Hoodwinked. Diana Palmer

eating it contentedly.

      “You’re company, at least.” She sighed, turning the hamburger one last time before taking it up. “I’m glad you’re good for seventy years or so, Bagwell. If I can’t have a husband, at least I’ve got you.”

      Bagwell glanced at her with green disinterest and went back to chewing his carrot.

      There was a commotion out front followed by a yelling voice giving instructions. It was usually a quiet neighborhood, but that was an ominous sound. Maureen left Bagwell and went into the living room to peep out from behind the curtain. Two men were at the other half of her duplex, the one that had remained unoccupied for the past six weeks since the music lover had moved out. People tended to come and go there, because the man who owned the other half of the duplex traveled and rented it out. The last occupant had been a hard-rock fan, and Maureen hadn’t been sorry to see him leave. But now she was wondering who would take his place.

      She got her answer almost at once, and it seemed like fate, sure enough. A bad end to an even worse day. A big, dark man in a red-and-rust-colored pickup truck had backed into the second driveway, with what was obviously a small load of furniture.

      She closed the curtain before he saw her, thanking providence that her small yellow VW was out of sight so that he wouldn’t realize who his nearest neighbor was. There were other houses and apartments in the neighborhood, but none close, and there were a lot of trees separating the small duplex from the other dwellings. Maureen had liked that when she moved in, but now she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She didn’t like that big man anymore, even if he was dishy, and she was frankly irritated that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid him at home. Well, maybe he’d stay inside. That way she could do her precious gardening in the plot outback without having to be observed at it.

      “AAAHHH!” Bagwell screamed. “AAAHHH!”

      She rushed into the kitchen, putting her finger against her lips as she tried to quiet the screaming bird. It was almost dark, and Bagwell had to do his thing at sundown. Some Amazons purred themselves to sleep, she’d heard. Bagwell wasn’t one of them. He did a whole routine, from screaming to hanging upside down from the ceiling of his cage, and he wouldn’t stop until he was covered.

      Terrified that her unwanted new neighbor was going to burst in the door any minute to find out who was being beaten, Maureen rushed to get a cloth and threw it over the cage. When Bagwell stopped yelling his parroty head off, she’d clean out the remains of his carrots and put in fresh water and papers.

      She leaned against the wall with a sigh of relief. That was when she saw the shadow against the window. She felt her knees going weak. It had to be him. The shadow was huge, and if he was at the kitchen window, that meant he could see her yellow VW, which was parked just behind the duplex.

      She waited there, frozen, to see what he did. But the shadow went away almost instantly, and nobody knocked.

      Maureen remained immobile for another minute. Then she went and peeked out the curtain at the back door, but there was nobody in sight. Thank God, he wasn’t going to give her any trouble.

      But if he was a peace-loving man, Bagwell might give him some. The last occupant, while loud, had at least not complained about Bagwell. Maureen had a feeling that this new lodger wasn’t fond of noise, musical or otherwise. It could present some problems.

      She made herself a sandwich and some coffee and finally uncovered Bagwell. He was nodding off, his eyes closed, his feathers ruffled, one leg pulled up under him.

      “Loudmouth,” she muttered.

      He was purring to himself, making little singing noises that had amused her last boyfriend until Bagwell had tried to make dessert out of his fingers.

      She sipped her coffee, wondering what she was going to do now that her new enemy had become her neighbor. What a horrible turn of events. It was such a wild coincidence, to have him living next door, out of all the apartments and houses vacant in the city. For just a minute, she thought about going next door and accusing him of chasing her. But she knew she’d never have the nerve. Still, how had he known about this vacant house, and did he know that she lived here? It was so curious.

      She cleaned Bagwell’s cage and covered him back up before she went to watch television. There wasn’t much on, and she was tired. She made an early night of it, stretching lazily as she put on the long, men’s pajama jacket that was all she wore to bed. It had been on sale at a department store and looked loose and comfortable. She didn’t like frilly, lacy things that scratched, and she never could find a pair of women’s pajamas that felt right. But this item did. She loved it, even though it brought back some bittersweet memories of a time when her parents had still been alive. Her mother had teased her about what man it belonged to, and they’d all laughed. Her parents had known that she was far too fastidious for love affairs. She was an unawakened twenty-four, a plain girl who didn’t appeal to most men. She’d learned to accept that, and now she lived for her work. She had a good job and made good money, thanks to the MacFaber Corporation. She must be adept at her job, because her last boss had recommended her to Mr. Blake. She felt fortunate to be so highly thought of, when there were typists with more than her six months’ experience who’d lost out on the junior secretary’s job she held.

      She turned out her light and lay back on the double bed, listening to the night sounds: traffic, and the occasional dog, and jets flying overhead. Closer, there was a different sound, like someone moving heavy objects around. She flushed as she realized that it must be her new neighbor. She’d never been in the other house, but probably his bedroom was right through that wall. She moved restlessly and decided that the very next day she was going to move her bed against another wall!

       Chapter Two

      Maureen hated her own cowardice the next morning, but she peeked around the corner before she went out her door. The last thing she wanted was a confrontation with her new neighbor, even if she did probably have to see him at work.

      She got into her yellow VW, and crossing her fingers for luck, managed to crank it on the first try. She backed it out into the road and drove off, noticing with relief that the truck wasn’t in the other side of the driveway. He must already have left for work.

      Sure enough, when she got to the MacFaber Corporation offices, the red-and-rust pickup was already there. Maureen went quickly into the building and to the office she shared with Mr. Blake, glancing nervously around. But her new neighbor was nowhere in sight, thank God.

      Mr. Blake glanced up when she took him the mail, staring at her blankly.

      “The mail, sir,” Maureen said, putting it in front of him on the cluttered desk.

      “Yes, of course,” he murmured. He seemed to be looking through her, as he did when he was preoccupied.

      “Is something wrong, Mr. Blake?” she asked worriedly.

      “No, nothing at all,” he assured her, but he didn’t look terribly convincing. She knew that his brother-in-law had been out on sick leave ever since the disappointing trial run of the new Faber-jet design. Maybe he was worried about the older man.

      “Is your brother-in-law getting better?” she asked.

      He gave her a quick, suspicious look.

      “I know you must be worried about him,” she said gently. “I hope he’s all right.”

      “He’s much better, thank you, Maureen,” he said stiffly. “I expect he’ll be back at work before very long.” He moved uncomfortably, as if it bothered him to talk about personal subjects. “Get me the Radley file, if you please.”

      “Yes, sir.” She smiled. She liked her boss, but he had seemed terribly unlike himself lately. He needed to rest more, she decided, and not worry so much. His brother-in-law, Mr. Jameson, was a much less regimented person, a mechanic with an easygoing temperament but a stubborn resistance