Searching for Secrets — Elaine Orr

Christa Heckertt did not expect to interrupt an intruder trying to steal parts from the computers her Iowa City fourth-grade class had won in the mayor's competition. And the last thing Kirk Reynolds wanted was to be called from a drug surveillance to investigate an attempted burglary at Buckingham Elementary School. But the burglary throws them together-Kirk who wants enough evidence to convict the man who sold the drugs that killed his nephew and Christa who wants to get control of her life again.But thieves still want the newly won computers. They kidnap Kirk's niece and demand the computer hard drives in exchange for the 5-year old - and they want only Christa to make the exchange. Later, they chase Christa from her apartment to an abandoned cellar and run Kirk's truck off the road. An encoded file on one computer's hard drive - which Christa has secretly traded for her own in an attempt to outwit the kidnapers - lets Christa and Kirk know that whomever wants them is expecting to trade a 'delivery' for $400,000 that has been deposited in a local bank.Their attraction to each other is growing, but Christa and Kirk are too stubborn to admit it. Can they fend off the effects of their pasts as well as the threats from whomever now wants them out of the way so the 'delivery' can be complete. Who are their enemies? Is it local drug dealer Freddy Chambers or his unknown accomplice? What would they do without the avuncular local computer store owner Mr. Watkins or Kirk's fellow police officer, Mark Hadley? The one thing they can agree on is that he is a good friend.On Halloween eve, Christa eludes Freddy's attempt to silence her for good and she and Kirk follow Freddy to a wealthy suburb. Can Kirk and Christa keep him from making that delivery and find out who his partners are? And will they survive the ordeal that has tested their love?