LuAnn smiled. “I would’ve thought that by now, after so many straight A’s, you wouldn’t get so nervous.” She touched her daughter’s shoulder. During the time spent traveling, LuAnn had thrown every ounce of energy and a great deal of money into reshaping herself to be who she had always wanted to be, which was as far from Southern white trash named LuAnn Tyler as she could get. Well-educated, able to speak two foreign languages, she noted with pride that Lisa could speak four, as much at home in China as in London. She had covered several lifetimes in the last ten years. With this morning’s developments, maybe that was a good thing. Had she run out of time?
Lisa finished dressing and sat down with her back to her mother. LuAnn picked up a brush and started doing her daughter’s hair, a daily ritual between the two that allowed them to talk and catch up with each other.
“I can’t help it, I still do get nervous. It’s not always easy.”
“Most things worthwhile in life aren’t easy. But, you work hard and that’s the important thing. You do your best, that’s all I’ll ever ask, regardless of what your grades are.” She combed Lisa’s hair into a thick ponytail and then clipped on a bow. “Just don’t bring home any B’s.” They both laughed.
As they walked downstairs together, Lisa looked over at her mother. “I saw you talking to a man outside this morning. You and Uncle Charlie.”
LuAnn tried to hide her apprehensiveness. “You were up? It was pretty early.”
“Like I said, I was nervous about the test.”
“Right.”
“Who was he?”
“He’s putting up the security fence and gate around the property. He had some questions about the plans.”
“Why do we need a security fence?”
LuAnn took her hand. “We’ve talked about this before, Lisa. We’re, well, we’re very well-off financially. You know that. There are some bad people in the world. They might try to do things, to get money from us.”
“Like robbing us?”
“Yes, or maybe something else.”
“Like what?”
LuAnn stopped and sat down on the steps, beckoning Lisa to join her. “Remember how I’m always telling you to be careful, watch out for people?” Lisa nodded. “Well, that’s because some bad people might try to take you away from me.”
Lisa looked frightened. “I’m not telling you that to scare you, baby, but in a way I guess I do want you to be concerned, to be aware of what’s going on. If you use your head and keep your eyes open, everything will be fine. Me and Uncle Charlie won’t let anything happen to you. Mommy promises. Okay?”
Lisa nodded and they went down the stairs hand in hand.
Charlie met them in the hallway. “My, don’t we look extra pretty this morning.”
“I’ve got a test.”
“You think I don’t know that? I was up last night until ten-thirty with you going over the stuff. You’re gonna ace it, sure as anything. Go get your coat, I’ll be out front in the car.”
“Isn’t Mommy taking me today?”
Charlie glanced over at LuAnn. “I’m gonna give your mom a break this morning. Besides, it’ll give us one more time to go over the test stuff, right?”
Lisa beamed. “Right.”
After Lisa had gone, Charlie turned a very serious face to LuAnn. “I’m gonna check some things out in town after I drop Lisa off.”
“You think you can find this guy?”
Charlie shrugged as he buttoned up his overcoat. “Maybe, maybe not. It’s not a big town, but it’s got lots of hiding places. One reason we picked it, right?”
LuAnn nodded. “What about Riggs?”
“I’ll save him for later. I go knock on his door now, he might get more suspicious than he already is. I’ll call from the car if I find out anything.”
LuAnn watched the two climb into Charlie’s Range Rover and drive off. Deep in thought, she pulled on a heavy coat, walked through the house and out the back. She passed the Olympic-size pool with surrounding flagstone patio and three-foot-high brick wall. At this time of year, the pool was drained and protected by a metal cover. The tennis court would probably go in next year. LuAnn cared little for either activity. Her underprivileged childhood had yielded no opportunities to idly hit a yellow ball around or lounge in chlorinated water. But Lisa was an avid swimmer and tennis player, and upon arriving at Wicken’s Hunt, she had pressed eagerly for a tennis court. Actually, it was nice to know she was going to be around in one spot long enough actually to plan something like the construction of a tennis court down the road.