Chapter Five
Lesley didn’t see Cole for another week. Their meeting then was by chance. She’d gone down to the mailbox to collect her mail
and saw a deer in the distance. It was unusual for the animals to come down this far, but already winter had been harsh and
undoubtedly the small deer had been searching for food. Not wanting to frighten the lovely, tan-skinned creature, she moved
cautiously, following it into the wooded area behind the duplex. To her surprise, she found that a bale of hay had been spread
out and two other deer were eating from it.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lesley happened to catch a movement. She turned and saw Cole breaking apart another bale farther
up the incline in the back of the property. Apparently he felt her presence and turned. Only a few yards separated them. Cole
stopped and buried the pitchfork into the snow, his gaze never leaving hers.
“Hello, Lesley.”
“Cole.” She felt mesmerized by his gaze. He looked tired and she yearned to go to him. But she stood as she was, waiting,
for what she didn’t know.
“How have you been?”
She wanted to scream at him that she was miserable and that having him so close and yet so far away was hurting her unbearably.
She longed to tell him that she knew he wasn’t sleeping, because she wasn’t sleeping either and could hear his movements.
Some nights she pressed her fingertips to the wall because it was the only way she knew to communicate with him.
Lesley lowered her gaze. “I’m fine. And you?”
“Fine.”
How could they lie to each other like this? She snapped her head up, suddenly angry. “If you won’t be honest, then I will
be. I’m miserable. I’d give anything to have the electricity go out again just so I could find that warm, vibrant man I was
beginning to know.” And love, her thoughts concluded.
A muscle twitched in Cole’s jaw. “He doesn’t exist.”
“Don’t tell me that,” she cried. “I felt his arms around me, I know his touch and I . . . I gave him comfort. But when the
lights came back—”
“When the lights returned,” Cole interrupted angrily, “there was only me. I told you that night I should never have kissed
you.”
“But you did, and things have changed.”
“They haven’t,” Cole argued. “They can’t, I won’t let them.”
“You go ahead and try to deny it, then.” The words trembled from her as she knotted her hands into tight fists. “Because I
can’t, and I’ve tried as hard as I can.”
She turned and ran back to the apartment, her lower lip quivering as she slid the back door closed. Her whole body was shaking
when she tossed the few pieces of mail on the table, her fingers biting into the back of the old kitchen chair.
Taking in several deep, calming breaths, Lesley put the teakettle on to boil.
Would this be her fate, loving Cole? There hadn’t been a time in her life that she felt more frustrated with anyone.
And yet there was no reason she should love Cole: he was arrogant, stubborn, angry and hurtful.
But the sensations he aroused in her were almost overpowering.
There was something profound and intense about him.
He was hiding from her and from the world.
She might never know or understand him, but that didn’t seem to matter to her heart.
When Lesley met her sister an hour later to do their weekly shopping, it was Terry who brought up the subject of Cole. They’d
stopped in a local café for a quick lunch.
“Seen much of your neighbor lately?”
“Can’t say that I have.” Lesley attempted to brush aside her sister’s interest.
“You know, for all the times you’ve talked about him, I’ve never seen him.”
“I don’t imagine you will. He’s . . . private.” She didn’t know how else to explain it.
“Other than the first days he was in town, no one else has seen him except Paul Walker and you.”
Lesley had mentioned the same thing only last week.
“I was wondering if you were safe up there with him.”
“Very safe.”
“But he could be an escaped convict.”
Lesley didn’t slough off Terry’s sudden interest. “What makes you say something like that?”
Terry shrugged. “I don’t know, but I started thinking about what you’ve been saying all these weeks and it doesn’t add up,
none of it.”
“I’m not going to concern myself with it now.”
“But he could be dangerous.”
Now it was Lesley’s turn to laugh. “Something isn’t right with Cole Daniels, but I trust him implicitly. He’d never hurt me.”
Terry set the fork she’d been fingering beside her untouched plate. “You’re falling for this guy, aren’t you?”
An immediate denial rose to Lesley’s lips, but didn’t make it past her nod of acknowledgment.
“Oh, Les,” Terry groaned. “I was afraid of that.”
“I’m a big girl now.”
“Yes, I know, but I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
“O, ye of little faith,” Lesley said with a teasing smile. “Weren’t you the one who was constantly telling me that we prayed
about my new neighbor and that whoever God sent was—”
“Don’t remind me,” Terry interrupted, her voice filled with self-reproach. “But, Les, honestly, I’m worried about you.”
“I don’t know why you should be. If God sent Cole Daniels, then there’s a reason. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m sure
I will shortly.”
“How can you sound so confident?”
Lesley fluttered her long lashes closed. “I’m not sure what Cole’s running from, or if he’s hiding at all. But I believe that
he feels just as strongly about me.”
Terry’s round eyes brightened to a deeper shade of blue. “But I thought you hardly ever saw him and—”
“But I see the way he looks at me.” Lesley glanced down at her chef’s salad, idly fingering her napkin in her lap. “We’ve
both been infected with the same virus.”
“Love?” Terry made the word a haunting question. “But the kind meant to last a lifetime?”
“I don’t know,” Lesley returned sadly, “I simply don’t know.”
The conversation with her sister played back in Lesley’s mind as she drove home. When she pulled into the driveway, she noted
that something was different but couldn’t put her finger on it until she’d taken the last bag of groceries into the apartment.
Standing on the top step, she surveyed the area. Cole’s car was missing. That was what was wrong.
Without meaning to, Lesley listened for his return the rest of the afternoon.
Snow began falling again in soft feathery flakes that covered the ground.
Several times Lesley found herself looking out the window.
Not that she’d admit openly that she was watching for Cole .
. . or anxious for him. Did he have car problems? Maybe he needed help.
Stop it, her mind shouted as she ran her fingers through the silky length of her hair. She was behaving like a worrisome mother.
Cole could take care of himself.
About three, Lesley decided to bake cookies. She was ready to do anything to keep her mind off Cole. When she heard him enter
the second half of the duplex, she released an unconscious sigh of relief.
Standing motionless in the kitchen, she heard him walk across the floor. Another pair of footsteps echoed and Lesley straightened.
Someone was with him.
As quietly as possible, Lesley tiptoed into the living room and peeked out the window. Another car was parked in the driveway
next to Cole’s. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. She’d seen that car before, but where? She bit into the corner of her
mouth. Red and flashy, it . . . She stopped, her mind spinning in deep-grooved channels. That was the car Cole had driven
the first day she’d met him—the one parked in the driveway the day he moved into the duplex. Where had it been all this time?
What had he done with it?
While she was still musing over these thoughts, the sound of raised voices filtered through the wall opposite Lesley’s living
room.
“Engstrom, be reasonable. The one who’s going to end up getting hurt in this is you. Do you have any idea how hard Jennings
is looking for you?”
The man had called Cole “Engstrom.” Had he been using a false name all these months?
“He’d never find me here. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho?”
Cole made it sound like the end of the earth.
“Maybe.”
The mystery man didn’t seem to echo Cole’s confidence.
“How’s the report coming?”
“I’m finished.”
“Good grief, you must have half killed yourself to do it in this time.”
A short silence followed.
“Take it with you. See to it that . . .”
The timer on the stove dinged and Lesley yanked her attention to the kitchen. As quickly as possible she turned it off and
took the cookie sheet out of the oven. The aroma of melting chocolate chips filled the small apartment.
Like a thief in the night, Lesley returned to the living room.
“. . . low profile.”
“As much as possible,” Cole said, “but the girl next door has guessed something isn’t right.”
The other man laughed. “But you’ve always had a way with women. I wouldn’t worry about her.”
“I’m not.”
Was that displeasure Lesley heard in Cole’s cool tones?
“Do you want me to get back to you?”
“When you can.”
“Listen, Engstrom. Don’t take any chances. Your life won’t be worth a plug nickel if Jennings gets wind of your whereabouts.”
“I won’t.”
Lesley’s knees felt wobbly and weak. She lowered herself onto the couch and covered her mouth with one hand. Cole didn’t need
to worry about her suspicions. He could handle her. After all, he had a way with women.
More than that, he was in danger, terrible danger.
Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision.
The two men continued talking, but Lesley couldn’t make out what they were saying.
A few minutes later she heard the front door open, then close.
When she’d gathered the resolve to stand up and look out the window, the sporty red car was gone.
Lesley didn’t eat dinner that night, and breakfast held no appeal the next morning as she dressed for church. She sat through
the Sunday school and the morning worship service, but if anyone had asked her what had been discussed, Lesley couldn’t have
told them.