“Yes. In Germantown. It was a good place to grow up.”
“Why did you like it?”
“There was a mix of people. I could fit in.”
“What did you do for fun?”
“Sky diving.”
He blinked.
“That was a joke.”
“Right.”
“I liked to read.”
“What?”
“Everything. Mystery. Science fiction. Romances. What about you?”
“I was more into sports. Depending on the season. Football. Basketball. Baseball.”
“I did that too. I was on a softball team.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She laughed. “I was a good pitcher.”
He gave her a considering look. “You?”
She managed a mischievous smile. “I don’t look like a pitcher?”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said with a grin. “And you stayed in the area after high school.”
“My family’s still here. I didn’t want to move too far from them, in case my parents needed help.”
“They’re getting old?”
“They’re still doing all right.”
“But you worry about them?”
There was a lot she could say. She settled for a little nod.
“You’ve been at S&D a while.”
“It’s a good working environment.”
She had let him lull her into letting down her guard, but the relaxing small talk ended abruptly with his next question.
“Do you know about an employee in the IT department who was murdered?”
Chapter 6
Elena’s hand tightened on the sandwich, squishing the bread, and she deliberately eased her grip as tuna salad oozed out from between the slices.
“You mean Arnold Blake?”
“Yes. Any insights into what might have happened?”
“You’re the security chief.”
“It was before my time, and the police don’t have any leads.”
Her mouth had gone dry, and she took a sip of tea. “I didn’t know him well,” she managed to say.
“Did he seem suspicious to you?”
That might be an opening to say something about the emails Arnold had sent her. But then what?
“No,” she responded as she turned her sandwich in her hand, wishing she could get up and walk back to work. Shane Gallagher had put her on edge as soon as he’d started talking to her today. Then he’d fooled her into relaxing before springing a question about Arnold Blake. Or maybe she shouldn’t put it that way.
Maybe he saw that he’d spooked her because he leaned back in his chair, focusing on his sandwich for a while and eating some of the potato salad. She took some of the salad, too.
She finished most of her sandwich, saving the edges of the bread. She was annoyed with herself for acting nervous around him. He didn’t know about her damn dream. And she wasn’t going to talk about Arnold Blake.
Arnold had been in his early sixties when he died. He had been friendly to her when she came to S&D. She’d thought of him as a mentor because he’d shown her the ropes in the IT department. And she’d come to him with questions when she was finding her way.
He was married, and she had no intention of getting involved with him outside of work. But he’d started a correspondence with her that wasn’t strictly work related. He’d sent her little jokes, and he’d been into puzzles. He was designing them, calling them SIMon Sez, and sometimes he’d run answers by her. But that was about as far as it went with them.
Because her mother had made her superstitious about discussing the dead, she didn’t want to talk about any of that with Shane. Instead, she walked to the edge of the lake and broke the bread crusts into pieces, throwing the bits into the water. The mom duck paddled over, and the babies followed. Smiling, she fed the little family, watching them scrabble around for the food.
Shane came up beside her, and to her relief, he didn’t ask any more questions about Blake.
“You like animals?”
“Yes. That’s one of the things I miss in the States. There were lots more animals around back home. I loved to watch the babies with the mommas.” She looked at her watch. “This was a nice break, but I should get back to work.”
“I’m sorry if I kept you from something you needed to do.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just stay a little late.”
“Sorry,” he said again.
The conversation had petered out. For a little while, she’d felt closer to him. Now she reminded herself that she had no business thinking about him as anything but the company chief of security. They drove back to the S&D building without speaking.
“Thanks,” she said as she got out at the front door and hurried back to her desk.
As soon as she was out of his sight, she was angry with herself for being so off balance. She wanted to be a normal, self-assured American woman. She’d reached that status in her work. Now she had to do the same with her personal relationships. But she didn’t have a personal relationship with Shane, she reminded herself. Just a fantasy relationship. That silent observation made her snort.
Shane dragged in a breath and let it out as he watched Elena hurry into the building. She’d been on edge with him, and he needed to know why. Because she was deep into something illegal that she was afraid the security chief was going to discover? If that was the case, she could be in danger, which gave him another reason to find out what had prompted her reaction to him.
Or was he just looking for excuses to maintain contact with her because that’s what he secretly wanted?
He spent the rest of the afternoon working on background checks, putting in extra time because he felt guilty about…something. He wasn’t sure what.
Elena had told him she might work late, too. When he finally made his way down to the parking lot, she was standing beside her car, looking around with a disturbed expression on her face.
Wondering what was wrong, he hurried over. By the time he reached her vehicle, she was inside again, trying to start the vehicle, but the sound told him she wasn’t having any success.
Leaning down, he rapped on the driver’s side window of Elena’s car.
Her head jerked up. When she saw it was him, she rolled down her window.
“Shane. What are you doing here?”
“I was working late, too. It sounds like you’re having problems.”
She tightened her hands on the wheel. “My car won’t start.”
“I can take a look.”
She gave him a grateful look as he walked around to the front of the vehicle.
“Open the hood release,” he said.
As he leaned in and looked at the engine, he could see her watching him through the crack between the hood and the bottom of the window. The worry in her eyes made his chest tighten because he was thinking this might give him an opportunity he’d been looking for. He clamped his teeth together as he reached to touch a few engine parts, then shook his head. “I guess I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“I’ll have to call a tow truck.”
He looked around the almost empty parking lot. “It’s late, and I don’t want you hanging around here by yourself. I’ll wait with you.”
He saw her consider the offer.
“I don’t want to put you to any trouble. You probably want to get home.”
“Why don’t you let me drive you home, and you can take care of the problem in the morning?”
She thought that over, then finally nodded, climbed out of her car, and locked the door behind her.
“Do you have a tissue?” he asked. To emphasize his problem, he rubbed his thumb across his fingers.
She was instantly contrite, making him feel even guiltier.
“You got your hands dirty. I’m sorry.” Digging into her purse, she found a tissue pack and gave him one. He wiped at his hands, but of course he couldn’t get all the grime off.