Page 20 of Not the Bodyguard's Widow
“You’d deny if you could. I wish you the best of luck with her.”
“Anything I should know about her?”
“Only that she named Lover’s Loft as a joke, not for actual use. Anything else I know is confidential.” Abbie’s voice teetered on the edge of a giggle.
Apparently, two could play the client-confidential game. “I’ll respect that. I am assuming you know nothing that would help me with her current situation.”
“Only that she is more than she seems. Good night, bro.”
The line went dead. Alex wished he’d gotten better information. From the moment he met Kimberly Thompson, he’d known she was more than what she seemed.
* * *
An unfamiliar chirp awakened Kimberly. She stretched. Her favorite beanbag wasn’t the best place to sleep. She checked her phone and found an alert from the Hastings Security app. Apparently it also tracked the employees, as it informed her that Mr. Alexander had arrived at Art House.
Kimberly started down the stairs to meet him. She had questions.
“Kimberly?” His voice came from the front room.
“Coming!” She felt her way across the darkened library. Candace should have listened to her suggestion to put a light switch for the library in the loft. “Oomph!” Kimberly rubbed her shin where it had connected with the coffee table.
The overhead light came on, causing her to blink. Mr. Alexander stood with his fingers on the switch. “You don’t need to keep the lights off. Just the blinds closed.”
“I know. I fell asleep up in the loft, and there isn’t a switch up there.” Kimberly sat down on the couch and continued to rub her shin.
He crossed the room and hunched down in front of her. “Are you hurt?”
“Not really. That table and I have a long history. It attacks my shin, I verbally assault it. We repeat the cycle every few days.”
He bit his lip and turned his head as he stood. “Your phone has a flashlight mode. Or I could install a motion-sensor light on the staircase.”
Of course the phone would have a flashlight, like her old one. “Really? You’d put in a light?”
“Sure, a battery-powered one, but it would be bright enough to cross the room.”
“That would be great.” Kimberly glanced at her phone. It was past ten. “It’s later than I thought.”
“My errand took me longer. I stopped by the store to get toothpaste.”
“Oh. Earlier when I was talking with Candace, she said you had an uncle with the FBI. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure what to do. I didn’t kill my husband. And I’m worried that if I turn myself in to the FBI, my father-in-law will know.” Kimberly rolled the phone end to end in her hands. “I’ve always considered myself more or less law-abiding, and I think I should talk to the FBI since they are looking for me.”
“They are looking for you according to your father-in-law. Alan checked. You are not on the front page of the FBI.gov site or anything.”
Kimberly sighed, and her shoulders relaxed. “That’s good, right?”
“I think so. My guess is they want to question you.”
“Do you think I can talk to them without my father-in-law finding out?”
“Maybe. Would you like to talk with my uncle?”
“Please. I don’t like feeling like a fugitive.” A yawn interrupted the last word. “I took my second nap for the day. You’d think I wouldn’t be tired.”
“I think sleeping for two comes with the eating-for-two thing. My sister fell asleep midsentence on the phone with me a few weeks ago. If it hadn’t been a video call, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
