All of this was on my mind, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Maybe it was time for me to just let things be. But there was something nagging me that I couldn’t brush aside, something Stowe had said that day on the porch. I couldn’t get past it, what it may have meant.
Stowe had said he wasn’t the bad guy. Had he been telling the truth? I hoped to God Stowe wasn’t the bad guy. Because if he were, then what did that mean for Adam?
Chapter Twenty-One
The days that followed were a flurry of activity. There were a number of trips between Harbour Falls and Fade Island. Adam and I spent the nights at my Victorian rental in town, and then I took the ferry over to the island almost every day. There, I hung out with Helena, while Adam and Nate traveled, and worked in the Harbour Falls office.
I found it just too stressful to spend time alone when we still weren’t sure if Stowe had thoroughly covered up all that had occurred at Willow Point. Lord, if word ever got out that two guards had died at the facility, disaster would surely ensue.
But, as the days passed, it appeared Stowe had kept his word. He had as much reason as us to want to.
Just to be sure, Adam tapped his state contacts for information. Thankfully, nothing odd had been reported out at Willow Point. When Adam delved deeper, he was told both Ron and Bradley had officially “resigned” from the facility. Since that was not possible—both men were dead, after all—we assumed Stowe had faked the calls. And quite convincingly, it seemed. In fact, Stowe was very thorough in his cover-up. The camera footage from that night had been wiped clean; there was no record of any of us ever having stepped foot on the property. And the young guard who’d been at the gate early that evening, the one who had let Helena and I pass, he was also listed as “resigned.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what had happened to him. But suffice it to say, Stowe had covered all of our tracks. Even the excessive doses of sedatives Ron had been administering to Ami where explained away as a faulty infusion. The good news was that Ami was doing better; she’d even be allowed visitors soon.
Not that I planned to go. I’d had enough of games, puzzle pieces, and mysteries. I was just ready to get back to finishing my novel…and spending lots of time with Adam.
Speaking of which…
After a short discussion, Adam and I had decided I should move back over to the island…but not until spring. Adam liked having a place to crash that was so close to his office in town.
After he’d put it like that, using those exact words one night as we lay down to sleep, I’d teasingly said, “Oh, I see how it is. Just using me for the convenience of my home, eh?”
Adam had propped up on one elbow, and then, with his other hand, slowly slid the sheet down to expose my lack of pajamas. “Mmm,” he had purred as his fingers trailed along my bare skin. “I think if there’s any using to do, I’d just prefer to use you”—he brushed a soft kiss over my shoulder—“for you.”
Oh, that man.
He’d been leaning over me, and I pulled him down until his weight was fully upon me. With my hands on either side of his gorgeous face, I had said, “So show me.”
And he did that night, over and over again.
But now it was Friday, the end of the week. It was such a cold and bitter day that I decided to just stay in Harbour Falls. I spent the early part of the afternoon working on my book and then made some beef stew for dinner.
Just as I was putting the meal on the kitchen table, Adam arrived home from work. I got a hug and a kiss, and an “oh, that smells good,” but when we sat down to eat Adam seemed very distracted.
I couldn’t think of why; everything was back to normal, more or less. But in the middle of dinner—when the subject of secrets came up—I found out what was bothering my guy.
I just innocently mentioned that I was thinking about having the heroine in my love story have a deep, dark secret of some kind when Adam wiped his mouth and put down his napkin. He pinned me with those stormy eyes. “You don’t have any more secrets, do you, Madeleine?”
I pushed my bowl away. “Of course not,” I said, since I didn’t. Not anymore. Adam knew everything.
“Do you?” I asked after a minute.
Adam leaned back in his chair, loosening his tie. “Maddy, there are always going to be things in my work life that I can’t tell you.” He took a sip of water but appeared not to be done speaking, so I waited. At last, he added, “As for my personal life, you know everything.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Work secrets I could live with. Personal secrets… Well, they had taken their toll, as we had both learned. “As long as I know the personal secrets, I’m good with that,” I told him.
And I was. But it was evident from Adam’s demeanor throughout the rest of dinner that he wasn’t convinced of my words. So it was really no surprise when later that night I glanced up from where I was reading on the living room sofa to see Adam, still dressed in his suit, leaning up against the doorframe. He looked exquisite, as always, but also somewhat troubled.
“Hey,” I said, replacing the bookmark and setting down my book. “What’s up?”
Adam pushed off from the doorframe
