Engstrom, Daniel Cole.Her finger stopped as she sank back into the cushioned chair and continued reading:AUTOMOBILE EXECUTIVE.That she knew.SINGLE.Thank goodness.EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering at the Lawrence Institute of Technology.Master’s in auto science.Degree in mechanical engineering from Chrysler Industries.MBA from the University of Michigan.Hired as an engineer for Dynamic Engines and promoted to the director of advanced engineering and finally chief engineer.
Chief engineer!Lesley propped her head up with one hand pressed tightly across her forehead as the knowledge of his expertise washed over her.
Again she scanned the statistical information.Cole was thirty-four and had accomplishments men twenty years his senior would envy.But why hide himself away like this?For what reason?Should she confront him with what she knew?Or waituntil he told her and see if his story jelled with what she’d learned?
Her thoughts muddled, Lesley walked outside the building and headed down the street toward her car.
“Hey, what are you doing shopping this time of day?”Terry pulled her car into the empty parking space beside Lesley’s and rolled down her window.
“Oh, hi,” Lesley responded with an absent smile.
“Hi yourself.What’s up?”
“Up?What makes you think anything’s up?”
“In addition to being your sister, I happen to know you, Lesley Joy Brown.Now, out with it.”
“Cole Daniels is really Daniel Cole Engstrom,” Lesley announced without preamble.
“What?”Terry gasped and jerked open her car door.“I think we need to talk.”She unstrapped Lisa from the baby seat in the back of the car.
Fifteen minutes later they sat in their favorite café drinking coffee while Lesley explained what she’d learned from the library.
“I don’t believe it.”
“That’s the tenth time you’ve said that,” Lesley commented with an impatient snap to her voice.
“Sorry.”
Lesley could tell Terry wasn’t actually sorry.“Shocked” was a better word.
“What are you going to do about it?”Terry continued.
“I don’t know.What do you think I should do?”
“Confront him?”
“Should I?”
“I’m asking, not telling.”Terry turned her attention to Lisa, who was cheerfully eating a soda cracker, mashing it together with her chubby fingers.
“There are so many unexplainables with this.”
“I’ve got it.”Terry hit her hand across the plastic-topped table, directing the attention of half the café to their booth in the corner.“It’s only logical.”
“What?”Lesley leaned forward eagerly across the table.Nothing about this whole thing was logical.
“We’re always reading about automobile recalls.”
“So?”
“As chief engineer, wouldn’t Cole—”
“Of course,” Lesley interrupted.“He found out something that’s wrong with the cars that would demand a recall.But D.E.is trying to hide this from the customers and has hired a hit man to do in Cole.”
“What do you think?”
“I think we may have stumbled onto something,” Lesley answered thoughtfully.
