Caught in the Middle by Regina Jennings Page B

scrutiny felt like. She spun on her boot heel and stalked out of his office. He followed just to see her fling the outer door open. Anne stood, the autumn sun outlining her bulky clothing.
    She didn’t bend and scurry down the ladder. Was she formulating a reply? Poising for another attack? Or was she thinking through his statements? Nick felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps he’d been too hard on her. Perhaps it was time to call a truce.
    “Neither of us was at our best back there, Mrs. Tillerton, and I appreciate your not leaving in anger. If we’re going to get along for the next few days, we do need to be honest with each other but without rancor.”
    She continued to look down through the failing late-afternoon sun at the ground below them.
    “Like right now,” Nick continued. “I have no idea what you’re thinking, but obviously something is weighing heavily on your mind. Can you tell me? Can you tell me what has stopped you from running?”
    Anne put her hands on her hips and widened her stance in the doorway.
    “I’ll tell you what kept me from leaving.” She pointed. “The ladder is gone.”

 9 
    Anne squatted to peer at the ground growing dimmer in the waning light. The carpenter’s wagon and his tools had vanished. Nicholas had told him to skedaddle on to his next job, which must have been on a tall building, for he took the ladder with him.
    “There’s no way on earth I’ll spend the night with you here,” she said. “I’ll jump first.”
    He didn’t protest.
    She studied the wall that the staircase would be built into. Just siding. Nothing to hold on to. The frame the carpenter had built for the staircase was lying on its side, unattached.
    “Do you have any rope?” Anne asked.
    Nicholas leaned against the wall, crossing his leg at the ankle. “This is an office, not a toolshed.”
    “If you held my wrists and let me dangle, I might be able to drop the rest of the way.”
    “But I won’t. I’m already responsible for one employee’s injuries. I’ll have nothing to do with yours.” He straightened and yawned. “Feel free to gather attention using any meansat your disposal. I have work to do.” And he left her to her office on the back of the building.
    The alley beneath her window contained no traffic. The only people Anne had seen all day were those coming specifically to Nicholas’s office—the carpenter and Mrs. Stanford. Anne leaned her arms on the sill and watched as a cat slunk from shadow to shadow, careful lest it get trapped by a stray dog. Night was falling and she was hungry.
    The thought of Sammy’s sitting next to her empty seat at the dinner table caused a pang of regret. Did Sammy miss his mother? Did he realize Tessa wasn’t coming back? Even though it’d be impossible for him to be attached to Anne already, would he realize she was gone and miss her? She wouldn’t have him long, but until his father came, she wanted him to have a measure of security.
    If only she could be sure that Mrs. Puckett would send someone to check on her, but she probably wouldn’t, trusting that she was in Nicholas’s safe hands.
    Again she could see him swinging the hammer, driving nails flush into the boards with one strike. And she could see his fist smashing into the train robber’s face, his nose flattening before his feet flew up and he was laid out. Nicholas did not have safe hands. Not for her. Not for anyone.
    She straightened. No one would wander down that alley. Nicholas’s window was street side. She’d have more luck there.
    The door was closed. Anne took a deep breath. He was surly today, but she preferred that over prying. She needed to get out before he was struck by a better mood.
    She knocked. He didn’t answer. She knocked again.
    “I’m working.”
    She cracked the door open. “You said for me to get attention. It’d be easier from the front window than the alley.”
    He rubbed his eyes. “All right, then. Go ahead. Just keep in mind, I really do need to