by Wendi Sotis
“I’m sorry, but I must give you one more thing to think about. Have you ever thought about why you wanted me, Dan, even though I told you time and time again that I never felt that way about you? Was I just a challenge? Was I attractive to you only because I was the only girl you weren’t able to bend to your will?”
Dan met her gaze again, his eyes flashing with too many emotions at once for her to distinguish them. She could see his professional façade fall into place, and his feelings were wiped away, though his nostrils flared. “I’ve trusted you with some details of this investigation to help you see that Darcy is no good, so you can get out now, before it’s too late. You will not warn Darcy.”
She raised her chin. “I won’t have to—you’ll find nothing with which to charge him.”
Dan turned, and in two steps, he was at the door, but when he reached for the doorknob, he stopped.
Taking a deep breath as if to calm himself, he spoke softly, without turning around, “Although I admit I’d enjoy putting Darcy on trial, and eventually behind bars, no matter what you think of me, Lizzy, know this—I would never indict a man who I knew to be innocent. This investigation is not personal.”
Elizabeth braced herself, expecting he’d slam the door behind him, but he pulled it closed with barely a click.
She sat in the chair and gently lifted her throbbing ankle onto the box she’d had one of the stock boys bring in here for that purpose, fighting back her tears. She knew she had to release some of this, but now was not the time.
Looking down at the pile of time cards and other paperwork to which she needed to attend, her eyes were so full of tears that she couldn’t even make out the words on the top page.
Five minutes—I just need five minutes, and I’ll be fine.
She closed her eyes, trying to stem the tears that threatened with a deep breathing technique she had learned in a stress reduction class she had taken in college. A couple of minutes later, a knock on the door startled her from her meditation. Biting back a groan, she blew out one last deep breath and called out, “Come in.”
The door opened, and William passed through, closing the door behind him.
“I came by to see how you were feeling—and to pick up an order—but I saw Dan in the parking lot—”
William stopped speaking and came around the desk when Elizabeth’s bottom lip started to quiver. He knelt down next to her and pulled her into his arms. Elizabeth sobbed into his shoulder. After a couple of minutes, the flow of tears abated, and she said between sniffles, “I can’t let him get to me. I have a store to run; people depend on me. I’m such a wimp!”
William chuckled softly. “You are not a wimp.” He paused. “What happened?”
She pulled away, grabbed a tissue from the box on her desk, and wiped at her cheeks. “We just talked...” She shrugged. “I guess it was more like arguing.” She hiccupped.
“Why don’t you forbid him entry to the office so he can’t upset you here again?”
Elizabeth raised both eyebrows. “Tell my mother not to let him in? That’s not going to happen. You must have missed the show in the kitchen this morning. She’s furious that I turned down Dan’s proposal. She was absolutely thrilled that he came in today, and actually told him to...” She continued in a voice approximating her mother’s, “...‘Talk some sense into that girl.’ I don’t think he’ll come back, though.” She took a deep breath. “I feel a lot better. Thanks, I guess I needed that.”
“A lot has happened in the past couple of days. It’s understandable.” William stood. “Since it’s lunchtime, do you want to grab something to eat?”
Elizabeth gestured to her desk and shook her head. “I’m so backed up...”
“Then why don’t I pick up a couple of sandwiches and come back? Surely you can stop working for a few minutes so you can eat?”
She agreed. She had to smile when, on his way out, she heard him ask Mrs. Hill whether she wanted anything, too.
When William returned, Elizabeth was half-way through the stack of time cards waiting to be signed. As he placed the bag down on one of the chairs, Elizabeth said, “Let me just clear a space for us.” She moved the piles of papers onto a file cabinet next to her desk, and a few fell to the floor. As she picked them up, a name stood out one of the time cards. She felt herself blanch.
“What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing... How does Wickham spell his last name?”
William tensed significantly then spelled it out for her.
She placed a hand on her chest. “Well, that’s a relief. This guy is W-h-i-c-c-a-m. Still...” With a furrowed brow, Elizabeth opened a file drawer, pulled out an employee folder, and skimmed through it. “He was hired three months ago by my mother.” She crossed the room and opened the door. Mrs. Hill was the only person in the outer office. “Is my mother still out to lunch, Mrs. Hill?”
The lady nodded.
Elizabeth closed the door and put her foot up again. She looked up at William. “Can you stay a few minutes? Just in case it is him, I’d rather you be here when he comes in.”
“Absolutely.”
She picked up the phone and called the warehouse. When she hung up, she said, “The foreman says he called in sick today.”
They stared at each other across the desk.
A minute later, he shook his head. “No. It couldn’t be him. My man met with Wickham in California about three months ago.”
“With all the things that have gone wrong in the past twenty-four hours, I’m not so sure. Do you know the exact date he was seen in California?”
He took out his phone and sent off a text. “I’ll let you know when I find out.”
The two tried to turn their thoughts to other subjects and enjoy lunch, but Elizabeth’s intuition continued to nag at her.
Chapter 18
~Later that day
“Mom, who is this?” Elizabeth dropped George Whiccam’s folder on her mother’s desk. “He didn’t fill out most of the forms.”
“Oh, it’s George, of course.”
“Mom, I see his name. You interviewed him?”
Her mother waved her hand as if she were shooing away a fly. “There was no need for that, Lizzy, he’s Lydia’s boyfriend.”
“Even if he is Lydia’s boyfriend, you still should have interviewed him. What kind of experience does he have? Did you at least do a background check? There’s no information in his file other than his name. You even used our address and didn’t get his social security number.” Elizabeth glanced at Mrs. Hill, who nodded. “We’ve gone over this before, Mom; we need to report every employee’s income to the government. He must fill out the required forms. There should be a copy of his driver’s license in here, too.” She paused. “And I saw his time card... Why is he getting such a high pay rate?”
“He’s Lydia’s boyfriend, for goodness sakes! He needs the money to pay his rent and the loan on his car. He has a BMW.” Mrs. Bennett nodded with a sly smile. “He has come into a nice bit of money recently. He’ll be a nice catch for Lydia.”
“If he bought the car with an inheritance, why does he need a higher pay rate so he can pay a loan?”
Her mother frowned. “Oh, don’t bother me with all these details!”
Elizabeth took a deep breath to calm herself. “Mom, we’ll get in trouble if he doesn’t fill out these forms.”
“Give them to me!” She took the papers out of her daughter’s hand and laid them on her desk. “Lydia is taking him his paycheck tonight. I’ll tell her to have him fill these out.”
Elizabeth used a sticky note pad from her mother’s desk, wrote a note saying that she’d like to see him first thing tomorrow, and stuck it to the forms. “From now on, maybe you should leave the hiring to me, Mom.”
Mrs. Hill nodded again.
“You know I only hire special cases. We won’t have this situation again, Lizzy. This man is the one for Lydia.”
At least William should be happy to hear that he’s off the h
ook with Lydia.
~%~
~A week later
Elizabeth stood in the warehouse speaking to the foreman. “Whiccam is out again, John? Does he ever show up to work?”
“He had some sort of family emergency and had to take a few days off. Your mother approved it.” John shrugged.
Elizabeth nodded, sighing. “I understand. Well, when he returns, please make sure you let him know that I want to see him as soon as possible. No excuses.”
As she crossed the warehouse to return to the showroom, she had to stop to allow the forklift to pass by. She watched the machine lift heavy crates over the edge of the second floor. She looked up and waved to Frank, who was waiting to unload the crates.
It always made her nervous to see people standing as close to the edge as Frank was right now. Years ago, she had asked her father if they could erect a fence or railing to keep people safe, but he said it would defeat the purpose of having a second floor if the forklift didn’t have access to it. It made sense to her, but it still caused her to become a little dizzy to see someone standing near the drop-off. She walked away before she started feeling any worse.
The dizziness reminded her of the photos. She hadn’t received one in several days, and that last one of her and William—well, that hadn’t come true. Maybe her weakness the day he found her crying in her office had changed his mind, or maybe the gypsies were just plain wrong. Everyone makes mistakes; why should deceased magical gypsies be any different? She chuckled at the ridiculousness of the entire situation.
Elizabeth would like to have gone through the contents of the trunk more thoroughly, or at least have read more of Elizabeth Darcy’s journal, but she hadn’t had an opportunity lately. When she left the store each night, she’d go home and work on plans until she was too exhausted to do anything but crawl into bed. Tom was coming home tonight and would work at the store the entire weekend. Tonight, she’d put aside a few hours and discover any other treasures she had missed.
It was a good thing that Elizabeth’s cell phone was set to vibrate, for she wouldn’t have heard it ring over the noise in the warehouse. By the time she had taken it out of her pocket, her Uncle Ed’s name was on the screen. She covered one ear with her hand and answered it immediately, jogging toward the door to the showroom where it would be much quieter.
“Hi, Lizzy. I was wondering if you could do me a favor? I’ve had a minor fender-bender about half-way between Longbourn and Meryton. I’m here with the police, and I’ll never make it to the jobsite in time. Can you meet with an inspector for me at the hospital site in about an hour? The gas lines were installed today, and we can’t turn them on until they’re inspected.”
“An inspector? So late in the day?”
“Yes, he called a few minutes ago saying he’d do us a favor. Apparently, he’s quite fond of overtime pay.” There was something strange about his tone, but she shrugged it off as frustration with the situation.
“Sure. Mr. Phillips should be here in about fifteen minutes. I’ll leave for the jobsite as soon as he gets here.”
“That sounds good. The inspector’s name is Smith, and he’ll fax his report to me—you don’t have to worry about that. I just need a representative to let him onto the site and into Darcy’s trailer to look at the plans. Darcy texted earlier saying his plane was delayed by the weather. He was supposed to land right about now, but I haven’t heard from him. I left a message on his cell explaining that you’ll keep Smith busy until he gets there. You can leave once Darcy arrives. Oh, and could you swing past the Darcys’ house? The site will be locked up for the night by now, but when I spoke to Georgiana, she said she has a set of keys to the gate and the trailer at the house.”
“No problem. Their house is on my way to the job site.”
“Make certain you tell Smith that Darcy has the, uh... papers he’s expecting to collect today, and he’ll have to wait a little while for Darcy to get there. It’s important that he knows that.”
“Will do!”
~%~
Mr. Smith met her right on time. As she walked up to the man, her phone made that noise. She knew she was supposed to look at the pictures as soon as they were received, but this time, the gypsies would have to wait.
Elizabeth unlocked the gates, led Mr. Smith onto the jobsite, and brought him to the Darcy trailer to show him the plans as her uncle had directed.
As she unrolled the plans on a drafting table, Mr. Smith cleared his throat. She turned around, expecting him to be nearby, but he was still standing by the door. How strange!
“Wouldn’t you like to see the plans for the gas lines, Mr. Smith?”
“That won’t be necessary.” He looked her up and down in obvious appreciation, making Elizabeth very uncomfortable.
“I guess you’d rather inspect the site, then?”
He frowned and shook his head casually as he took a couple of steps toward her. “There’s no need.”
“Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding.” Elizabeth cocked her head to the side. “I was under the impression that you were here to make an inspection.” Her phone made that noise again, reminding her she had not looked at the photo. She reached down to the holster on her belt and pressed the power button to silence it.
“I’m the inspector, girl, but I’m just here for the overtime pay.” He winked at her. “I was told this would be well worth my efforts, and I could expect extra for my speedy response to the call...” His gaze raked down the length of her again in such a way that Elizabeth began to feel more than a little nauseated. “...but I wasn’t expecting such a juicy perk.” He smiled. “I’m glad they have a lot more buildings going up that’ll need... inspections.”
Could he really mean what she thought he meant? He thought her uncle sent her to influence his inspection? And here she was, on a deserted jobsite, alone with this disgusting man. His large frame was blocking the aisle to the door. She’d never get past him.
She swallowed hard. “Now I know there’s been a misunderstanding, Mr. Smith. I was told to let you know that Mr. Darcy has the papers you’re looking for. He was running late, but he should be here soon. Very soon.”
“Then we’d better get busy so we’re not interrupted.”
If she could just make him understand! “I’m here to allow you access to the site, Mr. Smith. Nothing more.”
He laughed and stepped toward her. “So allow me access.”
As her adrenaline kicked in, the training she received in her self-defense course came to mind. Her instructor had told her to use anything and everything she had at hand when it comes to defending oneself.
She backed away, using her peripheral vision to look for anything she could use as a weapon. She saw a pair of scissors on Georgiana’s desk, but she’d have to back herself into a corner to reach them, and there was no way she was doing that. The bathroom was in the hallway behind her. Unless she could make it past him, she was going to have to lock herself in there until William showed up. If William’s plane had been delayed again, she was in big trouble.
She grabbed a desk chair that was near the aisle, shoved it toward him, and ran. Smith was too fast for her. Just as she got the bathroom door open, Smith grabbed it and held it firmly open with his foot.
How could a man that large move so quickly?
Smith wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him.
Elizabeth moved her head back and forth quickly to keep him from succeeding in kissing her. She stomped on his foot and tried to wriggle from his grasp.
Smith pulled her closer. “A struggle is fun, honey, but you don’t have to cause damage.”
“Yes, I do!” She elbowed him in the diaphragm, and the man doubled over, but managed to grab her by the hair so she couldn’t get away.
“If you want to play it that rough, fine, but that’s what you’re going to get, too.” He swung her around by the hair and slammed her shoulder against a desk. Georgiana’s desk. The scissors were now in reach!
&nbs
p; Just as she lunged for the scissors, out of the corner of her eye she saw Smith move quickly away from her. Elizabeth snatched up the scissors and turned to face him.
Surprise and relief flooded through Elizabeth the moment she saw William fling Smith to the other end of the room. His back to Elizabeth, William growled, “What’s going on here, Smith?”
As Elizabeth slumped against the desk and the scissors slipped from her hand, she heard a whimper, and it occurred to her that it might have come from her.
From her place behind the desk, Elizabeth saw a man wearing a security guard uniform peek his head in the door and look around. “Mr. Darcy? Is everything all right in here?”
Elizabeth knew that voice! It was Dan’s friend and the son of her assistant manager, Larry Phillips. But Larry wasn’t a security guard—he was a detective on the police force. She would have heard through the gossip grapevine if he had taken a second job.
What is going on here?
William hesitated, glancing at her, then at Smith. He took in a breath. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m just having an after-hours meeting tonight—I guess I forgot to notify security. Thanks for checking.”
She sat up a little higher and saw Larry look directly at her. He tipped his security guard hat and closed the door to the trailer.
Elizabeth stared at William in amazement, waiting for him to turn toward her, but he didn’t. He took a few steps toward Smith. “You’re lucky I got here when I did, Smith. Here,” William handed him a very thick envelope. “It’s all there, but if you want to count it, go right ahead.”
“You mean she’s not part of the deal?” Smith gestured toward Elizabeth. Elizabeth ducked back behind the desk and retrieved the scissors, just in case.
“The girl has nothing to do with our business—she was just here to let you in so you wouldn’t look suspicious hanging around outside the gates.”
Smith grunted in a way that sounded like he was rather disappointed. Elizabeth shivered.
“Count it or get out—one or the other,” William growled.
Smith sat down at the drafting table and quickly counted the money that was in the envelope.