“Please help me,” she said. “I will do anything to keep my son alive.” She hesitated. “I’ll find a way to convince you.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “How?” He nodded at the DVD player. “If that’s the best you’ve got, you’ve already lost.”
She stiffened. “I’ve only begun this battle.”
His face was unreadable, and his body language screamed that he was unapproachable.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “It can’t be about the money. You give away millions. Why not to this cause? Why don’t you care? Why don’t you want to fix this?”
His dark gaze bored into her, digging down to her soul. “My son is dead. Why the hell should I care about yours?”
KERRI DROVE east on I90, turning off twenty miles below the summit at the exit for Songwood, the small town she and Cody had moved to three months ago.
The once-thriving mountain community had taken an economic and emotional nosedive three years ago when the large biomedical research facility run by Abram Wallace had exploded on a dark, snowy night.
A case of bad electrical wiring had caused the disaster, killing the four-member janitorial staff, two security guards and three scientists. They had all been local—leaving the two hundred other employees and the town keenly feeling their loss.
Dr. Wallace had shut down the lab and become a recluse. Songwood had tried to limp along, gathering up a few tourist dollars during the winter ski season and attempting to lure the outdoor types to hike and stay in the area during the summer.
As soon as Kerri had discovered that Dr. Wallace had been working on a cure for Gilliar’s Disease, she’d packed up Cody and moved to the town. So far she’d been unable to meet the researcher himself, but she’d become friends with Linda, his assistant. Linda had been the one to tell her about the lack of funding.
Which was still Kerri’s problem. She rented a chair at the local beauty salon. Even on the best of weeks, her tips would never get her to the needed fifteen-million-dollar mark.
She drove into town, honked and waved at Frank, the guy who owned the gas station, and turned left at the library.
Songwood might be close to going under, but like an elegant Southern woman, she would go down looking good. The storefronts were all freshly painted, the flowers and bushes trimmed and tidy. It was the kind of town that had pumpkin festivals and hay rides. Kerri had lived in a lot of places in her life, and this was one of her favorites.
She parked behind the dry cleaners, then hurried around to the front.
“I’m late,” she announced as she entered, then handed Millie a five-dollar bill.
Millie, a gray-haired former teacher, passed over the costume. “Everything’s in place. You can change in back.”
“Thanks.”
Kerri ducked under the counter and headed for the tiny restroom at the rear of the building.
In a matter of minutes she’d replaced her black pants and shirt with a white skating skirt, white boots, blue tights, a long-sleeved dark blue T-shirt with a sequined W on top of an M in the middle of her chest and a bright red cape. It was amazing what one could find at a decent thrift store.
She brushed the hairspray out of her hair, pulled it back into a ponytail, then grabbed her street clothes and raced to her car, her transformation from regular person to almost-mythical Wonder Mom complete.
“Thanks, Millie,” she yelled as she went.
“You give that boy a hug for me,” Millie called after her.
Kerri waved, then jumped in her car and drove the three blocks to Michelle’s house. Cody was playing with Michelle’s son, Brandon, and Kerri planned to use that as an opportunity to flaunt her extra-special powers. Well, technically she was a single mom in a cheesy outfit, but in the right light it was almost like having superpowers.
Right on time the back door opened and Michelle appeared with the family cat in her arms.
“Good luck,” Michelle whispered as she passed over the plump tabby.
“Thanks.”
Kerri stared at the sturdy tree beside the house and at the ladder Michelle had put in place. Climbing the ladder was scary enough. Climbing it with a less-than-cooperative cat in her arms could be challenging. But she needed to make an appearance as Wonder Mom and this was the best idea she’d been able to come up with on short notice.
She stroked Tiger until the cat was purring, then started up the ladder. The purring stopped. A couple more steps and the cat began to struggle.
“Cut me a break,” Kerri whispered quietly. “If we fall you’ll land on your feet and mock me. I’ll be lying flat on my back with everyone looking up my skirt. Worse, I’ll probably break something.”
The cat seemed unimpressed by the argument and continued to try to twist away.
Kerri kept hold of her, careful to grab on to the back claws to avoid having them slice through her stomach, which only left her one hand for ladder clutching. Not a good thing.
She finally reached the thick branch more than halfway up the tree. After getting into position on the branch and doing her darnedest not to fall off, she kicked the ladder free.
“We’re committed now,” she told the unamused cat. Kerri battled very legitimate fear. What had she been thinking? A cat? A tree? Was she insane?
From inside the house came a cry of distress.
“Tiger’s gone,” Michelle said loudly, sounding desperate and worried. “Did she get out? What if she climbed the tree? She always does that, then she can’t get down. Oh, no!”
The blinds at the rear of the house opened and two boys stared out into the backyard.
Kerri took that as her cue. She pushed Tiger onto a higher branch. The cat clung on, swaying and meowing in protest.
“I’ve got you,” Kerri told the unhappy cat. “Hang on, Tiger. I’ll save you. I’m Wonder Mom and that’s what I do.”
She retrieved the cat, who glared at her and tried to swipe Kerri with her claws. But Kerri kept clear of the weapons. She lowered Tiger to the branch at her feet and watched as the disgruntled feline made her way to the ground. Then Kerri turned her attention to the trampoline carefully positioned just below the tree.
She slowly eased along the branch, grateful she’d taken her thrift-store boots into a shoe-repair shop for a gripping sole. When the limb narrowed and began to dip, she paused, sighted the trampoline, ignored the knot of fear in her stomach and jumped.
She hit the trampoline, rose in the air, managed an ungraceful flip before hitting again where she landed on her back. After catching her breath, she crawled to the side and climbed down.
She might be pushing thirty but she still had it, she told herself as she smoothed down the front of her skirt. Sort of. Too bad she’d never taken gymnastics. Training like that would have really helped to convince her son that she was Wonder Mom—a mom with amazing powers—practically a comic-book hero.
She turned to the window and waved at the two boys, then walked toward the house. Tiger ran ahead of her, all bushy and annoyed at her part in the drama.
“We need to work on your motivation,” Kerri told the cat. “We need more fear and less annoyance. Mrs. Barclay’s cat is always willing to work with me if you’re not interested.”
Tiger ignored her and raced into the house. Michelle held open the back door and grinned. “Not bad, Wonder Mom.”
CHAPTER TWO
“I HEARD ABOUT the cat rescue,” Kerri’s friend Linda