by Unknown
“Whoa, Girl! Slow down a little, and start all over. I just kinda woke up, and I’m still pretty foggy. Take it easy, and tell me what’s wrong.”
“Jess, I’m so sorry – I just hate myself. I could – I don’t know what I could do. I just need to get this off my chest before I go bonkers. And I feel like such a heel!”
Growing more and more alarmed, Jessica tried to get to the heart of the matter. “OK, OK – you feel terrible about something. What is it that’s put you in this state of mind, for goodness sakes? Nothing can be that bad, Lauren.”
“You might change your mind in a minute,” rejoined her friend.
“Oh my God, there’s just no way to lead into this, so I’ll just blurt it out – I’ve been a complete idiot. I’ve been having an affair with Nick Marino.
“This thunderclap struck Jessica as though she’d been punched in the chest by a heavyweight boxer, and she was just as staggered.
“Say that again? You’ve been sleeping with Nick? Is that what you just said?”
“Yes, Jessica – about two weeks after he first got here it happened the first time. I don’t know what came over me – I mean, I love Frank and all, but when Nick started showing interest, I just lost all sense of right and wrong, and well, I just let it happen. He has this way of looking at you that makes you completely lose yourself, and give in to whatever he wants. I know that’s no excuse, and I’ve done something terrible. I have to tell Frank, and beg his forgiveness, but God only knows what he’ll do. My marriage is probably over, and I might be a single mother pretty soon. But I had to tell you because I just can’t stand carrying this baggage around with me anymore, and I can’t live with myself for what I’ve done. I betrayed my husband and my best friend, just so I could have a few minutes of pleasure with a handsome man. Please don’t hate me, Jess. I couldn’t help it, I just gave in and sold my soul. The worst thing is – I don’t think he really even cares for me. I think maybe he got close to me so – well, so he could learn more about you.
”If the initial announcement was like a knockout blow, everything afterward came as a series of sharp jabs and punches that kept Jessica from recovering. Now sobbing in bewilderment, she finally broke in,
“Wait, what? You’ve been sleeping with him, and he’s been asking about me? What does he want to know about me? Why didn’t he just ask me?” She trembled as she made the query, terrified of what she might hear in reply.
“It was a lot of stuff about your past, Jess. I don’t know why he wouldn’t just ask you yourself. But it seemed like every time he got together with me, the topic of conversation eventually got around to you, and what your past was like. Funny thing is, I couldn’t tell him much. Hell, I don’t know much myself about your past – just the few things you’ve passed on to me. At first, I don’t think he really believed me, and that I was holding back. But then after a few weeks of that, I guess he finally realized I just don’t know any more than I was telling him. And…. and he lost all interest in me.”
On the other end of the line, Lauren started sobbing uncontrollably herself, and neither woman spoke for a long interval. When she recovered enough to speak again, Lauren summarized her sad story, “I’ve been a complete idiot, Jess. I’ve had sex with a man just because of the physical attraction, and probably ruined my marriage and my life doing it. And it was all for nothing. He obviously doesn’t care anymore for me than he would for a stranger – he was just using me to learn more about you. And then dumped me when he found out I don’t know anything at all. Look, Jess…I am so sorry about all this. I know you liked Nick and you were thinking about dating him, so I hope I haven’t stepped on your toes too much with all this. But please don’t hate me, and don’t throw away our friendship – at least not yet. Give me a chance to make it up to you. I need a friend so badly right now! Just don’t do anything rash, and wait a while to let things settle down between us. When I tell Frank, I’m going to need you in the worst way. I know I haven’t been much of a friend to you, but I’m asking that you be a better friend to me when this blows up at home. I’m begging you, Jess – stay with me.”
Chapter 7 – Altered Futures
Jessica barely heard her friend’s final plea before hanging up the phone and collapsing back onto her bed, in a veil of tears and utterly shattered. She cried for a full 15 minutes, and it felt like all the hope and joy that she had felt so recently poured out of her along with those tears. She felt betrayed, violated, used. As soon as she got over crying, she dashed into the shower in a frantic effort to get clean again, to wash away the corruption inside her. It did help a little, but as she dried herself off, she started thinking less hysterically and more practically.
I’m in danger! She thought to herself, panic rising again within her. Nick was obviously trying to find out about her for a reason – he wanted to know her past because it had something to do with him - or for someone he worked for. That had to mean – her husband’s murder! Nick was a mobster! Or he was at least working for someone connected to the events that had landed her in the Witness Protection Program. She wasn’t safe anymore. The program had not protected her enough – somebody had found her.
What should I do? Should I get out of town? That might buy some time, but he would find me again. Wait a minute – he’s already found me! He found me, and he didn’t do anything about it. Yet. Maybe he was waiting for the right time. Or, she thought with renewed disgust, maybe he just waited to have sex with me first before he took care of me. Although that would be pretty unprofessional of him. It doesn’t make sense – why go to these great lengths to track me down, spend weeks working at a company just to find out everything about me, and then not finish the job once he was sure of who I really am? There’s a piece of this puzzle that I’m missing. But I don’t need to understand the whole thing right now, I just need to protect myself somehow. But how? How?
After locking the door to her apartment, she sat back on the edge of the bed, determined not to do anything hasty. A wrong step at this critical moment could cost her life. That would probably happen anyway, but she didn’t want to do anything that increased the likelihood.
She had already ruled out flight, which was a temporary option at best, and would provide her no more sense of security than she already had. If anything, she’d be looking over her shoulder all the time in a state of constant anxiety and fear. Calling her contact back in New York might be an option, but it would probably be at least a day before help could come to her. It might still be the best fallback plan though, if nothing else occurred to her.
What if her phone was bugged? Or her apartment? In fact, it was quite a coincidence that Nick had set himself up at Tanglewood Place, right where she lived. Was that so he would have an opportunity to tap her phone or put a bug in her apartment? If so, then any calls she made to family, friends, or WPP contacts were useless, because Nick would know about them the minute she picked up a phone.
She reached for her cell phone on the bedside coffee table, and turned it around in her fingers, looking at it from all sides. As if I knew what to look for, she bit her lip. If he’s a professional, he would have hidden the bug where I wouldn’t notice it and couldn’t find it.
My God, I’m trapped! I can’t go anywhere, I can’t do anything, I can’t call anyone, and I can’t ask anyone for help. I’m as good as dead right where I’m sitting, and I can’t do anything about it! This realization triggered a whole new wave of tears, and a flood of thoughts about what a waste her life had been up to then, and how little she had accomplished or experienced. Frustrated in her attempts at relationship, she would never truly know love again, and she had only such a brief encounter with it in her marriage.
In the midst of this flood of emotion and frantic thinking, the phone rang. At first, she was so startled that all she could do was stare at it in disbelief, then her mind began racing, wondering who it could be. Finally, she gingerly picked up the receiver, as though it were too hot to hold in her fingers.
&n
bsp; “Hello? Who is this?”
“Do not hang up the phone, Jess. This is Nick Marino, and I have some very important things to tell you. You must hear what I have to say regardless of what you’re thinking right this moment.”
This was almost too much for Jessica to absorb, and she felt herself growing light-headed. Fighting the urge to black out, she fought to control her thoughts.
“I’m – I’m listening.”
“By now, you have talked with your friend, and you have a pretty good idea about who I am. If you guessed that I came here for you because of the incident with your husband several years ago, you are correct. I was sent here by Benvenuto himself, because he’s like any other father – he wants to be sure that his son is safe.
I know his son murdered your husband, and you could care less about the safety of such a man, but unfortunately that’s the line of work I’m in, and I have to make it my business. We had no idea where you were for years, and I think you were almost forgotten, and they were ready to bury the whole episode. But then one of our family members managed to infiltrate Witness Protection, and we started getting a lot of information about the program and the people involved – one of whom was yourself.
The problem with the information was that it was incomplete, and our man couldn’t risk probing any more deeply. So all we really knew about where you were was that you were set up somewhere in the Southeast at a tourist agency. It took a long time to get more detailed information than that, so the best we could do was to start looking around and eliminating places where you weren’t.
When I came to this town and first met you, I was pretty sure I’d found the right person. But such matters require certainty, so I had to do everything I could to find out more about you – and that meant getting intimate with your friend Lauren. I regret that she had to be used that way, but she was the closest person to you, so logically she would’ve had more information than anyone else, hopefully something I could use to verify your identity. As it turns out, she wasn’t really very helpful, but eventually I got the information I needed anyway. From yourself of course.
All this you know already. Here’s the part that you don’t know, and perhaps could never have guessed. A man in my profession knows very little about love or true relationships – they just don’t mix with work. In fact, I don’t think I’ve felt any more than desire for a woman in my whole life – until now. Until I came to know you, all I had ever done was watch others who are in love, but I felt that I would never feel it myself and never participate – that I could only be a witness to love. But regardless of how I feel about you, I know I can never be with you, because eventually I myself would be hunted down by the family. So – there is really only one thing I can do.”
“And what is that?” Jessica asked. She had been listening to all this with intense interest, and growing shock, and she couldn’t imagine where Nick was taking the conversation.
“I cannot love you – but I want to protect you. Maybe I cannot have the Rose, but I don’t want it crushed either. Let me tell you what I have done. I have a good friend who is an expert forger of documents, and he has created for me an official death certificate. A death certificate for Rachel Armitage, who died six months ago in a tour bus crash in Myrtle Beach. I also have a newspaper write-up which describes the circumstances of your death on that unfortunate afternoon. I intend to take this documentation back to the family and convince them of its authenticity, then persuade them that this is a case which should be closed for all time.
I can promise you that no one in the organization will seek you any further, and that you can live your life without fear. You may doubt this, but I swear on the life of my mother that everything I am telling you is true. This will be the last time you ever hear from me, and that’s the way it must be for both of us to go on with our lives. When I hang up this phone, you will never hear from me again, and you will be in no further danger. I wish you the peace you deserve in your future. Goodbye, Jessica.”
Monkey See, Monkey Do
“I can’t find my…my…” A giant tear rolled down the little girl’s face.
Matt Marlin sighed. He realized he had on a zookeeper’s uniform, but he didn’t technically work at the zoo. He was an architect, hired to transform the current aviary into an indoor oasis. He glanced down at the little girl tugging on his khaki tan shirtsleeve. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to being around kids. “You’re lost?”
The girl nodded, the blonde curls surrounding her cheeks shaking with every motion.
“Okay. Let’s see what we can do about finding your mommy.” He set his clipboard down on the nearby bench and tilted his head to the boardwalk. He felt tiny, sticky fingers slip into his hand and close tightly around his fingers. Great, now he’d have to stop in the bathroom and wash up before resuming work.
The little girl sniffled beside him and wiped a stream of snot across the back of her hand before drying her eyes on his elbow. And now he was going to need a new shirt too.
“What does your mom look like?” he asked as he searched the growing crowd.
“I don’t remember.” She tilted her head and stared up at him with a confused frown.
“Okay, let’s start with something simpler.” Matt stopped and turned to the girl. He tried to free his hand so he could wipe it on his pants and rid of at least a slight amount of stickiness. “What’s your name?”
The girl beamed up at him. “Madison Avery Montgomery. What’s yours?”
“Matt.”
“Are you married?” The little girl rose to the tips of her toes. “Because I’m not and I asked a boy at my school if he would marry me and he said he wouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Matt looked over her bouncing curls and searched the crowd. He didn’t see any frantic women. Where was this girl’s mother?
“So, will you?”
“What?” Matt returned his attention to the ball of energy that had become attached to his hand.
“Marry me. I asked you a question. It’s impolite not to answer.”
Matt frowned. His first marriage proposal. “How old are you?”
“Four, but age is just a number. It doesn’t really mean anything when it comes to love.”
“Love?” Matt’s eyes grew wide. He’d never been in love. Not really. And he certainly wasn’t going to start his romantic adventure with a four-year-old.
“Madison! Oh, thank goodness. I can’t believe you!”
Matt turned and made one more attempt to free his hand as a petite, dark-haired woman approached behind him.
The woman bent and threw her knees to the ground as she enveloped the little girl in a tight hug. The girl’s arms wrapped around her and Matt’s hand ended up fully engaged with her long dark hair. Matt grimaced. It was soft and she was pretty, but he had work to do. “Don’t you ever, ever wander off like that again, do you hear me?” The woman held the girls at arm’s length. Madison nodded and giggled. “I’m sorry, I won’t. But you always say good things can come from mistakes and I have news.” “News? What’s that?” The woman blinked and glanced at Matt, who was still attached to Madison’s hand, though not by his choice.
“We’re getting married!” Madison yelled as she twirled in a circle, wrenching Matt’s hand to the side. “I asked him and he, well, he hasn’t exactly answered yet, but you always said no boy was going to be able to resist me when I’m older and I’m older today than I was yesterday so…”
“Married, huh?” The woman stood and met Matt’s eyes for the first time.
Matt shrugged, helpless to stop what circumstances had put into motion.
“I’m so sorry for your trouble. Madison can be quite a handful.”
“Your daughter is really something,” Matt admitted. The little girl on his hand was still there, but he was more taken with the sparkling blue eyes that lay beneath the woman’s dark lashes.
“Oh, she’s not my daughter.” The woman tilted her head and pulled the little girl
close to her side.
Matt stumbled forward. Madison held fast to his hand and the woman’s motion threw him off balance.
“No? Well, I guess I don’t have to ask your permission for the marriage then.”
Madison squealed. “See? I told you he was going to marry me!”
The women took a deep breath. “Now look what you’ve done.” She nudged her elbow into his side. “You may have to follow through on that, you know.”
Matt smiled. If this woman would attend the wedding and stand this close to him, he might just do that.
“I’m sorry, I’m being rude. What’s your name?” she asked.
“This is Matt. He takes care of the animals,” Madison chimed.
“Hi, Matt. I’m Jesse.”
“Nice to meet you.” Matt extended his free palm over the short distance between them. “I don’t actually take care of the animals. I’m an architect.”
“What’s that?” Madison wormed her way between the two adults as Matt wiggled his fingers. He was starting to lose feeling in his thumb.
“It means I design buildings,” he answered.
“Oh, like Lego’s? I love Lego’s.”
Jesse laughed. “She does indeed. The house is filled, top to bottom, with Lego creations. You should see it.”
“I’d love to.” Matt cleared his throat. What was he saying? Jesse wasn’t the girl’s mother. She was probably a nanny or something, but she wouldn’t live with her. He was so desperate to keep a connection with the beguiling woman, he was inviting himself into the little girl’s life. The very last thing he needed was a connection to a child.
Madison squirmed and jumped. “Can he, Jesse? Can he? It’ll be like an engagement party! Or a first date…maybe a little of each. I’ll show him the castle I built. Maybe he can build one like that for when we get married.”
Jesse took a deep breath. “Hold on there, speed racer. Matt here has a job and a life. I’m sure he has better things to do than look at your toys.”