The Girl from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 1) (14 page)

“Mandarino. Joe Mandarino. Why, have you
heard of him?”

“I-I recently heard the name,” she said
in just above a whisper.

“Then you probably know the mafia is
looking for him.”

“The- The mafia?” Had the man who
approached her been a member of the mob? Makenna’s hand trembled at the very
thought as she clutched her water glass.

Her companion seemed not to notice her
sudden pallor. “Back in the beginning, while Joey Mandarino was setting out to
scam the government, he was also scamming the organization he worked for. He
got away with a cool million or so when he disappeared back in ‘91. But here’s
the interesting part. There was a special dividend to be paid upon completion
of the project. If these new power lines really do go up, NorthWind stands to
make literally millions in bonus dividends. The contract was signed and sealed
years ago.”

“And I’m sure the funds are set up to go
to some offshore Swiss bank account,” she guessed.

“I’m sure,” Simon agreed. “The man has
remained hidden all these years, but there’s a chance he’ll come out of hiding
to claim his millions.”

“Not if he’s smart,” Makenna murmured.

“He’s brilliant. He set all this in
motion over twenty years ago. He’s managed to cover all his tracks, make
everything look legal, and he’s managed to stay one step ahead of the mob all
this time. Still, we’re talking about millions of dollars.”

“How do you… how do you know the mafia
is looking for him?”

“Because they contacted my uncle.” This
time, Simon Hanks’ face was set in hard frown lines. “And apparently I wasn’t
as clever as I thought, doing my undercover research. Somehow they found out I
was looking into old records, and they paid me a visit, as well.” He looked
directly at her, his blue eyes beseeching. “Believe me when I say this. You
need to leave well enough alone. Don’t ask any more questions about the mafia
being involved. Don’t draw any attention to yourself. Forgot you ever heard
about a connection between the Zaffino family and NorthWind Energy.”

Makenna stared at him, unable to
comprehend everything he had just told her. But one thing was clear; attention
had already been drawn to her. Evidently, the mafia thought she was
investigating them. Why else would they be trying to run her off the road and
be giving her cryptic messages to deliver?

“I asked you here today to tell you my
story and to convince you not to take this any further. I’ll give you all my
notes, all the information you need about geological studies and environmental
issues and the sociological impact of this project. I’ll give you facts and
figures, examples of economic benefits. I’ll even provide you with the negative
aspects of putting up these power lines. What I won’t give you is any proof
that the mafia is currently, or has ever been, involved with NorthWind. If
asked, even by the authorities, I will deny it.” There was no mistaking the
sincerity in Simon Hanks’ solemn voice. “For the sake of the economy, for the
sake of progress, for the sake of my uncle and myself and for the sake of your
own safety, forget we ever had this conversation. Forget the story you think
you need to tell. Whatever fleeting fame that comes to your career won’t be
worth the aftermath. Take my advice. Drop this, before you or someone else gets
hurts.”

Makenna slept fitfully, stirring and
churning all night and waking from vivid nightmares that left her drenched in
sweat. When the ringing of the telephone roused her just before seven o’clock,
she was thankful for the intrusion.

Pushing curls out of her eyes, she
peered at the number on her cell phone. With a frown, she recognized it as one
she had recently called. “Hello?” she asked groggily.

“What did you do? Who did you tell?”
Cara Sims screamed into the phone.

“What-What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the man who showed up
on my doorstep at the break of dawn! How did they find me? You had to have told
them!” the other woman snarled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”

“You gave them this number!”

Makenna sat up fully in bed, dragging
covers with her that she had tangled in the night. “Miss Sims, I didn’t give
anyone this number. What-what happened? Did Hardin call you?”

“Not Hardin. They’re looking for Hardin!
They came here, trying to find the scumbag. I told you he was bad news, I told
you he was in over his head!” the woman said hysterically. “Now they’re after
me, threatening me if he doesn’t give back the money he owes. How the hell am I
supposed to come up with fifty thousand dollars?”

“Wh-Who-”

“You tell him to leave me the hell out
of this! You tell Hardin Kaczmarek I never want to see his lying, cheating,
scum ball face again, and for him to pay his own damn bills! Tell him these
Zinno people better not come back here, or I’ll save them the trouble and kill
him myself!” With those angrily flung words, Cara Sims slammed down the
receiver.

Makenna could only stare down at the
phone in her trembling hands. She sat there for a long moment, blinking rapidly
as she absorbed the other woman’s words. ‘Zinno’…. Zaffino. If they were one
and the same, it meant Hardin was not only an abusive man, he was also
connected to the mafia. Which would explain why he had a gun. And a long blade
knife. It might explain a lot of things.

Was it Hardin they were after, and not
her? Her sluggish brain tried to think.

Hardin had been with her on the mountain
roadside and at the waterfall. But she had been alone that first night, and she
had been alone when the swarthy man approached her at the store. He had called
her by name, told her to give a message to her father; meaning, of course,
Kenzie’s father. Obviously, Hardin wasn’t the only one they were after.

The phone buzzed in her hands, alerting
her to a text message. She saw Hardin’s name come up on the screen.

      Need to
talk to you, ASAP.

Makenna impulsively threw the phone
across the bed, as if stung by the very message. Her heart thundered in her
chest. What should she do? How could she ever face him now, knowing everything
she knew? She didn’t think she could bear to look at him again.

The phone sounded again, this time with
an incoming call. Without touching it, she timidly checked the screen. It
showed the number she had programmed in as the car rental agency. Her hands
were still trembling as she answered the phone and arranged to meet the driver
in an hour, in front of the police station. It occurred to her if she managed
to make the switch without being seen, perhaps no one, including Hardin, would
know what she was driving. The thought brought her a small amount of comfort as
she gathered her things and went into the shower.

Her phone buzzed again, with another
text message from Hardin.

While she was showering, the phone rang.
She knew it was Hardin, even before she listened to his urgent words. “Kenzie, I’ve
got to talk to you. Call me the minute you get this message.”

There was no way he could know of her
latest conversation with Cara Sims, or her suspicions that he was mixed up with
the mafia. The barrage of messages most likely stemmed from his abusive
personality. In his obsessive mind, he probably classified her dinner with
Simon Hanks as a date and viewed it as an affront to his masculinity. He was
starting the telltale signs of obsession; the proprietary possessiveness, the
misplaced suspicions, the need for constant contact, the relentless harassment.

As Makenna got dressed, her phone buzzed
again and again, with more messages from Hardin. When she heard the angry
pounding on her door, her heart froze in her chest.

“Kenzie! Kenzie, are you in there? I’ve
got to talk to you!” Even though he couldn’t see in, Makenna flattened herself
against the wall, making herself an inconspicuous as possible. She saw the door
handle twist, saw the door itself give as he pushed on it from the other side,
waited for him to burst inside at any moment. Instead, he remained in the
hallway and bellowed, “Kenzie, open up! This is important!”

She heard him swear, felt the
reverberation as he punched the door in frustration. When she heard him turn
away and his angry footsteps retreat down the hall, she let out the breath she
had been holding. It sputtered and huffed as it wheezed its way out.

He sent one last text message.

      Gone to
get truck.

      CALL ME.

      Urgent.

Waiting a full two minutes, Makenna
grabbed her purse and headed out the door. She looked both ways before stepping
into the back stairwell, thinking it might be a trick to lure her out. With the
coast clear, she slipped out a side door downstairs and eased around the
building. She scanned the area for any signs of Hardin. As an afterthought, she
looked for the gray and green cars. Seeing nothing, she hurried across the
parking lot and behind the police station, easing around its far side where
there was modest cover from landscaped shrubs and trees. She waited there until
she saw a blue car pull up and a man get out, wearing the rental company’s
uniform.

The transaction was done and Makenna
thought she had made it without a hitch, when she saw Hardin’s truck circle
behind the hotel. Instead of getting in the car and risk being seen, she turned
and slipped inside the police station. There, she pretended to be lost and
looking for directions. When she stole a glance outside, she saw Hardin’s truck
again, this time in front of the station. She knew he couldn’t miss seeing her
little red sports car being loaded onto a flatbed trailer.

Makenna hesitated only a moment before
she dialed the number Lisa had given her two days ago. She heard the squeaky
voice answer on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Lisa, this is Kenzie. I need your
help.”

“What can I do for you? You sound
distressed. Are you all right?”

“It’s Hardin. You-You were right about
him. I need to put a little space between us. Do you- do you think you could
come pick me up?” 

“Of course, dear. I’m on my way.”

“Thank you, Lisa. You don’t know how
much I appreciate it. Oh, wait! I’m not at my hotel.”

“Where are you?”

“The police station.”

“The police station?” the other woman
asked in alarm.

“It’s right in front of my hotel, you
can’t miss it. I’ll be out front when I see you pull up.”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

Less than ten minutes later, Makenna was
tucked into Lisa’s Ford Edge and they were pulling out onto the highway.
Makenna had watched Hardin pass several times, even make a round through the
police station parking lot. She told the officers she was waiting on her ride
and thanked them for their help. She considered talking to one of them about
the situation she found herself in, but she was afraid she would have to show
identification and her ruse would be discovered. She was reconsidering her
decision when Lisa arrived. 

“I’m so glad you called me, dear,” Lisa
said, maneuvering into the light traffic. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. If
you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

“I called your friend. She told me what
happened between them, and how the real Hardin Kaczmarek is totally different
from the charming man I met on this trip.” Makenna blew out a weary sigh, lost
in reflection. “You hear about this sort of thing, you see movies about the charming
new guy turning into an obsessive maniac, but you never believe it can happen
to you.” Her voice turned sorrowful. “He seemed so nice.” That was the hardest
thing of all to accept. Hardin had seemed so genuinely nice.

“They always do, dear, they always do.”

Makenna’s phone buzzed and she looked
down to see another message from Hardin. As if to prove her point, his message
even had the hallmarks of a nice, caring man.

      I’m
getting really worried here.

      Where are
you?

      Are you
all right?

      CALL ME!

“Him, again?” Lisa asked.

“Yes. It’s like the tenth message this
morning. He’s called, even came up to the room. I just couldn’t face him after
I heard what all your friend had to say.”

“What exactly did she tell you?”

Makenna relayed yesterday’s conversation
to the older woman. For some reason, she held back on telling Lisa about this
morning’s exchange, the one that frightened her the most. She didn’t want to
drag the other couple into a potentially dangerous situation. And, if truth be
told, there was still something about the Lewises that troubled her. Even
though she was putting her trust in them to keep her safe from Hardin, she
wasn’t ready to fully confide in them.

Makenna’s unease mounted when they
pulled into the resort where the Lewises were staying. They turned to a unit on
the right, but her eyes fell upon a familiar gray Honda parked across the
parking lot. She told herself it was a coincidence, that there were hundreds of
cars like that on the roads, but the sight settled heavily upon nerves already
stretched taut.

“Let’s get you inside and settled. Have
you eaten breakfast yet?”

She had to think about it for a moment.
Food had been the last thing on her mind. “Uhm, no.”

Lisa chatted about her favorite
breakfast choices as she led the way up the walk and to a second floor unit.

“Bob, we’re back!” she said in sing-song
as she unlocked the door. To Makenna she said, “You go right on in, dear, and
have a seat on the couch. I’ll bring you a glass of water and then we’ll see
about some breakfast for us.”

“I don’t want to be any bother.”

“No bother, no bother. There’s a
wonderful little bakery just down the street. They make bear claws that are out
of this world. How does that sound?”

“I’m-I’m really not hungry. Honestly, I
don’t want to be a bother. I just needed to get away for a little while, have a
few minutes to think.” In hindsight, she realized that might be impossible with
Lisa chattering non-stop.

“Have a seat, take a load off,” Lisa
insisted, going into the kitchen of the large open room. The over-sized
accommodations made Makenna’s room look tiny by comparison. “You can put your
purse there on the coffee table. Just make yourself at home.”

Makenna left her purse hanging
cross-body, but took a seat on the plush sofa. Running a hand over the soft
pile, she murmured, “I love this couch. And this condo is amazing. Did you book
it through the travel agency you work for?”

“Yes, isn’t it great?” Lisa beamed. She
carried a glass of water, sloshing the contents as her rounded body waddled
across the room. “Here, have some water. I’ll go ask Bob if he’ll make a donut
run.”

“I’m fine, honestly.”

“Donuts make everything better,” she
said with a giggle. “Drink up and I’ll be right back.”

Makenna accepted the glass but sat it on
the side table as she continued to look around the room. It was an awfully
large condo for just two people. A glimpse down the hallway revealed several
doors, indicating two or more bedrooms. Perhaps Lisa had deliberately chosen
the over-large suite for her review. It was then that it occurred to her that
Lisa was a free-lance reviewer, not a travel agent, and that the older woman
hadn’t corrected her mistake. Not that it really mattered; the room was still
gorgeous, and it was still large enough for eight or more, rather than the two
that currently occupied it.

Makenna rested her head back on the
cushion of the couch, thinking how tired she was after a restless night and
very little sleep. Maybe she could catch a quick power nap while Lisa was gone.
She could hear the low sound of voices coming from the bedroom, the sharp bite
of Bob’s tone to Lisa’s trilling whine, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Apparently they were having a disagreement and she bit her lip, hoping her
presence wasn’t causing any problems for the couple. They barely knew her,
after all, and here she was barging in on their vacation.

Now too worried to sleep, Makenna sat up
and reached for her water glass. Just as she brought it to her lips, her eyes
fell on a set of keys on the coffee table. She immediately recognized the Honda
logo on the key fob. She rolled her shoulders uneasily, lowering the glass
without taking a sip. Why would a married couple get two rental cars on
vacation? Who could
afford
two rentals cars?