Page 28 of Fight or Flight
Deciding this was a starting point, she could possibly trace the transaction. As far as research went, she was decent enough, though not so knowledgeable that she knew exactly how to go about this. Katherine would hire an expert and find who was involved in selling her old place and everyone who’d communicated with the real estate agent. Maybe a certain name would ring a bell, offer an explanation, help her discover who in her past would have reason to . . .what? She didn’t know. Send a teenage girl to her fan page to screw with her and tell a few lies about being the author of her novels? It couldn’t be that stupid or simple. And why now?
In her office, she searched online for a computer forensic expert. There were hundreds. Katherine clicked off. If she were going to hire a professional, she needed to meet them face to face.
Unsure how to go about it, she decided that she would ask Doc. He’d lived in North Carolina his entire life. He knew a lot of the local business owners. Tomorrow she’d ask him if he knew a professional to assist her and keep it private. But then she had to stop depending solely on him.
Before she changed her mind, she pulled up the Friendlink fan page again and changed the settings. She could manage posts and limited activity to only five current members. Especially WHS524—Walter. The more she thought about him, the more suspicious he became. He’d joined recently and was extremely bossy with the others. She wanted to keep an eye on him. She scanned through his comments since he’d joined. She didn’t read anything other than his rude threats, which seemed fairly tame. He could be just a bossy old coot with no life.
Tired, Katherine shut down her computer, her thoughts racing everywhere. The past two days had been full, and she was tired. After she went through her nighttime routine, she crawled beneath the warm blankets with both dogs and dreamed of a life with Tyler.
Chapter Eight
Surprisingly, Katherine had slept like a baby for the first time in years. She usually woke up several times during the night. She had been busy the past two days, which was probably her reason for getting such a good night’s rest.
Katherine looked forward to dinner with Tyler that night. It was strange to think she had accepted an invitation from a man, invited him into her personal space, and even more so that she’d only just met him and knew absolutely nothing about him, other than he was a doctor, and Doc liked him.
Stretching, she got out of bed, took a quick shower, and dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. She slipped on her Uggs while Sam and Sophie danced around, eager to go outside.
“Come on, let’s go,” she called. Downstairs, she opened the kitchen door, both dogs racing to be the first one out. While the dogs burned off their pent-up energy, she made coffee. Filling the dogs’ dishes with their usual mix of kibble, chicken, liver, and a blend of organ meat, she added a raw egg and omega oil to the mix, placing their dishes on the vinyl mats. Ten minutes later, the two dogs came bouncing through the doors, straight to their food.
“Guess I don’t need to tell you two it’s time for breakfast,” Katherine said. Sitting at the bar, she sipped her coffee, anticipation sending a warm glow throughout her body. A renewed appreciation for life filled her. She knew it had something to do with that evening’s dinner. It had been too long since she’d had contact with a man, especially one as handsome as Tyler. She finished her coffee and rinsed her cup, placing it on the drainboard. She took the pie crust she’d made yesterday out of the refrigerator and gathered several apples along with a lemon to ensure the apples wouldn’t turn brown as she peeled them. When she had sliced enough apples for a pie, she mixed together flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, and a dash of ground cloves. Once the pie crust was at room temperature, she would fill it with the sliced apples, sugar mixture, and some chopped dried apples, and then drizzle some apple butter over the filling before adding the top crust. Then she would bake it until it was golden brown and some of the filling started bubbling through the slits in the top crust.
Her thoughts returned to last night’s phone conversation with Karrie. The poor girl had sounded distressed. If it were an act, then she considered Karrie to be one heck of an actress. A smidgen of her gut instinct was beginning to kick in. This was more than a simple prank. Before she changed her mind, she sent Doc a text.
Call me when you have a minute. Not an emergency. K.
Katherine grabbed her laptop and logged in online to see if Karrie had sent any new emails or posted on the fan page. She checked her Darby email account. Nothing. Switching over to Friendlink, she didn’t see any of the girls or Walter online. She glanced at the time. Just after seven in the morning. The girls were probably at school. Later, she would check in and see if Karrie was online.
Returning to the kitchen, she was about to unwrap her pie crust when her phone rang.
“What’s up, K?” Doc Baker asked. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I have yet another favor to ask. I need to find someone who can trace a real estate transaction. I know this sounds crazy—heck, everything sounds crazy coming from me these days. Tell me if I’m overstepping any boundaries. Do you know who does this kind of work? I’m not sure who to contact.”
She heard him sigh. “Kid, that’s gonna take some thought. Let me make a few calls. I’ll get back to you on this as quickly as I can. I have to help George and Sandy with a newborn calf right now, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Doc. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’ll repay you some way,” Katherine said, adding, “What’s your favorite cake?”
“Bribing me with sweets! That’ll work, kiddo. I like a good old-fashioned chocolate cake with heaps of icing.”
“Perfect. I’ll get started.” But no, she couldn’t. “Does tomorrow work for the cake? You’ll hear about it soon enough, so I might as well tell you myself. Tyler invited me to have dinner. Here. Tonight.” Saying it aloud made her anxious, though in a good way.
“Hot damn! I knew you two would pair up. I’m proud of you, K. Tyler’s as good a fella as you’ll ever find,” he said, and chuckled.
“It’s just dinner, and I’ll admit I’m more than a little rusty at this.” She thought of Adam and felt a wave of sadness. If he were alive, he would be so disappointed in her, not living life to the fullest. “He offered to help me. I may accept.” Once the words were out, even if they were just to Doc, it incentivized her to work on her issues.
“He’s one of the best in his field, though if you ever meet Seamus, don’t say I told you, ’cause he’ll talk your leg off trying to convince you otherwise. I’ll check with a few business contacts about your question. And I’ll look forward to that cake,” he told her, before ending the call.
Doc Baker would be her first choice if she could’ve hand-picked a father. She was quite fond of him and was pretty sure he cared about her, too. Maybe one day she could meet his family. Smiling, she looked forward to the rest of the day, making dinner and getting to know Tyler.
She preheated the oven and took a pie plate from the cupboard. She unwrapped the pie crust, splaying it across the plate with the edges hanging over. Using a knife, she cut off the excess crust and then used her fingers to pinch the edges. Katherine wanted the pie to look as good as it tasted. She’d made this particular apple pie recipe dozens of times, so she wasn’t too concerned. Adding the apples, then the second layer of crust, she used a butter knife to pierce the crust, trying to create a star design. “Not my best, but close enough,” she said out loud. Placing the pie in the oven, she set the timer.
With time on her hands, she returned to her desk, logging onto Friendlink. Lola, aka HotandCool, was online.
Bigfan216: What’s up? U in class?
HotandCool: No, in bathroom cutting class!
Bigfan216: Don’t get caught!
