Sometimes It Is Rocket Science

by Thorpe, Kara

  Together, they cried like they hadn’t since the hospital in Huntsville. Every sob that shook Tab’s body ripped out a small piece of her heart. She smoothed his hair, stroked her hands up and down his back. When her eyes felt swollen and her stomach ached from all the crying, she pried Tab off her.

  “Honey, you have to stop now. You’re going to make yourself sick,” she said.

  “I know,” he hiccupped.

  A disposable shop towel appeared over her shoulder. Georgiana turned her head to shoot Robert a grateful smile and plucked the towel out of his hand. She gently wiped Tab’s cheeks before handing him the towel so he could blow his nose.

  His eyes were bloodshot and his face was blotchy, but some of the heaviness that had settled on his shoulders after the accident seemed to have disappeared. “I love you, Gigi.”

  Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “Stop that,” she admonished with a laugh.

  This time when Robert put a hand on her shoulder she didn’t try to dislodge it. She leaned back against his chest. Comforting Tab had sapped her reserves. She felt hollow inside. Hopefully healing, and not more pain, would fill the void.

  “Let me show you what we found,” she said.

  Dan handed her the unidentifiable sensors. Before breakfast, Robert and Georgiana had explained to Dan what they’d found in Tab’s Mercedes. It had taken both of them to keep him from going after Prask.

  “What are those?” Tab asked.

  “I still have research to do, but I believe someone swapped parts of your stability and traction controls for these components. They aren’t the manufacturer specced parts, and according to my preliminary tests they are designed to fail.”

  “Someone screwed with my car?”

  “There’s more.” Georgiana moved them around the desk so they were in front of the computer screen. Robert had already booted up his program and highlighted the code in question. “Bobby’ll have to explain this part.”

  When their conversation rapidly descended into programming shorthand, Georgiana slipped out of her brother’s grasp. She wandered out to the wash sink. Splashing cool water on her face helped cool her flaming cheeks and burning eyes. She cupped her hands and gulped two mouthfuls of cool, slightly metallic water.

  “Can I get you something, dear?” Dan leaned against the wall beside the sink. “A cup of coffee? Aspirin?”

  “No.” She turned away from the sink and accepted Dan’s hug. “Thank you, though. I just want to get back in there and put the last pieces of the puzzle together.”

  “I’d like to know what in the hell has gotten into that damn fool Prask.”

  “He’s cash poor,” Georgiana revealed. “Cedric and Yvonne finished their research this morning. Not only is Tomorrow Solutions overextended, but his personal finances are a wreck. His divorce lawyers aren’t as good as he believes they are. The last two ex-wives got healthy chunks of his money and property.”

  “So he thinks he can manipulate you to get his hands on CA and use that to prop himself up?”

  Georgiana tucked her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “An old acquaintance gave me a file Prask had his cronies compile. It’s a list of my personal assets: vacation property, jewelry, stocks. I think he’s picked out wife number six.”

  “Oh, Georgie,” Dan groaned.

  “Yeah.” Georgiana nodded in agreement. “That’s sort of how I felt.”

  “Gigi! Gigi!”

  Tab raced out of the workshop. He tried to slow down, but his socks didn’t allow for much traction on the polished concrete floor. It was only Robert’s quick intervention that kept the siblings from winding up sprawled on the floor.

  “Is it true, Gigi? Is it true that the accident isn’t my fault?”

  “You shouldn’t have been driving in that weather,” she said, tempering the rebuke with a soft smile, “but, yes, it appears that the accident wasn’t your fault.”

  He threw his arms around her neck. “Oh, Gigi!” He was laughing and crying. Quinn danced around them, barking and wagging his tail. “Oh, Gigi!”

  Georgiana waited until Tab’s laughter died down to push him away. “Now do you see why I need to know who had access to the car?”

  “Perhaps we should move this to the kitchen,” Robert suggested. “We could all use a bit of a breather.”

  The four of them gathered around the round table in the breakfast nook. Deliciously fragrant steam wafted up from four mugs of coffee. Georgiana had placed an opened package of gourmet chocolate chip and walnut cookies in the center of the table, but no one had reached for one.

  She was glad Robert had chosen the seat on the other side of Tab. If the discussion proved to be as difficult as the one in the workshop, her brother would need every ounce of support available. It was her job to press for answers, so it would be up to Robert to play good cop.

  “What happened to the car while you were in Dallas, Théophile Bertrand?”

  “I had a fender-bender. Really minor. Some guy pulled out in front of me right in front of the school. He was a Brentmore alum. He lived near school and offered to fix the car if I wouldn’t report the accident. He didn’t want his insurance to go up because of such a minor accident.”

  “Honey, you should have called me right then and there. I would have told you to report the accident, no matter how minor it seemed,” Georgiana said, lips tight and eyes narrowed.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  Tab hung his head. He wrapped his hands around his mug of coffee. Guilt stabbed Georgiana, but she bit her tongue to keep from apologizing. She wished she’d spent more time with their mother learning how to be both stern and gentle. Their mother had been like an iron fist wrapped in a silk-and-lace glove. She felt more like a slap wrapped in cactus needles.

  “Did this gentleman repair your vehicle?” Robert picked up the threads of the interrogation.

  Tab nodded. “The Wednesday before my trip to Houston. I only had independent study on Wednesday afternoons, so I took the car to his house. He said he fixed up old cars as a hobby and had all the tools he needed.” He turned pleading green eyes onto his sister. “His garage reminded me of the way the garage at the townhouse was before Dad died and you boxed up all your projects. There were tools and parts everywhere.”

  Georgiana sipped her coffee while she collected her thoughts. She hadn’t made a secret of her plans to see Tab. She’d missed him so much the two months he’d been away at school. In her excitement over their shopping weekend, had she told Prask? Had she told someone who’d eventually relayed that information to him? Had she given him all the ammunition he needed to kill her brother?

  “Do you have his contact information?” Georgiana asked.

  “No.” Tab held up a hand. His face scrunched up like a baby about to cry. “Wait. NORA, can you pull up my call log from last October? I am looking for a Dallas phone number.”

  “During the month of October there were eight Dallas-Fort Worth numbers with incoming and outgoing calls,” NORA responded after a brief pause.

  “Send them to my phone,” Georgiana instructed.

  She handed her phone to Robert. She could find the necessary information on the phone numbers, but Robert could undoubtedly do it in a fraction of the time. Robert used both her phone and a tablet to research the phone numbers.”

  “Three are restaurants, one is a bookstore, two are Brentmore extensions, one looks to be a student, and here we go.” Robert showed Tab the photo displayed on the tablet. “Mr. Victor Buchanan. Is this the gentleman, Tab?”

  “Yes. That’s him.”

  “Mr. Buchanan Graduated from Brentmore the same year Prask did. Attended Baylor the same years he did, too.” Robert’s fingers flew across the tablet. “It seems our Mr. Buchanan owned a small language software company he sold to Prask six years ago.”

  “Mr. Prask did this to me?” Tab asked, eyes hooded and fists clenched. “Why?”

  “Because he’s a prick,” Robert said.

  Georgiana kicked his sh
in. He winced but did not take back his assertion. “Because he’s caught in quicksand, kiddo, and he’s grabbing for an easy solution to his money problems.”

  “He wants your sister,” Robert interrupted. The heavy undercurrent of anger in his tone had the others sitting straighter. He grasped one of Georgiana’s hands tightly. “And he’s ruthless enough to do whatever he feels is necessary to get what he wants.”

  Without prompting from Georgiana or Robert, Dan explained to Tab about the poisoning. Georgiana took advantage of the distraction to pull her chair closer to Robert’s. “When do we leave for Dallas?”

  “As pleased as I am that you automatically included me in your little road trip, the answer is never.”

  She arched an eyebrow in disbelief. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe we’re not going to confront Mr. Buchanan.”

  “We are not.”

  “He sabotaged my brother’s car! At best, that’s endangerment of a minor and depraved indifference. At worst, it’s attempted murder!”

  Robert’s smile was equal parts cunning and satisfaction. It was the smile he usually gave business opponents right before he pulled the plush, hand-woven Persian rug out from under their imported leather loafers. “Which is why we are sending Allan to question Mr. Buchanan. He will ensure that Mr. Buchanan gives us all the information we require.” He brushed his lips across the apple of her cheek. “If both of us go tearing up to Dallas, Prask will get suspicious and disappear. We need to pretend that nothing’s wrong.”

  She laughed dryly. “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing for months?”

  “Yes, but cheer up, doll,” Robert said, “this will all be over soon.”

  Her heart sank like a stone. With Prask out of the way and the sword over all their heads gone, there would be no need to continue their sham of an engagement. She and Robert would have to find the best way to “break up.”

  They would drift apart. There wouldn’t be any rendezvous in the hallway or kitchen that to make her pulse do a funny little flutter. Meals, with only Tab for company, would be quieter, a little duller. She couldn’t search him out to bounce business or project ideas off of. No more company in the workshop, no one to flirt with her using science-laden innuendos.

  No kisses that burned like wildfire. No piercing, smoldering eyes. No strong arms to hold her whenever the pressure of work and Tab and life left her reeling.

  No Bobby.

  Chapter Thirty:

  Georgiana had always assumed that as soon as she discovered the reason behind Tab’s accident she would get rid of the car. That she’d never want to see another Mercedes ML63 again. She hadn’t expected it to be so hard to give the car to the police.

  While Dan walked Detective Sanchez and a crime scene tech through the reports Georgiana had spent half the morning compiling, she walked around the mostly assembled vehicle. She trailed her fingers across the twisted front bumper. She’d invested so much time in rebuilding the car.

  “Are you all right?” Robert asked.

  Her hand fell away from the SUV. She ducked her head in embarrassment. “I remember when Tab and I picked out this car. It took him two hours to make up his mind over which model he wanted. Twenty minutes on the color. None of the models at the dealership had all the accessories he wanted. I tried to talk him in to custom ordering one, but he insisted on driving his new car out of the lot that day.”

  “I drove my father crazy when we purchased my first car. He nearly had a heart attack when he learned it wasn’t brand new.”

  Georgiana grinned. “The ’92 Viper. What a stir you caused when you pulled into the parking lot with that beast.”

  Robert rounded the car to stand behind Georgiana. He wrapped an arm around her waist and hooked his chin over her shoulder. She stiffened at the contact but didn’t pull free. “All the girls wanted to go for a ride. I had to start giving out numbers.” He kissed his way from the side of her neck to the curve of her ear. “Not you, though. You wanted to put that puppy through its paces.”

  Her thoughts scattered like marbles when he nibbled her earlobe. She brushed at his cheek as if he were a hungry mosquito. “400 horsepower and a V10 engine. 4.6 to sixty. Man, I miss that car.”

  “I think you drove it more that first year than I did, and you didn’t even have your license.”

  “Good times.”

  “Yeah, they were.” Robert spun her around. He didn’t give her a chance to speak; he bent his head and settled his mouth over hers. His tongue ran along the inside of her bottom lip, stroked her tongue with such intent that she swore her heart stopped for a moment.

  As soon as he lifted his head, she moved out of his embrace. Her lips tingled; her limbs felt heavy, molten. Robert’s eyes were dark with promise, but she kept her distance.

  “Is something wrong, Gigi? You’ve been avoiding me for hours.”

  “I’ve been busy,” she said, eyes sliding to the floor. “I’m worried that this will all fall apart. The chain of custody on the car is broken, so the evidence alone isn’t going to be enough to touch Prask.”

  “We’ll get a confession from Buchanan. He’ll give up Prask.”

  “How can you be so sure? There are too many variables for anyone to accurately predict the outcome.”

  Robert shrugged. “I know Allan. He won’t let Buchanan go until he gets everything we need. If Buchanan is smart, he’ll flip on Prask. Prask isn’t worth going to jail for.”

  “And Allan has already contacted the authorities in Dallas so that everything is done properly?”

  “Gigi,” Robert chided, “try to have a little faith in me. I have made it clear to Allan how vital it is that he not give Buchanan the slightest loophole to slip through. I would not send him if I did not trust him implicitly. He will leave tomorrow morning; by tomorrow evening the police should have all they need to arrest Prask.”

  By the time the police took possession of the reconstructed SUV and the program Robert had uncovered, it was late in the afternoon. Tab offered up his graded makeup history quiz as soon as Georgiana reached the kitchen. He’d only missed one short-answer question.

  “Can I go with Dan to the club?” he asked, practically bouncing in the chair.

  Georgiana frowned at an oddly silent Dan. “Golf? So soon? You just got out of the hospital, Dan. I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “No golf, Georgie dear. Just a little mingling. Reassure everyone that I am, indeed, on the road to recovery.”

  Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Georgiana, Robert crossed his arms over his chest. “Really, Dad? You’re going to involve Tab in this?”

  “He’s already involved, son. The boy needs to get a little payback.”

  Georgiana glanced back and forth between father and son. She was missing part of the puzzle. Normally she would walk away from one of their squabbles, but they were discussing Tab. “What’s going on?”

  “I gave Dad and Cedric a little extracurricular assignment. Cedric and Yvonne are going to use Yvonne’s connections to spread the word, discretely, about Prask’s cash flow issue.”

  “Is that legal?”

  “The information is all there if you know how to find it. All they are doing is leaving breadcrumbs. It may not be entirely ethical, but Prask’s downfall will be absolute.”

  Georgiana wasn’t going to argue with that stern, lord-of-the-boardroom voice. Not that it wasn’t what Prask deserved, anyway. “Where do Dan and my brother come in to this?”

  “While he is swapping gossip with his friends, Dad may let slip one or two hints about Prask’s financial and legal problems.” Robert’s smile reminded Georgiana of a predator closing in for the kill. “I don’t believe Prask’s SEC investigation has gone away, either.”

  “So, can I go?” Tab asked again.

  Georgiana sighed. It was good that Tab was interested in leaving the house, in being around others. What if was too much at once? What if he had a panic attack? What if he said something about the accident? Just one
wrong word would negate all the work she’d done to keep the accident a secret.

  “Pretty please?” Tab tucked his folded hands under his chin and batted his eyelashes like an overzealous debutante.

  Her resolve was as sturdy as a sandcastle. “Yes.” She held up a finger when he let out a whoop. “But only for two hours. And you have to finish your literature paper tonight.”

  Dan eyed Tab’s baggy denim shorts and soda-stained t-shirt. “They won’t let you in the front door looking like that, Tab. Khaki pants and a clean polo will suffice. Solid. No wild prints.”

  “Yes, sir.” Tab shot out of his chair and disappeared up the stairs.

  Georgiana set a hand on Dan’s shoulder. Dan reached up to cover her hand. “I’ll watch him, dear. I won’t let anyone corner him or ask too many questions.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “This could be good for him,” Robert added. “Tab needs to spend time with people who don’t know about the accident. He needs to be social again.”

  Georgiana nodded but doubts lingered. Was she doing the right thing by allowing him to go with Tab? Should they start with something smaller? Did he need more than just Dan for support? Did he need her and Robert to follow along, as well?

  “He will be fine, doll.” Robert swept his thumb along her cheekbone before cupping the side of her face. “It’s time to let him heal.”

  “I’m not holding him back,” she snapped, stepping back so that his hand dropped to his side. “I would never do anything to hinder his recovery. I can’t believe you’d even think that.”

  Robert reached for her, but she darted out of his grasp. Her departure was as hasty as Tab’s. The silence left in her wake made Robert’s chest ache.

  “Well, you sure did screw that one up,” Dan observed.

  “Thank you, Dad. I don’t know where I would be without you to point out the glaringly obvious.” Robert sank onto the chair across from his father. His eyes were on Dan, but his mind was upstairs. “Was it this way with Mom? Did it feel like you were navigating a minefield while blindfolded?”