Otter Under Fire (15 page)

“You’re not.”

“Also good to know, but you would say that anyway.”

“That’s a good point, but it doesn’t make it less true.”

“So do you want to tell me what I was being interviewed for? Bearing in mind that I already have a job I like most of the time. If I don’t like this one, I’m sure you know I have some family members who are working at bringing manufacturing back to this country in their own small way and would be thrilled if I would come and work for them.”

“There are extenuating circumstances.”

“Gee, now I can sleep tonight.”

“I can’t tell you about a lot of this, Otter.”

She gave him her most skeptical look.

“I’m telling you, I can’t. Not for a while, but I will.”

“I have no interest in becoming a secret agent, or an operative or any such things. You already have an engineer.”

“That we do.”

“Then it’s possible you won’t have to tell me anything, you could go on your merry way.” She started picking away at her almond chicken.

“Certainly, but I’m way more interested in figuring out how to fit into your life.”

Startled, Otter looked up at him. “Say what?”

“Isn’t that the reason for dating,” he asked, “to find out if you are compatible with someone or not, to find someone special?”

“Yes, of course it is, but it’s too early to determine…”

“So why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m finding I’m not really hungry.”

“Then let’s box this up and go do something else,” he said, signaling the waitress.

Before she knew it, Otter found herself flying around an arena in a go kart. It was the perfect thing, she thought, to keep her from ruminating over her conversation with Joel. She flew across bridges and through caves, driving with manic intensity.

Joel watched her with considerable caution. He knew she would figure him out eventually, but didn’t count on it happening so quickly. Still he had to give her big bonus points for not getting hysterical on him. The surface was calm right now, but there could be some serious danger lurking under that composed expression. He couldn’t let her worry.

When they left the go cart arena, Otter sparkled with energy and adrenaline. She vibrated with it.

“You probably have plans for tomorrow,” Joel said as he drove her home.

“Yeah, I do,” she said as she thought: I need to do laundry, pay bills, and go to work for a few hours, grocery shop, freak out that my new potential boyfriend is possibly a professional killer, nothing special.

“You did so well on the go karts; I thought you might like to try something with a little more muscle.”

“Like what?”

“A buddy of mine has a place out near Black Canyon City,” he said, “and a much bigger and more exciting course, if you’re interested.”

Otter was intrigued.

“Might be fun,”

“Maybe on Sunday?”

“OK,”

“I’ll pick you up early, say around seven?”

“No problem, I’ll be up, but why so early?”

“It’s a bit of a drive and we’ll get there when it opens.”

“OK,” she said getting out of his car, “I’m game.”

He walked her to her door and kissed her deeply after he said good night. He wanted her to understand that his interest wasn’t just business. He had worked a long time to get to her doorstep.

He got in his car and drove away, a pleasant feeling of lust coursing through his veins. He’d do a strenuous work out when he got home, born from years of training. If anyone had plans to do any harm to Otter, Joel wouldn’t have any problems killing him.

But not with a spoon, he chuckled.

Otter would be quite startled to find out exactly what they had planned for her, or rather what they had planned to present to her. He fervently hoped she would be pleased.

“Getting in a little late, are we?” Tempest said as Otter came into the kitchen for a glass of water, “And looking a little worse for wear as well.”

“This is your entire fault,” Otter said as she filled her glass. “You always want me to have an exciting life and have unpredictable things in it. Now you got your wish, you insane genie of chaos.”

“What are you talking about?” Tempest asked in astonishment.

“I have someone trying to push me into a murder investigation; another someone might be planning to kill me. My new boyfriend is a modern day Robin Hood with a couple of Merry Men who have been following me. He’s a trained killer, they probably are too and they definitely are some kind of covert team.”

“What? What? Now wait just a damned minute.”

“And I’m pissed because I like him a lot, and I like them a lot but I don’t want them to be some kind of dangerous secret agents. Why couldn’t they be some kind of corporate types who lead dull selfish lives?”

“You hate corporate types.”

“Yeah,” Otter sighed, “I do.”

“As a matter of fact, you had some very scary things you said you would do to the next corporate type who asked you out on a date. It involved torture of a rather personal nature, if I remember correctly.”

“Well I’m entitled to some fun.”

“So what do you mean trained killers?”

“I went to dinner with Joel tonight. I told him what I suspected about his friends and him. The more I talked about it and the more I said, the more convinced I was that I was right.”

“What did Joel say?”

“He said he didn’t mean me any harm and that he wanted to find a place in my life.”

“Oh boy,”

“Yeah,” Otter said, putting her glass in the dishwasher. “He didn’t even act like he cared I knew. He was more amused than worried.”

“That’s kind of scary all by itself.”

“You have no idea. While I’m running off at the mouth, I’m thinking in the back of my mind that if he was a dangerous killer, he certainly could end my life if he didn’t like what I knew.”

“Otter…”

“I know, right? They want to recruit me for something and I told him I’m no good for covert work. I would say the wrong thing at the wrong time and give it all away. I can keep a secret and confidences, but not live my life like that.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“You know,” Otter said, picking up Spooky and cuddling him, “I made a decision just this minute. No use going hysterical when logic makes more sense. I don’t think I’ll do anything. I’ll just ride the waves and see where it takes me.”

“That’s an unusual stance for you,” Tempest observed, “You usually want to rush in and fix everything.”

“There only so much me to go around,” Otter said, “And so many government people are involved in this, I really hope someone is there to save me if I get in over my head.”

“I’ll be there if you need me.”

“I know, and thanks. So not to change the subject, how was your trip?”

“It was pretty cool. We toured some of the new facilities. Your uncle is a genius by the way.”

“Yeah, I know,”

“And so is your cousin,”

“I know that too.”

“He’s just like his dad,”

“Thank goodness,” Otter said with feeling.

“They’ve scouted out old factories in depressed parts of the country where there are two or three small run down towns close together. There are just enough people in each location to start with and he’s keeping things really quiet. He doesn’t want a bunch of publicity.”

“Nobody sane wants to be the focus of the public eye anymore,” Otter said. “There are too many crazies out there to screw with things.”

“They’ve really set things up well,” Tempest continued, “to keep it in the family, but not divided by the family--at least not for the next century.”

“I know,”

“And they’d love for you to come and be a part of it.”

“I probably will in a few years. I like what I’m doing now—and I keep my hand it. I’ve helped them develop some of their products.”

“It’s a really sweet bicycle you helped develop, I want one.”

“And you get to market all kinds of products.”

“Very awesome deal for me, and I can keep my independent accounts as well.”

“Well you might stumble on a new product that could result in another manufacturing facility. You’ve already made your tailoring client faint with happiness.”

“She never struck me as the swooning type.” Tempest said, “But then not every tailor gets to work directly with the famous Carole Julienne.”

“Lucky her.”

“Lucky her? Lucky me! The luckiest day of my life was the day that Mrs. Nelson put us together to do a science project.”

“You were pretty pissed at the time.”

“I was. I was also grounded because I tried to fly by standing on a bicycle wearing a cape I made on my mother’s sewing machine.”

“It’s lucky you didn’t kill yourself. You were known for doing all kinds of crazy stunts.”

“Our first day we started our project, you explained to me why trying to fly my way wouldn’t work and we figured out how to make a glider; you were the first person in my life who talked to me like I had any brains.”

“You had plenty of brains, but you had a nutty fire and brimstone preacher for a father. In his world, girls didn’t have brains.”

“My nutty father and your crazy mother, it’s a wonder we survived our childhoods.”

“We had each other,” Otter said with a grin.

“We make a good team.” Tempest agreed.

“And the glider we made was a great science project.”

“Good thing, nobody found out that we actually tested it out.”

“You tested it out, I just did the calculations.”

“It’s a good thing You Tube didn’t exist then.”

“And your older brother had a pickup truck and was just as crazy as you.”

“He talks about the fun he had flying on that thing to this day.”

“Even though he broke his ankle?”

“Even though,” Tempest affirmed.

“Thanks for reminding me this isn’t the first crazy thing we’ve been through.”

“Probably not the last either,”

“Good point.” Otter stood, lost in thought. “I think I’ll go to bed, it’s been a long day.” She put Spooky down and headed for her bedroom.

Otter had her wash in the machine by five am on Saturday morning. While it was doing its thing, she went to the grocery store. By the time she got back, the washer was done; she put in a second load and put the first in the dryer. She took a few minutes to put away her groceries and make out her bills, then vacuumed her side of the duplex. The first load was done in the dryer so she took it out, put the second load in and put her clothes away. She put the second load of laundry away and threw her sheets and towels in the washer and cleaned her solar operated litter boxes. When she was done with her bathroom, the sheets and towels were ready for the dryer. She dusted and vacuumed in the main part of the house, since it was her turn and finished at the same time as the dryer.

All her weekly chores done, she got in her car to go to work. The time was barely eight thirty. With almost no traffic she made it to work in about 20 minutes. She only planned to spend a few hours at work that day, just to make sure everything was running smoothly. The nice thing about Saturday was that a lot of the issues during the week didn’t happen on Saturday. Ron Defray didn’t usually come in, customers didn’t call her with urgent requests and the shop was just lower key.

Otter went through each department to make sure equipment was running, the schedule was being followed and there were no major issues she needed to worry about. There were always minor issues and she took care of those easily. She went into her office and unlocked her computer.

The spreadsheet with Clark’s list on it was still in her screen so she pulled it up and stared at it. There had to be something on it to give her some idea of what Clark was thinking, some kind of method to his madness.

“Mackenzie?” A male voice queried.

Otter looked over from her computer screen to see Jeremy Redding standing in her doorway.

“I hope this is ok, Uncle Clark said you worked on Saturdays a lot. I tried last week, but you didn’t come in.”

“No, I had decided to take a Saturday off, but I did see you at Clark’s house.”

“When you didn’t come here, I went over there to see if Tonya would talk to me.”

“Did she?”

“Not really. She was pretty upset about something you said.”

“I think I made her mad.”

“She looked more scared than mad.”

“So why are you here?”

“I wondered if you’ve found anything else out about Uncle Clark.”

“What all did Clark tell your dad about how he’d take care of you?”

“Oh, he told Dad that he knew I wanted to go to college and that I wouldn’t have any money to do that. He told Dad not to worry; he would see I was taken care of.”

“Did he say how?”

“He said he had some kind of life insurance policy in case his cancer got him before he could take care of it personally.”