman fit in?” Pete asked.

Ben had been careful not to tell Rossi any more than he had to, but he trusted the investigator and if he was going to go on with this, he had to play it straight. “About two weeks ago, Autumn Sommers approached me about Molly. She claimed she was having recurring dreams about her. I know it sounds crazy, but she was determined enough to go see Meeks, which couldn’t have been pleasant. And she knows things, Pete, things that weren’t in the papers.”

He told the investigator about little Robbie Hines in the yard, how the boy wasn’t mentioned in the papers, yet Autumn had described him perfectly. “If Meeks really told her he didn’t kill Molly, then I can’t ignore the possibility that this might be real.”