Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden Page A

stepped into the hallway to see him kiss his mother on both cheeks. The affection he had for the older woman was evident as he gave her a reassuring hug. “Don’t worry, Mama,” he soothed. “I went up to the top of the bell tower on St. Mark’s to get a good look. It’s on the other side of the river and won’t get anywhere near us.” When he released his mother and saw Mollie, there was a stiffening of the muscles in his face. His humor vanished, replaced by the formality she was accustomed to.
    “Miss Knox,” he said cautiously. “What brings you to this part of town so late on a Sunday evening?”
    It was awkward to have a blunt conversation in front of the man’s beaming parents, but there was no help for it. “I came to discuss business.”
    He disengaged his arm from Mrs. Kazmarek’s shoulders. “Mother, will you get us something to drink? I’m parched.”
    As Mr. and Mrs. Kazmarek went to the kitchen, he shrugged out of his overcoat. “Please don’t take this amiss,” he said with his back to her as he hung the coat, “but in the future, I would prefer that you didn’t call at my home. It looks bad.”
    “Such a concern for propriety,” she said. “The irony.”

    He turned at her sarcastic tone. “What is that supposed to mean?” he demanded.
    Mollie stepped a little closer and lowered her voice so his mother would not overhear. “I found out exactly why you people are so adamant I sell out by Monday morning. It won’t work. At nine o’clock tomorrow morning I will be at the courthouse so I can prove you tried to lie and swindle us out of a fortune.”
    He stiffened. His polite demeanor evaporated and his eyes narrowed. “I don’t take words like that lightly.”
    “I don’t use them lightly,” she said in a harsh whisper. “We found the deed.”
    “What deed?” he snapped.
    “The deed to half an acre on Columbus Street. At nine o’clock tomorrow morning, I will be at the courthouse with my attorney to verify my ownership of half an acre sitting beneath Hartman’s store. And if you dare cancel the contract on our quarterly shipment of watches, I’ll assert ownership to a portion of the building as well.”
    “Don’t threaten me.” If his tone were any colder there would be ice crystals in the air.
    She raised her chin a notch. “You’ve been threatening me all week.”
    Mr. Kazmarek glanced down the hallway at his parents, but they were still preoccupied in the kitchen and paying them no mind. That didn’t stop Mr. Kazmarek from clenching his jaw and leaning down to speak to her in a menacing whisper. “Miss Knox, here is a piece of free legal advice. Don’t ever show up at my house and call me a liar in front of my parents.”
    “I don’t know a prettier word for it,” Mollie said. “Why else would you leave us so little time to make a decision? And right before you were to pay us for the quarterly shipment.”
    Mr. Kazmarek turned away from her as though he couldn’tbear to meet her eyes. With an angry jerk he shrugged out of his suit jacket so quickly a gold cuff link went flying. He tossed his jacket onto the table and scooped up the cuff link. He glared at her as he refastened it.
    “Miss Knox, you are a beautiful woman, and I have always admired your commitment to your business, but you know nothing of judgment or of human behavior. If you did, you would never have come into my home and used words like swindle and liar .”
    His tone was scathing, and the heat simmering in his eyes made her pause. She drew her breath to suggest they step outside where they could speak openly when a boom shattered the night.
    Mollie flinched and covered her ears. The windowpanes rattled and a vase slipped off a table, smashing on the floor. Mrs. Kazmarek’s screech came from the kitchen. “What happened?” she hollered.
    Zack raced to a window, and even from a distance Mollie could see an orange fireball in the sky, pillars of flames shooting straight upward. His face went