Page 31 of Evidence of Secrets

The deli had called Hank to say they had delivered the food and left the bag with Manny. Hank took the elevator down to the lobby.

“Manny, my man. How’s it going?”

“Living the life,” he said.

Hank shook his head and smiled. “The deli delivered some food for me.”

“Yep, have it right here.” Manny bent down and picked up the delivery.

“How did everything go with Laura? Did she settle in? Have any problems?”

Manny shook his head. “None that I know of. Are you going to see her?”

“That’s why I ordered food. I’m going to surprise her with breakfast.”

“Fuck.” Manny’s eyebrows drew together, and he took a deep breath. “I guess you didn’t hear that her apartment was ready. She moved back a day ago.”

Hank’s heart dropped. Why didn’t she tell him? He felt a little foolish.

“Yeah. They finished early Sunday with the repairs on her building. Laura packed up and left.”

Damn, he was busy Sunday and never got a chance to call her. “Did she say anything?”

Manny scratched his chin. “Laura said she’d try to reach you if she wasn’t too busy with the bistro. I guess they’re down a person. She mentioned that she loved the apartment. It felt like she’d been on vacation, but she didn’t want to take advantage of the owners. Laura figured they could rent the apartment out now.”

Take advantage? Crap. This happened when you didn’t confide in or trust people. He would have been happy to let Laura have the apartment. It wouldn’t have cost her much more than what she was paying for the tiny apartment she was renting.

“Damn.”

“Yeah. Damn. Maybe you should have mentioned that you owned the building. Although she’s a decent woman. She probably wouldn’t have stayed any longer, even if she knew,” said Manny.

Manny was right. Laura didn’t take advantage of people, but she didn’t have anyone watching her back. Her friends would if she confided in them, but Hank thought that was a long shot. Laura was very independent. He liked that she didn’t take advantage of people. Although he suspected people took advantage of her. She was alone in the world, making her own way, helping others when she could. He wondered who took care of Laura.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

It was now or never. Hank picked up the bag of breakfast items. It was ten o’clock; Laura would either be up or out for the day. He really wanted to surprise her. The feeling she didn’t get too many good surprises in her life unsettled him.

The drive to her apartment took about fifteen minutes. Traffic was light, probably because so many restaurants and shops were closed on Monday.

He found a parking space close to the front of her building and tried to remember if there was resident parking in the back. It wouldn’t hurt to see if her car was there or not. Hank walked around back and saw several cars in the lot, Laura’s beat-up car among them. Good.

Walking around to the unguarded front entrance, Hank opened the door and noticed the “out of service” sign was removed from the elevator. Good luck so far. He took the elevator to Laura’s floor and knocked on her door.

Waited. No answer. He knocked again.

“I’m coming.”

Laura opened the door and stared at Hank. God, her sense of security was pathetic. She didn’t even ask who it was. Did she have a spy hole? He looked at the door—no. It would be an easy fix if she’d let him do it.

“Hank!” Laura gave him a bright smile. She looked gorgeous even though she still had her pajamas and robe on. Her hair was slightly mussed, and she wore no makeup.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No. I just got up and was making coffee. Come in.”

He held up the bag. “I brought breakfast. I was going to surprise you, but Manny told me you moved back here.”

“Oh, this is a surprise. I was thinking about going grocery shopping. I didn’t have time to pick anything up yesterday.”

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