As she walked slowly back down the hall, past the closed office doors, she heard nothing from the one with Stan’s name on the wall plaque outside it. If Eli had come to visit or spend time in his dad’s office, he was being quiet. Those were probably Stan’s instructions to him. He’d never liked interruptions to his work, especially from his family.
From not only Eli, but his wife, Andi, too.
Kelly gritted her teeth but forced her thoughts off her missing—dead—sister. She was here for Eli.
A couple of offices down, she thought she heard a muffled voice. It was probably a secretary talking on the phone.
As she neared the far end of the hallway where the elevators were, she noticed that one door was ajar—Councilwoman Susan Arviss’s office, according to the plaque on the outer wall. She was new, hadn’t been a council member when Shereen had left town. Her office was one of the farthest from Council President Regina Joralli’s.
Kelly heard giggles emanating from inside—like two young boys having a good time?
Would a total stranger, with no hidden agenda, peek inside while walking by? Maybe. She’d play it that way.
Or...no. She had a reason to peek inside. She’d already flirted a bit with Alan. He would be her excuse for checking out that office, even if he wasn’t there. But he’d been chatting with Eli before, when they’d both come out of the men’s room.
Suddenly, the bleak, bland government office hallway seemed to warm a bit.
Kelly stopped outside the partly open door and smiled slightly. It was a smile that she had practiced before, in front of mirrors, to ensure it looked different from Shereen’s smile.
The two boys sat at the secretary’s desk. Their attention seemed fully captured by what they were doing. It appeared that they were stuffing envelopes.
Kelly just watched for a moment. Then she saw a movement near her, to the side of the door. She startled, swallowed a gasp—then intentionally broadened her smile. It was Alan.
“Well, here you are.” She tried to sound as if she’d been searching for him. “I wondered if I should call someone in security since this door was open.”
“No need. I’m right here, and all’s well.”
“It certainly is.”
Was that too much flirtation? At least it gave her a reason for being here. It wasn’t difficult at all to continue looking at Alan that way. She still thought that, at another time, under other circumstances, she would have had fun flirting with a guy as hot as him.
Now, though, it was only a ruse. Too bad.
She noticed then that both boys had stopped what they were doing. She drew her gaze away from Alan’s inquisitive brown eyes as if it were almost painful to do so and looked toward the desk.
“What have we here?” she asked in a friendly manner. “I don’t think these young gentlemen are city council members, are they? Or maybe they’re office staff, although if so, Councilwoman Arviss must have robbed schools to hire them.”
Both boys laughed. “She’s my mom,” said the one Kelly hadn’t met before. “She lets us do stuff here like get things ready to mail for her. We’re like interns, and we get school credit for it.”
“Wow,” Kelly said. “Sounds like fun, and you get credit? Now I know why you’re here.”
She kept her eyes on the Arviss boy, not quite looking into Eli’s face. He wasn’t generally shy, but nor was he particularly outspoken. Still, she wished he would say something.
When he remained quiet, Kelly looked toward Alan. “And you? Do you get any credit for getting things ready to mail for the councilwoman?”
Both boys appeared to find that especially funny and laughed again, louder this time.
“I only gather points here that I hope to turn in someday to my credit if I somehow run afoul of city council,” Alan said, his expression serious, but only for a moment. Then he smiled, too.
“So what kinds of things do you help the councilwoman mail?” Kelly’s gaze returned first to Arviss’s son, then turned briefly on to Eli.
“She says it fosters good relationships with her constituents to send them friendly snail mail letters sometimes that say what’s going on in the city and what new stuff she’s proposing while she’s in office.”
That was Eli! Kelly was thrilled. He sounded like her smart nephew, and it was again all she could do just to stand there and treat him like a young stranger.
Plus, her heart was pounding. Up close and personal like this, would he recognize her? Sure, she looked different. Sounded different. But still...
Fortunately, he just glanced at her without staring too hard.
“Very interesting,” she said, relaxing just a little. She wanted to ask why Eli volunteered here and not for his father, although as Kelly, she wouldn’t know that he, too, was a council member’s son. Besides, she already knew the answer.
Maybe Councilwoman Arviss would encourage kids to come in and help her for school credit, but Councilman Stan Grodon would not—even if one of those kids happened to be his own son.
The kids just looked at her expectantly now, as if they assumed she’d say something else. But as much as she wanted to say—and do—now wasn’t the time.
Reluctantly, she only said, “Well, have fun.” She turned back toward Alan, who was still watching her. “You, too. Maybe I’ll see you again at the restaurant sometime.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said, causing an unanticipated current of heat to flow through her, as if he were suggesting that they do a lot more than just say hi to each other if he came to the Haven to eat.
Kelly made herself leave then in a hurry, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder and waving.
She felt confused. And needy. She had to figure out a way to talk to Eli.
And to avoid talking too much to Alan.
* * *
Alan had an idea what that had been about. A good idea. He didn’t like it. Although...
Oh, he was more than pleased to see Kelly again so soon. And to have her flirt with him again? Under other circumstances, if he weren’t on duty, he’d not only have flirted back, but would have done his utmost to make sure they scheduled a date that night for dinner, drinks...and, if possible, a lot more.
But Alan’s instincts were screaming out that he needed to talk with her, ensure she didn’t ruin things. And he always trusted his instincts.
Which was why he left Councilwoman Arviss’s office briefly to watch Kelly sashay down the hall, still wearing that skimpy waitress’s outfit. Oh, yeah, he enjoyed that view, with her appealing, compact behind flowing gently from side to side.
He saw the elevator door open, and she disappeared inside. Probably a good thing, he told himself. She was most likely going back to her restaurant and wouldn’t cause any trouble, for now at least.
He returned to where the boys were stuffing those envelopes. He wasn’t sure what their schedule was, but while talking with them briefly before, he’d figured that at least one of their study halls, when they could come here and do their volunteer work for credit, was around lunchtime on Thursdays. He had seen them last week at about the same time, and once in between.
He figured a little friendliness by a security staff member wouldn’t look too out of place here by the folks in charge, especially since that was the way they were treated, too.
And eavesdropping on young Eli Grodon just might lead to some information he could follow up on for his real assignment—although