by Brenda Novak
“So why are you here?” she asked.
“This is just a courtesy visit to let him know I’m doing a background check on him and several other neighbors. I wanted to get permission to talk to his boss and some of the other lawyers and people who work here.” Actually, Jonathan was more interested in his reaction than his permission, but that didn’t sound as benign.
“You don’t think he had anything to do with the girl’s disappearance, do you?”
“Would that surprise you?”
“Yeah! I mean, he can be a jerk, but he’d never kidnap a child.”
“This is just a precautionary measure.”
Coupled with the devilish gleam in her eye, her smile made her appear almost childlike herself. “I bet it’s gonna make Colin mad. He doesn’t like people snooping around. He screamed at me once for being in his office when he came to work, and I was only delivering his messages.”
“Doesn’t take much to get him riled up, huh?”
“For me, breathing is enough.”
“So…what happened with that note you referred to a minute ago?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s the one who left it. He did it because he didn’t have some copies he needed for a meeting and he had to go in unprepared. But it wasn’t my fault.”
“What’d the note say?” Jonathan asked.
“It said—” she cleared her throat “—‘I’d love to make you squeal.’”
She’d muttered the last part in a voice so low he could barely make it out. “That kind of talk has other connotations,” he said. “Are you sure whoever wrote it meant it in a bad way?”
“It had a picture of a pig and was stuck to my seat with a pair of scissors.”
Jonathan shoved his hands in his pockets. “I see how that might concern you. When was this?”
“Just after Colin came on last summer.”
“Was it handwritten?”
“No, typed. In a really big font.”
“It couldn’t have been someone else?”
“No one else would do such a thing. I’ve worked with the rest of these attorneys for years. They all treat me great.”
“Except Colin.”
She seemed to wrestle with her answer. “He treats me okay part of the time. But his jokes can be…insensitive. You know, a snicker here or there about my weight. Or a subtle comment in the break room about leaving enough food for everybody else. A plastic padlock on the fridge.” Her expression grew contemplative. “And there’s something missing in his eyes. There are times when he looks at me as if he hates me. Just because I’m fat, I guess, since I’ve never done anything to hurt him. That day he asked me to make those copies?”
“Yeah?”
“I was in meetings all morning. How could I make copies if I wasn’t even here? When he saw I was gone he should’ve made them himself instead of leaving me a message.”
Okay, so Colin wasn’t the kindest boss. But was he capable of nearly beating a boy to death? “I take it you won’t be sorry if he gets handed his walking papers,” Jonathan said.
“I can’t say I’d miss him.” She adjusted her blouse again. “You won’t tell him I said that, though, will you?”
“Of course not.”
A door opened down the hall, and a gentleman in his mid-fifties stepped out. Colin exited immediately afterward, looking so angry Jonathan suspected the meeting hadn’t gone well for him.
“Misty, has FedEx come by this morning?” the older man asked.
“That’s the boss,” Misty whispered, pointing a finger she shielded from the man’s sight with her body. “Not yet, Mr. Scovil,” she replied, her smile bright and professional once she turned to face him. “Are you expecting a package?”
“I am. And I need it right away.”
“I’ll make sure you get it as soon as it arrives.”
“Thanks.” The man nodded in Jonathan’s direction. “You waiting for me?”
“Actually, I was hoping for a word with Colin.”
Mr. Scovil waved one hand in a manner that suggested he’d rather not even hear the name. “There you go,” he grumbled and went back into his office. The bang of his door made Misty jump, but Colin seemed to ignore it.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I was hoping to speak with you,” Jonathan said.
“And you couldn’t wait until I got home?”
“If it’s a problem, I can meet you at your place later.”
He hesitated, glanced at the closed door of his boss and motioned for Jonathan to follow him. “No, you’re here now. Come on back.”
“Thank you.”
“What are you looking at,” Colin barked at the receptionist.
She sank into her seat and avoided eye contact with him, but after they started down the hall, Jonathan could feel her gaze trailing after them.
“I have no idea what Misty was telling you, but that fat bitch doesn’t know squat,” Colin said as they entered his office.
Jonathan was grateful they were out of the poor woman’s earshot. “So I shouldn’t believe her when she says you’d never harm a child?”
“Wait a second.” His step faltered, but Jonathan noticed that he wasted no time in closing the door. “You don’t think—” his voice shifted up an octave “—you don’t think I took Sam.”
“I’m not sure who took her. But something happened the night Zoe had dinner with you. I want to know what it was.”
Colin rounded his desk, loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt, but he didn’t sit down. “My God, are you for real? First, I get some crap from my boss about being put on ‘probation’—” he used his fingers to make quotation marks in the air “—and now you’re accusing me of harming someone I care about? Am I having some sort of nightmare?”
“When you state it like that, it sounds more like a persecution complex to me.”
“Screw you!”
Jonathan took a chair and stretched out his legs. “Zoe said she and Sam didn’t really know you before this happened.”
“So Zoe’s behind this? She’s pointing a finger at me? How could she do that? Who was it stayed up with her all night making those flyers, huh? Who took the heat from her sugar daddy when he was waiting for us the next morning? Who’s been considering putting up the reward money? Me, that’s who!”
Jonathan refrained from pointing out that he hadn’t actually put any money on the line. What did thinking about it prove? “You didn’t answer the question,” he said calmly.
“Shit!” He slammed the chair into the desk, then threw up his hands. “I’ve got enough going wrong in my life. I don’t need this. Zoe and I were neighbors, okay? Neighbors come together in the face of tragedy. But you’re making me regret I ever tried to help. It just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.”
“Are you doing good deeds, Colin?” Jonathan asked.
A vein stood out on his forehead. “Where is this coming from?”
“Zoe’s clothes were askew when I found her in that motel room.”
“So?”
“She was passed out on the bed. I can’t imagine she’d undress herself, then put her clothes back on so haphazardly.”
“I didn’t even know she passed out.”
“It was right after she’d been with you.”
Incredulous, Colin shook his head. “And Tiffany. You’re forgetting that part. How could I rape someone with my wife in the room?”
“Maybe she’s not unfriendly to the idea. Or maybe she’s afraid to stop you. Or maybe she just lets you get away with too much.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” He kicked a small metal file cabinet, causing another resounding bang. “What’s the matter, Mr. Stivers? You can’t solve the mystery so you…you make some pathetic attempt to blame the closest bystander?”
Jonathan felt a muscle twitch in his cheek. Colin’s volatility made it difficult to tell whether or not he was lying. But now that the conversation had gone in
such a negative direction, Jonathan could only hope that if Colin knew anything about Sam, he’d get flustered enough to trip himself up. “What did you say to Zoe on the phone yesterday?” he asked, trying a different tack.
“When?”
“When you called her on her cell.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He couldn’t have forgotten already. “Yes, you do. You made a strange comment, yelled at her. I could tell from her reaction.”
He pressed his lips together so tightly they turned white.
“Colin?”
“It was you, wasn’t it.” His voice and eyes were now deadpan, but instead of giving the impression that he’d regained control of his emotions, his behaviour suggested deeper feelings. Jonathan had just crossed a line that angered Colin even more.
“It was me what?”
“You were with her at barely eight in the morning. You’ve been sleeping with her! Her daughter’s missing and you’re offering her a shoulder to cry on just so you can get in her pants. That’s rich, isn’t it? And you’re worried about my deeds!”
Jonathan battled the impulse to let his hands curl into fists. “Watch it…” he warned.
Colin’s face jutted forward. “Oh, you can sling accusations, but I can’t? Is that it?”
“Whether or not I’m sexually involved with Zoe has nothing to do with Sam’s abduction.”
Spittle shot from his mouth as he spoke. “Well, I don’t have anything to do with it, either. So I suggest you get the hell out of here and do your fucking job!”
Jonathan knew if he stayed any longer he’d climb over Colin’s desk and break his nose. But he wasn’t done quite yet. Studying him, he got slowly to his feet. “If you’ve hurt Sam, I’ll make you very, very sorry,” he said and left.
* * *
Colin barely refrained from throwing his paperweight at Jonathan. How dare Zoe’s investigator—her lover—show up at the firm! No doubt Misty was already gossiping about his visit to all the other attorneys, speculating on Colin’s involvement. And this, after he’d organized that big search.
There was gratitude for you. It was almost as embarrassing as it was enraging.
Pacing behind his desk, Colin ground his teeth. Zoe’s private eye thought he was so tough, didn’t he? He didn’t know anything, had no idea what Colin was capable of. But he was about to find out. Colin would never allow anyone to get the best of him. He’d turn on his own mother, if necessary—and had done exactly that, many times.
So how could he teach Jonathan a similar lesson? Mr. Scovil had just told him he had to finish the real estate contracts for Joseph Garundy before lunch or he’d be fired, but Colin wasn’t about to let that crotchety old bastard dictate what he could and couldn’t do. If he’d gotten a job here, he could get a job anywhere. He always landed on his feet.
His phone rang, but he didn’t answer it. The jingle on his cell phone went off next, and he ignored that, too. He needed some time to think….
Pivoting, he started back across the room. Jonathan had complained about the state of Zoe’s clothes. He’d acted as if he thought that detail might be related to Sam’s disappearance. But what suggested there might be a connection? Nothing. He was just jealous, afraid Colin might’ve enjoyed a little pussy himself.
That it was the other way around grated on Colin. Jonathan had taken Zoe away from him when he’d been making some inroads. They’d been getting along fine before that trip to Los Angeles. It was Jonathan’s fault she’d changed. But Jonathan would pay, and so would she. No woman led him on only to shut him down. He’d show them both just who they were messing with.
A light rap at the door brought his head up. Irritated by the interruption, he snapped, “What is it?”
Easily cowed, as always, Misty called through the door instead of opening it. “Your wife’s on line one. She says it’s an emergency.”
The calls he’d missed. He should’ve taken them. “Got it.” He pumped some cheer into his voice, but the receptionist didn’t respond. She was on Jonathan’s side, that fat bitch.
Sinking into his seat, he picked up the phone and hit the flashing button. “Hello?”
“Colin?”
Tiffany wasn’t whispering, as she normally did when she called him from the nursing home.
“Hey, why aren’t you at work?” he asked.
“I am at work. Well, actually, I’m sitting in my car. I’m on break, thank God.”
Misty had said it was an emergency. “Why thank God? What’s wrong?”
“Jonathan Stivers called me a second ago, that’s what’s wrong. He was asking some upsetting questions.”
“I know. He came by here. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
“How?”
Colin drummed his fingers on the desk. That was the question he’d been asking himself since Jonathan stalked out. But the answer was suddenly very clear. He needed to take the offensive, strike back. And he needed to do it fast, before Zoe’s P.I. could get the better of him. “Call Zoe.”
“Me?” Tiffany cried.
“Yes, you.”
“And tell her what?”
“Tell her my father went missing. Tell her he drove his truck to the pool hall on Saturday night, then disappeared.”
“Why would I say that?” Her voice rose. “That’d let her know there are two people who’ve disappeared from our lives in one week. Isn’t that a little obvious?”
“No, it’s ideal. Paddy had the opportunity to come into contact with Sam the same way we did. We’ll simply hand them the connection they’re looking for.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ll tell Zoe you first thought Paddy had gone on a binge. But when he didn’t come back you began to wonder if he could be to blame for Sam’s disappearance.”
“Colin, no! I don’t want to say that about Paddy.”
He lowered his voice because he could hear two of the other attorneys talking in the hall outside his door. “Listen to me, damn it. I know what I’m doing. She’s missing. He’s missing. We can sell the fact that he took her and ran off.”
“She disappeared before he did.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Colin started the perpetual motion skier on his desktop as he quickly worked out the best way to spin the details to his benefit. “He was hiding her, but then I grew suspicious and began questioning him, and he took off.”
“What would make you suspicious of your own father?”
“The way he talked about Sam the last time he came over.”
“He never mentioned the neighbors….”
Colin rolled his eyes. Sometimes it took a while for Tiffany to catch on. “We’ll say he did, stupid! We’ll claim he often talked about how pretty Sam was.”
“I’m not stupid, Colin. I hate it when you call me stupid.”
To keep things simple, he tried to backtrack. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m only trying to figure this out.”
“That’s what I’m doing, too. And I can’t see why anyone would believe that about Paddy.”
“They’ll believe it because we’ll insist he molested me while I was growing up. I’ll say it happened to my sister, too.”
“That’s sick!”
He watched the skier move back and forth with such ease, as easy as the lie he was creating. “Exactly. The accusation alone will be enough to cast suspicion on him. We’ll be providing the answer to both mysteries at once, and explaining why we seem to be involved.”
“But your mom and sister will deny it, Colin. It’s not as if the cops won’t ask them.”
He held the phone with his shoulder while buttoning his shirt and fixing his tie. “That’s okay. Let them. The fact that my mother took my sister and moved away without a forwarding address will seem to support it.”
“Tina and Courtney will blame you for that, not Paddy.”
It might’ve bothered him to have Tiffany point that out—nothing angered him
more than the fact that his mother and sister had abandoned him—but he was too excited about outsmarting Jonathan Stivers. Colin would be able to indulge his darkest fantasies and walk away without a hint of suspicion. Even better, Jonathan would lose Zoe, and he wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it. “So? It’ll be their word against mine. It’s been that way all my life.”
Tiffany didn’t respond.
“What do you say?” he asked.
“Colin—”
“What?” He found a breath mint in his top drawer and popped it in his mouth. “Have I ever been wrong before?”
“No, but—” she huffed into the phone “—you don’t think straight when it comes to Zoe.”
“I’m willing to fulfill the promise I made you in the car yesterday. I’m asking if you’ll do the same.”
“I would, but…if we let Zoe know your father’s missing, it could make her take a closer look at us. And no matter what you think it’s not stupid to worry about that,” she added, still peeved.
He grappled for patience. “Except that they’re already taking a look at us, Tiff. We need to distract them with a likely scenario, deflect the attention. If Zoe hears about my dad from someone else she’ll wonder why we never mentioned it and won’t believe a damn thing we say ever again. This is the only way to retain some credibility.”
She groaned. “Really?”
The resignation in her response made him feel as if the world was no longer off kilter. “Really. Then life can return to what we’ve always enjoyed. They’ll never find Sam or Paddy, so it’s not as if they’ll be able to prove we’re lying. And the damage to Paddy’s reputation can’t hurt him at this point.”
“It’ll hurt Sheryl,” she said in a sulky voice.
He stifled the impulse to complain about her sudden loyalty to Sheryl. It drove him crazy, but they didn’t have time for an argument. Tiffany had to call Zoe before Jonathan checked in with her. If they hurried, they could whisk her away, right out from under his nose. Otherwise, he’d insist on going to the cabin with her, and Colin preferred to avoid a direct confrontation.
“It can’t hurt Sheryl,” he insisted. “She won’t believe it.”
“She’ll hate us.”
“We don’t need her!”
