Of course, people weren’t really missing until twenty-four hours had elapsed, and though April was a minor, the fact that she would be eighteen the following January, and she had been with her boyfriend when she had disappeared, certainly took the edge off it for the police; she could hear that in their kind but cautious way of dealing with her. But they would check all records of traffic accidents and get back to her.
Small comfort.
At seven o’clock she phoned Jillian at home. “I won’t be able to come in today,” Kate whispered. “April’s missing.”
“What?” Jillian demanded on a gasp, and Kate gave her the facts as she knew them.
By noon, Kate couldn’t stand it any longer. She placed a call to Jake, steeling herself for what could only be an emotional exchange. But Jake was in a meeting, his secretary informed her. Would she like to leave a message?
“No, thank you,” Kate murmured, hanging up. She couldn’t pace around the house any longer without going completely berserk.
In the end she returned to work, burying herself in the myriad of details that made up her life: scheduling auditions, soothing wounded egos, calling about overdue payments. Jillian eyed her with concern, and even she seemed subdued today, her bright red heels exchanged for a pair of dark blue, her generally hard to tame curly hair pulled into a discreet bun at the back of her neck.
Near quitting time she stepped into Kate’s office and said sympathetically, “Kate, if there’s anything I can do, just name it.”
Kate tried on a smile which seemed to reach only some of the muscles of her mouth. “I’m just so scared,” she admitted. “This isn’t like April.”
Jillian nodded. “Did anything happen? I mean, something to keep her from coming home?”
“No.” Kate felt as if her head was mush, her bones liquified. She had no strength left, and it was an effort to think.
“Have you talked to Jake? Maybe that would make you feel better.”
Kate couldn’t speak. Her throat closed in on itself, hot and aching. Jillian didn’t know about her broken engagement, but she understood her feelings. It was too much. Kate, who before her renewed acquaintance with one Jacob Talbot had rarely ever cried, felt her eyes burn once more. She inhaled a trembling breath, fighting, but it was no use.
“Hey…” Jillian came around her desk and put an arm over her shoulders.
“You wanted me to go out on another date with Michael,” she said with an attempt at humor. “I’m available.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jake and I—aren’t seeing each other anymore.” Swiping at her tearing eyes, she hoped she didn’t sound as pathetic as she thought she did.
“What? Why not?”
“Because…because I…because I told him something unforgivable about myself.”
“There is nothing unforgivable about you,” Jillian said, squeezing her shoulders. “Come on, Kate. You’re perfect. The perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect businessperson. The perfect friend! I don’t care what he thinks, he’s wrong.”
Kate made a sound of protest. “I told him he was April’s biological father,” she whispered.
Jillian slowly withdrew her support, coming around Kate’s desk to face her across its cluttered surface. She leaned on her forearms. “Oh, Kate. Why did you tell him that?”
“It’s the truth. Jake and I were lovers in high school. He left me pregnant and I married Ben. He never knew about April.”
Jillian sank into the customer chair, blinking rapidly, the stuffing knocked out of her. She tried to speak several times, but finally all she got out was, “Really.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should have told him long ago, but he wasn’t a part of my life. Ben wanted everyone to think April was his. When he died, I should have come clean with Jake and April, but I didn’t. Oh, Jillian, it hurts so bad,” Kate murmured tremulously, “and I have no one to blame but myself.”
“When did you tell him this?”
“Last night.”
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute!” Jillian’s hands covered her mouth. “April didn’t know?”
“No, I kept my promise to Ben.”
“And you didn’t tell her the truth after he died?”
Kate sucked air between her teeth, gathering courage. “No,” she admitted. “I should have. I hadn’t got there yet.”
“Where were you when you told Jake?”
“At my house, in the living room.”
“Where was April?” Jillian practically shouted.
“Oh, no. No.” Kate moved her hands dismissively. “She wasn’t around. I know that. Do you think I would have mentioned it if she were?”
“No, of course you wouldn’t,” Jillian expelled.
But Jillian’s words started wheels turning in Kate’s brain, terrible little thoughts churning madly. “Oh, Jillian.” She bit into her lower lip to stop its trembling. “Oh, Jillian.”
“What?” Jillian’s eyes were huge, scared.
“We were in the living room. There was no one there, but Ryan’s car was out front at first. I know it was. I thought he and April left while we were talking because it wasn’t there later. I thought it was strange that we never saw them.”
“Could they have overheard you?” Jillian demanded, asking the question Kate didn’t want to consider.
She moved her head negatively. “There’s nowhere to hide in the house without us hearing them leave.”
“How about an intercom system that was left on?”
“We don’t have one. You can’t hear—” Kate gasped, her eyes flying open wide. “You can’t hear from inside the house, but if you were on the lower patio, beneath the windows.”
“Were the windows open?”
Kate thought back. “I didn’t open them, but April could’ve, and I was in such a state I wasn’t looking.”
They sat in silence. The office phone blasted, making them both jump. Neither moved to answer it.
“If she overheard…” Kate couldn’t finish.
“Then that’s why she left,” Jillian did the deed for her. She climbed from her chair and headed back to her desk, picking up the receiver on the tenth insistent ring.
Now Kate had to tell Jake. They had to go to the police and explain why their daughter was missing. On the positive side, it didn’t look like her disappearance was based on some kind of unexpected accident; on the negative, her emotional state was at stake, and that could ultimately be just as devastating.
Signaling to Jillian, who appeared to be just as shattered as Kate and didn’t seem to be hearing whoever was on the other end of the line, Kate whispered, “I’m going to Talbot Industries to see Jake.”
Jillian nodded. To the voice on the phone she said without her usual bright cadence, “All the callbacks for Nike have been made. I would suspect they’ve already made their selections. There’s another audition coming up later this month. We’ll let you know…”
Jake appeared to laze in the conference room chair, his legs thrust out in front of him, his indolent slouch covering up the fact that he suffered a raging headache and was desperate for something non-alcoholic to drink. How did Phillip do it? he wondered with a pang of anger mixed with admiration. He, Jake, couldn’t pound down a bottle of brandy without suffering serious aftereffects while Phillip seemed to spend most of his natural life under the influence, yet today, when they both needed to be sharp and clear, Jake was dense and fuzzy, and Phillip appeared remarkably alert and sober.
Sober. Well, at least he was that, now. Berating himself for his weakness the night before, Jake resolved never to turn to liquor for an answer. Oh, yes, he felt annihilated by Kate’s confession, but he should have been able to handle it better than he had.
April’s your daughter.
Shaking his head in amazement, he felt thunder roll around inside his skull, and wincing, he lay his head against the back of the chair, viewing the others in the room through narrowed eyes. Did they know he co
uldn’t concentrate? Here, they were discussing one of the most devastating betrayals Talbot Industries had ever faced, yet he was absorbed with his own personal problems.
Some CEO and president you are, Jacob Talbot. You should have insisted Phillip be given the job.
He knew he was being ridiculous, but he was furious with himself and furious with Kate. How could she keep such a secret? How could she? He didn’t doubt its authenticity. Sometimes the truth rang out like a bell on a clear night. He had been hit hard and true, and it still felt like he had been dealt a blow to the solar plexus.
“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” Phillip was arguing with Detective Marsh. “I told you. I had nothing to do with the vandalism at the strip mall or the West Bank. Jake, for God’s sake, wake up and get your friend, here, off my neck!”
“I’m awake.” Jake was terse. They had been at this all afternoon, and now evening had set in with its resultant noise of rush hour traffic. Phillip had opened a window, sweating in spite of the air conditioning, but all he had managed to accomplish was an invitation for more blasting heat, noise and urban dust.
“Hefner named you,” Detective Marsh said for the umpteenth time. His patience must have been wearing thin, but he didn’t show it. Jake supposed it came from dealing with criminals all his adult life. Phillip Talbot, Jr., was no match for his professionalism.
“I wasn’t there,” Phillip bit out through his teeth. He glared at Jake, demanding his corroboration.
Jake had had all he cared to stand. Phillip had dragged him down to the office last night and hammered at him from every angle, alternately bullying and pleading that Jake understand his position. Oh, Jake understood it, all right. Far better than Phillip had intended him to. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it, and it would be a hell of a lot easier if he could forget the way Kate’s amber eyes looked drenched in sorrowful tears, the way her lips quivered, pink and soft and defenseless, the way her legs lay crossed against each other, the skin taut, smooth and femininely curved.
“He was with a woman when the first sabotage occurred,” Jake revealed. “He doesn’t want her named because she’s married.”
Detective Marsh gazed blandly at Phillip, whose lips were tight. Jake couldn’t tell if he was upset that he had finally revealed the truth, or not. “Will she vouch for you?” the detective asked.
“I don’t want to drag her into this.”
“Does it matter?” Jake asked, spreading his hands. “You say you’ve got this Nate Hefner fellow dead to rights. Phillip wasn’t there.”
“Hefner said he broke into the strip mall at your suggestion,” Detective Marsh said to Phillip.
“Why would I do that?” Phillip retorted.
They had been round and round this issue. Jake grimaced, not liking any of it. When the detective refused to go through the whole set of rhetorical questions again, Phillip added, “It’s Nate Hefner’s word against mine.” He was adamant. “I wasn’t there. I’m not in the habit of damaging anyone’s property, especially my own family’s. You said Nate was an employee at the West Bank. He may have a gripe with them, and he wasn’t happy when I fired him from Talbot. The man’s got a screw loose, but it’s not my fault.”
Since this was the same defense Phillip had followed all day, there was nothing left to say. Detective Marsh glanced over at Jake and inclined his head. “We’ll be in touch,” he said as a goodbye; then Jake was left alone with Phillip.
“A fat lot of help you were!” Phillip declared.
“You encouraged Hefner,” Jake said, meeting his brother’s gaze coolly. So far he had kept his thoughts to himself, but the leash on his emotions was worn thin. “You’ve got a lot of resentment over my being head of the company. You want to get back at our father, and you want to get back at me.”
“What are you talking about?” he blustered, taken aback.
“I mean, let’s get to it, Phillip. I can’t prove anything. I don’t even think I want to. But Nate Hefner got the idea in his head that if he did some stuff, you’d look the other way. I talked to Ray Driscoll this morning while you were with Marsh. You remember Ray, don’t you?” Jake didn’t wait for an answer. “He worked with Nate when he was here, and he remembers how buddy-buddy you two were.”
“Ray! There’s a troublemaker!”
“You tried to fire him, too, when he complained about you and Nate drinking too much at lunch. Ray’s supervisor came to me, and I didn’t feel like having a lawsuit on my hands; so no, I refused to fire him. Then, a few months later. Bam! You let Nate go. He knew too much about you.”
Phillip’s face turned purple. He couldn’t speak.
“But you patched things up, obviously,” Jake went on. “So, now look what’s happened. We’re just damned lucky no one’s been seriously hurt.”
“It sounds like you’re blaming me!”
“I’m not saying you’re responsible for the sabotage, but I’d bet money Nate Hefner did it all to get back at you and me. So, what do you want, Phillip?” Jake demanded, cutting through the mess his brother had made.
“You’re way off base,” he growled; but his hand reached behind him for a chair, and he sank down heavily.
“You want the airport property? Is that why you told Torrance’s wife about it? You wanted to squelch the deal with Diamond Corp., so you started an affair with Marcus’s wife, slipping her a little information during pillow-talk time?”
“I want my share,” Phillip admitted tautly. “So, sue me.”
“Well, guess what? Father wants you to have a piece of the company, too. So, if he okays it, the airport property’s yours. Do with it what you want.”
Phillip’s jaw literally dropped open.
“But, in the meantime, if I find out you actually set up Nate Hefner to sabotage Talbot, I’m going straight to the old man, and you’d better hope you’re in a different state by then because if he won’t prosecute you, I will.”
For once Phillip Talbot, Jr., was stunned into speechless contrition. His eyes reddened, and all his bluster was missing, unavailable to him. If Jake could have believed he knew how to feel sorry for his actions, he would have believed it now. But Jake didn’t care. He was sick of the sight of Phillip. Sick of everything.
A soft knock sounded on the conference room door. Pam stuck her head inside. “Ummm. Detective Marsh is still here.”
“He is?” Jake frowned.
“There’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Kate Rose is outside and she thought—I don’t know—that you’d found out her daughter was missing and called the police. She’s talking to Detective Marsh now. Maybe you’d better come out here…”
Chapter Twenty
The door from the conference room clicked open, and Jake walked into the hallway. Kate fought the misery that turned her knees to water. There was an innate grace about Jake, some kind of masculine fluidity that never ceased to catch her attention, and seeing him now, his expression locked in granite, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg forgiveness.
“Detective Marsh?” he asked, by way of approaching the situation.
Marsh gazed sympathetically at Kate. “I don’t know anything about the whereabouts of your daughter.”
Kate nodded, realizing her error too late. She had hysterically assumed that the detective, who was accompanied by a junior officer in a patrolman’s uniform, had been called in by Jake to help find April. Of course he was here for the sabotage. She had just been too distraught to think clearly, and when she had launched into her tale, his silent, blank regard had told her all she needed to know.
But it was too late. Pam, Jake’s secretary, who had overheard Kate’s terrified babbling, had waited only long enough for Kate to stop before she had murmured something about alerting Jake.
Luckily, the one thing Kate had managed to keep from blurting out was Jake’s fatherhood. This was, however, a small victory since someone was sure to wonder why she had jumped to the conclusion about April at Jake’s office. Rig
ht now, they apparently assumed it was because Kate was Jake’s girlfriend.
It didn’t matter anyway. She didn’t care what anyone else thought. She only cared about Jake.
Jake threw Kate a swift glance. “April’s missing?”
Kate swallowed and nodded. “I—already called the police. I just thought—I don’t know. I made a mistake.” Her voice was whispery thin. She couldn’t put any strength behind it.
“How long’s she been missing?” Jake asked.
“Since last night.”
“I’ll check with whoever’s in charge,” Detective Marsh assured them; then he and his junior officer left..
Kate gazed longingly at Jake’s familiar face, and an ache filled her from top to bottom. She didn’t hate him, but she hated loving him so much.
As she stood there, Phillip appeared in the doorway of the conference room. Her gaze flicked to his, which caught Jake’s attention. If his face had been rock before, now it was petrified stone. “I’m leaving,” he told his brother shortly.
“Will you be back today?” Pam asked.
“It’s late. Let’s all go home.” With that Jake headed for the elevators, stabbing the down button.
Kate was too upset to just assume he wanted her to follow him. He was upset, too. As the elevator dinged to a stop, its doors sliding open, Jake glanced her way. Only his eyes betrayed any emotion, and the tired, aching worry she witnessed there convinced her to join him in the elevator for the trip down. He was in no mood to fight with her.
Silence pooled between them until they hit the lobby. Even then, Jake’s terse, “Did you drive?” wasn’t exactly an invitation to chat.
“My car’s out front,” she said, gesturing.
“Mine’s in the downstairs garage. Meet me at my place. We’ll talk,” he said, and then he strode away.
Kate was too undone to do anything but comply, but as she was heading up the elevator to Jake’s eleventh-story condominium, she began to wonder at herself. Just because she was half out of her mind about April didn’t mean she could trust Jake to pick up the slack. After all, he had just learned he was April’s father. She couldn’t expect him to feel as she did.
By Candlelight Page 30