Without waiting for her reply, Burke strode into the nearest room. She supposed his training had him looking under table cloths and peeking around corners. When she’d been on the police force, she’d maintained an awareness of her surroundings, but several years out of that life had taken the suspicion off and she’d gotten out of the habit.
Still, in their case, she wasn’t sure it was just carefully honed habit that had Burke checking their surroundings.
“Well?” she asked when he was back in the living room area with her.
“All clear.” He slid the gun he’d drawn back in his shoulder holster.
“Any reason to think it might not have been?”
Burke remained silent for an instant, then met her gaze. “Richard Patterson died abruptly. We won’t know what caused his death until the autopsy results are in.”
“You think Richard may have been murdered?”
“I don’t think it. I’m just being cautious. I can’t see anyone killing him and not taking the formula. Like I said, I’m just being cautious.”
Burke was right. It made no sense for the accomplice or buyer to kill Richard and not take the formula. Besides, Burke said that Richard had never met the people he’d entered into this alliance with.
“I’ll get our bags,” Burke said.
Eve followed him to the car. It was late. She didn’t plan on unpacking now.
All she wanted was the garment bag that held the suit she planned to wear in the morning for the conference and her make-up case and hair dryer.
When Burke would have grabbed her suitcase as well as his own, she shook her head. “I just want what I’ll need for the morning.” She followed up her words by swinging out the garment bag and grabbing the make-up case and hair dryer, then returning to the cabin.
She chose the first room off the short hall and shut the door behind herself.
* * *
Burke watched Eve walk away from him. Against his will, his gaze lingered. He took in her straight back, the sweep of her dark hair across her shoulders, the narrow curve of her waistline. With a scowl, he looked away from her.
He was angry, his body tense with it. This investigation that should have clicked into place had blown apart. Richard Patterson was dead and now, here Burke was, forced to take Patterson’s place. What should have been a cut and dried apprehension had become complicated. And, instead of overseeing the investigation, where he needed to be, he’d had to hand over that responsibility to his second in command Lanski while he was now stuck in the middle of nowhere impersonating Patterson and guarding his accomplice.
Burke pulled out his cell phone and called Lanski.
“Hey, boss,” Lanski said an instant later. “Are you calling from the road?”
Burke’s cell phone was secure so his location could not be determined. “No. We’ve arrived.”
“You and the lady doc all settled in?”
That comment brought on another scowl. Burke ignored the question and asked his own. “Are we set for tomorrow night?”
“All set, sir,” Lanski said, all humor gone. “We’ll have the cottage covered with land, sea and air surveillance. Just like you ordered. The buyer won’t get away from us.”
Burke expected nothing less. “Dr. Collins still has her cell phone in her possession.”
“You let her keep it?”
“Yeah. I want you to monitor her cell phone calls. Incoming and outgoing. I want to know who she calls and who calls her.”
Lanski paused briefly then said, “You want to know if she tips anyone off about Patterson?”
“Yeah.”
“Good thinking. She might not be expecting that we’ll be listening, and have her guard down. I’m on it. Anything else?”
“That’s it for now.”
“See you tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow,” Burke repeated.
This would all be over then. He couldn’t wait.
Chapter Four
They were on the road at seven-thirty the next morning. If this had been another day, Eve would have welcomed an additional couple of hours of sleep. She wasn’t a morning person to begin with and topping that with the sleepless night spent worrying over her situation had left her edgy. But, this was the day the true accomplice would reveal himself and exonerate her. She couldn’t get the day started early enough.
They stopped for breakfast at a restaurant in Rowland then resumed the drive to the conference. Burke didn’t ask for directions to the hotel where the conference was being held. It was clear that he knew exactly where he was headed. When they arrived, he pulled into the valet parking. The act was so typically Richard that Eve glanced over at the man behind the wheel. The hotel allowed for patrons to park their own vehicles, but Eve had never known Richard to do that when someone else was available to park his car for him. She wondered if Burke was acting as Burke or if he was mimicking Richard’s behavior. He was falling into impersonating Richard well.
Her door was opened by the hotel attendant who offered his hand to help her out. Eve placed her hand in his and stepped onto the asphalt. The day was overcast, but despite the clouds covering the sun, the air outside was warm and sticky.
Burke - ah Richard - she had to remember to call him Richard - joined her and they made their way through the double glass doors that accessed the hotel lobby.
The conference coordinators reserved the same rooms for the event each year. For the first time since she’d embarked on the trip with Richard, Eve knew where she was heading.
She spotted Matt Deligne making his way toward her. Deligne was a big, bold Texan, topping six feet by several inches. His shaggy hair, beneath a white Stetson, was sun-streaked, attesting to the time he spent outdoors on the cattle ranch he lived on.
“Why hi y’all,” he said, when he reached her. He swept her into a bear hug that squeezed a cough from her.
After Eve extracted herself from Deligne’s hold, she said, “Richard, this is Matt Deligne. Matt, my business partner, Richard Patterson.”
“Matt,” Burke said.
Burke and Deligne shook hands.
“Never did see you out this way, Rick,” Deligne said. “Have to say, I was starting to believe Eve had made you all up as an excuse to deny going out with me.”
“As you can see, Matt, Richard is very real.” Eve had to force the smile that she needed to go along with that statement about Richard.
“Well, I’ve never been one to back away from competition,” Matt said.
She added softly, not wishing to cause Matt hurt. “Richard isn’t the reason you and I will go on being just friends.”
Beside her, Burke tensed. Maybe in anticipation of Matt’s reaction, but Eve had never known Matt to be anything but good-natured.
Matt laughed now, loud enough that patrons at the other end of the long hall way glanced in their direction. “I think the lady just hit me dead-on with a solid right hook. I’m bleeding all over this fancy carpeting, darlin’.”
She’d been less than tactful and her words hadn’t come out as she’d intended. She was sorry for that. The last thing she wanted was to cause her friend hurt. “Sorry, Matt. It isn’t you, it’s me.” God, she was making things worse with the trite line.
Matt laughed. “Easy. You can quit dancing now. My heart’s bruised but still beating.” He winked at her. “And here comes Allie. I know you’ll be glad to see him.”
“Allie” was Alasdair McHampton, a Scotsman who emigrated to the United States from Edinburgh in the nineteen fifties. He’d retired from researching pharmaceuticals years back, but missed being able to discuss his passion for chemistry and sought out the conference and like-minded individuals each year to indulge in conversation he was no longer able to have elsewhere.
Allie’s thinning, sandy blond hair stood up in places. His shirt was slightly creased and his signature polka dot bow tie was askew. As usual, Allie looked rumpled. Eve found Allie’s rumpled state endearing. Of their little group, Allie was the one she was most fond of, and the one person she kept in touch with apart from the conference. She’d invited him out to visit her in New York in the past, but the elderly gentleman had regretfully refused. He was terrified of flying and prone to car sickness. If he didn’t live in the vicinity of this hotel, it was doubtful that he would attend the conference.
When Allie joined them, Eve reached out and embraced him.
“You have brightened this room with your presence my dear,” Allie said.
Eve laughed. “It’s good to see you, Allie.”
She straightened the bow tie for him, as she usually did several times during the course of the conference, then introduced Burke as Richard. She did so reluctantly. She hated perpetuating the deception on Allie.
“So this is your mystery man.” Allie clasped Burke’s hand in a firm shake.
Eve grinned at Allie’s description. Though he had never married himself, he was quite the romantic. Allie was something of a matchmaker and after learning that she was no longer married kept a watchful eye for prospective candidates for her affection.
Allie quickly engaged Burke in conversation. As usual, Allie’s topic of choice was chemistry and Eve’s stomach tightened. Burke hadn’t been expecting to have to step in and impersonate a chemist. Did he even know anything about chemistry? If so, did he know enough to be able to fool a professional?
Part of her wanted the smug Burke to fall on his face and she imagined herself apologizing to Allie for the deception when Burke slipped up. The more practical part of her, though, knew in order for the suspicion against her to go away, for Burke himself to go away, Burke’s impersonation had to work. She was thinking of how to rescue him from the conversation when it soon became apparent that Burke didn’t need a rescue. He was holding up his end with Allie just fine.
“Dr. Abernathy is about to begin his talk very shortly,” Allie said with a broad smile. “I don’t want to miss that. Shall we proceed?”
Eve fell into step beside Allie, leaving Burke, and Matt Deligne to follow. Inside the conference room, Eve set her purse on the floor and took a seat beside Allie. Burke sat on Eve’s other side. Though Eve usually enjoyed the seminars scheduled at this conference, and partook of as many of them as she could fit into the tight three days, she couldn’t have been less interested now. Keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Abernathy was introduced, made his way to the podium, and began to speak. Eve glanced at her watch. She’d never known time to move so slowly. She wanted it to be midnight and to be back at the cottage with the meeting with the buyer underway.
Abernathy droned on. By the avid expressions on the faces of the people around her, his audience was enthralled. Allie, in particular, had slid forward and now sat on the end of his seat. Eve shifted position in the plush chair. She moved several times more on the taupe cushion then Burke’s arm snaked around her shoulders, stilling her.
He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. “You’re wearing a hole in that chair.”
Of course, he was calm. This was a job to him. Business as usual. To her it was her life. Before she could give Burke that reply, Abernathy announced that he would be taking a brief intermission. Eve broke Burke’s grip on her shoulders and shot to her feet.
“Fascinating. Positively fascinating,” Allie said. He rose slowly to his feet. “I think I’ll help myself to some refreshment.”