Heart Wish (A Hidden Beauty Novel Book 9) Read online

  I spin on my rolling chair and look at him in surprise. “Come again? That seems a little cruel.”

  Tyler shakes his head. “You haven’t heard the rest of the plan. Let’s face it, your boss and one of my best friends give the phrase Secret Santa a whole new meaning. They could do some serious damage to the obsolescence in that office if they put their heads together. Aidan has done a charity event for Colette to purchase the age progression computer. I am sure he wouldn’t mind pitching in again.”

  I put my hands up helplessly as I say, “I don’t know. I got off to a rocky start with Ms. Kordes. I basically accused her of being lower than pond scum. I’m not sure I can bounce back from that.”

  Tyler clutches his chest in comical surprise. “You fought with Kendall? No one fights with Kendall. She’s the sweetest thing ever. She brings my officers cupcakes on their birthdays — even though my wife owns a bakery. Kendall insists that everyone should know more than one person loves them.”

  I cringe a bit. “I would venture to guess Ms. Kordes doesn’t find me too lovable right about now. We left things at an uneasy truce, but I don’t think she’s my biggest fan.”

  Tyler’s eyebrow arches as he says, “Wow! You must’ve really stepped in it. Kendall is probably one of the least judgmental people I know.”

  “Really? That’s interesting because we seem to rub each other the wrong way. She was shooting sparks from her eyes. I could practically see the steam rolling out of her ears.”

  Tyler grins at me. “Huh ... you know I met a woman like that once. I could barely stand to be in the same room with her. Every interaction between us seemed to end in heated conflict.”

  “Yeah? What happened?” I ask as I kick some wires under my makeshift desk. I walk around the room and glance at each workstation to make sure everything is working properly.

  “I fell in love with her and married her. I’ve never been so happy in my whole life.”

  “Whoa! Hang on. I don’t think that’s where I’m at with Ms. Kordes. I’m just hoping she doesn’t spike my coffee with laxatives. I was beyond insulting. I questioned everything she cares about as a person and what she is passionate about at work. I don’t think I could’ve handled it much worse.”

  “I don’t know…sometimes sparks are good. Let’s tackle one problem at a time. Can you pull yourself away to have some dinner?” Tyler asks as he gestures around the storage room.

  I shrug. “I suppose I could. I’m just running diagnostics now. It’s going to take some time and I suppose I don’t have to babysit the machines.”

  “Why don’t you come out to Aidan and Tara’s place? He’s having a little get together to celebrate Mindy’s graduation. There’ll be lots of great music.”

  “I don’t know anybody except you and Logan. I’ve only met Aidan once or twice the last time Logan and I worked together. I don’t want to intrude on family time.”

  “You know Tasha and Mindy too. Anyway, that’s not how things work around here. Everyone’s invited. If you know a member of the inner circle, you’re in. The women call it the Girlfriend Posse. I suppose the guys have our version too.”

  I pause for a moment before I ask, “Is Kendall a member of this Girlfriend Posse, by any chance?”

  Tyler shoots me a look of profound innocence. “I don’t really know. The composition of that group changes every once in a while.”

  I adjust my baseball cap and take one last lap around the room. I look up at Tyler and ask, “This room is locked with restricted access, correct?”

  Tyler nods. “Tighter than a tick.”

  “I guess I don’t have much to lose. It’d be nice to put some decent food in my mouth. The taste of my foot is getting old.”

  Despite my protests to the contrary, the first thing I do when I enter the large outdoor barn-like facility is search for Kendall. Eventually, I see her over in the corner. Mindy appears to be doing something with her hair. After a while, I grab a couple of sodas from a cooler and work my way over to them. Awkwardly, I hang out on the wall like a kid at school dance — just close enough to overhear their conversation.

  “I can’t believe you invited me to your graduation party. It blows me away that you’re even old enough to graduate. It seems like yesterday you came into Parchment & Page Turners looking for interesting books. I can’t wrap my brain around the fact that you sing with Aidan O’Brien, that’s just mind blowing. I play his CDs in my car.”

  Mindy giggles. “I know. It’s weird, isn’t it? When I met him, he was just the piano player at my mom and dad’s wedding. I was so little that I called him Band-Aidan. Back then, nobody knew I would grow up to be an artist. Dad is still betting I’ll be a Supreme Court justice, I think,” Mindy confesses as she braids Kendall’s hair into one long French braid down her back.

  Mindy sighs deeply. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I feel like I need to tell you not to focus on the distractions. You’ll find the small thing you’re looking for, but if you keep looking, you will find something much bigger.”

  Kendall turns and looks at Mindy with tears in her eyes as she says, “Thank you so much. You can’t know what that means today. I will try to keep my eyes on the prize and not get distracted by problems with technology and … other things.”

  Kendall starts to get up from the chair, but Mindy places her hand on Kendall’s arm. “One more thing. Sometimes people who seem angry are just scared and hurt. To make progress, you have to look beyond the pain.” Mindy swallows hard before she says, “Everyone’s pain.” Mindy looks up at the stage and says, “I think Tasha is looking for me. I need to go. Thanks for letting me mess with your hair, it calms my nerves. You have great hair, by the way.”

  Kendall pulls the end of her elaborate braid over her shoulder and looks at it. “Are you kidding me? I feel like a glamorous superstar. I should be thanking you. I’m looking forward to hearing you sing. Congratulations. I’m sure the future holds great things for you.”

  Mindy looks at the ground and toes some hay. “A lot of people are counting on me to make the right choices.”

  Kendall reaches up and gives Mindy a warm hug as she says, “I’m sure you’ll do great.”

  “Thanks. I gotta go. Tash is waiting for me. We need to start our set. By the way, someone’s waiting to talk to you.”

  Kendall waves goodbye before she spins around and runs into me. I have to hold the sodas out to the side to avoid spilling on her.

  “You! What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be solving my computer problem?” she accuses.

  “Well, hello. Nice to see you too,” I counter.

  “No! Seriously! I don’t think you understand the urgent nature of what we do at Locate My Heart. Every single second counts —” she argues.

  “I understand. I really do — but, I can’t make my diagnostic computers run any faster.” I set the sodas on the table and pull my cell phone out of my pocket and show her my screen. “I have multiple alarms set on this to indicate when they finish. As soon as I am notified, I am out of here — I promise.”

  Kendall’s expression softens as she concedes, “Okay, I guess that was a little on the witchy side. You do need to eat.” She takes me by the arm and leads me over to a long buffet table at the end of the barn. “You need to try Gwendolyn and Denny’s world-famous chili and cornbread. It’s amazing.”

  As if to commemorate the moment, my stomach lets out a huge growl. I blush as I admit, “I guess I am hungry.”

  “That may work out in your favor. I heard a rumor that Mindy requested Hummingbird cake for her graduation. If it’s anything like what my mother used to make, it’s pretty rich. You’ll want to save some room for it. Nobody can stop at just a couple bites — especially if Heather makes it.”

  I grab myself a plate and glance over at her. “That’s funny. I heard a very similar compliment given to you today. I heard you make some special birthday cupcakes.

  Kendall blushes as she says, “Oh, those? They’re nowh
ere near as fancy as Heather’s. I’ve just learned to cherish birthdays over the years, and many times law enforcement officers don’t get to be at home with their families for their birthdays, so I try to make sure they have lots of goodies. It’s just a thing with me. It’s not all that impressive or heroic.”

  “You never know. When I was serving overseas, I sometimes got care packages from people I never even knew. I can’t tell you how much a few cards and some goodies and toiletries meant to me, even though I never met the people they came from. Sometimes, I would grin like a fool for a couple of months after I got one. The police officers who get birthday cupcakes from you probably feel the same way.”

  “I hope so. I mean — it makes me feel good to make the treats, but I hope it makes them smile too.”

  Kendall and I make our way down the buffet line. Although she seems to make healthier choices than I do, she isn’t radical about it. She helps herself to a large serving of the chili and cornbread and a side of salad.

  As we are making our way toward an empty table, the beginning strains of guitars being tuned starts to filter through the sound system. I nod toward the stage as I ask, “How do you know this gang?”

  “Mindy’s mom, Kiera, taught a class on interviewing clients in a social work setting for my psychology class in college. I realized I knew Kiera from my job at the bookstore. I never knew she was Mindy’s mom. Mindy has been coming into the shop for a long time. Her book choices were always a big mystery to me because they were always so far above her age range, but after I met Kiera and Jeff, it all made perfect sense.”

  “I know what you mean. I met her while I was working on a case. I haven’t interacted with her much, but she seems like the oldest soul I’ve ever met. She is scary smart.”

  “That whole group is. Have you met her cousin Gabriel? He might give your computer skills a run for your money. He’s a computer genius, but he’s also incredibly artistic. He runs the website for the bookstore.”

  Immediately my internal antennae wake up. “Exactly how well do you know this kid?”

  “Very well. Gabriel Whitaker’s been coming into the shop longer than I’ve been working there. He does the website for us in exchange for a discount on art supplies. The kid is incredible. You’ve probably seen his stuff on the web or maybe even on TV. He does anime. Gabriel’s not even a kid anymore, he’s in college on a full art scholarship — or it might even be in computer science, I don’t actually know for sure. He is up at Reed College.”

  My eyebrows climb. “Wow, impressive.”

  “I think so. So, how do you know these guys? I mean, I know Tyler said he’s worked with you before.”

  “Yeah, Aidan uses the company I work for to run his background checks. When he was having some cyber-stalking issues with one of his band members, he contacted my boss. Tristan sent me to track down the problem.”

  Kendall shakes her head. “Yeah, I heard about it on the news. That was some seriously screwed up family dynamics, huh?” She takes a bite of chili and cornbread before she continues. “I just found the whole thing to be completely bizarre. I work so hard to reunite families and then to have a family that should’ve been so close be torn apart by something as simple as hurt feelings and pride just blows me away.”

  I shrug. “I’ve seen stranger things happen. I’ve seen brothers and fathers and sons fight to the death over political differences. I’ve seen fathers kill their daughters rather than be ‘shamed’ by their actions. There are just some things in this world I’ll never understand.”

  Kendall’s voice grows quiet as she says, “You and me both. There are just things that defy explanation.”

  Before I can probe into Kendall’s abrupt change in demeanor, my phone sends up a series of alarms. I quickly shut them off and turn to Kendall. “This is it. The diagnostics are back on your computer systems. It’s time to see how deep the cyber-stalkers penetrated and what they may have gotten during the attack.”

  Kendall draws in a quick breath of alarm. “What happens now?”

  “Well, I have to go see how widespread the attack was and I have to analyze the reports to see what the best strategy will be going forward.”

  “Any chance I might get my cell phone back? I feel lost without it. I’m not sure when this happened, but my phone has become like my imaginary friend in kindergarten. It’s my constant shadow.”

  “I think that represents most of society these days. We’ve become mighty spoiled with our technology. I’ve got you taken care of either way. I’ll let you know what I figure out.”

  As I stand up to put on my jacket, Kendall puts her hand on my forearm. “Wait. Can I please come with you? I can’t stand missing pieces to a puzzle. It’s difficult for me not to understand what’s going on. I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”

  “It’s going to be as boring as watching paint dry. I’m sure you’ll have more fun here at the party. I don’t want you to miss the party for nothing.”

  “Mindy will understand that my job at Locate My Heart is the most important thing to me. Besides, I work at a small-town book and stationary store. I’m accustomed to entertaining myself in quiet environments. I want to be where I can be of the most use.”

  “If we don’t run into any additional problems, I’ll have Locate My Heart up and running soon. As long as you don’t mind endless tedium and boredom, you’re welcome to come see what we found.”

  Kendall waves goodbye to Mindy and Tasha on stage as we clear the table and head toward the front of the barn. Even as I put my hand on the small of her back and walk her out the door, I wonder if I’m making a huge strategic error

  CHAPTER 5

  KENDALL

  I RE-READ A PAGE OF the rom-com novel I found so engaging yesterday. Today, it might as well be my chemistry textbook. I shift my position on one of the hard, worn, industrial chairs that line the wall of Tyler’s storeroom. I can’t believe how quickly Jameson made himself at home as he tries to figure out what’s going on. This place looks like a set from CSI. If it weren’t for the flickering florescent lights and the slight smell of dust in the air, I would swear we were in a brand-new state-of-the-art building. Okay, that’s not quite true — his furniture isn’t exactly cutting-edge, but it’s functional. Somehow, he’s even managed to score a small fridge.

  Jameson whistles softly under his breath. “I’d like to know your secret. You must eat four-leaf clovers for breakfast.” He waves me over to show me something on the computer screen. I hop off my chair and put my book back in my purse. With some trepidation, I stroll over , trying to appear nonchalant, even though my knees are shaking.

  “Are we doomed?” I ask, revealing my stress in every syllable. As soon as the tentative words leave my mouth, I want to call them back. This isn’t the image of confidence I want to project.

  “Didn’t you hear me about the four-leaf clover thing? I wasn’t kidding.”

  “I guess I don’t understand what you’re referring to. I thought you were making fun of my lack of computer experience again.”

  “No, I was merely complimenting your extraordinary luck. It appears that your attackers were taking stabs in the dark and hoping that you’d fall for their bluff.”

  “Bluff?” I respond, trying not to sound ridiculously hopeful. “The skulls and blood seemed pretty ominous to me.”

  “A total bluff. The cyber terrorists didn’t put any ransom ware on your computer system.”

  “What about my phone?” I move forward and inspect the monitors. “What are all those squiggly lines?”

  “Your phone is the cleanest device here. At least you keep your anti-virus-ware up-to-date on your phone. The same can’t be said for the rest of your equipment. The only computer that’s in decent enough shape is the one which runs your age progression software. The rest of your equipment is vulnerable to viruses and adware. The computers the interns use are chocked full of them. They are so old that there aren’t patches available to fix modern security issues. You need b
etter computers.”

  I briefly sag against him in relief as I process the information. I was expecting his report to be so much worse. I’m having a hard time internalizing the good news. I half-expected him to tell me we were going to be out of commission for months and months — if not longer. I sigh heavily and absorb his warmth before I remember myself and awkwardly pull away.

  “I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t max out my credit card at the computer superstore when I bought my god-son a gaming system for Christmas. Can you tell me what specifications I need to ask for so everything won’t go obsolete so quickly? It always seems the salesmen are talking in circles when I go to places like that.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” Jameson says as he starts to unhook all his laptops from our computers — which are as useful as paperweights right now.

  “What do you mean?” I ask with alarm. “We have to have operational computers. We needed them yesterday. I can’t afford to wait around to see if we get the funding — we actually need the computers to get the grant. We’ve already lost three days while we’ve been sorting things out. We can’t afford to lose more. I’m aware that it’s a big personal hit, but sometimes that’s what you do when you work for a nonprofit, and you’ve got to stay on your feet. I know it might not be kosher, but I’ll keep it off the books. I don’t want Locate My Heart to have any blowback from this. I just want us to be up and running. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “I do have a problem with your plan, but not in the way you probably think. You may not know the terms of the contract Tristan has in place with Colette. But here’s the way it works — if we can’t fix the computer equipment Locate My Heart has on site, Identity Bank provides new equipment as part of our usual and customary fee.”

  I suck in such a deep breath I almost pass out. “I thought Tyler told me there wasn’t going to be a fee. We don’t have any money to pay for that kind of service. We barely have money for a second-rate printing shop, and they already cut us a huge break because of what we do.”