“Absolutely. I want nothing more to do with your niece, Mr. Bancroft, so that will not be a problem. And as to our contract. I am honoring it because I respect you … nothing else would make me stay.”
“You will hear from me in the morning.” Without even a backward glance, T.J. disappeared through the heavy mahogany doors. When the doors clicked shut like a vault, Erika felt a sudden chill shake her fragile body. Yet even so, a fierce anger coursed through her. When her uncle made a move toward her, Erika quickly held up her index finger. “I will be right back.”
Without even a second thought, Erika threw open the doors, quickly stepping through Earlene’s outer office, and caught T.J. in the somewhat private hallway.
Yanking on the sleeve of his expensive linen suit, Erika demanded that he turn to acknowledge her. “Just what exactly do you have to say for yourself?” Erika exclaimed. “How could you let me believe all of those lies, Tim. I want an answer and I want one right now,” she finished sharply.
“Well, Marie,” he said pointedly, “exactly which lie would you like me to explain? I never once lied to you about who I was. You made certain assumptions,” he finished caustically.
“Assumptions like what your real name is?” she asked angrily.
“My real name is Timothy Joseph Morgan. The fact that you didn’t put it all together is of no consequence to me! But while we are on the subject of lies,” he said derisively, “why don’t you explain … no, just forget it,” he said with loathing, “I don’t even care anymore. To think that I thought myself in love … to think I would have given up my beloved freedom … for the likes of you!”
Erika’s heart constricted at the hurtful words hurled at her. His admission of love cut through her anger like a machete, slicing it in two. As she watched his retreating form, tears smarted in the corner of her eyes as a tiny seed of self recrimination formed. I wasn’t completely honest with him, she reproachfully admitted to herself. I had my reasons … reasons, she knew, that didn’t matter any more. The anger she had felt subsided somewhat in the wake of her enlightenment. He had loved her. How had life taken such a vicious turn? In one blasted moment in time her world had self-combusted. And with them … her dreams and hopes … shattered. Exhaustion overwhelmed her as she turned toward her uncle’s office.
Lawrence was even more confused as he held his niece, consoling her through the tears now seeping through his jacket. The smacking rebuke she would have received was long forgotten in the wake of her misery. Patience was costly as he let her run through a tide of emotions before trying to get at the source of all that transpired in his office. Finally, he could wait no longer.
“Erika, honey. Sit down here. You don’t look at all well. You don’t have your energy back after your ordeal. Talk to me.”
With stuttering breaths, Erika gratefully accepted the handkerchief her uncle was pressing into her slender hand.
“There is so much … I don’t even know where to begin, Uncle Lawrence,” she began.
“The beginning would be a brilliant idea,” he said somewhat sternly. “You will tell me everything and you will tell me now. I don’t want to make this any harder for you and I certainly want to conserve what little strength you have … but there is too much at stake here. I need to know it all.”
Two hours later, Erika felt her soul refreshed. She had unburdened every thought and every emotion. With sagging shoulders, she looked up into Lawrence’s guarded eyes.
“So, what do you think?” she asked with little emotion.
“I think it’s time for you to go home, rest, and recuperate. I think that this is a very complicated situation. More complicated than even you know. I’m going to need every ounce of your ingenuity. I need you sharp. Go home, Erika, and get some needed rest. I didn’t expect you to put in a full day.”
“That’s all you have to say. No rebukes?”
“Not now. You know me well enough to know how I feel about all your deceptiveness. It’s so unlike you. You have compromised your integrity. Unfortunately, you must live with that … and I know that will not be easy. On the other hand, I understand why you did it. Perhaps in hindsight, this will teach you something very valuable about people.”
“Well, what about … T.J. Morgan?” she asked derisively.
“He is only a business associate,” Lawrence answered vaguely, knowing in his heart that T.J. would honor his contract and more importantly his word. What Lawrence must do now is honor his part of the bargain and not divulge to Erika the nature of their contract. From what he witnessed in his office today, T.J. had been completely right. Erika could ruin everything. Not purposefully, but her emotions would get in the way … the company was far too valuable to lose over her anger.
“It sounded like he was more than a business associate earlier,” she pried. “You told me that you had hired him to investigate Capital Textiles and that he could find out what Steve Caslin was up to.”
“I said I was considering it. I have him working on a different project right now. We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, I am doing some investigating of my own. When I have something conclusive … I will let you know,” Lawrence promised.
“So, you fell in love with him,” Lawrence chuckled as a look of wounded shock crossed her lovely features.
Erika contemplated giving her uncle a glib response, but after her heart-wrenching confession, she gave a little thought to her answer.
“I honestly thought I was in love with him,” she sighed. “I am such a poor judge of character,” she finished begrudgingly. Then as if in deep contemplative thought she rose and crossed the huge expanse to the immense windows of Lawrence’s office suite. Always before when she would be considering different solutions to company problems, she would gaze down at the rat race of traffic below. The monotony of it, she supposed, helped clear her head. Now she gazed at the sky. Tried with all her might to see some semblance of the North Idaho sky, that deep velvet blue sky she had become so accustomed to. Only in her memory could she find it.
“In hindsight … and if I was being truly honest,” she continued softly, “Tim … T.J. … didn’t exactly lie to me. I suppose, just between the two of us, I was more deceptive than he was regarding my identity. It’s just that there came a point in time when he knew I had drawn the wrong conclusions … and he let me continue to believe them. And then, Uncle Lawrence, while I lay on Harry’s bed, fighting for my life, literally, he never came to check up on me … and he never called. He never apologized for the things that he said that led to our argument. For that it’s hard to forgive. Did I love him?” she questioned herself aloud, “I would be lying if I said I didn’t. What a stupid thing to admit after all this,” she said with a sniffle.
“I don’t think its stupid at all,” Lawrence said softly.
Erika turned to smile at her kindly uncle. “You’re just trying to make me feel better,” she concluded.
“Actually, not at all. I think what you just admitted was very brave and very strong. Exactly what I hoped that you would feel someday. Continue to love when all the odds are against you. When you are hurt beyond belief … when you think you are completely right and he completely wrong. When you have nothing whatsoever to gain … that is true love. It is what I have prayed for all these years.”
“Well,” she chuckled. “That sounds very poetic, but it’s actually quite tragic. You see, we can never have a future because he doesn’t return my love,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I’m not so sure about that,” he said rising from the couch to join her at the windows. “There are a few things that you may not know about T.J. You see, before he knew about you … about your real identity, he spoke to me about a very special someone he had found that he wanted to share his life with. That special someone was you. He even told me about your accident … how I didn’t put two and two together boggles my mind. You know, he was late meeting with me because the woman he loved was in danger. He was anguished. He told me that she didn’t
know who he really was … and that he had done some things that he was terribly sorry for. He is in love with you, sweetheart.”
“Was perhaps in love with me. Not any longer, if he ever truly felt those emotions,” she said.
“I know the Morgan family. He’ll come around. It may take him a while, but he will come around,” he said confidently.
“We’ll see,” she said. “Oh, I came up here to deliver something to you,” she said while reaching for the express package she had found on her desk earlier. “I believe this is the patent documentation from Cromwell. It looks like it has been tampered with and I was a little nervous about keeping it in my possession. My office is not exactly secure,” she said.
Lawrence quickly reached for the package. After examining it he asked Erika whom she suspected.
Erika spent the next ten minutes briefing her uncle on the encounter in her office, her brief findings and her fears. He was thoughtful before requesting a meeting at ten o’clock the following morning.
Chapter Eighteen
After Erika exited her office suite, Ellie spent little time tracking down Steve Caslin. After a hurried message, she instructed him to meet her in the mailroom in exactly ten minutes.
“We’ve got a problem,” she said without preamble all the while making sure their meeting place was completely safe from eyes and ears of the gossip-hungry at Crawford.
“How many times do I need to remind you, babe,” Caslin crooned confidently, “I’m in complete control. And after my little meeting with T.J. Morgan this evening all our hard work will pay off. No longer will people like Erika or Bancroft have anything over on us. We will be far wealthier than they ever dreamed … and I promise you, Ellie, we will live it up.”
“Listen to me,” Ellie hissed. “I don’t believe anything until the money is in the bank and right now that seems very unlikely,” she said nervously keeping constant vigil on any suspicious movement along the supply racks.
“What!”
“Morgan isn’t gonna pay for anything without the documentation…”
“And you have that documentation…” Caslin said sinisterly.
Ellie recognized Caslin’s tone of voice and inwardly shivered. She couldn’t tell him the whole truth … she couldn’t tell him that she had forgotten it on Erika’s desk after that embarrassing scene in her office earlier. As she had done so many times with him, Ellie pretended a boldness she did not possess. If ever she showed any weakness, Steve would take advantage of her and she could lose the position she had worked so hard to achieve.
“No, you dimwit,” Ellie spat. “Erika grabbed it out of my hands after you pranced out of her office this morning! What was I supposed to do, Steve? Tell her that we needed it to rip off her family fortune?”
“Okay, okay … you’re right,” he said beginning to pace the darkened isle way. “Let’s think this through. Do you know what she did with it?”
“Well, it isn’t on her desk if that’s what you’re asking,” she answered sarcastically, knowing full well that her thorough search of the office had been a complete waste of time.
“I want you to call Cromwell ... yes, this is good. Tell him that Erika has had … an injury,” he said with a menacing smile. “A head injury. It’s quite confidential and those that work very closely with her are very concerned and that Bancroft has asked us to cover for her for a while. Tell him,” he continued enthusiastically, “you are aware of the delivery containing certain documentation on the patent but that Erika has mislaid the parcel and…”
“That will never work,” Ellie cried.
“…she came in this morning, picked it up and later called you frantically wondering where it was…” he continued without hesitation. “And that you are very concerned. You need him to provide you with another set so that you can keep it in Capital’s safe. It isn’t the sort of thing that should be floating around, you know. And … remind him that this must, of course, be kept strictly confidential as we would not want this to hurt Erika in the eyes of the directors or shareholders,” he finished with a gleam twinkling in his eye.
“Oh, you are brilliant, my love,” Ellie crooned. “And when the documentation happens to fall into the wrong hands and spoils the future of the company … the finger could never be pointed at you.”
“Exactly. Actually, this is the best news I’ve had all day.”
“What are you going to tell Morgan when he wants to see the documentation?” she asked suspiciously.
“That when he hands over the dough, he will get the documentation and that delivery will not be made in a public place like Romans, for God’s sake.”
“Don’t push it, Steve. If you get greedy, we could lose the deal.”
“Have I ever let you down before?” he questioned angrily. “Trust me and don’t you let me down. I want to know what Cromwell says!”
Ellie nearly ran back to her office, hoping that Erika had yet to return. Breathing a sigh of relief, she quickly slipped into her chair and wasted little time tracking down Alan Cromwell. As she finished the short conversation, Ellie was amazed at how easy it was to receive another original copy of the documentation and how plausible her explanation had been and how easy it was to suggest that she herself pick up the package. The years she had put into building a trustworthy cover was going to pay off in a big way. No one would ever suspect her of disloyalty.
Now to keep Erika safely occupied was another challenge all together. Ellie knew she couldn’t just admit and apologize over her known relationship with Steve Caslin and make everything right again. So, she was going to have to put as much distance between them as possible until the money from Morgan was transferred and she and Steve could walk out of Crawford Industries in style.
Glancing at her watch, Ellie knew that Erika would be returning shortly. She had little time to bury her boss in the details of her absence. It was the only way she could think of to buy her and Steve a little more time. As quickly as her fingers could move, Ellie began making piles of things that deserved Erika’s immediate attention. And then the phone bleeped. Irritated, Ellie quickly answered.
“Erika Crawford’s office.”
A distinctly British accent successfully interrupted her thoughts and claimed her devoted attention.
“This is George Winston from the London Museum of Arts…”
“Mr. Winston,” Ellie cooed sweetly.
“Actually, my dear, it is Lord Winston…”
“Lord Winston, I’m so glad that you called back. I need to apologize about my earlier abruptness.”
“No need, my dear. I understand that you are very busy. But this is simply a matter of the utmost importance and we need to speak with Ms. Crawford immediately.”
“Well, as you may know, Ms. Crawford is an avid collector of fine porcelains…” Ellie said hoping that the curator would give her a hint at the nature of his call. This could be the gem that would keep Erika safely out of reach for a while. Knowing that her last directive from Erika was to get rid of them, Ellie adopted her most accommodating manner.
“Yes, I’m sure that she is,” Lord Winston was saying, “but we are most anxious to speak with her about an inquiry into a particularly sensitive piece of art. We are in Los Angeles and simply must meet with her right away.”
“Of course,” Ellie continued. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting until now. When could you be at our offices?” she asked while a wicked smile spread across her face.
Erika had been stopped numerous times by well-meaning employees as she tried to make her way back to the sanctity of her office suite. It had seemed like more than an hour had passed since she had left her Uncle’s office. It also seemed that the wheel had continued to turn at Capital during her absence, but the pace had slowed considerably. She knew she couldn’t take her uncle’s directive and go home until she had made complete recovery. Too many things hung in the balance … most importantly… Capital Textiles and T.J. Morgan. Somehow, they were all mixed up together.
Rounding the corner of her office suite, she heard Ellie energetically entertaining guests in her office suite. Erika clenched her lips in an annoyance that quickly turned to anger as she heard the British accented voices respond to the lively conversation. Her eyes were flashing as she interrupted the enjoyable tea time chat they were all having.
Seeing Erika’s livid eyes, Ellie set about to calm the situation. It was simply imperative this meeting begin with a kinder start … the English pleasantries could last a good hour at least. Time was what Ellie desperately needed.
“Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Erika Crawford.” Each stood and turned toward Erika, giving a very proper bow. Ellie quickly continued before Erika could take matters into her own hands.
“And Erika, let me introduce you to Lord George Winston, curator of the Royal Academy and National Museum…”
“It’s very nice to meet you, gentlemen, but I have given my assistant strict orders to cancel all my appointments.”
“Oh, but Erika,” Ellie crooned, “These gentlemen are here on business from the English crown. You have no idea how important this matter is. It’s … well… its about national security really.”
Erika felt the lump in her throat grow larger. She was losing further control. It seemed everyone these days tried to take charge of her schedule. Pressing her lips tightly together she reevaluated her position and just exactly how to extract herself from the touchy situation Ellie now found herself in the middle of. If she was more jaded, she would think that Ellie had somehow contrived it all, for the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“Ms. Crawford, you have no idea how really important it is to speak with you regarding the Yellow Rose Soup Tureen,” Lord Winston began hurriedly. “If it were simply an object we wanted to acquire for the Museum, we would not be going to all this trouble, I assure you.”
Whispers of the Heart Page 31