Free Take a Dive for Murder by Millie Mack

door, luck was with her. There was a group of business people who also took the steps rather than wait for the elevator. They flung open the door to the third level, and Carrie walked through with them. She immediately veered to the left and hopped the low wall of the ramp to the fourth level. Carrie used the ramp wall as cover and ducked when she heard the door open. She carefully peered over the wall, but could see only the back of the door and not the man opening it. The man’s attention was drawn by the group of people who entered the third floor with her, and he wasted little time before retreating back into the stairwell.
    This was Carrie’s chance. She sprinted up the ramp to the fourth floor. Fortunately her car was parked at the end closest to the down ramp and farthest from the elevator. She had her keys in her hand and punched the unlock button on the electronic keypad. Carrie jumped in her car, locked the doors, started the car, and headed toward the exit, all within seconds. When she looked in her rearview mirror, she saw a very thin, short man standing in the middle of the ramp. She had only a brief glance before another exiting car honked him out of position.
    Carrie was still feeling an adrenaline rush after her escape, but she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled her car out of the parking garage. What was happening? She was experiencing events and emotions similar to those Ascot had in the book she was writing.
    All the way back to the Faraday house, she kept checking her rearview mirror to see if she was being followed. She spotted no one. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized these two men didn’t need to follow her. They seemed to know how to find her, so they probably also knew she was staying with the Faradays.
    Who were these men? She didn’t think she was followed from Simpson’s office. But if they hadn’t followed her, how did they know where she would be? A nagging little voice told her that Joel suggested the parking garage. Then she shook off the little voice when she realized any one of the attendees at Simpson’s could have overheard Joel’s instructions. Carrie didn’t want to face another thought. What were these two men planning to do if they came face to face with her in the garage?

13
    Carrie parked her car, grabbed her bag of supplies, and was locking her car when she became aware of someone behind her. She spun around
    “So, how was lunch?” Charles greeted Carrie as if nothing happened between them at Simpson’s office. He had changed from his dark blue suit into brown slacks, a cream shirt, and brown leather jacket. Carrie couldn’t stop herself from thinking how good-looking he was .
    “Did you go to the Harbor Net Restaurant?”
    “What…oh, yes, we did. How did you know?” Carrie was taken aback that Charles knew where she ate lunch in light of her adventure after lunch.
    “It’s Joel’s favorite restaurant, and he eats there almost every day. How was the food?”
    “It was fine, although the food wasn’t our focus. We spent most of the time reminiscing about college and remembering Jamie.” Carrie was actually thinking about her experience after lunch, but decided not to say anything to Charles. After all she still wasn’t sure who told those men where she would be. She added, “You know, we did have some good times with your brother.”
    “I know you did,” he said quietly. “ Jamie shared many of the stories and even some of your newspaper staff antics with me. Even though I was six years older, we were very close as brothers. I miss him very much.” Charles stopped for a moment and then added, “Look, I’m sorry about my comments at Simpson’s office.”
    “It’s all right,” Carrie responded.
    “No, let me finish.” His blue-gray eyes focused on Carrie. “You’ve every right to go out to lunch with whomever you want and whenever you want. We offered you a place to stay, but there are no restrictions on that