Whispered Secrets by Elizabeth Lennox
Chapter 6
Oliver checked his cell phone as he hurried out of the apartment. He had meetings in an hour and he still needed to head back to his place to shower and change. He could do that here, but Oliver was still hiding his identity and his job by wearing jeans and a tee shirt. Sometimes, he felt like a fraud. But other times, he revived his flagging sense of right and wrong by doing something kind for the people who lived here. For instance, he’d ordered his security team to figure out who had stolen back their car from Mick’s repair shop without paying, then had “gently encouraged” the man to pay Mick the money he’d owed him. Not by physical violence, but his security team had shown the guy the evidence of his transgressions and promised to bring that evidence to the police.
The next day, Mick had come home shaking his head in disbelief, muttering about strange happenings. Oliver took that to mean that the guy had paid up. Plus, he was secretly renovating the apartment, paying for the supplies himself. He’d also gotten his assistant to research scholarship opportunities for Davie’s mother. Since most of the scholarship deadlines for the year had passed, Oliver ended up setting up a scholarship fund through his company, anonymously, of course. Then his assistant had worked through that system to apply that scholarship money to Davie’s mother’s school tuition.
Davie was grinning from ear to ear, excited for his mother.
That had felt good.
What hadn’t felt good was not seeing Maggie for the past several days. Was she hiding from him? Had he offended her somehow?
Damn, he needed to see her! He just needed a smile from her to make his day brighter.
But that wasn’t going to happen, he realized. And when he came around the corner of the building, he realized that his day was about to get even worse. His truck, the beat up old truck that he’d bought as part of his disguise, was open. The engine hood propped up and…was someone actually stealing his truck engine right here in middle of the parking lot? Seriously?!
But as he approached, the hood slammed closed and Mick straightened up, cleaning a wrench with an oily rag.
“Mick?” Oliver called out, startling the man into looking up. “What were you doing to my truck?” he asked, trying not to sound suspicious but…well, hell, he was suspicious!
“Your timing belt was off. That clicking sound? The belt was fixing to break.”
Oliver blinked at the elderly man for a long moment. “It…was?” he finally asked, stunned.
“Yeah. It’s fixed now.” Mick collected his toolbox and his cooler filled with his lunch supplies.
Oliver watched as the elderly man headed towards his shop, not sure what to say. “How much do I owe you?” he asked, because that’s what any other person would ask, right?
Wrong!
Mick turned back, frowning at Oliver for a long moment. “If you see Jimmy at the ABC store,” he started off, referring to the alcohol beverage center, the only stores with licenses to sell hard alcohol in Virginia, “stop and talk to him. Don’t pass him by.”
Then Mick quietly turned and headed off. There wasn’t much traffic this early in the morning. It was relatively quiet now, but soon, the traffic would be whizzing by, the sun would come up, and the world would once again speed through the day.
Which is exactly what Oliver should be doing. Instead, he stood there, watching the elderly man who was walking down the same street towards the same job that he’d been doing for decades.
When Mick was out of sight, Oliver turned and looked at his truck once again. Then back at the apartment buildings. More specifically, Maggie’s windows. He wanted to go to her, to talk to her. Just smile at her. Instead, he got into his truck and drove away.
Maggie watched as Oliver’s pickup drove smoothly out of the parking lot. She’d watched him this morning. She’d seen the confused look on his handsome features and wanted to laugh. She understood that confusion. Maggie had been confused when she’d first arrived at Rose Garden Apartments. It was a world away from the norm, she thought.
Turning away from the window now that Oliver had gone, she picked up her notebook and got on with her day. She had lots to do.
