“Thanks.” Kate smiled and reached for the cup. “You’re a peach.”
“I’m just buttering you up.”
Kate sipped her drink and glanced over the cup with raised brows. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say next?”
Jill wrinkled her nose, the nose ring the twenty-something assistant wore making a clinking sound Kate didn’t want to ponder too much. “Because I’m really bad at this kind of stuff. Here.” She held out a note. “This guy stopped by today while you were out. Really familiar looking for some reason, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen him. Anyway, he wanted to speak with you about something, but since you weren’t here, he left you a message. His phone number’s at the bottom.”
Kate scanned the note, then looked back at Jill. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Jill cringed. “Sorry.”
Her day was heading straight for the toilet. Kate reached for the phone. The jerk had listed about ten facts from her article he deemed inaccurate and inconclusive.
She dialed and tapped her foot against the floor while she waited. With everything else going on in her life, she didn’t need this crap right now. A woman answered. “Mitch…” Kate checked his name at the bottom of the paper, “Mathews, please.” She waited another minute. “No, that’s fine, I’ll leave a message.”
Cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder, she fished out a bottle of aspirin from her desk. After dry swallowing two pills, she glanced up at Jill, who was hovering in the doorway. A male voice clicked on the line, and Kate grasped the phone with her hand, wrinkled her brow. Something about the voice was vaguely familiar.
She looked back at the name. Mitch Mathews. Ran it around in her head. Didn’t recognize it. But there was something so familiar in that voice...
Whatever. She’d never met the jerk before. After this wouldn’t talk to him again. She waited for the incessant beep.
“Mr. Mathews,” she began in a smug voice. “This is Kate Alexander at McKellen Publishing. I wanted to take the time to personally thank you for the kind note you left with my secretary today. We really appreciated the pointed and colorful language. Seeing as you had the time to not only track me down but also leave such a lengthy thesis on Queen Charlotte Sound, I must assume you are the expert in this field. From now on I’ll be sure to defer all questions and comments about this and future articles straight to you. One note, however. Jackass is spelled with two s’s, not one. I would have thought they’d teach you that in donkey school. Good day, Mr. Mathews.”
Kate gathered the papers in front of her and pushed to her feet. “I have an appointment this afternoon, Jill. You can forward my calls to my cell.”
“Ah, sure thing. Kate? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You just seem” —she glanced at the phone and back— “a little on edge.”
Kate took a calming breath. “I’m fine. I’ll be back later.”
Glancing at her watch, Kate realized she was already behind schedule. She climbed into her Explorer and headed across town. Normally, reader comments didn’t even faze her, but there’d been something in the tone of Mitch Mathews’s note that had really grated on her last nerve.
She found a parking place two blocks from her destination and figured that was a sign her day had to be getting better. It couldn’t get much worse. Her life couldn’t get much worse. As she stood in the building lobby and waited for the elevator, a chill spread over her shoulders and a ripple of anxiety rushed down her spine. She was just nervous. That was normal. If this didn’t pan out, she wasn’t sure where to go next.
The elevator pinged, the doors opened. She drew in another calming breath as she stepped into the law firm lobby, which was quiet but for the click of fingers on a nearby keyboard. The secretary looked up as she approached. Kate tried to smile, but her insides felt like they were on a continuous loop-de-loop roller coaster. There had to be a reason she’d fixated on this lawyer’s name amidst the hundreds listed on the Internet. “I’m here to see Simone Conners.”
“Ms. Conners is fairly busy today,” the secretary said. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes. Kate Alexander.”
The young blonde picked up the phone, mumbled into it then glanced back at Kate. “Ms. Conners is expecting you. Go on in.”
“Thank you.”
Kate worked to settle her swirling nerves as she pushed open the double oak doors and stepped into the room. Wide windows ahead looked out over a view of San Francisco. To the right, bookcases lined with legal tomes filled the shelves, and to the left, a grouping of leather couches sat in front of a long conference table covered with books and papers.
But it was Simone Conners who drew Kate’s attention. The petite woman rose from her desk in front of the windows with the whitest face Kate had ever seen. A face that wasn’t the least bit familiar, dammit. “Oh, my God.”
Kate looked behind her just as the door snapped closed. She didn’t see anyone else. Turning back, she stared at the lawyer with chocolate brown hair cut in a stylish bob and bronze-colored eyes that looked like they’d just seen a ghost.
“Oh, my God,” Simone whispered again. “Annie.”
A chill spread over Kate’s skin. “Um, no. I’m Kate Alexander. We have a one o’clock appointment. If this is a bad time, I could—”
“You…” The lawyer closed her eyes, shook her head, then opened them again. “I—I’m sorry. You look like a woman I used to know.”
Excitement mixed with a good dose of fear flooded Kate’s veins. No. It couldn’t be this easy. Could it? She swallowed the lump in her throat. “You…you recognize me?”
“I’m sorry. It’s not possible.” Simone looked down. When she glanced back up, she’d fixed a polite smile to her face. “What can I do for you?”
“Why isn’t it possible?” Too many questions swirled through Kate’s mind. Too many fingers of hope. She tried to keep the desperation out of her voice, but wasn’t sure she succeeded.
Simone sat again, the white, sleeveless blouse showcasing her toned arms, the slim navy slacks expensive and stylish. “The woman I was thinking of died almost five years ago. They say everyone has a twin. I guess I just met hers. Now that I look closer though, you’re not identical. You just gave me a startle, that’s all. I was thinking of her recently, which is why I jumped to conclusions that can’t be real.” She gestured to the chair opposite her desk. “Now, what can I do for you?”
Kate eased into the seat. Nerves bounced all around inside her. “What…what was her name?”
“My friend?” Simone rested her elbow on the armrest of her chair. “Why do you want to know?”
“Just curious.”
Simone considered for a moment, then said, “Annie Harrison.”
Kate rolled the name over in her mind. She’d never heard it before. That hope began to fade. “How did she die?”
Simone tipped her head. “I’m sure you didn’t come all the way down here to discuss my friend, Ms. Alexander.”
Kate ran a hand over her hair, stopping to rub her scar. “Please, just humor me for a moment. How did she die?”
“In a plane crash, just outside San Francisco. Very similar to the one that happened here not long ago.”
A plane crash. No, that wasn’t the same. Kate’s eyes slid shut. Possibilities, scenarios ran through her mind. None made sense, none seemed feasible, but she had to ask. If she didn’t, it would eat away at her. “What’s different about her and me? I mean, you said we weren’t identical. What’s different?”
Simone’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you so interested in my friend, Ms. Alexander?”