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Dania whirled around to find Brett standing there with a hint of a smile on his chiseled face and light in his amber-colored eyes.
“I thought someone was at the door,” she blurted, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“Didn’t I tell you not to answer it?” His brows rammed together as he gave her a stern look.
“Yes, and I had no intention of opening the thing. I just wanted to see who could be there. Someone rang the bell earlier, and I—”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. You told me not to answer the door, remember?”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Somehow, we switched sides in the middle of this argument. Did you see who it was?”
“No. By the time I looked through the peephole, they’d left.” She didn’t like being defensive but had been given little choice in the matter.
“I’d better call the office. Could have been someone from work, though someone coming to Gran’s doesn’t make sense.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped it as he led Dania to the small dining room off the kitchen. On the table waited Matthew’s black leather planner. Her heart skipped a beat.
She pulled out a ladder-back chair and quickly sat as she stared at the familiar lettering of her late husband’s name imprinted on the small metal tag.
“Gabe.” Brett’s call must have gone through. “How’s Olivia?” He turned away, walking into the kitchen while he talked, as if that would give him privacy in this little house. But it didn’t matter. Dania stayed focused on the planner.
Matthew’s planner. With a shaky hand, she opened it. The first page read: “This planner belongs to: Matthew.” He had written his name on the line with his familiar swirl at the end. She lightly stroked it, then turned the page.
January 1. The date had been hand printed at the top and in the middle of the page, just like he always had. Down the left side were times of the day where he’d filled in various appointments he’d had. On the right side was a place for ample notes. Matthew’s scrawl filled the lines. She scanned the page, then went on to the next and the one after that, looking for a name that would catch her attention or something out of the ordinary.
A meeting with someone named Skinner reoccurred over the months. Matthew had gone to lunch a lot with Vanessa, but he had never made notes of what they’d discussed. Dania was getting closer to the day he’d died.
She stopped on the day before his death. His last appointment had been with... Val?
Why would Matthew have met with him? He’d never said a thing to her about it, which was very strange. Val hadn’t mentioned it either when she’d called him all those years ago hoping he could help her. Odd that he’d never said he’d met with Matthew.
“You find something?” Brett had returned from the kitchen and stood behind her.
“I’m not sure.” She didn’t want to talk about it yet. It was more important to learn what his boss had to say and then what had happened at the Tylers’. “First, tell me what’s going on.”
“Oh, Gabe said Olivia is awake and demanding to be released from the hospital.” He smiled and shook his head. He obviously thought highly of his coworker.
He might find her wanting to leave admirable, but Dania saw it only as foolishness. “She shouldn’t be released.” The woman had lost a lot of blood, and she was still in the danger zone of infection setting in. She’d be too weak to be alone; plus, she just needed to recuperate from surgery. “She’ll set back her recovery if she doesn’t rest.”
“Relax.” Brett gave an I-agree-with-you nod. “What she demands and what she’s able to do are two very different things.”
“I’m relieved to hear she’s doing better.” Glad to learn a little good news, Dania was anxious to move on to other pressing matters. “Were you right, and someone from the office stopped by here earlier?”
He tilted a shoulder. “I didn’t come out and ask Gabe. I don’t want him to know that I’m staying at Gran’s. But if he’d sent someone looking for me, he would have said so.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“Could have been a neighbor who noticed my car earlier. Gran’s friends looked out for her.” He grew solemn.
The envelope addressed to Brett in his grandmother’s dresser drawer came to Dania. He needed to know about it. “As you can see, I did as you suggested and borrowed some of your grandmother’s clothes.”
He inclined his head as his eyes moved over her. “They look good on you. She’d be happy that you’re wearing them.”
“Well, I also needed... undies.” She winced a little.
His brows rose.
She hurried on to the main point. “So, I found some in her dresser and ran across an envelope addressed to you.”
