Past Secrets, Present Love. Lois Richer

now what have we got here?” She grasped the handle of the top drawer of the filing cabinet and yanked, but aside from a groan, the drawer never budged. Kelly tried the bottom one. Locked.

      Why would someone lock a filing cabinet they’d left in a storage closet?

      “Because they don’t want anyone to look inside, dummy.” She grimaced at her own answer. “So now what do I do? Pry it open?”

      She couldn’t think of any good reason why she shouldn’t know what was inside, so Kelly asked herself where she’d find something to pry it open with.

      “Florence’s basement,” she muttered and turned to the door.

      To her utter shock, the steel door slammed closed in her face.

      “Hey!” She grabbed the handle and twisted it but the door didn’t open. “Open this door,” she yelled. “I’m locked inside.”

      No answer.

      “Florence? Can you let me out?”

      But Florence never answered. She’d probably left long ago.

      “Wait a minute.” Kelly recalled using her key to unlock the door. The lock was on the outside. She should be able to open the door from the inside. She slid her hands over the knob, tried to find a button, something, that would release the door. She found nothing. The knob would not turn.

      Panic began to thrum inside her. There was no way this door should remain closed unless someone was deliberately preventing her from getting out.

      “Let me out!” She lifted her hands, clenched them into fists and began banging. After several minutes, the only result she achieved was sore hands.

      At least the light was still on. Kelly flopped down on the edge of the file cabinet and wondered how long she’d have to wait. Tomorrow was Sunday. The office would be closed all day. It was unlikely that Pilar, who placed Tiny Blessings’ children, would come to the office—she was a newlywed. And Anne and Caleb hadn’t stuck around after the wedding so she’d hardly come in to take a look at the agency’s books on the weekend. One by one, Kelly ticked off her employees, heart sinking at the realization that she was alone—and going to be here for a while.

      But not by herself.

      Someone was out there, someone had deliberately closed that door. Rising panic filled her throat and she had to fight for calm. So many questions whirled around her brain—questions like who and why and how did they get into the building.

      “It looks like your steering has been tampered with.”

      She’d dismissed Vinnie’s words too easily. Now they returned with greater impact. Someone had deliberately tampered with her car? Maybe that same someone had shut her in this room.

      Fear crawled up and lodged itself in her brain as a voice sounded outside the door.

      “Move out of town, Kelly Young. Forget about the past.” The voice wasn’t clear, but ragged, not unlike a hoarse whisper—a sound made by someone who didn’t want to be identified, or someone with a bad cold.

      “Who are you?”

      “There’s nothing in Chestnut Grove for you anymore. Leave before it’s too late.”

      Leave? But this was her home. She’d been raised here, found friends here, been a part of the church all her life. Where would she go?

      “Why? Just tell me why.” She waited for an answer. But the voice was gone. All that remained was an eerie silence filled with foreboding. She was alone—something she’d always dreaded.

      Maybe not quite alone. Though the room wasn’t cold, Kelly shivered. She could feel evil waiting just outside that door.

      Ross pulled up in front of Kelly’s house and scanned the yard. Three times he’d called her from Sandra’s, three times he’d heard her voice on the machine.

      “Maybe she’s more upset than she let on. Please go talk to her,” Sandra had urged him. “I’ll feel better if I know she’s all right.”

      Maybe Kelly wasn’t answering the phone on purpose. He got out of the car, walked up the path and rang the doorbell, waited. When she didn’t come to the door, he tried the knob.

      “Kelly?” It was quarter past ten. Where would she go?

      In a flash the answer was there. Tiny Blessings. She loved her work, was dedicated to finding the perfect home for every child. It had to be emotional, heartrending work and yet in the months he’d spent here he’d never seen her show the least amount of frustration.

      Ross had learned a lot about her these past few months. Kelly Young rigidly adhered to every rule and regulation she’d set in place, but perhaps that was simply her way of dealing with the job. And of never making the same mistakes her predecessor, Barnaby Harcourt, had made. Mistakes that had only come to light a few months ago which she’d had to explain to the media. Though falsifying documents hardly classified as a mistake.

      Ross knew Kelly was a stickler for routine. But if his revelation about her relationship to Sandra had caused more angst than he realized—He knocked again, twice. Bothered by the lack of response, Ross climbed back in his car and drove the few short blocks to the narrow stone-fronted building that housed Tiny Blessings Adoption Agency.

      A big black car sat in front, in the no-parking zone, causing Ross to speculate that Kelly might be meeting someone. He knew from previous visits that Kelly’s office faced Main Street and he could see the light in her office, but no matter how many times he dialed, she didn’t answer the office phone. He parked behind the black car, where it was legal, and pulled on his gloves to protect his hands from the frigid air.

      Ross checked the front door. Locked, of course. Kelly wouldn’t dream of leaving the building open to anyone who happened to pass by. Defeated, he returned to his car and sat in the cold and dark, trying to think of some way to contact her. It seemed important that Kelly not be alone tonight. Because of Sandra, he told himself.

      From the corner of his eye, Ross saw a movement at the side of the building. He squinted into the darkness, watched a figure slip out an emergency exit door, wait at the edge of the building till a vehicle drove past, then scurry across the sidewalk and plunge into the poorly parked black car. With a squeal of tires it pulled away from the curb, red tail-lights disappearing into the night.

      Not a client, Ross decided. Kelly would have let them out the front door. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. Something wasn’t right. People with legitimate business didn’t sneak out side exits.

      In two seconds he’d left his car and raced toward the door, which was slightly ajar, thanks to a chunk of ice that had caught in the frame. He dragged it open, stepped into the dimly lit hall and made sure the door was closed securely behind him.

      The silence of the place irritated his already cranky nerves. Why didn’t she have some music playing, a radio talk show—something to break the ominous quiet of the old bank building?

      Moving with stealth, he walked past the picture displays that lined the walls—Tiny Blessings’ children and their adoptive families. Another time he would have stopped to study them, but Ross glimpsed a sliver of light coming under Kelly’s office door and quickly rapped his knuckles against the solid oak, hoping he wouldn’t startle her.

      “Kelly?”

      No response. Ross peeked inside. The room was empty, but her coat hung neatly on the coatrack. So she was here. Somewhere.

      He stepped back into the hall, wishing he knew where to find the switch that would illuminate the area instead of trying to see in this dim gray-green glow. He jerked to a halt just in time to avoid bumping into some objects littering the hall. What in the world?

      Mops, brooms, a pail, paint cans—they were strewn all over. Messy. Now that wasn’t like Kelly. Not at all. He didn’t have time to think it through before his gaze snagged on a chair shoved under a doorknob, holding