Chapter 2

Sarah lay back on the bed to think about the arrangements she and Ed had made. She was still slightly uneasy about living in this house. She also realized that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Ed Sensa was like an angel sent to save her from herself. Within a few minutes the exhaustion caused by the bus trip and the tension lulled her into a peaceful sleep. Her sleep was interrupted by a dream of her marriage dissolving and the events after. Her parents had become overbearing in their attempts to get Sarah to go back to Carson on her knees and beg him to take her back. They did not know, and Sarah did not tell them, that Carson was happy with the 22-year-old secretary from the insurance company and did not want her back. Carson and his new bride were already planning a family. Children were something Sarah could not give him.

Sarah awoke slowly and looked at the clock radio. She was shocked to see that it was a little after 6 o'clock although it was still light outside. Sarah sat up in bed and then realized that she had a light cover over her. She did not have a cover over her when she went to bed. She glanced at the clock radio again and saw that there was a note next to it. Sarah picked it up and read it. Ed had apparently covered her and had left a note instructing her to push the intercom button on the phone to let him know that she was awake.

Sarah picked up the phone and pushed the intercom button. Ed immediately answered, " Well, you finally woke up huh?" "Yes," she replied sleepily. "Come on down to the office and we'll eat something," Ed said into the phone. Sarah nodded and hung up the phone. She laughed at herself when she realized what she had done. "I'm sure that Ed did not see my head nod," she said to herself. She walked into the bathroom and noticed that Ed had put soap, a new toothbrush and a fresh tube of toothpaste in the bathroom. She washed up and brushed her teeth and went down stairs.

Ed was working at the computer. He looked up and smiled. "Let's go into the kitchen and get something to eat," he said. "I'm afraid we'll have to rough it tonight, all I have is sandwiches and I made a salad," he apologized. "I usually just grab something fast or go out and eat." "I'm afraid I don't eat very healthy." Sarah assured him that that would be fine. Ed brought a salad from the refrigerator and a plate of lunchmeat and cheese. He set the salad and lunchmeat platter down and went to the refrigerator to get condiments and bread. "What would you like to drink?" he asked. "I have soda, iced tea or I could fix some coffee." "Iced tea will be fine," Sarah replied. They started eating and talking. Sarah asked about the house and Ed started telling her, in great detail, about the house. Sarah saw that Ed was very proud of his house. He went on for about an hour explaining the trials and tribulations of building your own house. Ed suddenly stopped talking. "I'm sorry," he said with a grin. "That's OK," Sarah, said, "I can see that it was a labor of love for you." "Not really," he answered, "It was really therapy." Sarah could sense the deep pain he felt over the breakup of his marriage. She wondered how many devils she carried around in her own head. "I noticed the heat vents are in the ceiling, isn't that the wrong place for them?" she asked. Ed smiled, "The vents are only for the air conditioning, the heat is in the floor." "The house is heated and cooled by a geothermal heat pump and the house is super insulated with spray in place foam." "This house is total electric and the utility bills are around $100 a month." "That's amazing for a house this size," she said. Ed stood put and said, "We had better get your clothes so that you can get squared away."

"When do you have to report to work?" "Not until next Monday," she replied. He smiled, "Good, that will give you four days to settle in and rest up." "What is the name of the company?" Ed asked. "Shadow Security Consultants, Inc., Sarah said. "It's a company that does high tech security installations and security consulting for industry and commercial accounts." "I had a first interview about two weeks ago and a telephone interview with the president of the company yesterday," she added. "The president, John Barrett, seems very nice." Ed started grinning, got up from his chair and reached for the phone. After a pause he said, "Marie, how are you?" "Have you gotten rid of that lousy husband of yours yet?" "I'm still waiting to take you away from all of this." "What do you mean I don't have a shot."? "Well, I'll remember that, you are now out of my will." After a few more pleasantries he asked Marie if John could come to the phone. "John, you rat." "How come you didn't tell me that you were hiring an old friend of mine?" he said. "If I had known she was on the market I would have hired her myself." "I'm talking about Sarah Lashely." Ed listened for several minutes before adding, "Yes, she's sitting in my kitchen right now." "She just told me who she was going to work for. Ed paused and handed the phone to Sarah, "He wants to talk to you." John Barrett bellowed into the phone, 'Sarah, why didn't you tell me you knew Ed Sensa"? "You wouldn't have had to go through the second interview, maybe not the first one either." "Why don't you stop over Friday and we'll go to lunch and I'll tell you more about the company and how we intend to utilize your talents?" "We normally have an extensive security check on all new employees, I'm going to waive that for you." "That way you can get right to work the first day." "You wouldn't be a friend of Ed's if you weren't on the up and up." Sarah continued listening and occasionally saying yes or thank you and nodding her head. Sarah handed the phone back to Ed, "He wants to talk to you." "John, you had better treat Sarah right or I will call in a few markers," Ed said with a chuckle. "Alright I promise not to tell her what a monster you really are." With that Ed hung up the phone. "Thanks," Sarah said. "I didn't even think about a security check." "With my credit history and Carson's family, I don't know if I would have a job after they checked me out." "You'll like John Barrett," Ed said. "Lets go get your clothes."

As they drove to the bus terminal, Sarah asked where Ed had met John Barrett. She learned that they had been in the Navy Seals together. What is this about the markers that John owes you?" Sarah asked. "That was just a joke," Ed said with a serious look on his face, "He doesn't owe me anything." Ed got strangely quiet for the rest of the trip. Sarah realized that this was a subject best left alone. They retrieved Sarah's clothes from the locker, stashed them in the Explorer and started back to Ed's house. Sarah did most of the talking on the way back to Ed's house. She mainly talked about the town of Elmer, as she was still uncomfortable talking about herself and her troubles.

Ed handed Sarah the keys to unlock the front door while he unloaded the bags from the car. Ed refused to let Sarah carry the bags upstairs and took them into her bedroom for her. Sarah told Ed that she wanted to hang up her clothes, take a bath and go to bed, as she was exhausted. Ed showed Sarah how to use the whirlpool tub and excused himself. Sarah spent about two hours hanging up her clothes and ironing out a few wrinkles with her travel iron. Sarah filled the whirlpool tub with water as hot as she could stand and lowered herself into the water slowly. The rapidly swirling water seemed to wash all of the tension from her body. She leaned back and just relaxed clearing her mind of all thoughts. Just before she almost fell asleep, she turned off the whirlpool and got out of the tub. After drying herself off she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Not bad for a thirty-eight year old woman she thought. Sarah did not have any extra fat and her breasts were still high and firm. She still got admiring glances for men. Sarah enjoyed running and working out in her gym at home. She would have to find a place to work out after she got back on her feet. Sarah put on her nightgown and the terry cloth robe that she found behind the bathroom door. The bed beckoned her and she lay down and propped her head up on the pillows and grabbed her checkbook from her purse. A glance at the checkbook log showed that she only had $4754 left in her account. She would have to watch every penny until she started getting a regular paycheck if she was to get an apartment and a used car. Within ten minutes her eyes were closed and she was fast asleep. Sarah awoke with a start. It took about 3 seconds for her to realize where she was. The clock radio showed that it was 2:30 A.M. Sarah went to the bedroom window. From the window she could see into the office wing clearly. There was a light on and she could see Ed working at his computer. Occasionally he would get up and go to a print table and take notice of the information he needed and go back to the computer and enter the data he had obtained from the prints. Sarah shook her head. If this is a regular occurrence he is either going to kill himself or he will be 70 years old at the age of 50 Sarah thought. Sarah went back to bed and quickly fell asleep.

Sarah woke up at 7 o'clock, went into the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She slipped on the terry cloth robe and went down stairs to the kitchen. Ed was sitting at the counter drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper. "Don't you ever sleep"? Sarah asked. "I saw that you were still working at 2:30 this morning." "What time did you go to bed"? "I didn't look at the clock," Ed replied. " I guess that is just habit now." "Why"? She asked. "Apparently you do not need the money, can't you watch out for yourself for a change"? Ed just smiled.

"Is there a safe place around here for a woman to jog in the morning"? Sarah asked. Ed looked at her quizzically, "Why would you want to do that." "Come with me." Ed headed for a door in the hallway off of the kitchen. When he opened the door she saw that it lead to steps to the basement of the house. At the bottom of the stairs there was a door. Ed opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and it revealed a large exercise room. In the room was a motorized treadmill, a Bowflex machine, a hot tub and weights with a weight bench. One wall of the room was covered floor to ceiling with mirrors. There was a shower in the corner of the room. "The only thing I ask is that you do not use the weights unless there is someone here to spot you, for safety, " Ed said. "I have a personal trainer in Monday mornings and I will have her include your training." Sarah smiled, "Are there any more surprises in this house"? "Lots," he replied. Ed told her if she would like to work out to just jump in. "I don't think it would be a good idea dressed like this," she said. Ed grinned, "There is a lock on the inside of the door, strip down, exercise, take a shower and come upstairs when you are done. He went to a closet and pulled down a tanning bed that was built into the closet. "You might want to use this too." "I think I will take you up on that," she said. "Now you can leave if you please." Ed got a mischievous look in his eyes and said, "I would rather stay and watch but I will leave you to your workout." Sarah took a playful swing at Ed and he promptly left the room.

Sarah stripped off her robe and nightgown and got on the treadmill. She had never exercised naked before but she liked it. She found that the treadmill was a high-end machine and that she could jog in place on it and slow down to a walk to cool down after her jog. She had never used a Bowflex before, but there was a chart on the wall that showed all of the setups for the various exercises. She used the Boxflex until she started to get sore and then went into the hot tub. As she soaked she thought about how she would pay Ed for his kindnesses. She would insist on paying at least a part of the mortgage on the house although she knew that the mortgage had to be substantial. After ten minutes in the hot tub she got out and dried herself off with one of the towels that were on a shelf next to the hot tub. She got into the tanning bed, set the timer and lay down. After the tanning bed timer went off she did a few mild exercises to cool down. She folded the tanning bed into the closet and straightened the exercise room and made sure that everything was as she had found it and headed for the shower. While taking a shower, she noticed that there was shampoo, conditioner and lotions indicating that other women used the shower at times. She got out of the shower, dried herself off, put on some lotion and got dressed. As she reached for the doorknob to leave she noticed that she had forgotten to lock the door. "Well, no harm done," she thought. "Ed had not come into the exercise room while she was using it." She could not find the light switch to turn off the lights in the exercise room. She left the room and went upstairs to the kitchen.

Chapter 3