Sweet Caroline's Keeper Read Online Free PDF Page B

be nothing but an empty safe," Lyle told them.
    "It's closed, and unless you can figure out the combination—" Steve looked directly at Caroline "—we may never find out what's inside."
    "Why would you think I'd know the combination?" Caroline asked.
    "Because of the initials on the safe," Steve said.
    "What are you talking about?" Caroline walked closer to the safe and knelt in front of it.
    "What were your stepfather's initials?" Lyle asked.
    "P. W. S.," Caroline replied. "Preston Wakefield Shaw."
    The six men said "Hmm- mmm " in unison.
    Caroline dropped to her knees and examined the safe. There, attached to the front, were tarnished silver letters— the initials P. W. S. "This must have belonged to Preston."
    "Our guess is that he put this safe in the hidden passageway," Marty said. "Did he ever mention the passageway or the safe to you or your mother?"
    Caroline shook her head. "Not to me, but perhaps to Mother. I wouldn't know about that." But as she denied knowledge of the passageway and the safe, a long-forgotten memory tried to resurface. The night he'd been killed, Preston and her mother had gotten into another of their many arguments and her mother had stormed out of the house, on her way to yet another party. Preston had noticed Caroline standing in her bedroom doorway and had come over to her.
    "I'm sorry," he'd said. "Don't let the tension between Lenore and me upset you. I love your mother and you very much. Don't forget that."
    He had kissed her on the forehead then, as he often did. Preston had given her the only paternal affection she'd ever known.
    "I wanted to tell your mother something important, but she didn't have time to listen."
    "I have time to listen," Caroline had said. So naive. Such a child.
    He had placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "If anything happens—" He had cleared his throat and begun again. "I've put away something downstairs, something important. A sort of life insurance policy to protect your mother and you and Fletcher. But it's not something for you to worry about. I'll tell Lenore about it in the morning."
    When Caroline felt someone shaking her shoulder, she glanced up and saw Roz staring at her. "What's the matter with you?" Roz asked. "You're acting like you're in a trance."
    "No, I was just remembering a conversation I had with Preston."
    "Something about the safe?" Lyle asked.
    "I'm not sure. Maybe."
    "Do you have any idea what the combination might be?" Steve asked.
    "I haven't the foggiest," Caroline replied. "Isn't there another way to get into this thing?"
    David dumped his suitcase on the floor beside the simple brass bed, unloosened his tie and removed his sport coat. He reached into the closet and withdrew a wooden hanger, draped the coat around it and returned the hanger to the closet. After whipping off his tie and tossing it in a nearby chair, he flopped down atop the neatly made bed. He had flown in from Miami this evening, after two weeks of playing private nursemaid to a Latin American businessman and his family who were vacationing at Disney World. Jack Parker had been scheduled for the assignment, but at the last minute a client who had used Jack on his previous trip to Egypt had specifically requested him to act as his bodyguard for a return visit. Ellen Denby , CEO of the Dundee Private Security and Investigation Agency, had given David a twelve-hour notice and promised him a bonus, if he'd take the job without giving her a hassle. It seemed a couple of the other agents had worked for this particular businessman in the past and refused to be stock with his flirting wife and whiny kids, even for a day, let alone two weeks.
    David stared up at the white ceiling in his bedroom. He'd done nothing except move in some brand-new furniture when he'd leased this Atlanta apartment six months ago. After taking the job as a Dundee bodyguard fifteen months ago, he'd rented a furnished one-bedroom place, which had suited him just fine. But once he realized he would