by Debra Webb
She shook her head. “No. She always pretended everything was fine. I don’t have any real proof. I guess I’m grasping at straws. Whatever happened, it wasn’t about money. At least not Landon’s personal assets. The police turned his financial records inside out. He has plenty to take care of his personal needs. The only place where he needs money is for his research. And he knows that’s coming. It’s only a matter of time.”
“What about the affairs?” Todd ventured carefully. That seemed the most likely theory to him.
“He told the police about his affairs,” she said, disbelief heavy in her tone. “I was shocked. I couldn’t believe he actually admitted any of it. Yet he gave them all the names except one.” Her gaze connected with Todd’s once more. “My predecessor.”
Todd considered that news. “Why do you suppose he kept her name a secret?”
Serena shrugged. “Maybe to protect Milestone. Delia Neely was the only one who actually worked at Milestone. In fact, she stayed on even after I took her place. A handful of people, including Molly, knew what had been going on between Delia and Landon but no one had the nerve to talk about it. Everyone just acts like it didn’t happen. But that affair could bring a mess of bad publicity down on Landon and Milestone. He needs that indiscretion kept quiet.”
“Where is Delia Neely now?” Todd had understood that she’d left when Serena was hired.
“She resigned about six months ago, after working in the bowels of research since I took her old job. The hands-on stuff. I don’t know where she went after that.”
“But she didn’t come around Landon or you?” Todd’s instincts had gone on point. He didn’t like that he hadn’t heard this before.
“Anything above level two was off-limits to her,” Serena explained. “Her security clearance was downgraded. The whole incident was basically a demotion. But company policy ensures that employees maintain their benefits and salary level even in the event of a downgrade. The only way she would have lost any of that was to be fired.”
Todd considered the information. “Still, a demotion is a demotion. Doesn’t make sense that she’d stay after that kind of public humiliation.”
“Maybe she needed the benefits. The health insurance is excellent and the salary is about the best an assistant can expect. She wouldn’t have gotten any better if she’d gone somewhere else.”
Todd turned the key in the ignition and started the engine. “Maybe.”
“Where are we going?”
He glanced at the woman in the passenger seat. She wasn’t particularly thrilled about going anywhere with him. He wasn’t particularly thrilled about it, either…at least not about the keeping-an-eye-on-her part. But he’d figured out a way to make the best of that.
Victoria and Braddock had ordered him to stick close to Serena. Stay on top of who she called, where she went, the whole nine yards. Initially he’d been seriously annoyed at being stuck babysitting, but he’d taken a bad situation and turned it around.
If Landon was involved in his wife’s disappearance, which was the most likely scenario despite the absence of evidence, then there were aspects of his life that Todd and Serena could investigate. As his personal assistant, Serena knew a great deal about him professionally as well as personally. Plus, Todd had his suspicions about what Serena was keeping from him. For all he knew, her nomination for the prestigious work-study program could be a payoff for keeping quiet, but that didn’t seem likely. Landon would have told her already if he’d hoped to gain her full allegiance with the offer.
And that theory definitely didn’t jibe with her having contacted the Colby Agency. He stole another peek at her. Then again, maybe this whole setup was a ruse to further prove Landon’s innocence.
Todd needed to know more. He needed to be as close as possible to Serena to get the truth. She seemed to want someone to save the day, and he knew how to play the part of hero and say all the right things to keep her distracted while he dug into an aspect his gut told him would tell the tale.
Serena was hiding something and Landon’s last affair had been left off the list of truths he’d given the authorities. That was where Todd wanted to start—with the unknown. If the woman, Delia, didn’t want to be dragged into Landon’s current problem, there was a reason.
Maybe Landon and Delia were still involved.
If Landon was accustomed to extracurricular activities, Todd couldn’t see him going cold turkey.
“How about some lunch?” he suggested.
His passenger looked startled at the suggestion. “I thought we were going to work on the case.”
He grinned. “We are. But we have to eat.” He kept one hand on the steering wheel as he maneuvered out of the gigantic Milestone Labs parking lot and patted his stomach with the other. “A guy’s gotta eat.”
Conversation lagged as he drove to the South Loop and merged onto Michigan Avenue. Chicago’s Firehouse Restaurant was his favorite. The restored turn-of-the-century firehouse gave the restaurant amazing ambience. The food was great and the service top-notch.
A quiet booth in a half-empty dining room made for discreet discussion. Todd thanked the hostess and slid into the booth across from Serena.
“Have you been here before?” he asked.
“No.” Her skeptical gaze settled on his. “What do you recommend?”
Ah, so he had himself a finicky eater. “How about a burger?
“I might just pass on the burger. Perhaps a salad.”
What a shame. “Suit yourself.”
The waiter arrived to take their orders and promised to return with their drinks as well as water.
“So tell me about Delia.” No point beating around the bush.
Serena didn’t answer immediately. Instead she relaxed into the fake leather of the booth and chewed on her lower lip.
“She was a few years older than me. Intelligent. Attractive. The typical blond beauty. Ambitious.”
Serena sighed as she gathered her thoughts on the rest of what she wanted to say. “I only met her once for a brief overview of the files, but she seemed…nice. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I feel like I’m being disloyal to Molly to say it, but she did. Delia seemed nice.”
“Do you know how long she’d been working with Landon?” Todd couldn’t help wondering when the affair began, and if it was purely physical or if the two had grown emotionally attached over time.
“Three years. I think Milestone was her first job, too.”
Most scientists preferred younger assistants. That was nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was because the younger employees were more willing to do all the thankless jobs. Or because they were easier to mold. If they were female, the reasoning could very well have been about looks and the possibility of sexual favors.
Todd wanted to shake men like Landon. Women weren’t playthings. As much as he enjoyed sex, he never went into it with any misunderstandings between him and his partner. The woman always knew it was about sex.
Ironic, he realized, that he’d only this morning decided to use some subtle seduction on his assignment. But this was different, wasn’t it? This was work. The same rules didn’t apply to getting the job done. This wasn’t about personal gratification. It was about finding a missing woman. A pregnant one at that.
Guilt trickled through him, but he ignored it. This was his first assignment for the Colby Agency. He wasn’t about to fail. No matter what he had to do to get the job done. This was a test…one he couldn’t fail.
“Do you know where Delia Neely lives?”
“It’s in my Palm Pilot.” She dug around in her purse and produced the handheld electronic organizer. “Let’s see.” She entered the necessary data and nodded. “Yes, I have her address and her phone number. In case I needed to ask her about work,” she clarified.
“But you never had to,” he suggested. “You’ve never spoken to Delia outside Milestone.”
“No.” She frowned. Confusion flickered in her eyes. “Are you accusing me of som
ething, Mr. Thompson?”
Just then their food arrived, saving him from having to answer without a little forethought.
But Serena Blake had no intention of letting the question go. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you consider me a suspect of some sort in this case? I thought we had that all ironed out.”
Todd placed both hands on the table on either side of his place setting. She glanced at his hands and he could almost see her heart start to drum in her chest. The move made her nervous. He considered her for seven or eight seconds before he answered. She didn’t need to be too sure of herself. What she needed was to be worried about her standing with him and the Colby Agency. He needed to believe that finding the truth was not only important to Molly Landon but important to Serena Blake.
“I believe that you are sincerely worried about Molly Landon and that you are more than halfway convinced that her husband had something to do with her disappearance.” He watched the relief claim her worried face. “But I also think you’re harboring a secret or two that you haven’t shared with me.” A brick wall went up, shielding her emotions. “Whatever it is you aren’t telling me edges that defining line in the sand a little closer to you. Suspect.” He gestured to the left, then to the right. “Not a suspect. Right now, Miss Blake, it’s a helluva narrow margin.”
A glimmer of fury flamed above that brick wall she’d used to hide behind. “Think what you will, Mr. Thompson, but just remember, you work for me.”
Oh, that was good.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She was right, he did work for her. And that made him even more determined to make her come clean.
THEY DIDN’T HAVE FAR to go to find where Delia Neely lived. On 58th Street near Harper Avenue. She rented a two-room apartment over the garage of one of the stately mansions. But she wasn’t home.
As they stood outside the door at the top of the exterior stairs, Serena used her cell phone to call the number she had listed as Delia’s.
She frowned. “It’s been disconnected.”
Todd surveyed the upscale neighborhood and considered whether he wanted to risk adding breaking and entering to his score sheet. If Victoria found out, she would likely be very unhappy.
“Nobody’s home!”
He turned and stared down at the woman who’d shouted the news up to them. Sixtyish. Stylishly dressed. The owner of the house. Too well-groomed and expensively dressed to be the hired help.
He gestured for Serena to precede him down the stairs. As he moved downward he said, “We’re trying to find an old friend, Delia Neely. Does she still live here?” He seriously doubted it since her phone had been disconnected. Not to mention that finding her this quickly would have just been too easy.
“Delia moved out about six months ago,” the woman said. “She didn’t leave a forwarding address.” The woman shielded her eyes from the sun as Todd and Serena came closer. “She left in a bit of a hurry.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” the woman went on, “she didn’t give me a minute’s notice, so I kept her deposit. She didn’t even come or call back to complain. Most do.”
Damn. “No forwarding address, you say?” He needed something to go on. “Did she give you the name and address of someone who would know her whereabouts when she filled out her application before moving in?” Most landlords required that sort of information for protecting themselves.
“She did, but the number’s no good. I tried to call her to tell her she’d left a few items.”
“What did she leave?” Serena asked. “Anything that might tell us where she went?”
The woman’s suspicions roused.
“She actually owed us some money, as well,” Todd improvised. “We were hoping to find her without having to take it to small claims court.”
“I’m sure she intended to pay us back,” Serena added, sounding wholly sincere.
Todd let that one slide since they needed this woman’s cooperation. But he hoped this was no indication of how well she could lie. His storytelling didn’t count. At least, that was what he told himself.
The woman shrugged. “She didn’t leave anything important. Just a coat and a purse, but there was no money or relevant papers in it. A tube of lipstick and a business card.”
“May we see the business card?” Anticipation kicked in. The card would have the name and telephone number of someone she’d known in one capacity or another. This woman might not recognize the value but he did.
“The card was a dead end,” she said, bursting his bubble as easily as if she’d jabbed him with a straight pin. “Some doctor.” Her brow furrowed as she concentrated hard to remember the name. “Dr. Herbert Wright. Has an office downtown.”
Todd felt Serena stiffen next to him. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said. “We appreciate your help.”
“If you run into her, tell her she should have given me notice and I would have given her the deposit back.”
Todd waved in acknowledgment of the woman’s comment then slid behind the wheel of his Volvo. He started the car and backed out of the driveway before turning to his passenger. “Did you recognize the doctor’s name?”
Serena nodded. He frowned. She looked pale.
“Dr. Herbert Wright is Molly’s obstetrician.”
Todd’s frown deepened. “Wait a minute. I read the report on Mrs. Landon. The obstetrician in the report was a Dr. Rice.” He remembered the name clearly.
“That’s the one Landon insisted she go to,” Serena admitted. “She went a few times, but didn’t like him, so she found another.”
Todd knew that something was wrong with that picture. Did pregnant women often change obstetricians midterm?
“Landon can’t know,” Serena urged. “He would be extremely upset that she’d disobeyed him.”
Well, well. The first of Miss Blake’s secrets was revealed. He took a hard right and headed back to the South Loop.
Serena glanced around as if she didn’t recognize the landscape. “Where are we going now?”
“To my side of the fifty yard line,” he said flatly. He didn’t like being lied to. Though he’d known she’d been keeping secrets, that didn’t make him like it any better. If she wanted him to find the truth, she needed to come clean with him.
Her hands fidgeted with her seat belt. The shaky breath she exhaled backed up his assessment. She was afraid.
Good.
If he played the intimidation game well enough, seduction might not even be necessary. Not that he’d dreaded it or anything, but he recognized the risk. He was only human. Getting caught up in the moment could cost him, as well. Especially considering he was seriously attracted to Serena.
“I don’t understand,” she said softly as he braked for a red light.
“We’re going to my place. That’s what happens when you hit the fourth down without gaining enough yards. You lose the ball. It’s my ball now.”
She blinked in an attempt to hide the fear glittering in her eyes. “I don’t play baseball, Mr. Thompson.”
“Good thing,” he said crisply, “since the analogy was in reference to football.”
Man, who didn’t know the difference between baseball and football?
Guilt pinged him again. Serena’s life hadn’t been a piece of cake. He doubted anyone in her early years had bothered to introduce her to sports, other than the kind learned on the streets. Once she landed with decent folks she’d been so focused on pulling her life together and making something of herself she’d probably been one of those bookworm types who didn’t care for sports.
He had to remember that not everyone had been as fortunate as he was growing up.
Still, he wasn’t such a pushover that he wouldn’t use this little episode of tension to his advantage. She had more secrets. He needed to know what those were.
Pronto. Hence the trip to his place. His territory. A place where she wouldn’t feel so at ease with her ability to handle the situation.
Any discomfort she exper
ienced would just have to be chalked up to a sort of collateral damage.
“This is where you live?”
He parked at the curb in front of the Victorian-era house turned apartment building he called home.
Now that ticked him off. Just because he didn’t live in a fancy town house on her side of town didn’t mean anything.
“You got a problem with that?”
“No.”
To his surprise, she smiled.
“It just reminds me of the frat houses I used to wish I could sneak into.” She stared out at the place, which, now that she mentioned it, looked exactly like a college frat house.
“So why didn’t you?” The question wasn’t relevant to anything, but he wanted to know.
She laughed. He liked the sound. It was so spontaneous and incredibly sweet.
“Please, I would never have had the nerve. I spent my entire college life hiding in corners at the library and pretending I was invisible.”
“Invisible?” he asked incredulously.
Her gaze bumped into his. “Pathetic, huh?”
A tendril of hair had slipped out of her meticulous do and draped along her cheek to curl up against her throat.
This was the Serena Blake he wanted to know. The innocent yet hopeful woman who just wanted someone to talk to and maybe to hang on to. And as much as he wanted to get to know her better, he was definitely not the guy for her. His full attention was on his future. Right now his life had to be about him. As selfish as that sounded, he recognized the pitfalls of a serious relationship. Those kinds of ties had to wait until his career and his future were more solid.
“Not pathetic at all,” he said, offering an understanding smile. Miss Blake was too nice for her own good. “Sweet, that’s what it is.”
“I see.” She turned her attention straight ahead and leaned back against the headrest, preventing him from seeing how his comment made her feel. But he’d heard her reaction in her voice. She hadn’t liked his remark one bit.
Funny, he hadn’t anticipated this. The girl with the super-duper IQ had secretly wanted to be like every other girl—noticed by boys.
