Undercover In Glimmer Creek

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Tessa urged.

“That’s easy for you to say. My face is so round. I look like a chipmunk that’s stuffed its cheeks with nuts.”

“Lance doesn’t seem to think so.”

Jamie’s eyes filled with delight at the mention of her boyfriend. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

Tessa smiled, though she didn’t know a great deal about the young man her dad had hired several months earlier, other than what Jamie had told her.

Lance Beckley was one of the Poppy Gold employees who hadn’t grown up in the area. He’d shown up on his motorcycle, wandered around town a couple of days and then applied for a job in the maintenance department. Pop had hired him to clear brush and dig rocks from the area where they hoped to plant two additional orchards. Tessa had been concerned when she heard he was the biker who’d invaded Poppy Gold, roaring up and down the streets, but he hadn’t caused any problems since then.

When her cousin had gone back to work, Tessa made calls to several clients, booking a destination wedding for a CEO’s daughter, along with three corporate retreats and a class reunion.

At 1:00 p.m. she got up to do her usual quick walk through Old City Hall and around the grounds. At the Mayfair Mansion she stopped and watched Gabe McKinley working in the garden. The lawn at the nearby Calaveras House was already smartly groomed, so he’d obviously started there first.

His shirt stretched over his shoulders, his muscles flexing as he lifted a load of clippings onto a cart, and she felt an unwelcome warmth in her abdomen. She didn’t want to be attracted to a guy like Gabe, even in passing.

He noticed her and bobbed his head without stopping his work. Then she noticed he was about to yank one of the plants from behind the sundial.

“No, wait,” Tessa cried, dashing over. “That’s supposed to be there.”

* * *

GABE STARED AT the plant he’d been about to pull. It was supposed to stay? He hadn’t touched the flowerbeds since Liam Connor had told him to work on the lawns, but this thing had looked too weedy to leave behind. The gardens in general seemed chaotic, with masses of different flowers crowded together. He guessed it was attractive, but it wouldn’t do any harm to impose some order.

Tessa crouched and patted the ground around the base of the weed he’d grabbed, though she seemed to avoid touching the plant itself. “Uh...Pop must have forgotten to say you shouldn’t do anything on the flowerbeds until you receive some training.”

“Oh.” Gabe’s instructions from the elder Connor had been distracted, to say the least; Liam gave the impression that his thoughts were somewhere else entirely. Age-related memory problems were also a possibility, despite him seeming too young for senility. “This isn’t a weed?”

“No, it’s foxglove. This one has already flowered, but wait until you see it next year. I’m not sure foxglove belongs in a true Victorian garden, but we love it.”

“Are you a horticulturist, too?”

“Just an enthusiastic amateur. My mother did the research and designed all our gardens and...er...planted most of the perennials and biennials herself. She liked the natural style of the late-Victorian era. Formal gardens wouldn’t suit Poppy Gold nearly as well.”

Liked. Past tense.

That must mean Liam was a widower. While it was information, it wouldn’t have much bearing on his investigation. Gabe shifted restlessly. He preferred direct action to covert activity, but this was something he had to do for Rob. A part of him still felt guilty for escaping to the navy and leaving his younger brother alone with their parents.

“So, what did you study in college?” Gabe asked, trying to make the question sound casual. Apparently he didn’t succeed, because Tessa became guarded again.

“Business. It looks as if you’re almost done here. Since it’s your first day, I’m sure Pop won’t mind if you take the rest of the afternoon off. Just return the equipment to Maintenance.”

“I can’t quit early. You know what they say—a day’s work for a day’s pay. I’ll find something to keep me occupied.” Gabe was elated. With Liam gone, he would have an ideal chance to poke around and get a better lay of the land.

Her lips tightened. “All right, but don’t do anything to the garden beds. I need to get back to my office.”

Gabe was almost amused. The only thing he’d learned for certain was that Tessa Connor was protective of the plants her mother had put in the ground. He couldn’t imagine being sentimental that way himself, but it was Tessa’s business. Of course, his own mother had been pickled with alcohol for most of his childhood, so he was unlikely to get maudlin about her mementos.

The truth was, he knew too much about the dark side of human nature, yet he still found most people incomprehensible.

CHAPTER TWO

TESSA RETURNED TO her office, still not sure what to make of Gabe McKinley. He obviously worked hard—the lawns around the two houses had been cut and trimmed with military precision, without a blade of grass or speck of dirt out of place. Yet she also had the feeling he didn’t know anything about the kind of work he’d been hired to do.

There was nothing unusual about having an inexperienced employee, particularly in grounds maintenance, but normally Pop was fierce about warning new staff not to touch his wife’s Victorian flowerbeds until they’d been properly trained.

Tessa’s stomach rolled.

Fifteen months ago her father had called to say the business was falling apart and he was considering selling Poppy Gold. Though he hadn’t asked her to come back, she’d immediately gone to her grandfather’s office and resigned. She still didn’t know if it had been the right decision... There were so many memories that haunted Liam at Poppy Gold. But she’d been certain he would regret selling the place where he’d fallen in love and spent so many years restoring.

It had also been a little selfish. Tessa couldn’t bear the thought of losing Poppy Gold; she missed her mother terribly, and the place was a connection both to Meredith Connor and her own childhood.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, and by four o’clock Tessa was on edge, wondering if her father was back from Stockton, and if he was, why he hadn’t called. He got depressed, and this time of year was a tough one for him—her parents’ thirty-second wedding anniversary was rapidly approaching.

It wasn’t fair.

People weren’t supposed to die of pneumonia. With modern medicine and all the antibiotics available, it shouldn’t have happened. Meredith Connor should still be here, making everyone happy, especially her husband.

Tessa rubbed her aching forehead. She’d always hoped to fall in love like her parents and have children, but after watching her father’s agony, she was wary about feeling that much. Not that it mattered—at the moment she was far too busy for romance. She couldn’t take the chance that Poppy Gold might fail; too many people depended on them.

Not that she had anything against romance. She’d dated in college and occasionally in San Francisco, though never to the point of genuinely committing her heart. One of her old boyfriends had complained she was rushing too fast toward her future to think about the present, but she didn’t agree. There was so much to do, and she didn’t see any harm in graduating high school and college early.

A short time later her father walked in, looking more tired than usual. He sat down with a groan. “Sorry about being late. I got a flat tire. I would have called but my phone was dead.”

“That’s okay, Pop. Sorry about the tire.”

Tessa made a mental note to check the charge on his cell phone when he was taking a day trip out of town, especially if he was taking the 1928 AA truck. He never used to be absentminded, but a lot had changed in the past eighteen months. It was even possible that he’d spent part of the time down in Stockton just staring into space. The occasions she found him zoned out completely were less frequent now, but they still happened.

“It’s just one of those things. How did it go with Gabe?”

“Fine, as far as I know. I showed him around and left him at Maintenance. Later I saw him working on the lawns around the Mayfair Mansion and Calaveras House. Everything was spotless.”

Tessa decided not to mention Gabe’s attempt to uproot a foxglove plant; her father didn’t need anything else to upset him.

“Good. He seems nice.”

Nice?

Maybe she’d missed something.

Tessa knew that two of her worst faults were a quick temper...and a bad habit of making snap decisions about people. Sometimes she was right, sometimes she wasn’t. But there was no denying that her first impressions of Gabe McKinley weren’t positive.

“What do you know about him?” Tessa asked.

“The usual sort of things from his application. Twenty years in the navy, but no job since getting out. He listed his skills as general mechanic, heavy machinery operation, scuba diving and underwater rescue.”

“Scuba diving and underwater rescue? There’s so much call for that at Poppy Gold,” she muttered wryly. “How about KP or maintenance experience? I thought all servicemen and women had that sort of thing under their belts.”

Liam waved his hand. “People don’t always like claiming they worked in the mess or scrubbed the officers’ head. Gabe didn’t list any prior duty assignments, but he has a spotless record—not even a speeding ticket. Do you think there’s a problem?”

“Of course not,” Tessa said hastily. “I’m just curious. He isn’t that personable.”

“Give him a chance,” Liam urged. “Life is structured in the military. It may take him a while to get accustomed to how we do things.”

“I know, Pop. It’s just that our guests expect everyone to be friendly and he’s rather...poker-faced.” Grim and forbidding was a better description, but she didn’t want to sound too negative.

“I’ll remind him to smile more.”

“Is he one of your referrals from Admiral Webster’s office?” Over time they’d become acquainted with a high-ranking officer in each of the military branches who now made referrals to Poppy Gold. Sometimes it was for a job, sometimes it was a request to provide a few days at Poppy Gold to service members or their families as a respite from stress or other problems. It had started with one of her father’s old army pals who was now a general.

“No referral. Gabe just applied. We ended up talking all afternoon last Saturday. Well, I’d better get over to Maintenance. The nursery got the red astrachan apples we wanted. We should have enough ground prepared in a few days to plant them.”

“Shouldn’t apples be planted in very early spring or late fall?”

“Yes, but the nursery promised to replace any that don’t thrive. Apparently their supplier has trouble getting organic astrachans. Anyhow, I also got a big load of organic fertilizer. I’ll unload everything and come over after I clean up.”

“Move the truck into the garage and have one of your guys take care of it tomorrow,” Tessa urged, frowning. She didn’t like her father lifting heavy items by himself. He rarely paid attention to what he was doing—five months ago he’d pulled a hamstring and had suffered minor injuries in other mishaps.

“I’ll be fine. When do you want me for dinner?”

“Seven thirty is fine.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Tessa sat for a minute after he left, then jumped up. She headed for Maintenance, stopping only to change into jeans and leave Aunt Emma’s peach pie at her apartment in the Victorian Cat. Fortunately she had a separate entrance, so she wasn’t delayed by guests wanting to chat.

“Pop?” she called, walking around the end of the main maintenance building. She froze. His antique heavy-duty truck was parked by one of the storage sheds, but instead of one man, she saw two—her father and Gabe McKinley. They were chatting and even chuckled together at one point.

Interesting.

“What are you doing here, Tessajinks?”

Gabe had just hoisted a bag of fertilizer onto his shoulder, but he paused and looked up. “Tessajinks?”

Tessa smiled along with her father, though she was surprised that he’d used her childhood nickname in front of a stranger. “It’s from when I was little. You know...jinks, from high jinks.”

“My daughter was a carefree, fun-loving toddler,” Liam explained, “but very well behaved, of course.”

“That’s right, I was a perfect angel,” Tessa added, relieved that he didn’t seem saddened by the recollection from a happier time.

“Yes, it’s now that she’s a handful.” Liam shook a finger at her. “She loved to play hide-and-seek, but she would get so excited, she giggled when anyone got near her hiding place. I could tell you stories—”

“But he won’t, because you’d just be bored,” Tessa interrupted, becoming uncomfortable. She was an only child and knew her fate in life was to be the subject of all of her father’s “gab and brag” tales, but her instincts told her to keep revelations at a minimum around Gabe McKinley. Even revelations that were twenty-seven years old.

“To be frank, I’m not a kid person,” Gabe said. He barely seemed to notice the heavy load balanced on his shoulder.

“You’ll change your mind when you have a family of your own,” Liam assured him.

“I’m not going to have a family,” Gabe replied. His tone and expression suggested it was a carefully considered decision, rather than a casual bachelor’s attitude.

Liam shook his head. “That’ll change when you meet the right woman. It did for me.”

“I’m also not planning to get married.” Gabe carried the fertilizer to the shed and set it on a pile of other sacks. He immediately went to the truck and grabbed another bag.

Pop seemed at a loss, and Tessa was annoyed. Her father sometimes offered opinions better kept to himself—she thought of it as small-townitis—but Gabe didn’t even seem to realize how curt he’d been. And after all, he was the one who’d volunteered he wasn’t a “kid person.” But kid person or not, he’d better be nice to the children who visited Poppy Gold.

Eyes narrowed, she went to help, but Gabe let out a sharp “I’ll do it” as soon as she reached for one of the bags.

“I may be little, but I’m tough,” she informed him, “and I’m sure your shift ended a couple of hours ago.”

Liam lifted the bag she’d intended to unload. “That’s what I said, but he insisted.”

Gabe shrugged. “I’m new to Glimmer Creek, so I don’t have much else to do.”

“We’ll still pay for the extra time,” Tessa asserted. Pop sometimes hinted that she was too stubborn. He might be right, but she had to be stubborn on fair employment practices.

* * *

GABE DIDN’T CARE about a few extra dollars in his paycheck; for that matter, he wasn’t comfortable about taking any pay since his actions had ulterior motives. As for helping to unload supplies, he’d hoped it would provide another one-on-one opportunity to talk with his new “boss.” The Connor name and the family’s connection to San Francisco had been bothering him. Later he would research it on the internet and see if anything came up, but he’d hoped to learn something in passing from Liam.

“We don’t have much nightlife,” Liam said, “but the library is open most evenings, along with several cafés and a country bar. The Gold Shanty is quite popular with our guests.”

“Actually, I’m going to check out the weight machines at the staff fitness center. It’s available twenty-four-seven, right?”

“Yes. Access it using your employee code,” Tessa replied, giving him a cool look. Maybe she thought he was trying to impress her by mentioning working out.

The sooner he found out what was going on at Poppy Gold, the better. Then he wouldn’t need to worry about other people’s reactions. Ultimately he planned to buy land in the mountains where he’d design and test equipment for the SEALs and other emergency response teams.

Since signing out of work, he’d explored the conference center and learned the location of every feature. It hadn’t taken long—he had ample practice memorizing data for his missions. He now had a mental map of the facility and building floor plans securely established in his brain, along with the details of the operations handbook.

“I’ll help,” hailed a voice as Gabe reached for the next bag in the back of the truck. It was a young man, and he came over with a girl dressed in a Victorian costume.

Gabe gritted his teeth. So much for a private chat with Liam Connor. It was after hours and they weren’t in a public area, yet people were popping out of the woodwork.

“This is Lance Beckley,” Tessa said, “and my cousin Jamie Fullerton. Lance is in Maintenance, while Jamie works in Guest Services. Lance, Jamie, this is Gabe McKinley. He just started today.”

Gabe said hello as Lance jumped into the truck bed and began shifting bags from the front to the back so they could be unloaded more easily. He was probably showing off to his girlfriend, though it hardly seemed necessary since they both looked like lovesick puppies.

It won’t last, Gabe thought to himself.

Love was just a series of chemical reactions that didn’t survive for long.

* * *

JAMIE WATCHED LANCE WORKING, and though they’d been dating for several weeks, excitement went through her. He was the most awesome guy in the world. They got together every afternoon, and on most days she was so anxious to see him that she didn’t wait to change out of her costume.

Lance made working at Poppy Gold even better, and she already loved it here. Though his shift started earlier than hers, they could sometimes have lunch together, or just get a chance to say hi.

“How is your class going?” Tessa asked.

“Um...not so good.” Jamie squirmed. She was taking a night course in early California history down in Stockton, but lately she hadn’t been attending many of the classes. “I might drop it.”

“Your mom won’t be happy about that.”

Her mom wasn’t happy about Lance, either. “She just doesn’t understand what it’s like to have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t want to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but she understands better than you think,” Tessa told her. “She just wants you to keep your options open.”

All of a sudden Jamie remembered that Poppy Gold had paid her tuition, and her face got hot. “I’ll pay the money back if I don’t finish the class,” she said quickly. She hated studying or sitting through lectures when she could be with Lance, but it also bothered her that she hadn’t been attending. It was the same as breaking a promise.

“I’m not worried about the tuition, but what about having Lance drive to Stockton with you? He could wait while you’re in class, and you’d have the trip down to the valley and back to be together.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Jamie agreed doubtfully.

She was sure her cousin was going to say one of those things like, “If he really cares about you...” but Tessa was looking at Uncle Liam.

Jamie sighed. Sometimes it was sad to see Uncle Liam because he was unhappy so often. Her mom and the rest of the family had worried that he’d leave and they’d never get to see him again. They said it didn’t make sense that in-laws sometimes stopped acting like family when their wife or husband died. It was hard enough without Aunt Meredith; if Uncle Liam was gone, too, it would be awful. She just wanted him to start smiling more.

“Hey.” Tessa nudged her. “What are you looking so gloomy about?”

“Nothing.” It wasn’t true, but Jamie didn’t want to upset her cousin. “Uh, you know, Mom is uptight about Lance. Do you think it’s his motorcycle?”

“Could be. Motorcycles make some people uncomfortable—especially in Glimmer Creek since those two biker gangs got into a fight here a few years ago.”

“Lance isn’t in a gang.”

“I realize that, but take a car to Stockton if he wants to go with you. It’ll make Aunt Emma happier, and I won’t get into as much trouble for suggesting you go together.”

Jamie laughed. “Mom could never get mad at you.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.”

Lance dusted his hands and came over. “We’re all done, ma’am...I mean, Tessa. Are those the new apples for the orchard?” He pointed to the rows of trees that had come off the truck last.

“Some of them. I understand a section of the ground is nearly ready for cultivation.”

“Yes...ma...uh, Tessa. I should be able to start planting by the end of this week.”

“Great. Pop will show you what to do when you’re ready.”

Jamie stepped closer to Lance. He had a hard time calling Tessa and Uncle Liam by their first names, as if he’d get in trouble for doing it or something weird like that. She’d guessed that Lance had gotten into some kind of trouble before coming to Poppy Gold, but Uncle Liam had still hired him. Lance wouldn’t talk that much about the past—he could be moody sometimes—but she was crazy about him, anyhow.

“Let’s go down by the creek,” she whispered. “Unless you’re hungry.”

“Let’s eat later.” Lance put his arm around her waist, and they said goodbye.

“It really is okay to call them Tessa and Liam,” she said, holding up her long skirt as they went to her favorite place along the stream.

“I know.”

She took off her shoes and stockings to stick her feet in the water. Her dresses were hot when the weather warmed up, but she loved the costumes, especially the elegant hats. A lot of Poppy Gold employees who worked in areas such as Guest Registration or giving tours liked to wear costumes. The historical society made them, and she got first pick because her mom was the president.

Lance poked around the rocks in the creek with a stick. “I wish that was real gold down there, not pyrite.”

“If it was real, it wouldn’t be there any longer,” Jamie said practically.

“But it—”

Suddenly he slipped on a rock, pitching forward into the water.

A shriek escaped Jamie, and she splashed to his side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Dumbass thing to do,” he muttered, rubbing his head. “And you got your costume wet.”

“That doesn’t matter. Let’s go sit down.”

“At least we’re cooler now,” Lance said once they were settled on the creek bank with just their toes in the flowing current.

She laughed and squeezed his hand.

“Does anyone ever find real gold in the creek?” Lance asked after a few minutes. “I know there’s a place where people pan for it, but I haven’t heard that they get any.”

“Sometimes they do. And when I was little I heard that someone in California went hiking and kicked a cow patty—only it wasn’t a cow patty, it was a big lump of gold. Pounds and pounds of it.”

Lance’s eye widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. People in Glimmer Creek started kicking cow patties for a while after that, but it is poop, you know.”

“I wouldn’t care about the poop if I found that much gold, because then I could really take care of you. And I’m going to. Someday I’ll make it big, and you won’t have to worry about anything.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d talked about taking care of her, which was old-fashioned, even in Glimmer Creek, but really cute.

“I’m not worried, so don’t start kicking cow poop for me.” She put her head on his shoulder, so happy she could cry.

* * *

GABE LIFTED WEIGHTS at the fitness center for over an hour before returning to the small studio he’d rented in town. It was actually a cottage, in a cluster that had once been an old 1920s motor court. Despite their age, Glimmer Cottages were well maintained, and they were only a block from Poppy Gold.

In his room, Gabe pulled out his computer and opened his internet browser, linking through his smartphone. Finding the information he wanted didn’t take long, and he cursed as he stared at the screen. Tessa was the granddaughter of Patrick Connor, who owned Connor Enterprises, a huge import-export company, just like the one the McKinley family had started two generations back.

Since the two businesses were in the same field, it could certainly help Connor Enterprises to undercut TIP. One of the major agreements that had fallen through for TIP was a deal to import specialty food items from Southeast Asia. In turn, it had caused the failure of a chain of contracts under negotiation, costing TIP a small fortune. According to the Connor Enterprises website, it also imported comestibles from Southeast Asia.