“The body has not been confirmed as Jana Michaels as of yet. The body has decomposed very badly. The coroner needs dental records, and that’s why we need you. Who was her dentist, Mr. Michaels?”
I stop in my tracks. “I have no clue.”
A door at the end of the hallway opens and in steps Beth. Even from here, I can see her eyes are wide and she looks nervous as hell.
I bet she thinks they’re here to take me in!
She tries hard not to run to me but walks as fast as she can. “Channing, what’s going on?” she calls out as she comes toward us. “There are cameras everywhere out there, waiting for you.”
I gesture to her as she approaches us. “Detective Radisson, this is my personal assistant, Beth Stattler.”
He reaches out to shake her hand. “How do you do, Miss Stattler. It’s a pleasure to meet you. A man who runs a fishing service off the Miami coast found a woman’s body, badly decomposed, this afternoon.”
Her face goes pale and her hand covers her mouth. Her eyes dart to mine. “Channing, I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head and put my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be. I’m ready to put this thing to rest and place what is left of her body into a grave for the rest of her family to be able to have some closure about her. They’ve suffered for far too long.”
Beth nods and moves along with us as the detective says, “The news reporters will have a ton of questions to ask you, Mr. Michaels. My advice to you is not to answer anything. Just in case the coroner finds evidence of foul play. I’m sure you understand.”
Beth looks up at me as we walk side by side down the hallway behind the detective. “Are you okay?” she asks me quietly.
I nod and take her hand for a moment, giving it a squeeze.
I am okay. I’m more than okay. I know most people would be sick with this news, but it’s an ending for me. A way out of this mess I made for myself by marrying a woman I didn’t love.
It’s finally all over and I can start fresh with Beth!
The detective opens the door and lights flash, making me blind for a moment. All three of us shield our eyes from the bright lights. Some flash as they take pictures and three others stay on us.
The news cameras video every move I make and every word I say. If I say any.
A young woman steps out from behind one of the constant lights and holds a huge microphone in her hand and thrusts it into my face. “Channing! Rebecca Parker, co-anchor for Miami, Today. Tell us how you’re feeling about this discovery? You have to be exuberant about the fact you can finally give your wife the burial she deserves, right?”
I look at her and see the detective turn back and shake his head at me. Another reporter, this one a man, shoves his microphone at me. “Hi, Mr. Michaels. Dan Stevens with the Miami Now Show.” He holds up a picture of some type of thing and as my eyes adjust I can see it’s an arm which is nearly severed from what looks like a mass of grayish flesh. “Have you been shown the pictures the fisherman took and are currently flooding the internet? This could be your wife. How does that make you feel?”
My stomach lurches and my hand goes to my mouth.
What an asshole!
An arm moves in front of me and Beth steps in front of me. “Mr. Michaels will not be taking any questions at this time. Thank you for understanding. We will submit a press release after the coroner makes the declaration. Thank you,” Beth so expertly says then grabs my hand. “Come, Mr. Michaels.”
The woman reporter shouts as we walk away. “Who are you, Miss?”
Beth looks back and shouts, “His personal assistant. No more questions. We will release a statement soon.”
“Thank you,” I whisper to her.
She looks at me with shiny eyes which let me know she’s holding back tears. “You’re welcome, Boss.”
The reporters don’t stop asking their questions. Yelling over one another to try to get some type of answer from me. The detective looks back at me. “I’ll lead you to the coroner’s office. Just follow along behind me.”
Beth and I walk toward my car and I take my keys out of my pocket. She looks at them and says, “Channing, I’ll drive you. I’m sure you’re very upset.”
I shake my head. “Why would I be? This is exactly what I wanted.”
She looks at me with surprise. “Channing, you can stop the tough guy act. This has to be hard. No matter what you felt or didn’t feel for her, you’re about to see a very disturbing sight. This will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
I open the passenger door for her. “Stop being so dramatic.”
“Channing, stop being so blasé.” She slides into the seat as she looks at me with furrowed brows.
I close her door and walk around. Why don’t I feel more about this? Am I being unconcerned? Am I being strange about the fact I’m about to have closure and feeling optimistic about the whole thing?
I get in behind the steering wheel and say, “I’m dealing with this in my own way. Okay?”
“K. Just try to act somewhat upset. Even if you have to act. Your demeanor is almost celebratory.” She crosses her legs and I look over at them.
She has on a blue dress I picked out for her. Her black heels shine. Her legs are long and tan and the dress rides up as she’s sitting and shows off her shapely calves.
I pull out behind the detective’s tan Crown Victoria from the nineties. “Beth, I know I’m acting a little odd.”
“No, a lot odd, Channing.” Her arms cross over her chest. Her breasts rise and fall with the deep sigh she makes.
“I’ll talk to my shrink afterwards if it will make you happy.” I hit the gas to catch up with the surprisingly fast driving old cop. Weaving in and out of traffic. Trying to stay ahead of the reporters who, despite what Beth told them about giving them a press release later, seem to be intent on getting something out of me as many are following us.
“It’s not about what will make me happy. It’s about you dealing with your emotions instead of pretending you have none.” She turns to me. “How is it you can be so expressive with me, but not about her? Soon you are about to be looking at what’s left of a body of the woman you married only a little over a year ago, Channing.”
“Stop telling me how to feel, Beth! Shit! Right now I have to be strong. Right now I have to think. That reminds me, get on the phone with my bank and ask them if there are any dentists on any of the credit cards in the last year.”
She gets out her cell and calls the bank as I try to keep up with the detective.
My mind is so still. So unbelievably absent of any emotion except happiness. I know that has to be wrong.
So why do I keep thinking about how this is almost over and my life can move ahead?
For God’s sakes, my wife is about to be legally declared dead and all I can feel is joy.
Something has to be wrong with me…
Chapter 11
BETH
Holding him in my arms after he’s thrown up for the third time in fifteen minutes, I finally feel as if he’s having some normal feelings about finding the body of his missing wife.
“That was horrible,” he mumbles as his stomach clenches again but there is nothing left for him to throw up.
“I’m sure it was, Channing.” I run my hands over his back in an attempt to comfort him.
The door to the little waiting room opens, and the coroner comes in. A tall woman in a long white lab coat looks at us as she takes off a pair of blue latex gloves. “Well, that was pretty grotesque, was it not, Mr. Michaels?” She laughs a bit afterward.
I frown at her. “Not everyone is used to seeing such things.”
She nods. “I know. I just never get tired of seeing big strong men crumble under the things I have to deal with on a daily basis.”
Channing stands up on his own and stops leaning on me. “I’ll be okay. So, is it her?” His now bloodshot eyes search the coroner’s.
“I don’t know yet. Did you get the name of her dentist?”
>
I answer that question as he has no idea of the answer. The lady from the bank was still looking at the records when he was called in to try to verify the remains. Which he was unable to do.
“The bank has no information regarding any financial transactions to any dentist since Jana was put on his accounts. Nor, after she was taken off. The insurance company has no record of her using the insurance to go to one either. What else can we do?” I ask.
The coroner shakes her head. “Maybe her parents or other family members know of one she used before the marriage?”
I nod and look at Channing. “Do you want me to call them or do you want to?”
“I should do it,” he says. “If you two will excuse me.” He pulls out his cell phone and walks out of the small room.
The coroner stays in the room with me and blatantly asks, “So you two hooking up or what?”
“Huh?” I ask as my heart starts pounding. “Why would you ask that?”
She looks over her shoulder then back at me. “Only because that man is extremely hot and wealthy.”
I look the woman up and down. She’s probably around thirty and not unattractive with short dark hair and with a little make-up could be pretty.
“And married,” I add as I frown at her.
She makes a short laugh, and the sound comes through her nose in a little snort. “To a corpse. Thing is, I’m single and looking. He’s gorgeous and newly single himself. A man like that will get snatched up quickly once the news gets out that his wife is dead. I’d like to be at the head of the line. You know?”
I tap my foot and cross my arms. “I’m sure my boss will be in a period of grieving for a while. No women need to be thinking he’s ready to move on just yet.”
“So that’s a no then? You and he aren’t hitting the sheets? None of that is going on between you two? Cause he was pretty much wrapped around you when I came in here.” She looks down her nose at me as she’s a good foot taller than I am. “See, I’m a tall drink of water and it’s hard to find men who are taller than I am. I hate to see a nice tall man with a short woman. It goes all over me.”
“I’m not short,” I say as I tap my foot even faster.
“Average, I’d say. Anyone ever tell you that before?” Her brown eyes go up a bit as she looks me up and down. “You dress nice and all, but you’re very typical.”
I hold my temper. “You aren’t the first female to try to intimidate me. And my boss’s love life is none of your concern. If you want to ask him out, by all means have at it, lady.”
“I have your blessing then?” She smiles and takes off her white coat, revealing a strapless little dress and a killer body.
I run my hand over my face and stifle a groan. I trust Channing, it’s not that. It’s just that I know I can’t stand by while some woman throws herself at him. Especially at a time like this.
The poor guy’s just seen a terrible thing!
“Look, lady. I know you probably haven’t gotten laid in a long time and the cobwebs need to be dusted out of the furnace and all. But my boss has been through something very traumatic. I know you’re used to seeing gross dead bodies, but he’s not. So as his personal assistant I have to tell you that I can’t allow you to come on to him at this time. Give it a year and see if he’s still available and then you can make an attempt at him if you want. But for right now, he’s off limits.”
The door opens, and she winks at me. “We’ll see about that, kid. So, Channing. I can call you Channing, right?”
Channing stops and looks her up and down. “What?” His eyes dart to me. “Is going on here?”
I try to move in front of the pushy woman but she takes a couple of quick steps and is right in front of him before I can get between them. “My name is Samantha. They call me Sam. And I’m not one to beat around the bush. I think you’re attractive and I’d like a chance to get to know you better.”
He looks around her at me with his jaw hanging open. So I move next to him and wiggle my body between him and the woman who has my man pinned up against the wall. “Back off, lady!”
She looks down at me and I feel tiny between the two tall people. “What is she to you?” She looks back up at Channing.
“She’s the love of my life. If you must know. And as soon as you get that death certificate done, I’ll be that much closer to marrying this woman.” He looks down at me. “Isn’t that right, Baby?”
I run my hand over my face. “Channing, what are you doing?”
The woman steps back and her face kind of drops. “Not smart,” she says as she looks at me. “The media is going to have a field day with you two.”
I blink and my mouth drops open. “Lady, you’re something else! What the hell do you think they would do to you if he went out with your ass?”
“Well, that would be much different. I’m brand new to the scene. You’re his personal assistant. Wow! This is some juicy stuff right here.” She pulls her lab coat on.
“Do you always wear such skimpy clothes to work in?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “No, but I always keep this dress in the closet in my office for those occasions when attractive men have to come in. You don’t meet a lot of men where I work.”
“Yuk,” I say as I grimace. Then I turn back to Channing. “You need to keep your mouth closed, Mr. Michaels.” I look back at the slutty coroner. “As for you. I expect you to keep your mouth shut. This is not to get out.”
Channing takes my hand, pulling me out of the little room. “Jana’s parents are going to be getting in touch with you very soon about the dentist she went to a few years ago. So, see you around.”
Her disappointment is obvious as she buttons up her white coat. “Bye.”
Channing pulls me along with him to outside the office. The reporters are all there and the lights go all crazy on us again. “Is it her?” the woman reporter from the arena asks him.
“We don’t know yet. The remains are not enough to be able to tell. If you want to know my opinion, I think it’s her. I think we’ve found the end to all this tragedy and now her remains can be taken care of appropriately,” Channing tells them all.
My gut is telling me to get him moving along. He shouldn’t be so hastily telling the press anything yet.
His arm runs around my shoulders as the woman asks him another question, “And is the young woman under your arm part of the affair that’s been rumored about?”
My face goes hot and I’m pretty fucking sure scarlet too. “No more questions,” I shout. “Mr. Michaels will not be answering any more questions. We will issue a press release as soon as we know the findings on the body.” I take his hand away from my shoulder and begin to pull him out of the crowd of reporters.
They spring into action with all kinds of questions as I pull Channing through the crowd at what feels like a snail’s pace. Then he stops me and pulls me to him in a warm embrace that’s making me nearly pass out.
His arms close around me and he sways back and forth with me. “This young woman has been a Godsend to me. She’s been the missing piece of me I never even knew was missing. The truth is my wife, Jana, and I had not been in a happy marriage for the last six months of it. She had an affair and while we tried to reconcile, it wasn’t working.”
“Channing, stop,” I say under my breath.
In rapid fire succession the questions come so fast I can’t even understand the words coming from the twenty-some-odd reporters’ mouths. Channing holds up his hand and they simmer down a little.
“Listen up people. I’m going to say this one time and then we have to get the hell out of here. The life I was leading with Jana was a lie of a life. I may seem like I don’t care that she’s been found dead. I do care. I never wished that on her. It’s a horrible tragedy that she fell overboard that day. I know she’s in a better place and finally has found the happiness she couldn’t find with me. And I have found the happiness that’s been missing from my life as well. This young woman is my life now. We
will be married as soon as legally possible and we will get on with our lives as God intends us to.”
I feel as if I might faint as they all break into loud voices asking all sorts of things and Channing pulls me along with him to the car.
This is not going to go down the way he thinks it is…
Chapter 12
CHANNING
Her face is so pale as I drive us home. “Why are you so quiet, Beth?”
“Oh, just preparing for the shit-storm, Channing. That’s all.” Her hands are moving in knots with each other.
I reach over and take the one closest to me and pull it up to kiss it. “Baby, don’t worry about what anyone says. I’m not.”
Her head turns slowly toward me and her eyes are all twitchy. “Are you crazy? I mean it, Channing. Did your shrink do any testing on you? Because you seem to think life is this place where you can do whatever you want to and fuck what people think about it. It’s not that place. Not at all.”
I laugh and smile at her then place her hand back down on her thigh as I keep mine wrapped around it. “Beth, you’re young. I know you think the world gives a fuck but they really don’t. The next thing will come along soon and blow my news out of the way. You’ll see.”
Her head shakes, and she looks out the window. “It looks like it’s going to rain.”
“We can build a fire in the fireplace and cuddle by it as we drink a little wine. You want red or white, Baby?”
“I want you to try to act as if you just had to look at the most disgusting and awful thing imaginable and deal with that. I want you to be normal, Channing. For just a day or so, be fucking normal!” She pulls her hand from mine.
I move my hand back to the steering wheel and think. Am I being abnormal?
Maybe I should call my psychiatrist and ask her. She seems to tell me more often than not that everything I’ve done and felt is normal.
I swallow hard and say, “Beth, I feel like you’re upset with me for not feeling the way you think I should. My therapist has told me over and over again how the things I’ve done and felt are normal.”
The Shameless Billionaire Series: Billionaire Romance Box Set (An Alpha-Male, Billionaire, Bad Boy, Bad Girl, Romance) Page 118