Experiment in Terror (Koehler Brothers Book 1) (10 page)

“I’m meeting a friend for coffee at Paradise,” she called to the store manager. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

Jenessa waved, smiled, and returned to her dusting.

Amanda made a conscious effort to walk slowly across the mall. She waved at a couple of people who were regular customers at Creations For You and stuck her head in the front door of Bare Threads to see if she could see Charlie. She was not in sight, so she strolled on by and entered Paradise.

She immediately saw Matt sitting in a booth near the back. When the receptionist asked her if she could show her to a table, she told her she was meeting a friend who was saving a place for her.

As she headed toward Matt, her heart was pounding so loud, she was sure everyone in the restaurant could hear it. She had never thought this day would come and now that it was here, she didn’t quite know how to act.

Matt stood as she approached the booth, a smile lighting his face. She knew immediately he was as happy to see her as she was to see him.

He had changed out of his tennis shorts into form-fitting jeans and a white T-shirt. His arms were tan and muscular. His wide smile reached his steel-gray eyes with their fringe of long, dark eyelashes.

As Amanda sat down across the table from Matt, she couldn’t believe how handsome he was, now he no longer had the long hair and scraggly beard.

She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, she didn’t know quite where to start.

“Matt, what kind of business did you have in Nebraska?” was her first question.

He stared at her in surprise.

“Nebraska?” he asked, his eyebrows raised in a questioning look. “Actually, I’m from Denver. I was doing some undercover work for the Boulder Police.”

She had blown it, she thought, and was glad when a waitress stopped by their table and asked to take their order.

Would he wonder why she had thought he was from Nebraska?

After Matt had asked for two cups of coffee and two sweet rolls, Amanda hurriedly asked another question trying to divert him from her last one.

“Did it have something to do with the Boulder Creek Killer?”

“Yes.”

“So that’s why you showed up after the third girl was raped and murdered and disappeared when we heard the killer had been apprehended.”

He smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Are you permitted to tell me how you caught him?”

“I was working undercover as a homeless man. It allowed me to hang out along the Creek Path without anyone becoming suspicious. At night, the men went up to the shelter in North Boulder and I camped out under one of the bridges in my sleeping bag. The girl you saw me with that day was our decoy. She’s a policewoman from Denver. I’ve worked several other cases with her.”

“I thought she was a student,” Amanda said. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help but feel glad it wasn’t just some girl flirting with him.

“That was what everyone was supposed to think. We were hoping she would help us catch the murderer before he attacked another student and she did.”

“It’s such a relief to know he’s in jail. You must be very gratified to know you were instrumental in catching him.”

“I certainly am. Not to change the subject, but you called me Matt. How did you know my name? Did you ask one of the homeless men?”

How embarrassing
.
I should have asked him for his name. Now what do I say?

An unwelcome blush flooded her cheeks. She had not only made a mistake when asking him about Nebraska, but she had made one by knowing his name.

As though sensing her embarrassment, he asked, “Am I allowed to know your name and where you work?”

“Of course,” she replied, happy he had changed the subject. “My name is Amanda Barton. I own a store here on the mall called Creations For You.”

“I noticed your store that Friday when a group of us went over to hear the concert. Tell me about it.”

She proceeded to explain the concept of the store and invited him to stop by some time when she could show him around.

“I should be getting back,” Amanda said, glancing at her watch. “I need to relieve my store manager so she can take a lunch break.”

“I want to see you again,” he said, as she picked up her handbag from the seat beside her.

“I’d like that. I still have so many questions to ask you. I’ll give you my business card and you can call me. If you call me at work, I’ll be able to check my calendar for a free night.”

“Check it for tonight,” he said with a big grin.

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“OK. Call me in about fifteen minutes and I’ll let you know.”

She took a card out of her bag, along with a bill to pay for her coffee. Matt took the card but waved the money away and reached for his wallet.

“I’ll walk you to your store,” he said, standing up and tossing a bill on the table.

She hated to leave him. She still had so many more questions to ask. Where had he grown up? Were his parents still alive? Did he have any siblings? How had he happened to go into police work? But most importantly, was he married? Surely not, or he wouldn’t be asking to see her again.

At least letting him walk her to her store would give her a few more minutes. And if there was something on her calendar for tonight, she would cancel those plans. She wanted to spend more time with him.

Chapter 10

After Matt accompanied Amanda to Creations For You, he headed back up the mall to the parking lot where he had left his car. He couldn’t believe his luck. He knew after spending the short time with her having coffee, he had to see her again.

As he climbed into his car, it clicked. Amanda had known his name was Matt and thought he was from Nebraska. There was only one way she would have that information and that was if she had talked to that detective. He chuckled to himself. He was sure she had been the one Kaufmann had been making enquiries for.

When he had dinner with her, he would let her know his last name wasn’t Lowry. Of course, that would be a dead giveaway, but hopefully she had a sense of humor. He had sensed she had been a little embarrassed when he had asked her how she had known his name was Matt, so he had dropped it.

He couldn’t help but feel flattered she had wanted to find out about him even though it appeared he was homeless.
What a woman!
She was obviously a successful one since she owned her own business. He couldn’t believe she had been so attracted to him she had hired a detective to discover who he was. He loved it.

He was thankful he had a successful business and wasn’t actually out of a job and living on the streets but he couldn’t help but wonder if he had been homeless, what Amanda would have done.
Would she have tried to find him a job
? He smiled at the thought as he left the parking garage and drove onto the street.

Wait until he told Mitch about her hiring a detective to find out about him. Matt knew his brother would get a kick out of that.

Amanda knew Matt was as attracted to her as she had been to him. Why else would he have asked her if she was free that evening?

When she checked her calendar, she saw she was supposed to go to a concert at the University with her mother. She had to think of a plausible excuse for canceling out. There was no way she was going to miss having dinner with Matt.

But that wouldn’t be a problem. Her mother had a lot of friends or maybe her father would accompany her.

Amanda was disappointed when Matt didn’t call her in fifteen minutes like she had told him to. She wondered if he regretted asking her. Maybe he wouldn’t call back at all. If that was the case, she had cancelled out on the concert with her mother for nothing.

She worked in the store until Jenessa came back from lunch and it was a couple hours later the manager buzzed her on the intercom and told her she had a phone call.

When she asked who was calling, Jenessa told her the man had said his name was Matt. Amanda told her to tell him she would be with him in a minute. She needed time to control her breathing and calm herself.

“This is Amanda,” she said, when she finally picked up the receiver.

“Amanda, Matt here. Sorry I took so long calling you back, but I received a phone call and then I was tied up for several hours. Did you have a chance to have a look at your calendar?”

“You’re in luck. I have nothing for tonight.”

“Great! What time do you get off work? I would be happy to pick you up at the store.”

“I would like to go home and change, if you don’t mind. Can I meet you somewhere?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to let him know where she lived. At least not until she got to know him better.

“Do you have a favorite restaurant? We could meet there,” he said.

“We have a lot of good restaurants here in Boulder. What kind of food would you prefer? I pretty much like them all.”

“How about Flagstaff House? I’ve eaten there a few times and enjoyed their food.”

“Flagstaff it is. I’ll meet you there about seven.”

Elated, Amanda hung up the phone. Now she didn’t have to wait around for him to call or wonder if he would. When she had told Matt she would meet him at Flagstaff House, she knew she had wanted to drive her car in case dinner didn’t go well. Then she could make an excuse to leave.

He was standing by the entryway when she arrived. His face lit in a smile when he saw her. He was incredibly handsome in a navy pin-striped suit, white shirt with a navy and white striped tie.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I made reservations for seven, but it’s going to be a few minutes wait.”

“I’ll live.” She had to tip her head back slightly in order to see those beautiful eyes of his.

“Did you have a busy day at work?” he asked.

“I did. How about you?”

Before he could answer, a girl approached them with two menus.

“I have a table for you now. A window one as you requested,” she said, smiling at Matt.

After they were seated, they admired the lights of Boulder spread out below them, twinkling in the dusk of the evening. A few minutes later a waiter appeared at their table to take their drink order.

After he left, Matt leaned across the table. “When you saw me by the tennis courts,” he said, “how did you know who I was?”

“Your walk.”

“My walk?”

“Yes, I would have known it anywhere.”

“Why?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Amanda replied, at a loss for words. “The day at the concert, I watched you walk down the mall with your companions. You have a very distinctive walk. When I saw you walking on the Creek Path this morning, I just knew it was you. That’s why I called out your name.”

“Speaking of names, I need to tell you my last name isn’t what you think.”

“And what do I think it is?” she asked, a mischievous look on her face.

“Lowry?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. She knew she had been caught out. “If it’s not Lowry, what is it?”

“Koehler,” he said, and spelled it for her.

“Where did the name Lowry come from?”

“When that detective you hired,” he said bluntly, “went to the Chief of Police asking questions, Heller didn’t want to blow my cover. Knowing I was already using my real first name, he thought up a last name so I couldn’t be identified later.”

“How did you know I hired Gary Kaufmann to check you out?”

“First of all, you knew my name. Secondly, you asked me about living in Nebraska. That was part of the cover story Heller also made up for me.”

“I guess it didn’t take much detective work for you to figure that out.”

“Not really, but I was flattered when I realized what you had done.”

The waiter came back to take their order. They both decided on the filet mignon, which the Flagstaff was famous for. After the waiter left to put in their order, Matt leaned across the table once again.

“Why?”

“Why, what?” Amanda asked, knowing full well what he was asking.

“Why hire Gary Kaufmann?”

She felt her face burn with embarrassment. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the answer to that question, do I?”

“I’m hoping it’s what I think it is.”

She made no comment, only gave him a flirtatious smile, and then said, “Now it’s my turn to ask you some questions.”

“Shoot.”

“First question. Are you married?”

“No, I wouldn’t have asked you out if I were. And before you ask, I’ve never been married.”

She smiled. “Have you always lived in Denver, and how did you happen to go into police work?”

“I was born in California. No sisters, just one brother who is two years older than me. He is also involved in police work, although he did spend a few years in the Marines before he went to work for the LAPD. I guess we both went into police work because our father was a cop in Los Angeles.” As he thought about his father, his chest tightened and he swallowed past the familiar lump in his throat, before he continued. “Dad was shot and killed in a drug bust in LA when my brother and I were in our teens.”

“That must have been hard on your family,” Amanda said, sympathy shining from her eyes.

“It was. After that my mother didn’t want either one of us to go into law enforcement, but we had both made up our minds that was what we wanted to do long before Dad was killed.”

Matt took a sip of his drink and then said, “As I mentioned, before Mitch joined the police force, he spent several years in the Marines. He was in their Recon division.”

“What is Recon?”

“It’s similar to the Navy Seals.” He was quiet for a moment. “After he got out of the Marines, he went to the Police Academy there in LA and had no trouble getting on the police force. The last time I spoke to him, he was going on an assignment to Italy. Lucky bastard. He was accompanying a model who was suspected of murder.”

“If you grew up in LA, how did you happen to settle in Denver?” she asked, more interested in finding out about Matt than his brother.

“A few years ago, after taking a vacation in Colorado, I transferred from the LAPD to the Denver police force and then decided to start a consulting business in Denver. I love Colorado and it seemed like the right place to be.”

Before Amanda could ask more questions, the waiter appeared with their dinner and the next few minutes were devoted to eating. When Matt asked her where she had grown up, she told him she had been born in Boulder and grew up there. Both her father and mother were professors at the University.

“Did you buy Creations For You
after you graduated?”

“No.” She smiled. “After I graduated, I was thinking about sending my resume out. I knew I didn’t really want to leave Boulder. One day I was having lunch with an artist friend and she was telling me how hard it was to find a market for her jewelry. I did some research and found a lot of local artists with the same problem. I came up with the idea of a store where I could market various art—jewelry, photography, oil paintings, well-made handwork, etcetera. When I talked to my dad about it, he thought it was a wonderful idea and he put up the capital I needed. I was lucky to find a building for rent on the mall and
voila
, Creations For You was born.”

“What a great idea. How long have you been in business?”

“It will be six years this fall.”

“I’m impressed.”

They spent the rest of the evening getting better acquainted. Amanda couldn’t believe how the time flew. They had talked nonstop. She saw that many of the tables had been cleared and were being set up for the next day.

Their waiter came by and was apologetic when he told them the restaurant would be closing in fifteen minutes.

Amanda was sorry she hadn’t allowed Matt to pick her up. She could have had twenty more minutes with him. But it was her fault in trying to outguess the outcome of her first dinner with him. She would know better next time. She loved talking to him. He appeared interested in every area of her life and she knew she wanted to find out all she could about him. She could have spent the night engaged in conversation.

Matt walked her to her car. When she would have opened the door, he pushed her up against the vehicle and taking his face between his two hands, he leaned to kiss her. A long slow kiss.

The next day as Amanda sat at her desk daydreaming of the evening she had spent with Matt, the intercom on her phone buzzed. She picked it up and Jenessa announced Matt was on the line for her.

“This is Amanda,” she said into the receiver and hoped he didn’t detect how breathless she was.

“I have to make a run up to Boulder today and wondered if you would have time for lunch.”

Amanda glanced at her watch. It was a few minutes until ten. Should she meet him again so soon? She didn’t want to appear overly anxious. But she couldn’t resist the opportunity to see him .

“What time did you have in mind?”

“Would one work for you? That would allow us to miss the noon rush.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“If it’s all right with you, I’ll stop by your store when I get into town. Then we can eat lunch somewhere on the mall.”

She had no sooner hung up the phone, when her intercom rang again. This time it was Charlie.

“Well?” her friend asked without any preliminaries.

“Well, what?” she teased, knowing what Charlie wanted to know.

“How was your date last night?”

“Fabulous,” she said. “And he just called and wants to have lunch.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I think I’ll take him to Illegal Pete’s.”

“Oh, can I go with you? I want to meet him.”

“If it was anyone but you, I would refuse. Be over here a few minutes before one.”

Amanda smiled when she hung up the phone. She knew Charlie was anxious to meet Matt. She was going to be surprised when she saw him. Except for his eyes and his height, he didn’t look anything like the homeless man they had seen at the concert on the mall.

By the time she did her paper work from the previous day, took the deposit to the bank, called a few artists for restocking, and relieved Jenessa for lunch, it was almost one.

Charlie entered Amanda’s office at five to one and had just sat down when the intercom rang and Jenessa announced Matt was waiting in the store to see her.

“Wow!” Jenessa added in an undertone.

“I hope he didn’t hear that,” Amanda said.

“No, he’s looking around the store.”

“He’s here,” Amanda told Charlie as she hung up the phone. “Let’s go.”

They entered the store together and saw Matt looking at some photography near the front of the store.

“Hello, Matt,” Amanda said.

He turned and his eyes lit up as he smiled down at her.

“Matt, this is my friend Charlie. I hope you don’t mind if she goes to lunch with us.”

“Not at all,” he said.

“I thought we would go to Illegal Pete’s,” Amanda said. “It’s one of our favorite places to have lunch. Have you ever eaten there?”

“No, but I’ve heard good things about it.”

“Then let’s do it,” Amanda said, waving for the two to precede her out of the store.

The three of them strolled down the mall with Matt between the two women. Amanda explained that Charlie owned Bare Threads
,
the dress shop on the mall across from Creations For You
and mentioned they had been friends for years.

“Charlie’s husband is my attorney,” Amanda added. “He’s the one who gave me Gary Kaufmann’s name.” She smiled mischievously.

The three of them laughed and Matt reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. They reached Illegal Pete’s and Matt stepped forward to open the door. There was a small line waiting to be served and the two women stepped to the end of it, with Matt bringing up the rear. He insisted on paying for their lunch and they soon made their choice of food and drinks and sat down at a table.