by Alexa Davis
"Look, as I said, I loved your father and, I think in his own twisted way, he loved me," she said as she sipped her drink. "But he married me because he needed money while I married him because I was in love. We lived together, attended functions together, and generally supported one another, but he did not allow us to live as husband and wife."
"Okay, so what the hell was going on, then?" I demanded. "My father wasn't like that! He said he'd married you because he loved you and because you were someone who brought light into his life after a long time of darkness. Now you're telling me that it was all a sham?"
"Well, not quite a sham," she smiled. "We consummated the marriage for legal reasons, but after that he never shared my bed again. Look, I loved your father, I did, but he loved nothing but his research."
"So, what the hell is going on with his will and the corner's report?" I asked. The last thing I wanted to hear was a detailed run down of my father's non-existent sex life with his much younger wife.
"You don't want to know about how your father got his needs met outside of the marital bed?" she asked as she peered over the edge of her glass.
"No, I most certainly don't," I said feeling the anger beginning to rise and not wanting to let her know she was getting to me.
"You don't want to know about all the hookers your father hired or the clubs he frequented?" she asked quietly.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked. "Better yet, why are you doing this to my father?"
"I put up with his obsession for ten years," she said bitterly as she set her glass down and studied her bright red nails. "I put up with being ignored and shoved to the side as he searched for the answers to some question that he wouldn't even share with me!"
"There was no way my father hired hookers," I said knowing that she was throwing out everything she could just to hurt me.
"I have no idea what he did for sex," she sighed. "But I can't imagine that a man as handsome and virile as your father decided to forgo sex as he worked on his research project. He had to have had an outlet."
"What makes you think that? And why does it matter?"
"It matters because my husband didn't want me!" she screamed as she stood up towering over me. "Look at me! I'm a beautiful woman, and the man I loved didn't want me!"
"Calm down, Eva," I said holding up a hand as I quickly searched for a way to mollify her. "I'm sure my father had his reasons for what he did, and most likely they didn't have anything to do with not being attracted to you."
"He was attracted to that lab of his," she said as she sat back down, smoothed her skirt and picked up her drink. "He spent the majority of his time at work on that stupid project of his. Maybe he was fooling around with that cute little secretary."
I felt my pulse begin to race as I thought about how wrong Eva was about that one, but I knew better than to play my hand simply to prove that my father was innocent.
"Eva, what was my father working on?" I asked turning the conversation toward something that might give me information.
"I have no idea," she said as she took a gulp of her whiskey and got up to refill her glass. "Julian said it was something about technology that could be used on battlefields to help prevent people from dying."
"Wait, Julian told you this?" I asked. For a brief second, Eva looked worried and then she quickly pulled back on the cool socialite mask and smiled.
"Yes, he told me about it at the company dinner he hosted a few weeks ago," she said taking a sip from her glass. "Alan brought me along to entertain the other wives, but he needn't have since he and Julian were so good at performing for a crowd."
"Why did Julian host a dinner for the company?" I asked. There was something about this that sounded all wrong.
"Oh, he does that on occasion, as a reward for hard work or something," she said sitting down again. "I think this was because of some deal that he'd made with a company who'd be funding your father's research projects."
"And who is that?" I asked.
"I have no idea. I don't really have a head for business, so I tend to tune out the unimportant details," she said looking out the window and avoiding my eyes. I knew something was wrong. Eva did indeed have a head for details, but she didn't want to share these with me.
"So, how are we going to get the corner's report?" I asked changing the subject entirely.
"What? Oh, that?" she stammered and then recovered. "I've got a call in to a friend of mine and hopefully we'll have the report by Monday or Tuesday."
"I see," I said. Then I leaned forward in my chair and quietly said, "Eva, if you know something, you'd better tell me now."
"What on earth could I possibly know?" she laughed nervously. "I know nothing."
"You know something, and we both know that," I said standing up. "The question is whether you are willing to go to prison for what you know."
"What the hell are you talking about?" she shouted. I knew I was bluffing, but there was part of me that wondered how much it would take to get her to crack. I stared at her as she blustered looking for the words to express her outrage at being accused of something illegal.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," I said cooly as I walked toward the door. "I think you know what happened to my father, and when I find out what it is you know, I'm going to make sure you pay the price for having kept the information from me."
"Ryan, I don't know what you take me for, but I truly am grieving the loss of my husband," she said in a sad tired voice. "I miss him terribly and I'm not sure how I'm going to make it without him."
"Ah, I see," I said looking across the room feeling sorry for her but also frustrated that she wasn't going to give me the information I needed. It briefly crossed my mind that she might not, in fact, know anything, and yet when I looked at her perfectly painted face I felt certain that she was hiding something. I nodded, "Okay, so that's how it's going to go? Fine. Be the grieving widow for as long as you can because once I figure out what the hell is going on around here, we'll settle this once and for all."
"Don't be so quick to judge me," Eva said as a sad smile spread across her lips. "You have no idea what kind of life I've lived." As she stared into my eyes, and I could see that she was hiding something, but since I had no idea what that was, and she wasn't going to give anything away, I had to let it go.
"I'll see myself out," I said as I opened the sitting room door and then quietly closed it behind me.
#
I left Eva's and walked uptown to the Manhattan Club. My father had maintained a membership at the club for over twenty years and I wanted to know if he'd been in good standing at the time of his death. I wasn't sure if the club's manager would talk to me, but I wagered that he might talk with a bereaved son, and if I had to, I'd play the military service card, too.
"May I help you?" the concierge at the front desk asked as I entered the lobby. I hadn't been inside the club for more than a decade, but I recognized that nothing had changed. The thick burgundy carpeting still muffled my footsteps, the dark walnut furniture still looked like it would swallow up anyone who sat on it, and the thick scent of expensive cigars and whiskey permeated the air. This was a man's club and it made no secret of that fact.
"I'm Dr. Alan Powell's son," I said as I held out my hand. Recognition flashed across the man's face as he offered his hand.
"I'm so sorry for your loss, Lieutenant Powell," the concierge replied with a mournful look as he shook my hand. "Your father was very well respected at the club and we will definitely miss him."
"Thank you, I appreciate that," I said as I gave him an appropriately sad smile. "I was wondering if your manager was in, and if so, could I have a few minutes with him to clear up my father's account."
"Of course, sir," the man said as he reached for the phone and dialed an extension. He spoke to someone on the other end and then hung up. "If you'll have a seat, Mr. Blake will be out shortly."
I sat down off to one side of the room and watched the procession of club memb
ers moving through the lobby. There were those who were obviously guests of members. They were the ones who took in their surroundings as if they were committing it all to memory; unsure whether they'd ever be invited in again. There were men in suits carrying briefcases who walked briskly toward the bar without looking around. They were here to serve the men who had real power. And then there were the men who radiated confidence and belonging. They weren't ostentatious, they were just certain of their place. They walked past the concierge without even acknowledging him and headed off to wherever they belonged at that moment. I remembered my father always greeting the staff with a friendly wave or a nod of his head. Sometimes he'd stop and talk to people asking how their families were doing, and I remembered the disapproving looks he'd get from the regular members. It wasn't until I was a teenager, that I'd understood what was going on, and then I'd bristled as I watched my father talk with strangers in a way that he'd never talked with me.
Lost in my own memories, I didn't notice a new group of men enter the lobby until I looked up and saw Julian Baines standing in front of me.
"Ryan, what are you doing here?" he asked as he held out his hand. I frowned as I took it and shook.
"Just taking care of business, sir," I said.
"I thought the lawyers were doing that," he said smoothly as he let go of my hand.
"Yes, well, there are some loose ends that need to be tied up," I said eyeing him suspiciously. "And since the estate executor hasn't yet done it, I thought I'd take care of it."
"Oh, come on, Ryan," he said with a cold smile. "Certainly you know by now that your father named me his executor."
"I was not aware of that," I lied. "But that will make it easier to coordinate the transfer of his estate to Eva and myself, won't it?"
"Why are you lying to me?" he hissed as he leaned in close enough to grab my arm. "I know you visited the lawyer, and I know he told you that I am the executor."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir," I said as I watched Baines go from irritated to angry. His response to my lie told me a lot about his emotional stake in my father's estate, and I wanted to see how far I could push him. "I was told that an executor had been appointed, but Mr. Weller did not tell me who it was."
"Don't bullshit me, son," he warned. "I'm not someone you want as an enemy."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir," I repeated. Baines's face went from pink to a deep shade of red as his grip on my arm became painful.
"Son, I have spent my life building that business, and I'll be damned if I see your sorry ass swoop in and make a mess of it at this stage of the game," he growled. "I want you to sell me your father's shares of the company."
"Why would I want to do that?" I asked as I watched Julian's face turn red. "How do I know he doesn't want me to take over where he left off?"
"I'm going to tell you one last time," Julian seethed. "You need to steer clear of TriCorp. I will not have some rogue soldier of fortune trying to take control of my company."
"Yes, sir," I said nodding as I felt grateful for every hard ass drill sergeant who'd taught me to maintain a neutral expression under any circumstance.
"Lieutenant Powell?" the concierge called from the desk. "Mr. Blake will see you now."
I gave Julian a smile that did not reach my eyes as I reached up and removed his hand from my arm.
"Do not cross me, Powell," he said in a low voice.
"Have a good day, sir," I replied as I turned and walked toward the front desk.
My meeting with Mr. Blake had revealed nothing other than my father's account was in good standing and had been paid through to the end of the year. He informed me that the membership dues were nonrefundable, and when I simply nodded, he offered to issue me a limited membership card in my father's name.
I thanked him and accepted it not sure if I would use it, but thinking it might come in handy later.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Echo
Cece and I hopped into a cab and rode over to the TriCorp offices, and on the way I told her the plan. She would go up to human resources and tell them she was there to apply for a position with the cleaning crew and Ruth would send her down to the ground floor to talk with Butch. Once in the elevator she would get out on the twelfth floor where she would pull the fire alarm and then disappear into the crowd and work her way up to the sixteenth floor where she would wait for me my former office.
I would wait for the fire alarm to go off and then slip past Butch and his security team and make my way up to where Cece would be waiting. It wasn't a foolproof plan by any means, and I knew that it was incredibly risky and relied on everything going right for us. One wrong move and we'd be discovered and probably arrested for trespassing.
"You understand what this means, don't you?" I asked Cece as she pulled on the black hoodie I'd brought with me and wiped off her bright red lipstick.
"I get it, chica," she said as she zipped the jacket up and looked to me for approval. "This is some serious shit."
"Can you let your hair down?" I asked as I tried to think about how to make her look a little less conspicuous. It was difficult because Cece has striking looks, but as we played with her hair I realized she could pull it off. "Don't look up at anyone. No eye contact, and act like you're super shy. Hide behind your hair."
"Don't worry, I'll be a good little turtle," she laughed.
"What?"
"A good little turtle, you know, pulling my head in and being afraid of everything," she said as she stuck her hands in her hair and arranged it so that her bangs hung in her eyes. Then she looked at me and in a serious voice, said, “I’m a great actress. I promise."
"I hope this works," I said as she saluted me and headed toward the building's entrance. "Be careful, Cece."
As I waited in the cafe across the street, I watched what was going on in front of the building as I worked on finishing the code I'd been writing all week. I knew that we were on borrowed time with the bug I'd left, so I wanted to install a program that would allow me to bypass the TriCorp server altogether and download data into my secondary account. It wasn't easy to write the program, but since Dr. Powell had had me writing programs to help him collate his data, I'd learned a little about the server he worked with and this helped me.
It was twenty minutes before I heard the sound of sirens in the distance and realized that Cece had done her job. I smiled as I snapped the laptop shut and stuffed it in my bag. I dropped some money on the table and quickly headed out the door and across the street. The fire trucks were pulling up in front of the building and people were beginning to stream out the front door. I slipped into the side entrance where one of Butch's security guards had propped open the door for the fire department. I quickly made my way to the stairway and began climbing knowing that the fire fighters were likely to be right behind me.
My heart pounded from not only the effort of running up the stairs carrying the bag with the laptop in it, but also the fear of being caught. If Julian found me in the building, he'd probably be angry enough to call the police and have me arrested. If he knew I had Dr. Powell's classified research on my laptop, there was no telling what he'd do.
I made my way to the sixteenth floor and heard fire fighters yelling that all was clear on twelve and fourteen before I yanked open the door and slipped inside. The entire floor was dark and the fire alarms were still shrieking loudly as I headed straight for my former office and found the door locked.
"Shit," I muttered as I looked around wondering where Cece had hidden if she hadn't been able to get inside the office. I didn't have time to look for her. I only had minutes before the fire crew hit this floor and if I were found, it would be disastrous.
"Psst, chica!" Cece called from somewhere in the darkness. "I think I have a way to get in the office. I found something..."
I felt Cece pushing me out of the way as she bent down and slipped something into the lock of the door. I heard something clicking before it engaged and the n
ext thing I knew, the door was swinging open and we rushed through it.
"Close it and get down under the desk," I frantically whispered. Cece quietly closed the door and turned the lock so that crews checking the floor wouldn't be able to enter without breaking the door down. Then she crawled under the desk and waited.
"Found something, eh?" I whispered.
"Hey, I come prepared," she said and I heard the grin in her voice.
"Who taught you how to do that?" I whispered.
"Chica, when you date as wide a range of dudes as I do, you're bound to pick up stuff from them," she said before laying her hand on my arm and saying, "Shhhh. We don't want to blow it now."
Twenty minutes passed and we heard nothing. I squeezed Cece's arm and wondered if the coast was clear.
"Wait," she said as she crawled out from under the desk and slowly peeked around the edge of it. She froze and then quickly moved back under the desk where she whispered, "Someone's standing at the door, but they're not doing anything."
"What the hell?" I whispered just as someone rattled the door handle. I gripped Cece's arm as we both held our breath. Ten minutes passed and there were no other sounds in the hallway. Cece snuck out again, and signaled that the coast looked clear.
I quickly fired up the computer on the desk and hooked my laptop to it, whispering "C'mon, c'mon!" as Cece watched the door.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked.
"Nope, not at all, but it's better than what I left here two days ago when I got fired," I said as I tapped the keyboard and installed the program. "Besides, by tonight, the IT department will probably find the bug and exterminate it. Now we need to find the lab keys!"
"All of this programing language is so violent," she said as she watched me.
In the fifteen minutes it took to upload the program, Cece and I snuck into Dr. Powell's office and combed the premises for the keys.
"Where sentient beings display empathy," I whispered over and over as I scanned the bookcases in his office and then rooted through the files in his cabinets. Someone had gone through this office, but I couldn't tell what had been taken. I signaled to Cece to check all of the anatomical models on Dr. Powell's shelves thinking maybe he'd hidden the keys inside the heart or the brain. No such luck.