West of Paradise

by Hatch, Marcy

  Upstairs her room was as she left it, clothes hanging in the closet or neatly folded in drawers, bed made, personal effects scattered around the bathroom counter. Including her favorite nail polish: Crystal.

  She turned on the hot water and closed her eyes for a second as steam wafted out from the stone-tiled shower. She unlaced her sandals and stepped out of the dress and panties, kicking them aside and walking in to stand beneath the water. And she just stood there for a good five minutes or more, not thinking of anything except how good the hot water felt, how wonderful it was to wash her hair with real shampoo, and how lovely her citrus bodywash smelled. It all felt sinfully luxurious.

  Then she rinsed—forever it seemed, letting the warm water run long past the point of needing it. She shut the water off and dried off, slipping into panties and a cami.

  She fell asleep almost instantly, and woke ravenous and having to pee, like she was a kid who had been holding it for hours. She raced into the bathroom and sat, and the sound of it reminded her of Jack after he’d woken up and had to pee so badly.

  And suddenly she was crying, missing Jack more than anything in the world, sobbing like she never had before; not when she’d thought she was going to die, not after Tommy Clancy, not even when her parents had died. She just cried, unable to stop until she was too tired to cry any more.

  A little after noon Katherine found her way downstairs. She was dressed in white capris, a lime green cashmere sweater, and sunglasses. She wasn’t surprised to find Miss Adjani, who seemed to have some sixth sense about the guests and their needs.

  The library was silent but for the sound of the fire cracking in the hearth and the rain outside. It pinged against the glass, quietly drumming the patio.

  “There’s coffee,” Miss Adjani said, gesturing to a tray on the ottoman and putting aside the book she had been reading.

  Katherine availed herself and took a seat, sipping the best coffee she’d had in . . .

  “I expect you’re ready to leave,” Miss Adjani said.

  “I am,” she said.

  “I’ll make the arrangements then. I imagine we can get you to New York by tomorrow night, as long as you don’t mind a short layover in Detroit.”

  “The sooner the better,” Katherine said.

  “I’ll see to it.” Miss Adjani rose and was gone.

  By the following afternoon Katherine was boarding her third and last plane. She had everything she’d come with in a soft carry on. The only addition was a holodisc designed by Louis Cade to document her experience, when she felt ready. They liked to keep records, he had said.

  Katherine didn’t know when she’d be ready. She couldn’t think of any of it without feeling her eyes sting so she thought instead of home and her grandfather. She’d sent him a message and he’d offered to send a car for her. They would talk then. She wasn’t looking forward to it. He was angry and hurt and she couldn’t blame him, imagining how she might feel if the situation had been reversed.

  How selfish, she thought, not liking herself much at the moment.

  Night had fallen when she finally stepped off the plane, and once inside the terminal she could tell by what people were wearing it was cold outside. Everyone had scarves hanging around their necks, jackets with fake fur cuffs, winter boots. And when she got to the doors she saw it was snowing, light flakes drifting down, layering the sidewalk, making her think of Christmas.

  She didn’t wait long before a long black limo pulled up and her grandfather rolled down the window. “Get in, Katie,” he said, opening the door and scooting over.

  Katherine got in and set her bag down.

  “What’s the damage?” she asked, wanting to be done with the unpleasantness once and for all.

  “Public or private?” he asked.

  “Public,” she answered. Coward, she thought.

  “Stock is down at the moment; it’s been fluctuating ever since you disappeared. Anthony has denounced you, and Business Weekly has downgraded the company in light of its ‘flighty leadership,’ and the board is calling for your resignation.”

  She almost laughed, stopping herself in time to put her hand over her mouth and cough instead. For some strange reason she found it all ridiculous and utterly unimportant.

  “I shall give them what they want,” Katherine said.

  He stared at her. “Are you mad? Have you come back from the dead deranged?”

  “No. I’ve come back different. That person you knew isn’t here anymore. I don’t care for any of it. It no longer interests me.”

  He looked at her again, harder, longer. “What happened?”

  She had debated whether to tell him the truth. All the way east she had thought about it, trying to decide. But in the end she decided not to, for the simple reason she knew she couldn’t bear to answer any questions, and her grandfather would have questions. Lots of questions.

  “I’m not sure if I can explain it,” she said. “Call it a change of heart, if you will. I don’t know, honestly. But I’ve discovered some things, and one of them is that I don’t want to be the same person I was before I left.”

  “So you’re quitting?”

  She smiled, not rising to the challenge. “You can call it quitting. I choose to call it bowing out gracefully. I want to play a different game. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

  He didn’t say anything for a long while, studying her, frowning a little, guessing. “Something did happen,” he said.

  She didn’t answer him directly. “Call Dee Rydell. Tell her she can have the first and only interview I will be giving. Then I’ll talk to the board. What day is it?”

  “It’s Sunday.”

  “Good. We’ll set up the chat with Dee for tomorrow afternoon. She’ll owe me for the exclusive. I’ll meet with the board Tuesday. Will that suit?”

  He nodded. “Not entirely different,” he commented.

  She didn’t answer, asking instead, “Now do you want to tell me about the private damage?”

  He gave her a long, hurt, accusing look. “You should’ve told me, Katie. You should’ve sent some word. I had no idea what happened.”

  She saw the tears start in his eyes and she couldn’t help but go and sit next to him, taking his big gnarled hands in hers. “I’m sorry, so, so sorry,” she said.

  “I was afraid something had happened to you, Katie, something terrible.”

  “I know.”

  He got hold of himself pretty quick, patting her knee. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

  She kissed him on the cheek and they didn’t talk much after that. He left her alone when they got to his penthouse and she made herself comfortable in one of the guest rooms, checking her mail from the house computer, perusing the business headlines for the past two months, wincing when she saw the market reports. It was bad. And it was going to get worse before it got better. That was the nature of a scandal.

  ❧

  “Are you telling me that the original McLeod fortune was illegally obtained?”

  They were facing one another, she and Dee Rydell. Dee wore a pantsuit with a wide black belt, big hoop earrings, her blond hair short and curling around her neck. Katherine wore a tweed skirt, heels, and a blue oxford, hair held back by a thin beaded band. She was hoping a more conservative look might serve to paint her more favorably—especially in light of what she was about to reveal.

  Katherine smiled at Dee, glad it was her rather than someone else sitting across from her. They had known one another for years and though not close friends they often traveled in the same circles. Katherine crossed one leg over the other.

  “No. What I’m saying is that a portion of the original McLeod fortune was illegally obtained. Remember, McLeod Shipping existed well before Alanna McLeod made a name for herself.”

 
“But is the board going to see it that way?” Dee asked.

  “Probably not. McLeod Industries has never been involved in a scandal before. I’m sure this will affect the company’s bottom line for the short term, while the legal ramifications are sorted out. But I think people should remember it was something no one knew about until now. And it was a very long time ago.”

  “And how was it you discovered that a notorious bank robber was a distant relative?”

  Katherine gave Dee a condensed and slightly fabricated story of how she remembered her parents’ interest in the past and followed in their footsteps.

  “I think they may have suspected something. But I honestly have no idea how they stumbled upon it. Perhaps if they had lived longer they might have been the ones speaking with you.”

  “Yes, they were killed in an accident, weren’t they?”

  Katherine hesitated. This was not what they had discussed. “Yes.”

  “A car accident if I recall,” Dee said with sympathy.

  Katherine nodded.

  Dee put a finger to her chin. “You don’t think someone . . . ?”

  Katherine’s jaw dropped a smidgen before she controlled her reaction and her voice. “It was an accident. Their airbags didn’t deploy. It was a defective mechanism.”

  “Of course,” Dee said, skipping to another line of questions, ones Katherine expected.

  But she was glad when the interview was over.

  “I’m sorry,” Dee said as they walked to the dressing rooms. “I didn’t mean to press. It just occurred to me that the coincidence was odd.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Katherine said with a shrug, happy the interview was over, gladder still she’d be home before it aired. She already knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Not that she regretted what she’d done. It was always better to disclose these things rather than hide them. What she regretted was that some people wouldn’t believe no one knew about the financial origins of McLeod Industries. She just hoped her resignation would shift most of that blame away from the company.

  Her grandfather was waiting for her downstairs. “How did it go?” he asked.

  “As well as can be expected.”

  “When is she airing it?”

  “I think she said around four,” Katherine answered.

  Her grandfather nodded, directing her to his limo, which was waiting in a reserved spot in front of the building. “The board is meeting tomorrow at nine. I’ve given them a heads up,” he said as he opened the door for her. She slid in and as soon as he’d taken his seat and closed the door the car sped off through the afternoon traffic.

  “Care to tell me about it now?” he asked.

  Katherine shrugged. “I told her what I’d discovered, what I was doing these last two months.” But not, of course, where she was—or when.

  “And what was it you were doing?”

  “Following in my parents’ footsteps.”

  He frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I found the family skeleton, the one Mom and Dad were always after,” Katherine said. “Alanna McLeod.”

  Her grandfather made a small noise of surprise. When Katherine looked at him she saw that it wasn’t the name so much that had surprised him but rather her utterance of it.

  He knew. He had known all along. She saw it at once.

  “Katie . . .” he began.

  “You knew.”

  “Katie,” he said again, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t have. You should call Dee right away.”

  “Call Dee? What for?”

  “Ask her not to air it. Offer her something else. I’m sure she could be convinced.”

  “Really? Because I thought she was rather interested in the whole story. Especially the part about how my parents died. She asked if I was sure it had been an accident.”

  He didn’t say anything but something changed in his face and a terrible suspicion formed in her mind as she recalled the last day she had seen her parents alive. She remembered the argument and the man in the suit; it all made a sick sort of sense.

  “Oh my God,” was all she could say, staring at him in horror.

  “Katie, no, it’s not what you think,” he said.

  “You . . .” She could hardly find the words. It was as if a stranger had suddenly come to inhabit her grandfather’s body. “What did you do?”

  “I only meant to delay them,” he said, pleading now. “It was never supposed to end like that. The air bags . . .” He shook his head, unable to meet her gaze. “They were supposed to open. No one was supposed to get hurt. It was an accident.”

  Katherine shook her head. This was not her grandfather. This was someone else. She pounded on the glass. “Stop the car right now!”

  The unseen driver pulled over to the curb and Katherine got out, slamming the door behind her and walking away from the car. She didn’t know where she was going, she was too mad to even think. That her grandfather, the person she loved most in all the world, that he had betrayed her . . . she gazed up at the darkening sky, blinking back tears, pausing at the edge of the sidewalk, oblivious to the cars whizzing by, the occasional horn buzzing, snatches of conversation as people walked by her, never even noticing she had stopped. Someone bumped her, knocking her out of her thoughts, and she started walking.

  An hour or so later the cold began to penetrate the light jacket she wore, turning her back toward the business district where rush hour traffic was in full swing, cars packed, the sidewalk jammed with people heading for the subways or trains. It was near to dark now and up ahead she could see Studio One, having come full circle.

  A small crowd of people had gathered at the front entrance, their eyes all glued to the huge holo screens at either side where her interview was beginning. She drew closer in sick fascination to watch.

  It never occurred to her that she should have kept on walking, not until someone recognized her and people started whispering, then a man with a camera began snapping pictures while some gum-snapping woman in canary yellow asked her who she thought she was. It deteriorated from there until Katherine was pressed up against the glass, feeling like a criminal while the mob before her grew angrier and angrier. Someone gave her a hard shove.

  A second later someone else grabbed hold of her arm and Katherine nearly started screaming until she saw who it was.

  Dee’s frantic face peered out of the half open doorway and behind her in the lobby Katherine could see a couple of security guys dressed in black.

  “Come on!” Dee pulled on her arm and Katherine didn’t need any more encouragement than that, darting inside and leaving the security guys to deal with the mob.

  “Good God, what were you thinking?” Dee asked, whisking her into the elevator.

  “I . . . I had a fight with my grandfather,” she said.

  “Well, that’s no surprise. He must be furious.”

  “He is,” Katherine said, not elaborating.

  “You can hide out in my office. I have another interview to do, and if you’re still here when I’m done we’ll talk. If you’re not, be careful.”

  Katherine hardly moved from the chair in the corner, thinking hard about what to do and who might help. Dee would, she knew, but she needed someone who could act for her, follow her instructions. She had said all she was going to say and had no intention of sticking around to listen to recriminations from people she didn’t know or care about.

  The hour Dee was gone gave Katherine the opportunity to plan her departure and write out her instructions. At the top of the list was resign as CEO of McLeod Industries. The rental car was on its way to the parking garage below by the time Dee returned. Katherine noted she had changed yet again, this time into a short sequined dress and black pumps.

  Dee opened one of the drawers in he
r desk and took out a bottle of whiskey and two short glasses, pouring them each a shot.

  Katherine tipped hers back. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  Dee smiled. “Now what?”

  “Shari Bennet is on her way over. I’m giving her power of attorney over certain matters. You can be my witness. On the record, of course.”

  “What are you going to do?” Dee asked.

  “I’m going to disappear again, this time for good.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Trying to Find Peace

  Where is she?” Jack demanded as soon as he finished puking onto the floor.

  Miss Adjani handed him a towel. “You might want to have a seat for a bit,” she suggested.

  “Christ, I feel like shit.”

  “Yes, the return trip is a bit unpleasant, but fortunately it doesn’t last. You’ll feel better shortly.”

  Jack got to his feet slowly. “Where is she?” he asked again.

  “Who?”

  Jack sighed. “Please, don’t. I know she was from here, or now.”

  Miss Adjani gave a concessionary nod. “I wish I could help you, Jack. But I’m sure you remember when you first came down here to Louis’ lab and he showed you everything. I know he explained about the security and of course you recall the papers you signed.”

  “So?”

  “There was a confidentiality clause?”

  Jack frowned.

  “I can’t tell you anything about anyone who might have been a guest,” Miss Adjani said gently. “I’m sorry.”

  Words of protest formed on Jack’s lips but he let them go, knowing they were useless. “I’ll find her myself,” he muttered.

  She nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements for your departure.”

  Upstairs in his room Jack took advantage of hot and cold running water and a truly sharp razor. He walked around in his boxers for a while just to feel what it was like not to wear so many clothes. He dug his toes into the carpet but it reminded him of Katherine so he quit and went to bed, hoping to sleep and forget about everything for a little while.