A Deeper Dimension: A Vintage Contemporary Romance

by Thea Harrison

  Alex was laughing at her as she spoke. “That’s what I like—a female chauvinist,” he chuckled. “Makes a nice change from the usual.”

  As he turned to go to his room to change, the telephone rang. Stopping in midstride, he swivelled to walk back to the coffee table where the phone was and picked it up.

  “Alex Mason,” he said shortly. Diana looked at the expression on his face as he listened and was alarmed to see his face change, grow harder, and his eyebrows came down into a thunderous frown.

  “When?” he snapped. There was a short pause while he listened to the other person on the phone, then he replied, “I’ll be right there,” and hung up.

  They looked at each other from across the room. She asked, “Trouble?” He nodded.

  Chapter Three

  Alex and Diana broke the speed limit in their haste to reach the office. On the way, he told her what little was told to him by Carrie, who had been the caller.

  “Apparently the Philadelphia foundry was nearly burned down last night. Arson is the cause. If it hadn’t been such a bungling attempt, the bastards just might have made it.” Alex spoke through clenched teeth. His face appeared to be all angles, and his skin was drawn tightly over the bone. Blue fire glittered in his eyes as he made an attempt to control his rage.

  Diana was stunned. “Why?” she whispered. “Who would hate you or Mason Steel so much as to want to destroy a whole foundry?”

  “God, I wish I knew,” he muttered. They had just pulled up into the parking lot of Mason Steel, and he sat with his hands still gripping the steering wheel, the knuckle bones showing white. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

  She repeated his words as if they bothered her: “‘Doesn’t make any sense.’ Why would something like that happen if it doesn’t make any sense? Why would the factory workers go on strike if it didn’t have any sensible basis?”

  Sitting very still, Alex looked as if he’d been hit. “And why,” he concluded, “would Nelson’s people refuse to deal with what should appear to be a firm and reliable business?” His eyes narrowed. “Everything is so illogical until you put it all together. Then a very ugly pattern starts to emerge. It could all be on purpose. But that leads us back to—why?”

  They both got out of the car, moving absentmindedly as each mulled over the problem in their minds. “It’s like an attempted murder,” she shivered. Alex put his arm around her shoulders as they both walked towards the building.

  Alex was thinking very hard. “Murder,” he repeated, mulling over the word. “Murder has a motive. Most murders are committed by people who knew their victim. Most are committed in a fit of passion.”

  “Something this deliberate has to have a motive,” she agreed. As he removed his arm to open the glass door, she preceded him, still talking. “Could revenge be the motive?”

  Shaking his head, he replied, “I’ve done nothing to anyone aside from taking away a few customers from Derrick Payne, the other big steel manufacturer in this part of the country. God knows he has no reason to love me for it, but revenge? I’d say that’s a bit strong.”

  “Strike revenge. How about fear?” she asked.

  “Fear doesn’t make any sense. Who would fear me? I’m not spiteful or cruel, and have no secrets in my sordid past to conceal.”

  “Okay, so we scratch fear. What about hate?”

  “Hate is an interesting emotion,” he said thoughtfully. “There’s such a fine line between hate and love, each bearing intense emotion, each directed to someone who is close or has been in the past. Once you pass that line between love and hate, there’s no going back to the original emotion.”

  By now they had reached the offices on the top floor. “It’s simple,” said Diana, going in through the door first again. “There’s no purpose to this madness. You and I are becoming paranoid. There is no diabolical hand in this mess-up, and Mason Steel is just having a bad week.”

  “Now that’s the most far-fetched of all the ideas,” he sighed. “Murphy’s law is not this bizarre.”

  “So, where do we start over?” she spread her hands in perplexity. She had suggested everything she could think of.

  Alex shook his head and turned towards Carrie. She was seated behind her desk and turned an anxious face towards them. “Anything new come up?” he asked quietly.

  Carrie looked down at her memo pad and spoke. “Mike Shubart called again to confirm that it was a professional arson attempt. If it hadn’t been for Mike going back last night to pick up a jacket that he’d forgotten, the whole thing would be ashes right now.” She shook her head. “Lady luck was with us last night.”

  “I know, Carrie,” Alex replied. “I know. Have they figured up how much damage was done?”

  “It was pretty minimal, except for a few electricity circuits. They were damaged pretty badly. Also the telephones in the whole place are out. The fire burned the main lines. Mike said that the insurance agent will be going over tonight in the early evening to inspect the damages. He wanted to know if you could come over for the night and be there for when the agent comes. He also thought you would like to see for yourself what was done.”

  “He’s right, I would,” Alex affirmed. Blowing a soundless whistle for a moment as he thought, he came to a decision. “Find out if you can get me a flight to Philadelphia by late afternoon. If you can’t that soon, then we’ll have to charter a plane. Also, get Owen on the phone for me. I want to talk to him. Diana—would you cancel any appointments that I have this afternoon and tomorrow morning? Use the phone in the room across the hall. After you’ve finished that, come back in here. We’ve got some planning to do.”

  With those orders dispatched, he pivoted on his heel and disappeared into the other room. Diana grabbed the appointments schedule and left Carrie beginning to dial her phone.

  * * *

  It took her several minutes to reach everyone on the schedule book. Afterwards, she went quickly back to the other offices. As she passed Carrie’s desk, Carrie called to her, “Tell him a plane is chartered for four-thirty this afternoon.”

  Diana waved a hand and pushed the door open. Alex was still talking on the phone. “…I still think it’s too crazy. She couldn’t have that much feeling for somebody else,” he argued.

  Diana went to her desk and set the appointments schedule down, and sat in her chair quietly waiting. She wondered who they were talking about. Alex listened for a few more minutes and then spoke again.

  “Owen, she may be a bitch, but that doesn’t mean she would be so malicious as to try a stunt like arson!” he snapped. Pausing to listen again, his eyes strayed to Diana’s, but he was not seeing her. “All right, I’ll leave you to look into it. I’ll give you a call later.” He hung up.

  “Does Owen think he’s got a possibility for who could have done it?” she asked. Alex’s eyes focused on her and he was silent for a moment.

  “He seems to think so,” he replied shortly. “Personally, I don’t think Alicia feels anything for anyone but herself. I can’t see how she could care to do something so vengeful.”

  Diana prudently said nothing, and after a little silence, Alex became brisk. “Did Carrie manage to get me a flight?” he asked.

  “She chartered a plane for you for four-thirty,” she replied.

  He looked at the clock. “Well, that doesn’t leave much time for us to get everything done, does it? Let’s get started with the price estimates.”

  They worked quickly and efficiently, each already used to the other’s method of thinking, and each complimenting the other’s output. Alex’s mind worked so fast that Diana was tasked to the utmost of her ability, but she somehow managed to keep up with his pace, although realising that it was a pace that she could not sustain for long.

  They did not break for lunch, but worked on through the afternoon until three-thirty. Then, flexing his cramped shoulder muscles, Alex called a halt.

  “I need to go and throw a few things in my overnight case,” he sighed. “You can leave w
henever you finish plotting that chart for our accountants.”

  Looking up, Diana asked, “Do you need a ride to the airport again?”

  “Thanks, no. I’m going to drive my own car to the apartment and get a taxi to the airport,” he replied. “You have enough to do with that on your desk as it is. However, I might like to be picked up tomorrow whenever I get back. Could you do that?”

  “Sure,” she affirmed. “Just call me tomorrow at my apartment or later on at work, and let me know when.”

  “Sounds good. I’m going to take off now. I don’t think you’ll be able to reach me at the factory, because the lines are out, but I’ll call and leave my hotel number.”

  She nodded; it was what she had expected. She only hoped that nothing would happen while he was at the foundry. Alex stood looking at her with a strange expression on his face, studying her with an odd intensity, while she sat with her head bent over the chart. He sighed heavily, and she looked up, but now he was gazing out of the window.

  “I hate to go, to always be leaving,” he said in a low voice. She sat very still and listened. “Very soon, I’m going to be slowing down a little, taking things a little easier. For nine years I’ve been rushing around like a cat with his tail on fire, never stopping, never slowing, always pushing to meet this deadline and get ahead on that one. Diana,” he shook his head at her, “I’ve had it. This is how people get ulcers and high blood pressure and have heart attacks while they’re still young. Maybe I just had to prove something, prove that I could win against the odds, make my own fortune. Now, I’m just tired.” He put his hands up to the back of his neck and rubbed.

  Diana put her hands on her desk and looked at them. Wasn’t that how they all were? Racing around, always proving something, always looking to the goals ahead and the achievements to be, never savouring the moment that is. Time, she thought, I’ve wasted so much time. She looked up at Alex and her vision was blurred.

  Alex was horrified to see the unnatural glitter of tears in Diana’s eyes. He looked away and spoke lightly to give her time to get control of herself again, “When I get back from Philadelphia, we’re going to have a picnic somewhere in the woods, just you and I. We’ll forget that Mason Steel, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia even exist. All right?”

  Sniffing a little, she threw her head back and laughed, albeit rather unsteadily. “All right,” she agreed.

  Swiftly glancing at the clock on his desk, he went over to her and kissed her on the forehead, saying, “Be good. Call you tomorrow.”

  “Yes.” She watched him leave.

  * * *

  Wanting to get her work done as soon as possible, she didn’t stop at all, oblivious of the dimming of the afternoon light. She didn’t hear the door open or the footsteps until Carrie spoke right by her shoulder.

  “Coffee?” Carrie asked. Diana jumped, and Carrie laughed to see the expression on her face. Diana chuckled a little too.

  “Sure, I’d appreciate it,” she acknowledged.

  A few minutes later, Carrie was back in the room carrying two steaming cups. Handing one to Diana, she moved over to one of the armchairs, pulled it around and sank down into it.

  “Oh, that’s nice,” Carrie sighed. She started to laugh. “When I started to work here, it took me three weeks of telling myself that soon things would slow down to normal, before I realised that this is the normal!”

  Diana smiled.

  “Surely things aren’t as hectic as this all the time?” she queried.

  “No, really we have had a lot happen that normally doesn’t. But Alex is simply too energetic to let things happen at a slower pace. If something isn’t going on, he starts something else,” Carrie replied ruefully.

  “I bet he’ll be unbearable whenever he decides to retire, then!” Diana chuckled.

  “Oh, he’d be the type that would drive his wife up the wall with too much energy and too little to do,” Carrie laughingly agreed. “But Alex probably would be the kind that works until collapse. No inactivity for him!”

  Diana nodded. That did sound like Alex, she thought. Then she remembered how tired Alex sounded when he talked to her before he left. She also remembered something else. “Carrie, do you know a woman named Alicia?”

  Carrie grimaced. “Do I know Alicia!” she exclaimed. “The only Alicia that I know is Alicia Payne, Derrick Payne’s daughter. And if that’s the one you mean, you don’t want to know her!”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Worse. This girl is the original blonde-haired, blue-eyed, hypocritical bitch.” Diana whistled, and Carrie continued, “Alex used to date her from time to time, and she was always careful that he didn’t see her temper, but I saw her get angry at a poor girl who spilled coffee on her skirt by accident.” She shuddered. “She was so vindictive!”

  “Alicia Payne,” Diana looked at the ceiling as she spoke. “Her father is also in steel, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, although he really isn’t much competition for us now. His company is smaller than ours and his output is less. I don’t think he’s very efficient, myself.”

  “Do we have the potential ability to put him out of business if Alex wanted to?”

  Carrie looked surprised. “Why, I suppose we do, although Alex doesn’t work like that.”

  Diana looked at her. “But old Derrick might think like that?”

  A light began to gleam in Carrie’s eyes. “I believe he might at that. What are you thinking, Diana?”

  “A motive,” she told her, “for murder. The murder of Mason Steel. I take it that Alex is no longer seeing Alicia?”

  “That’s right. A few months ago, Alex told her he didn’t want to see her again. Little Miss High and Mighty was getting a bit too possessive for her own status. She started demanding, expecting Alex to give in like I’m sure her daddy does for her.” Carrie rolled her eyes at Diana. “She came storming out of Alex’s office, eyes spitting venom, and we haven’t seen her in here again, much to my delight.”

  “All of the motives are there, Carrie!” Diana said excitedly. “Do you see it? Fear, hate and revenge.” She ticked them off on her fingers as she spoke. “Fear Derrick feels for Alex’s growing power in his own line of business and his own inability to cope. Hate comes when you fear something as a direct threat to yourself. Also, I’m sure Alicia isn’t feeling too friendly towards Alex right now. And revenge. Remember that old saying about a woman scorned? I think we can paraphrase it to make it fit our needs. How about ‘Hell hath no fury like a bitch who’s scorned’? Nice, huh?”

  “Oh, dear, do you really think they would?” Carrie asked doubtfully.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t be sure until I met them both and found out for myself how they really are. I overheard Alex talking to Owen, and Owen seems to think so! Anyway, there’s nothing we can do about it for tonight, so the only thing I’m going to do is go home to bed. I can ask Alex about it tomorrow,” she finished.

  Carrie took out the used Styrofoam cups while Diana began to tidy up the office. She turned off the light when she was through, and locked the door. On her way out, she stopped at Carrie’s desk.

  “How long do you plan on staying, madam?” she asked.

  Carrie smiled as she looked up. “I think I’ll stay for another fifteen minutes or so, until I finish up these two business letters.”

  “Is it all right if I leave you to finish the locking up, then?”

  “Of course. Please don’t stay around here if that’s all you need to do,” she replied. She smiled warmly up at Diana.

  “Then I’ll say goodnight,” Diana smiled back as she took her leave and left the office.

  On her way down to the main floor, she stopped to drop off the chart that she had completed to the third floor where the accountants were, then hurried out of the building. She got into her little sports car and backed out of her parking space.

  Diana felt uneasy as she drove home. Fear, she thought as she carefully made a turn, revenge and hate. All of the
m were intense emotions, and she felt uncertain of the conclusions that she had so blithely drawn in the office when she was talking to Carrie. She did not know either Alicia or Derrick Payne. All she had to go on was a half-heard conversation that Alex had with Owen, and Carrie’s own opinion of Alicia Payne. Part was gossip and the other part was incomplete. By the time Diana had reached home, she had successfully talked herself out of believing that anyone had such a malicious intent towards Mason Steel. Feeling a little foolish, she resolved not to talk about it to anyone else.

  * * *

  There was another car pulled up by the kerb as Diana reached home, and she was delighted to see that Terry and Brenda were back home from their trip. She ran lightly up the front porch steps to knock on their door. Brenda answered it, a wide grin on her face as she saw who was at the door.

  “Hello, strangers,” Diana exclaimed.

  “Hello, yourself,” Brenda retorted. She held the door open wide and motioned with her hand. “Don’t just stand there gawking, girl, come on in!”

  Diana stepped through the doorway.

  “When did you get back?” she asked, waving at Terry as he passed by the doorway going down the hall. He rolled his eyes as he braked suddenly and came back to talk to her.

  “All of fifteen minutes ago, wasn’t it, hon?” Terry passed his arm around Brenda’s waist.

  “You idiot!” she pushed him away as she smiled, and turned to Diana. “Don’t believe a word of it! We’ve been home for at least three hours!” Diana began to laugh at the look of injured hurt on Terry’s face.

  He said stiffly, “Just because I happen to be an accurate judge of time, she calls me an idiot!” Sticking his nose up in the air, he marched out of the room.

  Diana, still chuckling, turned towards Brenda. “What plans do you have made for supper?”