Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 4

The lawyer had come to see her several days ago, after being notified byDr. Burnett that she was up TO having visitors. He had explained thefinancial situation, including Dinah Leighton's arrangements to pay thehospital bill and the trust fund she had set up for Faith's use. Herdisappearance, he had explained without emotion, changed none of that.

In addition, Faith's regular monthly bills had been paid, 'includingrecently incurred debts. She wasn't to worry, every- thing had beentaken care of.

Then he had promised to have her apartment cleaned and stocked withfood, ready for her return.

All per Dinah's careful arrangements.

Faith had been given a generous amount of cash, and her checking account, he told her, had been credited with even more. In add' on tothat, her rent had been paid for the next six months.

it had been too overwhelming for Faith to think about then, and now shefelt a p.r.i.c.kle of uneasiness.

All this from a friend? Why?

"My advice," Burnett said cheerfully, "is to fix yourself somethingsimple for dinner or order in a pizza, and have an early night.

Familiarize yourself with where everything is. Make yourself comfortablehere." He smiled at her perceptively. "Stop thinking so much, Faith.

Give yourself time."

She knew he was right. And she was even able to say bye to him calmly,promising to return to the scheduled appointments in a few days for acheckup and hospital another session with the physical therapist.

Then she was alone.

She locked the door, turned on the television in the living room forcompany and background noise, and looked again through the apartment.This time, she looked more closely.

Her initial puzzlement took on a chill of unease.

There was no history here. No photographs, either displayed or tuckedaway in drawers. And very little to indicate her interests. A few books,mostly recent best-sellers that ran the gamut of genres, and many ofthose apparently unread.

She found plenty of clothes in the drawers and closet, and the bathroomheld the usual supplies of soap and shampoo, moisturizers and bubblebath and disposable razors, and a small toiletry bag of makeupcontaining the basics, all new or nearly so. A blow dryer and a curlingiron were stowed in the cabinet below the sink.

What there was not was evidence that a woman had lived here for more than a few weeks or months.

No old lipsticks or dried-up mascaras in the drawers.

No unused foundation compacts that had turned out to be the wrong shade.

No nearly empty tubes of moisturizer or hand lotion. No fingernailpolish or remover. No samples given out at cosmetics counters inpractically every store in the world.

Either Faith Parker was the neatest woman alive ... or she had spentvery little time here.

She went into the living room and sat down at the small desk tucked awayin a corner. The single drawer held only a few things. A small addressbook showing meager entries-names, addresses, and phone numbers thatmeant nothing to her. Her checkbook and a COPY of her lease, both ofwhich indicated that she had lived here for nearly eighteen monthsbefore the accident.

There were regular deposits made on Fridays, obviously her salary, whichwas enough to live on without living particularly well; some months itappeared that ends had barely met. Checks had been written to the usualplaces, some of which matched entries in the address book. Grocerystores, department stores, hair salons, dentist, a couple ofrestaurants, a pharmacy, a women's clinic, a computer store.

A computer store.

Faith looked slowly around the room with a frown. According to theregister, she had bought a laptop computer on a payment plan only a fewweeks before the accident. It should be here.

It wasn't't.

She'd had only a purse with her when she rammed her car into thatembankment, they'd told her. So why wasn't't the computer here?

On the heels of that question, the phone on the desk rang suddenly,startling her. Faith had to take a deep, steadying breath before shecould pick up the receiver.

"Miss. Parker, this is Edward Sloan." The lawyer's voice was brisk.

"Forgive me for disturbing you on your first day home, but I thoughtthere was some- thing you should know."

"What is it, Mr. Sloan?"

"The service I hired to clean your apartment this week found it in ...unusual disarray."

"Meaning I'm a slob?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"No, Miss. Parker, I think not. Many drawers had been emptied onto thefloor, pillows and other things scattered about. It had all the earmarksof a burglary, perhaps interrupted in progress, since nothing appearedto have been taken. This was three days ago.

Knowing you were still in the hospital, I took the liberty of acting inyour stead. I reported the matter to the police, then met them at yourapartment. They took the report, took photos of the place, andquestioned others in the building. But since no one saw or heardanything out of the ordinary, and since your television and stereo werestill there and nothing had been damaged as far as we could determine,no further action was taken."

"I see," she murmured.

"The cleaning service was allowed to do their job immediately afterward.

They were instructed to put things back 'in place as neatly as possible,and to use their judgment as to where everything belonged. Do you haveany complaints on that score, Miss. Parker?"

"No."

"Have you discovered anything missing?"

He knew about her amnesia, but it seemed an automatic, lawyer'squestion.

"No," Faith repeated, looking down at the check- book entry concerningthe computer. She did not want to mention it, though she couldn'texplain why, even to herself. "Nothing."

"If you do discover anything, you'll let me know?"

"Of course, Mr. Sloan." She hesitated. "There is one thing. You saidthat all my recently incurred debts had been paid?"

"Yes."

"How did you know about them, Mr. Sloan?"

"Miss. Leighton supplied that information, miss Parker. I believe shetook the liberty of going through your desk to get a correct accounting.

Other than regular monthly bills such as utilities, rent, a small creditcard balance, and so on, there were two recently incurred debts. One fora laptop computer, which Miss. Leighton informed me had been in herpossession since your accident, and the other for new living-roomfurniture. Both accounts were paid in full."

"I see." She swallowed. "Thank you, Mr. Sloan."

"My pleasure, Miss. Parker." He hung up.

So Dinah Leighton had the laptop that Faith had bought weeks before heraccident. Why? And where was it now?

Her thoughts were whirling, confused. Then, to make matters much, muchworse, she caught a glimpse of something on the television. She lungedfor the remote and turned up the sound.

Kane Macgregor, one of those closest to the missing woman, expressed histrust in the efforts of the police to find her," the off-camera voiceintoned solemnly.

The blond man before the cameras looked tired, his face drawn and thin,his gray eyes haunted. Numerous microphones were thrust at him. Aquestion Faith could barely hear was asked, and he replied in a deepvoice that made a warm shiver course through her.

"No, I have not given up hope. The police are making every effort tofind her, and I believe they will do so.

In the meantime, if anyone watching has any information they believecould help locate Dinah" His calm voice quivered just a bit on thename-"they should call the police and report it as soon as possible."

"Mr. Macgregor, have you called in the FBI?" one reporter shouted out.

"No, the matter is not within their jurisdiction. We have no evidencethat Dinah has been kidnapped," he answered.

"Have you hired a private investigator?"

Kane Macgregor smiled thinly. "Of course I have.

I'm doing everything in my power to find Dinah."

"Which is why you're offering a million dollars to anyone providing evidence that would locate Miss. Leighton alive and well?

"Exactly." He drew a breath, the strain really beginning to show on his

lean face. "Now, if you people don't mind-"

"One last question, Mr. Mac r. you engaged to Miss. Leighton?"

For an instant, it seemed Kane Macgregor's face would crack open and all

his wild emotions would come spilling out. But it didn't happen, and

only his voice, harsh with pain, revealed what he was feeling. "Yes. We are engaged." Then he pushed his way through the reporters,followed closely by a tall, dark man with a scarred face, and bothdisappeared into a waiting car.

Faith found herself sitting on the couch, her arms hugging a pillow to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, dazed, no longer hearing the news broadcast. Kane Macgregor was the man in her dreams. And he was Dinah's fiance. Shewas having dreams about Dinah's fiance? Intimate dreams?

Pain, hot and cold like a knife made of ice, sliced through her. Sheheard herself breathing in shallow pants, felt her heart thudding, herbody trembling.

Had he been her lover first? Had their relationship ended a long timeago, before Dinah came along? Or was Kane Macgregor's haunted, grievingface hiding the knowledge that he'd been involved with her and Dinah atthe same time?

Then Faith went even colder.

Dinah was missing. Faith had been in a serious accident.

Did it mean something?

Her apartment had been broken into after her accident, and though she

couldn't know for certain if anything had been taken, the lack of personal papers and photographs was decidedly unnatural.

Did it mean something? Anything?

Why couldn't she remember?

"Oh, G.o.d," she whispered. "What's happening?"

THE SEARCH.

CHAPTER ONE.

"Were you?" Bishop asked.

Kane, concentrating on driving, spared him only a quick glance. "Was Iwhat? Engaged to Dinah?"

"Yeah.

"Unofficially."

Bishop thought about that for several beats. "Does unofficially engagedmean it was all in your mind or allin hers?" Kane felt a flicker of grimamus.e.m.e.nt. "You have to have everything spelled out, don't you, Noah?"

"Just trying to understand."

"Then I guess I'd have to say it was all in my mind.

I hadn't asked her yet."

"But you were going to?"

It was Kane's turn to think, and when he answered it was with a wearysigh. "h.e.l.l, I don't know. I think so. I mean, I hadn't planned to, but.i.t was in the back of my mind that's where we'd end up. At least ..."Until just before she disappeared?"

Kane nodded. "It's like I told you. Everything was fine. Then she gotpreoccupied, I a.s.sumed by what- ever story she was working on. Thenthere was the accident her friend was 'in, and she seemed to get evenmore distant and distracted."