He'd explained: "Spies."
"What?"
"No, not like CIA spies. Industrial spies--from our competitors. My company made over six billion dollars last year and I'm responsible for a good chunk of that. People would love to find out what I know about the market."
"Companies really do that?" Jeanne had asked.
"You never really know about people," had been his response.
And Jeanne Starke, who had a rod imbedded in her arm where it'd been shattered by a whisky bottle a few years ago, had thought: You never did, true. She now wiped her hands on her apron, walked to the curtain and looked out.
The man was gone.
Okay, stop spooking yourself. It's--
But wait . . . She saw motion on the front steps. And believed she saw a corner of a bag--a shopping bag--sitting on the porch. The man was here!
What was going on?
Should she call her boyfriend?
Should she call the police?
But they were at least ten minutes away.
"There's somebody outside, Mommy," Britney called.
Jeanne stepped forward fast. "Brit, you stay in your room. I'll see."
But the girl was opening the front door.
"No!" Jeanne called.
And heard: "Thanks, honey," Thompson Boyd said in a friendly drawl as he stepped inside the house, toting the shopping bag she'd seen.
"You gave me a fright," Jeanne said. She hugged him and he kissed her.
"Couldn't find my keys."
"You're home early."
He grimaced. "Problems with the negotiations this morning. They were postponed till tomorrow. Thought I'd come home and do some work here."
Jeanne's other daughter, Lucy, eight, ran into the hallway. "Tommy! Can we watch Judge Judy?"
"Not today."
"Aw, please. What's in the bag?"
"That's the work I have to do. And I need your help." He set the bag down on the floor in the hallway, looked at the girls solemnly and said, "You ready?"
"I'm ready!" Lucy said.
Brit, the older girl, said nothing but that was because it wouldn't be cool to agree with her sister; she was definitely ready to help too.
"After we postponed my meeting I went out and bought these. I've been reading up on it all morning." Thompson reached into the shopping bag and pulled out cans of paint, sponges, rollers and brushes. Then he held up a book bristling with yellow Post-it tabs, Home Decor Made Easy. Volume 3: Decorating Your Child's Room.
"Tommy!" Britney said. "For our rooms?"