Whiskey-Eyed Woman (Soldiering On Book 5)

by Aislinn Kearns

  “So, I went looking for who this mystery woman might be,” he began. “A well-dressed woman in her fifties is not generally someone you’d have as backup for a kidnapping and ransom situation.”

  “Right,” Blake nodded.

  Destiny tapped her fingers against the table. “So, who could she be? Maybe Tulane has a partner.”

  “He already had two,” Zack interrupted. “Erica and Danny.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Paul. “But Erica is in prison, and Danny seems pretty useless by all accounts.”

  Destiny turned to Hannah. “Speaking of, do we have an arrest warrant for Danny? Surely there was enough evidence in what Duncan gave you to at least get that? Maybe if we bring him in, he’ll tell us where Tulane is.”

  Hannah shook her head. “The police have already spoken to both him and Erica. Neither have any idea where he might go—so they say. Danny’s definitely mixed up in this, though, so I’ll get an arrest warrant for him when we’re done here. It might even flush Tulane out if he starts feeling the pressure.”

  Everyone nodded their agreement, then turned back to Paul.

  “Anyway,” Paul continued. “I looked into the partner angle—nothing much. But I did expand my search parameters.”

  “And?” Blake prompted.

  “And it turns out Tulane was married thirty years ago in Canada.”

  The room fell silent again as they all stared at Paul.

  “And he’s still married?” Destiny asked softly.

  Paul nodded. “To a woman named Gloria Swenson.”

  “Is Gloria Swenson a well-dressed woman in her fifties?” Destiny asked.

  Paul smiled. “As far as a can tell, yes.” He pulled out a photograph from his bag and laid it on the table. It was a grainy, black-and-white photograph. Based on the hair and fashion, it was probably taken some time in the seventies. The woman was young, possibly even in her teens—a yearbook photo? Destiny studied it closely.

  “This is the only photo you have of her?”

  Paul nodded. “The only one I could find so far. They may have met at University. Gloria was doing a joint degree in business and botany, of all things. The interesting thing is that only a few months after the marriage is when Tulane started building his empire. Until then he seemed like nothing more than an aimless slacker with a middling trust fund. Clearly, his new wife inspired him to greater heights.”

  Destiny kept her eyes on the photo, searching the woman’s expression for any sign of who she’d become when she was older.

  “I take it you’ve looked into name change databases and everything?” she asked.

  Paul sighed. “Nothing yet, but I have to go state by state, then country by country. I’ll find her eventually. And when I do, if she has property, or credit cards, or anything under that name, I’ll find her. And, hopefully, Tulane.”

  Destiny grinned. “Great job, Paul.”

  He smiled at her, and Christine squeezed his shoulder. Something about the movement caught Destiny’s eye, and her eyes locked on to Christine’s finger. A beautiful diamond glittered there, catching the light with every slight tilt of her hand.

  “You’re engaged!” Destiny said. “Did everyone know but me?”

  Paul and Christine glanced at each other, and then away. Destiny’s heart sank at the lack of immediate reaction.

  Christine was the first to recover, a grin spreading across her face as she held out her hand for Destiny to see the ring.

  “Actually, we hadn’t told anyone yet. We were waiting for all this to blow over and Duncan and Mandy to get home safe. I just forgot about the ring.”

  Destiny lightly clasped Christine’s hand, twisting this way and that to admire the ring. “It’s gorgeous. Which of you picked it out?”

  Christine blushed, her tawny skin darkening with pleasure. “Paul did. Though I suspect he had some help. He won’t tell me who.”

  Destiny glanced at Paul, who gave a noncommittal shrug. The smile he tried to suppress gave him away.

  Sierra crowded in behind Destiny. “Whoever it was has great taste. I think I’d want a square cut diamond on platinum, but this one suits you so well.” She shot a pointed glance at Blake who laughed.

  “Noted.” He shared an amused look with Paul.

  All of them crowded around, admiring the ring, the tension that had dogged them for days easing a little with the joyous moment. Destiny slipped to the back, allowing Christine to have her moment. Again, that wistful envy. She was so happy for her friends, but it was times like this she felt the most alone. Not only was she not, herself, getting engaged, but she had no one to turn to with the news. All her friends were part of the same crew, in their own relationships. She didn’t have anyone that was strictly hers.

  Destiny felt a presence beside her. She glanced over to see Hannah, her eyes warm with empathy as she watched Destiny.

  “Have you ever been married?” Hannah asked. “Or engaged?” Her voice didn’t rise above the hubbub of the room, cocooning them in their own two-person world within the crowd.

  Destiny shook her head. “Being a lesbian means it’s hard enough to find someone because the pool is smaller. But between my job, my ‘crusade’—as some called it—against the corrupt cops, and everything else happening in my life, it’s hard to maintain relationships.” She hesitated, not sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question. “You?”

  Hannah shook her head. “Likewise, I work too much. Though being bisexual, my pool is a little wider, presuming people aren’t weirded out by it.” Hannah stood tense, as if worried about how Destiny might react.

  Destiny huffed. “People are weird.” But a slow pleasure built in her at the thought that Hannah was single. But hopefully not for long.

  Hannah laughed, relaxing. “They are indeed.”

  Destiny knew they had a connection. She could have what her friends had, that love and affection and intimacy. All she’d have to do is be brave enough to make a move—and tell Hannah the truth about possibly quitting the force.

  Nerves roiled in her stomach at the thought.

  Christine cleared her throat and raised her voice above the crowd. “While we’re all discussing this, we wanted to invite everyone to an engagement party in a few weeks. When everything calms down, of course.”

  Everyone readily agreed, and Christine leaned against Paul’s chair with a happy sigh. Her hand drifted to her stomach, and Destiny recalled Sam telling her that Christine was pregnant, too. She sincerely hoped that both she and Paul had a happy life together. They deserved it.

  “All right, team,” Blake said. “We can celebrate later when Duncan and Mandy are home safe. For now, let’s look more into Gloria Swenson, see if we can’t brainstorm a way to find her.”

  They gathered around the table once more, and worked as the sun crawled towards the horizon.

  Mandy’s skin itched with a need to escape. Escape the small house, the distracting tension, and most of all escape Duncan. He hadn’t looked at her all morning and barely talked to her, which was quite a feat since they were the only two people around, trapped in an enclosed space together.

  “When can we leave?” she asked him as they ate a lackluster lunch of beans in…some kind of sauce. She wished she’d insisted on them getting fresh ingredients, but Duncan had been too injured and she’d been desperate to get him to a safe place. Duncan had told her earlier when she’d asked that they were in lock down. Every time they left the house it increased the chances of them being spotted, recognised, followed, or captured. He didn’t want to risk it.

  Even if it meant subsisting on barely-edible food.

  He stirred his spoon through his beans, eyes downcast. “Soon. I have a radio out back, so I’ll turn that on when it hits the hour to get the news bulletin. If we get the all-clear from that, I’ll talk to Blake. Twenty-four hours is hopefully enough time for everything to die down.”

  “Since we’re meant to be on lock down, how will you contact him?” She took another mouth
ful of beans and winced.

  He glanced up but didn’t quite meet her gaze. “Sam gave me a new phone before I left. Paul updated it with all the latest security, so it should be safe enough to call. Even if not, we’ll be leaving here right after, so it should be fine.”

  She shifted, trying to contain her annoyance, but only exacerbating it when her knees brushed Duncan’s beneath the table. The kick of attraction in her gut made her furious with herself after her pep talk of the night before. “You’re telling me there’s a phone I could’ve used this whole time?” she asked through her clenched jaw.

  “Yeah, for emergencies. Why?”

  She scowled at him. It would have been a nice thing to know. Even if she hadn’t used it, knowing there were people out there, contactable, made her feel less trapped with Duncan. Less like the two of them were living in a pot of bubbling water that would boil over any minute.

  “It would have been nice if you’d told me.”

  Apparently sensing her frustration, Duncan finally looked her in the eye. “Why?” he asked again, seeming genuinely confused.

  She pushed her bowl out of the way with a scrape and leaned forward. “Because then I might believe you’re not an overbearing asshole trying to make decisions for me,” she hissed.

  Duncan swallowed. “Oh.” He no doubt realised she wasn’t talking about the phone. “Mandy…”

  “You know what, I won’t actually have this conversation with you again. You’ve made your decision—a stupid one, sure, but a decision—and there’s nothing much I can do about that.” She stood, planting her hands on the table. “But I think we should take a break from each other, once all this is over. A holiday, maybe, or…I don’t know. Something.”

  She didn’t know what she was saying. She only knew that being near him, knowing she couldn’t have him, made her tense and miserable and frustrated. More so since the sexual intimacy they’d shared over the last few days. Now she’d had a taste, she wasn’t sure she could go back to the way things were. Now she knew how good they were together, she could no longer ignore their chemistry.

  What had once been a slow-burning ember was now a total conflagration. The desire she felt for Duncan ate her up, as did the pain of how he treated her.

  She wasn’t sure how much longer she could be around him. She needed to get away, clear her head. She needed time to put all her feelings for him back in a box and lock them away before she could face him at work every day.

  “I agree,” Duncan said, interrupting her thoughts.

  Mandy blinked. “Really?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Even better…” he hesitated, then plastered on a cheery smile even less convincing than the bean dish. “I think we should consider closing Soldiering On.”

  Mandy stared at him in shocked silence, her mind completely blank of thought.

  “Not this again.”

  He continued. “It’s the perfect time, with our offices destroyed. We can collect the insurance and go our separate ways. Move on, particularly after what…happened.”

  She blinked, and again. She opened her mouth, spluttered something that was a combination of all the billions of things she wanted to say to him. But really it all boiled down to one single word.

  “No.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “What? Why not? It’s the perfect solution.” He looked so smug, so mightily pleased with himself.

  “I’m not giving this up. Soldiering On is my one chance to prove to my father I can make it as a businesswoman on my own. I can’t believe you’d suggest I give that up.”

  “Your father means well. And you gave up a lot for Soldiering On. You could get that back, be where you belong. Even if not at Lennox Industries, a place like that. Corporate and safe.”

  Mandy slammed her fist on the table. Duncan froze, staring at her.

  “How dare you?” she whispered, fury lacing every syllable. “You still insist on seeing someone that isn’t me. If you knew me at all—if you bothered to learn anything about me over the last two years—it would be that with my father, in his company, is the absolute last place I belong. I hated working there. I hated the disrespect, the snide comments, the way everyone saw me as Amanda, the boss’s daughter, and not a single person saw me as Mandy, who wanted to make the world a better place.”

  She clenched her fist, trying to contain the hurt and anger stinging the inside of her chest like a swarm of angry bees. “And you’re just like them. Why? Why can’t you just open your fucking eyes and see me for who I am? Why is that so hard for you?”

  She stared at him, her chest bellowing. His jaw worked as he, too, tried to contain some wayward emotion.

  “I see you,” he said softly. “I see you prefer cheap takeaway to fancy restaurants, and you take off your expensive high heels every chance you get. You’re not afraid to get dirty. Last night you trekked through a sewer without any complaints. You’re smart, and savvy, and capable. You’re amazing.”

  Mandy’s heart swelled. Duncan pushed back from the table and stood, towering over her at his full height. This was it. He’d kiss her, and finally admit she was right all along—they belonged together.

  He rounded the table, stood toe to toe with her, and wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “I see you, Mandy. I just can’t be with you.”

  Mandy’s heart shattered, cutting her from the inside. She gasped in a breath, too shocked to even cry. To say all those lovely things and then say that? Did he intentionally carve out her heart in the way he knew would hurt the most?

  “I’ve been here before, and I already know how it ends. It’s miserable and painful—one of the hardest things you can go through. Stopping this now, before it begins, is for the best. For both of us. I promise.”

  With that devastating pronouncement, he strode from the room and disappeared.

  Chapter 17

  Duncan slammed the door to the garage behind him and paced around the edge of the car. Now, why had he gone and said that stuff to Mandy? It would only make it worse. Yes, he’d wanted to hurt her, stop her pushing this whole thing between them. Because the more she did, the harder it got for him to refuse her.

  Which is exactly what he needed to do. Right?

  He blew out a frustrated breath and ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. He needed to get out of here before he did something he’d regret. Like kissing Mandy again. Like stripping her naked and taking his time with her body.

  Like telling her he loved her.

  He kicked the tire of the car and winced as his bad leg protested. Grunting in annoyance, he pulled out his phone. He dialled Blake, but didn’t stop pacing, still trying to work off the nervous energy buzzing under his skin.

  “Blake, here.”

  “Blake,” Duncan answered. “It’s me. What’s happening?”

  Duncan could hear Blake’s relieved grin in his next words. “Tulane’s still at large, but we’ve made some progress in discovering where he might be.”

  Duncan slowed his pacing and squeezed his eyes shut in relief. “Any word from the cops if they’re looking for me?”

  “Destiny says they’re not. No one knows you were there. They think there was some in-fighting between Tulane’s guys, which caused the destruction.” Blake sounded smug about this, making Duncan wonder if he’d arranged someone to suggest this outcome to the police.

  Relief settled over him and he leaned back against the car, the nervous tension draining out of him. He was free to leave this place, leave Mandy. It was exactly what he’d hoped for.

  So why did he feel dissatisfied?

  “You think it’s safe to come in?” he asked, ignoring the niggling dissatisfaction.

  “Should be. With Tulane on the run, it’s unlikely he’d make a move on you. But if he did…well, we’ll be ready for him.”

  An idea sparked in Duncan. “That might actually be smart,” he mused.

  “What?” Blake asked.

  “I’ll tell you when I see you.”

  “Sure.” H
e paused, and Duncan stilled, sensing he wouldn’t like what Blake would say next. “Are you okay?”

  Duncan’s hackles rose. “What makes you ask that?” Duncan replied, avoiding the question. He tried to keep his voice measured, not giving any hint to the turmoil raging in him.

  “You just seem a little distracted, is all. Everything okay with Mandy?”

  Damn Blake. When did he get so perceptive? “Let’s just say I can’t wait for this to be over,” he growled.

  Blake was silent for a moment. “Okay. I’ll see you soon. We’re all at Zack’s.”

  He hung up, and Duncan felt another surge of annoyance. Shaking it off, he returned inside the house. Mandy waited for him in the living room, her gaze expectant.

  “We can go,” he told her immediately. She sagged in relief, which made Duncan perversely more annoyed with her. He knew he had no right to feel that way—he was the reason she didn’t want to be here, after all. But the illogical part of his mind wanted her to still want him. Still fight for him.

  Jeez, he was a mess.

  “We have to be careful, though. Tulane’s still on the loose. We don’t want a repeat of the kidnapping, so no storming off.”

  Mandy narrowed her eyes. “I seem to remember you being the one that stormed off last time. So it should be me giving you that advice.”

  She was still pissed. Good. That would mean at the very least she’d stop bringing up their relationship, tempting him with things that could never be. And maybe if she was pissed off at him long enough, she’d finally consider the sensible thing—that they should shut Soldiering On for good. That she should work somewhere else where she was safe.

  And if that meant he never saw her again? Even better. She’d be out of his hair like he’d always wanted.

  Though the thought made him want to kick something again.

  They tidied the house first, not sure when they’d be back, and Duncan said a private goodbye to their little oasis. Despite everything, they’d shared some unforgettable times. He’d never erase the memory of their encounter in the shower from his mind. It was seared there, forever, burning the inside of his mind with their heat.