Circle of Shadows (5 page)

“We’ll try to report back on that
the same evening we watch the video, if possible,” Ken said, dismissing them.

Ken thought Lili had really
handled it all very well. He watched her say goodnight to each and every one of
her employees. He could tell a lot about a boss from how the employees felt
about him, and this group obviously cared about the Adams family.

However, it was clear already
that they resented his buyout. During the meeting, one of the men sitting
somewhere behind him had commented in an undertone, “You work for years,
thinking you’re getting somewhere, and what happens? Some millionaire
corporation buys you out and walks off with it all. There’s no justice in this
world, I say.”

When Ken had turned to see who
was talking, all the employees seemed to be paying attention to Lili, and he
didn’t know their voices well enough to tell who had spoken. He wondered if the
comment had been meant to be overheard. If so, there was at least one person
who resented him besides Lili who had made hers clear from the start.

Up-front resentment he could deal
with. It was the covert kind that could prove dangerous.

If only Robert had told her of
the sale ahead of time as Ken had urged him to do. If Robert had introduced Ken
to his wife and daughter and convinced them it was the way he wanted it. Then
maybe, just maybe, Lili would not have this resentment toward him.

But business was business and Ken
wasn’t going to allow her to lay a load of guilt on him for buying what had
been offered on the open market. He’d paid what Robert had asked without any
haggling. If he hadn’t bought the store, someone else would have. Someone who
might not have paid as much, or who wouldn’t have let Lili stay on, or who
might have taken over personally.

Not that running Adams’ Foods
personally was a bad idea. He thought of working with Lili every day, side by
side, seeing those long blond lashes sweep up to reveal her clear blue eyes
looking at him throughout the day. Just thinking about her was enough to make
him need a cold shower.

Of course, anything more than
thinking was impossible. He had a rule against getting involved with employees,
and a corporation to run. If Lili couldn’t handle the job of manager, he’d have
to bring in a capable second-in-command from one of his other stores.

He walked Lili to her car.
Wanting to prolong the evening, he thought about that slim yet luscious body in
the pool last night and had an unnerving desire to see it that way again. He
could imagine his hands sliding down her arms, curving along soft shoulders,
and perhaps sliding lower— “I’m not in the least sleepy,” he said. “How about a
swim
?
”

She tossed him a surprised glance
as she unlocked her car.

“Oh, are you staying over again
?
”

“Yes, I have an appointment in
the morning.”

Looking away, she said in a
neutral tone, “I think I’ll pass tonight, Ken. I’m really tired. Thanks again
for the nice dinner.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you
next Wednesday then.”

“Good night.” Smiling at him, she
put her car in gear.

Disappointment curled in his
stomach. Lifting a hand in farewell, he watched her drive off. He’d pushed too
fast. He had to give her time to get used to the changes in her life, the
emotional upheavals, before he could expect her to enjoy spending time with
him. She was making his blood sing, but he had no reason to think she felt the
same way. He went back to the motel and swam laps in the empty pool until he
was exhausted enough to sleep.

The next morning he was almost
late for his appointment with Mrs. Langley, the local real estate agent. She
was waiting for him in the parking lot of the restaurant on Long Lake where
he’d taken Lili the night before.

“Good morning
!
” Mrs. Langley smiled at him. “Do
you want to come with me, or take both cars
?
”

“I’ll follow you. I need to be in
Mankato by two o’clock.”

Waving at Ken to follow her
little Volkswagen, Mrs. Langley led the way to the main highway. After a mile
or so, she turned down a service road along the lake shore. Beautiful homes and
some smaller cottages lined the road, some almost hidden by evergreens, oaks
and maple trees. Sumac bushes lined the ditch. He tried to imagine what autumn
would look like here, with the brilliant reds of the sumac, the crimson and
golds
of the sugar maples, and then later the darker rust
of the oaks as they prepared for winter. With such a variety of trees, he was
certain the fall colors would last for weeks.

She stopped on a rise in front of
a brown house. Through the trees Ken could see the sunlight sparkling on the
lake. Disappointed, he pulled up beside her. Half-hidden by trees, the house
looked ordinary. He followed her along the sidewalk to a door. There she dug in
her purse for a key.

“You’ll love this house, Mr.
Mills,” she gushed, flashing him a wide smile. “It has a spiral staircase, two
bathrooms, and a second bedroom for the home office you said you needed. A dock
and boat storage give you access directly from the lake. It’s available now,
too. Mrs. Hanson has already removed everything except the appliances which go
with the house.”

Ken was surprised to see that,
once inside the door, steps led up instead of down. Mrs. Langley led him
directly into a large, dimly lit living area. She walked across the thick beige
carpet, stepped down into a circular area, and pulled a cord.

He caught his breath as the
draperies slid away, revealing a whole wall of windows overlooking the lake.

The view drew him to stand beside
her. Sunlight spilled into the room, but the view of the lake fascinated him
most. He looked down to see flower beds surrounded by gray rock near the house.
Sidewalks led to the dock and lake shore a few yards beyond. A table and chairs
on a redwood deck to his right suggested outdoor parties.

“Spectacular, eh
?
” Mrs. Langley said. She watched
his face, a satisfied smile on hers.

Ken nodded, turning back to
follow her as she showed off the built-in bookcases and plentiful oak
cupboards, all beautifully finished in a natural shade. She pointed out that
the kitchen area opened into the living area to allow hostess and guests to
converse. The large bedroom and tiled bath area in the rear had made the house
seem ordinary from the road.

Returning through the kitchen,
she led him down a spiral staircase to the lower floor. A laundry, second bath
and shop area were to the back, beneath the upstairs bedrooms. The main room
was carpeted in burgundy, with a pool table and bar at one end. Sliding glass
doors opened onto the patio and deck.

Ken went to stand there, staring
out at the well-kept flowerbeds outside. “Why is all this for sale
?
”

“Mrs. Hanson is a widow who has a
home in Arizona, too, and can no longer afford both,” Mrs. Langley said. “In fact,
she and her sister just left for
there
yesterday
.”
“

This story sounded familiar.
Hadn’t Lili told him almost the same thing yesterday? He frowned at Mrs.
Langley. “Mrs. Hanson’s name wouldn’t be Agnes, and her sister’s Sarah Adams
?
”

Mrs. Langley turned her dark
brown eyes to Ken in surprise. “You know them? I thought you said you were a
stranger in town.”

“I’ve had business dealings with
Robert Adams, and I met Lili yesterday.”

“Well, what a coincidence! Yes,
her name is Agnes. Sarah is her sister, and Lili her niece. In fact, Lili is
looking after this house until it’s sold. She’s a lovely child.”

“Hardly a child,” Ken said,
thinking of that luscious body in the pool. None of those curves could be
called child-like.

“Oh, she’s grown up, now. It’s
just that I used to baby-sit her. I guess at my age, I think everyone twenty
years younger than myself is a child,” Mrs. Langley said with a flustered grin.
“Lili was about ten when I first baby-sat her and her cousins and my own
daughter right here. They loved to swim in the lake and fish off that dock.
That was just after my divorce, before I got my real estate license.”

Dismay settled on Ken again. Lili
had played here as a child with her cousins. She might have an emotional
attachment to this house as well as the store. What a predicament to be in
again. Why did their paths keep crossing? Should he look for another house even
though this one was perfect for his purposes? He turned back to stare out
across the water, trying to decide.

After a couple of minutes, Mrs.
Langley broke in on his thoughts. “Anything else you’d like to see
?
”

“No.” He’d made up his mind. “I
think I’ve seen enough.”

He could already see these rooms
full of people enjoying his famous Christmas parties. The pool table and patio
were perfect, and that big fireplace along the far wall would be a delightful
spot to relax on a cold, snowy night.

Why did he see a certain
strawberry blonde seated there with him, smiling at him? What a laugh. She’d
probably scratch his eyes out instead. Turning, he mounted the spiral
staircase.

Mrs. Langley followed, frowning.
“You don’t like this house
?
”

“On the contrary, Mrs. Langley.
I’ll take it. Let’s go back to your office and draw up the papers.”

Her dark eyes lit up her chubby
face. “Very good, sir. Mrs. Hanson will be pleased.” She carefully locked the
door behind them and headed back to her car.

Mrs. Hanson might be pleased. But
how was he going to explain buying this house to Lili? Would she see this as a
further invasion of her family’s property?

Ken stretched his weary muscles
as he rode the elevator up to his downtown Minneapolis office. For once no one
joined him and he rose smoothly to the tenth floor without interruption. It had
been a long day. He’d had a long drive to Mankato, then two hours of meetings
there, a greasy hamburger for lunch, another hour on the road and a third
hour-long meeting at the next store.

He should be used to the routine,
he did it every week. But somehow, today had been different. His mind had kept
flipping back to the sorrow and pain in Lili’s soft blue eyes. Instead of
listening to the sales reports and store equipment repair needs of his
managers, he had heard again the accusation of betrayal in her clear voice. The
soft, sexy undertones had stirred him in a way he hadn’t felt since he was a
raw high
schooler
in love with the homecoming queen.
That girl had never given him the time of day. And neither would Lili.

Maybe that was it. He was a
glutton for punishment, always wanting whatever he knew was out of reach.

The elevator door opened and he
strode down the green carpeted hall. His secretary’s French perfume met his
nose as he entered his office.

Renee looked up from her
word-processor with a wide smile on her fashionably thin face. “Ah, you’re
back, Mr. Mills.”

“Hello, Renee. What’s new
?
” He tried to ignore his fatigue,
and summon an answering smile. Renee was his right arm, he didn’t know how he
would manage without her. She stayed on top of the thousands of details of his
life. His chain of managers called her with information he needed, and he was
sure they told her things they wouldn’t tell him.

“A dozen messages,” she said,
handing him a steno pad. “All from different parts of the state. I really think
it’s time for you to get a cell phone. Think of the miles it would save you,
and the time.”

“I suppose you’re right.” He
slipped into his own office and closed the door before she could say more. If
Renee had her way, she’d be running more than his office life. And if he agreed
to a cell phone, he would never be free of her. As it was, the long drive
between stores was his only time to think.

But not for long. Now he would be
able to go home to his own house, grab some fishing tackle and watch the
beautiful sunsets on Long Lake in peace and quiet. What a luxury that was going
to be!

Renee had, as always, left the
mail in a neat pile on the left side of his desk. Upper right, she had placed a
smaller stack of error-free computer printed letters and checks, waiting for
his approval and signature.

He dealt with the emergencies in
the messages with a half dozen long distance phone calls, then read and signed
the letters. Finally he buzzed for Renee. The scent of her perfume preceded
her. She stepped into his office and sat opposite him, her black lashes rising
expectantly, her pen poised above her yellow steno pad.

“I’ve bought a house on Long
Lake, near Landers. I’ll be closing out my apartment here this weekend, and
moving there.”

Dismay spread across Renee’s
perfect features, arching her black brows, and taking away her smile. “You’re
moving way out there? Near the new store? But...but won’t that be a long drive
every day
?
”

“It’s only an hour. It’s pretty
centrally located between the other stores and my office here, so it won’t add
any miles to my schedule in the long run. In fact, it may cut off quite a few
miles, since it’s on the lake, so I won’t have to drive somewhere else to get
away for a weekend.”

Renee’s bright red lips pursed in
a disapproving way. “I see,” she said, frowning. “Did you say this weekend? So
soon? When did you close the deal
?
”

“I haven’t yet. But the house is
empty, so I’m renting it until we close.” Ken noticed her disapproval, and
frowned. Was she worried about her job? “Nothing will change here, Renee. I’m
keeping this office, and I’ll be in as often as I am now.”

Her smile returned, and the
relief on her face told him that he’d guessed right. “I’ll call you tomorrow
with the new phone and fax numbers when they get them hooked up. You know that
I’ve been looking at various homes in the country for months. Today I found a
perfect one, so I’ve taken possession.”

“I see.”

“Cancel my appointments for
tomorrow and reschedule them for Monday. Since tomorrow’s Friday, I’ll take it,
and the weekend, to move in and get settled.”

“Of course.”

“Call the moving company that we
use when we move our managers, and ring me when you get them. And see if Mr.
Arnold’s son, Terry, has some time to help me later this afternoon.”

Renee rose to go, her smile
stiff. “Yes, sir.”

A few minutes later he had
arranged for the moving company to pack and move all the things from his
apartment to the house on Long Lake the following morning. Mary Jo, his once a
week cleaning lady, would finish up after them. He was sorry to have to lose
her, and fervently hoped he would be able to find someone as reliable near Long
Lake.

The teen helped Ken pack and load
all his home office equipment and files into his car. He took enough clothing
and food for the night, leaving the rest for the moving company to handle. By
then it was after seven, so they stopped for a hamburger before he dropped
Terry back at his home.

Then Ken headed for Long Lake.

***

Anna swore softly to herself as
she moved three more heavy cases of canned tomato juice in order to see the
boxes stacked behind them.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re
looking for, it’s sure to be underneath everything else
,”
“ she
muttered.

But this time, look as long as
she would, she couldn’t find the extra case of pork and beans that the Landers’
Firemen had ordered for their annual picnic at the lake tonight. Anna knew that
her name was going to be ‘Mud’ if she couldn’t deliver everything they had
special-ordered.

She strode down the hallway along
the back of the store to the break room to ask the stock boys if they’d put it
up, but got nowhere with them.

Either she was getting forgetful
or someone was stealing things from them by the case. Who could she tell
without being blamed herself? Even if she could prove it, it was her department
of the store, and therefore her ultimate responsibility to prevent it. Besides,
Lili had enough trouble right now. She wasn’t going to add to Lili’s load.

Anna knocked on the office door
and walked in at Lili’s invitation. “Lili, I need this week’s invoices—” She
stopped short, staring at the stacks of invoices on the table along the wall.
“Are you house-cleaning, or something
?
”

“In a way,” Lili said ruefully.
“I’m trying to make sense out of Dad’s way of filing.”

Anna nodded as she surveyed the
mess. “I see,” she said, although she didn’t.

Lili dug to the bottom of the
thickest pile of invoices and handed a stapled batch to Anna. “The fifteenth,
wasn’t it
?
”

“Yes.” Anna paged through the
invoices anxiously.

“Was something shorted
?
”

Anna frowned, and shook her head,
then turned the sheet around to show Lili. “No, but I can’t find that case of
beans for the firemen’s picnic tonight. It’s listed on the invoice, and here’s
my check mark, so I know it came on the truck.”

“Well, don’t let it bother you.
One of the stock boys must have put it up.”

“But I asked them. They deny it.
And I used my wide black marking pen when I put a note on it, so it would have
been hard to miss,” Anna said, handing back the invoices.

“Did you check the shelf
?
”

“There’s only half a case of the
gallon size there.”

“Do any of the girls remember
selling them? It’s an unusual item, it might stick in their mind.”

“I’ll ask, but that won’t help me
fill this order.”

Lili sighed. “You’re right, of
course, Anna. How about other sizes? Can’t you substitute
?
”

“Sure,” Anna agreed, turning to
leave. “But they’re going to grumble at having to open
more
smaller
cans.”

“Give them a good price to make
up for it.”

“Okay.” Anna went to obey. She
should have told Lili her suspicions, she scolded herself. It had been the
perfect opportunity. All she would have had to do was admit that this was
forming a pattern
—
that
this was the fourth time this month that something she was sure was there, was
not there, and she’d had to substitute. How many other things could be missing
that she was not aware of, such as cases of groceries meant only to re-stock
the shelves? There were thousands of items in a store this size, and there was
no way anyone could keep track of them all, especially with a half-dozen people
on different shifts, all working on filling shelves.

Anna was a coward. She knew it,
but she couldn’t help it. She was afraid of being blamed for the problem and
losing her job. She was almost to retirement and too old to start a new job.
She couldn’t take that chance, especially with a new boss.

Lili stared after Anna
speculatively. It really wasn’t like her to be so upset over a little thing
like a mislaid case of groceries.

Lili knew it wasn’t at all
unusual for people to suddenly buy a lot of one item, so that the store was
out. So why was Anna angry over it? No, more panicked than angry. Scared, even.
Odd. She’d ask her about it later.

She sighed and put the invoices
back at the bottom of their stack, and tackled her sorting once more. Damn
Father anyway, for doing this so sloppily, for not letting her help him with
this job weeks ago and for keeping the whole store years behind other stores in
ordering and stocking methods. That was one consolation anyway. Ken would
probably let her modernize some things around here. He had hinted as much,
saying they would talk about some changes next week.

And damn Ken, too, for demanding
so much, so soon. To be fair, if she’d told him her father had left the store
bookkeeping in a mess, Ken would probably have given her more time. But she had
the sneaking suspicion that he might also think she would do things the same
way as her father, and use that as a reason to fire her before she had a chance
to change anything, or to show him she could handle the job.

With only short breaks to walk
through the store to check on things and throw a frozen dinner into the
microwave oven in their break room, Lili spent most of the day in the office.
By eight-thirty, she had a splitting headache, but most of the stacks of papers
were in proper order. She decided to leave the filing for the next day and
walked out.

Arthur was in charge of the
evening shift, and was at the till waiting on a couple of teenagers as she left.
His back was to her, so she skipped the good-night. She just smiled and waved
at Billy and Alex who were operating the noisy floor-scrubbing machine.

Thunder rolled and lightning lit
up the sky as she headed for home. Heavy raindrops began to fall as she ran for
the front door, thankful for the wide overhang that ringed the lower floor of
this house.

The phone rang as she walked in
the door. She grabbed the extension in the recreation room and sank down in the
chair to answer it.

“Lili! Where have you been? I was
getting worried.” Her mother’s voice came over the wires, through the static of
the storm’s interference.

“I just got in, Mom. Why didn’t
you try the store
?
”

“You mean you were still working
this late
?
”

Lili winced at the accusation in that
question, but merely said, “Yes, Mom. I had a lot of catching up to do this
week.”

“Well, you’ll have one less
worry, now. Agnes sold her house. Isn’t that great
?
”

“Yes, I know. Mrs. Langley called
and told me this morning.” Lili didn’t mention the sadness that news had
brought to her morning. Sarah and Agnes were obviously pleased, so she mustn’t
spoil their pleasure with her nostalgia. Selling the house was Agnes’ decision,
not hers.

“Here’s Agnes,” Sarah said, and
Lili could hear a giggle as they changed places. She felt pleased that they
were enjoying their vacation together.

“Hello, dear,” Agnes said. “Isn’t
that great? Of course, in a way I’m sad to give up the old place; it has so
many happy memories. But life has to go on, you know. Mrs. Langley said she
won’t need your key returned. The man who bought it is a computer nut, and
he’ll be having new locks installed to protect all his fancy equipment. The
large back bedroom that you kids all used to sleep in will be his office. Isn’t
that wild
?
”

“Mm, yes, wild, Aunt Agnes.”

As she hung up she pictured the
new owner, probably a skinny little man with glasses, hunched over a terminal,
his eyes glued to the screen. Wild and woolly all right. Aunt Agnes didn’t know
what ‘wild’ was.