“Everything all right?”
This man was so persistent with their every meeting. He always strived to find out more about her. But it would remain off limits to him—she had to keep the barrier up around herself.
She was about to say something to discourage his efforts, but they had finally reached the tenth floor. She chose to ignore his inquiry. She rushed out saying over her shoulder, “Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Freeman. I will send Nella for you in twenty-five minutes.”
She was light-headed. No way could she allow their relationship to escalate beyond the bonds of business. Even being his friend was too high a risk.
She loved Bryan. Or was it the idea of him? Either way his name elicited strong emotions.
-
Chapter 18
“I’VE TRIED TO EXPLAIN IT to you, Jessica, but you’re just not listening.” Bryan’s eyes were harsh.
They were sitting on the white couch and drinking their morning coffee.
“All I hear is that you had a lunch date,” she said, her face drawn.
She was exhausted from tossing and turning all night wondering if she had agreed to marry him before being ready. Maybe they were moving forward too quickly due to recent events. She had to verbalize her concern and the words escaped her lips without conscious effort.
“Maybe we’re taking things too fast.”
The pain in his eyes evident, he put his hand on hers. She didn’t pull away. “I love you. You have to trust me. I’ve told you many times and I’m telling you again, I would never hurt you intentionally.”
Tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes. She didn’t want their relationship to end. She loved him and saw him in her future. Why was she pushing him away?
“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. But please don’t hide things like this from me in the future, talk to me. Otherwise, it seems suspicious.”
She closed her eyes tightly trying to halt the tears, but one escaped and ran down her cheek. Bryan dried it with the back of his finger.
“Okay.” His lips formed an empathetic smile.
She licked her lips and decided to broach the subject of Colleen again, but this time from another angle. “That’s awful quick of her.” He seemed lost with the new direction. “Of Colleen. She tells you she’s moving just last Saturday and by Thursday afternoon she’s gone.”
He coughed lightly, covering his mouth. “Yes, it was really,” he said, nodding. “She signs a lease contract on the new building and bails. I’m not even sure where this leaves us with her secretary Angela. But I’m sure Richard and I will figure something out to keep her busy until we sign a new partner, that is if we do.”
Her thoughts had already traced back to watching them from her office window. Their familiarity, their flirting. The sound of Colleen’s flirtatious laugh echoed in her mind from the restaurant. She noticed that he simply sat there watching her and had stopped talking. Slightly embarrassed she realized she hadn’t heard a word he said.
“I have to ask you something,” she began. “You and Colleen. How close was this friendship in university?” She studied his facial reaction, his body language. His entire body tensed up.
“Pretty much the best of friends.” About five seconds had passed, before Bryan added, “We were lovers.”
Jessica’s anger rose to the surface. “And you expect me to believe that it’s completely over?” She rose. “How am I to believe that when you rendezvous for lunch? Oh, and conveniently poor Richard is otherwise occupied—again. If I didn’t know better, I’d start to doubt his existence.” She headed for the kitchen, her coffee mug in hand.
He sprang to his feet, reached out, and grabbed her arm.
“That was university.”
She flung around.
“How can I trust you, Bryan? You go around fulfilling your own agenda every day, doing who knows what.”
He said nothing.
“I called here a few times, and Rosa said you were out. Huh, where were you?” He went to say something, but she kept speaking. “No, you know what? Don’t bother answering that question because I have my own ideas.” She shrugged his hand off her arm and continued toward the kitchen.
“Jessica.” He followed her.
Tears were streaming down her face, her heart breaking.
“Listen, there’s nothing going on. I don’t know what else I could say to make you believe me. We’ll have to talk about this later. I’ve got to get to the office.”
She spun around.
“You know what? Go to your precious office. It’s not like you’re the majority owner and can make you own hours,” she yelled at him, her body shaking.
He threw his arms in the air.
“We’ll have to talk later.” The door closed heavily behind him.
Her hands covered her face, her spirit crushed. It must be true otherwise why would he be so defensive? She stood there crying with her face in her hands until her tears ran dry and her chest heaved for breath.
Maybe it was time to cut her losses before she got in any further. Then again, since she had given him her heart, maybe he should get the benefit of the doubt. She recalled the disappointment in his eyes. Her accusations must have hurt him as much to hear as they pained her to say.
She placed her hand against her stomach. She was queasy this morning but figured it was from the lack of sleep. She yawned largely, covering her mouth with her hand, and at that moment was relieved she had booked the day off work. She had a lot of vacation built up and was being pressured to take it.
“Would you like more coffee?” Rosa entered the room. Her body language revealed that she asked merely out of obligation and habit, nothing more.
“No, thank you.”
Jessica headed back to bed. Maybe if she got some rest, she would feel better and her thoughts would clear themselves.
She awoke to a knock on the bedroom door. She glanced over at the clock. She had slept for three hours.
“Yes.”
Rosa cracked the door open and said, “There’s a phone call for you, Miss Pratt. You can pick it up in there, line one.” She backed out of the room and closed the door as she withdrew.
Maybe it was Bryan and she could apologize for being so judgmental, beg of him to forgive her, and forget the whole incident. She pushed the duvet back and struggled to sit up straight. She reached for the phone beside her.
“Hello,” she said sweetly. The line was silent. “Bryan?”
“Your fiancé. He’s dead to me and will be to you real soon.”
The caller’s voice had a Russian accent, but it differed slightly from the other calls she received.
“No, stop, please.”
The caller hung up leaving her with a dial tone.
A wave of panic swept over her. Frozen with fear, she could barely breathe. She stared at the ring on her finger. Air rushed from her lungs, and her heart jumped in her chest.
“Bryan.”
She said his name aloud. She sat on the edge of the bed and dialed the office. Part way through, she stopped. They had a new number.
She hurried down the hallway toward the kitchen. She remembered he put a business card on the fridge with the new number handwritten on it. Her legs could not move her fast enough.
The fridge was empty. The magnet, the card, none of it was there now.
“Rosa!” She yelled through the house. “Rosa!”
“Yes, Miss Pratt.” Rosa came into the kitchen, dust cloth in hand. She didn’t appear to be in any hurry.
“Where’s the card,” she said pointing to the fridge. “There was a card on the fridge. Bryan put it there.”
Rosa shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know. I must have thrown it in the garbage. Normally, he doesn’t like clutter on the fridge.”
Jessica restlessly moved around the k
itchen.
“I need a number. It was on that card.”
She scanned the room, and her eyes settled on the stainless steel garbage can near the counter. She rushed to it, dropped on her knees and began sifting through it. Then it occurred to her, call his cell phone.
“Come on, pick up.”
Rosa watched her. Jessica mindlessly tapped on the wall.
“Shit, no answer. Rosa, I need that number. You have to help me find that card.”
How could she have lost the number for her fiancé’s business?
Rosa moved cookbooks and recipes around on the counter.
“Here, here, is this it?” She asked and handed a card to Jessica.
She snatched the card from her hand and called the number.
“Good afternoon, you’ve reached the office of Lexan, Clive and Davis, how may I direct your call?”
Jessica paced the floor the range the phone cord would allow. She twisted it in her fingers.
“It’s Jessica, I need to speak with Bryan.”
“I’m sorry, but Mr. Lexan has stepped out. I can take a message for him.”
Jessica exhaled loudly into the receiver. “Do you know where he is? I need to speak with him. Right now. It’s an emergency.”
“Again, I’m sorry but he’s not here. I can take a message.”
Jessica hit her forehead with the heel of her palm with the realization this woman would not know her from a stranger on the street. She only remembered Bryan saying her name a few times.
“I’m Bryan’s fiancée. Katie, is it? I really need to know where he is. I’ve tried his cell phone and he’s not answering. It goes straight to voice mail.”
“Oh, my apol—”
“I need to know where he is!”
“Sure, he said he had to go to the courthouse, but—”
Jessica hung up.
Her adrenaline rush partially subsided, and she worked at calming her nerves.
Everything will be okay…
SHE KEPT TRYING HIS CELL phone, but it rang straight to voice mail every time.
Damn it.
As she raced up the front stairs, the courthouse mocked her with its huge columns and daunting staircase. This presented new territory for her. She realized that she had never watched him during a trial for all the time they were together. She would fix that once she found him. She would show more interest in that side of his life. Take it more seriously.
“Excuse me, ma’am, can I help you?” A security guard asked.
He was an older gentleman. Black hair with silver dustings lined the hat sitting on his head.
She nervously went to adjust her purse and noticed it wasn’t on her shoulder. “Damn!”
He studied her every move.
She looked around for her purse.
Stop it! You’re losing your mind. You forgot it at home. Breathe.
“Ma’am, is there something I can help you with?” He stood there, only a couple feet away, his one hand braced above his belt.
She was dizzy, the expanse of the room closed in on her, suffocating her. The room began to spin. She closed her eyes willing the motion to stop, but it only intensified. The power went out of her legs, but she heard brief chaos ensue around her.
“Call nine-one-one.”
People were whispering to her, but she couldn’t respond.
“Are you okay?”
“Can you hear me?”
Her eyes shut tighter, everything completely faded to silence in black.
-
Chapter 19
SHIVERS RAN THROUGH HER BODY. She extended her fingers and touched a surface that was smooth but very cold. Was she on a sheet of ice?
She detected faint murmurings coming through her consciousness.
“I saw her fingers move.”
It was a woman’s voice. It sounded like it came from a distant place.
Light seeped through her closed eyelids.
“Lady?” A man’s voice.
She sensed a presence move closer to her. “Are you okay?”
She gasped and came to staring at the ceiling. A ceiling she had never seen before. Panic gripped her heart. She couldn’t remember where she was. Her thoughts were racing. People were bent over her. One paramedic worked at taking a blood pressure sleeve off while another lifted an oxygen mask from her face.
“Are you okay?” He asked again. “Do you know where you are?”
She shook her head. It was so cold. Her eyelids fell slowly and opened reluctantly.
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
A man moved in closer to her, but the paramedics brushed him back.
His face was familiar to her. Why, why. She turned to face a paramedic who took her pulse.
“Do you know your name?” His brown eyes wanted to provide her with an answer.
Her mind thought of her wallet. Her identity would be in there. Then she remembered her purse, there was something about her purse…
She rocked her head. She was queasy and lightheaded. Her will made her fight her way through it. Then the answer hit her with a stark suddenness.
“Jessica. My name is Jessica Lexan.” Saying the name aloud jolted her. “I mean Pratt, Jessica Pratt.” She went to sit up, but the paramedic discouraged her.
“Take it easy for a while until you get your bearings.”
“I want to sit,” she said to him. Her voice was low.
She struggled to sit up despite his request that she stay laying down. When he realized she wasn’t going to heed his advice, he helped her.
Pieces were coming back to her. The man who had been brushed away by the paramedic stood at a short distance away. She knew why he was familiar now. He was the security guard.
Worry seeped through his energy, and when he noticed her eyes on him, he stepped closer.
The one paramedic held his arm out motioning him to give her some space.
“Ma’am, you okay?” The guard asked.
Then as if a light came on in a dark room she could see through her tangled web of thoughts. She was at the courthouse. She held eye contact with the guard.
Bryan. Her breathing accelerated.
“I have to go.” She made an effort to stand.
“Let us help you.” Both paramedics held an arm to steady her. “Do you know where you are?”
She garnered inner strength, willing herself to be strong and get it together. She nodded her head.
“The courthouse.” She recalled all of it now, from the phone call to the business card and driving to the courthouse. “I have to go. Please let me.” She struggled free of their grasp.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she raised her voice. “Please stop asking me that.”
Her breathing was heavy. She had to calm down. She didn’t want to fall back onto that cold marble slab. She glanced at the floor and back to the one paramedic. “I’m okay. I just need to find my fiancé. It’s an emergency.”
She paced in a circle. Where would she find him? Surely, if he had been there during the time she was passed out, he would have noticed her lying there helpless on the floor.
She approached the security guard. “I need to get to the office of Judge Flannigan.” His name came to her effortlessly. The name being recalled from the media coverage and Bryan’s talking about him. She assumed Bryan would be going to the courthouse to see him.
“Of course, go down this corridor and take the elevator to the second floor. It’s the first office on your right when you get off.”
Gestures accompanied his verbal directions. When he finished, he smiled, the light in his eyes bright. His dark skin crinkled from his expression. “Sure glad to see you’re okay. Good day, ma’am.” He tipped his hat to her.
She smiled and nodde
d. “Thank you.”
There was a heaviness in her chest as she walked into the office. The only thing saving the stark white walls was a large painted portrait with an embossed plate that stated, Honorable Judge Myles Flannigan.
The young woman sitting at the front desk established eye contact with Jessica. The nameplate, brown with white lettering, read SOPHIE LAFORD.
“Good day.”
“Hi, I’m—”
The woman pointed to her headset resting over her right ear.
“It’s Sophie from Judge Flannigan’s office. We need that paperwork over here by the end of business today.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed and went to Jessica’s hand. It made her aware that she was tapping the counter, her fingernails hitting harder with each subsequent tap.
She mouthed the word sorry and pulled her hands back.
“Thank you.” Sophie hung up the call and turned her attention to Jessica. “How can I help you?”
“Bryan Lexan, has he been in today?”
“No, haven’t seen him today.”
“Are you sure? Can you check your guest book? Anything? Is there something you can look at?”
“Please, I know he hasn’t been in today. I was just on the phone with his office.”
Jessica sensed her face turning white. She would have blended into the walls if it weren’t for clothing. She dragged her hands down her face.
“Everything all right?”
She was groggy, dumb, and slow as if she just woke up from a long nap. “No, I don’t think it is. I need to call the police.”
“Okay, what’s wrong?”
“I’ve got to go.”
She would go straight to the police station. Maybe in person they would take her claim more seriously.
She had watched too many shows where cops would talk down to people and make them feel like they had lost their minds. How illogical to think that family members and friends would know in their hearts when someone they cared for, loved, was missing.
Life Sentence Page 13
