Chapter Five
One week later
After calling the studio in Crystal Rock and discovering that she’d be able to book pretty much any time slot on weekdays during the morning or early afternoon, Wren decided to wait and play it by ear once she reached Crystal Rock.
Despite the circumstances surrounding her quick departure, she was enjoying her cross-country drive.
Marc had recommended that she stay at the Dragonfly Pointe Inn since they were discreet, so she’d been able to book a suite a few days earlier, thanks to a cancellation. Although she would have preferred to stay at one of the cabins, she would have been too isolated. Even though she recognized the logic in Marc’s words, she was still disappointed. She consoled herself with the fact that there weren’t any cabins available anyway.
Their plan had gone well so far. She and Marc had decided to end her bogus journey in New York, period. That way, if someone was really on her trail, they would have a difficult time locating where she was hanging out other than inside her apartment. There, they’d added extra security measures which included more surveillance cameras to check out any strange comings and goings in the building.
Wren was excited when she finally drove into the town of Crystal Rock after five days on the road. She could have probably made it easily in three but there was something relaxing about taking her time and enjoying the sights along the way.
Speaking of which…
Glancing right, there was an intriguing looking mall that appeared to be built along an entire block on Main Street.
It was the word Antiques on the sign above a massive picture window that caught her eye.
Should she stop?
Wren just couldn’t seem to help herself when she pulled into a parking place along the street.
Wearing jeans and a t-shirt, she looked just like any other tourist, she decided, freshening her makeup as she glanced into the visor mirror. She was actually dressed down a little more than usual because she preferred to be comfortable while driving.
Reaching for her purse, she stepped out from the driver’s seat, locking the SUV before making her way along the sidewalk, doing some window shopping as she headed toward the mall entrance.
It was impressive and beautifully constructed inside. And hardly the kind of place she’d expected to find in Wisconsin, she realized, strolling past a large flower shop, which appeared to be surprisingly busy for a weekday morning. Most likely a wedding was happening soon, judging by the arrangements being placed on one of the counters.
She was tempted to head into a gallery, but since the place appeared to be huge, Wren decided to save that for another day. Besides, she hadn’t really had a chance to think things out. If she made a bunch of purchases, she’d have to arrange to have them shipped somewhere.
As soon as she entered the antique store, she saw several things she wanted right away.
“This could be trouble,” she muttered aloud.
“Hi,” the salesperson said, as she approached. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Thank you, but I think I’d like to look around first,” Wren said, finally removing her sunglasses and slipping them into her purse. She had on her blond wig, so she was feeling fairly confident that she wouldn’t be recognized since she always gave a start when she glanced at herself in the mirror when she was wearing it.
There were several items she just had to have, including a marble topped mahogany entry table. She happened to have a perfect place for it at her New York apartment since she preferred her furnishings to be more formal there than at her place in Los Angeles. She hadn’t completely furnished the apartment yet since she’d only purchased it last year.
Maybe she could get away with having everything shipped there, come to think of it.
Wren approached the woman at the register. “If I pay for some items now, would you be able to store them for me until I can make arrangements to have them shipped?”
“Of course we can,” the woman she’d talked to earlier replied. “What items were you thinking about?”
After Wren pointed out everything that she was interested in and negotiated a better price on some, including the entry table, the woman appeared to be dazed as she pulled off tags and made a list.
When Wren brought out the cash to pay for everything, the woman blinked. “You didn’t rob a bank, did you?”
Wren started laughing. “Nah. I’m taking a break from everyday life and trying to lay low.”
“I thought you looked familiar,” the woman answered, winking. “I promise not to mention to anyone that Wren Matthews is here in town. I’m a good friend of Danielle Loughlin, formerly Danielle Reardon, so I know how to be discreet.”
“Darn. I really thought this wig made me indistinguishable.”
“It’s not so much that. It’s just that this town is big on music. Not only do a lot of our camp attendees imitate you, but so does my daughter. I’ve seen numerous videos of you performing.”
Wren blinked, before she began laughing.
They talked a little more about the music camp as the woman rang up her total on the register.
Another hour later, Wren was finally on her way to the Inn. She’d eaten a delicious lunch at a small restaurant inside the mall but had been given a complete list of all the hot spots here in town when she’d spoken to the girl who was waiting tables. She’d forgotten that check-in wasn’t until noon at the Inn, so she would have had to wait a few hours before having access to her room if she hadn’t stopped off at the mall.
As she followed the directions from the SUV’s GPS after leaving town, she hooked a left onto a winding two lane road.
Suddenly, a motorcycle came barreling onto the road from around the corner, the driver most obviously distracted since he was zooming down the middle of the blacktop.
Finally, he seemed to notice her, the SUV nearly making contact as they swerved to avoid one another, the biker moving to her left, while she skidded the SUV half off the road to her right, stopping after she heard a resounding thump.
She was pretty sure she had a flat tire, when she slammed her way outside from inside her vehicle, marching up to the guy as he disentangled himself from his bike.
“What in the hell were you doing, driving down the middle of the road?” she growled.
But then she noticed that his leg appeared to be twisted in an unnatural way.
“Oh, no,” she muttered. “Are you hurt?”
He looked up, but with his eyes hidden by sunglasses and his head covered with a helmet, she could see very little of his face.
But he appeared to be sheepish.
“Nah,” he replied, doing something to his leg with his hands as he stood.
Confused, Wren blinked, finally realizing that his right leg must have been a prosthetic.
“I suppose you did that to yourself when you had another accident. You’d think that you’d have learned that bikes are dangerous,” she said crossly.
For a moment, he appeared nonplussed, and then promptly began laughing loudly.
By the time he picked up his bike from the side of the road, putting down the kickstand, he seemed to have regained control.
“Listen. I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t sleep well last night so I must have been a little distracted. I’ve never done something as stupid as this. I’m usually pretty careful on my bike.”
Wren heaved a sigh, turning back to the SUV.
Walking over to her vehicle, he grimaced. “It looks like you’ve got a flat. I’d offer to change the tire, but these newer model vehicles don’t even provide you with a spare. All you get is a can of fix-a-flat.”
She frowned. “Really? I just drove cross-country. It’s a good thing that I didn’t have any trouble along the way.”
“Where were you headed?” he asked.
“I’ve got reservations at the Dragonfly Pointe Inn,” she replied.
“Good. I can drop you over there, and they’ll send someone here to gather your luggage and have the car towed into town so they can fix up that tire at our local garage. I don’t see why they can’t have it back to you by the end of the day.”
“You want me to ride with you – on that ?”
His smile was wide. “I promise I’ll be careful. We don’t have far to go. Have you got a purse or a bag that you want to bring along with you?”
She could hardly believe what she was doing, because of her hatred of motorcycles, but five minutes later Wren was hoisting her leg over the seat, her purse strapped over her shoulder. The stranger had clipped her overnight bag to a rack in back.
“I’d give you my helmet but with my disability there’s a possibility that I’d get into trouble if I got caught not wearing it,” he said.
Despite the fact that she probably looked like a kook, she’d wrapped a long scarf over her head so her wig wouldn’t fly off her head during the drive. This guy probably didn’t know who she was, but she still needed to disguise herself, since she’d have to make her way through the Inn to check in and make arrangements to have her tire fixed.
“Wrap your arms around my waist,” he said loudly, once they were both settled on the seat with the engine running.
When she did as he said, she had the strangest reaction. Vin was the last guy she’d been this close to, and this guy was doing all kinds of crazy things to her senses.
He sure smelled great, she decided. It was either his soap or cologne.
Damn, he was fit. A lot more so than Vin.
She was feeling the strongest urge to bury herself against him.
Wren could hear him clear his throat, although he seemed to have nothing to say.
After what seemed to be only a few minutes later, he was pulling into a large parking lot, over half filled. She’d been on the bike with him for over ten minutes, she was surprised to realize, glancing at her watch once he pulled his bike up to the Inn entrance.
She shook her head dazedly as he shut down the engine. Disentangling himself from her arms with what seemed to be reluctance as he stepped off the bike, he reached for her hand, assisting her from the seat.
“Hang on a minute until I talk with Jake over there about your vehicle,” he muttered, heading toward a man near the entrance, who seemed to be in charge.
She watched them shake hands, as the stranger spoke to the man named Jake, who glanced over at her where she stood near the bike.
The man named Jake winked at her as he laughed at whatever the stranger had to say when he pulled out his wallet, handing over some bills to Jake.
It was funny, but she had a feeling that the guy named Jake knew who she was.
The stranger returned, unclipping her overnight bag from the back of his bike and handing it over as the man named Jake approached.
“Hey, there,” he said, reaching out with his hand. “I’m Jake Loughlin, the owner of the Inn. I’ll bet you’re the guest who scooped up our cancellation, aren’t you?”
“I am,” she answered. “It’s nice to meet you, Jake.”
“Jake’s going to take care of getting that flat repaired,” the stranger said, reaching out with his hand to shake hers. “The cost has been taken care of. Thanks for not getting me into trouble.”
“I’d say you’ve got enough of that to deal with anyway,” she answered dryly.
Surprisingly, he barked out a laugh.
Motioning to his bike, she couldn’t resist asking, “What was so funny before, when I was talking about the dangers of riding that thing?”
She could see him smile widely as he slipped onto the seat, revving up the engine.
“Nothing, really,” he finally answered. “But you sounded exactly like my mother.”
She blinked when Jake started laughing as the stranger drove away.
“Come with me, Ms. Matthews,” Jake said softly. “We’ve been waiting for you to arrive. Your manager gave us a call yesterday, along with my daughter Eve, who you’re apparently acquainted with, so we’ve even set up some extra security for you. Just in case. Nothing noticeable, mind you.”
“I appreciate that,” she replied as they headed inside the lobby. “I hope I don’t have too much trouble with being recognized. I went into the antique mall this morning when I arrived in town, and I was never more surprised when the person who waited on me knew who I was. I was even wearing this stupid wig.”
Jake laughed. “If it’s any consolation, I wouldn’t have recognized you if I hadn’t been looking for you. Maybe you should do what my wife Danielle used to do and have our stylist here at the salon give you a new look.”
“That’s actually something I hadn’t considered,” she answered, becoming thoughtful. “I’d have plenty of time to switch back to the old look before my tour if I decided it wasn’t for me.”
“Let’s get you checked in, and then I can drive you back to your SUV so we can grab all your luggage from inside before the tow truck arrives. I’ll give them a call right now, so you’ll have your vehicle back later today. I’m not sure when you wanted to drive over to the studio, but what I’d like to do is add a tracker in case trouble arises. I know you’ve probably got a GPS that we could access, but this will make it easier on me and my security team.”
“Do you really think it’s necessary?” she asked, suddenly feeling panicked.
“I think that it’s better not to take any chances. If you feel like it’s an invasion of your privacy, we won’t do it. But as a former FBI special agent, I can’t help worrying that this situation might escalate. I was able to talk to a contact of mine in California. In fact, at one time, I was based out there in San Francisco. They found evidence of tampering with the wiring at that sound studio where you were supposed to record your album, so the cause of the fire has definitely been ruled as arson.”
She grimaced, giving him a side glance. “FBI?” He did look rather menacing right now although he obviously didn’t expose the dark side of himself to friends, family and guests of the Inn unless there was trouble.
She heaved a sigh. “Then I guess I’d better do what you say, Mr. Loughlin. You know best.”
He smiled disarmingly. “The name is Jake. And try not to worry. We’ll do our best to make sure you enjoy your time here in Crystal Rock. In fact, we’re trying to find you another place to stay since we have firm reservations in another week for the suite you’ll be staying in.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” she answered, as they stopped off at the desk.
Jake pulled out his phone, making a quick call to what must have been the local garage.
“Janice?” Jake asked after disconnecting his call made to a guy named Tom. “Could you make sure that this overnight bag is taken upstairs to suite number six immediately? Our guest has a flat, so I’m going to drive her back to her car to grab the rest of her luggage before Tom arrives to tow it back to the garage.”
“I’d be happy to do it myself before my break,” Janice answered, handing over a key card to Wren. If she knew who Wren was, she sure didn’t show it.
“Thank you,” Wren answered, smiling back at Janice when she reached for her bag.
“Come with me,” Jake said, motioning with his hand. “Danny and I live next door, so I normally walk to work.”
As they walked through the lobby, obviously heading toward the lakefront of the Inn, Wren took a moment to be impressed. “I didn’t expect this place to be so picturesque with as huge as it is.”
“When I had the plans made up to quadruple the size of the place, I tried to keep the integrity of the original Inn intact. We restored the original woodwork and used as many salvaged materials as we were able to locate from old homes and businesses – not just from Wisconsin, but wherever we could find them across the country.”
“The old and new is beautifully integrated,” she observed.
“Thank you,” he replied. “I sense you’re a fellow lover of antiques.”
“Definitely,” she answered, breathing in the air along the path of the shady garden they were walking through to reach the home on the lakefront next door. There was even a waterfall spilling into the lake far below. “This is amazing. I’d love to have something like this at my home in Los Angeles. There’s way too much concrete on my property there.”
“It’s all Danielle’s doing,” he admitted, pointing at the massive gazebo that was built into the edge of the cliff atop the lake, a long bridge leading to and fro. “We host music concerts every Sunday on the gazebo for local talent.”
“That sounds great,” she replied. “I’ll have to make sure I attend on a Sunday while I’m here.”
He motioned at a large SUV when they reached the end of the path, unlocking the door, and soon, they were on their way back to her vehicle.