“I would plan on being near Mrs. Mills as much as possible,” Rick assured her. “I can monitor her actions fairly well. I can keep her working late and be in touch with her constantly. Remember, she’ll be led to believe someone else in the company is working with you. That’ll temper her actions, whatever they might be.”
Diane fell quiet as she mulled over the possibilities Rick had suggested. The scenario did seem plausible but the chances of it falling through were great. There were inherent risks, as well. Diane sensed, as much as she knew Rick did, the dangers involved. The only thing they had on their side, she surmised, was the element of surprise.
Rick and Diane followed the trail down toward the lake. The waters before them were calm and smooth, reflecting distant boat lights and the lights of the nearby resort. Rick pulled her over toward a sandy spot. Diane sat down beside him and pulled off her sandals, working her toes through the cool sand. She sat there quietly, relishing the sense of freedom she got from being outside, from watching the peaceful, beautiful scene before her. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, she suddenly thought, to become the aggressor in the situation where she’d only felt like a pawn, to be in control of the events instead of being a victim? It would give her the freedom she had been looking for, the freedom she felt right now. Rick’s plan could truly be a viable option and, if it worked, it would begin to get her out of the rut her life remained in.
“What are you thinking?” Rick asked from beside her.
“I was thinking,” Diane said, “that approaching Mrs. Mills and setting her up might be the best thing we could do.”
“I believe it is,” Rick said.
“It does seem ominous in some ways,” Diane admitted. “It is frightening approaching her in that way.”
“I’ll be there to help you and we’ll be careful with every move we make,” Rick assured her. “It will work out. I’m sure of it. We’ll do it right.”
Diane glanced over at him. Sitting there beside him, she could almost believe him. The conviction in his voice flowed like a comforting wave about her. It seemed incredibly odd that here she sat companionably next to Rick, a man who had been the cause of much inward turmoil in her life. Now she was gathering a sense of strength and comfort from his presence, something she would have never foreseen happening again. Though they had often come to the lake during the time they’d dated, that time seemed almost surreal now, as if it had transpired only in a dream.
“Diane?” Rick suddenly addressed her. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable by changing the subject but I wanted to talk to you about something else tonight, something more along the lines of a personal nature.”
Diane shifted her weight, at once ill at ease. “Rick,” she said as she turned her profile away from his view. “Talking about personal issues wouldn’t be wise right now. It doesn’t seem like the appropriate time, not with all that’s happening.”
“Maybe not,” Rick admitted, “but it would help me to get this off my mind.”
Diane didn’t respond but pulled up her legs tightly against her and settled her chin on one knee. She gulped awkwardly, not feeling comfortable even in the darkness.
Rick sighed deeply before he began speaking. “I’ve spent a few restless nights this past week but you should know it’s not only the investigation that’s been troubling me. I’ve been troubled about what happened before between you and me. I’ve been troubled about our past.”
Diane didn’t dare look at him. “Enough time has gone by. It’s not something we have to talk about.”
“I want to talk about it,” he countered. “I need to ease my conscience. I’ve been burdened by what happened and by my behavior. What happened and how I acted—it was wrong of me. Very wrong. I know I felt justified in leaving you without even telling you the reasons why, but I should have never done what I did. My actions were reprehensible—in the way I treated you, in the way I misjudged you, in the way I hurt you.”
Diane closed her eyes, carefully absorbing his words as she swallowed on a dry throat.
“Before this past week,” Rick continued, “I wanted to thrust the blame for what happened on you and everyone—or anyone—else. Now that I realize the truth, I want you to know how sorry I am for my part in creating this mess. I know an apology won’t take away the emotions you must have felt when our relationship ended quickly—and for you, without any forewarning—but please know that I apologize. Deeply and sincerely.”
All other sounds seemed drowned out as Diane listened to Rick’s deep and steady breathing. She sat breathlessly still, as if any movement would make the moment dissipate. “It’s so strange,” she responded with a light shrug of her shoulders. “I never thought I’d hear you say anything like this to me.”
“I understand your bitterness towards me when I first came back,” Rick said. “I thought when you interviewed me you were trying to find reasons to get me away from the company so I wouldn’t discover what you’d done. I wasn’t exactly sure what you were up to when you mentioned J. D. Keaton. I almost believed that you might have been taunting me with the fact that you’d gotten away with so much in the past—testing the waters, perhaps, to make sure I didn’t plan on exposing you or what you’d gotten away with. After my reactions and assertions during our time together, I can’t blame you for the article you wrote.”
Diane dipped her head. “I need to apologize for that. It wasn’t fair. I did it more out of revenge than truthful objectivity. For that, I’m sorry. If I would have kept my feelings to myself, none of this would have happened.”
“It’s better that the truth has come out,” Rick concluded. “It’s given me a chance to learn what actually occurred, although the discovery of my part in it has not been pleasant. I have a lot of mistakes I need to make up for.”
“We both do,” Diane said.
“I do much more than you,” Rick replied. “I suppose I always wondered why I could never put our past completely behind me. I must have sensed there was more to it. It will be beneficial to the both of us to be able to put it behind us now.”
Something in Rick’s tone and words immediately evoked the painful memories Diane had successfully avoided thinking about—the pangs of hurtful remorse that had so often accompanied thoughts of him. The knowledge that Rick, too, had agonized over their broken relationship should have been comforting to her. Now it only added to her sense of loss. Still, Rick was right. After this, it would be much easier to heal the wounds of the past—salve them, bind them up and then move onto other associations which might be meaningful to them without carrying the baggage of their previous unresolved relationship. Still, there were a few questions in her mind, questions which had haunted her. “Rick?” Diane tentatively asked.
“What?”
“That woman, the one you were seeing before you left. Were you dating her while we were together? Perhaps I was mistaken, perhaps I read too much into our relationship but…” She stopped, suddenly embarrassed she’d brought it up.
“I didn’t date her when we were together,” Rick answered, sensing her need to get everything out in the open. “I only began seeing her when I thought you’d been unfaithful. It was a poor move on my part, one made from anger and resentment. I never even liked the woman. We remained together for only a few weeks.”
“You left town shortly afterward?”
“I began working in our satellite office. I never planned on returning. My mother begged me to return after my father’s death. For some reason, she had an innate distrust of Mr. Keaton. It took a long time before she could persuade me to come back. She wanted me to stay long enough to hire a general manager that would have the same power as Mr. Keaton’s. I’m beginning to understand her concerns more clearly now.”
“Then you must plan on going back to the other office soon,” Diane observed.
“Yes,” Rick said. “I’ll go back as soon as I get everything resolved here. I realize I’m going to have to do some repair work on the company’s reputation as
soon as everything comes out and it’s uncertain how long that will take.” Rick paused. “Part of the reason I want to return is that I have been seeing someone seriously. She’s anxious for my return.”
Diane kept her head down as she intertwined her fingers, not certain how to react to his statement. “Hopefully you can resolve everything quickly then.”
“Yes.” There was a short pause. “What will you do when this is over?”
“I’ll stay in town,” Diane answered. “I want to get my job back. I’m sure I’ll be a public spectacle for awhile but my grandfather needs me. I know he thinks I swindled your company, but I still love him.”
“He loves you,” Rick said, “but he has such intense views of right and wrong that…”
“He’s adamant about ‘clearing the family name,’” Diane finished for him. “I know. He wants me to live up to the Benson standard of honor. But that’s part of the reason I love him. He’s stubborn and proud.”
“Like his granddaughter.”
Diane whipped her head around, surprised. “I’m stubborn and proud?”
“Enough not to turn yourself into the police and go about trying to clear your name on your own? Yes, I’d call that stubborn and proud,” Rick said.
Diane fell quiet, somewhat offended.
Rick accurately read into her silence. “I don’t mean that as criticism,” he said. “I admire what you’ve done. I’m sure you felt that you had nowhere to turn but you still pushed ahead. That took a lot of courage.”
Diane looked at Rick directly. “I think how our relationship ended in the past helped me through this.”
Rick looked over at her, startled. “Why?”
“Out of the blue everything we had—everything we’d built together—was taken away and I was completely alone. I felt helpless. And hopeless. I didn’t know then how I would pick up the pieces. I had to look way deep inside myself for strength to go on, strength I didn’t even know I had. So yes, what we went through in the past helped prepare me for this.”
Rick didn’t speak for quite some time. Diane could see that he was mulling over her words and that they troubled him. He sat still, one elbow resting on his knee, the wind lightly rustling his hair. “I am sorry for everything I did to you,” he said. “I never knew what I was doing and I felt completely justified in how I behaved.”
Diane shook her head. “I didn’t mean to force another apology. I shouldn’t have spoken as freely as I did. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Rick said. “I always thought my leaving never affected you in any other way than that you got rid of someone who might hinder your new lifestyle. I have to completely readjust my perceptions of the past.”
“We both do,” Diane said. “It still bothers me to wonder what your mother thinks of me. I’m sure she’s aware of all that I’ve been accused of.”
“Yes,” Rick answered. “She won’t talk about it. She really liked you. I suppose she’s acting out of a sense of hurt.”
“And betrayal,” Diane added. “Both she and your father did a lot for me. One more reason to get this over with and resolved.”
“Yes,” Rick agreed. He raised his brows in the darkness as he glanced down at the time on his phone. “I think I ought to get you back or Liz will be getting worried. It’s late.”
“You’re right,” Diane said. She accepted Rick’s proffered hand to help her up and they walked back together toward the trail.
The drive home went quickly. Rick escorted Diane to the darkened porch and then waited while she fumbled with the key. Before she opened the door, she faced him for a moment in the dim light that spilled out the front room window. “Thank you for letting me get out for awhile,” she said to his darkened silhouette.
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks again for…” Diane began again before stalling as she searched for the right words. “Thanks for giving us the chance to clear up everything from the past. I think I needed it somehow.”
In answer, Rick slowly put his arms around her, pulling her close for a few, short minutes. It was as if they were saying the goodbye she’d always wanted, Diane acknowledged as she leaned her head against his chest. She closed her eyes, relishing the remembered feel of him before she slowly pulled away. “Goodnight,” she whispered, dropping her eyes from his gaze before opening the door and slipping quietly inside.
Diane sat in the darkness of Rick’s car outside the R & J office complex, hearing every slight noise, every tiny creak in the thick, heavy blackness that surrounded her. Her quiet breathing seemed to echo throughout the darkened enclosure, matching the erratic beating of her heart. Only three days had passed since Rick and Diane had been together at the lake but it had been enough time to formulate a plan to set up Mrs. Mills. Diane now sat, waiting anxiously for the text indicating that all would be ready inside.
Diane fumbled nervously with a bracelet about her wrist, finding some comfort in the unbending metal. Rick had kept Mrs. Mills working late and would signal when the office had emptied so that Diane could make her approach. Diane reshuffled the papers in her lap, meticulously aligning them, before she jumped at the dull rumble of the phone beside her indicating it was time. After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Diane placed the papers in one hand and opened the car door, glancing about for any onlookers. Not a soul could be seen. She walked quickly up to the side door and opened it noiselessly before traversing the carpeted hallway toward the reception area.
As always, Mrs. Mills sat working stiffly at her desk, her glasses perched above her thin, pinched nose, not one gray hair out of place. It was that fact that Diane made herself concentrate on as she approached the desk, standing directly in front of her. Diane’s heart beat wildly as she waited for Mrs. Mills to look up. She determinedly squared her shoulders, unwilling to let Mrs. Mills see the fear that lurked directly beneath the surface. When Mrs. Mills finally lifted her eyes, Diane could instantly see the double-take she did. Her lips pursed tightly together in a shocked frown as a pale cast overcame her features. Her thin brows lifted together partly in fear, partly in surprise before her face hardened into a stern, angry expression. She pushed a stiff hand toward her phone.
“Do that,” Diane warned with a forced sneer, “and there will be others that know what I know about you.”
Mrs. Mills’ hand lingered in mid-air over her phone.
“You’ve made a mess of my life,” Diane spat at her as her eyes honed in dangerously on hers. “Now you’re going to pay.” With that, she threw the papers she’d copied from Mr. Keaton’s files on the desk before pivoting and walking determinedly away, not once looking back.
“She was more than a little shaken,” Rick explained to Diane and Liz later that evening as they sat around Liz’s kitchen table. “She couldn’t even look me in the eye. I asked her if she was feeling sick but she insisted she felt fine.”
“What are you thinking?” Liz asked.
“We’re on to something,” Rick said. “The only thing that has given me some concern is that this might go deeper than I thought.”
“Why do you say that?” Diane questioned.
“She made several calls last night. Whenever I tried to approach her desk, she’d turn off her phone. She must be working with someone besides Mr. Keaton.”
“Does that mean I still go forward with trying to bargain with her?” Diane asked. “Should I call her tonight?”
“I think you should,” Liz said. “The sooner the better. We can’t let her garner her forces, whatever they may be.”
Rick nodded in confirmation. “Liz is right.”
“Okay,” Diane said, one hand nervously rubbing her forehead. “I’ll do it.” She grabbed the new phone Rick had purchased for her and punched in Mrs. Mills’ number. Her fingers tightened about the phone as she heard the first ring. Mrs. Mills answered almost immediately, her voice taut with tension.
“No doubt you’ve been expecting to hear from me,” Diane began, her tone hard.
/>
There was no answer.
“Have you looked over the papers I gave you?”
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Mrs. Mills said. “You’re completely out of line here.”
Diane forced herself to scoff, keeping her tone bitter. “You’re not in much of a position to refuse to cooperate,” Diane said. “I know a lot about you. Others do, too.”
“You’re working with someone?” Mrs. Mills asked.
Diane stalled pointedly after her question. “I’m working with someone in the company who has been watching your every move, someone as interested in cashing in on what you’ve done as I am.”
Rick made a motion with his hand for her to go easy. Diane glanced at him nodded.
“You have nothing on me,” Mrs. Mills said.
“Nothing?” Diane repeated callously. “Have you forgotten the money you’ve taken from the company following Mr. Keaton’s dismissal? You’re a clever forger, Mrs. Mills. It took us awhile to discover what you’d done but believe me, we have proof.”
Another pause. “You’re acting awfully high and mighty for someone running from the law,” Mrs. Mills said, her tone acidic.
“Don’t think they could easily be pointed in your direction?” Diane said with derision. “Turning me in now would only put you at risk. I’m offering you a very sweet deal. You’ve ruined my life. What I’m offering you is fair. I only want what I deserve.”
Mrs. Mills breathing remained tight and irregular but she didn’t say anything in response.
“I’m losing my patience, Mrs. Mills,” Diane said, “and I’ve had more than enough time contemplating my retaliation over these past few months. I can’t wait much longer before I’m forced to pursue another course of action, one I guarantee will not please you.”
“I’ll speak with you tomorrow at midnight. Come to my home and we’ll discuss this further,” Mrs. Mills said sharply. “And don’t bring anyone with you.” She immediately turned off the phone.
Where Lies End Page 10