A Man's Promise

by Brenda Jackson

  “Oh.” Caden shook his head. “Knowing him, he probably handled it wrong.”

  “That’s what I tried telling him, but you know at times you can’t tell him a damned thing.”

  Caden nodded. “He’s taking it pretty hard.”

  “Obviously.”

  Dalton turned around, shoving his hands into his pockets. The expression on his face was fiercer than ever. “Is there a reason the two of you are still here? I have work to do.”

  “With your present attitude, you might want to work from home today,” Jace suggested sternly. “There is a matter that Caden and I need to discuss with you, but we can do so at another time. When you’re in a far better mood.”

  And then Jace and Caden left the office.

  * * *

  “The Wine Cellar Boutique. This is Shiloh.”

  “Good morning, Shiloh. This is Wallace. I wasn’t sure you got my last message, and I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about you.”

  Like I’ve forgotten about you? she thought to herself, feeling bad she hadn’t called him back. “Yes, I got it, and sorry I haven’t gotten back with you, but I’ve been busy.” Making up time with the man I love, she bit back from saying.

  “No problem. I was wondering if we can do lunch today. This is one of my rare days away from the hospital.”

  She considered turning down his invitation and just telling him that she was back in an exclusive relationship with Caden, but she thought telling him over the phone wasn’t the way to do things. “Yes, I would love to have lunch with you. There’s something I need to talk with you about anyway.”

  “There is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. How about lunch at Ricky’s? I can pick you up at—”

  “I prefer meeting you there,” she interrupted. “Will noon be okay?”

  “Noon is fine. I’ll see you then.”

  She clicked off the phone. Moments later, she was about to go downstairs to check to see how things were going when her office phone rang again. “The Wine Cellar Boutique.”

  There was no response, but Shiloh could hear breathing on the other end. “Hello?”

  When once again there was no response, Shiloh hung up, thinking it was probably someone who’d dialed the wrong number.

  * * *

  “So, what did you decide to do last night with that guy?”

  Jules had expected her sister’s call and was surprised Shana hadn’t contacted her sooner. Luckily, she had left her dentist’s office, finished her annual eye exam and come home to grab a quick lunch before heading out to spend the rest of the day at the spa.

  “I figured you’d be waking me up early this morning,” she said, placing her sister on speakerphone while she sat down at the kitchen table with the leftovers her father had sent her home with.

  “I would have, but I had a doctor’s appointment myself this morning. Jace went with me, and we could see the baby’s heart beating on the ultrasound.”

  “Oh, Shana, that is wonderful. The doctor said everything’s okay?”

  “Yes. According to him, I’m doing fine. Jace and I are so happy we can’t stand it. We can’t wait until the wedding at the end of this month. We only have a few weeks to go. Of course, you will be my bridesmaid and Jace’s brothers will be his best men.”

  “Sounds great. I hope I haven’t eaten one pork chop too many and will look decent in the dress you want me to wear.”

  “You’re going to look great. Now, back to my earlier question, did you or did you not meet up with that guy last night?”

  Jules let out a deep breath. In a way, she was trying not to remember last night. “Yes, I met up with him. But I did it with a purpose in mind.”

  “What purpose?”

  “To set his arrogant ass back a couple of notches.”

  “Jules, please tell me you didn’t.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

  Shana didn’t say anything for a minute. “You’ll never find anyone if you keep running them off.”

  “First of all, he wasn’t a keeper. All he wanted out of me was one thing. Hell, I hadn’t sat down before he was suggesting that we leave and go somewhere. Probably a hotel.”

  Jules took a sip of her lemonade. “But I told him to forget he found me. In other words, I let him know I wasn’t interested. You should have seen the look on his face. You would think he’d never been turned down by a woman.”

  “He looked that hot?”

  “I admit, even hotter. But I refuse to put up with bullshit, and he was full of it last night. I hope when they made him they not only broke the mold but threw it away.”

  “Wow. I guess he didn’t make an impression on you.”

  “No, not a positive one. In a way I wish he had, though. Going without sex is killing me.”

  “Hmm, too much information. Got to go now. And by the way, Caden said he and Shiloh can meet with you tomorrow evening. We can do it here, at my place, around five.”

  “That’s a good time, and your place is a good central location. I’ll see you then.”

  Jules clicked off the call and finished off the rest of her meal while trying not to think about Dick, or whatever his real name was. But if she was completely honest with herself, even when she’d come home and stripped out of the hot little outfit she’d worn just for him to see what he wouldn’t be getting, her mind had been filled with thoughts of him. Despite his attitude, she had still given him his dues in the looks department.

  At least she didn’t have to worry about him showing up at her office again. She knew about men, especially the conceited types. They didn’t appreciate it when a woman burst their egotistical bubble by letting them know what they really thought. It was sad when women convinced them they owned a golden dick or something.

  Well, she thought, getting up from the table to put her plate in the sink and discard her trash, at least I don’t have to worry about ever seeing him again. Good riddance.

  * * *

  “I take it Dalton took your advice and went home,” Caden said, coming into Jace’s office.

  Jace leaned back in his chair. “Hell, I hope so. He was in a damned bad way this morning. I don’t know what that woman said or did to him, but he was fit to be tied.”

  Caden nodded. “You know Dalton. Sometimes he acts as if women, like everything else he comes in contact with, are an entitlement.”

  “I thought he was getting better with that.”

  “He is, but he still has room for improvement. I guess you can say he’s a work in progress.” Caden didn’t say anything for a short while and then added, “But I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

  Jace chuckled. “Me neither.” He then sat up in his chair and studied his brother. “I take it things are going well with you and Shiloh.”

  Caden smiled, thinking how well things were going. “Yes. I know there are a lot of questions still out there regarding whether what happened on Saturday night was intentional or an accident. But you know what I think about it?”

  “No. What?”

  “I almost lost my life that night, but I consider it a blessing because I really did get my life back, Jace. Shiloh has been and always will be my life, and I got her back.”

  Jace didn’t say anything for a moment as he thought about what Caden had said, the implications he had made. “I am happy for you.”

  “Thanks. But Sedrick doesn’t think what happened Saturday night was either an accident or an attempt on my life.”

  Jace raised a dark eyebrow. “Then what does he think?”

  “He told Shiloh he believes the whole thing was staged by me to play on her sympathy to get her back.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I kid you not.”

  Jace shook his head. “I’m surprised Sedrick would say something like that.”

  “I’m not. He’s been acting wishy-washy lately. He was all caring, concerned and sympathetic at the hospital when Granddad died, but that night at Shiloh�
��s open house, he hung with the Greenes, and they all shot me dirty looks like I was a piece of shit on the floor.”

  Jace frowned. “The Greenes?”

  “Yes, you probably remember them from years back. Michael and Yolanda Greene.”

  Caden missed the flare of resentment that flashed in Jace’s eyes when he said, “I remember them.”

  “Michael Greene used to work here, years ago.”

  “I remember that, as well,” Jace replied, trying to keep his voice neutral.

  “Ivan Greene, present mayoral candidate, is their son, and they have two daughters, Kerrie and Deidra.”

  Jace didn’t say anything for a minute. “I recall Sedrick and Kerrie dating back in the day.”

  “Yes, I’d forgotten about that. Shiloh reminded me.”

  “Going back to what you said earlier about the Greenes and Sedrick shooting you dirty looks,” Jace prompted.

  “Yeah, man. It was strange. I’ve never done anything to them, but you would think they resented me for some reason. If looks could kill, I would have been dead that night.”

  Jace built a steeple with his fingers as he thought about what Caden had said. “You’re right. That is strange.”

  “But, of course, I didn’t give a damn.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t. And by the way, everything is set for tomorrow evening at Shana’s place. You and Shiloh are invited to dinner, and Jules will be there, too. We’ll all enjoy a nice meal, and then afterward, Jules will ask you and Shiloh some questions about Saturday night.”

  “Okay, that will work. What about Dalton? Have you mentioned that other possibility about Saturday night to him yet?”

  “No. I went into his office to do so this morning, and you know how that turned out. His balls have taken a kicking, so I’ll let him get over it before telling him anything. He needs to come to terms with the fact that he doesn’t take rejection well.”

  “I agree. And just so you know, I’m taking Shiloh away this weekend.”

  “Where are you going?”

  Caden then shared with his brother his plans for the weekend.

  A smile spread across Jace’s face. “She’s definitely going to be surprised.”

  Caden nodded as he returned his brother’s smile. “I’m counting on it.”

  * * *

  “Bruce, what do you have for me?” Shana asked, relaxing in her office chair. The man she considered a technological genius had taken Brandy’s hard drive to have a look at it after Dalton had reported a video showing Brandy searching around in his office and taking pictures. Now Brandy was dead from an apparent suicide, although her mother was still crying foul play. Shana would admit it seemed pretty coincidental to her.

  “I went through the hard drive twice and couldn’t find a thing. No suspicious inside emails or documents, nor were there any questionable outside emails. If she was forwarding information to anyone, it wasn’t on this particular computer. I can’t even see that she visited any other websites while at work.”

  Shana found that odd. Most people at some point in time, whether at work or not, would surf the Net. Brandy was a smart dresser, and it was hard to believe she never was tempted to go check out a few online sales during company time.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think her hard drive had been given a complete wipe somehow.”

  Shana thought about what he had said. “Is that possible?”

  “Yes, but that would take real calculation on someone’s part. No one would know unless they suspected someone was onto them. A complete wipe is done when the original hard drive goes to its original state. The process was ruled illegal back in the nineties, when some company in Arizona was wiping hard drives clean so they couldn’t be used as evidence in court cases involving child pornography. When the prosecution got ready to present their cases, all their digital evidence had disappeared.”

  Shana recalled reading about something like that in college. “Is there any way you can tell if the hard drive you took off her computer has been wiped clean?”

  “Yes, it’s doable, although it will take quite some time. There’s only one company that I know of in Japan that can do it. I’ll check into it.”

  “Thanks, Bruce.”

  Shana thought about all Bruce had said, and then she placed a call to Marcel. “Marcel, this is Shana. Have you heard anything else on the Brandy Booker suicide?”

  “No, other than that the parents are on opposite sides of the fence with this one. While her mother doesn’t believe it was suicide, I understand her father does. It seems he heard from Brandy on Friday night, and she sounded depressed and said things weren’t going for her the way she hoped. She told her father that she needed to get away for a while, which is why she took that trip to D.C. Her friend from high school who owns the house was out of the country. She’d always told Brandy she was welcome to visit anytime and had left instructions about where to find the key.”

  “No security cameras in the complex?”

  “No. A lot of the tenants are politicians who want to enjoy their privacy.”

  Or who want to engage in activities they wouldn’t want captured on film, Shana thought. “So the D.C. authorities are still ruling the death a suicide?”

  “Yes, since everything seems to lead that way.”

  “And they aren’t taking what she said in the suicide note into account?”

  “No. Her best friend, the one who owns the condo, says Brandy was referring to her in the note. She claims that over the years, because of their close friendship, she and Brandy had begun to think of each other as sisters. And since that’s where Brandy supposedly chose to end her life, everyone figures Brandy is apologizing for that.”

  “Is Brandy’s mother buying that reasoning?”

  “Not really. But there’s nothing else for anyone to go on. Did Bruce find anything on her computer?”

  “No.” She then told Marcel about Bruce checking to see if perhaps the hard drive had been deliberately wiped.

  “Good luck with that. Even if he determines that’s the case, it will be hard to prove, and trying to find out what was erased will be close to impossible.”

  A smile touched Shana’s lips. “You know Bruce. He thrives on challenges, and I have a feeling he’s going to have fun with this one.”

  Thirty-Three

  Dalton sighed heavily as he tossed the papers he’d been reading onto his coffee table and leaned back against his sofa. Damn, he needed to get away for a while. This was probably the longest he’d stayed in one place for years. He missed England and would fly there this weekend if his arrival wouldn’t cause speculation and get the rumor mill rolling.

  Victoria’s wedding announcement had been in last week’s paper. If he were to return to England now, some would assume he was back to reclaim his place in her life. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of such drama. Victoria deserved better.

  He stood, stretched and walked barefoot into the kitchen for a beer. He was glad Jace had suggested he get out of the office. His mood and attitude had been crap. Now he had reclaimed his senses. Sort of. He was still pissed about yesterday but refused to let any woman bring him down. There were too many out there to get fucked up by just one.

  In fact, he intended to go out later and have one hell of a good time with a woman he’d met just that day. After leaving the office, he had stopped by McQueen’s for brunch and had met her then. She’d been leaving when he had been arriving. He had convinced her to hang around for a few more minutes, which hadn’t been hard to do. Nor had it been hard to get her to go out with him tonight.

  He had popped the top off his beer and was about to take a swig when his cell phone rang. The ringtone indicated it was Jace. He clicked on. “I don’t need you checking up on me, Jace.”

  “I wasn’t. Just calling to say Brandy’s funeral plans have been finalized. The services will be held Friday morning. I thought you and I could make plans to attend.”

  “What about Caden?”
/>
  “He’s taking Shiloh away for the weekend, and they’re flying out Friday morning. So, will you go?”

  “Yes, I’ll go. Brandy was okay. I still can’t imagine her taking her own life. Did Shana’s computer guy find anything?”

  Jace told Dalton what Bruce had reported. “Even if he discovers the hard drive was wiped clean, will he be able to tell what was removed?” Dalton asked.

  “Probably not. But at least we’ll know someone is trying to cover up something.”

  “I think that’s obvious with the video showing her snooping around in my office. I would love to know what she was looking for.”

  “So would I. And by the way, we’re having dinner at Shana’s this evening. She wanted to make sure I issued you an invitation. I’ve already told Caden and Shiloh, and they will be there. And Shana’s sister, Jules, will be dining with us, as well. This will give you a chance to meet her.”

  “Thank Shana for the invite, but I’ve already made plans for the evening. I happen to have a date with a woman I met when I dropped by McQueen’s after leaving the office today. I’ll have to meet Shana’s sister some other time,” Dalton said, taking a swallow of beer.

  “Okay, I’ll tell Shana. And enjoy your date.”

  “Trust me. I intend to.”

  * * *

  Jules glanced at the two couples as she sipped her wine. Dinner had been great, and since she knew her sister was no more of an ace in the kitchen than she was, she figured Shana had had the meal catered. Everything had been delicious, and Shana was the perfect hostess. Jace was forever by her side, helping whenever needed. They would make a good team, and Jules was happy for them.

  Then there was Jace’s brother Caden and the woman he was undoubtedly in love with, Shiloh Timmons. The love was obvious from the way he would look at her and touch her when there really was no need to do so, as if he needed to verify she was there in the flesh. Just like he was doing right now.

  Jules wondered what Caden and Shiloh’s story was and had a feeling there was one. That was one of the pitfalls of being a P.I. It was easy to get investigator inquisitiveness. She was sure her curiosity about them would be answered during her inquiry. Jace had mentioned his other brother—the youngest, whose name was Dalton—had a date tonight and couldn’t make it.