Page 675 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Sydney deleted the message and sank into the couch.A 4.0 GPA.She wasn’t surprised. Nothing about Sean O’Conner surprised her. Sean was fire and Kendall was comfort. Which one did she want? Comfort. I want comfort, she repeated and drifted off to sleep.

When Sydney awokefrom her nap, two things hit her at once: the darkness outside and her growling stomach. She sat up on the sofa and let her mind slowly adjust to the world of the living. She must’ve been more tired than she thought. Shelooked at her clock—10:30 PM—just enough time to make a quick run to Jacks before they closed at eleven. Any other night she might be tempted to eat a bowl of cereal and go to bed and sleep until morning, but she had some work to catch up on. With one hand on the back of her neck massaging it, she stood and looked around for her briefcase. She’d been in such a hurry to get to Hazel that she’d probably left it in the jeep.

A couple of clicks to the remote on her key chain, and the back door of the jeep popped open. She reached to retrieve her briefcase, but it wasn’t there. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what she’d done. In her haste to get out of the office, she’d left it. How could she have been so careless? Since her arrival in Stoney Creek, she’d kept a meticulous record of her ongoing investigation into Avery’s death. She’d recorded all of the visits that she’d made. She’d even gone so far as to include her suspicion of drug use at the mill and how it could have been the cause of some of the accidents. Eventually, she hoped to compile enough evidence to convince Walter that Avery’s death was not an accident.

She ran back inside to get her purse, all thoughts of going to Jacks now forgotten. She was going to have to go to the office and get her briefcase. She couldn’t run the risk of Sean or someone else getting to work before her and snooping around in her notes. Besides, the only way she would get a wink of sleep was to have the briefcase back safely in her possession.

As she drove to the sawmill, the incident with the pickup truck kept running through her mind. She looked in her rearview mirror to make sure she wasn’t being followed. The road behind her was empty. Going to the sawmill by herself was probably not the wisest thing to do, but there was no other choice. Thank goodness Sean had given all the office employees a key to the building.

When she arrived at the mill, she was struck by the stillness of it. Normally, second shift would be operating, but not this week. Orders had been slow enough to prompt Sean to run only first shift. In a couple more hours, the filers would arrive to get the saws ready for the next day.

Fog was settling in the air, its invisible tentacles encircled the building and seeped dampness into the earth. She shivered and glanced up at the soft beaming haloes illuminating from the security lights on the building. It took her a minute to get the door unlocked. She stepped in and locked the door behind her. She looked around. What if she wasn’t alone? What if someone followed her here? She shook off the negative thoughts and walked briskly to her office. Her briefcase was in the corner, right where she’d left it. She bent to retrieve it when lights from outside caught her attention. She stole to the window and peered out. Two trucks were leaving the premises, their headlights casting long cylindrical columns against the fog, looking like four gigantic flashlights, all moving in a fluid motion.

She strained against the darkness to read her wall clock. It was now 10:45 PM. Why would trucks be leaving the mill at this time of the night? She left her office and went to the front door, all the while thinking that Sean O’Conner had better have a good explanation. As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait long to ask him. She opened the door, and there he stood.

His presence took her so off guard that it sent shakes down to her knees. “Sean!”

He looked as shaken as she felt. “Sydney! What are you doing here?”

“I forgot my briefcase.”

He glanced down to see her holding it. “Oh.”

Her eyes grew speculative. “A more appropriate question is what are you doing here this time of the night, and where are those trucks going?”

“What’re you talking about?” Before she could respond to his question, he pointed to her briefcase. “What kind of top-secret information are you carrying in that thing anyway?”

Her hand tightened around the handle. “What do you mean?”

“Well, whatever it is must be pretty important to send you rushing back here to get it in the middle of the night.”

Her heart began to pound, sending a sickening clammy feeling down to her stomach. She tried to laugh, but it came out more like a choked chuckle. “My, my, Mr. O’Conner, you do have a vivid imagination. I just needed to get some work done. That’s all.”

He studied her face. “One of these days you’re going to have to learn to trust me, Syd.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I think you know.”

“No, I don’t have a clue. Stop playing games with me—” She stopped mid sentence. He was diverting her attention away from the trucks. “Why are you shipping lumber out this time of the night? You’re not running second shift this week. Besides that, trucks don’t go out at night. The whole place looked deserted when I got here, and then I saw those trucks.”

His only answer was a shrug. He was standing in the doorway. She took a step toward him, her eyes glaring into his, willing him to tell her the truth. “Well?” She had him, and they both knew it.

“I had a rush order to come through this afternoon.”

“Oh, really? Who?”

“That’s not your concern. Sydney, I have a mill to run. If I decide to ship something out at night, it’s my business. Not yours. I’m the mill manager, and you’re the safety consultant. Safety is your only responsibility.”

His comment stung, but she was determined to not let him know how much. “Point well taken. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”

His frame took up the bulk of the doorway, and he stayed where he was, blocking her way out. She clenched her teeth. “Get out of my way.”

He chuckled. “Gladly. Allow me to escort you to your jeep.”

She pushed past him. “Don’t bother.”

He tugged on her arm, and she turned to face him. Her face was flushed.

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