Trove (The Katie Walsh Mysteries) (11 page)

She blinked and he knew the control was slipping back in place. He could actually see it on her face, her expression tightening as her gaze focused on him. She straightened in the chair. KitKat was gone, pushed into the shadows. Dr. Walsh was back and in charge.

“What?”

“I don’t know where you just were, Katie, but I sure as hell could feel your…” Her face turned deep crimson. He loved that she couldn’t control that part of her.

“Is there something I can do for you, Alec?” she asked, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear.

“I came to ask you if you’d let me take you out to dinner tonight. I want to apologize for my behavior earlier on the wharf.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t blow me off, Katie. I’m really trying to make this work between us.”

“I’m not blowing you off, Alec. Contrary to popular belief, I do have some life outside of the Institute. I’m having dinner with my friend Willie tonight.”

“Change it.”

“No. How about lunch tomorrow or dinner tomorrow night?”

“Can’t. I have back-to-back meetings from eleven to three and I have a company function tomorrow night. How about Wednesday night?”

She shook her head. “Can’t. I’ll be on my way to Willowton.”

He strode to her desk, braced his arms on the front edge, and leaned over. He was inches from her. “You’re leaving?”

She leaned back and nodded. “Yes,” she said softly, “for a few days of research.”

He leaned closer, catching the light, sweet, feminine scent of her shampoo. “Running away again, KitKat?”

“No, and please stop calling me that. This trip was approved months ago.”

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

She shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. It should’ve been on your calendar.” She placed her fingers along the desk edge in front of her and pushed back slightly. “Look, I’ll be back on
Monday and I promise I’ll work on the runes while I’m away. It’s not like there’s a lot of social life there. My nights will be free. I should have a fairly decent translation by the time I get back.”

“You’ll be reachable?”

“Yes, except I’m not sure about the plane. I have the luxury of flying on the Nordstrom jet, but I don’t know if I’ll have phone or internet service. But other than that, I’ll be searching through documents at the estate. I’ll keep my cell phone with me.”

He ran his hand through his hair and hesitated as his mind began to piece together a plan. He turned to face her. “I guess I can live with that since I know you wouldn’t lie to me.” He leaned over the desk, his mouth inches from hers. “Would you
, KitKat?”

She swallowed, her eyes glued to his lips. “No,” she whispered, “I don’t lie.”

****

After spending hours studying the runes, Katie concluded that there was something missing, something she wasn’t understanding.
These runes are not right
, she thought. Clearly they were runes, but she needed more context, needed to know
exactly
where they were found and when. If she could find any pictures of the original source, not just the pictures of the individual runes that were in the dossier, she might be able to understand what she was looking at. Right now the meaning was incomplete. Were these some sort of code? Rune translations didn’t work that way.

“Hi. Got a minute?” Laura asked.

“Sure, come in. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to drop the results off. I’ve identified a few tangents but I have to dig some more before I can tell if they’ll pan out.”

Katie nodded. “Thanks. I just love the thrill of the mystery, trying to uncover what the author was really trying to convey.” She smiled. “It’s sort like personality profiling. I have to try and get into some guy’s head and we don’t speak the same language.”

Laura cleared her throat. “Speaking of digging…”

Katie looked up. “I didn’t know we were.”

“We never got to finish our discussion at lunch.”

Katie sighed, the trace of a wistful smile forming at the corners of her mouth. “What do you want to know? I told you most of the details a long time ago.”

Laura pulled a chair over and sat facing her. “You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”

“It’s complicated, Laura. He’s my boss.”

“So?”

“It would be professional suicide.” Katie massaged the back of her neck. “I showed a complete lack of judgment that night.”

Laura frowned. “So what if you hooked up with him that night. You didn’t know he’d eventually be your boss.”

Katie stood and walked around her office. “Laura, look at this from an overall picture. Granted, my sleeping with him for one night isn’t the issue.” She took a deep breath. “What is a problem is that I picked up this guy, didn’t know a damn thing about him, didn’t want to know actually.” She sat back down. “He could have been a serial killer, a married man.” She sighed. “He could’ve been a slave trader. The point is I was reckless. I went to
his
room. Quite literally, that could’ve been the last few hours of my life. I could’ve disappeared and no one would know where I went or when for that matter. No one even knew I was at that hotel.”

Laura leaned forward, her brows drawn tight. “I think I get it. If someone, say Lucy Millar, found out, she’d force the issue of responsibility and decorum with Dr. Austin and we
know he doesn’t like any hint of scandal. He’s so protective of the Institute’s reputation. At the very least, she’d spread the tale like wildfire…”

Katie nodded. “And my career here would be over.” She grimaced. “And the rumors would likely follow me wherever I went. People would focus on my clear lack of judgment, my irresponsibility. It wouldn’t matter what my accomplishments were. I’d be tainted by the rumors and innuendo. You know how insular and unforgiving the research community is. No one would take me seriously. I’d just be an object for ridicule.”

Katie tapped her fingers nervously. “I’m so afraid, that with him so close, I’m liable to lose control. In the short time since he’s reappeared, I feel like I’m waking up from a deep slumber. He’s stirring up emotions that are so foreign… I don’t know what I might end up doing, and that scares me, Laura.”

“Do you think he feels something for you?”

Katie shrugged then frowned. “Maybe, but quite frankly, Laura, I don’t know a damn thing about him, except that there’s a lot more going on than he’s telling.”

Willie Jones was waiting for her, groceries in hand. Though she’d given him a key to her condo, Willie would never enter without her being there. Katie guessed he was somewhere over forty, but not by much. He stood five-ten, two hundred pounds, stocky, muscular build, with a noticeable Boston accent, constantly dropping the final ‘g’ on words ending in ‘ing’ and turning any ‘r’ into an ‘h.’ He was unnaturally bald. As he explained to her once, he started shaving his head when he was on tour in Iraq during the first Gulf War. It was easier to keep the vermin out. It was clear Willie didn’t take crap from anyone or anything, vermin included.

“I’m starving. What’s for dinner?” Katie said.

“Well, ‘hello’ to you too.”

“Sorry. That was rude,” she said as she reached up and he tilted his head down so she could kiss his cheek. “Hello.”

“Much better.”

“So what’s for dinner?”

“Nothin’ fancy tonight just spaghetti with marinara sauce.”

“One of my faves. Did you get any bread?”

“No, I was hopin’ you wouldn’t mind gettin’ some.”

“Be right back,” Katie said as she headed out the door.

Twenty minutes later she was back. As she neared her door, she noticed an envelope propped on the door knob. The envelope was heavyweight paper, the kind used for formal invitations. She plucked it off the door knob and went in.

“I got the bread and a half dozen mini-cannoli. Mm, that smells sooo good.”

Willie stirred the sauce, took a teaspoon and sampled it. “Just about ready.”

She flew around the kitchen gathering the plates and serving ware. As she was placing the napkins on the table, she spied the envelope where she’d apparently dropped it on the floor.

“Willie? Did anyone knock on the door while I was out?”

“No. Why do ya ask?”

“When I came back, this envelope,” she said as she held it up, “was propped on the door knob.”

“Who’s it from?”

“Good question. I should probably open it up.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Uh, yeah, that might help, Dr. Walsh. You academics seem short on common sense sometimes.”

He looked at her when she didn’t reply.

“Katie, what is it? Somethin’ wrong? Ya got a puzzled look on your face.”

She pursed her lips.

He pulled the letter away and read it aloud. “Dr. Walsh, it is imperative that I speak with you. I have information that may help you with the translation you are currently working on.
”

“I’ll give ya this, Katie, it’s certainly cryptic. What does it mean? Who sent it?”

“Not a clue. I haven’t received a phone call, email, nothing. So how am I supposed to get this information, just pull it out of the air?”

“Can’t help ya there. Dinner’s ready.”

“Great, I’m starving.”

He let loose a deep belly-shaking laugh. “When
aren’t
ya starvin’?”

Katie stuck her tongue out, making sure that he saw it.

He laughed as he plated the food and she poured the wine. Just as she was about to take her first bite, there was a knock on the door. Her stomach growled in protest at the interruption. She raised an eyebrow at Willie and said, “I’ll get it, might be one of my neighbors.”

She went to the door and opened it.

“Alec, what are you doing here?”

He looked in over her head, taking a full inventory of Willie. “Sorry, I forgot you had dinner plans.”

She rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Willie rose and stood beside Katie, lasering his eyes slowly over Alec. “Is everythin’ okay here, Katie?”

Willie’s body filled the doorway. Alec took an involuntary step backwards.

Great, just great
, Katie thought,
one alpha male versus another
. She winced at the thought they might get into a pissing contest to decide who the lead alpha was.

“Fine,” she answered, shooting a look at Alec and crossing her arms. “Not much different than when I left the office an hour ago. Willie, this is Alec MacGowan, my boss. Alec, this is Willie Jones, my friend.

“Is there something you need right now or can this wait?” Katie asked, her words rushed. “We’re eating dinner.”

“So I can see.” Alec inhaled deeply. “It smells wonderful. A rich tomato sauce with just a hint of spice. Is it marinara that’s teasing my taste buds? ”

Willie beamed. “Would ya like to join us? There’s plenty to go around.”

She shot Willie an annoyed look. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to have a bowl of spaghetti with us,” she said, trying to get him to look at her, subtly poking him in the side.

“Actually, I’m starving. And I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked meal.”

Willie laughed. “What is it with ya academics? Do ya deliberately forget to eat? Katie, just get the poor man a plate and a glass.”

Grudgingly, she retrieved another place setting and returned to the table. For a moment she stood in shocked disbelief. Alec had taken her seat and was eating from her plate. She didn’t like the ease with which he was becoming part of her life. It was unnerving the way he just seemed to fit. She set the table, inching her chair closer to Willie and then served herself. Not that either man noticed because Willie and Alec were totally engrossed in their discussion of the latest sports trade.

“How are you, Katie?” she said.

“Oh, I’m fine, and how about you?” she answered.

“Well, I thought I was going to have a nice dinner with my friend Willie. But somehow I ended up in a sports bar,” she said.

Willie and Alec stopped talking and just stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

“Katie, are ya okay?” Willie asked.

“Fine, I’m just having an intelligent conversation. Don’t mind me. Just keep right on talking sports. Keep right on talking like I’m not even here.”

After a moment’s hesitation, they did just that. She finished her meal, cleared the table and started the dishes. She glanced over shoulder and shook her head. They were still talking sports.
And becoming fast friends. I’ve got to keep him out of my personal life.

After brewing the coffee, she poured a cup, and headed for the bakery box. She reached in and placed two cannoli on a plate and headed for the living room. As she passed by the table, Alec reached over and snatched the plate out of her hands. “Cannoli, mmm, my favorite. Thanks, KitKat.”

She didn’t know if she was in shock from his brazen theft of her cannoli or the fact that he called her KitKat in front of Willie, but she said nothing only repeated the process twice more, leaving one plate in front of Willie and saving the last for herself. Thankfully Willie made no mention of the KitKat reference.