before the time Kelly had been told that the session was officially scheduled to begin. Lunch apparently came first. The room was abuzz with conversation as Kelly joined her colleagues from the restaurant and helped to lay out the food on a compact table at the end of the room, turning it into a buffet. She assisted in making it look decorative yet practical, where the council members could pick up tasty sandwiches, small salads and cookies, as well as soft drinks.
“I think we’re all set here,” Ella eventually told Regina Joralli. “Anything else you need?”
“It all looks good,” the council president said. “Thanks.”
That was their cue to leave, Kelly knew. Which was fine. She remained invisible here to Stan as one among many lowly servers he could flirt with, but being inside this room any longer wouldn’t get her any of the information she sought.
She followed the others out the door. They all turned left toward the elevators.
Kelly didn’t want to leave the building just yet, though. Instead, she glanced at the placards of each council member’s name on the wall near the offices. She knew she couldn’t just drop into Stan Grodon’s and find whatever she needed—particularly since she knew that security was present on this floor, although she didn’t see Alan or his buddy Dodd just then. She did, however, see a few cameras mounted near the tops of the walls.
Even so, she could get the lay of the land.
“Excuse me, Ella,” she said, hurrying to catch up with her boss. “I’m going to find the restroom here. I’ll be back at the restaurant soon.”
Ella’s cool eyes scanned her. “You feeling okay?”
Obviously she’d send Kelly home if she was sick with anything she could pass along.
“Fine.” Kelly smiled what she hoped was an embarrassed smile. “I just drank a little too much coffee this morning.”
“Okay. Fine. See you later.” They’d reached the elevators, and the door to one opened as soon as Ella pressed the button—an indication of the woman’s lot in life, Kelly figured. Everything seemed to work out well for her.
Well, it would for Kelly, too—as soon as she was able to find her nephew and help him. He’d be in classes now, and she didn’t want to appear obvious by hanging around his school. She had to figure out a good way to see him. Talk to him.
But while she figured that out, she also wanted to devise a plan to get the right evidence against Stan. No one, not even her thug of a brother-in-law, would suspect that was what Kelly Ladd was up to—unlike Shereen Alsop.
Well, there was one possible exception to that: Alan.
For now, she figured she had better do as she’d told Ella and start at the restroom before conducting any further exploration of this floor. When she came out, she could scout to see who else was around. She had been here before, when she’d been Shereen, and had accompanied Andi on scheduled visits now and then, sometimes even to see Stan. But more than a year had passed. The council members could be in different offices now.
Maybe she could become close friends with someone who worked here—someone who could get her into Stan’s.
But what she’d done before hadn’t gotten her anything useful. And neither would being in here.
Instead, she was feeling rather desperate to plan her next move: figure out how to see Eli and check in person how he was doing...and get him out of here if all was as bad as she thought, assuming his posts on social media reflected his reality.
She had come up with that other identity there so she could at least watch him remotely, even if she couldn’t communicate with him. His sorrow at his mother’s disappearance, and then his aunt’s, had been overtaken by his apparent desperation and fear. That was why she had come. It had been an impulse. It had been a necessity.
She nearly reached the restroom—and stopped. The men’s room door had opened. Kelly thought she must be hallucinating.
Because the first person to walk through that door into the hallway was Alan.
And he was followed by her nephew, Eli.
Kelly wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. Mostly, she wanted to dash over and throw her arms around her nephew.
No, Shereen’s nephew. That’s what she had to remember.
Realizing that she had stopped walking, she started forward again. Another boy exited the men’s room and caught up with Eli. He bent his head toward Eli, who was about the same height, maybe five feet, and the two of them laughed. They passed her, and Eli, busy talking to his friend, didn’t even look at her.
That was a good thing. Not that he was likely to recognize her, with the way her appearance had been changed—including her posture, gestures and nearly everything about her. Externally, at least.
The hardest part was that she forced herself not to look at him any longer, except for allowing herself to glance at him peripherally down the hall while she strolled by.
Was that a bruise on his cheek? She wanted so much to turn and stare at his sweet young face and check it out.
But she couldn’t. Not here, and not now.
“Hi, Kelly.” It was Alan, and his voice startled her. He had stopped walking and let the kids pass by him.
“Er, hi.” She cocked her head a little and forced herself to send him a flirtatious grin. “Keeping an eye on things everywhere, aren’t you? I’m just hitting the ladies’ room before I head back to the restaurant.” She hurried past him and entered the restroom.
Fortunately it was empty, since she was suddenly breathing hard, her eyes closed, her mind swirling.
She had bumped into hurdle number three without anticipating or planning for it. She had seen Eli. But where could she go from here?
She needed to talk to him. Find out what was really going on with him. Was his father abusing him, as he’d hinted on that social media site? She was sure it had to be true. Eli had always been such a straightforward child.
And that red spot on his face. Was that proof, or her imagination, or just a harmless bruise that kids sometimes got when roughhousing with friends?
She knew where he lived, of course—assuming they hadn’t moved. Even so, he must live with his father. With Stan. And that meant Kelly couldn’t just walk up to their door, ring the bell and invite herself in for a chat.
He was thirteen years old now. She knew he still went to the same school, since Eli mentioned it online. But since she couldn’t start stalking him there, either, she had decided to begin by observing Stan first, someplace where she wouldn’t be particularly noticed. Someplace where a plan was sure to come to her.
Only now that she had seen not only Stan but Eli, too, she was stumped. And frustrated. And scared, and angry, and so many more emotions that she couldn’t put names to.
She had been so close to her sister. Had loved Andi so much. She missed her terribly.
Andi had to be dead, or she would have been in touch. And Kelly’s determination to save Eli was one way of demonstrating her love—and her despair at no longer having her sister around.
Kelly looked into the mirror above the sink, over her shoulder, as if her sister might suddenly appear there. “I’ll take care of him now, Andi,” she whispered aloud. “I promise.”
The restroom door started to open. Kelly fled into one of the stalls and locked the door, then waited until she heard the other woman leave again before she flushed, washed her hands and exited the bathroom. By then, she had calmed herself a bit.
She had realized one thing, at least. Eli had been talking to Alan when she’d first noticed them. They seemed friendly enough with each other.