Pretend You're Mine(85)

At work she had finished converting all their client and jobs data to a new system that integrated with their accounting software, cutting the paperwork down for everyone. She also convinced Frank and Charlie to host a monthly staff meeting where everyone from foremen to high school interns participated in discussing project updates and roadblocks.

At home, the porch was painted and offset by colorful planters overflowing with summer flowers. With Claire and Sophie’s help, the vegetable garden in the back yard was really taking shape. Inside, the staircase had shed its skin of dingy age and now shone like new.

Last week, she had cleaned all of the windows inside and out. She had nearly given James a heart attack when he came over to mow the lawn and caught her on the extension ladder she found in the garage, busily wiping away the winter’s grime from the second floor glass.

He proceeded to show her that replacement windows hinged open inside for easy, ladder-free cleaning and then buried the ladder in the back of the garage under a canoe and several bags of potting soil.

“You’re not a klutz,” Luke had once told her. “But you invite trouble.” He must have relayed that message to his brother.

The only windows still to clean were the basement level. Harper swiped her fingers through the grime on the glass closest to her. It looked like several years’ worth of dirt. On the other side of the glass, was a plastic tote at window level that she could just make out.

Harper frowned. She didn’t remember any window height shelving on this wall in the basement.

Unless ...

She found a window to Luke’s secret room.

She hastily wiped away more grime and peered through the glass. The room was empty except for a set of metal shelves with boxes and totes.

Harper sat back on her heels. Whatever Luke had in that room under lock and key was important. Maybe a better woman would have let it go and respected his space and secrets, but a better woman wasn’t here. Harper was.

The basement window wouldn’t open from the outside, so she hurried inside to examine the lock on the door.

Where would Luke keep the key? Harper paced the floor.

She went back upstairs to the table in the foyer and grabbed both of his key rings from the drawer. There were about a dozen keys between the ring with his truck and house keys and the one for work. None of them were labeled Secret Basement Room.

Back downstairs, she took her time fitting each one into the lock. But none of them opened the door. On tiptoe, she felt along the top of the doorframe, but came up empty. She checked his truck in the console and glove box and found nothing.

She returned to the kitchen, spinning the key ring on her finger. Where would he keep a key to something he didn’t want easy access? God, she hoped he hadn’t buried it somewhere.

She might need some backup brainpower. Harper grabbed her cellphone and dialed Hannah’s number.

“Hey, H! What’s up?” Her friend’s chirpy voice always made Harper smile.

“I’m about to go all out crazy person here and I either need talked down or walk-through.”

“Okay, shoot. What’s the sitch?”

Harper quickly filled Hannah in on the situation. “So first of all, am I nuts for desperately needing to know what’s inside? And secondly, how far can I go to get inside without being a completely crazy?”

Hannah snickered. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable to want to know what’s behind door number one. But I wouldn’t go clawing through the drywall if I were you. I’d try to find a minimally invasive way to get in there. Depending on what’s in those boxes, you might not want him to know you know.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not dead bodies or used sex toys.”

“Maybe he’s just a hoarder and it’s every report card he ever got?” Hannah offered.

“I know it’s something big. Something that he doesn’t want to deal with. He built literal walls around it and locked it all away.”

“So maybe he’s not hiding something per se, but keeping it separate.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, too,” Harper agreed.

“Maybe it’s mountains of cash?”

Harper snorted. “He already has mountains of that. So I already tried all the keys on his key rings and didn’t hit the jackpot.”

“Well if it’s something he doesn’t want to deal with, he wouldn’t put it on something he uses every day, right?”

“No, he’d put it somewhere he doesn’t run across it all the time. Have I told you lately how super smart you are, Hanns?”

“No, but all is forgiven if you tell me what you find!”

“You got it. I’m going to go dig through places Luke doesn’t go in the house.”