“Oh.” I let the bait dangle and watched to see if he’d bite.
“But I do. There are some trails in the neighborhood, ones that lead up into the canyon. I can show you them sometime. It’s a nice long path if you have the stamina for it.”
I struggled to stay aloof, my body humming as our eyes met in the dim foyer. “That’d be great. Stamina isn’t a problem. I can go for hours.”
“Huh.” His gaze fell from my eyes and slowly wound down my body before he snapped back into place. “Tell Matt I said hello.”
“Will do.” I held open the door. “And thanks again.”
There was a final moment of eye contact, and then he was gone.
One pawn, taken.
CHAPTER 14
CAT
The days passed, and my unease with Neena Ryder grew. Wednesday, I stood on our upper balcony and watched my husband and Neena sit by her pool, their chairs turned toward each other. I glanced at my watch, irritated. They both should be at the office, yet they were there as if settled in to stay.
To add to my unease, William neversatwith employees. He paced. Threatened. Hovered over their workstations. Stood if in meetings. Years ago, his brother had pointed out that William only relaxed and let down his guard with me. He’d called me the William Whisperer, then asked if we could lend him some money.
“Mrs. Winthorpe?” I turned to see the newest maid standing in the doorway, the phone in her hand. “There is a call for you. Your sister.”
“I’ll have to call her back. Tell her I’m in a meeting.”
The woman nodded, and I rested against the railing and watched as William leaned forward, his elbows settling on his knees. His back was to me, and I made a mental note to invest in a pair of binoculars.
Neena was beginning to creep into our lives in a way that made me uncomfortable. We’d had an agonizingly long brunch where she’d made doe eyes at me the entire time. She was dead set on being my friend and had no issues with popping by unannounced or proposing events in front of Matt and William, where I had no opportunity to make an excuse or decline. And as our husbands grew closer, she kept swarming tighter, like a fly you constantly heard but couldn’t quite manage to smack.
I turned away from the view and forced myself to enter the house.
I moved down the stairs.
Sat down in my favorite chair in the reading room.
Picked up a magazine and flipped through the pages, struggling not to look back down at my watch.
Seriously,whatwere they talking about? I tossed the magazine onto the ottoman and stood. Pacing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, I cursed the wall of thick hedges between our lots. The privacy, while nice, was screwing with my sanity.
I eyed my purse, then dragged the side zipper open and withdrew the small white card Kelly had given me. I moved to the desk and picked up the phone from its base, punching in the number printed in gold on the front of the card.
Kelly was right. Neena was getting too close—both personally and professionally. It was only smart to know more about the woman who seemed to be systematically moving into our lives.
“Mr. Beck?” I paused. “This is Catherine Winthorpe. I have someone I would like you to investigate.”
“What was that all about?” I met William at the side door, a cup of coffee in hand, prepared just the way he liked it.
His eyebrows raised in surprise as he took the cup. “You’re done with yoga early.”
“I didn’t go.” I followed him into the kitchen, waiting for an explanation. Stopping at the counter, he pulled the paper toward him and flipped to the financial section.
“Well?” I pressed.
“Well, what?” He glanced up at me.
“What was that all about? Why were you over there?”
“Oh, I was going over some issues with team members. Neena didn’t want to do it in the office. Too public.”