Agent Bride. Beverly Long

      He shrugged. “Hopefully, we can avoid any interaction.”

      “Hopefully,” she said drily. “But there may be more people coming. It’s a workday.”

      “In Missouri, two inches of snow can bring the economy to a standstill. Eight to ten inches like this is a hundred-pound gorilla. People won’t be able to get out of their driveways. Anyone who can won’t want to travel any farther than the local store to get bread and milk. I’m going with the relatively safe assumption that anybody who works there has the day off.”

      “There’s still the issue of the building being locked.”

      He smiled. “Locked doors aren’t generally too much of a problem for me. Alarm systems, now, they can be a bit trickier. Let’s just hope there isn’t one.”

      “So we’re just going to drive down there, park and hope for the best?”

      “Something like that,” he said.

      She had to admire his confidence that bordered on cockiness. And it certainly felt good to be doing something versus hiding out in a hotel room. She glanced at the road again. “A plow must have come through sometime during the night.”

      “At 4:18 this morning,” he said, proving that she really had slept like a log once she’d finally relaxed. “The road is drifting shut again but we’ll be able to get through.”

      It appeared the plow had done two swipes on the service road, one in and one out. It would have been a stretch to say they’d cleared both lanes. On each side of the road, snow was piled up high, probably four or five feet, making it look as if the road was a tunnel.

      He was probably right. Most drivers would decide to stay home today.

      She watched the plow driver finish clearing the hotel lot. “But their parking lot hasn’t been plowed. We’ll get stuck for sure if we try to pull in.”

      “I know. That’s where I’m hoping we get a little luck.”

      “In the form of...?” She let her voice trail off.

      “In the form of this guy,” he said, indicating the man driving the plow. “I’m hoping that he’s a smart entrepreneur and has a contract to plow out all the businesses along this service road.”

      That would make sense. It would make his drive to this area worthwhile. On a day like this, to a person who did that kind of work, time was money.

      It took the plow driver another ten minutes to finish the hotel lot. She realized she was holding her breath as she watched him drive to the exit of the hotel. When he turned right, she let out a breath. Two minutes later, when he made another right into the other parking lot, she smiled. “Today’s our lucky day,” she said.

      “That would be nice,” Cal said. He turned off the engine. “We’re going to be here a little while,” he explained. “I don’t want to raise suspicion if somebody looks out of their hotel room and sees us idling here for a long period.”

      It made sense but without heat pouring through the vents, the SUV quickly chilled and she was grateful for Cal’s warm coat. Even though she’d protested, Cal had given it to her before they’d left the hotel. “No way to avoid your feet getting wet,” he’d said. “I’d carry you but somebody might see it and think it looked odd. We don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention.”

      Her feet had gotten wet on the way to the car and now they were cold. But she didn’t complain.

      It took another fifteen minutes before they saw the plow driver exit the parking lot, turn right and head away from them. They waited until they saw his truck merge back onto the Interstate. Then Cal started the SUV again. He put the vehicle in Drive and took off.

      When they got close, she could see that the plow driver had done a pretty good job pushing the snow to the sides, although the people who owned the cars weren’t going to be happy. He hadn’t been as careful to go around the cars as he’d been in the hotel lot. Instead, there were big piles behind each car, effectively pinning them in.

      Close-up, she realized that the two buildings were attached, similarly to how some houses were connected to garages. There was a small wooden breezeway between the two cement buildings. “That looks new,” she said.

      “Probably has more to do with summer than winter. Missouri gets hot and the people who work here probably want to be able to move from building to building without ever having to go outside when it’s ninety-five degrees.”

      Just that quick, she could see herself in a sleeveless linen dress, briefcase strap over one shoulder, walking down stone steps, relishing the hot, humid air. Don’t get me wrong, she was saying. I’m grateful for the air-conditioning but do they have to keep it at sixty?

      Who was she talking to? Where was she?

      “Stormy?” Cal asked.

      She shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she said. She wasn’t really lying. It was worth nothing.

      Cal shrugged and pulled close to the building that had the second story. In addition to the three big garage doors, there was a regular door at the end closest to them. “That’s our best bet,” he said. “Wait here while I check it.”

      He got out of the SUV, moving fast. He tried the door but it didn’t open. He reached into his pocket, pulled something out and went to work on the lock. Within seconds he had the door open. She was impressed. She’d jimmied open a few locked doors in her time but not that quickly.

      She put her hand to her mouth. How did she know that?

      The knowledge had literally just popped into her head when she’d seen the door swing open. She wanted to launch herself out of the vehicle and tell Cal that she’d remembered something that might be important. At least it seemed more important than some vague recollection of walking down steps, conversing about the weather. However, she immediately dismissed the idea. She wouldn’t offer up the information until she knew for sure what it meant.

      Maybe she was a thief?

      The idea sat heavy on her heart. She didn’t want to wake up from this nightmare and find out that she was a bad person.

      Cal stuck his head inside the building. In just seconds, he pulled back, turned, locked eyes with her and motioned for her to wait. Then he went inside, closing the door behind him.

      It dawned on her that this was her chance. The keys were in the ignition, the SUV was running.

      It would be easy to be on the road before he knew what was happening.