“No. I’m smarter. The rose-colored glasses are off.” She scrubbed at her forehead, where a headache was beginning to throb. “I’m going to bed. You can put away the dishes and fold your own laundry after you finish your beer. I’m done for today.”
“It’s too early to go to bed.”
“Not if you’re tired.”
She swiveled away and trudged down the hall. Once inside the tiny room he’d given her after she’d come slinking back penniless, unemployed, and disillusioned, she shut the door. Leaned back against it as she examined the frayed carpeting and stained walls.
Staying in the dive he called home had never been in her long-term plans, but what else could she do? Jobs were scarce for people with limited qualifications. At least cleaning didn’t require a diploma or any special experience. Still, it had taken months to build up a regular clientele.
The income was steady now, thank goodness, but the work was exhausting. The residential jobs weren’t bad, but cleaning offices after hours stunk—even if those clients were more reliable. No one her age should have to do hard physical labor until midnight. Forty-seven wasn’t ancient, butit was too old for backbreaking work, day after day, night after night.
That’s why she’d put together an escape plan.
She sat on the edge of the bed, massaged her lower back, and arched her spine.
Fortunately, everything was falling into place with minimal effort. If Natalie Boyer continued to have dizzy spells, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince her she needed a live-in housekeeper who could watch over her. Moving into that large, lovely home would be like taking up residence in a palace after Randy’s dump.
Plus, the house held rare, valuable merchandise.
How providential that she’d overheard Ms. Boyer and Paul Coleman talking about it a month ago. Certain people would pay a pretty penny to get their hands on such a find, even if it fell into the one-man’s-trash, another-man’s-treasure category as far as she was concerned. People could get excited about the strangest stuff.
But assuming all went as planned, she might very well end up with first-class accommodations and a sizable chunk of change in the bank.
She stretched out on the bed and stared at the crack in the ceiling that got bigger every day.
The only fly in the ointment was that professor. With her on site, Natalie had a built-in companion who could keep watch over her until the end of the semester. For the plan to provide a fast escape route from her brother’s, Cara Tucker had to go.
The question was, how best to achieve that goal?
A subject worth pondering while the thunder rumbled, the lightning flashed, and the crack in the ceiling widened yet again as the walls shook from the fury of the storm.
FOUR
“TO USE A SHOWBIZTERM,I believe that’s a wrap for this week.” Natalie closed Marie’s journal. “I’d say our work is off to an excellent start.”
“I agree.” Cara saved the Word document of Natalie’s translation and closed her laptop. “I’m glad your doctor didn’t find anything alarming yesterday and gave you full approval to carry on with your usual schedule.”
“That makes two of us.” Natalie folded her hands on top of the first volume in the set of journals. “When are you going back to Cape for the weekend?”
“Early afternoon. I want to spend an hour or two in the cottage first with one of the books I borrowed from your father’s collection. This is a treasure trove.” She swept a hand over the shelves that lined the walls of the study.
“I know. Paul’s like a kid in a candy store whenever I let him pick a book to borrow for a week. I believe he knows more about Old Mines history than any other living soul.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. He was very helpful to me with the preliminary research I did for my fellowship application.”
“He’s a dear man. I’m fortunate to count him as a friend. He’s coming by Sunday, as a matter of fact. I expect he’ll begone before you get back, but I may have an opportunity to introduce you to my worrywart cousin. I tried to talk Steven out of driving down and spending his whole weekend with me, but he insisted he wanted to see for himself that I’m all right. You’d enjoy meeting him.”
“You’re lucky to have such a devoted relative.” Cara slid her laptop into its case.
“I am indeed. Any exciting weekend plans on your schedule?”
She gave Natalie a wry grin. “Not unless bill paying, condo cleaning, and a quick stop at my campus office to meet with a graduate student I’m mentoring qualify as exciting.”
“Remember, all work and no play...”
“I know. I’ll squeeze in some fun too. My brother and sister are coming down from St. Louis for brunch on Sunday for our monthly get-together, and that’s always enjoyable.”
“You’re fortunate to have siblings. Growing up in this isolated place was often quite lonely.”
