by Claire Adams
The look on his face was all I needed to see as my heart slammed to the depths of my gut, shattering into a million pieces. I held my breath on the sliver of hope that he would say what I wanted to hear and pull me from the certain death that followed.
Instead, he stood silent, his face turned down in a scowl and his eyes regarding me with horror. I blanched back as he stepped forward.
“Please go,” the words croaked out of my throat. “I know you don’t feel the same way, and I can’t blame you. You married me on a whim, and it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have bothered you when you have so much else on your mind, but I had to get that off my chest.”
He stepped forward and shame burned through me as he made a move out of pity. He crawled onto the bed and pulled me into his arms, still silent.
Downstairs, his phone rang, and though the sound was faint in the distance, it could have been a siren blaring between us. “I have to take that, but we’ll talk about this, okay. You’re right; this was too important and I shouldn’t have pushed it.” He planted a farewell kiss to my forehead and staggered out of the room and down the stairs.
I broke down in tears as I pulled myself to my feet. I didn’t want to be in his bed. I couldn’t spend another day in this lie and decided that the best thing I could do is move down to the room where Kim had stayed.
I’d poured my heart out to him, and for what? To have him regret that I’d said it. I walked to the closet and gathered my things. By the time he’d return, I’d be gone; and though it wouldn’t be far enough away from the humiliation that wrecked me, it would have to do.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gabriel
As sunlight broke through the window, I glanced at the clock and back to my computer. Apparently, the damned thing had been up for hours, but had only peeked in my window shade to remind me I’d been working too long again. It had taken me all night to gather my evidence, but I was on my way to clearing my name.
Now that was more important than ever as I considered what Luna had told me. She was in love with me. Falling or fell, the feelings were there, and although I felt as if I had pushed her in a weak moment to tell me, the words strengthened me and energized me through the night to get my work done.
Once I had my findings for Mason, I would go to Luna and make sure everything was right between us.
I wondered how long she’d had those feelings and wished I’d told her the way I felt weeks ago. I figured with all the sex and love making that she’d get the picture, but I guessed her inexperience led to too much confusion. She hadn’t ever had a relationship like ours before, and I hoped I hadn’t manipulated her feelings. Had the marriage forced the issue or the idea of a divorce? We were heading into the territory of needing one if things continued the way they had been. An annulment might not be enough.
Not that I wanted one. Looking back, I had to admit I never did. I’d not married her out of drunkenness as she had me. I’d married her for the connection that I’d always believed was there. No, it wasn’t love at the time, but down in my heart, I knew it could grow. She had agreed, though maybe I should have known it was all a blur to her and not gone through with it.
Then last night I’d stood there like a fool, dumbstruck and aggravated – not because of what she said, but because I shouldn’t have pressed the issue. I’d had no idea she would tell me what I’d longed to hear, no idea that she’d want to stay or that she loved me.
If we’d had only had time to talk things out properly, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. I had things going on that I couldn’t ignore, and besides, the night had gone to shit long before she arrived wanting to talk, and it only got better as the night progressed.
Joe came into the office around four a.m. with more news. The security system had gone out again, but only for a moment. I had my IT team on it and hopefully they’d figure out what was going on. I’d waited to hear back from him, so when I heard footsteps approaching, I’d assumed he returned with news.
Instead, Mason entered with a wrinkled shirt and an attitude to match. “I need a drink.”
“That’s not what I’d like to hear from the man responsible for keeping me out of prison at eight thirty in the morning.”
He picked up my bourbon decanter and poured a drink. “It’s nine, and still too early for your smiling face.” I wondered where the man spent his night but was afraid to ask. If he wanted to talk, he would, and I’d probably wish he’d never started once he did. Mason’s personal life had always been a mystery I wanted left unsolved.
“I found our man.” I clasped my hands behind my head and stared up at my friend, who wore a grumpy frown.
He tossed back the drink and poured another. “What’s his name and have you put him at the Serendipity at the time of the murder?”
“His name is Kyle Johnson, but I’m still working on the rest.” I had gone through all of the files from the night before, but came up short when it came to connecting him to the hotel.
Mason carried his glass to the chair with him and sat across from me. “So who is this piece of shit? What have you learned?”
“When you told me your inside source mentioned a Mustang had been seen speeding away from the LA body dump location, it jogged a memory. I vaguely remembered an incident from a while ago. There had been a man who worked for me who had that type of car.”
I got up and crossed the room to pour my own drink. My coffee had been gone for hours.
Mason stayed silent, so I continued, “He was a strange type. Not much on personal hygiene, but had a hell of a hot car from what his supervisor once told me. He also loved doing donuts in the parking lot at work, which wasn’t acceptable.” I sipped my drink and headed back to my desk.
“So did you fire him?” Mason pressed his hand against his shirt, and I wondered if he thought he was hot enough to iron his own wrinkles.
“No, I only heard about it because his supervisor claimed the guy was super smart and wanted to meet me to discuss some type of technology he wanted to pitch to me. I’d seen that type before and had more than a hundred people trying to sell me the latest thing. What none of them understood was I employed an entire team of the best developers and most of these ideas were nothing new.”
“People get obsessed when they have an idea. I could tell you about several lunatics I’ve dealt with who spent their life savings and ruined marriages over inventions.” I bet he had seen some things as a lawyer that he wished he could forget.
I leaned back in my chair and peered across my desk as Mason tossed back the rest of his drink and wondered if we should bring the decanter to my desk. “I’d turned the man down for months, but after his persistence continued, I threw him a bone and gave him a meeting so I could turn him down face to face once and for all. I was so eager to be done with him, I called him in at the end of the day.
“He came into my office and did a small presentation, and while his idea was impressive, it wasn’t anything new. I’d talked to my team who were already working on something similar.”
Mason belted a laugh. “I bet he didn’t like that – nothing like being told your big idea was not original.”
I nodded. “So, when I told him that, he copped an attitude and warned me that I better not steal his idea. He was angry, shouting and cursing, so I called Joe to take him out of my office.”
“How long ago was that?”
I couldn’t remember an exact date. “That’s been two years ago, at least. And the only reason he’d stuck out was his hat had the Mustang logo, which was my first car.”
“So did you fire him? That would lead to motive.” Mason fingered the damned wrinkles until I thought he’d have a breakdown.
I tried to stay focused despite Mr. Fidget. “Joe suggested I fire him when he returned, but you know me, I hate to put a man out of work.”
His eyes widened. “Is that why you keep getting in trouble? To keep me employed?” He went back to the bar and brought the decanter to the desk with him.
I shook my head and smiled. “If I’m not mistaken, he was part of the layoffs.”
“Still a motive.” Mason raised his glass.
“I’ve got to find his employment record, but that’s what I’m waiting on now. It should come through any minute now.” I glanced at the computer and realized I’d gotten a notification while playing catch up with Mason. “It’s here.”
I opened the file and hoped the first look at his face would spark a memory from the Serendipity, but it didn’t. Mason came around the desk to stand behind me as I read the reason for termination.
I glanced back to see his reaction. He nodded. “You laid him off and now he’s trying to frame you for revenge.”
“Could be? It’s something to give the police to look into, anyway.” I’d give anything to make this nightmare go away and to have one normal day with Luna where I wasn’t worried for her safety.
Mason returned to his chair. “I think you’re really on to something. I’d ask Joe or Luna if either one of them saw him anywhere. Maybe you could pinpoint a timeline.”
I stared at his picture. He seemed so familiar. “You know, he kind of looks like that hotel staffer we saw before.”
Mason shrugged. “They interviewed that guy. It wasn’t him.”
Something told me to take another look. I pulled up the file from the Serendipity and ran through the footage. As I forwarded through the scenes I’d found of the staffer, I made a shocking discovery.
“Mason, come check this out.” He stepped around the desk and leaned in over my shoulder.
“That’s the staffer they questioned.” I backed up the footage and played it through another scene.
“No. That’s the staffer. But now watch closely.” I forwarded through again and when the man comes back into frame something had changed. “You noticed it before, but the police didn’t get the right man – and if we didn’t realize we were looking at two different men, then neither did they.”
“That’s our man.” Mason and I had noticed the staffer’s clothes were not standard and had presented the evidence to the police along with the footage of the staffer. What we hadn’t noticed was that the similarities between the men were so close, that what we thought was the same man had in fact been two different men.
“The police investigated the actual Serendipity staffer, but not this guy who looks a hell of a lot like Kyle Johnson.”
“Shoot those files to the detectives. I’m calling Hatcher in Vegas.” Mason took out his phone and paced the room.
My worn out feeling from my all-nighter dissipated and it was like someone had plugged me in and charged my batteries. I emailed the files, typed out a note, and called Joe to tell him to get to my office. I sent the photo of Kyle Johnson to all of my security posts and made sure that everyone was on the lookout for the man.
Joe stormed into my office as if there was a fight going on. I waved him in and explained. “We’ve found the bastard. Remember this guy?” I flashed the image to him and he frowned.
“Son of a bitch. Yeah, I do. That’s the man with the app he wanted to sell you. He was creepy, but smart. I’ve no doubt he could have taken out your security.” I hadn’t thought about it, but the big guy had a point. But as his eyes hardened even more, I knew I was missing something.
“What else?”
Joe looked as if he wanted to throw someone out a window. “The glitches.” He took out his phone and as he hit a button, he explained. “I’m making sure we have reinforcements and everyone is aware.”
“Wait! You think he’s tampering with my home security.” It wasn’t a question, but Joe nodded.
“I want to make sure if it happens again, we’re on it as soon as possible.” He turned to leave as Mason hung up his phone.
“Detective Hatcher is on it. He said to tell you to sit tight and he’ll call us back.” He planted his ass in the chair and placed his phone on his knee. “You might need to warn Luna she’s going to be a free woman soon, but not to go anywhere in the meantime.”
“She’s in love with me.” I didn’t know why the words decided to spill, as it had only been my intention to think them.
“Does she know you’re in love with her yet?” I met his eyes and before I could say anything else, he held his hand up with a gesture to stifle me. “It’s been obvious since the day you told me you married her. It’s about time you caught up.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Luna
Waking up alone wouldn’t have been so terrible if he’d only taken the time to check in on me. I thought Gabriel would for sure when he found me missing, but then by the sounds coming from the office, he’d pulled another all-nighter, and whatever he’d discovered had Joe running from his office.
I stayed still on the stairs so I wouldn’t be seen, but had no doubt Joe had known I was there. He didn’t miss much.
I returned to the guest room where I’d moved all of my things, as few as they were, and though I missed having access to the large master bathroom, this room had its own, too, and the tub had jets.
It didn’t matter how nice it was, though, because I would be leaving as soon as possible. I went to unplug my phone from its charger and found I’d missed a text from Kim. I hadn’t spoken to her but once since she’d left, and I needed someone to talk to. Dialing her number, I lay back on the soft down comforter on the bed.
“Girl, where have you been? I tried calling.” Kim turned her radio down, and I wondered if she ever went without it on.
“I’ve been contemplating a prison break.” I turned my head to the side and stared out the window into the blue sky.
She offered a disapproving groan. “Did you tell the man how you feel about him?”
I let out a deep breath. “Yeah, but apparently with everything going on, he’s been too busy to sit down and talk about it with me.
“I mean, seriously – what’s so hard about telling someone if he feels the same or doesn’t. I should send him one of those check yes or no boxes. I’d be more likely to make sense of it. He acts like he doesn’t want me to go, but I can’t tell if that’s just because of everything going on.”
“Men are confusing. I called Joe a few minutes ago because he’d asked me to, and he told me he can’t talk. That they’re beefing up security and he’d call me later. I wondered if that crazy lady had gone off the deep end again.” It was good to know that she and Joe had been talking. They’d probably get married and live happily ever after while Gabriel and I failed.
“I don’t know what’s going on around here. I moved out of Gabe’s room last night and haven’t seen him since.” I rolled over to my side and faced the door, wishing he’d come through it.
“No kidding? So, you’re done with him?”
“Yeah, I’m in your old room. I don’t know what else to do. I told him how I feel and he stood there looking at me like I’d told him I had a tail. To make it worse, I told him I didn’t want the annulment anymore, so now he probably thinks I’ll fight him about it or want his stupid money since we’re in a disagreement.”
“Did he say anything?” The sound of running water came through and I wondered if she’d gone on a cleaning binge again.
“He said we’d talk later when we had more time. There was more drama with the investigation and that lawyer of his, but he could have at least said something.”
The gentle sound of teeth being brushed held up her response. She even took the time to rinse and gargle. “Sorry, I’m getting ready to go out. But it’s not like he denied you. It sounds like he got scared.”
“No, you didn’t see the look on his face – like I was nobody.” I shook my head. “I should have left with you. I wanted to, you know. I could have lain down in the back seat and no one would be the wiser. The stupid media hasn’t been around for days now anyway, so I don’t know what he’s so afraid of.”
She laughed. “Maybe he doesn’t want you to leave because he loves you, too, and he doesn’t know how to say it. And, you know
damned good and well it isn’t the media he’s afraid of. Some asshole out there killed two of his exes.”
Even though she was being light-hearted, the reminder hurt. “I have no doubt he cares about my safety, but it’s different. People care about each other’s safety every day of the week without being in love.”
“So, what are you going to do? You can stay here if you want, but I’m leaving in a few days to go stay with my aunt in Kentucky.” I’d forgotten about that trip, and as much as I would feel safe in her home with her there, I’d feel strange there alone.
The only other option wasn’t going to be as fun as staying with my best friend. “I guess I’ll go to my dad’s house. He’s there all the time, and when he’s not, he’s in church, which is across the street from the parsonage. He can keep an eye on me.”
“You know Gabriel is going to want to send security.” I wondered if he would and who he’d send. Not Joe. Joe was his personal detail. He’d probably send that guy who knew my father.
“I doubt he’ll care once I’m gone. As long as I show up to work, though I’m not entirely sure he’ll honor his promise about that, either.” Losing my job would be devastating.
“What on earth would you do? You couldn’t find another job that pays like Gabriel. Could you make it?” I didn’t want to think about losing my apartment or having to change my spending. I’d wanted to take a huge shopping trip once I busted out of G2 lockup, but I probably should wait for final word to come down.
“I hope so. If all else fails, I’ll get a roommate.” Silence on the other end had me feeling defensive. “Hey, I’m not that bad.”
“I didn’t say a word. You were an amazing roomie.” She didn’t manage to hold her laughter on that last part.
“Why the quiet spell? We both know you were the party animal who drank too much and brought home guys who stole from us.”
“Don’t get me started on that fool. I was thinking you might be jumping the gun. Give it some time.” I wondered if she only said that so it wouldn’t put a wrinkle in what she and Joe had cooking.