She couldn’t explain the anxious feeling that lingered with her throughout the day. It was some strange leap in her stomach that popped up every time she thought of his name. David Shelton. It all started yesterday with an early evening phone call and the request to view a property. Two Glen Ivy Road, was a humongous bazillion-dollar estate that had been sitting in inventory for the past several months. Between herself and her partner, Iris, Platinum Properties had shown the estate at least two dozen times with no call backs. Lookey Loos. But today’s meeting with this client would be different. Katherine felt it in her bones. She heard it in his voice.

There was something about that brief phone conversation last night that just pulled at Katherine, almost intrigued her. OK…attracted her. Was it David's persistence to get an appointment “with her as soon as possible.” Maybe it was the slight hesitations when he spoke, or the way his voice came across so sincere and interested in the estate. All Katherine knew was that she was thankful she was free to show the property the following afternoon and see for herself.

Still, Katherine knew nothing about the intriguing David Shelton. During her usual “pre –meeting” Google search, “David Shelton” in quotes or without, showed no direct hits. Unless you count the webpage of a Dr. David E. Shelton, PhD, the 90 year old professor from Duluth. Impossible. The rich velvety voice and charisma that leaked through the phone lines could in no way have come out of ol’ Doc Shelton. As she wound her car through the final stretch of road leading to the estate, Katherine tried to conger up yet another image of the face that matched that voice.

Katherine stopped in front of the gates and punched the access code into the keypad. As she waited for the big iron gates to swing open, she noticed the shiny black Jaguar pull up behind her. Perfect car for the man of mystery, she thought to herself. She rolled down her window and gave a slight wave of her hand to signal him in behind her.  As he followed her up the steep driveway to the oversized motor court, she glanced in her rear view mirror to try to get a glimpse of him. Unfortunately,the glare from the sun was too strong and all she could see was a shadow.

Once they reached to top of the motorcourt, the black car hesitated, waited for Katherine to park, then took a spot on the opposite side. Shaking her head, Katherine cut off her engine and gave a sideways glance to the car and that man, sitting about 40 feet in the distance. "The mysterious Mr. David Shelton", she said aloud. Let’s see what you’re all about."

Katherine did a cursory make up check in her visor mirror, then stroked her tongue across her teeth as she always did before making an entrance. It’s Showtime! she said under her breath, then pushed the car door open and leaned out. Through his tinted windows, Katherine caught a glimpse of the shadow looking in her direction from inside of the dark Jaguar. On a whim, she pulled her body back in, stretched one long leg out of her door, and let just the point of her shoe touch the pavement. Only a black stiletto and an outstretched bronzed leg peeked out from the car. She strategically kept the rest of her body from view by pretending to fish for her briefcase in the passenger seat. She read in Cosmo that flashing just a leg out of the car and holding that pose for a minute or so adds an air of intrigue to a girl. Contrived? Yes. But since reading that tidbit a few years back, Katherine adopted it as her signature “getting out of the car” move.

After what she considered long enough to catch Mr. Shelton’s attention, and long enough to get an annoying leg cramp, she did a graceful swivel and stepped out onto the hot pavement. Mr. Shelton stayed in his car for yet another minute, got out, then quickly disappeared into a blinding prism of sunlight. As he emerged from the hazy halo, his features were fuzzy at first, then they abruptly snapped into focus. 

“Son of a bitch!” was all she could manage to wheeze out from under the sudden tightness that cut off her breath. A rush of heat jolted through her body and her face grew flaming hot. “Paul Christanos?” His name barely escaped her now parched mouth. "What the hell do I do now?" There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide, at least not anymore. It was all Katherine could do to just steady herself as the ghost from her past came walking towards her.