There wasn’t a time in her life she’d felt more tired.Her neck ached and she wanted to go home.
Cole stepped out of his apartment the minute she pulled into the driveway.“Are you all right?”
“No.”
He appeared to study the troubled, confused light in her eyes, his own look darkening.“What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?”she cried.“I can’t even work.Nothing’s right!I need answers, and I need them now.”
“Lesley.”He breathed in deeply as if to control his rising temper.“Trust me, for just a little while longer.Then I’ll explain everything.”
A protesting sob rose quickly to her throat and she shook her head.“I can’t.I just can’t.”
The phone inside her apartment was ringing and Lesley pivoted sharply.
“Honey, please.”
The endearment rolled off his tongue as if he’d said it a hundred times to a hundred different women.
Ignoring him, Lesley squared her shoulders and walked inside her apartment.
“Hello.”Her voice was breathless as she spoke into the receiver.
“This is the library,” the efficient voice returned.“The bank said I could contact you at this number.”
“Yes?”Her heart was pounding at double time.
“We have the information you requested.”
Chapter Six
Her purse still clenched in her hand, Lesley flew back out the front door, slamming it after her.
“Where are you going in such an all-fired hurry?”Cole shouted.
Lesley nearly stumbled off the top step, catching herself just intime.She hadn’t expected Cole to be outside.“The...The library,” she supplied on a breathless note.
“Is the place on fire?”
“No.”Willing her pounding heart to be still, she opened the car door, climbed inside and started the engine.
“Then wait.”
“No!I’m leaving and I’m leaving now.”
Cole’s look was bewildered, as if he couldn’t understand a woman who was demanding answers one moment, then fleeing the next without a logical explanation.Lesley didn’t care; he’d left her to face countless unresolved questions.
Although more outwardly calm, her hands were shaking as she gripped the strap of her purse and strolled into the library.
The woman who had helped her earlier was out to lunch but had left the information at the desk for Lesley.
ENGSTROM, DANIEL.His name was followed by a listing of dates and articles that showed Cole had been in the paper, at leastThe New York Times,on several occasions.
Briefly her eyes scanned the dates and articles.Cole was some kind of automobile executive.Although still reading, she walked across the library floor and sat at the table next to the shelves that contained the encyclopedias.Dynamic Engines Corporation kept appearing along with Cole’s name.That was in Michigan.What was he doing with an out-of-state check issued from Indiana?
The information was scant at best.Wondering where she should search next, Lesley pulled out the latest edition of the business directory.He wasn’t listed there, nor was he inWho’s Who in America.
As she was returning the volume, she saw another book labeledWho’s Who in Finance and Industry.Her fingers flipped open the pages and ran down the row of E’s.
