Page 5 of Fire Peak

That wasn’t the kind of thing you could tell people. Not even her best friends. They knew about the money her father had signed over to her before he went to prison, but they didn’t know how she’d added to it. Occasionally they hinted that they’d love a few more details. But every time she thought about telling them, she imagined their scorn at the shadiness and potential illegality. So she held her tongue.

“I’m Nick Perini, by the way,” the man told her once they were settled into her grandmother’s old Buick.

“Charlotte Santa Lucia, but everyone calls me Charlie.”

“Is that an Italian last name?”

“My family is actually Basque, but only on one side. On the other side it’s pure good old Appalachia coal mining. My mother came from West Virginia,” she explained.

“Beautiful country. Does she still live there?”

“No. She lives in Rome with her new husband and?—”

Why was she talking so much about her mother? That was much too personal. She shifted the topic. “How old is your daughter?”

“Fifteen.”

“Oooh, tough age. Now the whole silent treatment thing makes sense.”

“Yeah, but in her case, there’s a little more to it.” He sat in the passenger seat of her car, cradling the pile of leaves between his thighs. She’d brought him a towel to make the process easier. He effortlessly filled the space with his physicality and his magnetism. “I only met her a year ago.”

“Really!” Juicy. Maybe that explained the lack of a wedding ring. “How did that happen?”

“Oh, it’s a long story. There was lots of alcohol involved but no phone numbers. You see where I’m going.”

“One-night stand, never saw her again, until a teenager showed up out of the blue?”

“Pretty much. She contacted me a few months ago, after I ran into her mom completely by chance.”

He didn’t seem to want to go into it in any more detail, which she respected. She too kept the details of her life vague.

“Are things going well now? Is she living with you?”

“No, we live in different cities. She visits for the occasional weekend. They fight a lot, and I’m the safety valve. I’d like to set up more of a regular schedule, but for now, I take what I get. Maybe I should get a baby bird. That might entice her to stick around longer.”

His hopeful expression made her heart melt a little. She wasn’t generally the heart-melting type, so that was interesting. “You’re welcome to borrow my goldfish if you think it might help. She’s a pretty good housemate, if you don’t count those wild parties she throws in her little mini-castle.”

He gave her a wide, infectious grin, the kind that stretched from ear to ear and made everyone nearby want to smile. She was the only one nearby. She smiled. “What inspired you to adopt a goldfish?”

“She belonged to a friend who went missing. My other friend is trying to locate her. My contribution is to babysit her fish.”

“I’m sorry your friend is missing. Is she from around here?”

Maybe she should stop sharing details. They didn’t yet know if Lila was safe, where she was, who she might be with. As they approached the front gate of the Wildlife Waystation, she shifted the topic. “Do you live around here?”

“No, I don’t. Here on business.”

“What business could possibly bring you to Barlow, Indiana?”

“Investment opportunity.”

That sounded vague. “You’re an investor?” She pulled into the parking lot and brought the Buick to a stop in front of the visitor center.

“Me, no. I do research. On-the-ground research. There’s a lot you can only learn by getting up close and personal.”

“What business are you researching? I know most of them around here.”

“It’s…proprietary, sorry.” He looked genuinely apologetic. “They always have me sign lots of NDAs before I do this work. You never know what might trigger a bidding war or a hostile takeover.”

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