Читать книгу Poisoned Secrets - Margaret Daley - Страница 17

Maggie Ridgeway stared at the Twin Oaks Apartments. The converted late nineteenth century mansion’s brick was painted a flesh tone, and its trim and shutters a snowy white. Three stories tall with a porch that ran almost the full length of its front, the building dominated the spacious yard with multicolored spring flowers blooming in the well-tended beds. Two massive oaks stood sentinel. A stained glass window with a pastoral scene was above the entrance, and below it were double, dark brown doors with beveled glass.

Finally!

She was here and intended to stay.

Maggie marched up the stairs to find the manager and secure the vacant apartment before someone else did. A friend she worked with at the hospital told her a vacancy in this building was rare and didn’t last long. Afraid she’d never get the opportunity, she was ready to pounce on the opening she’d been anxiously waiting several months for since moving to Seven Oaks, Kentucky.

She stepped into the spacious foyer, a wide staircase directly in front of her sweeping up to the second floor. A gleaming chandelier hung from the ceiling, and a huge round cherry table with a bouquet of expensive silk flowers in a crystal vase sat under the light, adding a splash of vivid colors to the entrance. An ornate Persian rug, predominantly navy-blue and maroon, covered the marble floor in the center, giving off a warm, cozy feeling.

Surveying the first floor, she found the door with a brass plaque with the word manager engraved on it. She covered the short distance to the apartment and rang the bell.

“She’s not home,” a child’s voice said behind her.

Maggie turned around and saw a thin boy with brown hair standing on the staircase, gripping the wooden balustrade. Her heart lurched at the sight of him. Only a few yards away. Staring into his dark eyes, she felt as though she were staring into her own. Kenny! The thought made her take a step back until she pressed up against the manager’s door.

She’d imagined meeting and talking to him for the first time. But now no words would come to mind. Emotions, held at bay, crashed down on her. Emptiness, anger, elation, all swirling around in her, made a knot form in her stomach.

“Ma’am, are you all right?” His freckled face scrunched up into a worried look.

Maggie continued to peer at the boy. Her smile faltered while her heartbeat began to hammer against her rib cage. She’d told herself this would happen and thought she’d prepared herself for it.

The child shifted, alarm flittering across his features. “Lady?”

With her pulse thundering in her ears, she finally replied, “I want to rent the vacant apartment. Do you know when the manager will be back?” Amazingly her voice didn’t quaver although her hands did. She clutched her purse straps to keep the trembling under control.

Besides his eyes, his hair’s the same shade of brown as mine. And I used to have freckles the way he does. She swallowed the lump in her throat. I should leave. Let it go. She rubbed her damp palms together, fighting the urge to scrap her plan.

“She’ll probably be gone for another hour or so.” The child moved forward. “Uncle Kane’s here, though.”

“Uncle?” Maggie pushed herself away from the door and moved several paces toward the eleven-year-old boy. Her legs quaked.

“Well, he’s not really my uncle, but I call him that. He owns the building. He can help you.”

“Where is he?”

He jerked his thumb toward a door down the hall at the back of the building. “In his shop downstairs.” Gesturing with his hand, he spun around on his heel. “C’mon. I’ll show you.”

“I’m Maggie Ridgeway. What’s your name?” she asked although she was ninety-nine percent sure she already knew it.

“Kenny Pennington.”

Even though she’d expected him to say that, the name brought an added joy to her. That feeling tangled with the others—uncertainty, even anger—firming in her mind told her she had to continue with her plan. She’d dreamed about this moment for too long to turn back now.

The sound of sandpaper sliding over wood filled the workroom. The scent of sawdust and linseed oil peppered the air. Repeatedly Kane McDowell ran the block along the groove in the piece of furniture, smoothing the rough texture.

The rhythmic motion of the sanding—back and forth—relaxed Kane, his thoughts wandering as his hands automatically repeated the action. The tension slipped from his shoulders and neck while he proceeded from one chair leg to the next. As the tautness eased completely from his body, his awareness of his surroundings faded, too. The movement of his arm was hypnotic, the gritty sound almost soothing.

The memory came unexpectedly as it so often did. His thoughts were at peace one second, and the next, he flinched, stopped his sanding and closed his eyes as though that could shut it out. It never did…

“I can’t do it. I thought I could. I don’t want to marry you anymore. I’m moving to Dallas, Kane.” Ruth indicated the luggage at the door.

He stood in his parents’ living room, having been at their home for the past month to continue his convalescence after his injury in Iraq. Last week his fiancée had come to help nurse him back to full health. Now she was leaving him.

At the door she paused and looked back at him. “I need a whole man. I tried. I really did. You aren’t the same person you were when you went to war.” Her gaze swept down his length, his body propped up by crutches, his left leg gone from just below the knee dangling uselessly next to his good one…

Kane shook his head as if he could physically drive the memory from his thoughts. The sanding block fell from his hand, thumping to the concrete, its sound reverberating through his mind. Sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging them.

A knock jarred the silence.

“Not now,” he muttered, swiping his forehead with the back of his hand. He needed to escape; he didn’t want to see anyone.

Another knock echoed through his workshop.

Trapped.

Maggie raised her hand one final time to rap on the door when it suddenly opened. She stared into the face of a man who didn’t look too happy to see her. His dark expression didn’t soften as she cleared her throat and said, “I came about renting your apartment.”

The man’s hard gaze bore into her. The taut set of his body, his grip on the door handle, conveyed tension. Then his attention fixed on Kenny, and the owner’s stiff stance melted, the frown wiped away to be replaced with an expression just short of a smile.

Kenny looked at Maggie. “Miss Edwina’s at church so I brought her down here to see you.”

The man who owned the apartment building finally smiled—a fully fledged one that lit his whole face and dimpled his cheeks. “I’ll take it from here, Kenny. Thanks.”

The boy spun around and raced up the stairs. The second he disappeared the strain returned to the owner’s face, his gaze directed at her.

Suddenly the small hallway in the basement closed in on Maggie. She glanced around, noting three other doors, one of them leading outside. A bank of windows on each side of it afforded a view of the back of the building and a glimpse of the lake beyond.

“Dale Franklin told me there was an apartment in your building for rent. He was supposed to call you about me coming to see the place.”

The man, over six feet tall, eased his grip on the door and relaxed against it. “Edwina Bacon, my manager, must have talked with Dale. I don’t usually handle anything having to do with the apartment building.”

“Then should I wait for her to return?”

“Suit yourself, but frankly I’m surprised you’d want to rent it. I haven’t even put an advertisement in the paper yet. Not sure I am for a while. Are you aware of what happened in it a few weeks back? The police just released it a couple of days ago.”

Yes, she’d known that and had barely been able to wait the few days before coming to see about the apartment. The headlines that had occupied the newspaper for a week flashed into her thoughts, bringing forth a momentary surge of anxiety until she remembered the reason she wanted to live here.

“Yes, but I’m living in a dorm connected with the hospital right now. I need a more permanent place to live, and there are few available in Seven Oaks at this time of year with the university in full swing.”

“Hospital? Are you a nurse?”

“No, a speech therapist, Mr.—”

“Kane McDowell.”

Before her courage totally failed her, she said, “I didn’t want anyone else to get the apartment, so I took some time off from work to come here. I really need a place to live. My privacy means a lot to me, and I have none where I’m living right now.” His eyes lit with understanding. “May I look at the apartment?”

“Give me a moment, and I’ll show it to you.”

He left her standing by the door while he sauntered to the sink. His chest, covered by a white T-shirt, revealed his wide expanse of muscles. His faded jeans hugged slim hips and the long legs of a runner.

He splashed water on his face, then reached for a towel. His damp black hair curled at his nape in ringlets as he dried it. When he retrieved his blue short-sleeve polo shirt from an unfinished chair and shrugged into it, his sheer male power transfixed her. He was in top physical condition.

As he faced her, she hastily pretended an interest in the far wall with a myriad of tools hanging on it, fighting the heat of a blush that suffused her cheeks. “You’re a carpenter?”

“Some of the time.”

“And the other times?” Finally she looked into his slate-gray eyes and wished she hadn’t. They were startling against the darkness of his features, their color like polished pewter.

“I’m the admissions director at the university.” He walked past her into the hallway. “I’ll show you the apartment now.”

As she followed him, she got the distinct impression that was all the chitchat she would get out of the man.

“The apartment is on the second floor, Miss—” He peered back at her, snaring her within his flintlike gaze.

“Maggie Ridgeway.”

His guarded look conveyed the message: stay away. The silent statement pulsated in the air between them, intriguing her, tempting her. She knew all the signs of someone who kept himself apart from others. She was a master at it. He could do nothing she hadn’t done herself at some time in her past.

As she mounted the staircase to the second floor, she firmed her determination. She couldn’t afford to be sidetracked. Which one is it? she thought as she passed a closed door. “How many apartments are in this building?”

“Six on three floors. I occupy the basement.” He unlocked apartment 2A and pushed the door open. “As you can see, they’re big. I have three families in my building. Some furniture comes with the apartment if you want to use it.”

“It’ll just be me, and yes, the furniture would be appreciated.”

She entered the living room and surveyed the oblong configuration with a marble fireplace on the outer wall, a brass screen across its front. The carved mantel would be a perfect place to set family pictures. But who would be in those photo frames? The question came unbidden into her mind.

“I just finished having the place cleaned,” Mr. McDowell said, thankfully pulling her attention from the answer to that question.

A shiver skipped down her spine. She refused to think about Henry Payne, who had been murdered in the kitchen according to the news. A murder yet unsolved. Instead, she let her gaze roam over the neat room with a beige leather couch, a coffee table and two navy and beige plaid wing chairs with a table made of a rich cherry wood between them. A bank of built-in bookcases, all empty, ran the length of one wall. On another were two large floor-to-ceiling windows flanking the fireplace, which offered a view of the neighbor’s house, twenty yards away, and the barest glimpse of the lake behind the house. The walls painted maroon gave a feeling of cozy warmth that completely contradicted what had happened in the apartment recently.

“I’ll take it. When can I move in?”

“Immediately, if you want.” Puzzled, he cocked his head to the side. “Wouldn’t you like to look at the rest of it first?”

“No, this is fine. It’s close to Seven Oaks Hospital and in a nice neighborhood. As I mentioned before, there aren’t too many places available at this time of year.”

When she shifted her attention to Kane McDowell, his eyes narrowed on her for an uncomfortable moment as if he were delving into her mind to see what was really behind her desire to live in his apartment building, especially in a place where tragedy had occurred. She schooled her features into a neutral expression, determined not to reveal her hidden motive.

“Normally I have a person fill out an application and then I run a credit check, but if Edwina has gotten a recommendation from Dale, then I’ll lease it to you. I require first and last months’ rent.”

She released the breath she held slowly, covering the space between them and holding out her hand. “It’s a deal, Mr. McDowell.”

The rough feel of his hand warmed hers. When he let go and stepped out into the hallway, the lingering effect of his touch streaked up her arm, jolting her heart to beat faster. Maggie clenched her hands together to still the slight tremor. This man did strange things to her insides, and this certainly wasn’t a time in her life to pursue an attraction. She’d come to Seven Oaks for only one thing. She couldn’t let anything stand in the way of her mission.

“I’ll get a lease, and you can sign it.” Kane retraced his steps to the basement.

“That’s great. I’d like to move in as soon as possible.” Maggie hurried to keep up with him.

Unlocking a door across from his workshop, he motioned for her to enter his apartment. When she stepped inside, the comfortable-looking living room with large windows offering a view of the lake surprised her. After only a short time in his presence, she had been sure his place would be dark and stark like the man. But because the apartment building sat on a hill that sloped to the lake, the basement wasn’t totally below ground. The back half was opened to the sprawling yard with oaks, maples and elms dotting its terrain down to the water.

“Have a seat while I get a lease. I’m sure I have one around here somewhere,” he said and walked toward a hallway.

Restless, she paced. Maybe I should leave the past alone. Maybe I should go back to St. Louis and forget. Maybe—no, I can’t walk away now. This wouldn’t have been possible without You. I know it in here. She tapped her chest over her heart. Lord, it’s finally happening after all these years. Thank You.

Every nerve ending alert, Maggie stopped pacing and rotated toward Kane who moved into the room, a paper in his hand. Their gazes locked. Her lungs constricted at the power emanating from him.

Suddenly, he broke eye contact and crossed the room. “The rent’s due on the first. There’s to be no loud music or noise after ten. Pets are allowed so long as they’re small and not disruptive to the other tenants. Oh, and trash is picked up every Tuesday and Friday.” He laid the lease on the coffee table with the apartment key next to it. “Any questions?”

“No.” Matching his strictly business demeanor, she sat on the rust-colored couch, noted the amount of the rent, then signed her name on the lease.

He retrieved the lease. “This is contingent on the fact Dale gives you a glowing recommendation.”

“He will.”

“Tomorrow’s okay to move in, but I still have a few things to do to the apartment. That’s one of the reasons I took some vacation time.”

“Fine. I’ll be working tomorrow morning, so I won’t be here till the afternoon.”

“I’ll try to be out of the way by two.” He started for his door. “You can give me the rent then, and I’ll give you a copy of the signed lease. I’ll also introduce you to Edwina tomorrow. She’ll handle everything after that.”

Maggie rifled through her oversize purse and withdrew her checkbook. “Let me pay now. One less thing to handle later.” As she filled out the check, she asked in a casual voice, “Who else besides Edwina Bacon lives here?”

“On the first floor across from Edwina there’s the Sellman family with a set of twins. The Penningtons live across from you. You’ve already met Kenny Pennington. Upstairs from you there’s Kyra Williams with her son, Sean, and lastly Edwina’s sister Ann and her husband, Marcus Quinn.” He walked toward the front door and opened it. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

Effectively dismissed, Maggie escaped into the hallway and started for the stairs. What am I doing here? Panic seized her.

Father, give me the strength to see this through to the end, whatever that may be. Give me the strength to do the right thing when dealing with the woman who gave me up at birth.

The box must weigh a ton! Maggie tried to shift the weight some as she stopped halfway up the stairs to her new apartment, but she lost what grip she had. The box crashed to the step in front of her. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the quiet.

“Can I help?” Kenny asked as he came up behind her.

Still unaccustomed to having her half brother so near, Maggie tensed for a few seconds before forcing herself to relax and smile. “I don’t think anyone can help now. I think Grandma Ridgeway’s glassware is gone.” She plopped down on the step, placing her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her palms.

“Maybe it’s not so bad.” The brown-haired boy peered into the container and whistled.

She slanted a look at him. “That bad?”

“Yep, ’fraid so.” He sat down next to her. “You’re moving into the apartment across from us. Uncle Kane told me.”

“I’m glad we’re neighbors.” She had always wanted siblings and now she was sitting not inches from her half brother. The moment awed her, and yet she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She’d gone twenty-eight years without any experience on how to relate to a younger brother.

The child’s expression showed concern. “Will your grandma be too upset?”

“Nope,” she murmured around the lump in her throat. Where do I begin getting to know my brother?

“I know if I’d done something like that, my grandma woulda been upset big-time. And my mom would be crying by now. Once she broke a dish my grandma gave her and she cried. Told me family was important to her.”

His words stole her breath. Her lungs burned as she tried to drag air into them. “Your mother’s right.” And she robbed me of mine. She fought the tears that now gathered in her throat in order to ask, “Would you like to help me finish unloading my car? I’ll pay you.”

“Sure!” Kenny beamed. “Mom isn’t gonna be home for a while. I could use the money—that’s if you don’t mind Ashley tagging along.”

“Fine. Is she your sister?” She knew the answer, but it didn’t stop the feeling of too much happening too fast and the need to slow down.

“My baby sister.” His face screwed up into a frown as though he’d just taken a spoonful of distasteful medicine.

“Tell you what.” Maggie lifted the box, grimacing when she heard the broken glass clinking. “I’ll take this to my apartment while you get Ashley. Then we’ll head to my car.”

Hurrying up the stairs, she needed to put some distance between herself and Kenny before she cried in front of him. She’d dreamed of getting to know her family for a long time—ever since she had learned her birth mother had one—but she’d never dreamed of the rush of excitement that she felt, the anxiety that caused a pressure in her chest, the tug of emotions that ripped through her gut. And the overriding thought that she’d missed so many years of this child’s life, as well as Ashley’s.

At the top of the stairs she paused to catch her breath, to swallow the tears. She looked down at Kenny, who waved and smiled. She returned his grin, resisting the urge to rush down the steps and hug the boy.

I have to take it slow and easy.

Outside her apartment door, she slipped the key into the lock. Surprised it was already unlocked, she tensed, her mind flooded with pictures she’d seen on the nightly news when Henry Payne had been found murdered in this very place.

Cautiously, ready instantly to flee, she eased the door open and peered into the living room. Kane McDowell had said he would be gone by two, and it was well past that time. “Anyone in here?”

“Just me.” Kane came into the living room from the kitchen.

Where the murder occurred. She could do this. She hadn’t lived in the town long and certainly didn’t have anyone mad enough at her to kill her.

“For a second there, I had visions of tossing this box and hightailing it down the stairs. Not an especially dignified start in my new home.” She managed to strike a relaxed pose against the doorjamb.

The sides of his mouth curled upward. “I have your garbage disposal fixed—I think. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to replace it.”

Stepping closer, his scent of pine engulfing her, he took the box from her. Her mouth went dry. Her reaction to Kane was as strong as the day before. After meeting Kenny, she realized she would have little emotional energy left after dealing with the Penningtons to pursue any other kind of relationship.

“That was beginning to look awfully heavy. Where do you want it?”

“Probably the trash.” When his forehead creased in question, she continued, “I dropped it on the stairs. That doesn’t sit too well with glass. I guess I’d better check it, though, to see if anything is salvageable.”

“How much do you have to carry in today?”

“A carload. I do have several pieces of furniture in storage that I’ll move here later when I’m settled.” Those pieces were the only connection she had to her adoptive father. A rush of sadness washed over her at the thought of never seeing him again. Such a good man.

Kane glanced at the box. “I can lend you a hand with your unloading.”

“That’s great.” Although a deep ache had burrowed into her heart, she arranged her features into a smile. “I have one helper, but truthfully I wasn’t sure how I was going to get some of the larger items up those stairs.”

“Who’s helping you?”

“Kenny.” Maggie started to ask some questions about him and Ashley when the two children appeared in the doorway. Kenny grinned while Ashley hid behind her big brother, peeping around him with her thumb in her mouth.

Maggie wanted more than anything to scoop both children up in her arms and hug them tightly. She might never be able to do that; she might always be no more than the lady who lived across the hall. The realization cut deeply.

“Are you all ready to work?” Maggie asked, putting a firm lid down on her volatile emotions.

Kenny nodded while Ashley stared at the floor.

“I’ll pay you, too, Ashley.” Maggie stepped to the side to get a better view of her little sister.

The child ducked behind Kenny even more, concealing her face from Maggie. A knifelike pain sliced through her heart. Her half sister wasn’t playing hide-and-seek; she was hiding—from her. Ashley’s actions only reinforced the fact that Maggie was a stranger to her own family.

“She’s an old scaredy-cat. She’ll probably just watch. That’s all she ever does.” Kenny frowned at his baby sister.

“That’s okay.” Whirling around, Maggie headed out into the hallway, needing fresh air desperately.

A bond with Ashley formed in the moment Maggie watched her little sister trudge out of the apartment behind Kenny, her gaze glued to the floor, her thumb in her mouth. She knew the frightened feelings Ashley experienced around new people because she had been there herself until one day she’d decided she couldn’t spend her life locked up inside of herself and did something about it. She’d forced herself out of her shell but only so far. Still craving solitude, she preferred watching people from a distance, but it was suddenly very important to help Ashley. Maggie prayed the child would let her.

Descending the staircase, Maggie suppressed a flash of anger. All her life she’d wanted a large family, full of brothers and sisters, laughter and love. Now she was faced with two children who regarded her as a stranger and would never know her as their big sister since she had no intention of saying anything about who she was. She only wanted to get to know them from afar, learn about them from her observations. Why give her birth mother a second chance to reject her? She’d had enough of that in her life.

The next afternoon after Edwina Bacon paid her a visit with a welcome gift of banana nut bread, Maggie sat at her kitchen table downing a large glass of iced tea, relishing the cool liquid as she took a break from unpacking. Every muscle in her body ached. She rolled her shoulders, refusing to look at the spot where Henry Payne’s body had been. There wasn’t a trace of blood on the beige tile because it was brand new, shining in the sunlight streaming through the bay window that overlooked the lake and yard.

Back to work. Finishing her drink, she pushed to her feet and put her glass in the sink. When she started for the living room, a pounding at her front door interrupted her trek to the nearest box. Instead, she answered the urgency in the knock.

“School’s out already?” Maggie asked as she took in the sight of Kenny. Then she noticed the frantic look in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Come quick. It’s Ashley. She can’t breathe.”

In a space of a heartbeat, Maggie reacted to Kenny’s words. She hastened across the hall to the Pennington’s open front door, following the boy into the apartment. Ashley stood near the dining room table, clutching her throat, trying desperately to draw air into her lungs, her eyes wide with fear. The bluish tint to Ashley’s skin alarmed Maggie. She must have something in her throat. For a few seconds, terror held her immobile until her emergency training kicked in.

Maggie raced to the little girl and encircled her torso. Please, dear God, not Ashley. I can’t lose her now.

Clasping a fisted hand under the child’s rib cage, Maggie pressed upward in four quick thrusts. Relief trembled through her when she saw a peanut pop out of the girl’s mouth. Ashley coughed, then began to breathe again.

Maggie gently laid the child on the floor, then hugged Ashley to her. The sound of Maggie’s heart beating roared in her ears as she struggled to control the quaking of her body. She had to remain calm, but for the life of her, she wasn’t sure how she would. She had almost lost her sister, and she had just found her.

“Are you all right?” Maggie asked when she thought her voice would work.

Ashley’s shudder rippled along Maggie’s body. The child nodded but kept her arms locked about Maggie while dragging in deep breaths. She stroked the little girl’s long brown hair and thanked the Lord.

“You’ll be okay now,” Maggie whispered as much to reassure herself as her sister. Never in her life had she felt so scared as she had when she had seen Ashley unable to suck in air.

The five-year-old sobbed against Maggie’s chest, tremor after tremor passing through her small body into hers. “I—I couldn’t—breathe.”

“I know, honey.” Her arms around Ashley tightened as though Maggie could absorb the child’s fear and wipe from her mind the past few minutes. What if she hadn’t been here to help? She clung tighter to the child.

“What happened?” Kane asked from the doorway.

“Maggie saved Ashley’s life,” Kenny said, his face still registering his own fear and panic. “She was blue!”

Maggie looked up at Kane, his gaze ensnaring hers. “She’ll be all right now. A peanut went down the wrong way.”

For a brief moment distress lined his face until Kane visibly took command of his emotions. He glanced from Maggie to Ashley. Crossing the room, he took the child into his arms. The small girl wrapped herself against him as he held her cradled to him, his eyes soft with concern, a smile of reassurance on his face.

“Uncle Kane, I tried to. Really I tried.” Ashley hiccupped between her words, tears cascading down her cheeks.

An ashen cast to his skin sharpened the hard planes of his face. “Shh,” Kane whispered while he held Ashley in his arms. “I won’t let anything else happen to you.”

He walked down the hallway toward the bedrooms and disappeared inside one. Maggie stood. All strength flowed from her legs. She clutched a dining room chair to steady herself, trying to assimilate what had just taken place.

“Kenny! What’s going on in here?”

Both Maggie and Kenny turned at the sound of the woman’s voice. Maggie felt paralyzed, staring at the woman who had given birth to her. In that instant when their gazes touched, time came to a standstill for Maggie. She didn’t have to be introduced to Victoria Pennington to know the woman standing inside the doorway was her birth mother. She was a stranger, yet she was familiar at the same time. Maggie experienced the most disconcerting feeling.

“Who is this woman, Kenny? You know my rule. No one is allowed in this apartment when I’m gone.” Victoria’s gaze swung from Kenny to Maggie. Victoria placed her hands on her son’s shoulders, her stance protective, her expression accusing as she continued to scrutinize Maggie, stranger to stranger.

Don’t you recognize me? Don’t you know who I am?

Maggie pushed away from the chair holding her up, a taut band about her chest making each breath difficult. “I’m your new neighbor, Maggie Ridgeway.” The words came out in a whisper, her mouth parched. It took all her strength to remain standing a few feet from Victoria Pennington and not shout the truth. Maggie wanted to run; she felt as if her carefully thought-out plan was blowing up in her face, leaving fragments behind to slice her composure to shreds.

“Kenny, that still doesn’t excuse you from breaking an important rule,” the woman said in a softer tone.

Maggie backed away, beads of sweat coating her brow. She needed to leave before she hyperventilated.

“She saved Ashley’s life. She wasn’t breathing—”

“What? Where’s Ashley?”

“In her room with Uncle Kane,” Kenny answered.

Victoria rushed down the hall as Kane came out of Ashley’s bedroom. “Vicky, she’s okay. She’s sleeping now.”

With hands clenched at her sides, fingernails digging into her palms, Maggie took another step toward the door, the air charged with intense emotions that demanded she feel something other than indignation. But at this moment she couldn’t deny the anger deep in her heart.

While Kane briefly explained what happened, Vicky peered into the room and sighed. “She fell asleep the minute I put her down.”

“I should have been here. I got held up at the office. The police came again to the campus to question everyone who knew Henry.”

“Yeah, I know. They talked with me.” Kane shot Kenny a look.

Vicky closed her daughter’s bedroom door and headed toward the living area with Kane. “I wish I didn’t have to work. Then that wouldn’t have happened.”

“It could have happened with you sitting right here.”

“John and I are so lucky to have you here. You’re like a member of the family. I miss not living near mine.”

Maggie felt as if she had been slapped in the face. To them she was an outsider. But I belong. She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from shouting the truth. The realization that the words she had no intention of saying had been on the tip of her tongue sent alarm through her.

Kane nodded toward Maggie. “Thankfully Maggie was home to help Kenny.”

“I’m sorry about the earlier reception. As you may have gathered by now, I’m Kenny and Ashley’s mother, Vicky Pennington. Thanks for saving,” her voice faltered for a few seconds before she swallowed hard and finished, “my little girl.”

My little girl. But I am also. Lord, I can’t do this.

Both Kane and Vicky waited for a response. Maggie fought down the panic surfacing. She needed to escape, retreat to her apartment and regroup.

“I’m glad I was here to help out,” Maggie finally said, her throat closing about the words. Her anger swelled to the surface, her fingernails cutting deeper into her palms. Why did you give me up? She was afraid to say anything for fear that question would tumble out.

“I helped Maggie move in yesterday,” Kenny said, breaking the awkward moment of silence. “She paid me ten dollars!” He took the money out of his pocket and waved it in the air.

Vicky shifted her attention to her son. “Ten dollars?”

Envy, doubt and anger constricted Maggie’s stomach. She prayed none of her confused feelings were showing on her face. As Kenny and Vicky talked, Maggie saw her chance to escape. She took the few steps to the entrance and fled into the hallway.

Her gaze fastened on her door, she headed for it. The sound of the one behind her closing relaxed some of the tension in her until she heard Kane say, “Are you all right?”

“Great,” she murmured and thrust open her door. Safe.

She turned to close it, but Kane had already slipped inside her apartment. She rotated away from his probing gaze. It was bad enough she felt this seesawing between anger and hurt. She certainly didn’t want him to see it in her expression.

The sight of the disarray and stacked boxes accentuated her loneliness, a sense of abandonment. She hadn’t been prepared for this tangle of confusion twisting her stomach. In St. Louis she had thought she could handle this objectively as she did most things in her life. Wrong. There was nothing objective about this situation.

“Maggie?”

The sound of her front door finally being closed echoed through the apartment—her home now, hundreds of miles away from anything familiar. Why did I do this? Why couldn’t I be happy not ever knowing why my mother gave me up, what my heritage is? Lord, why do I have two mothers who don’t really want me? She desperately sought the strength she always gained when she turned to God for reassurance and comfort.

“Maggie, you aren’t all right.” Kane touched her hand, sending a bolt of recognition up her arm.

His nearness further eroded her self-confidence, making herself doubt her sanity for even considering this move. She’d gone through life insulating herself from others, and suddenly the walls were crumbling, her usual defenses no longer working. She stepped away, needing to put some distance between them.

His worried expression prompted her to say, “I’m fine. Why do you ask?” None of the nonchalance she wanted to project came across. She held herself so taut that her body ached.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it was the pale tone to your skin or the fact you didn’t even tell Kenny and Vicky goodbye.”

Feigning an interest in an open box, she lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “It isn’t every day I save someone’s life.”

“True. But my gut instinct tells me something else is going on here.”

She picked up a book and flipped through it as though she hadn’t a care in the world. “What possibly could be going on?” When she thought she had herself under control, she faced him.

He studied her, that piercing gaze of his roaming over her as though he could read her innermost thoughts. She prayed he couldn’t because after that scene in the Penningtons’ apartment she didn’t know if she could go ahead with her quest. She wanted answers, not a relationship with her birth mother. She’d already had one with her adoptive mother that hadn’t turned out well. Why subject herself to another?

But still, there were blank holes in her family history she wanted filled. Could she form a friendship with the woman across the hall and discover the answers without disrupting anyone’s lives, especially Kenny’s and Ashley’s?

Shaking his head, Kane massaged the back of his neck. “You know I usually make it a habit to stay out of other people’s business.”

“Safer, isn’t it?”

The intensity in his eyes trapped her. “Yes. Much safer.”

For a long moment she stared at him. She glimpsed his vulnerability, a flash of pain, and that touched her battered heart. She wished she could deny his potent effect on her, but she couldn’t. She wished she could deny the spark of interest she sensed in his eyes before he veiled it, but she couldn’t. Just as she couldn’t give up her quest when she was so close to finding some answers.

They both had their secrets. The barrier he had placed around his emotions was strong, possibly impregnable, and she had never been good at tearing down another’s defenses because she couldn’t get past her own, fortified from years of rejection.

She averted her gaze. “Did you take care of everything in here yesterday?” That ought to be a safe enough subject. His visual assault still tingled up her body. She kept her eyes fixed on a spot across the room.

He moved toward the front door. “I believe everything is good to go. If not, Edwina can take care of it.”

“Kane.”

He stopped and glanced back at her, his expression completely masked, no vulnerability evident.

“Yes, Maggie?”

“Thanks.”

“For what? The Penningtons are special to me. I should be thanking you for saving Ashley.”

“For your help today.” For understanding and not pushing, she finished silently.

He inclined his head toward her, then left. The door closing magnified the feeling of loneliness that had inundated Maggie earlier. She looked about at the chaos. She felt her life was like the items in the boxes, not one of them in its proper place.

Suddenly she needed to get away from the apartment. Walking into her bedroom, she dug through a box until she found her jogging clothes and her MP3 player. One of the best ways she had found to handle her stress was to exercise—hard. After donning her shorts, T-shirt and tennis shoes, she left to run until she was too exhausted even to think.

An hour later and bone tired, Maggie let herself into her apartment, removing her earplugs and placing her MP3 player on the table in the small foyer. The idea of a hot shower prodded her to move faster toward her bedroom even though her muscles ached from her grueling workout.

She entered the room, her gaze immediately fastening onto the boxes stacked against one wall. An unfamiliar scent accosted her nostrils. The hairs on her nape tingled. She started to turn.

Thud!

Something hard slammed into the back of her head. As she crumbled to the floor, the blackness swallowed her up.