"I tearfully confessed that I was afraid of getting married someday, because I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what you were supposed to say, or when you were supposed to say it. How was I supposed to know when to walk down the aisle? When to say ‘I do?’ When to recite my vows? I could tell it was a very important ceremony from the reverence everyone gave to it, and my biggest fear was being suddenly thrust into that situation and fucking it up. Even as a kid, I was thinking decades forward and dreading the humiliation that I was sure would come.
"I could just picture the whole crowd, men in tuxedos and the women in their elegant dresses, pointing and laughing at me. That’s how I was then, and it’s how I always was. But Lindsey? The thought would never occur to her. Even if she was dropped into that nightmare scenario I had as a child, she’d manage to give a beautiful, impromptu speech that would have the whole crowd applauding on its feet." He was grinning. "I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of her. But we can’t all be born so lucky."
I shot him a wry smile. "If only you’d known then what you real wedding would be like. You would have had a whole new set of things to worry about."
Daniel laughed, and wrapped his arm around me tighter.
***
A few evenings later, I happened to be downtown, picking up some takeout I’d been craving for weeks, when my phone suddenly rang. By this time, I recognized the number.
"Kelly?" I said, as I picked up.
"I just texted you an address. Florence just arranged one final meeting with the broker, and that’s where she’s leaving from." She sounded distracted, rifling through papers on her desk. "It’s at a new location. She didn’t say where it was, over the phone. I think she might suspect."
"So what am I supposed to do? Go there? Follow her? Confront her?"
"Call the police," said Kelly, firmly. "Have them meet you there."
"The police don’t care about something like this," I said. "That’s why I hired you."
"She might be dangerous," Kelly insisted. "She’s unpredictable. I don’t have to tell you that."
"All right, fine." I took the phone away from my ear briefly, to glance at the address as it came in. It was only a few blocks away from where I was now, but I had to admit that Kelly was right. Flo was dangerous and unpredictable. I didn’t want to go into this alone.
And really, there was only one person I could call.
***
Daniel’s phone only rang twice before he picked up.
"Hey," I said. "Are you at home?"
"No," he responded, sounding slightly hesitant. "Why?"
"I’m at…" I hastily glanced at the street signs and rattled off the names. "I need you to get down here, as soon as you can."
"Why? What’s happening?" His voice was tight with anxiety, and I could hear his keys jangling as he shoved them in his pocket.
"It’s a long story. I’ll explain when you get here. Just hurry."
"I am hurrying. I’m coming now. Will you just tell me?"
I took a deep breath. "Okay. Don’t be mad, but I hired a private detective."
"You hired a private detective," he echoed. "For…what?"
"To investigate, you know. Everything." I cleared my throat. "The pictures. I wanted to find out for sure if it was Flo."
"Jesus Christ, Maddy." I could picture him, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You didn’t think it might be a good idea to tell me about this, before you go around blabbing secrets to everyone?"
"Hey. She takes her detective-client privilege very seriously."
He sighed. "That’s not a real thing. Listen - okay. So what’s happening, then? What am I walking into?"
"Well, it turned out it was her. She’s meeting with your broker again," I said. "And she’s leaving from here, and if you hurry we might be able to catch her in the act."
Suddenly, I heard the roar of an engine around the corner, loud enough to make me jump a little. I turned to look - it was sleek, black affair, some kind of make I didn’t recognize - European probably, a sports car, definitely. The windows were tinted dark. Annoyed, I lifted the phone back to my ear.
"Sorry, some self-important asshole-" I stopped as the car idled up beside me, and the window rolled down.
"You were saying?" said Daniel, craning his neck over from the driver’s seat.
"Oh, for…" I climbed in, grimacing as I sank down into the ridiculously low seat. "Really?"
"It’s what I had when you called." He shrugged. "You said to hurry. Now, where is she?"
As if on cue, she came out of the door of one of the nearby buildings and started walking towards a gray sedan parked on the street. Daniel quickly rolled up my window. The light changed, and a steady flow of traffic started. At first it seemed like we’d both be stuck here for ages, but Flo saw a dubious opportunity and took it, maneuvering herself into the flow.
"Shit. Shit." Daniel threw the car into gear, pealing out into a tiny gap in traffic. A few people behind us leaned on their horns, but he seemed completely oblivious. Flo made it through the next light, but stopped at a yellow, so she must not have spotted us.
"Does she know what this car looks like?" I asked, sliding down in my seat.
"No," said Daniel. He shook his head. "Yes. I can’t…I’m not sure. I don’t remember."
"How many cars do you have?"
The light turned green, and he didn’t answer. He was staying two or three cars behind, almost as if…
"Have you done this before?" I asked, incredulous.
"Is that really an important question right now?" He was staring at the stoplight as if he could force it to change through sheer will power. "Ten. I have ten various automobiles. Not all of them are in drivable condition. Some are antiques. I keep them in a garage in Brooklyn. And no, I’ve never been in a car chase before." The light changed, and he started to creep forward with everyone else.
"I was just cur - shit!" He’d just taken a turn so sharp that I hit the passenger door and almost slid completely down onto the floor. "Jesus, calm down. We’ll find her one way or another. I’ll get Kelly on the case."
"Kelly," he said. "That’s your private detective, then, is he?"
"She," I corrected. "And yes, she is."
We were flying down an alleyway so narrow I was sure he’d scrape the car, or at least knock over a garbage can. But he was surprisingly skilled, especially for someone who barely ever seemed to drive at all.
"I’m going to be honest," I said. "What with John and everything, I wasn’t even sure you had a license."
"Will you please stop talking?"
We emerged just before another busy intersection, and Flo was the first at the light, tapping her fingers impatiently on the wheel. I hunkered down again.
"Will you stop that?" Daniel shot me a look, sidelong. "She’ll recognize me before she’ll recognize you."
"I just want to minimize the risk," I grumbled, straightening up, with my arms crossed.
Finally, she pulled into an anonymous parking lot down an alley. Daniel waited a few beats and then followed her. Dusk was settling heavily over the city, and I knew it would be dark soon.
We parked on a low level and got out as quietly as we could, walking slowly up the ramps. My heart was beating thunderously in my chest. As it turned out, I needn’t have been nervous - not at that moment, anyway. We seemed to spot her long before she spotted us, tucking something into her purse, framed by the lights of the city that were starting to switch on, one by one.
And then, she turned and saw us.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"I knew it," I shouted, practically spitting venom. But Flo just had a smug smile on her face, and I realized after a few moments that I looked like the crazy one. I took a deep breath and shut my mouth.
"Well done," said Flo. She was still smiling, arms crossed.
"It’s so sad," said Daniel finally, softly. "After all this time, you’re still trying to…do what, exactly? Ruin my life?"
"Oh no, honey.
" She looked so unnaturally calm that it sent a shiver through me. She was putting on the same play-act she’d been using for years when we were co-workers, fooling me into thinking she was normal. "No, you did a pretty good job of that on your own."
"I didn’t do anything," Daniel forced out, through gritted teeth.
"Sure," said Flo. "Not this time. Not in a way that’d get you caught."
"So this is supposed to be some kind of twisted justice."
"Sure. However you want to think about it." Flo rolled her head to the side until a vertebra popped. "Doesn’t matter to me, one way or the other."
"Clearly," I said.
Flo laughed, turning and starting to walk away from us. "If you were about half as smart as you think you are, you would have figured out by now that I didn’t do this for fun."
Daniel took a step forward. "What does that mean?" he called over her.
Flo stopped, but didn’t turn around. "I’m not supposed to say," she replied. "But, hey. What the hell. I already cashed my paycheck." She turned, coming back towards us. "That’s a metaphor, I was paid in unmarked bills. It was very James Bond. They don’t call it corporate espionage for nothing."
"They don’t call it ‘investment fraud’ for nothing," Daniel corrected her. "You’re going to jail, Florence, is there any part of your mind that comprehends that fact?"
"Do you want to know who hired me, or what?" Flo was starting to look irritated. "I was planning on being in Rio de Janeiro by now, so you’re kind of fucking with my itinerary."
"Someone hired you?" I repeated.
"Yes," she replied, irritated. "It was supposed to work as a red herring, and I gotta say, it was pretty goddamn good, wasn’t it? You never suspected for a second." She tittered. "But I guess they underestimated my burning desire to let you guys know just how wrong you are about everything."
"They?" Daniel said, taking a threatening step towards her. She giggled again.
"Your old friends," she said. "Do I really have to spell it out?"
I blinked. Daniel looked like he’d been punched in the gut.
"Wait," I said. "That doesn’t make sense."
Flo raised an eyebrow at me. "Doesn’t it?"
I was shaking my head. "No," I said, more firmly and calmly than anything I’d said up until that point, because for once I had the upper hand. "I know for a fact that you didn’t meet with the plaintiffs from the old lawsuit until well after all of this happened. So whoever bankrolled this from the beginning…was either you, or somebody you’re not telling us about."
Flo made a face. "Fine. It was close enough to the truth. But if you think I’m spoon-feeding you any more than that, you’re nuts."
Daniel was looking from one to the other of us, completely slack-jawed. I realized I hadn’t exactly kept him in the loop about my own personal investigation; no wonder he was confused. Oh well, I could catch him up later.
In a moment, two things happened simultaneously - Daniel started reaching into his jacket pocket, presumably for his phone, and Flo’s hand snaked into her purse as she snapped:
"No. Drop it."
I had to blink a few times before my brain processed what I was seeing, in the darkness. Flo had a gun. And it was trained on Daniel.
Daniel raised his hands, slowly, dropping the phone and letting it clatter to the concrete. Flo started walking backwards, her aim unwavering. I felt like there was ice water in my veins, and there was absolutely nothing I could do besides stand there and watch as she disappeared into the darkness.
As soon as she was gone, Daniel retrieved the pieces of his phone and began to walk briskly in the other direction. I followed, already dialing 911 on my own phone as I jogged after him.
It was difficult to explain to the operator, especially as out-of-breath and shaking from adrenaline as I was, but once I mentioned the name a few times they sent a car in pursuit and asked us to come down to the station. We spent a few surreal hours under the flickering fluorescent lights, clutching our instant coffee and trying to explain what the hell was going on. I had to take the lead most of the time, and I could feel Daniel’s eyes fixed on me intently as I slowly admitted all the things I’d known about, all the things I’d done without telling him. But even when we were left alone, all he did was rest his arm on my shoulders or gently caress the back of my neck with his fingers. I supposed after being held at gunpoint, anything I’d done barely even registered on the "minor betrayal" scale.
They called Kelly down after a while, and she came promptly, looking no more unkempt than she had when we met, despite it being the middle of the night. She shook Daniel’s hand while attempting a smile in my direction. "I’m not going to say ’I told you so,’" she deadpanned.
"I appreciate everything you’ve done for us," he said, as she collapsed in a chair. "Even if I didn’t exactly…know about it until today."
"You’re welcome," said Kelly. "I have to admit, most spouses don’t take this kind of news so well, in my experience." She sipped at her coffee, thoughtfully. "Then again, that might be because I mostly handle infidelity cases."
Daniel let out a little snort of laughter, and I found myself laughing too.
After we’d gone every everything with three different officers what felt like a thousand times, I was pretty sure all we’d done was thoroughly confuse everyone. They kept informing us that the insider trading issue was a pending federal investigation, no matter how many times we said we already knew. The captain kept shaking his head and saying he’d have to SEC, or maybe the FBI, and then he finally let us all go home.
The gray dawn light was just beginning to creep over the city as we shuffled, bleary-eyed, through the streets. Once we all remembered that we hadn’t eaten since lunch, we all sat in a diner for a while, filling out stomachs with greasy food until we’d unwound enough to yawn our way home.
I barely remembered most of the drive back. I could only hope that Daniel was more alert; we made it home without incident, at least, so he must have been in better shape than I was.
I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
***
I woke up with a start. The clock said 2:36 PM.
I had been thinking - or dreaming - I wasn’t sure which, really, but after going through every single detail of this nightmare with the police, there were two things that still didn’t sit right with me. Number one, the hostile judge. Number two, if Brewer were really telling the truth about how Flo and the plaintiffs from the old lawsuit met, how did the whole thing start? Was it her idea, and hers alone? If so, where did she get the money?
I sat down with a notepad and pen, and started to write. I had to just get my thoughts out of my head somehow, no matter how ridiculous they might be.
First of all, there was the judge. Even Ms. Greenlee, who seemed to know him personally, was shocked by his behavior. He didn’t normally conduct himself in that way. So what was it about this case that had put him in such a mood?
Judicial bias was a serious accusation, I knew. If I wanted to pursue this, I was going to need some serious evidence. But it was no more than a whim at this point, so much so that I hesitated to even tell Kelly about it. Where would she even start?
I drummed my fingers on the table for a while. Of course, most of a judge’s life would be a matter of public record. I could conduct my own investigation. And if I didn’t find anything, well, I didn’t find anything. But if I did…
I shook my head. What did I think I was going to find, exactly? Any bias would have to be on paper for me to prove it, and the far likelier scenario - that he simply didn’t like Daniel - wasn’t exactly a punishable offense. But there was something there. A hunch I just couldn’t shake.
And then, there was the question of who exactly started this whole mess. As much as I wanted to think Flo was the mastermind of it all, she seemed a little too…unstable. Then again, when we’d worked together, she’d managed to convince me that she was normal.
I chewed on the end of my
pen, finally pulling out my phone and typing in the judge’s name. As I’d suspected, there was a sea of results - from elections, news blurbs, and everything else under the sun. It was an impressive array of information - everything about his family, his background, his voting record from when he was in congress - which I’m sure would have been vastly helpful, if only I could figure out if it meant anything.
Just when my eyes were starting to glaze over, something jumped out at me. I’d probably glossed over it a hundred times, but for some reason, this time it stuck.
Member of the University of Dartwood Alumni Association
Daniel had gone to Dartwood.
And so, by extension, had the plaintiffs in the old lawsuit.
It was probably a coincidence. It almost had to be, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it mattered. If the judge had some prior connection with the other plaintiffs, or even some prior knowledge of the case, it could be enough to sour him on Daniel forever.
I didn’t know enough about the legal precedents to be sure if this was enough to prove a serious breach of judicial ethics, but I figured it must be enough to at least get us reassigned with a new judge, if nothing else. That was, if I could demonstrate any more meaningful connection than all of them simply having gone to the same college.
Daniel finally shuffled out of bed a few hours later, raking his hand through his hair and thumbing blearily through his collection of takeout menus. I realized my stomach was growling.
"Any requests?" he wanted to know.
I Married a Billionaire: Lost and Found (Contemporary Romance) Page 14