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“Wonderful, or so she says. I’m teaching her to knit.”
One side of his mouth eased up as if the thought amused him.
“She’s making a baby blanket,” Lesley elaborated.
Once again his gaze avoided hers, but she could tell that his interest was keen. “Is the blanket blue or pink?”
Lesley nodded. “The baby’s blanket is both pink and blue.”
Carl’s eyes shot to hers, and widened with disbelief. “Twins. She’s having twins?”
“No.” Lesley didn’t mean to laugh, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Since she doesn’t know the sex of the baby, she’s knitting the blanket in a variety of pastel colors, which include pink and blue.”
“Oh.”
Lesley swore Carl sounded disappointed.
Together they strolled toward the house. “I didn’t come to talk to you about Candy.”
“Good.” The way Lesley figured it, if Carl had something to say to her friend, he should do it himself.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
They entered the house and Lesley escorted him into the library. It was her favorite room, as it had been for Zane. She spent as much time as she could there. She’d had the attic transformed into one large office. The panoramic view from the office took her breath away. She’d had a number of windows added and loved the way the light filled the room as she worked.
Almost before they even sat down, Mrs. Applegate brought Carl coffee and her tea along with a plate stacked high with Carl’s favorite cookies.
Carl helped himself to a chocolate-chip cookie while Lesley poured. “I brought some papers over for you to look at,” Carl said. “It’s about the investments we made in that mutual fund group last month. I think you’ll be pleased.”
Carl had recommended the investment, and after she’d read up on the group herself, Lesley had invested several thousand dollars. She handed Zane’s friend a mug and poured her own herbal tea.
“I’m ready,” she announced as she sat down. She wasn’t sure what prompted the statement, but she knew it to be true. “Tell me what happened with Zane.”
Until that moment she couldn’t bear knowing the details, and had blocked everything from her mind. Zane was dead and that was all that was important.
Carl studied her as if to gauge her emotional strength.
“You’re sure?”
Lesley assured him that she was.
“Schuyler was holed up in the Middle East.”
Lesley knew this much. The country was a tiny one she’d never heard of until the day Carl had arrived with Candy.
“He knew Zane was coming. Any element of surprise had long since been taken away. Knowing that, Zane phoned and invited Schuyler to meet him face-to-face.”
How like her husband to confront his enemy. Her chest tightened, knowing Zane had probably walked into a trap, one that had cost him his life.
“Why did Schuyler agree?” Knowing what little she did of the terrorist, Lesley could think of no reason for him to elude Zane, or go back into hiding. According to what Carl had told her, Schuyler was an expert at disguise. He could easily change his appearance enough to have slipped away without a trace.
Carl hesitated, and his gaze held hers. “Zane’s plan was brilliant.”
Seeing that her husband was dead, Lesley questioned that, but said nothing.
“He had been searching for Schuyler for months, but he did it in an ingenious way. Instead of hiring detectives and paying off informants, he had Schuyler’s picture printed on boxes of candy and on matchbooks. He promised a large reward to whoever located him. Then he attacked Schuyler on an entirely different level, as well.” The sparkle in Carl’s eyes revealed his admiration.
Lesley wasn’t sure what he meant.
