“We’re buying a boat!” Shay stated with a bright smile. “That’s what Rand’s been doing. He’s looking at boats! He was going to surprise me, but he could tell I was upset and he told me, finally. I mean, I’ve been trying to watch my spending because he told me to but he never said why and now I know. I can’t believe I was acting like such a fool. I’m sorry I dragged you into this, but at least I know now what he’s been up to.”
“A boat?” Anne sat stupefied at her admission. Was he really planning on buying a boat?
“Yeah, right? Before we had the kids we talked about it all the time. We always wanted one, and then the kids came, and then…you know, everything that goes along with having kids and the timing just…sucked. I’m so excited, Anne!” she beamed before taking another sip and setting the glass down on the end table.
“Come on, do you want a tour of the house? Personally, I hate to move, I love this place, but I’d rather have a small house and an awesome boat, so I guess I’m Ok with it,” she chattered as she stood up.
They wandered quietly through the rooms before Shay slid open a pocket door near the rear of the home.
“This is Rand’s man cave,” she uttered before wandering in and flicking on the light. Anne’s eyes widened at the trophies lining one side of the room, photographs of every shape and size gracing the walls. Most of them were scenes from football games. A few looked to be college team photos and some looked to be older photos of younger players.
A large, impressive desk took up a prominent place of residence along one wall; a large diploma was framed behind it. She glanced at the school, her eyes widening before turning to Shay.
“Full ride to Stanford. He was an awesome quarterback. 2nd string, but he was a legend around here. I think he could’ve gone Pro, but he thought he would just get stuck in a practice squad. Besides, he was really into his studies. He wanted to be a doctor at one point,” she chatted as she stepped further into the room.
“He gave that up and went into Business instead. It was too hard trying to do Pre-Med and play football at the same time, ya know?”
Anne took another long look around the room, amazed at the sight before her. Rand was the epitome of humble. He never mentioned any of this to her. Of course, their discussions were typically centered on business or more accurately, shifty business, at least lately.
A framed photo perched on top of the credenza next to his desk caught her eye. It was placed strategically so that it almost appeared he could look at it from his desk. Her feet wandered over to it before Shay joined her. It was a picture of several football players with their arms hanging over each other’s shoulders and several, shorter cheerleaders in front of them. All of the faces were either laughing or smiling brightly at the camera. A much younger Rand was looking down at what appeared to be a younger Shay standing next to…
Shelby Collins? It had to be. She was radiant in the picture, her blonde hair shining and almost overtaking the focus of the picture.
“I love this picture,” Shay stated softly. Do you see how he’s looking down? I swear that man never gave me any indication that was interested in me and then I look at this picture and it’s clear as day. I can’t believe we waited so long to get together,” she stated almost lovingly.
“Very…sweet,” Anne mumbled as she continued to stare at the blonde. A feeling of unease washed through her.
Maybe she was intimidated by the other woman’s beauty, or maybe it was the fact that Ian was once married to the woman in the photo. Maybe she was self-conscious. Whatever it was, it caused her to look away. She turned to find Rand leaning against the door to the room.
It caused a small gasp to escape from her throat.
“Oh! Hey babe,” Shay stated happily as she walked over to Rand; giving him a quick peck on the cheek and stepping back.
“You’re snooping in my man cave?” he asked looking from one woman to another. Suddenly, Anne felt very…intrusive.
“I’m kidding Anne, you look like I’m going to start bitching at you,” he laughed out.
“I…you never told me…” she indicated the walls with her hands.
“You never asked,” he responded lightly. “Besides, that was another life,’ he shrugged his large shoulders.
“So, what are you doing here? Please tell me she wasn’t here for dinner,” he stated before turning his attention to Shay.
“Sure was,” she answered brightly.
“Oh god. You probably think we’re a bunch of heathens…” he breathed out before rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.
“It was very entertaining,” Anne admitted.
“I saved her from Irene,” Shay stated as a look passed from her to Anne.
“Irene? That old bat? Never mind. Dinner here was probably much more palatable, huh?”
“Rand can’t stand her. Personally, I feel bad for her. She’s had a crap life.” Shay stated before turning toward the hallway.
“Doesn’t matter, she’s still evil,” he countered in a lower voice generating a smile from Anne.
“I made you a plate,” they could both hear from down the hall before Rand spoke.
“What was for dinner?” he asked Anne with a somewhat worried look.
“Fishsticks, tater tots, mac & cheese.”
“Blech,” he responded with a grimace before turning.
“Rand?” Anne’s voice caused him to pause and turn back toward her.
“Are you really buying a boat?” she whispered seriously.
“What?”
“Shay said you’ve been looking at boats?” she asked with an almost sly look in her eyes.
“Yes?” he responded in an almost sheepish tone.
“You better buy her a boat,” she stated forcefully before jabbing a finger at his chest. She turned on her heel and walked down the hall.
She could hear his soft laugh behind her.
*****
Ian McClellan’s message to you:
Answer your damn phone.
“Well then,” she blew out a noisy breath as soon as the message appeared later the next morning. Apparently he must have tried calling a few times according to her missed call log on her desk phone.
She immediately dialed his extension.
It rang twice before he picked up.
“What the hell, Annie,” he seemed to snap at her.
“Why! Helloooo there, and how are you today? Hmm? ‘Cause you sure seem chipper…” she stated in a low voice as she scanned the room.
“I called you last night.”
“I know,” she stated very seriously.
“Were ya at the bar again?” he asked in a clearly annoyed tone.
“Nope.”
“Really? Not getting pissed with the twenty-year olds?”
“Nope.” She smiled as she enunciated the P.
“So…”
“If you must know, I went to Rand and Shay’s for dinner,” she all but whispered. She was relatively sure everyone else was in the lab. She looked around again for good measure.
“Oh! I bet that was fun, eh?”
“It was, actually, those kids are hilarious,” she answered honestly.
“I know. I make it a point to visit them whenever I come to America. Anne?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you like children?” he asked softly.
Where did that come from?
“Ahh…yes?” she answered after a moment.
“Did you ever…want to have any of your own?” he asked in an almost cautious sounding voice. It was completely unlike his normal tone.
“Why are you asking me this?” She gripped the phone tighter and scanned the room again.
“Just conversation. So did you?” he asked.
“No. No, I never….well, there was school and then work and…” she trailed off.
“What about now?” he asked.
“Now?” She suddenly felt her nerves rise up. What was he after?
“No?” she responded, confused.<
br />
“No?” He repeated.
“I guess not. I’m too old and set in my ways to change my life so abruptly. There. Is that what you wanted to know? Why do you want to know?”
“Like I said, conversation,” his voice sounded much more confident suddenly. “So, can ya be home at six tonight? I want to take you on a date. That is, if you can keep yerself out of the bar…”
Ryan appeared at the corner of her cubicle.
“Yes. I believe that would be acceptable,” she answered in a cool professional tone as she looked up at him.
“Is someone there?” she could hear through the phone.
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe after dinner we can play with your little toy? You can pretend it’s me pounding in to you,” he started before she interrupted him with a nervous cough.
“That could possibly be arranged,” she felt her body clench and her stomach flutter.
“…my tongue sliding in and out of you…” he stated in a low rasp.
“I will certainly consider that. Thank you. If that’s all…” she stated in a louder voice.
“…screaming my name…”
“Yes. Yes I will. Ok, then. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone with a distinct click before smiling nervously at Ryan. Hopefully her cheeks weren’t beet red.
A blip sounded from her computer but she refused to look at it. This was awkward enough.
“Carol asked me to grab you, she wants you to look at something,” Ryan nodded his head toward the lab. Anne immediately pushed back her chair but not before noticing the small smiley face emoticon rolling back and forth in her instant message box apparently laughing.
Ian McClellan, company owner and all around Master of Intimidation sent her an emoticon. She had to clamp her lips and hold back the smile and accompanying giggle that wanted to escape.
*****
She closed her eyes as the ringing continued a few days later. The number on the screen wasn’t entirely familiar but the area code was. Philadelphia. Dwyer Oncology, to be more precise.
That was never a good sign.
They didn’t call you if it was good news.
She simply wouldn’t answer it.
Finally, the tone stopped and a small ting sounded, heralding a voice mail.
She wouldn’t listen to it. She concentrated on Ron’s notes in front of her instead.
Her desk phone began to ring, the same number displayed on the digital readout.
A loud sigh burst from her as she squeezed her eyes shut and placed her hands over her ears tightly. If anyone should happen by her desk, she would look absolutely ridiculous, but she didn’t care. She popped one eye open after a few moments and immediately removed her hands when she noticed the readout was blank once again. The red light on top of the receiver flicked on and glowed like some sort of beacon.
A beacon of doom.
A small blip sounded on her computer causing a forceful “Geez US,” to burst from her mouth.
Ian McClellan’s message to you:
Good morning.
“Oh,” she sighed as her nerves calmed instantly before another blip sounded.
Ian McClellan’s message to you:
Can you talk?
Can I talk? They talked all weekend. They talked each night this week about random, safe things minus one very important thing.
He still hadn’t told her about selling the facility. One would think…well, maybe not. Still, she was hoping he could at least trust her.
Beth’s words rushed back to her, serving to knock some sense into her. Her hand reached out and grabbed the receiver as she dialed his extension.
*****
He drummed his fingers on the desk, his mind elsewhere as the voice droned on from the speaker on his desk phone later that afternoon.
He should be concentrating. He should be paying attention, but all he could focus on was the big red circle on his calendar. He didn’t put it there. Mrs. Craigh did, the sneaky wench.
He would see Anne again in four days. Four long, drawn out days that he was sure would feel like a month.
“Ian?”
“Hmm?”
“I asked if we received a counteroffer yet. Anything?” the deep male voice asked.
He traced the bright red circle on his desk calendar.
“No,” he responded absently.
“Should I call the agent today?” he heard as his eyes snapped to the phone.
“Call them and tell them they have one week or we’ll pull the offer and find something else. This has dragged on too long. I’m tired of playing games,” he grumbled as he sat up straighter in his chair. “I want this thing settled before the end of the quarter. Period. Go ahead and call them, report back to me. Does anyone have anything else?” he asked in a clearly agitated voice.
Silence.
“Good.” He pressed the speaker button on the phone effectively cutting off the call. Almost immediately, Mrs. Craigh’s voice filled the room through the small phone.
“Ian? You have a call on Line Three,” she stated.
“Who is it?” he asked as he stacked papers and stuffed them into a manila folder perhaps a bit too messily. Mrs. Craigh could put them in some semblance of order later…
“Daniel Lyons?” The name caused his hands to stop moving as he stared at the phone.
“Ian?”
He must have been silent too long.
“Put him through,” he said as he continued to stare at the phone.
“Ian,” he heard Daniel’s voice a moment later.
“Yes?”
“I need to see you. I have the report,” he started in what could only be described as a grave tone.
“Can’t ya just…”
“Trust me,” Daniel cut him off, “I need to show you something. When are you free? I can come now,” he added.
“That’s…fine.” He would have to cancel a call, but at that moment he couldn’t have cared less about that. He was more concerned about what Daniel felt was so important that warranted a face to face.
“Is it…bad?” Ian asked cautiously.
“You have no idea,” was his answer.
Chapter Sixteen
“First off, can I just ask…this Anne…do you know her very well? I mean…does she function?” Daniel asked later that day. His expression set off warning bells inside of Ian’s head as he stared at the other man.
“She’s a bit…closed off, I guess. But otherwise…I guess she seems…normal,” Ian answered tentatively. Of course, if she truly seemed normal, they wouldn’t be having this conversation, Ian thought. “Why do you ask?” he added. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the other man. Daniel’s answering swallow seemed pronounced and audible as if he were choking down a lump.
Daniel took a deep breath before setting the folder on the desk in front of him.
“First of all,” he started as he pulled papers from the small red encasement, “the picture you sent me is not the Anne Bennett that I investigated.” He set two pictures side by side in front of Ian. He was too busy staring at Daniel to look down.
“I mean, it is Anne Bennett,” he added hastily, “just…modified.”
Ian looked down and his hands immediately grasped both pictures and pulled them toward him. The picture on the left was the one she texted him. The picture of the two of them standing on top of the castle. The one on the left…was the picture that came up during his search a couple of months ago. The woman staring back at him bore little resemblance to the woman on the right. She was heavier in the face, her nose was far too large for her face and yet…it was there. The shape of the eyes, the lips, the chin… She most definitely had plastic surgery at some point and he couldn’t blame her. He himself had gone under the knife to correct the atrocity he was born with. If that was the worst of it, he really didn’t have much to worry about, he decided.
“It gets worse,” Daniel stated, causing Ian’s eyes to snap to him as he laid the pictures down. “Much worse,”
Daniel added, causing apprehension to course through Ian’s body. “I don’t even know where to start,” Daniel stated gravely.
“Start at the beginning,” Ian said simply, furls of dread developing in the pit of his stomach for some odd reason.
Daniel took another loud breath as he grabbed the few remaining papers from the folder.
“She was born outside of Sacramento California in a small town, her father was a Chemistry Professor at a college there; her mother was a stay at home mom. She had…a younger sister. From what I gather, Anne was of extremely advanced intelligence, skipping two grades in elementary and middle school and taking college courses as young as fourteen. I found quite a few mentions of her in the local paper winning science awards, scholarships for advanced study. She was, I guess you would say, a child prodigy of sorts. I mention this because it…comes into play.” He looked extremely uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat.
“When she was…sixteen, she umm…gah, I don’t even know how to say this…” he trailed off before shaking his head.
“What?” Ian asked as he leaned forward unconsciously.
“She...” He took another breath and blew it out. “Her father was molesting her sister. She was…thirteen. Anne apparently told a guidance counselor at her school and the police brought him in for questioning that same day.” Daniel’s eyes were glued to the paper in front of him. “They let him go, Ian.”
“What? Why?” he all but gasped out as his hands gripped the armrests on his chair.
“He…well, it’s rather vague what I could gather, but there was a question as to Anne’s credibility…”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll get to that in a moment. This gets much worse,” he admitted before continuing. “He was released and he…shot and killed the mother and the sister at their home. Anne was at a science fair after school that day. She found them, but only after…you won’t…”
“What?” Ian asked, glad he was seated. His legs were entirely numb.
“He committed suicide in front of her.”
Any air in his lungs was gone by the time Daniel finished his sentence.
“I know…I…couldn’t believe it myself. Can you imagine?” Daniel spoke to himself as he took the front paper and placed it behind the others.
Absolute Zero Page 37