Sandra Marton - Ring Of Deception

“He said you’d be middle-aged and motherly, someone the children would love.”

“Believe me, I’m no happier about this than you are.”

“What do you know about children, Officer—Officer . . . ?”

“Detective. Detective Luke Sloan. I don’t know a damned thing about them.”

“We don’t curse at Forrester Square Day Care, Detective.”

“I’ll bet you don’t.” Luke glared at his supposed new employer. She glared back. “Look, I told you, I’m no happier than you are, but—”

Katherine held up her hand, reached for the phone and punched a speed-dial button. “One moment, please, Detective. No, don’t bother getting up. I’m going to call Mr. Adler and see what he . . . Daniel? Yes, it’s Katherine. I’m fine, thank you. Look, Daniel . . . ” She rolled her eyes. “That’s great. Yes, it is difficult to get tickets for . . . Alexandra is fine, too, thank you. Yes. Much better. She’s even starting to talk about moving out of my place and getting an apartment of her own. Right. I do see that as a good sign.”

Luke tried not to listen, but it was impossible. Besides, he wasn’t hearing anything he didn’t already know. The “Alexandra” Katherine Kinard was talking about was undoubtedly Alexandra Webber. McDowell had told him Forrester Square Day Care was run by three women: Alexandra Webber, Hannah Richards and the woman sitting at her desk, who was doing her best to get rid of him.

He could only hope she managed to pull it off.

Luke rose to his feet. The Kinard woman looked up inquiringly.

“Take your time,” Luke said politely. “I’ll just stroll around your office and try to get a feel for what the place is like.”

It took less than ten seconds to decide that what the place was like was the inside of a loony bin after the art therapist finished a session with the inmates.

Luke stood, transfixed, before a sheet of paper tacked to a beaverboard wall. The paper was covered with swirls and stripes of red, yellow and blue and was only one of what looked like a hundred similar sheets of paper.

Slowly, he walked the length of the wall. What were all these brushstrokes supposed to represent? That thing had to be a tree. And a dog . . . well, no. He’d never seen a blue dog with six legs. That had to be a house. A man, a woman, a child. And a bird in the sky . . . or was it an airplane?

Hell, he thought, and walked toward the window that looked out onto the Emerald City Jewelry Exchange, directly across the street. The floor space all around him was crowded with stacks of books and boxes.

The lady needed a good carpenter. Some shelves, some cabinets and cupboards—

“Detective?”

Luke swung around. Katherine Kinard was staring at him and trying to smile. She was a nice-looking woman, not his type at all, but he’d kiss her smack on the lips if it turned out she and her lawyer had enough clout to get him taken the hell out of here.

“Well, Detective, it looks as if you’re going to be working here for a while.”

Luke groaned. Kinard looked startled, and then she laughed.

“My feelings, exactly. Understand, it’s nothing personal.”

“The same here, Ms. Kinard.”

“Please, call me Katherine. If you’re going to be an aide here—”

“I have to admit, I was pulling for you and your attorney.”

Katherine sighed. “Seems they really did have a female detective lined up, but she came down with—”

“Appendicitis. I know.”

“Mr. Adler called your lieutenant while I was on the phone.” She pushed back her chair. “I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it. I’ve already had my partners, Hannah and Alexandra, relocate upstairs for as long as you’re here.” She waved a hand at the two vacated desks in the room. “They share this office with me, but we decided you’d be able to work better with fewer people around. They’ll be in and out from time to time, of course. Now, we thought that you could work with one of our teachers and a group of about ten children, and—What’s the matter?”

“I have a job to do, Katherine. I don’t know how much they told you . . . .”

“They told me nothing whatsoever. Police business, they said. That was it.” She cocked her head. “I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me more?”

“Sorry. All I can say is that my work here involves steady surveillance. I can’t possibly do what I’m here to do and work with ten kids at the same time.”

“Well, then, Detective, I don’t know—”

“Call me Luke. Nobody here must know I’m a cop.”

“Yes, but you just said—”

“I have an idea,” Luke said slowly. He jerked his head toward the window. “Were you planning on turning that area into something particular?”

“You mean, something instead of a disaster zone?” Katherine sighed. “Someday, when I have the time and the money, we’ll put in shelves and—”

“And cabinets and cupboards.” Luke nodded. An idea was slowly coming together in his mind. If he brought in some tools, some wood . . . “How’d you like that stuff built right now?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I wasn’t always a cop. There was a time I was pretty handy with a hammer and saw. Suppose I come in as a handyman instead of a teacher’s aide? That way, I can keep my attention where it’s supposed to be—and you won’t have to worry about me scaring the kiddies out of their skin.”

“Oh, I wasn’t . . . ” Katherine smiled. “Okay. Maybe I was a little concerned. And I have to admit, your idea makes sense, but how long will your assignment here last? Will it be long enough to complete shelves and cabinets?”

Luke grinned. “Sounds like a plan, huh?”

“It does—but what if you can’t finish the job?”

“If I can’t, you’ll have to hire a real carpenter to do the rest of the work. Look, Katherine, I know this is an imposition, but we’re both stuck with it.”

Katherine nodded. “You’re right, Detective—Luke, I mean. Just remember, please, that children are in and out of my office all the time. Parents, too, so if you’d try to, um, to, uh—” She licked her lips. “You’re so big. The kids might find that overwhelming. And if you’d, uh, if you’d smile more often, and watch your language . . . ”

“I’ll be charming, I’ll clean up my language, and if I can find a way to shrink from six foot two to two foot six, I’ll do it,” Luke said without a smile. “All right?”

“I’m not trying to be inhospitable, Detective—”

“Luke,” Luke said again. “And I’m not trying to be unpleasant. I just think we’re both going to have to make accommodations for a situation neither of us likes very much.”

Katherine Kinard nodded glumly. “I guess you’re right.” She forced a smile; he could almost see the wheels grinding as she searched for a couple of friendly words. “That cold of yours,” she finally said, “you might want to try vitamin C.”

Advice from Dan. From a barmaid. From the lieutenant, and now from Katherine Kinard. What he really needed was somebody to jump out and say, Surprise! This is all just a bad dream.

But it wasn’t, and he let his polite smile fade a couple of minutes later as he headed for the main door and tried not to sneeze, not to acknowledge the headache that had returned, big time, not to step on any of the munchkins zipping around.

He’d head home, change his clothes and pick up his old carpentry tools. Then he’d stop by the squad room and sign out a camcorder plus some other stuff he’d need, and hope to hell he caught somebody fencing jewels at Emerald City in record—

The door swung open just as he reached for it. Next thing he knew, he was doing the two-step, trying to avoid walking through a woman and a little kid, but he ended up bumping into the woman, anyway.