by Tiffany Snow
“I can’t believe someone shot at you! Thank God I called Parker.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I said grimly.
“Do you think they knew you were looking for information on Steven?” she asked.
I thought about it. “Maybe. It doesn’t make sense, though, why they’d go to the trouble to censor the file and still leave it to be found, right? And the only person who would’ve known what I was looking for was—” I stopped, struck by a thought.
“Was who?”
“It had to be that girl in the office,” I said. “I told her what I was looking for and she was the only one who knew I was in that room. She was probably the one who locked me inside.”
“Do you remember her name?”
“Yes.” I’d seen her name tag and closed my eyes to remember. “It was Ashley…something. Started with a W. Waters…no. Woods…no. It was something from someone famous…” My eyes popped open. “Wilkes. Ashley Wilkes.” That’s right. The totally wussy guy Scarlett had been in love with in Gone With the Wind, something I’d never understood. Why would anyone pick Ashley over Rhett?
“I can Google her.”
“Okay, do that. I’ll call Ryker, see if I can find her address.” I reached for my cell.
“You’re going to her house?”
“I think it’s time we played hardball,” I said. “Sikes goes public tomorrow. We’re running out of time.”
Ryker answered on the third ring.
“So what’s the plan now?” I asked.
He sighed heavily. “Natalie still says Jessie is missing. Said she was going to track down her ex-boyfriend or something and took off. I don’t know where she went.”
“She came to see me,” I said, explaining what had transpired between us. “Do you know what’s going on between Parker and Natalie?”
“No, but he’s my next phone call.”
Maybe Parker would tell Ryker what he wouldn’t tell me.
I hesitated, then asked, “Is it bothering you, Natalie and Parker?”
“Parker is in love with you,” he said. “I have no doubt about that. Whatever he’s doing, it’s for you, not her.”
That made me feel better. Other than myself, Ryker probably was the only other person who knew Parker as well.
“And Natalie?”
There was a long pause before he answered this time, leaving me wondering if I’d overstepped. “Seeing her again, talking to her…it’s like not a day’s gone by.” His voice grew rougher as he spoke. “I don’t know what’s going to happen or why she’s doing what she is, but I want things to work out…somehow. I’m not going to lie to you or myself.”
That was hard to hear, but then again, you can’t choose who you love, right? And I could sympathize with falling in love with someone utterly inconvenient. I decided to change the subject.
“I called because I needed the home address of a government employee,” I said. “Can you help me?”
“Why do you need that—wait, do I want to know?”
“I’m not going to hurt her or anything,” I said, hoping I wasn’t telling a little white lie. “I just need to talk to her away from the office.”
“What’s her name?”
“Ashley Wilkes. She works in the Cook County Clerk’s Office.”
“Okay. I’ll call you back.”
I hung up just as Carrie came back in carrying a few papers.
“What’d you find?” I asked as she handed me half of them.
“That she’s twenty-two, newly divorced but currently In a relationship, according to her Facebook status. She has an unhealthy appreciation for cat videos, Theo James, and wine.”
“Sounds like we could be friends,” I said. Theo James was pretty hot.
“She also has massive credit card debt.” I looked at Carrie and she shrugged. “I ran a credit report on her.”
“So if she needed money, she would’ve made an excellent target for Steven to bribe.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
My phone buzzed. Ryker.
“I’m not going to regret telling you this, am I?” he asked.
“Of course not. I’m a very trustworthy person.”
He snorted, then reeled off an address that I jotted down.
“Thank you,” I said. “I promise I’ll be good.” I ended the call.
There was a tap on my door and I glanced up to see Charlie standing there.
“Shelton Sikes is here to see you,” he said.
I glanced at Carrie, then back to Charlie in confusion. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Show him in.” What Sikes would want with me, I had no idea. His company was basically being auctioned to the highest bidder tomorrow, which should allow him to retire in relative comfort.
Charlie ushered in a man who looked to be in his early seventies. He was tall and reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood, with deep-set eyes and crow’s feet. His skin was weathered for a man in his profession, but the suit he wore was tailored and fit him well.
I stood to greet him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Sikes. I’m Sage Muccino.”
“Nice to finally meet you,” he said, his voice the deep rasp of a career smoker. He grasped my hand and his skin was as rough as his voice. The hands of a hardworking man.
“Please, sit down.” I gestured to the chairs as I took my seat again. He sat in one and Charlie in the other. Carrie left, closing the door softly behind her.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” he said. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s getting better,” I replied. “They think they’ll be able to bring him out of the coma tomorrow.”
“That’s good news. Your father and I…well, we go way back.”
“Really?”
He chuckled. “Oh yes. Granted, we’re also competitors, but your dad’s always been an honest man, someone I could trust. In this business, that’s hard to come by.”
“I guess I didn’t realize you and he were friends.”
“Oh, maybe not friends, per se, but we had a healthy respect for one another. And we worked together, when the times necessitated it.”
I read between the lines. “You mean when Leo Shea was trying to shut you both down.”
He nodded. “Desperate times called for desperate measures. We did what needed to be done to save our businesses.”
“What you did was against the law,” I said.
“And Leo’s intimidation wasn’t?” he retorted. “Judging is so much easier in hindsight.”
“I’m not judging,” I said. “But those actions are having repercussions now.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“I’m listening.”
“As I’m sure you know, tomorrow Sikes, Ltd. goes public. Forty-nine percent of the company will be held for employees only. Fifty-one percent will be available for purchase.” He paused. “I’m here to offer you my five percent share of that fifty-one.”
“Five percent?”
“As owner, I have the right to purchase up to five percent prior to the IPO. In turn, I will sell it to you.”
“And what’s five percent going to do?” I asked. “Unless there’s a majority percentage, Shea will still buy the remainder and control your company.”
“The employees’ forty-nine plus our five will be the controlling interest,” Charlie interrupted. “With that, we’ll be able to incorporate the company as a Muccino holding.”
“A merger,” I said.
“Exactly,” Shelton said. “And since he’ll then be a shareholder, Shea won’t be able to bring charges of collusion up against his own parent company. You’ll be in the clear.”
It sounded like an excellent plan to me, almost too good to be true, but the part of me that no longer relied on the kindness of human nature was suspicious. “Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“I want to retire, go take my wife and sit on the beach somewhere,” he said. “But I built this and don’t want it to fall into Shea’s hands
. Plus, I owe your dad one. This is my way of paying him back.”
“Okay, so what do we need to do?”
He reached into his briefcase and withdrew a sheaf of papers. “The paperwork’s already been drawn up,” he said. “You just need to sign it.” He handed it to me.
“Who prepared all this?” I asked, flipping through the pages.
“Parker Anderson.”
I paused in my signing, glancing over at Charlie, who maintained a poker face. I hurriedly finished signing and handed the papers back.
“I’ll have these filed and the agreement faxed over by tonight,” Shelton said, sliding them back in his briefcase. He stood and I followed suit. “It was good doing business with you.”
“Likewise,” I said, shaking his hand again.
“I’ll see you out,” Charlie said, holding open the door.
I sat back down with a thump. Obviously, this was what Parker hadn’t told me about. I wondered what else he had up his sleeve because once Shea found out his plan to monopolize the business was gone, he was going to be pissed. And considering he was a psycho, I wasn’t sure what form his temper would take; I just knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.
Would he find out about Parker’s involvement?
Apprehension still filled my gut. Yes, Parker may have saved my company and my father, but who was going to save him?
I needed to find something on Steven. If I did, then I could maybe turn the tables and get him to leave my company—my father’s company—alone. Which meant I was still going to see Ashley. But in the meantime…
I picked up my cell and dialed.
“Parker Anderson,” he answered.
“Shouldn’t it be ‘knight in shining armor’?”
There was a low chuckle on the line. “I take it Sikes came by.”
“Yes, he just left. So why didn’t you tell me this last night?”
“We were kind of busy last night.” The way he said it sent a shiver down my spine.
“Yes, we certainly were,” I replied, my voice dropping into what I hoped was a sexier register. Phone-sex operator, I was not.
“Been thinking about you all day,” he said. “I kept smelling you on my fingers when I drove home last night. Gave me another hard-on.”
Hooboy. That sent my blood in a southerly direction. Okay, maybe I could channel my inner phone-sex operator. “Then it’s too bad you left or I could’ve taken care of that for you.” Hmm. Surely I could do better…
Another low laugh. “I’d ask you to tell me, in detail, how you would’ve done that, but I’m afraid I need to go.”
“Yeah, about that,” I hesitated. “While I appreciate what you did, Steven’s not going to be happy about it.”
“I’m not worried.”
I rolled my eyes. Alpha males. “I didn’t think you would be, but I am. He’s certifiable. What if he does something crazy? He could hurt you.”
“I can take care of myself, Sage,” Parker said.
“That’s what you keep telling me,” I said. “Pardon me if I’m not convinced of that.”
He sighed. “This isn’t my ideal, no. But you’re safe and so is the company. If Steven gets out of hand, I’ll take care of it.”
I let my silence speak for me.
“I’ve gotta go, sweetheart. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Bye.”
“Bye.” He ended the call.
I know he meant to be reassuring, but I still didn’t feel any better.
* * *
I caved and asked Schultz to leave one of the family cars at my apartment—it was just so much easier than calling a cab—then I drove myself to Ashley’s house.
I decided to go for badass and wore black jeans, a fitted black long-sleeved shirt, and slicked my hair back in a ponytail. I didn’t trust myself with a gun, so I brought a knife. I intended to leave with information, and Ashley was going to give it to me, even if I had to scare ten years off her life.
It was dark and I parked half a block away but near enough to where I could see her house. There were no lights on and there was no car in the driveway. She wasn’t home yet.
Hmm.
Breaking and entering wasn’t high on my list of Things I Excelled At, but her house was old and so were the locks. I used my knife to jimmy the dead bolt at the back door and eased inside. I stood still for a moment, waiting to see if a dog might be waiting for me or if I’d triggered an alarm. Neither happened.
I released my breath and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I’d entered the kitchen, so I walked through to the hallway. Waiting in the bedroom would probably be the best location and give me the most bang for my buck.
Sure enough, her bedroom was the master at the end of the hallway. It was girly enough not to be anyone else’s. She had a slipper chair in the corner opposite the door and I sat there.
I’d been sitting in the dark for several minutes when something touched my leg. I squeaked in alarm—some threat I was—and looked down to see a white Persian cat rubbing against my leg. He glanced up at me, then hopped onto my lap. After kneading my legs for a moment with clawless paws, he settled down.
After I started hesitantly petting his head, he began to purr. Oh, this was too good. I felt like Dr. Evil, sitting here with a cat on my lap while I waited for my victim. I nearly snorted.
Time passed slowly and I was bored. Glancing at my watch for the umpteenth time, I wondered why they never showed this in the movies. Bond wouldn’t be so glamorous if people saw him nodding off as he awaited the bad guy, who was late getting home.
Bookshelves on the wall drew my eye. I stood, the cat leaping down to floor and giving me a kitty glare of disdain. I used the flashlight on my phone to peruse the titles of the books. Typical fiction and a few photo albums lined the shelves. I was about to sit down again when a line of yearbooks caught my attention. They were for a high school not far from mine. It appeared Ashley and I had practically been neighbors.
Curious, I slid one off the shelf and opened it. Typical class photos lined the pages. I searched out her name under the Ws. Hmm. A cheerleader. Why was I not surprised?
Idly, I scanned the rest of the page, then stopped short.
No. It couldn’t be. But it was. Jessie was pictured in the same class. Ashley knew Jessie?
I heard the front door open and hurriedly replaced the book on the shelf before going back to my chair. It was showtime.
I took a deep breath, my nerves strung tight and my heart racing. I had to look the part if I wanted answers.
Steps advanced down the hall and a light was flicked on. My eyes adjusted just as Ashley appeared in the doorway. To my surprise, she didn’t notice me but walked right in and slipped off her shoes. She released a heavy sigh.
“Hard day?”
She spun around and yelped at the sound of my voice, her eyes widening when she spotted me.
“Remember me?” I smiled as maliciously as I was able, and she went pale.
She took off running, but I’d been expecting this and wasted no time chasing after her. I remembered some of my short lesson with Parker in moves and I grabbed a handful of her hair as well as the waistband of her slacks. Planting my foot, I leveraged her suddenly off-balance body and she was flat on her back, the wind knocked out of her.
“Nice try,” I puffed, more out of breath than I should’ve been for that short of a sprint. “I take it you were expecting me to be dead. That’s what was supposed to happen last night, right? When you locked me in that room?”
I thought about the knife in my pocket, but I just couldn’t pull it out. I’d heard somewhere that you shouldn’t show a weapon unless you were prepared to use it. And I knew there was no way I’d be using a knife on Ashley, not unless I was suddenly fighting for my life.
“I swear, I didn’t know that was going to happen,” she said. “I was just supposed to let him know if anyone came snooping.”
“Let who know?” I asked, wanting confirmation.
&
nbsp; “Steven Shea.”
“And he paid you off?”
She nodded.
“Did he also pay you to scrub the files?”
She hesitated, her eyes glancing past me toward the door, but I resisted the instant urge to turn and look.
“He almost killed me last night,” I said. “That makes you an accessory. You should tell me now or I’m going to the cops.”
“Please don’t,” she said. “Yes, he paid me to delete the electronic file and destroy the paper one. Then I just had to call if anyone came looking.”
“But you didn’t destroy the paper,” I said. “Why?”
“Because I didn’t ask to get involved in this mess!” She was near tears. “It was bad enough deleting the electronic file. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy the paper one. Someone should know he’s trying to hide it, and if I destroyed everything, no one would have.”
“But you still went through with calling him?”
“I thought you were a test,” she said. “And he’d already threatened me. If I hadn’t called…” She swallowed hard. “So I did and a man showed up. He told me to lock the door when I left. That’s what I did. I swear, I didn’t know he was going to try and kill you.”
“What exactly did you think was going to happen?” I retorted. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out she’d put me in imminent danger. I felt kind of bad for threatening her like this, but her pretending she hadn’t taken an active role in nearly getting me—a total stranger—killed, wasn’t helping her either.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
I sighed. She sounded sincere, and I could relate to being threatened and scared. I reached down and took her hand, helping her to her feet. “Steven Shea is bad news,” I said. “Tell me the name you marked out of the file. Who’d he get married to?”
The sound of a gunshot and crashing glass exploded in my ears. Ashley’s body jerked, then red began leaking from her chest. She crumpled to the floor.
I stood for a second, stunned, then dropped to my knees. Ashley was limp. I pulled at her arm.
“Ashley! Ashley!”
She didn’t respond. Her head lolled to the side and I saw her eyes, glassy and empty. She was dead. Shot by someone outside.