Charming Lily

by Fern Michaels

  Forty-five minutes later, Betsy carried the large box into a private room and opened the lid. Marcus always said he kept twenty thousand in cash for emergencies, but all she could see were money wrappers. The manila envelope with the words, Saving Bonds was empty. The canceled papers for the CDs they had purchased over the years stared up at her. A wave of panic rivered through her. Where were the stock options? Even though she had no clue as to exactly what a stock option was, other than it was valuable, she could find no paperwork to say there ever were such things. Zip. Nada. Zero. Not a fucking penny. Betsy slammed the lid on the box.

  It wasn’t until she was back inside the luxurious apartment that she realized Marcus had left her. He’d taken everything he could and left her with the bills. Knowing her husband as well as she did, she knew his rationale. She’d enjoyed her luxurious lifestyle, and now he was going to enjoy his. “You son of a bitch!” she seethed. “You goddamn son of a bitch!”

  In desperation she tried dialing her husband’s cell phone, then his pager. There was no response. “You bastard,” she continued to curse. She eyed the stack of bills in front of her again. Her face brightened momentarily when she thought about the stack of credit cards in her purse. Cash advances. Magical words. With approximately two dozen credit cards with a fifteen-hundred-dollar cash allowance for each one, she might be able to scrounge up enough money to get by on for a month or so. She’d have to discharge the housekeeper and nanny. She almost fainted at the thought of doing dishes and laundry. Maybe she could keep the housekeeper and give up the health club. Paper plates were good. Damn, takeout food was expensive. The thought of eating beans out of a can drove her into a frenzy. Maybe she would have to sell the antiques, and everyone knew the dealers robbed you blind.

  With less than sixty dollars in her wallet, she knew she had to hustle to get to the different banks that sponsored her credit cards.

  Betsy upended the Chanel handbag, the bag she’d paid $1600 for. She wished she had the money in her hand. Her greedy hands searched out the cards and put them in order of importance. Platinum first and then the gold cards. Citibank, American Express, Bank One, and twenty others. She even had a Discover card, but she’d never used it because she considered it tacky. People who shopped in Walmart and Kmart used Discover card. She wouldn’t be caught dead in either place.

  She hated tapping into her sixty dollars for a cab, but she did it anyway, her first stop the bank she’d just left a short while ago.

  She cried all the way home. Every single card was maxed out, and so were the cash advances. Marcus again. She’d never tried to take a cash advance before, so it had to be Marcus who wiped it all out. She had, however, gotten $300 from the Discover card.

  Back in the apartment in her bedroom with the door locked, she started to call the various antique stores where she’d purchased some of her treasures. Her story was the same with each dealer, I’m moving out of state and since I purchased this or that from your store, I was wondering if you would like to buy it back. She had a few discreet nibbles, but nothing concrete.

  She was screwed, and she knew it.

  Plan B. Go back home to her mother and father. Back to Hoboken, New Jersey, one of the many armpits of the world. Back to her parents’ small Cape Cod house with three tiny bedrooms. Back to her cigarette-smoking, beer-drinking parents, who played cards with the neighbors twenty-four hours a day. Back to the smelly, dirty house with the smelly furniture and dirty dishes piled high in the sink. Back to the house with the hoard of cats whose litter boxes were never changed. Back to the house she swore she’d never go back to.

  Or.

  She could go out on the street and peddle her ass.

  Betsy Collins threw herself across the two-thousand-dollar champagne bedspread and howled her misery, but not before she turned down the pricey coverlet so her mascara wouldn’t damage the fabric.

  A long time later, Betsy crawled off the bed and stomped her way to the bathroom, where she repaired her makeup, changed her wrinkled outfit, and left the apartment for the third time that day. She was going to the Digitech offices to make some demands. What did she have to lose? Nothing. Nothing at all.

  Dennis Wagner’s eyebrows shot upward when his secretary announced Betsy Collins. “Give me ten minutes and show her in.”

  “She wants to go to Marcus’s office.”

  “Absolutely not. If she gives you a problem, call security. Ten minutes.”

  Dennis looked down at the rat’s nest of problems on his desk. Things he had to take care of immediately so he could call Matt back. He’d been back less than five hours and he had already spoken to Matt four times. He waited the full ten minutes before he rang his secretary. “Send Mrs. Collins in.”

  She looked terrible, which pleased him. “Sit down, Betsy. I hope you’re here to tell me where Marcus is.”

  “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here. He left. He took everything and left. I have sixty dollars to my name. I have children. I have bills. I thought at first you sent him somewhere on some hush-hush thing but that doesn’t appear to be the case. What I would like is for you to give me some money, or cash in some of those stock options Marcus has. At least give me his last paycheck, so I can buy some food for my girls. I don’t know what to do. He just . . . vanished. I was in California, and when I got back he was gone. Did you hear what I said, he took everything?”

  Dennis felt like he was swimming upstream in a whirlpool. “Marcus cashed in all his stock options, and he cashed his last paycheck himself. He has some sick days he carried over from last year. Plus his vacation pay for this year. That’s about it, Betsy.”

  “What about his 401K plan?”

  “He borrowed on it before the holidays. I remember him saying something about the boat. Those monies have to be paid back to the plan. There is, of course, the Christmas bonus, but I can’t give that to you until we know more about Marcus and where he is. No one in this office has heard a thing. He said he was going to Maine to see the girls, and that’s the last we heard.”

  “You have to give it to me, Dennis. If you don’t, I’ll be out on the street. What’s Marcus’s is mine. We’re married.”

  “I don’t have the authority to do that, Betsy. Matt’s the only one who can do that.”

  “Call him. Tell him I’ll be out on the street with my daughters if he doesn’t okay it.”

  “Fine. I’ll call him. Go into the executive dining room and wait for me. One of the chefs will give you a glass of wine or coffee if you prefer. It might take a while for me to get hold of Matt.”

  “I prefer to wait right here. He might want to talk to me.”

  Dennis walked around to the front of his desk. He took her elbow in his hand and escorted her to the door. “Wait for me in the dining room. I’ll be there as soon as I reach Matt.”

  “God, I detest that woman,” Dennis muttered as he returned to slam the door to his office. He dialed the hospital and waited for either Lily or Matt to pick up the private line. “It’s me again, Matt. Listen . . .”

  It took another thirty minutes to have checks cut to Betsy Collins’s name. He marched down to the dining room with the envelope in his hand. “Matt gave the okay to pay you Marcus’s bonus. This is all there is, Betsy. We wrote separate checks for the sick days and for vacation days. You have a quarter of a million dollars in your hand, Betsy. I would advise you to see a good tax man and an accountant. Taxes are due in April. If for some reason, Marcus doesn’t return, you are going to be liable for all the taxes. It’s a very serious business. You could very well end up owing all the money you hold in your hand. The IRS takes these matters very seriously. Seek professional help as soon as possible. I’m sorry things turned out this way. Are you sure you don’t have even a vague idea of where he might have gone?”

  “All I know is he cleaned out everything. His passport is gone, but I don’t know if it was in the safe at home or not. He might have kept it in his briefcase. The briefcase is gone, too, but none of his clot
hes. He just walked away. Kind of like what Matt did at his wedding. By the way, how is he?”

  “Matt? He’s fine. They’re working on a new wedding date.”

  “Tell him not to invite me,” Betsy said as she slipped into her coat. “I suppose I should thank you for this.”

  “That isn’t necessary,” Dennis said.

  “Good-bye, Dennis. Happy New Year!”

  “The same to you, Betsy.”

  Dennis watched as Betsy made her way down the corridor to the elevator. He’d bet his last dollar Betsy Collins would not seek out an accountant or a tax man. She would cash the check and continue to live just the way she’d been living since she married Marcus Collins. Well, it was her problem now, not his. Matt always said you could lead a horse to water but you couldn’t make him drink.

  Back in his office, Dennis stared at the phone. Before he changed his mind he picked it up and dialed the number in Natchez that he’d memorized. He smiled when he heard Sadie’s voice. “Hey, it’s me. I thought I’d give you a call to see how you are.”

  The lilt in Sadie’s voice was unmistakable. “I’m fine, Dennis. It seems strange without you here. What should we do with all your computer equipment?”

  “Matt’s going to need it when he gets out of the hospital. Just leave everything where it is. Is it in your way?”

  “No, not at all. I’m going to leave as soon as I find a place. Lily and Matt don’t need me underfoot. I’ve been thinking about going back to Ozzie’s. The camp is closed for the winter, but there’s always something to be done. Fresh paint, stuff like that. I know he’d let me return if I asked him. Are you still in the office? It’s kind of late, isn’t it?”

  “I’m trying to play catch-up. Marcus’s wife was just here. She wanted money, and Matt said to give it to her. I think he just cleaned everything out and split. A lot of rumors have been flying around here, and I have to sort them out. Matt’s doing okay?”

  “He’s not sleeping as much, and he’s eating well. Gracie won’t leave his side. He’ll be home in a day or so.”

  “When . . . when will you know what you’re going to do, Sadie?”

  “I’ll stick around long enough to see if Lily needs me. If not, I’ll make my decisions by the weekend. Are you still thinking about coming to Natchez this weekend?”

  “If I can wade through all my work, I will. I made a plane reservation just in case. I’d like to take you out if I make it.”

  “You mean like a date? I get dressed up, you get dressed up and we go somewhere and then, when we get back, you kiss me good night and then jump my bones?”

  Dennis grinned. “If that’s your idea of a plan, I think I could run with it.” He loved the gurgle of laughter he heard on the other end of the phone.

  “How’s Lily?”

  “Lily is on top of the world. I have never seen her happier. When she came home earlier to see Buzz and to shower and change clothes, she was singing in the shower. She deserves all the happiness she can get. I worry, though, about that damn pendant. I wish I had never found it and given it to her. Lately it seems all I do is make empty wishes.”

  “If you hadn’t given her that thing, we might never have found Matt. Lily will handle it. I guess I better get back to work so I’ll say good night, Sadie.”

  “Night, Dennis.”

  Five minutes later, Dennis was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn’t hear the knock on his door until it opened and he heard his name called. “Andy, are you still here? Is something wrong?” Andy was his protégé, a young guy much like himself when he first started working with Matt. A young guy full of promise. Just possibly someone who would be able to fill Marcus’s shoes in the not-too-distant future. He was shy, uncomfortable around people, but a whizbang in the computer room.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s Marcus. At least I think it’s about Marcus. For some reason I went to the deli for lunch today. I don’t know why, I just needed some fresh air. These guys were sitting behind me and I heard them talking. They were from Comlock. That’s Savarone’s company. He got screwed over for thirty million. And, get this, the guy that heads up BQWARE got stung, too, for the same amount. They didn’t say who it was that did the stinging. But, I did hear them mention Digitech more than once. I came away thinking Marcus Collins did the stinging. I didn’t hear that, and it’s only my opinion. Marcus was here the night it supposedly happened. I know because I was here working late myself. He didn’t know I saw him. Actually, Dennis, he was working in Matt’s office. I thought that was kind of strange, but hey, I’m low man on the totem pole around here. I don’t question people like Marcus Collins. Plus, the guy doesn’t like me. I don’t know any more than I’ve told you. If it means something to you, good. If not, that’s okay, too. Sixty million bucks is a lot of money, Dennis. A lot of people would . . . do things they wouldn’t normally do for that kind of money. I’m outta here. See ya tomorrow.”

  His head spinning, Dennis could only nod. Sixty million dollars. Son of a bitch! No wonder Betsy couldn’t find her husband. He’d taken his passport and split, sixty million richer. Maybe. Well, there was only one way to find out. Go directly to the source and ask.

  The big question was, how did Marcus get Matt’s password? Guesswork? Did Matt somehow let it slip? On purpose? In the end, did it really matter? The final phase was safe and secure, and only Matt knew where it was. The third and final phase still on Matt’s computer was their second effort that had gone awry. Marcus should have known that if he’d taken the time to peruse it. The guy had balls, he had to give him that. When this little story got out, it would grow legs and take off. Comlock and BQWARE would be the laughingstock of the industry. Not to mention what it would do to their stock. Digitech, on the other hand, would soar.

  Dennis looked at the phone. Even though it was an hour earlier in Natchez, Matt was probably asleep. The morning would be soon enough to tell him.

  Time to go home. Time to go home and think about how damn lucky he was to have Matt Starr as a friend and boss and time to thank his parents for instilling honesty, pride, and integrity into his life. And while he was in this thanking mode, maybe he would offer up a little prayer of thanks for Sadie Lincoln. He knew that she was going to become a major force in his life. He knew it as sure as he knew he had to keep breathing if he wanted to stay alive.

  Chapter Twelve

  “This is one of the happiest days of my life,” Lily said as she hopped out of the Rover to help Matt out of the wheelchair. “I think it will be better if you sit in the back with Gracie.”

  “Honey, this is definitely the best day of my life. All I want to do is go home, take a shower, wash my hair, put on some clean clothes, and eat some real food. Did you put those sheets on the bed with the little purple flowers on them? You know, for later.”

  “That was the first thing I did this morning,” Lily giggled. “Matt, Dennis left all his computer equipment for you. I won’t be able to help you with any of that. I thought I would leave you to do what you have to do while I take care of some errands. I hate leaving you alone, though.”

  Matt frowned as a worm of fear wiggled around inside his stomach. He’d spent a lot of time thinking about this moment while he was in the hospital. How was he going to feel when he was alone for the first time? Locked apartment doors were just that. Anyone bound and determined to get in would get in. Dogs like Gracie and Buzz could be at someone else’s mercy. He’d seen that for himself. An alarm system? Was he going to live his life in fear? How was that going to look to Lily?

  He knew what he was feeling at the moment was normal. Just last night the doctor had stayed to talk for an extra fifteen minutes during his rounds. He’d said, “Don’t give in to the fear, because if you do, your life will never be the same.” And the doctor was right. He knew he was going to have to suck it up and grit his teeth. He wasn’t going to look over his shoulder every ten minutes either. He would be more alert, more cautious, and not do dumb things like stopping at ATM machin
es after dark. He could make it work for him. Still, an alarm system might help.

  “Hey, I’m a big boy. I’ll be fine. Gracie and Buzz will keep me company. Don’t worry about me. Do what you have to do. You and I have the rest of our lives to be together.”

  “Matt, will you have an extra hour or so this afternoon? I want to take you somewhere to show you something. It’s nothing strenuous. Do you think you’ll be finished with your work?”

  “The hell with the work. Dennis can handle all that. I just want to get a bead on the bastards that abducted me and took my money. I’ll probably exhaust all my leads in ten minutes, so the answer is yes, I would love to go with you to see whatever it is you want me to see. By the way, Lily, I never asked you before, but what did you do with that million bucks I put into your account?”

  “I moved it. I had this vision, so I moved it. It’s safe and secure. Do you need it?”

  “No. I’m glad you did that. If you hadn’t transferred the money, it would be gone by now. I’m going to find those guys, Lily. It might take me a while, but I will find them.”

  “I know you will, Matt. I’ll help you in any way I can. I still think it was the Laroux brothers. I’m going to go to the Natchez Democrat and see if they have a picture of them. Their father was very well-known. I’m sure there’s something on file somewhere. Maybe I can even call them. You’re the only one who can identify them, though. Okay, we’re here.”

  “I shouldn’t be feeling this weak,” Matt grumbled.

  Lily laughed. “So you won’t be moving at the speed of light for a while. The doctor said it would take two weeks before you were back to normal. Think of it as a vacation with nothing to do but sit around and hold my hand.”

  “I’m up to more than holding your hand, Lily.”

  “I’ll just bet you are.”

  Sadie welcomed Matt with open arms. He grinned from ear to ear.

  “We’re going to leave you now. Lock the door behind us. I’m not sure when we’ll be back. At least by four this afternoon, maybe a little later. I’m going to cook you a really great dinner, with wine and candles and fresh flowers. Hold that thought, okay,” Lily said, standing on tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips. “I bought you new clothes and washed them a couple of times to take away the newness. Everything’s on the bed. See you later.”