AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hours later, she was caught up on laundry, paperwork, and bills, and was sitting cross-legged on the floor in sweatpants and a long-sleeved tee, scanning social media.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that her cheese sandwich and wine were long gone. So she reached for the phone, ordered her usual from the Chinese restaurant down the street, then went to the living room and refilled her wineglass. Two was her daily limit, and food was coming.
She settled herself into an overstuffed recliner and turned on the television, then scanned the channels for HGTV and settled in to watch a house being remodeled. It was mindless entertainment that required nothing but intermittent attention, which suited her mood.
When her order arrived, she carried it to the kitchen, opened up all the little boxes and filled her plate with some of everything, ignored the chopsticks and grabbed a fork before going back to the television to eat. It smelled divine, tasted delicious, and she ate with all the focus she gave to a weeklong stakeout.
She was down to breaking open the fortune cookie when her cell phone rang. One glance and her eyebrows arched. It was a call from her boss. She set the plate aside to answer.
“Good evening, sir,” she said.
“Good evening, Agent Caldwell. I trust you’re getting some rest.”
“Yes, sir,” Rusty said.
“I know you’ve just come off a stressful situation, and this is very short notice, but we have a problem. I understand you have close relatives who live in a place called Jubilee, Kentucky.”
“Yes, sir. My uncle and his family. The town is something of a tourist attraction. He runs a big hotel there.”
“And do they live there year round?” the director asked.
“They did. I assume they still do, but I’ve never visited them there. In fact, I haven’t seen them since I joined the agency. We stay in contact by texting and the occasional phone call.”
“I see. Well, we have this situation, and we need someone on-site. It’s strictly information gathering. No strenuous or subversive work. Nothing like your usual assignments. Just you on holiday, checking out the sights, and no one would be the wiser.”
Rusty stifled a sigh. When duty called, and all that. “Yes, sir. Of course,” she said.
“Excellent. You’ll be working with Special Agents Howard and Pickard out of the Frankfort office. Howard will be calling you with details of what’s going on, what they need, and giving you the lowdown on their case.”
“Yes, sir. Do you have any idea of when I am expected to arrive?”
“Probably yesterday,” the director said, and then chuckled.
“Then I’d better call Uncle Ray and let him know that his prodigal niece will be paying them a visit,” Rusty said.
She noticed the fortune cookie as she disconnected and broke it open. The moment she read it, a wave of foreboding washed over her.
An unresolved issue from your past awaits conclusion.
She’d had too many scary moments from her past, and bad people who’d escaped justice. The last thing she needed was a repeat of one of those. And she needed to call her family in Jubilee to see how they felt about an unexpected guest. She glanced at the time. Just after 9:00 p.m. Unless the family’s living habits had changed, their night was still young.
***
The nightlife in Jubilee was just beginning. Music venues were in full swing. The hotel bars were packed with people drinking and watching televised sports on big-screen TVs hanging from every wall.
The hotels with indoor pools were full of families and screaming children. If it hadn’t been for the soundproof walls in the penthouse above it all, Patricia Caldwell would have been on the next plane to New York.
Normally, she would have had her husband and daughter for company, but they’d gone to Frankfort for the award banquet. And because she was afraid of flying in helicopters, she was alone tonight.
She’d eaten dinner and was on her second chocolate martini with her feet to the fire and leafing through a magazine. Some people took a second helping of pie. Her desserts included alcohol. It seemed like a fair trade. But because of the cold weather tonight, she’d abandoned the balcony for the warmth of the gas logs. She was eyeing the hair color on a model in the magazine, wondering if she was too old to try something that outrageous, when her phone rang. She answered it, assuming it would be Ray or Liz, telling her they were on their way home.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Aunt Pat, it’s me, Rusty.”
Patricia’s boredom immediately shifted to joy. “Rusty! Darling! How wonderful to hear from you. How have you been?”
Rusty grimaced. “Wonderful” didn’t quite cover it. Her family knew she worked for the government in DC, but they thought she was a paper pusher, and that’s how she left it.
