Assumed Identity - By Julie Miller Page 0,39
Singing a soft lullaby, Robin had carried her back and forth through the tables at the Shamrock, while Jake disappeared into the back rooms. She’d reported the disturbing phone call to Detective Montgomery, then gathered her things and strapped Emma into her stroller as the first of the bar’s early customers wandered in.
Had she really asked so much of Jake Lonergan? Was it beyond him to give a rat’s ass about anyone besides himself?
One minute, he’d been transformed by Emma’s curious touches and squeals of delight. The next, he’d been loud and crude and pushing them away as fast as he could. His words said he wanted nothing to do with Robin, yet his touch—rough like a cat’s tongue and just as gentle—against her hands and wrist had told a different story. He’d offered comfort and strength, and had hinted at the inexplicable attraction smoldering between them. But he didn’t want dinner. He didn’t want a thank-you. He didn’t want to help and he didn’t want her. The man was completely infuriating and Robin had been a first-class fool to think he wanted to get any further involved with her problems.
A car slowed down on the street and drifted toward the curb. Instinctively, Robin steered Emma closer to the brick and concrete block buildings and kept walking.
“You can’t have it both ways, Lonergan,” she muttered. “Either you’re our friend or you’re—”
The car’s passenger-side window went down, and she realized the car had been keeping pace with her. “Ms. Carter?”
Huh? She jerked to a halt and glanced over at the driver—a man in his mid to late thirties. No one she knew. She took note that the car was black, not green, before shaking off the discomfiture of a stranger calling her by name and starting on her way again.
But her reaction had been confirmation enough for the man to park his car and call out to her again. “It is you.”
For a brief second, she imagined a black stocking mask, a leering glare and a baseball bat. But the driver wore a suit and tie. The skies were sunny and clear, her vision was good and her imagination was simply working overtime. She couldn’t afford to be spooked every time a man spoke to her. She shook her head and urged the stroller forward again. “I don’t know you.”
He ignored the dismissal and got out of the car. “We’re practically family.”
Other than a slight stutter in her step, Robin kept walking. Her parents had retired to Arizona and she was an only child. The only family she had in Kansas City was right here in this stroller.
The man buttoned his suit jacket and followed her onto the sidewalk, falling into step a few paces behind her. “Ms. Carter, you’re going to have to talk to me. Either here or in a courtroom.”
That stopped her. “A courtroom?” Keeping Emma and the stroller behind her, she turned to face him. Maybe six feet tall. Brown hair, green eyes, clean-shaven. Black suit and white shirt like an executive or an attorney would wear. She knew the type. But she didn’t know him. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Mr....?”
“Houseman. William Houseman. My friends call me Bill.”
“Are you a reporter, Mr. Houseman?”
“No.” He reached inside his suit jacket and handed her a business card. Robin was half afraid to take it at first, but she supposed a man who meant her harm wouldn’t so readily identify himself.
She verified his name on the card. “A banker?”
“What I do for a living isn’t important. I just want you to have my contact information.”
This one-way familiarity was getting on her nerves. Robin folded the card in her fist. “How do you know me? And don’t give me that family story again. We’ve never met.”
Bill Houseman leaned to one side and smiled down at Emma. When he wiggled his finger in Emma’s direction and elicited a chortle, Robin pulled the stroller closer to her body. “Actually, your daughter and I are family.”
A chill shivered down Robin’s spine despite the sun shining down on her. Was this another threat? “I’m her family. We have to go.”
“I need only a few minutes of your time.”
Traffic was picking up as employees in the nearby office buildings got off work. Robin hurried to catch up with a group leaving the business in front of her, but Houseman grabbed her arm. Robin shrugged him off. The people ahead were quickly disappearing into a parking garage. She wasn’t going to catch them