Castle Cay

Chapter 29

Three years ago, Joe Garrett didn't know he was in love with Julie O'Hara.

And then she walked through his office door.

Joe had seen Julie bite her lower lip that certain way, seen that elusive smile before. Her hair was tied back, but he knew at once what it looked like loose. And there was more...

He had tried to analyze it. Did Julie O'Hara just happen to fit some unconscious image he'd constructed? In the end, it didn't matter.

Joe was bowled over by the déjà vu.

After a reasonable period, he had tried to let Julie know how he felt. But every attempt backfired. He flirted...and she ran for the shrubs like a feral cat. While it was true that Joe wasn't used to being rebuffed, the deal with Julie was particularly confusing.

There was something between them, and he was sure she felt it, too. The more this odd push/pull magnetism continued, the more caught he was, like a moon circling a planet...unable to get closer but unable to get free.

Joe thought about their odd relationship once again, as he gulped down his morning coffee and set the empty mug on the kitchen bar. The door beside it was open to allow the morning air to come in through the screen.

He had been remodeling the second floor by himself, a little at a time, the operative word being little. So far, he'd opened up two interior walls and re-laid the oak flooring, but there was still that unfinished, unfurnished look about the place and a smell of raw wood and paint.

The kitchen Joe stood in had been installed first, so that he could live up there while he completed the two first-floor offices. The irony struck him.

So Merlin and I could have separate spaces.

Joe could hardly believe that she had finally called him.

Now, worried and occupied with her case, he couldn't move fast enough. He closed and locked the back door and strode down the hall.

Joe stepped into the shower, shivering as the cold spray hit his body. Facing the round mirror stuck on the tile, he quickly brushed his teeth. He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin and decided to pass on shaving, since he'd probably be out of there before the water even warmed up.

Soon, he was out of the apartment and headed downstairs. He needed to talk to his secretary and make a couple calls before he left for the airport.

He found her in the office, standing on a chair, reaching for a chain attached to the ceiling fan. Janet Hawkins was a wise-cracking, petite and busty blonde on the sunny side of fifty. She was wearing slacks, for which Joe was very grateful, considering her position. "Hi, honey, I'm home," he said...his usual greeting.

"Good. Hang on to this chair before I kill myself. Really, Joe, a woman my age needs this thing on High! Why do you keep turning it down?"

"Because, dear, it blows my papers all around."

"You're hardly ever here, and I'm always here. How about if you just shut it off on the wall switch when you're working in the office?"

"I can do that. Here, let me help you down."

"Thanks. So what's up?"

"I'm not going to be around for the next few days," said Joe, sitting down at the big oak desk that once belonged to his father. He grabbed his card file. "You know that friend of Merlin's who died in Key West? Marc Solomon, the artist?"

"Yeah?" said Janet, peering at him over her glasses.

"She called me. She thinks he was murdered. I'm going to help her. I'm going to Miami and then I'm meeting her in Key West, but I'll keep in touch."