Free Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row by Marilyn Campbell

all, the two of them might as well have waved a red flag in his face.

Chapter 4

    Despite the long night ahead of her, Holly turned down the cup of coffee offered by the flight attendant. Her nerves were already ragged. Undoubtedly, it was due to everything she had heard that day and the confession she was about to make to her parents, but Philip had added to her tension.
    He hadn't said any more about it, yet she had the distinct impression he doubted her story about her lunch meeting. And he obviously felt left out when she didn't explain why she was going home so abruptly and didn't want him to go along as he normally would. She supposed his concern was understandable, considering the fact that she couldn't remember ever hiding anything from him before—with the exception of her one secret. She would have to straighten a lot of things out with him when she returned.
    Like his jealous reaction to that newspaper person. She had seen the bold way the man stared at her when she walked past him, but she carefully avoided meeting his gaze, as she always did with men. And it wasn't her fault he used the old mistaken identity line to get a closer look. Rather than say what he was really upset about, Philip had suggested she dress less provocatively when traveling. He was always protective of her, but he had never before made her feel—
    She shook her head to stop that line of thought. One problem at a time. Philip had been disturbed with her and it had nothing to do with her outfit.
    Could it have been more than the long lunch meeting or last-minute visit to her parents? Could he have seen the file April had given her? Surely if he had noticed it, he would have questioned her.
    She set the briefcase on her lap and opened it. On top, exactly as she had left it, was the alphabetical list of the fraternity brothers. The four names without the lines drawn through them seemed to jump off the page. Philip had to have seen it. And right beneath that was the file. One glance would have been enough to tell him that these things had nothing to do with Earth Guard.
    Could he have been so intent upon locating his missing report that he hadn't paid any attention to anything else, or had he not been completely honest when he said he had opened the case, changed his mind and closed it again without looking through it?
    Even if she told him the whole story, she wouldn't want him to know the men's names. There was always the possibility that he would run into one of them and feel obliged to say something. In fact, with Ziegler in Washington, the odds of that happening increased. She couldn't imagine how a confrontation would accomplish anything but embarrassment all around.
    She scanned the list of names again, wondering which might sound familiar to Philip, and decided it was highly unlikely that he would know any of those already scratched off. She wasn't certain if she had ever met them herself, though as they were all Jerry's fraternity brothers, she probably had. She also doubted that Philip would know Adam Frankowicz, but the last three names would be recognizable to a great many people.
    Moving aside the list, she stared at the name on the folder, debating whether she really wanted to open it and read what was inside. The letters swam together, but the name had been indelibly etched in her mind twenty-one years ago. For the first time since then she allowed herself to remember it all...
    * * *
    "Jerry Frampton. Mrs. Jerry Frampton. Holly Frampton." Holly smiled at her mirrored image. Yes, she definitely liked the sound of that. And after tonight, she could shout it to the world if she wanted to. She would have preferred to have seen a reflection weighing thirty pounds less and wearing contact lenses instead of thick-lensed glasses, but Jerry had told her she was beautiful so often, she was beginning to believe it.
    Holly's mother had convinced her long ago that God gave her a special gift that could only be given away one time and that