by Maggie Thom
Once they entered the luxurious room, they both were drawn to the view out the window; from twenty floors up, they had a spectacular view of the river valley and the Hotel McDonald.
“Okay, shower and get out.”
Guy gaped at her and spluttered, “W-what?”
“I’m getting in that hot tub.” At his look of interest, she qualified, “Alone. You’ll go shopping for some clothes and then I’ll go. Hmmm. I guess you’ll have to come along since you’ll be paying for those too. Now go.” She made a pinching motion at the end of her nose.
“Are you suggesting I smell?”
Her eyelids opened and closed as she twisted her head away as though there was a horrid stench coming from him.
He tossed a pillow at her. “I wouldn’t be talking too loud there, missy. Pew, Pew, Pew.”
She chucked the pillow back at him. “Go, dammit.”
“Bossy woman. I happen to be paying for this place,” he grumbled but headed into the bathroom.
She waited for him to get in the shower before she put a few inches of water in the hot tub. Stripping off her shirt, she washed quickly, aware that at any moment he could come out. Finishing up, she drained the tub and sat on the bed flipping through TV stations. She was watching the shopping channel when he finished.
Rubbing his hair with a towel, he strode into the room and glanced at the television. “How long do I have to be gone?”
“An hour and a half. Two, if you want to be a gentleman.” He pulled on his t-shirt grimacing as he did. She tried not to notice how it stretched taut over his well-muscled chest that had just enough hair to let her fingers play in. Her breath hitched as she stared hard at the television.
“I’ll meet you right here. Okay?”
“Of course.” She shoved him out of the room, leaving him in the hallway. She checked her watch and waited five minutes, then opened the door and peeked out, checking both directions. Seeing no one, she quickly made her way to the elevator. Once on the ground floor, her steps quickened as she left the hotel, keeping a watchful eye out for Guy. Sprinting across the street, she entered the building that she hoped held answers.
The library was large and spread out. What she needed was situated in the far back corner. Sitting at a computer, she glanced around before plugging in the flash drive. She rifled through folders, cognizant her time was limited. Associates—she clicked on it. All the files were listed by initials. It didn’t look right so she got out of there. Aperture—no idea what that even meant. Cabin—opening that file, she glanced at all the subfolders. None of the initials made sense. Choosing at random, she started to open them. It wasn’t until she noticed there were two similar folders—D. Z. and Do. Z.—that a strange feeling washed over her. Clicking on D.Z., she started opening files.
Doug Zajic
– Paying $12,000.00 per month – cabin fees.
That was all it said, except for the number 345 in the top right corner. Not having a clue what any of it meant, she closed it and opened the other file – Do. Z.
Donna Zajic
– Pay out $8,000.00 per month – cabin fees
There was nothing else. People renting the place? A little pricey. Closing out those files, she saw one labeled, My Legacy. She clicked on it. Several subfolders listed by initials were listed in alphabetical order. She clicked on the D. Z. file—it came up as weird letters and shapes. She tried the Do. Z. file—same thing. It looked like they were ruined or something. She wondered if carrying them around in her pocket had done that. Crap!
She clicked on other files at random, most displayed shapes similar to hieroglyphics or had one readable line containing an amount and a cabin fee. Lund had done well with that little place in northern B.C. But it was all very confusing. Why did I need to get this, Mom? Is this one of our tail chases?
At the age of twelve that’s what Bailey had dubbed their sudden moves—tail chases. There had never seemed any rhyme or reason to when or why they’d relocate. They’d just up and leave, sometimes ending back where they’d started like a dog chasing his tail, going round and round but not going anywhere at all.
When she found yet another scrambled file, she banged on the desk, flinching at the loud sound. She glanced around and was relieved to see that no one was watching her. She propped her elbows on the chair arms and dug her fingers into the sides of her head as she tried to make sense of it all.
A cabin... where her mom had hidden a picture and her favorite stuffed toy. Was that the only reason she had needed to go there? It didn’t make sense. None of it did but she couldn’t shake the thought that she might not be who she’d believed she was all those years. She may not have even belonged to the woman who raised her and she may actually have relatives, people who were looking for her, wanted her.
Her nostrils flared as she struggled to block the sob that threatened to rip through her chest. Closing her eyes tightly, squeezing her ribs firmly with her arms and taking several deep breaths were enough to impede the flood this time. She felt like she was being split in two. When will it make sense?
Frustrated at not finding what she wanted, she closed all the files and folders. Maybe the internet would give her some answers. Having no idea how to find what she was looking for, she typed into the search engine—newspapers from twenty-nine years ago.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Guy hid behind the bookshelves, watching Bailey. Seeing her so distressed was almost enough to make him rush to her aid. That, however, was not going to help him figure out what was going on. Instead, he made his way to another computer desk, keeping an eye on her from behind the high walls of the cubby. He had to find out what she was up to and why she felt the need to ditch him. In fifteen minutes, all he learned was she was fidgety. Every few minutes she would shift—she’d lean forward and then back, sit up and then slouch, put her leg under her and then set both feet flat on the floor. No matter what she did though, her shoulders started sagging more and more. She was fighting the exhaustion that had to be dragging her down. He knew he was feeling it. Her elbow soon found the desk and her chin found her hand. After the third time of her head bobbing sideways and then jerking to keep herself upright, she finally gave up and left.
Tempted to follow her and make sure she was okay, he first needed to see what she’d been doing. He sat down at her computer. The search bar showed she’d been trying to find some newspapers from a long time ago, twenty-nine years to be exact. She didn’t seem to know what she was doing, though he conceded that being overly tired might have played a part in it. Not wanting to spend too much time as he wasn’t sure she’d make it back alone, he was about to log off when he noticed the jump drive sticking out of the computer. He quickly scanned the folders on it. Clicking on several of them, he discovered they were encrypted. Intuition told him this had been what she’d been trying to look at.
There were some answers there but first he had to check on Bailey. He logged off, took out the USB drive and hurried out the door, following Bailey back to the room. He made sure he remained far enough behind to keep an eye on her without being detected himself. At the hotel, he gave her ten minutes to play out her hot tub ruse before he showed up.
Entering the room, he realized immediately he hadn’t needed to wait. She was zonked out, lying across the bed fully clothed. Being a gentleman warred with the knowledge she would be pissed. It was going to get him in trouble but he knew she would be much more comfortable out of her clothes. He unzipped her pants, the slight tremor in his hands surprising him as he slid the jeans down her long, slim legs. Tossing them aside, he reached for the hem of her shirt and slid it up slowly, trying not to jar or awaken her—or stare at the soft smooth skin he was uncovering. He tried to keep his eyes averted or at least his mind but it was a losing battle. His hands shook and his pulse pounded as he the edge of the bedspread over her. It was difficult not to notice the sexy cut of her underwear nor the fact that it wasn’t silk, something he felt she should have been wearing all her lif
e. Guilt was eating at him. He knew he wasn’t responsible for her being taken, yet he had been able to live in luxury while she hadn’t. Even though she’d been the one on the streets, everything about her reminded him that those were really his roots. They weren’t really meant to be hers.
With a last glance at her, he slipped into the hallway and called Graham.
“Hey, good to hear from you. Where are you?”
“Edmonton. Is Stanson done with that sketch?”
“Yup. Check your email. Since I hadn’t heard from you, in twenty some hours, I went ahead and ran the sketch. No hits yet, so it might not be all that accurate. What else have you got?”
Guy quickly ran through all that had occurred since they’d last talked.
“Holy Christ, man. This isn’t fun and games any more. Time to bring in the police.”
Guy’s hand scrubbed down over his face. He shook his head, trying to erase the tiredness wrapping around him like a weighted cloak. “I know but...”
“I know you don’t know what to tell them right? Let me call Bean.”
“He’s still on the police force?”
“He might be old but he’s a good detective. I’ll fill him in and see what he wants to do.”
He wasn’t the person Guy would have chosen but he was good friends with Graham’s family. Detective Holstein felt he owed them for Graham’s dad having saved his life a couple of times. “Have him call me before he includes anyone else in this circus. I don’t know who I can trust.”
“Will do. Check the email. Keep in touch every couple of hours. Okay?”
“Yeah. I’ve got something else I have to do right now. I’ll call you later.” Clicking off the phone, he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t shared the jump drive. Holding it tightly in his hand, he crossed the street and entered the library.
An hour later, he was yawning so much that he felt like his face was permanently morphing and he still couldn’t figure out how the guy had encrypted the data. None of it made sense. He was about to go back and get some sleep when a moment of clarity hit him. Within ten minutes, he’d broken the code. Flipping through files, his eyes widened. There were very interesting and incredibly damning information. A yawn caught him off-guard, almost splitting his face. And as always seemed to happen, where one yawn went, several seemed to follow. He realized he wouldn’t be able to get through all the folders so he took to copying and pasting, emailing several for Graham to look over along with how to break the code, knowing full well Graham probably would have gotten in faster than he had. He then sent all the ones he’d read and reviewed in an email to himself just in case.
If it was all true which he feared it was, many people were going to be embarrassed, some charged and maybe even killed if this information fell into certain hands. The one thing it didn’t do, however, was tell him how this all tied in with Bailey.
As he sent the last email to Graham, he realized he hadn’t looked over the police sketch of his suspect. As he scrolled through the five he’d received in his email, he picked out what he thought was the right picture and where he needed to make changes. He cc’d Graham to start searching when he got the new sketch.
It was time for bed. He’d put it off too long but he had one more phone call to make. After leaving a message for Graham to find him one more piece of information, he propped his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on his palm. He just needed to close his eyes for a moment...
“Excuse me. Excuse me.” Someone’s hand was on his shoulder, shaking him. Annoyed but still in a groggy state of sleep, he jerked away.
“Excuse me!”
He snapped upright as the words were hissed in his ear. A middle-aged woman holding a book like she knew how to swing it was staring at him in disgust. Heat instantly infused his face.
“No sleeping here.”
“I’m sorry. I was...”
“Just get out. We don’t allow bums in here.”
What? Guy shook his head but stood up and moved away from the crazy lady and headed outside. He placed his hands on his back and arched backwards. His spine realigned itself with a ddrrrrrr-ddrrrr sound. As he straightened, a woman and a man walked by, smiled at him indulgently and slipped something into his hand. Confused, he watched them leave and then looked down. They’d given him a five-dollar bill. He looked at them and then back at his hand. His attention soon slid past and was snagged by the dirt and grime ground into his jeans. He burst out laughing. He hadn’t gone shopping and it was now a must. People were mistaking him for a homeless guy or someone really down on his luck. He took a deep breath in, his nose wrinkling as he did so. His clothes even smelled like one. No time like the present to buy some new pants and shirts, if they’d let him in the store.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Hello.” Bailey managed to garble out that greeting as she pressed the cell phone to her ear and snuggled back down under the blankets.
“Uh huh... yeah... sure... yeah... bye.” She clicked her phone off, clasped it in her hand and let herself drift again. When she was just on the verge of sleep, the conversation she’d just had floated through her head.
“Hello, Bailey. It’s Mr. O’Sullivan from CBC. How are you today?”
“We just wanted to confirm that you’ll be here this Friday, 10:00 a.m. at our office?”
“Will you need to be picked up at the airport?”
“If you send us your itinerary, I’ll make sure a car is there to pick you up.”
She shot upright, her mouth hanging open. “Oh, my God. What did I just do?” Swearing, she jumped out of bed and was about to go flying into the bathroom when her awareness expanded to take in where she was and what was going on.
“Good morning.” Guy waved at her from the hot tub. “I take it that phone call wasn’t good?”
She whirled around, becoming instantly aware she was only wearing a bra and panties but it was nothing more than a fleeting thought as the impact of the conversation hit her full force. She slammed her hands onto her hips. “It’s the phone call I’ve been waiting for. But am I ready for it? No, I’m half asleep. Why? Because I’ve been traipsing all over the place, trying to find out who I am. Not because I’m lost but because some nut job thinks I am.”
“You’re not really a morning person, are you?”
“What?” She marched to the edge of the tub. “Listen. I’ve had just about all I can take from you and this BS you’ve been spouting. That call was my real life. They want me on Friday of this week. Am I going to make it? Jeez, I don’t know. Let me see it’s now... What’s today?” Looking down, she realized she still had her phone in her hand. She looked at the date and time.
“Great. This is just great.” She walked across the room and back. “I have four days to fly back to Vancouver, pack my apartment, fly to Toronto and be ready to start my new job.” She shrugged and made an exaggerated face about how that wasn’t impossible. Her eyes zeroed in on him. “And who do I have to thank for this?”
Walking over to the curtains, she flung them open. My life’s gone to hell and nobody asked me what I wanted. She pressed her hand to her chest as her churning emotions weren’t sure which direction they were going to go—laugh until she peed, cry until she peed, or punch the daylights out of anyone or anything that got in her way.
“You have a new job?”
She felt like someone had just stuck a pin in her. She dropped down into a chair as all her energy fizzled out. “Yeah.” I'm supposed to have my own TV show. Or at least that was the plan. She'd worked so hard at not only being a top interior designer but also at getting this show. Ironically, she hadn't known how she would tell her mom about it. Now she didn't have to worry. The pain of that was too much to think about. She gazed out the window to stare at the blue sky and skyscrapers.
“Want to tell me about it?”
She jumped as she realized he was right beside her. She turned to address him, only he was right there, all of him. Her heart started to thump wildly as her gaze tracked
the lone trail of a water droplet coursing slowly down his well muscled chest over a flat stomach, to be absorbed in a thick, white terry cloth towel.
“Hmmm.”
“Care to do something about that?”
“Huh?” she said, absently. Her hand slipped up to rest against her throat.
He bent down in front of her, catching her gaze. Her eyes opened wide as she met the spark of interest in his.
“Oh, no. No.” She moved to stand behind a chair.
“Hey, I’m not the one who started this.”
“Started what?”
“Running around naked.”
“I’m not naked, dammit. You’re the one who stripped me.” She glared at him.
“Excuse me all to hell.”
“Besides you’re the one who’s just hot out of a steaming bath, dripping water all over, looking like you stepped out of Playgirl.”
“Read that a lot, do you?”
She thrust her nose in the air and sailed past him. “I’m going for a shower. You do whatever you need to do.”
She almost made it but his hand snapped out at the last second, grabbing her forearm. He pulled her close. The steam from the two of them would have fogged her glasses, had she been wearing any. This wasn’t a good idea for either of them, yet she didn’t seem to be able to fight it. His lips gently touched hers before pulling back. Her heart galloped as she blinked several times to bring the room back into focus. It took her a few moments to realize she was free.
“This conversation isn’t over.” He looked at her pointedly, his nostrils flaring slightly. His pupils were large and black and revealing emotions she wasn’t prepared to handle. Dazed, she made her way into the bathroom, closed the door and fell against it. She gulped in air.
He knocked.
Her heart leapt into her throat. She spun around and braced her hands against the door, not sure if it was to keep herself upright or to keep him out. “What?”
“I thought you could use this.”
She opened the door just enough to see what he was talking about. Two white bags emblazoned with an upscale company logo dangled from the end of his fingers. She snatched them, closing and locking the door before she did something crazy like invite him in. She proceeded to open the packages and immediately burst into tears. Rarely had anyone ever purchased anything for her and no one ever bought her clothes before. She flipped on the shower, stripped and climbed in, hoping he couldn’t hear her blubbering.