So Little Time Read online

  “I’ll get to it as soon as I’ve done the dishes,” Granger said, picking up his fork. “This looks delicious, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” She hesitated, then added, “I’ll do my best to find out what I can. Just don’t expect too much, okay? They are pretty closemouthed in that place.”

  The look he gave her was unlike anything she’d seen from him before. It was a level look, unwavering in its intensity as always, yet somehow it seemed to convey warmth, an almost intimate sharing of a bond, that left her breathless.

  “Please take care, Corie.”

  She nodded, feeling a catch in her throat. “You too. I’ll call if I find out anything.” She left then, before he saw in her eyes what was happening in her heart. “Damn,” she whispered fiercely as she started the engine. She didn’t need this. She couldn’t fall for him. Not after everything she’d gone through. She knew nothing about the man, for God’s sake. What she did know didn’t seem too promising. She wasn’t even sure she believed all that stuff about him losing his memory.

  Granger Deene was a smooth talker. He could have been making all that up just to con her into feeling sorry for him and giving him somewhere to stay.

  The engine caught and held, and she slid the gear into Reverse. She didn’t really believe that. His confusion over all the machines was genuine, she’d stake her life on it.

  Okay, so he’d lost his memory. But what about all that stuff about being held prisoner, in the very building where she worked? Now that didn’t make sense.

  One way or another, she had to get to the bottom of this. And once she did, Corie vowed as she backed the car out onto the road, she would give Mr. Granger Deene the answers he wanted, then she would send him packing. The last thing in the world she wanted was to get involved with another charmer.

  Mike was seated at his usual position at the desk when she entered the building a few minutes later. It occurred to her to wonder how Granger had got past him on Friday night. Then she remembered that Mike had been watching a ball game on the monitors, instead of focusing on the hallways as he was supposed to do.

  She could hardly blame him. Mike was a retired cop, and his days spent seated at a desk watching a steady diet of people passing to and fro through the hallways had to be extremely dull by comparison.

  She nodded to him as she hurried across the lobby, and he answered with a casual wave of his hand. Letting herself into her office, she wondered how big a pile of work would be waiting for her. Thank God it wasn’t a Monday.

  Mondays were always a pain. A couple of the scientists often worked over the weekend, leaving her a pile of research to sort through and take care of that would take her the best part of the week.

  Corie didn’t believe in working weekends. She was a firm believer in giving mind and body a proper rest in order to function at top capability when it became necessary. Science was an exact field. One mistake could cost thousands, even millions of dollars. Or even lives.

  Thinking of lives reminded her potently of Granger Deene waiting anxiously in her house for some word that might give him back his memory. Wondering how to begin, Corie booted up the computer and began scrolling through the tasks she still hadn’t had time to get to.

  The usual stuff rolled up her screen. “Calculate degrees of angles produced by lineup of Jupiter in conjunction with Uranus, taking into account the easterly jet stream crossing the Continental Divide.”

  Symbols and abbreviations drifted past her eyes while she contemplated the problem at hand. Somehow she would have to find out if there was a room such as Granger described. That should at least tell her he was telling the truth about being held prisoner there. She could think of no other reason for there to be a bedroom in the building.

  Watching the lines of print drift by with half an eye, Corie noticed a mention of the new star, Specturne. It had been recently discovered and named by an astronomer connected with the Smithsonian Institute.

  There had been a lot of excitement about it at first, and Corie had been thrilled to be part of a new discovery, even if the work had been tedious. Then the find had taken second place to the new breakthrough of a possible cure for muscular diseases. As far as Corie knew, the only person with any interest at all in Specturne was the astronomer who discovered it.

  Someone, however, must have an interest, since she’d been instructed to calculate new data on the star. Glancing at the code name, Corie saw that Dr. Boyd Richards, one of the chief scientists at the lab, had ordered the information.

  The head office must have decided to reopen the file, she thought, scrolling past the name again. She’d get to it later. Right now, all she was interested in was locating that darn room.

  Her mind drifted back to Granger, and she wondered if he was busy at work on the walls. She could just picture him, muscles rippling as he swept the paintbrush carefully up and down the woodwork, his hard mouth tight with concentration.

  Oh, how she wanted to feel the pressure of that mouth hard and demanding on her own. The sudden longing took her by surprise, heating her from her thighs to her breasts. God, how long had it been?

  Years. It had been years since she had been even remotely interested in sex. Funny, but she hadn’t really missed it until now. Maybe it was the long abstinence that made her weak every time Granger looked at her. Maybe it was simply the fact that she missed the intimate connection with another human being, and that was why she longed for his hands to touch her, caress her, and send her wild.

  Or just maybe, it was the way he looked at her, seduced her with his eyes, breathed her name in that husky voice, or moved across the room toward her creating sparks of animal magnetism as he drew closer. Maybe all of that was the reason she wanted to feel his body naked and hot against hers.

  “Damn, damn, damn!” She pounded the desk in frustration. What the hell was she doing fantasizing about a man who could be at best married, and at worst a hunted criminal? The sooner she found out what was behind his crazy story, the sooner she could get him out of her life.

  Because whether she liked it or not, Granger Deene could be a dangerous man. In every aspect of the word.

  Chapter 5

  Fiercely concentrating on the task at hand, Corie decided to have a word with Mike. If anyone knew the layout of the building, it would be the security guard.

  Making her way down the corridor, Corie saw Professor James Butler ambling toward her. The scientist was a pleasant little man, always ready to exchange a word or two, more often than not a bad joke about the weather.

  Today, however, he barely gave her a nod of recognition before scuttling past her, heading for the security door that led to the labs.

  Frowning, Corie wondered if she’d done something to upset him. Her pulse quickened when she wondered if perhaps he was upset over something that had happened last Friday. Such as a prisoner escaping, perhaps?

  Thinking about it now, it seemed so crazy. The scientists she worked for were all respected in their field. They couldn’t possibly be involved in anything so bizarre as holding a man prisoner in a room and pumping him full of drugs. It was just too weird to even consider. Granger Deene had to be mistaken. Or lying.

  Corie paused at the end of the hallway. Mike was seated at his desk, a newspaper propped up in front of him. Every now and again he glanced up at the monitors above his head, checking on the movement in the hallways.

  As Corie approached, she could see on the monitor screen the slight figure of Professor Butler scurrying down the passageway to the labs. She watched him reach the doors, slip his ID card into the slot on the wall, then wait. After a moment a green light glowed above his head, and he pushed the door open, letting it swing closed behind him after he’d passed through.

  Mike’s voice made her jump. “Corie, how’re you doing?”

  She shrugged. “Busy. I was working on the house.”

  Mike shook his shaggy gray head. “That house’ll be the death of you, Corie girl. Took on too much when you bought that one,
I reckon.”

  She laughed. “It keeps me out of mischief.” Glancing casually up at the monitors, she added, “I don’t know how you sit there glued to those monitors all day. It must send you cross-eyed.”

  “Nah, I’m used to it.” Mike closed one eye in a conspiratorial wink. “Besides, I keep one of ‘em tuned to the soaps and the ball games. Passes the time, if you know what I mean.”

  Corie nodded, her gaze intent on the monitors. “You know, I’ve worked here for almost a year, yet I have no idea what lies beyond those security doors. One day I’ll have to get them to take me on a tour of the building.”

  “Wouldn’t take you too long,” Mike said, smothering a yawn. “There’s only the two labs and a couple of offices.”

  Corie did her best to keep her tone casual. “And a day room, I guess?”

  Mike squinted at her. “Day room?”

  “Yes, you know, a room where the big brains can sit and relax, maybe lie down for a quick nap....”

  Mike’s hearty laugh rang out across the lobby. “If there is, they’re doing a good job of hiding it. I’ve been through every inch of this building and I’ve never yet seen a room like that. If I had, I might have used it on my break sometimes, instead of dropping off in this darn chair.”

  “Maybe we should suggest it,” Corie said, trying to ignore the uneasy fluttering in her stomach. Granger had seemed so positive. And no matter how much her instincts warned her to be careful, she couldn’t bring herself to believe he was deliberately lying to her.

  Could there be a chance that such a room existed without Mike’s knowledge? It was worth a shot to find out.

  “I suppose you have to check inside all the rooms every day,” she said, pretending to be interested in an elderly couple walking past the window outside.

  “Yeah, all except the labs. I just look through the windows of those babies. No one gets in there, not even me, unless it’s an emergency. Top secret stuff, I suppose. I just hope they’re not planning on blowing up China or something. I don’t want to be around for the Third World War.”

  “Me, either,” Corie murmured, her mind only half on the conversation. Somehow she would have to get into the labs to see if the room that Granger described actually existed. That promised to be tricky.

  “I’d better get back,” she said to Mike, who was scanning the monitors with a bored expression on his craggy face. “I have a ton of stuff to do.”

  Mike nodded, and lifted a hand in a distracted way. “Talk to you later.”

  She left him still watching the monitors, and made her way back to her office, turning over the problem in her mind of how to get into the labs without being seen.

  It would seem the best time would be either lunchtime, when everyone took a break, or at the end of the day, after everyone had gone home. But then Mike did his rounds to make sure everyone had left before setting the alarms for the night. It would have to be during the lunch hour. Which would be in two hours. Corie sat with her chin on her hands and considered the possibilities. Once more her mind drifted back to Granger, wondering how far he’d progressed with the decorating.

  She couldn’t forget how he’d looked in the night, naked and sweating in a rumpled bed, his face tortured by the dreams that wouldn’t let him rest. Neither could she forget the ache she’d felt as she looked down on his powerful body.

  Just thinking about it brought back the longing. She needed to get this whole situation taken care of, and as soon as possible. If she could just get into the lab...

  The phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. With Granger’s face still on her mind, she thrust out her hand, sending her empty coffee cup flying as she snatched up the receiver.

  Her heartbeat slowed when she heard the voice of Dr. Richards, the scientist in charge of the Specturne project. Assuring him that she would get the data he requested to him as soon as possible, Corie righted the cup, staring at the spilled dregs on her desk.

  She barely heard the scientist hang up. Now she knew how to get into the lab.

  The next two hours passed quickly, as Corie worked on the list of tasks in front of her on the computer. Before she knew it, the green figures on the digital clock clicked to twelve noon. It was time for lunch.

  She waited another ten minutes before entering the lunchroom. Only two people were seated at the tables, the rest having apparently gone out to eat. Mike sat in the corner, his nose buried in a mystery novel. Professor Butler was at his usual table by the window, eating his packed lunch.

  Corie was extremely thankful that it was Professor Butler who brought his lunch every day. Had it been the short-tempered, gruff-voiced Dr. Ivan Spencer, another chief scientist, she would have found it far more difficult to put her plan into action.

  As for his partner, Dr. Richards, he could look quite intimidating when annoyed. More than once she’d been stung by one of his caustic remarks.

  After buying a ham sandwich and an apple from the dispenser, Corie filled a paper cup from the coffee machine. Carrying the brimming cup carefully over to the table, she sat down next to Professor Butler.

  He looked up in surprise, his face turning red at the sight of his unexpected visitor. “Miss Trenton? Is there something I can do for you?”

  Corie gave him a wide smile. “I hope you can help me, Professor Butler. I have to make some calculations on the new star, Specturne, and I was wondering if you had the altitude list on the project?”

  Professor Butler shook his head violently, almost dislodging his glasses. “Oh, no, I’m sorry, I don’t. I’m not sure...that is... I don’t think—”

  Corie froze. A man with a slight build, wearing glasses. He had a face like a mouse... Could it possibly have been this nervous little man who had pumped a dangerous drug into Granger? It didn’t seem feasible, and yet...

  Gathering her thoughts, she leaned closer. “It’s all right, I’ll manage. I’ll leave you alone to enjoy your lunch.” She pushed back her chair and rose to her feet, reaching for her coffee.

  Her fingers caught the edge of the cup, and it tipped, sending a stream of hot black liquid into Professor Butler’s lap. He yelped and jumped to his feet, slapping at his white coat as if there were a bug crawling up it.

  “Oh, geez, I’m sorry,” Corie said, dabbing at the puddle on the table with her napkin. “That was really clumsy of me.”

  “No matter,” the professor muttered. “I just hope I can get the stain out of this.”

  “Here, give it to me.” Corie reached for the buttons of his coat and began undoing them. “I’ll take it down to the washroom and rinse out the spot in cold water before the stain has time to set. By the time you’ve finished lunch I’ll have it back to you as good as new.”

  “No, really... Please...don’t bother,” Professor Butler stammered, doing his best to prevent Corie from stripping him of his coat.

  “No bother at all. I insist.” Corie finished unbuttoning the man’s coat, in spite of his fluttering attempts to stop her. Dragging it off his shoulders, she said firmly, “Now you just sit down there and finish your lunch. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

  Without giving him a chance to answer, she fled across the room with the coat in her arms, conscious of Mike’s astonished gaze following her from the room.

  She had ten minutes at most, then she would have to be back in the washroom to rinse out the coat. Checking for the ID card, she found it firmly pinned to the inside top pocket. Fumbling with the catch, she finally got it unfastened, then looked around for somewhere to hide the coat until she could return for it.

  The waste bin seemed the only place, and she stuffed it inside. The hallway was still empty when she looked out, and she raced down to the security door. Her hand shook as she slid the card into the slot on the wall and waited impatiently for the green light.

  When it came she almost missed it in her excitement. Pushing the door open, she slipped inside and let it close with a soft thud behind her.

  Her heart was banging so hard
she felt sure she would pass out. Quickly, she crossed the lab to the door at the rear. Her biggest fear now was that one of the scientists had been too engrossed in his work to leave the building for lunch.

  She let out her breath on a slow sigh when she opened the door and found the small room empty. It was obviously an office. A computer sat on the desk, and a small cabinet lurked in the corner of the room. Two chairs accompanied a low table in front of a television set, while a monitor, tuned to the hallways, hung from the wall. There wasn’t even room for a bed.

  Corie tried to calm her jumpy pulse as she sped across the floor to the lab next door. Holding her breath, she wound her way between the long, narrow tables crowded with microscopes, Bunsen burners, and an assortment of instruments and utensils.

  When she reached the door her heart sank. It was firmly locked.

  Biting her lip in frustration, Corie turned away and sent a desperate glance around the lab. In the corner of the room on her right a couple of white coats hung haphazardly from a peg on the wall.

  Not really expecting too much, Corie dashed across to take a look in the pockets. Her heart skipped a beat when her fingers closed around a ring of keys. It seemed to good to be true, but it was worth a try.

  With her fingers crossed, she darted back to the door and fitted one of the keys into the lock. It wouldn’t budge. She tried a second key and this time, with a smooth click, the door opened.

  With a soft, triumphant, “Yes!” Corie looked inside the room. There were just two pieces of furniture. The white walls seemed to glare at her as she stared at the small table and unmade bed. It must have been left just as Granger Deene had last seen it. The dinner napkin still lay on the crumpled pillow.

  Closing the door again, Corie locked it with trembling fingers. He’d been telling the truth. But why in God’s name would anyone want to keep him locked up in a room at a laboratory? It just didn’t make sense.