Borrowed Identity (6 page)

T
HE GARAGE FLOOR
was solid concrete. Smudges of dirt and oil stained the gray surface like an abstract painting. There were several holes in the ceiling, which was propped up on weathered wooden beams. Kelly rattled the door handles, but they wouldn’t budge. Taking a deep breath, she ran at one door and delivered a karate kick.

A horrible sound that made Kelly think of a dinosaur screaming in rage forced her eyes heavenward. She watched helplessly as a large beam sagged, the metal sheeting groaning in protest.

She backed away slowly.

Wrapping her arms around her body to ward off the chill, she straightened her spine. Her teeth were starting to chatter. Hypothermia was the biggest worry on her list, next to being crushed to death by the collapsing garage.

Dying was a possibility she didn’t want to consider. Her mind turned to other matters. Concentrating on facts, she thought about who had done this—and why.

Maybe it was a practical joke. It could have been Wade
playing a game with her. He would let her out soon. Or maybe local kids daring each other to get closer to Moore House. They might have locked her in the garage to keep her from reporting them as trespassers.

She couldn’t think of anyone who would actually want her dead.

M
ICHAEL RACED THROUGH
the house, yelling for Kelly at the top of his lungs. He searched the mausoleumlike mansion room by room, a thousand horrible thoughts flitting through his head. Something terrible could have happened to her. He imagined the worst.

When he made it upstairs and started searching bedrooms, he spotted a dog when he glanced out one of the windows. It was running around the garage, barking as if there was a rabbit inside.

Michael wished he had his .38 at his side. He took the fastest route to the garage, running down the back stairs. Within seconds he was outside.

A metal chain hung from one of the garage doors. A rusty lock had fallen to the ground nearby. He yelled Kelly’s name, wondering where she could be. Was she inside?

“Michael?” Her quavering voice reached his ears. “Michael!”

Something was wrong.

Without hesitating he charged inside. Getting to Kelly, making sure she was safe, was the only thought in his head.

“No!”
Kelly yelled a warning, but it was too late.

Above him, he heard the screech of metal giving way. He looked up. A heavy wooden beam fell, coming straight at him. There was no time to jump out of the way. No time to think.

No time for one last prayer.

Chapter Four

“Look out!”

Kelly shouted the warning as Michael blundered into the garage, loosening the wooden beam as he entered. She watched in horror as it fell. Time slowed and a surreal quality clouded her vision. The large beam would crush him.

She rushed forward, reaching out with her hands. There wasn’t time to think about the consequences of her actions. She didn’t consider the possibility that they might both die.

Before she could reach him, Michael flew toward her.

He tackled her, knocking her backward. His arms went around her as he tried to cushion their landing. One of his hands held the back of her head, saving her from an inevitable concussion.

They hit the concrete hard. Whether by accident or design, Michael landed beside her instead of on her. She felt her spine rattle as if every bone was shattering. Pain shot through her limbs. The impact shook her beyond belief.

Explosive noise deafened her. For a moment she feared the entire garage was going to collapse on top of them. Michael covered her body with his own, shielding her from the debris.

When her ability to hear returned, the first sound her ears picked up was Michael’s harsh breathing. He turned his
head slightly and his warm lips brushed her earlobe. The brief touch was comforting.

His entire body was warm, half covering hers, pressing her firmly against the cement floor. He lifted his head, and their eyes met. They were so different, polar opposites, but their bodies fit together like they’d been made to complement one another. Rough and smooth. Hard and soft.

A soft smile curved his mouth. Michael moved in for a kiss, and she closed her eyes in anticipation.

It wouldn’t be the first kiss they’d shared. He had kissed her several times after taking her to dinner in dimly lit restaurants. Those had been chaste kisses, a brief touch and then it was over. Michael was a gentleman, and she’d appreciated his restraint. But she longed now to kiss him passionately, desperately wanted to take his breath away.

Something had changed inside of him recently. She didn’t understand it, but she sensed it instantly. A mere look from Michael’s smoky eyes burned her to a crisp. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted it more than she could remember wanting anything in her entire lifetime.

The sound of barking cut through their intimacy like a sharp knife. Boomer came bounding toward them, greeting them with loud yelps. He wagged his tail, as if happy to see them still alive.

Kelly laughed at Michael’s wry expression as he rolled to one side.

“Boomer was alone in Margo’s house and there’s no sign of her. I’m worried.”

“Why?”

“You know it isn’t like her to leave without a word, much less to leave Boomer to fend for himself. She doesn’t have a car. Where could she have gone?” Kelly shook her head, unable to understand why Michael wasn’t concerned, too. “Her house was a mess, like it’d been ransacked. I
guess she could have had family over and maybe they took off suddenly.”

“Or maybe they went to town for supplies and they’ll be back soon,” he said. “Perhaps they’d already heard about the snow. That’s always possible.”

“Yes.” She smiled in relief. “You’re right. I’ll call her later, if the phone starts working again.”

“What’s wrong with the phone?”

“It’s dead.” She shrugged. “If I can’t get her on the phone, I’ll have to walk over there again later. I want to make sure she knows we have Boomer. I know I won’t stop worrying about her until we find out what happened to her.”

“Understood.” Michael didn’t try to talk her out of her concern for the elderly woman as he stood and pulled Kelly to her feet. She wobbled slightly, trying to find her balance. His arm went around her waist to steady her, but she gently pushed him away. She didn’t need to lean on him. She was a survivor. Molten steel hardened in her spine. She straightened, standing taller, chin held high.

They surveyed the damage together. The beam had fallen to the cement floor at an angle along with small pieces of debris, but the roof seemed to be holding strong.

“We should get out of here, just in case,” Michael said. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” She forced a smile. “Thanks to you.”

“No.” He jerked his head at the dog now sitting beside his feet. “Thanks to Boomer. He pushed me from behind. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be a pancake.”

Kelly gazed up at him, not trusting her voice.

“How did you lock yourself in here, angel?”

His question floated through her mind.
Angel.
How could one solitary word pack such a punch? It seemed to hit her in the gut, knocking the air from her lungs. A memory connected with the word teased the back of her mind. She al
most grasped it, but at the last second it faded into nothingness.

“Hey!” Michael broke through her trance. “What’s wrong? Can you hear me?”

Kelly’s eyes snapped up to meet his. He was staring at her, his expression filled with concern again. He probably thought she was losing her mind. He’d asked her a simple question and she had zoned out on him.

“I’m fine, really. I was just thinking.” She pointed at the doors. “Someone locked me in. I stepped inside the garage and the doors swung shut. I heard the chain being linked together.” She looked directly at him. “How did you get past the lock?”

“The doors weren’t locked.” He raked a hand through his dark hair, gazing around at the mess.

“They
were
locked,” she insisted. “I tried them. I even kicked at them. They wouldn’t budge.”

“Well, they weren’t locked when I arrived. I only came tearing in here like an idiot because you screamed my name and I thought you might be hurt.”

Kelly took a deep breath, then shivered. “I’m cold,” she said. “Let’s go back to the house.”

Michael helped her over the fallen beam and out the door. As she started toward the house, Boomer fell into step beside her, with Michael tailing them. Kelly didn’t dare look back, feeling his perceptive gaze burning holes in her. He had almost died trying to rescue her. She should be grateful. She should be glad to have him around.

But her resentment grew.

He was lying to her, holding secrets in those dark eyes. She saw it in his every glance. She had the horrible feeling he knew exactly who had locked her in the garage, and he wasn’t going to tell her. He knew she wasn’t crazy.

She wasn’t losing her mind.

Or was she?

M
ICHAEL WALKED BEHIND
Kelly as they followed the path to Moore House, ready to catch her if she stumbled. Neither of them spoke. There was a certain comfort to be found in silence. At least there was for Michael. It gave him opportunity to think.

At the house, he opened the front door and took a step back, allowing Kelly to enter first. He watched her limp up the steps, and realized she must have hurt her leg earlier. His hands itched to help her. Guilt flowed through his veins. She could have been killed. He should have been with her, but he’d gone to town to talk to Paddy. Following his agenda was important, but he wouldn’t risk Kelly’s life for it. Leaving her on her own was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.

He followed her to the parlor. His concern for her escalated when she sank into the covered sofa and buried her face in her hands. He could tell by the way her shoulders shook that she was fighting tears.

Michael didn’t know what to do for her. Comforting traumatized women was not one of his specialties. He felt helpless, and he didn’t like it. Taking a seat next to her, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to his side. He hoped it would be enough. He wanted her to feel safe.

A soft sigh was her only response.

Michael looked around the room. The parlor was definitely not one of his favorite spaces in Moore House. It was bleak. A spider would have second thoughts about living in such a room. The sheet-draped furniture loomed around them like ghosts from the past. Michael wouldn’t have been surprised to see them move.

He wanted to ask Kelly about the burns on her arms. He wanted to know who had hurt her.

She straightened her back and said, “I thought I was going to die. I know you don’t believe me, but those doors were locked.”

“It’s possible… Maybe someone locked you in as a joke,” he suggested. “Then they got scared and unlocked the doors without letting you in on their prank.”

“Yeah. Maybe. Some joke. It was freezing in there and the stupid garage was falling apart.” She took a deep, cleansing breath and regained her composure. “You saved my life.”

“You would have been fine. Eventually you would have tried the doors again and found them open.”

“How did you know to look in there for me?” she asked.

“Boomer was circling the garage when I got back from town. That’s how I found you. You never mentioned what you were doing in the garage in the first place,” he added.

“I thought I saw someone duck inside there. I went to check it out. I don’t understand it,” she said. “I was so sure I saw someone, but the garage was empty. I don’t know how they got out without me seeing them.”

“Maybe they walked around the corner of the building, and you just thought you saw them go inside,” Michael stated.

“Yes. I guess that’s possible,” she said. “I heard the lock click shut soon after. I knew I was trapped before I tried the door. It was the worst feeling in the world.” She turned to him, staring deep into his eyes as if searching for truth. “Who would do something like that? And why?”

He shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to spill his guts, confess the real reason he was at Moore House, but he couldn’t as he had to put this woman’s well-being before anything else. He felt responsible for her. He had an overwhelming urge to protect her at all costs. The problem was he wasn’t absolutely sure he knew who was behind all the trouble.

She shivered and he pulled her closer, trying to warm her with his body heat. His hand stroked her arm, heating her flesh with friction. She was chilled to the bone. If he hadn’t
found her so quickly, it was possible she could have died from hypothermia.

“Would you mind starting a fire?” she asked.

He looked at the fireplace with concern. Not long ago a friend of his had tried to light a fire in his hearth only to discover it had been booby trapped. Fortunately his friend had survived with only minor burns. Michael assured himself he wasn’t that careless. He would be able to spot the wire before he triggered it.

Kelly’s eyes burned holes in his back as he crossed the room to the fireplace. He quickly scanned the mantel for matches and found none. Bending his knees, he hunched down, checking the logs for a trap. Copper fireplace tools were on his right and there was a basket filled with logs to the left. Nothing looked tampered with. There were no matches here, either. What if they were in another room such as the kitchen? Did Kelly expect him to know where they were kept?

Was this a trick to slip him up? Did she suspect?

She rose slowly to her feet. He saw her approach from the corner of his eye.

Kelly pulled a box of matches from an opening at the side of the fireplace. She handed them to him without a word. She didn’t need to say anything. Her suspicious expression spoke volumes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Here I am taking my time and you’re freezing.”

“I’m fine.”

“Would you like me to warm you?” He winked at her, causing her to blush.

“Not right now. Thank you.”

“Okay. If you say so.” He grinned up at her, playing his part to the hilt. “But you can have a rain check, redeemable any time you want.”