Official Duty. Doreen Roberts
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Hastily, she pulled her gaze away from him and pretended to be studying a faded map on the wall when she heard him come through the door.
Her skin tingled as he came up behind her, his deep voice penetrating every nerve in her body. “Morning! Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”
She plastered a smile on her face before turning to greet him. “Not at all. I’ve just checked out.”
She thought she saw a shadow cross his face. His mouth tightened just a fraction. “Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Coffee and a bagel. In the coffee shop next door.”
He gave her a brief nod. “Then I guess we’re ready to go.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’ll follow you in my car. Then I can go straight to the airport after I leave the lawyer’s office.”
There was no mistaking the disapproval in his dark eyes now.
“I thought you were going to take a look at the house with me.”
She lifted her wrist and concentrated on her watch. “I changed my mind. After thinking about it, I really can’t see that I’d be much help. After all, I’m sure the Corbetts must have bought many things since I left, I wouldn’t know what was missing. In any case, I’m needed back in Philadelphia.”
She looked up in time to see his eyebrows rise. “Philadelphia? I thought you were in Phoenix.”
“I was.” She started toward the door, putting an end to the conversation. This wasn’t the time for explanations. It was doubtful there would ever be a time when she could tell him the truth about Brandon.
Outside in the parking lot the sun warmed her shoulders as she made her way to her car. Even so, she detected a faint chill in the wind blowing in from the mountains. Before long the fall would bring the winter rains and then the snow. How could she have forgotten the clean, fresh smell of the open land and the feeling of losing oneself in the wide expanse of blue sky? It was such a far cry from the burning Philadelphia sidewalks and suffocating buildings that shut out the sunshine.
As she climbed into her car she noticed the dark gray minivan that had followed her out the night before, sitting just a few spaces away. She stared hard at it, wondering what it was about it that had unnerved her the night before.
The Nevada license plate was faded and dented and there were gouges on the door on the passenger’s side. Apparently the owner was a lousy driver.
Looking at the van in daylight, however, her fears of last night seemed ludicrous. She had to get control of her nerves, before she did something really stupid.
The roar of Cully’s engine made her jump and she started her car. He was already out on the road, heading toward town before she had backed up enough to swing the car out of its space. For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to wait for her but he slowed enough for her to catch up before he turned the first corner.
Somehow she got the idea he was mad about something. Well, let him be. She hadn’t made any promises. For two cents she’d turn around and head for the airport. After all, there was no law that said she had to go to the reading of the will.
Even as the thought occurred to her she glanced in her rearview mirror, tempted to slam on the brakes and turn around. Her hands froze on the wheel. The minivan was right behind her.
It seemed as if all her breath had suddenly deserted her body. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and the feeling of suffocation was almost unbearable. She clawed for the air conditioner and turned on the fans full blast.
Whoever was driving the van had to have been sitting there while she had been staring at it just a few moments ago. Why hadn’t she noticed a driver in the front seat? Had he been hiding, waiting for her to move before pulling out to follow her?
A screech of brakes to her right jerked her gaze from the mirror. To her horror she realized she’d driven right through a stop sign. Cully must have noticed. The driver who’d been forced to brake gestured at her as she went by him, a little too close for comfort.
Thoroughly shaken, she thought about pulling over until she could calm her nerves. Cully’s Jeep, however, turned another corner a block away and she had no choice but to follow him, or she’d lose sight of him. Nervously she glanced in her mirror again.
The minivan was gone.
She blinked, staring in disbelief at the empty road behind her. Had she imagined it? No, it must have turned the corner back there, at the stop sign. She followed Cully into the side street and slammed on her brakes as he pulled to a stop in front of her.
Heart pounding, she waited for him, expecting him to climb out and walk back to her car. He was going to give her a ticket. She’d sailed through a stop sign right in front of his eyes.
To her surprise, he jumped down from the Jeep and sauntered over to a faded brick building she remembered was once a warehouse for distributing cut boards from the lumber mills. It had apparently been turned into offices, with new glass doors built into what had once been a solid brick wall.
Cully paused in front of one of the doors and looked back at her, obviously waiting for her to follow.
She pulled in her breath and let it drift out again before shutting off her engine. Either he hadn’t noticed her mistake, or he planned to ignore it. She hoped it was the former. Just to make sure, she scanned the street both ways as she climbed out of the car. There was no sign of the minivan. Surely, surely, she hadn’t imagined it? Her hands felt clammy as she went through the door that Cully held open for her.
The lawyer’s office was a little too cool for comfort and she wished she’d brought a jacket with her. The room smelled of lemon polish and new furniture. An eager young receptionist sat behind a highly polished desk, which was bare of anything except a telephone, a computer and a flashy sign that announced her name was Tanya.
She greeted Cully with an ease that implied she knew him well. Her disapproving glance at Ginny when Cully introduced her suggested Tanya would like to know the town’s magnetic sheriff a whole lot better and didn’t welcome competition.
She needn’t worry, Ginny thought wryly. It was odd that Cully had never married. Mabel had told her he lived alone on his ranch, with just a housekeeper and a couple of ranch hands to help out. She wondered if he had a girlfriend.
She was still wondering about that when Tanya ushered them into a quiet room with somber dark paneling that Ginny found oppressive. The seconds ticked by as she sat with Cully in awkward silence. More than ever now she wished she’d obeyed that impulse to turn her car around and head for the airport.
Would the minivan have followed her out there?
The unbidden thought disturbed her and she clamped her hands together in her lap. This was a very small town but common sense told her there had to be more than one gray minivan being driven around.
“Don’t look so worried. Paul’s just going to read the will. As soon as he’s through you’ll be free to go.”
At the sound of his deep voice she’d jumped. She tried to dismiss her ridiculous fears with a careless shrug. “I’m not worried. Just impatient.”
“Yeah, I can tell you can’t wait to get out of here. I should’ve remembered how much you hate this town.”
For some ridiculous reason she felt like crying. “I don’t hate it. I just have things to take care of back home, that’s all.”
He nodded, his mouth a thin, straight line. “Right.”
She was saved from saying anything else when the door opened and a thin, gray-haired man wearing a dark blue suit scurried into the room, murmuring apologies.
Again Cully introduced her and she shook the lawyer’s proffered hand, surprised by the strength of his grip. Sharp blue eyes regarded her from behind gold-rimmed spectacles as she sat down again.
“Ms.