Suddenly, the thought of that hand on her face, on her neck, around her waist, touching her, came to her unbidden. She willed herself to think of anything but, yet instead of thinking about Jake's touch, she started feeling his touch. Well,
imagining
feeling his touch.
She sighed.
“Thinking about the case?” Jake asked, glancing over at her.
Her cheeks pinkened.
If only you knew,
she thought. “Um, yes,” she said. “I hope Pru makes an appearance soon.”
Lie. Total lie. Holly could sit in Jake's car forever. For most of the time they'd been waiting outside the mansion, they'd sat in companionable silence. She was so aware of him sitting so close to her. So aware of his muscular legs. Those hands. Those shoulders, so close to her own. The clean, soapy, warm, male scent of him.
Get a grip, Holly,
she scolded herself.
At that moment, the front door of the mansion opened, and Pru Dunhill came out.
“There she is!” Holly said, nudging Jake in the ribs.
“Thanks for making it easier, Pru,” Jake said. “She's dressed as herself tonight.”
“Perhaps her disguise is in her overnight bag,” Holly noted, eyeing the small black duffel bag Pru had slung over her shoulder.
They watched her walk down the path and head toward the Volvo instead of the Jaguar she preferred to drive.
“Off we go,” Jake said, trailing Pru's car down the street at a safe distance.
“She's headed to Down Hill,” Holly said. “Back to the auto body shop?”
“We shall see,” Jake said.
She didn't head to the auto body shop. She drove to the parking lot at the Down Hill square, turned off her car's lights and ignition, and then tucked her hair up inside a hat and slipped on the sunglasses. She got out of her car, slinging the duffel bag over her shoulder, and ran into the public restroom near the playground.
“Why do I doubt she suddenly has to use the facilities?” Jake said.
“Yup, I have a feeling our brown- or red-haired rock-and-roller is going to emerge.”
Ten minutes later, she did. As Pru Dunhill came out of the women's restroom, Holly's mouth dropped open. The brown wig was teased a bit wilder, the makeup a little heavier, the skirt a little shorter. Pru looked like a Down Hill babe on her way to a hot party.
Pru threw the duffel bag into the trunk and grabbed a small purse, then she crossed the parking lot and headed for the auto body shop. There was a skip in her step.
Or so it seemed, Holly thought Pru was going toward the shop, but it wasn't the shop she was headed for.
“Oh, God, Jake,” Holly said, panic rising. “She's headed into Morrow's Pub! For someone about to do some dirty business, Pru sure seems cheerful. Is she going after Lizzie's mother?”
“Let's go in,” Jake said.
They got out of their car and raced to Morrow's. “Wait, Jake,” Holly said. “Maybe we should spy through the window first, find out what she's up to.”
“We don't have to be careful,” Jake said. “She has no idea that we're on to her. Just be mindful of not staring at her or acting any differently. You're just Holly Morrow, stopping into your aunt's pub for some dinner.”
He was right. Okay, Holly-girl. Deep breath and head on in. Act naturally.
“Just remember that, in disguise, she has no reason to get nervous about us being in there,” Jake whispered to Holly. “And it's perfectly natural for us to be here. Nothing will happen to your aunt while we're there, Holly. I promise you that.”
Holly took a deep breath. “Okay, Jake. Let's go.”
The moment they walked in, they were greeted at the door by Lizzie's mom and given the best seat in the house, near the window overlooking the back garden. Pru was sitting alone at a table for two, facing toward the wall. She'd exchanged the sunglasses for regular glasses, leopard-print red frames. Holly had never known Pru Dunhill to wear glasses.
“She seems to be really studying the menu,” Holly noted.
“Or pretending to,” Jake commented. “If she noticed us come in, she's giving nothing away.”
Pru ordered a pitcher of beer, a platter of buffalo wings and an order of nachos. Nothing that the elite Miss Dunhill would ever consume normally.
“What is going on?” Holly whispered. “I assume she's meeting the mystery man, but it's looking more like a date.”
Jake shrugged. “Things are getting weirder by the minute.”
The door opened and an attractive man, early thirties, Holly figured, wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit with the name tag Dan on the chest pocket, glanced around, smiled at the sight of Pru's back, and then sat down at her table.
The mystery man!
“Jake,” Holly whispered, “That has to be our guy! He's the same height, same build. Put a baseball cap on him, and he's our guy!”
“Perhaps,” Jake said, confusion on his handsome face. “But he's also a
good
guy.”
“You know him?” Holly asked? “Who is he?”
“Dan Martin,” Jake whispered, leaning close. “He was a couple of years ahead of us in school. He's definitely one of the mechanics at the auto body shop. He handles imported cars, the fancy ones, like our gal there drives. I've played poker with him a few times. He
is
a good guy. If he's involved in hurting Lizzie and her bridal party, I'd be absolutely shocked.”
Holly seemed to absorb all that. “I wish we could hear their conversation.”
“I think we should go say hi to my old buddy,” Jake said. “I want to see who he introduces us to. And how she reacts.”
Holly smiled. “Good idea.”
They acted as though they were heading to the jukebox. “Dan Martin?” Jake asked. “Is that the best poker player in town sitting right here?”
“One and the same,” Dan said, smiling.
Holly quickly glanced at Pru and smiled. Pru was looking up at Holly and Jake with a pleasant expression on her face and as though she'd never seen them before in her life.
Pru Dunhill was one heck of an actress.
“It's been a long time,” Jake said to Dan.
“Yeah, because you're driving American and are a terrible poker player.”
Jake laughed. “Dan, this is Holly Morrow. Her aunt Louise owns the place.” He looked at Pru, waiting for an introduction.
“Well, Jake, meet Suzy, love of my life,” Dan said, taking Pru's hand. “We met just a week ago and can't get enough of each other. Suzy, this is Jake Boone. He's a private investigator.”
Suzy?
Holly thought.
What is Pru up to?
Pru smiled at Jake and Holly. “Nice to meet you,” she said in a high-pitched voice.
If Holly wasn't one hundred percent sure this woman was Pru Dunhill, she wouldn't have recognized her. Aside from the wild wig, tinted eyeglasses, and rock-concert-esque outfit, she wore glittery eyeshadow and lots of pinky-red lipstick.
“And this is Holly Morrow,” Jake said. “Nice to meet you, too, Suzy.”
Pru offered a small smile. “You, too,” she said in a voice that wasn't her own. Had Pru been taking how-to-disguise-your-voice lessons?
What the heck was going on?
“Well, good seeing you, Dan. Nice to meet you, Suzy,” Jake said, and then, smiles and pleasantries over, they headed back to their own table.
“They're holding hands, smooching over the table,” Holly said, incredulous. “I don't get it. Blond Pru and Dan argue and fight, yet redheaded Pru and Dan are in love?”
“Let's just chow down on some wings and listen in and hope she gives something away,” Jake said.
Two baskets of wings later, Holly's stomach so full she couldn't even take another sip of her soda, Pru Dunhill had given nothing away. For an hour, Pru in disguise had had the time of her life, talking, kissing, even dancing to a couple of songs on the jukebox. No one recognized her.
“You're sure he's a good guy?” Holly whispered. “No chance he's a thug in disguise? Hurling stones through bridal shop windows, leaving nasty messages on walls and lawns?”
“I'd bet just about anything on it,” Jake said. “He's the real deal.”
“Then how could he like her?” Holly asked.
Jake smiled. “She's not âher,'” Jake pointed out. “She's Suzy.”
Holly glanced over at where Suzy and Dan were sharing a wing between their mouths. They each bit closer and closer until they were kissing.
The front door opened and in walked Dylan and Lizzie. Holly saw Pru freeze, then pretend great interest in the scarred tabletop.
Dylan waved at Jake and Holly, then stopped dead in his tracks. “Pru? Little early for Halloween, isn't it?”
Holly held her breath.
Pru said nothing. She slid the menu closer to her face.
“Pru?” Dylan said, tweaking the menu down with his finger.
“Who's Pru?” her date asked, an expression of confusion on his face.
“I'd know my baby sister anywhere,” Dylan said, grinning.
Pru glared at her brother.
“Suzy, I didn't know you had a brother,” Dan said. “Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Suzy's boyfriend, Dan Martin.” Dan stood and shook Dylan's hand. “Aren't you Dylan Dunhill?”
“Guilty,” Dylan said.
Dan looked from Pru to Dylan. “You're a Dunhill? I thought your last name was Morelli.”
Pru let out a deep breath and took off her glasses. Then she took off the wig. Her blond hair was in a tight low bun at the nape of her neck.
“What the hellâ” Dan began. “You're Pru Dunhill?”
She gnawed her lip, then nodded slowly. “I brought my car in when it was having trouble and you barely gave me the time of day. So I decided to become someone more your style, and you fell for me immediately.”
Dylan, Lizzie, Jake and Holly all stared at Pru.
“Look, I'm not getting this at all,” Dan said, visibly upset. “Are you playing some sort of game?”
Pru shook her head wildly. “Dan, when I saw you for the first time, IâI fell completely in love. That's never happened to me before. I've never had that kind of reaction to any man before. I saw you and then I watched you work for a little bit and it was like I had the wind knocked out of me. I tried to flirt with you, but you weren't interested.”
“And I made that perfectly clear the night I ran into you at your high school reunion,” Dan said. “I happened to be in the Troutville Plaza Hotel that night to have a drink in the bar with an old friend who was there for the reunion, and you came barging in, interrupting. âCome talk to me, Dan. Come have a dance with me.' I told you I wasn't in your class and didn't feel comfortable crashing the party, and you thought I meant your class as in your
station
in life. That's how snobby you are, Pru. I meant your class in
school
.”
“Dan, Iâ”
“But you wouldn't give it up. You made up a story about seeing someone passed out drunk in the woods to get me out there with you, and then you tried plastering yourself against me.”
“I didn't think you'd be able to resist,” Pru said, her eyes downcast.
“Pru, I admit you're a beautiful woman. But I found you and your style very resistible. Yet still, you wouldn't give up. You threw a little tantrum in the woods, throwing rocks to emphasize your point. You were like a child.
That's
Pru Dunhill.”
Ah, the famous fight in the woods. Now that it all made sense, it was still hard to believe.
“No!” she cried. “It isn't! That isn't me. Oh, God, I don't know. Maybe that was me. But it's not me anymore. Since I met youâ”
“Since you met me you've been lying, Pru,” Dan said. “What about the next time you came to the shop? You made up a lie about your car dying near the railroad tracks so that I would come with you. You lied through your teeth!”
That must have been the day when Aunt Louise had seen Dan and Pruânot in disguiseâwalking down to the tracks.
“Oh, yeah, like lying would really make you appeal to me,” he said, exasperated.
“Let me finish, please,” Pru said. “I knew I'd blown it that day, and I didn't know how else to get you to give me a chance, so I came over to the shop looking a lot different to see how you'd react, and you asked me out right away.”
“So you are a lie. One big lie.”
“No!” Pru said. “I'm the same person! Just different clothes and hair!”