When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,33

Why not conjure up a jewel thief for a phantom lover? “Why was the other name under his photo?”

“The story came out after the tragedy that Harry had conned a rich Texan oilman named Bobby John Chamberlain out of his invitation to the 1936 Fernhaven grand opening.”

“What happened to Harry?” she asked, her voice barely recognizable even to her own ears.

“Died in the fire. Ironic, isn’t it? If he hadn’t stolen the Chamberlain fellow’s identity, he wouldn’t have died. But then again, he was a thief, no doubt here to steal some of that jewelry in those photographs.” Elmer sighed. “In a way, I guess he got his just rewards. Strange, though, how Chamberlain died right after that. An accident at one of his oil rigs. I guess he just couldn’t beat death.”

Jenna was speechless. Her pulse pounded in her ears, a deafening drumming. Her limbs felt weak as water. She stared down at the photograph of Harry Ballantine, a man she felt she knew. Dead for seventy years…

“He the one you’re seeing?” Elmer asked.

She shook her head. “I didn’t see anything.”

Elmer nodded knowingly. “With the rain stopped, the highway patrol said they should have the road open sometime later today. I left a breakfast tray outside the door to your room.”

“Thank you.”

“They can’t hurt you or your daughter,” Elmer said. “You’re safe here.”

Jenna wasn’t so sure about that.

ONCE INSIDE THE ROOM, Jenna locked the door behind them and stood for a moment trying to get her heart rate back down. She was shaking, and not from the cold.

Fred came out Lexi’s bedroom meowing loudly.

Jenna started toward her own bedroom and stopped. Someone had been in the room. She sniffed the air. That scent. She’d smelled it last night in the dream.

Unnerved, she tried to convince herself she’d only imagined it. Just as she’d imagined the voice, the feel of the man in the pool. Her body still tingled from the feel of him against her in the hot water. Harry Ballantine? Thief?

She thought of the duffel bag of money and raced into the bedroom. It was where she’d left it, and none of the money appeared to be missing.

She rezipped the bag, shoved it into the back of the closet and sat down heavily on the bed.

In the other room Lexi was talking to Clarice and eating the breakfast Elmer had sent up. From the doorway Fred was meowing loudly, as if trying to tell Jenna what had taken place while she’d been gone.

She tried to pull herself together. After a few moments she realized that Fred had gone into Lexi’s room and was acting almost normal. Almost too normal for a cat. When she glanced into her daughter’s room, she found Lexi was rubbing her eyes.

“Come here, sweetheart.”

Lexi stumbled to her and let Jenna hold her.

“Why don’t we lie down for a little while?”

Lexi nodded sleepily against her.

Jenna helped her daughter out of her swimsuit and into warm, dry clothing. When she tucked her into the bed, Lexi was asleep in an instant. Playing in the hot water, plus the interrupted sleep from last night, had tired them both out.

Unable to put it off any longer, Jenna left Lexi’s bedroom door open and went to her own room to retrieve her cell phone. She hesitated. The road would be open soon. And the instant it was, she was getting out. She had to trust someone. Someone who would help her.

She was in short supply of friends. Lorenzo had seen to that. She couldn’t call Raymond Valencia and ask for more help.

He’d helped her all through the divorce, even telling her who to contact to get fake passports. But she couldn’t involve him again. She’d seen the way he looked at her.

Asking for his help again would only open her up to something she wasn’t interested in pursuing—and possibly put her in more danger. Fortunately she’d met two women since she’d moved out and gotten the divorce. Charlene Palmer lived in the same apartment house as Jenna. She’d met the other woman, Rose Garcia, in the grocery store. They’d since run into each other at the park.

Jenna thought of the two women, both so different. Neither knew Lorenzo, or vice versa.

Jenna flushed at the memory of how she’d confided in both women, complete strangers. She’d been raised to keep her personal business to herself, and yet she’d opened up to Rose especially. Rose had been so easy to talk to. While Jenna had never mentioned Lorenzo’s name, she’d told