Kitabı oku: «Her Mysterious Houseguest», sayfa 3

Seeing an opening, he said, “It must have been difficult raising Eva while you were still a child yourself.”

She turned away from him to pick another apple from the tree, speaking with her back to him. “I was glad to have a way to give in return for what others had given me. Besides, Eva was a pretty good kid, as kids go.” She dropped the apple into a sack with others. “That’s seven apples, more than enough for Aino. He’s complaining about hospital food so I plan to take these in to him before we go to dinner.”

It was obvious she didn’t want to discuss the subject. He didn’t have a clue why. After all, it didn’t matter. Rachel raising Leo’s daughter had no bearing on what he’d come here to do—find Renee Reynaud. Eva, herself, might prove to be of more help than Rachel, since she’d actually known Renee.

“I’m looking forward to meeting Eva,” he said.

Ignoring his comment, Rachel said, “Shall I show you the apple tree seedlings on the back porch?”

Reminded of his upcoming duties as a planter, he nodded, hoping the guys at headquarters would never hear he’d spent part of his vacation playing at being Johnny Appleseed.

He surveyed the motley containers the tiny trees were growing in—everything from coffee cans to cardboard cartons and said, “Looks as though Aino recycles everything.”

“Farmers always have, didn’t you know?”

“If these seedlings get put in a hole in the ground, will they all grow?” he asked.

“It’s a little more complicated than that.”

He sighed. “I figured it would be. I know zip about plants—Grandma Sonia handled the ones growing in the house. I remember her talking to the droopy fern in the entry, coaxing it to do better.”

“Did it?”

“Come to think of it, I don’t know what happened to that fern. It never did show up after my grandparents moved to the condo in White Plains.”

“You didn’t have an outside plot to grow things in when you were a kid?”

“I remember a big tree in back of the apartment complex in the city that shed leaves all over the place in the fall. With that tiny yard, it didn’t leave room for much else.”

“Let me get what you need to read for your demonstration tomorrow. You can give them a quick run-through while I go visit Aino and, when I get back, we’ll discuss how-to.”

He grinned. “How-to?”

She shook her head at him and entered the house.

His smile faded as he gazed at the fragile-looking seedlings in the pots. How had he let himself get talked into this, anyway?

Rachel returned briefly to hand him a book and a pamphlet, then disappeared. Easing onto the bench swing suspended by hooks from the porch overhang, he sat with the books in his lap, thinking about Rachel instead of trying to read any of the material she’d given him.

She couldn’t be less like Yolanda, he told himself. She was neither self-seeking nor dishonest. No denying she was connected with this case, though. His case, not an agency one, yet still business, not pleasure. He’d vowed never to be fooled again by a woman, especially while working. But it was getting more and more difficult to resist his attraction to Rachel. Damn it, he wanted to hold her, to feel her respond to him, to make love to her.

What could possibly be the harm in a brief affair? Because it would be. Other than the fact he wouldn’t be here long, he took care to make sure not to get involved in any long-term entanglement. No strings.

He had no inclination to change his lifestyle—why should he? So far, it’d been working out just fine. The women he met were out for a good time—they had no more desire to tie themselves down than he did. No one got hurt and no regrets.

“Wait’ll you fall in love, old buddy,” Steve had once said to him. “I hope I’m around when it happens, so I can be the first to say I told you so.”

“In love? Whatever that means, it has nothing to do with me so you may just be waiting around forever.” That had been his answer then and was now.

Love wasn’t on his agenda. How could you fall in love with any woman, when there were no honest ones?

Chapter Four

Hearing Mikel whistle at her as she sauntered toward his car on the way to dinner, Rachel smiled to herself, thinking the whistle made it worth the trouble she’d taken.

“Whoa,” he said as he opened the passenger door for her. “English teachers didn’t wear black leather pants when I was in school.”

“I’m not a teacher at the moment.”

“Care to tell me what you are?”

“Definitely not prey.”

He blinked, but she didn’t explain. Evidently deciding to leave well enough alone, he shut her door, went around to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel, saying, “Which way?”

“Turn to the left. Metrovich’s is on the way to the Porcupines.”

“Porcupines?”

“Mountains. One of our biggest tourist attractions. I’ll drive up there with you sometime, if you like. There’s an old mine and terrific views. Aino claims the road the state put in when they made the Porcupine Mountains a park took all the fun out of climbing up to the escarpment. That was way before my time, though.”

“I’d like to see the park. How’s the skiing up there?”

“We get a lot of snow, so it’s some of the best. Eva’s really good.”

“You?”

She shrugged. “Fair. I really enjoy it, though. How about you?”

“I do okay.”

She just bet he did. It was difficult to imagine Mikel not excelling at anything physical.

“Care to explain that prey comment?” he asked.

Did this man never leave anything alone? Affecting a casual tone, she said, “Oh, nothing much. Except I suddenly decided my wardrobe was pretty drab—making me look like a little brown bird blending into the underbrush. These are actually Eva’s clothes.”

“Believe me, no man could overlook you even if you wore sackcloth and ashes.”

He spoke with such conviction, she was tempted to believe him. She certainly wanted to believe he found her attractive.

“And in that outfit—” he glanced at her “—I can see I’ll be fending off the locals all night.” Grinning, he added, “I trust duels have been outlawed in the U.P. ’cause I did fail to pack my dueling pistols.”

To his surprise, she shuddered. “I hate guns!”

Some women did, of course, but her reaction seemed unusually strong, since she must have known he was joking. Searching for a change of topic, he said, “I bought a coffeemaker today for the cottage.”

She stared at him. “You didn’t have to do that. We always keep a pot on up at the house.”

“I’m sure, but I plan to invite you into the cottage for coffee after dinner tonight and so I needed the proper equipment.”

“You really think I might accept?” Her tone had lightened.

“Hope springs eternal. I’ve also laid a fire, ready to be lit against the coolth of the evening.”

She smiled. “Coolth?”

“That’s U.P. weather,” he told her. “Everything’s different in this part of the country.” Or seemed to be, anyway, since he’d met Rachel.

When they reached Metrovich’s—and none too soon by the looks of the crowded parking lot—he anticipated with relish everyone’s reaction when they entered. If, as she said, she didn’t usually wear black leather pants and see-through blouses, there was bound to be one.

He wasn’t disappointed. As they walked past the bar on the way to the dining area, every male in the place did a double take. Mikel felt a purely masculine rush from being Rachel’s escort.

At the table, the waitress took a long look at Rachel. “Holy smoke!” she exclaimed. “What on earth did you do to yourself?”

“Borrowed Eva’s clothes,” Rachel said. “That’s all, Kelly.”

Kelly slanted a glance at Mikel. “Okay, but where’d you borrow him and have they got any more?”

“He’s one of a kind,” Rachel told her.

“Figures. I never get there first. You both gonna have the perch tonight?”

While they waited for their order, Mikel checked out the place, a habit he couldn’t break, even when he wasn’t on an agency case. He’d also chosen the only table left where his back could be to the wall. Rustic, without any attempt to be cutesy as well, Metrovich’s looked like what it was, an older, out-of-the-way eating place in the Michigan woods. A place where the local folk gathered.

“What do you think?” Rachel asked. “Acceptable to a New Yorker?”

“I always wait until the food comes to comment. That’s what counts.”

“In that case, you’ll give Metrovich’s five stars.”

At the moment, anyplace he could be with her would suit him, even a moderately noisy, definitely crowded restaurant.

The perch was as good as advertised and so was the lemon meringue pie that finished off the meal. “Okay, five stars it is,” he told her as they walked to his car. “The pie rivaled my grandmother’s, not that I’d ever tell her.”

After pulling onto the highway, he said, “In case you didn’t notice, you were the sensation of the evening.”

“Not as far as Kelly was concerned. By the way, did you notice both you and I wore black tonight?”

“Immediately. Had no idea I might have infected you with my color taste, but you can wear black for me anytime. I really—” He broke off, braking as a large black animal lumbered across the road in front of the car. “Damned if that’s not a bear!”

“We do have those,” she agreed. “Also deer, wolves and other assorted wildlife.”

“In the woods, yes. It’s just that I didn’t expect to see a bear in the middle of the road.”

“One never does—it’s always a surprise when they show up at the farm searching for windfall apples or culls left on those old trees way out in back. Poor Fitzgerald. When he was still alive, he used to hide for days after he smelled a bear anywhere around. It was like he was saying, ‘Hey, I’m a rabbit hound. I don’t do bears.’”

“So tomorrow I’m going to be convincing your Scouts to plant apple seedlings for the eventual gratification of bears.”

She laughed.

After he pulled into the farm driveway, he said, “My invitation still stands. I might add I do make a mean cup of coffee.”

Rachel knew very well she ought to decline. She’d learned early to avoid situations that might turn into wrestling matches. If the man had been anyone but Mikel she would’ve said no, but somehow she trusted him not to try to rush her into anything she didn’t want. Which was sort of scary, because she wasn’t at all sure what she did want from him. Except, of course, to know who’d sent him here. Which was reason enough to accept his invitation.

“As for me, I’m perfectly harmless,” he added as he parked the car.

How could he claim to be harmless with those green predator’s eyes? “The better to see you with, my dear,” she muttered without thinking.

“I didn’t quite catch that.”

She certainly wasn’t going to admit she’d quoted the wolf’s lines from Little Red Riding Hood. “Thank you, I’d love some coffee,” she told him. “If you’ve done your homework, we can discuss tomorrow’s Scout session while we drink it.”

He opened the cottage door to usher her in. “If I think of anything I need to know, you’ll be the first I’ll ask.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“That’s the secret to coming out ahead.”

Rachel thought about that as she seated herself in a chair near the fireplace. “Do you always come out ahead?” she asked finally.

He turned on the coffeemaker and sank down into the old chair on the opposite side of the fireplace. “Often enough to pay the bills.”

“How about in the rest of your life?”

He shrugged. “We all make mistakes. I try not to repeat mine.”

She’d just bet he usually succeeded, too. Hoping to work the conversation around to where he might reveal information she needed, Rachel said, “I’ve never actually met a private investigator before. What’s it like being one?”

He sprang to his feet. “Forgot to light the fire.” As he proceeded to do so, he spoke with his back to her. “A job is a job. If you’re good at what you do and like it, then you stay interested. I imagine that’s how you feel about teaching.”

“More or less. But teaching students is rewarding in itself.”

He rose and turned to her. “Catching bad guys can be, too.”

“I’m sure. Do you think there’s a bad guy in the case you’re on now?”

“I don’t yet have enough information to know one way or the other.” He headed for the coffeemaker. “If that red light’s any indication, the coffee’s done. While we drink it, maybe you can help by telling me what you remember about Leo.”

Rachel tensed. “You still think he was involved in the girl’s disappearance?”

“I can’t be positive one way or the other. I came here to find out.”

“But he didn’t have anyone but his wife and daughter with him when he came home to Ojibway.”

“Apparently not. Still, that really only proves Renee Reynaud wasn’t with him when he arrived here, not that he wasn’t involved in some way.” Having poured coffee into the two mugs he’d bought, he carried one to her, saying, “As I recall, you drink yours black.”

She nodded, not really wanting to talk about Leo, but at the same time certain he’d wonder why, if she didn’t. Trying to find a place to begin, she started with “Leo was a good teacher. He inspired both Eva and me to become teachers, too.”

“Why was he good?”

“He was a quiet man who cared about children. He really listened to what they said to him and never turned a child away without the best answer he could find.”

“You were fond of him.”

It wasn’t a question, but she responded, anyway. “He was like a father to me—the right kind of father.” After a moment she added, “Being an orphan, that meant a lot.” She sipped the hot coffee and essayed a smile. “I thought maybe I was being invited into the wolf’s den for an attempted seduction tonight, but I see I was wrong.”

Mikel grinned at her. “Do you prefer being seduced? I always aim to please.”

She wished he wouldn’t look at her like that, his green eyes glowing as he let his gaze drift over her. She also wished it made her angry rather than making her wonder what it would be like if he kissed her. He had the most beautiful mouth, well-shaped and enticing.

“To be truthful, something like seduction did lurk in the back of my mind,” he admitted.

“Well, at least you haven’t lit any candles yet.”

“So you prefer a romantic seduction? I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Actually, no. I happen to think candles and soft music is overkill.”

“Then we’re okay here?” He gestured toward the fireplace. “We at least have the warm fire, the eager male and the ambivalent female.”

She laughed. “You make it sound like something out of Psych 101. Besides, how do you know I’m ambivalent? I might not have the least inclination to have you so much as hold my hand.”

“Shall we find out?” Before she could answer, he set his coffee aside, came out of his chair, hauled the stool over and settled on it in front of her. Leaning against her legs, he reached for her hand and captured it. “How’s that? Does it help your inclination one way or the other?”

The feel of him against her legs sent a tingle along her spine. As for his hand, warm and strong, curled around hers—okay, so she didn’t want him to move away.

“The female finds she doesn’t object to hand-holding.” She managed to keep her tone light, when what she really wanted to do was purr.

“That being so, curtailing his eagerness, the male plans his next move, searching for an innocuous-seeming, unalarming but still erotic caress.” He let go of her hand. “How about a foot massage?”

“I don’t think….” But he’d already slipped off her boot and sock and her words trailed away as she felt his fingers gently kneading the ball of her foot. Never in her life had anyone massaged her feet. She sighed in pleasure, deciding not to refuse. After all, it was only a game they were playing and she could stop anytime she wished. To bare one foot certainly wasn’t dangerous.

The next she knew she had two bare feet and she was thoroughly enjoying his magic touch. Better take care, she warned herself through her growing languor. She couldn’t recall ever feeling so warm and relaxed and at the same time expectant, both wanting him to go on doing this forever and yet waiting for what would happen next. Which was madness.

But madness of such a sensual kind that she didn’t seem to be able to make herself care. Whoever would think having a foot massage could lead to thoughts of further intimacy? Which was definitely happening. If she didn’t watch out she’d be in over her head. She must do something, make some kind of stand now, before it was too late.

With an effort, Rachel forced herself to sit fully upright, pulling her feet away from Mikel and tucking them under her in the chair.

He smiled. “Going too fast, was I?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I just don’t care to play the game anymore.”

He rose and stretched, looking down at her. “The only real danger comes when it ceases to be a game, you know.”

There was no way she intended to admit she’d already passed that point. While she watched him collect her empty mug, along with his own, and carry them over to the coffeemaker, she kept trying to come up with words to indicate her total disinterest in the subject. She couldn’t seem to find anything appropriate, which annoyed her.

“I have to get home and see if there are any phone messages waiting,” she said finally, as she bent to pull on her socks and boots. “The hospital might have tried to reach me.”

He didn’t comment, and when she was ready, he escorted her to the door.

“Thanks for the dinner,” she told him. “And the coffee.”

“My pleasure,” he assured her. “It’s not often Little Red Riding Hood comes to visit.”

Damn the man, he’d caught what she’d meant earlier. Did he ever miss anything? Men like Mikel were dangerous, she had to keep that in mind at all times. “It’s not often Little Red Riding Hood gets away from the Big Bad Wolf, either,” she said.

“You flatter me.”

She chuckled despite herself. “You know better. It really is time for me to say good-night. Please don’t feel you need to escort me to my door. This is as close to a no-crime area as you can get.”

She had to pass him to leave the cottage, and for a moment she paused looking into his eyes. Only when she glanced away was she able to ease past him and out the door, trying to keep her pace slow so it wouldn’t look as though she were running away. Which she was. If she’d stayed a moment longer, she’d couldn’t have trusted herself not to lift her face for the good-night kiss that waited for her there in those green eyes.

Mikel watched her from his open door until she reached the house, entered and shut off the outside light. So much for promising Aino to stay around to keep her safe. Rachel would be much safer with him miles away.

Closing the cottage door, he returned to the armchair, picking up the pamphlet of planting on the way. Never let it be said that, even though frustrated in other areas, a special agent doesn’t do his homework.

In the morning it was breakfast at Sylvia’s. He got Dottie with her aquamarine eyes as his waitress again. “Hear you and Rachel ate out at Metrovich’s last night,” she said.

He nodded, realizing there was little a person could do in this place without word getting around fast. “Good perch,” he said. “Saw a bear on the way home, too.”

“One of them Dumpster bears, probably. They hang around the restaurants outside of town.”

Her words made him sorry he’d mentioned the bear. Somehow it took away the surprised pleasure he’d felt in seeing a wild animal. He ordered quickly.

When he finished eating, he took a turn on foot around the town, where he fell into conversation with a man walking a dog. When he finally worked the conversation as casually as he could past canines to Leo’s return to Ojibway, the man, whose name was Don, shook his head.

“I went to school with Leo, but he wasn’t much for talking, so I never knew him all that well. He was stuck on the Laati girl even then. She was real pretty but kind of sickly. My folks said she had some kind of chronic problem that’d kill her young, which I guess it did. No one was surprised when he brought her back here to die.”

“Just him and his daughter with her, no nurse or anyone else?”

Don shook his head. “No nurse. And Eva was too little to be much help. Good thing Aino and his wife took that orphan in when they did. Just in time, as it turned out.”

“Just in time?” Mikel repeated.

“Yeah. Rachel got there no more than a day or so before Leo drove into town with his dying wife and his little girl. What he’d’ve done without Rachel to help out doesn’t bear thinking about.”

After leaving Don, Mikel walked across the bridge to where boats were moored in a small marina. More than one local person had remarked on how lucky it was for Leo that Rachel had turned up when she did. He mistrusted coincidences, but chances were this was one, unless he was all wrong about Rachel’s honesty—and he didn’t think he was. Besides, even if she’d had red hair, she didn’t really resemble the how-she-might-look-today computer picture he’d had made up from Renee’s fourteen-year-old photo.

Ed at headquarters should have a file on Rachel Hill anytime now. He’d give him a call on Monday. Her file should eliminate the slightest possibility there was something more than coincidence here.

Mikel stopped by the village library to check out a few details he wanted to know about tree planting, then finished up his other errands before heading back to the farm.

Shortly after lunch, girls began to arrive on bikes. Most looked to be between ten and twelve. He’d always thought of little girls as gigglers, but this group of eleven merely eyed him covertly as they gathered in the backyard and whispered among themselves. A guy in black jeans and T-shirt probably didn’t remind them too much of Johnny Appleseed, but he wondered what they did think of him. Though sure of himself around women, this gaggle of girls put him on edge.

Hell, he’d never been around kids much. Back in Washington D.C., some of his buddies helped out with local boys’ clubs and such, but he’d never gotten into it. As for little girls, the only one he’d had anything to do with was Steve’s daughter, Heidi, and she was just a toddler. She was cute and fun to play with, but all she wanted from him was a piggyback ride or a push on the swing.

These Scouts expected much more. It’d be a snap to teach them how to safely handle a gun, for instance—he could do that in his sleep. But trees? Planting? What did he know?

Enough to fake it, he told himself. He might not be able to teach them what Aino would have, but he’d do it his way and let the flak fall where it may. At least it would keep his mind off Rachel and what had started to happen between them last night.

While he watched from the sidelines, which consisted of the seedlings in their pots, Rachel called the meeting to order, disposed rapidly of whatever business there was and then introduced him, explaining that Mikel Starzov was substituting today for Aino, who was still in the hospital, though he’d be home soon. When she finished, she gazed at Mikel expectantly. So did all the girls, who were now sitting on the grass.

He felt like a fool when he walked over and stood looking down at them, so he promptly sat down, too. “I know you’ve all heard about Johnny Appleseed,” he began, “so I’m not going to read his story to you. Instead, I want each of you to tell me something about him.” He pointed to his right, at the girl sitting at the end of the line. “We’ll start here and go across to the end, then back along the second row. Tell me your name first, then a few words about our hero.”

“I’m Delia,” the towheaded girl said. “Johnny Appleseed was a man who traveled around a lot.”

He smiled in approval and went on to the next girl. It went well, everyone contributing something, but was over far too quickly, making it his turn again.

“He may have been a bit eccentric, but all in all, he was a good man who furnished America with a tremendous amount of apples,” he said in conclusion. “Though we’re going to add a few more apple trees today, I want you to think about what would happen if all over the country Girl Scout Troops started planting apple seedlings. Since some variety or other of apple will grow almost anywhere, pretty soon the U.S. would be inundated with apples—right?”

“Um, I guess,” Delia said.

“Apples are one of those things that, despite being healthy, taste good, but too many would be too many. So, what you need to do as Scouts is find other kinds of seedlings to plant where there are no trees but need to be. Each one of you on your own, not as a troop. We can’t have too many trees, even if we can have too many apples. Today, though, we’ll learn with apple seedlings, and when we get through, Aino’s going to have a regular apple orchard here instead of just a few old trees out in back.”

He rose, saying, “I’ll start off by planting the first one. I want you to know that, though I’ve read books and pamphlets about how to plant a tree, I’ve never actually done it. So we’re learning together. Luckily we have Rachel here to set us right if we go wrong.”

He’d noticed most of the girls were now smiling, which he decided was a plus. But it wasn’t until he’d dug his hole, explaining why it had to be larger than the seedling’s immediate needs, that he began to relax. He then used the hose to fill the hole with water, letting it soak in before he carefully removed the seedling from its pot.

“Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Garden gloves are okay, but so are muddy hands.” He waggled one of his mud-caked ones and heard someone giggle. He grinned, suddenly enjoying himself. When the little tree was in the hole, the dirt replaced and carefully tamped down, he eyed Delia. “Guess who’s next?” he said to her. “Choose your tree.”

By the time five trees were in, the girls were chattering to one another and to him, cheering when he viewed each planting critically before pronouncing it a masterpiece. After they were done and were washing their hands in the hose water, he said, “Listen up. I talked to the Department of Natural Resources person and she’s going to arrange to deliver pine seedlings to Rachel for you guys.

“The pine you get will be yours to plant where you think it needs to go. In your yard is okay, if your folks agree. Anybody else’s yard, you need to get permission first. But there are lots of bare places on land owned by one government agency or another and guess what?”

“What?” several voices chorused.

“They get mad if people cut down trees from their land, but they don’t care if you plant one there.”

“They don’t?” Delia asked.

“Nope. I checked.”

Later, after cookies and soft drinks, Mikel stood in the drive with Rachel, watching the girls ride off on their bikes. Delia, who’d hung back, said to Rachel, “Probably Aino won’t be all well yet by next week, so can Mikel come with us on our camp-out instead?”

Both Rachel and Delia looked at him.

“I’m willing, but that’s up to your fearless leader,” he told Delia.

Rachel nodded, saying, “If your parents all agree, that is.”

Delia shouted, “Wait’ll I tell the others,” and pedaled as fast as she could down the driveway.

“You don’t mind a camp-out?” Rachel asked.

“Just because I’m a city boy doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around a tent.” Which was true. Part of agency training involved wilderness lore, which included camping with and without tents. “You haven’t commented on today’s performance,” he added.

“It’s one they’ll remember, that’s for sure.”

He was about to ask if that was negative or positive when he noticed a red car pulling into the driveway. “Company’s coming,” he said.

Rachel frowned. “I don’t recognize the car. I wonder who it can be?”

He watched it pull up close to them and stop. The door opened and a gray-haired woman stepped briskly out. “It can’t be,” he muttered. “Impossible.”

She waved and started toward them. “I found you, Mikel! And there’s Rachel, too. Oh, isn’t she sweet. Of course, I knew she’d have to be, but seeing is believing.”

“Who is that?” Rachel whispered. “Do you know her?”

His sigh was heartfelt. “I’m afraid so. She’s my Grandmother Sonia.”