“What would even possess him to think that was ever something… appropriate to sugges—…”
“I told him it wasn’t and it never would be,” Mason interrupted again, eager to get through Zoe’s initial disgust and fury so they could move on to the more important aspects of the merger itself and what each side was looking for. “He just wants to be sure that his future grandchildren won’t be pushed out someday for whatever reason. In his mind, if we… well, it would all be in the family and it wouldn’t matter down the line. He wouldn’t have to worry about anyone pushing his family out of the family business.”
Zoe scoffed and needing to have her hands busy, finally did up the last few buttons on her blouse, much to Mason’s relief. He let out a deep breath of air and pulled the reports and proposals out for her to review.
“I’ve already made it very clear to my father that any and everything related to either of our personal lives is not up for discussion during the conference call,” he assured her making a mental note to himself to send his father daily – no, hourly – reminders to that effect until they were on the call itself.
Before Zoe could add further commentary or pull the papers he held out to her from his hands, the cell phone on her desk rang. “It’s Agent Boon,” she said quietly as she picked it up to answer it.
“Miss Dunmore? I already left a message with Mr. Butler but since the car involved in his accident was a company car, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know what we found as well.” She sat up straighter and contemplated putting the phone on speaker so that Mason could listen in. He waved her off indicating he could hear everything Agent Boon was saying already; the man seemed to be in the car and was practically shouting to be heard over the chatter of his radio.
“They’ve finished with the forensic analysis of… everything then?” she asked looking up suddenly to see Aiden standing in the doorway, an odd expression of anger on his face. Mason glanced over his shoulder at the other man who looked like he wanted to hit someone or something but wasn’t sure what or who. No. He knew exactly who he wanted to hit.
“I’m sorry, did you just say Lucas’s fingerprint?” Zoe asked Agent Boon in disbelief.
“That’s right. The fingerprint didn’t match anything in the initial search because we were looking only at Peters’ known associates. We had already eliminated Lucas Warner from suspicion at that point and it was only when the search was expanded to a more general pool that the match was found. Mr. Warner’s fingerprints are on file in conjunction with a high school incident involving livestock and the football field, some sort of prank I understand…”
Zoe remembered the incident and she remembered the look on her father’s face and Uncle David’ after Steve had bailed them out and brought Lucas home. If David had been the one to show up at the police station that day, might things have gone differently? Probably not. Uncle David wasn’t the one who had been arrested and fingerprinted after all.
“We’re on our way to Mr. Warner’s apartment now,” Agent Boon continued. “I’ll let you know when we have him in custody. The DA is going to try to have him arraigned on attempted murder as well as assault with a deadly weapon for what happened to Mr. Butler. She’s going to try to get bail removed altogether and go in on him to see if he knows anything about his father’s whereabouts. We didn’t think he knew anything, but if Peters put his son up to sabotaging the vehicle, then Mr. Warner might have been lying to us this whole time.”
Zoe’s eyes were trained on Aiden’s. Mason took turns glancing between the two of them, trying to guess at what each was thinking as Agent Boon rambled with the oblivious excitement of the first lead in the case in months. “Lucas… Lucas might not have been acting on his father’s orders,” Zoe stuttered to Agent Boon.
“What was that?” the FBI agent asked after realizing she was talking over him.
“I don’t think anyone put Lucas up to it,” she explained. “I think… I think he acted on his own.”
“Why would he do that? What would he have against Mr. Butler?”
Zoe looked briefly at Mason before turning her gaze back to Aiden. “Lucas and I… we had a relationship – it was years ago, in high school,” she rambled. “He was looking to get back together when I came back to town and I… I wasn’t. I told him in no uncertain terms that things between he and I were over. But he saw me with Mr. Butler at one point and became… jealous. I just never would have thought that Lucas could – or would – but then I didn’t think Uncle David was ever capable of—”
“Miss Dunmore,” Agent Boon interrupted amid the sounds of increased commotion on the other end of the line. “Miss Dunmore, I’m going to have to go now and call you back with an update later tonight, all right?” he announced but he hadn’t hung up before they could all hear him ask one of the other agents on the scene, “What do you mean he isn’t here? Where is he? Get and APB out on his car and find him.”
Chapter 41
Amelia wandered down the hall and found the three of them in Zoe’s office silently stealing glances from one to another, none of them sure what to say.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked to break them out of their collective stupor.
“That… that…” Aiden began to stammer, seething with long suppressed fury now that he knew the proper target for his anger. His hand clenched tightly into a fist and began slowly pounding into the muscle of his thigh.
“Where could he be?” Mason asked Zoe who was just shaking her head as she closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, and quickly looked over to gauge Aiden’s reaction before closing her eyes again. “Are you really so sure Peters had nothing to do with it?”
“I doubt even he would plan two attacks like that on the same day,” she muttered. “And he had no reason to hurt Aiden. He was supposed to be his fall guy. It wasn’t like it was set up to look like… And he wouldn’t have involved Lucas in whatever he was up to. If I’m sure of anything, it’s that he never would have entrusted a task like that to someone like Lucas.”
“What has happened?” Amelia asked louder, coming further into the room. Mason turned to explain but couldn’t find the words.
“Remember that ex of mine I told you about?” Zoe said as she pushed her chair back, rose to her feet, and began slowly pacing in front of her large window.
“Yes,” Amelia said, her attention fixed on Zoe.
“He’s the one who was behind Aiden’s accident,” Zoe finished quietly.
“I’m… I’m gonna…” Aiden still couldn’t form a complete thought.
Amelia noticed he was hitting himself in the leg and reached down for his hand. “Stop that,” she whispered, bringing his attention back to the others.
He looked to Zoe who was deep in thought. Mason moved to pick up the pages of the merger proposal and stuffed them back into their folder. There were clearly more pressing matters. “What was it you wanted, Amy?” he asked.
“Oh, uh… Mrs. Henry was looking for you, Mr. Butler,” she said, turning to Aiden. “She said that she had just seen you after your meeting with Zoe but that when she went to get the reports on the Donner account, you were not at your desk. I said I would go see if you had been called back.”
“I listened to my voicemail and came straight back up,” he told her. “Agent Boon said he was going to talk to Zoe as well… The reports she’s looking for are in the left-hand drawer of my desk. I’ll… I’ll go fetch them for her.” He moved off, still in a daze and Mason gave a small nod to Amelia who was already following Aiden to keep an eye on him.
Mason turned back to Zoe who had her bottom lip caught between her teeth and appeared to be debating with herself. “Do you think you know where he might have gone? Could he just be out for the day or do you think he’s running?”
“I doubt he knew they had found anything, but my guess is he’ll know pretty quickly. I also think he’ll dump his phone as soon as he does which means there’s a very small window in w
hich to pull off what I think I can pull off,” she said with her brow furrowed in determination and reservation.
“What do you have in mind?” Mason asked.
“I think I can get him to come out and meet me,” she said.
“If he finds out about the warrant against him for Aiden’s crash, do you think he’d show? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you?” Mason objected.
“Probably, but I don’t plan on going in entirely alone and I want to make sure that the police don’t screw this up. I want more than for them to just get Lucas for Aiden’s accident. I think he knows where his father is and I think I know how to get him to give him up,” Zoe said with a growing smile. “I just have to make a few quick calls.”
****
Lucas had been surprised that his mother would ask to meet him in such an open and public place. The late hour meant the plaza was mostly deserted. His mother must be visiting someone in town to be willing to meet in person like this. Probably Zoe, he thought with disgust. There was no way that Diane would be living anywhere nearby, not if she was so afraid of David finding her.
As though the thought of her had summoned her, Lucas spotted a flash of red hair illuminated by the light of a nearby lamppost. A quick assessment of the silhouette told him it was Zoe. She had her phone out, apparently checking the time as she looked around waiting for someone. She turned to him, the light reflecting off her pale face, and he found himself gritting his teeth even as he felt a stab of lust in his groin. I knew she was involved in this, he thought as he directed his steps towards her.
“Where is she?” he asked as he reached out and turned Zoe forcefully to face him. “Where’s my mother?”
“Calm down, Lucas,” Zoe said quietly as she raised one of her hands and laid it gently on his hand where he gripped her other arm tightly. She rubbed the back of his hand reassuringly. “She’ll be here. She just asked me to make sure the coast was clear. She wanted to be sure you wouldn’t try to set her up, that your father or the cops wouldn’t be here waiting instead of you.”
Lucas relaxed his grip a little and Zoe wormed her fingers into his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. What’s going on? he wondered. She’s… What is she doing? And why?
“What are you doing here? How did you find my mother?” He wouldn’t relax completely and Zoe swallowed carefully as she struggled to hide the fear his tense posture and intent gaze inspired.
“I didn’t find her,” she said quietly. “She found me. After my father died. Apparently he was one of the people she had looking out for you and letting her know how you were doing. She worried about leaving you…with your father.”
“If she was so worried, she should have fought harder to keep me herself,” he muttered and released Zoe’s hand. “And that doesn’t exactly answer my question. What are you doing here? She knew about how we’d broken up. You must have told her about your new boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend? Do you mean… Aiden?” Zoe asked. She looked down with her shame written on her face, red in the light of the nearby lamp. “You have to know that I…went away…after my dad died.”
“It was kind of hard not to notice,” Lucas retorted.
“Well, it wasn’t entirely because of Dad and what happened to him that I left. Aiden… Aiden was in an accident and I…it made me realize that…that I might be better off without him and he might be better off without me.”
Lucas took a step back and tried to peer into Zoe’s face but she was looking down. What was she saying? “Better…off?”
“There was a reason I forgot about him after my mom died,” she said, taking a step closer to Lucas and closing the gap he’d created. “There’s a reason I thought it was you in all those memories I had from before. Because… I wanted it to be you. I wanted you to be the one who… Never mind. It’s too late…right?”
“Too late for what?” he asked quietly.
“Nothing.” She shook her head slowly and looked up at him again, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as the light caught her face. She put her hands in her pockets. “I just sent your mother a text when I saw you coming. She should be here any moment.”
“Uh… Thanks,” he said putting his hands in his pockets too.
“What… I’m sorry, but she didn’t tell me about why you wanted to see her?”
“Do I really need a reason to want to see my mom?” he asked, wary. “After everything my father’s done?”
“I guess you’re right,” she said with an embarrassed smile. “You don’t need a reason. I just…I guess I just miss the times when we could talk to each other, you know. When I could tell you anything and you used to tell me everything too.”
“I thought you had a friend you did that with? What was his name? That guy who tried to kick me out at your father’s funeral?” Lucas said with some bitterness.
“Mason,” Zoe said with a shrug. “He’s…gone. Went back east after I got back and took over the company again. He…he didn’t really appreciate my staying away and figuring things out. Or he just didn’t care for the conclusions I came to. Not completely sure which,” she muttered. “I uh… I’m sorry he made you leave. Dad wouldn’t have minded you being there. He was very fond of you and didn’t blame you at all for what your father did.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lucas said, looking around. There was still no sign of his mother.
“And I’m sorry about the police and the FBI getting into everything with you about Dad’s death,” she continued, moving closer still. “I know you had nothing to do with any of that, and I told them as much. You would never do anything to hurt me, even if I did…you know…hurt you.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes at her. “The proposal? Well,” he shrugged. “I was drunk. I could have done that better.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” she said. “If we hadn’t been interrupted…but. Anyway.”
“Aiden was always getting in the way,” Lucas said quietly. “I can see why it was so easy for Dad to set it up so he’d take the fall,” he quipped. “He was always sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong.”
“Well, you know… The police discovered that someone tampered with his car…when he was in the accident, I mean.” Lucas looked at her, suspicion rising. Zoe quickly continued. “They had to tell the company about it because he was driving a company car when it happened. The insurance paperwork on that thing was a nightmare. He’s convinced it was your dad trying to take him out. Clean up a few more loose ends. Aiden, I mean.”
“Nah,” Lucas said. “Dad would never go for something so easy. And he wouldn’t have gone for something that didn’t do the whole job. From what the FBI said and the questions they asked, if he wanted someone dead, they died. Aiden would be dead if my dad had anything to do with it.”
“Personally, I think Aiden might have done it to get back at your father,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning in close. Lucas could smell the familiar floral shampoo she used and the complementary perfume she must still dab along her throat.
“That guy wouldn’t know how to cut his own brake line if his life depended on it,” Lucas said with a smirk. “Although, nearly getting himself killed while trying to screw someone else over sounds about right. And about what he deserves.”
Zoe smiled and laughed lightly, leaning away. “I don’t know what’s taking your mother so long,” she remarked, glancing around quickly. She pulled her phone from her pocket and began pushing buttons to check her messages. “She hasn’t…contacted me with…anything saying she’s…not coming…”
Lucas caught a brief look at Zoe’s screen and saw just enough of what she was texting to panic. He smacked the phone from her hand and grabbed her wrist. “What’s going on? Who’re you talking to?”
Zoe fought to stay calm and keep eye contact. “What? What’re you doing? Lucas, calm down. You’re…you’re hurting me. Let go…please.”
“No, where’s my mom? She…she said she’d be here.” He was beginning t
o breathe heavily. He squeezed her wrist tighter and as he looked frantically around, began twisting her arm painfully.
“Ow, Lucas. Please, stop that,” she said, keeping her voice as level as she could.
“She’s not coming, is she? She wouldn’t send you to check that it was safe for her. She told me to stay away from you. Where is she? What did you do to her?” He grabbed her other arm and began shaking her. “You knew she’d come with me. You knew… I don’t know how but you knew…”
“It’s too late,” Zoe said as she twisted to relieve some of the pain in her arms. She had to get closer to him to do so. “They already know it was you.”
“Know what was me?”
“The police. They found your fingerprint on Aiden’s car. They know you were the one who messed with his car.”
“A finger print doesn’t prove anything,” he hissed at her, squeezing tighter. “Anyone could’ve cut that brake line.”
“But you knew that’s what had been done,” she pointed out. “I didn’t tell you what was done to his car. Only a handful of people knew that detail. But you said it just now,” she reminded him. If he would only loosen his grip on her for a moment she could kick him and run, but her body was bent awkwardly and he was putting a great deal of his weight on her. She knew lifting either foot would send them both toppling.
“Then I guess I’d better shut you up,” he said coldly.
Zoe took the chance and kicked, connecting with his groin as they both fell. Lucas grunted in pain as he landed on top of her. Pain shot up her spine and she couldn’t breathe with the weight of him on her chest but he’d let go of her arms. She shoved him off of her and rolled away from him, scrambling to her feet and taking off for the parking lot.
He was a few steps behind her but the headlights of several cars switched on along with a siren and the telltale flashing lights of police cars. Lucas turned on his heel to run back the way he’d come, but there were three officers with their guns raised who had come up behind them as they ran.
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