My brow furrowed. Why would she do that? Unless she had evidence. My heart raced, and I took a deep breath. Don’t let yourself get carried away. Like you told her, Garth was with you all day that day. He said himself he’s never seen the victim before. I bit my lip.
“Do you want to see if we can get someone else to investigate it?”
“No, if I do that right after she asks you questions about me, that will look bad. I’ll keep an eye on her, and we’ll decide what to do then.” He turned back to me but didn’t say anything.
I looked down at my lap, not wanting to continue the conversation. “So, you and Brent had lots of time to catch up? Is he staying in town for a while?”
“He wants to leave soon.”
He sounded so hurt as he said it. I reached out and touched his knee. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, I knew it was going to happen. I just ... didn’t want to admit it is all.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No, it’s fine but thanks.”
The rest of the night was spent watching TV and cuddling. It was nothing fancy or ultra-romantic, but it worked just well. Mostly it was chick flicks because I couldn’t stand any sort of CSI type show, and there were dozens of them on. I looked away as Garth changed the channel during one of them.
“I have no clue how you can look at that.”
Garth shrugged. “I just kinda tune it out. I mean, one of us has to change it, right? And there is no way I’m going to let this define me for the rest of my life.”
“Do you think I need therapy?” I blurted it out without thinking and regretted it the second I said it. “Never mind, I know you do.”
“I think that it would be good, yes. But if it’s not something you want to do, then there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t change your mind. I just wish you would give it a shot. I know some great people.”
I bit my lip. He had a point. It might be good for me, and I knew that, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to go. I know it’s stupid, but I don’t want to feel so weak that I need someone’s help. I didn’t dare say it out loud. I just stared blankly past Garth.
“Are you going to go?” I asked eventually.
“Maybe. Probably not, unless something else happens, and I feel I need it. Right now, I feel fine. I don’t feel like I need it at all.”
I chewed my lip. Why can’t I be handling things half as well as him? If I handled them half as well as he did, then I’d be fine. I’d be more than okay. I yawned, stretching my arms over my head and closing my eyes.
His hand touched my knee. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. You need some rest.”
Again, we decided it would be best not to drive in together. We couldn’t keep hoping that we’d get lucky and be able to pretend we just magically arrived at the same time, or get even luckier and not have anyone there when we arrived.
So I drove myself an hour after Garth left my place. I hated him leaving, but today I had done something I never thought I would do. I made his lunch.
That’s right; I made a man his lunch for work, and I actually didn’t mind it. I grinned as I pulled into a parking spot and saw that everyone was already here. It would be good for them to see me come in—alone.
I was sure they had lots to say about how close Garth and I were, even without knowing the full extent of it, but it felt good to know there would be a couple things that kept them guessing. I grabbed my work bag and headed into the building.
“Oh ...” My heart skipped a beat as someone reached out, grabbing the door for me. “Thank you!” I gave him a broad smile as I stepped into the building. He wore a UPS outfit and carried a small package.
“Ma’am.” He didn’t look much older than me, but he tilted his head towards me and headed for the front desk. “I was hoping you could help me,” I heard him say to the girl behind the desk as I reached out and touched the elevator button. I glanced behind me, my eyes trailing over his backside. I had to admit, he had a nice ass. Bad girl, I scolded myself. I wasn’t supposed to be checking other men out. You wouldn’t like it if Garth was checking out another woman’s ass, you should show him the same respect and not check other men out. Still, I couldn’t help myself from glancing back and looking once more as he headed for the door and back out of the building. I wonder if he’s our usual mailman. It had been months since I saw our mailman. But if that was him, I might have to start running into him more often if things with Garth and I went sour.
I stepped into the elevator as soon as the doors opened and headed for the floor where my office was.
When I stepped off the elevator, everyone turned to stare at me.
“Morning.” I beamed as I carried my purse over to my desk.
“The cops are here,” one of them whispered, my back turned to them.
“Really?” I bit my lip. I hope it hadn’t been anything I said yesterday. “Why?”
“No clue.” Their voices were so low that I hardly heard them. “Both both Brent and Garth are in the office with them right now.”
My heart raced. Oh, please say it’s not because of me. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.
“I’m sure it’s just a few routine follow-up questions; have you guys talked to them at all?”
“Yes. They wanted us to confirm that we didn’t see Garth leave the building before you and he went out.” The redhead’s eyes locked on me. “Do you think he’s in trouble?” she whispered.
“No.” I prayed I sounded sure of it. “I mean, none of us saw him leave. Unless he’s Superman, he wouldn’t have had a way to get out without stepping past us.” I turned and gave them a smile as I sat down, turning my computer on just before my official starting time began. I saw the relief wash over everyone’s face.
“You’re right.”
My smile widened. “Glad I can help.” I turned my full attention to work then, replying to clients who contacted me about wanting to see a house, or sell one.
It took everything I had to make myself stay calm the longer it went on that the office doors didn’t open. I couldn’t hear anything they were saying, and if I had been the only one there, I might have considered going over to try and hear better. But that was not a side of me I wanted anyone to see, so I pretended it didn’t bother me.
After about an hour, the door opened.
“Thank you for your time,” a man said.
“Anything we can do to help.” Garth smiled, shaking the man’s hand. “Just let us know, we want this cleared up as fast as we can.”
“I’ll be sure to contact you if we need anything else.” The police officer smiled and turned towards the elevator.
Everyone was dead silent as we watched him step into the elevator and the door close behind him.
As soon as he was out of sight, we all turned to Brent and Garth. They let out a deep breath at the same time.
“God, I could use a drink.” Brent muttered. Garth snorted.
“A drink? How about the whole damn bar?”
“Good point, my friend.”
Garth cleared his throat, looking around. “Just to let everyone know, our internet and phone calls are being checked. I don’t care what kind of search history is in there, or how many times you called your mom while at work. We want to get to the bottom of this as fast as we can. I believe in being open about what is going on, and with that, I’d like to let you know that we’ve also given the police a record of everyone selling with us, everyone buying from us, and everyone we’ve been showing homes to within the past couple of months.”
We all stared at him. Are they going to find out about us? I wondered.
“Are ... is that really the best thing we could have done?” the redhead asked. “I mean, don’t we have to worry about our clients?”
“If our clients have nothing to do with this, then they are safe. The officer has agreed to sign a confidentiality contract before we hand anything over to him. He’s also agreed that his partner and himself will be the only one
s who review the content. I want this wrapped up as quick as it can be. I don’t care about the price that it costs.”
Something in his eyes told me otherwise.
“As for your search history,” Brent spoke up, “as long as you haven’t been doing anything illegal, you will be fine. We’ve both agreed that whatever we see we will overlook.”
I glanced over at the redhead. I saw her shoulders relax—a little. She opened her mouth then closed it. What was she was going to say? I wondered. Maybe I’d see if she wanted to grab a drink sometime, just to see if I could figure out what she was so worried about them finding.
“Does anyone have any questions?” Garth asked.
We all shook our heads.
“Alright, good! Let’s get some work done then.” He sounded pleased as he turned on his heel. He and Brent went into Garth’s office and the door closed again.
I jumped to my feet, wanting some interaction with him. I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn’t dare ask him in front of everyone—hell, I didn’t dare ask him in front of Brent. So I grabbed a folder, checked it, and headed into the office—after knocking twice.
Both men turned to stare at me.
“Sorry, I just wanted to get this folder to you asap. I didn’t want to interrupt you while you were busy with ... the police, and I didn’t want to bother you two right now, so I thought I could just pop it in here before you two got too busy.”
I padded over to Garth’s desk, closing the door behind me and holding the folder out to him.
Garth’s eyes twinkled. “Thank you.” His hand traced over mine before he took the folder from me with one hand. With the other, he took my hand in his and raised the back of my hand to his lips. My heart did several backflips in a row.
“You two better not be making it known about your relationship,” Brent said. “It’s one thing to do what you like in public but ...”
“Don’t worry,” Garth said. “As far as I’m aware, no one here knows about it.” His eyes locked on mine. “Unless you’ve told them.”
“God, no! I don’t want them to know.” My voice was hushed. “Alyssa would try to kill me if she found out.”
“Alyssa? The sick one?” Brent said behind me. I spun to see his brow furrowed.
“She has a hard on for him. She’s spent the past few months trying to get in his good books and get him alone so she can try to sleep with him.”
“She’s a gold digger,” Garth said.
“You always did attract the most interesting women,” Brent said softly. “And normally the crazy ones—ugh, no offense, Ally.”
“None taken.” I gave him a smile. “Anyways, I’ll see you guys later. If either of you need anything, let me know.” Smiling, I headed for the door and let myself out. I padded back to my desk and dropped down, promising myself I would get work done today.
Close to quitting time, the elevator dinged. I didn’t pay much attention to it, like every Friday it was the week’s last mail trip that came up here.
“Afternoon.” The mailwoman smiled as she headed towards Garth’s office. I glanced up as she knocked and entered. “Mr. Adams, you have a package.”
“Really? I wonder who from.”
“A girl maybe?” The mail woman was obviously praying.
“Oh, I hope so.”
My heart skipped a beat. I hadn’t sent him anything. I knew that much. Does he have someone else? I knew it was a stupid thing to think the second I thought it. I shook my head, letting out a soft laugh. Wait. If he wasn’t expecting something, and I knew it wasn’t from me ... the mail woman stepped out of his office and headed for the elevator.
I jumped to my feet.
“Garth!” I almost shouted as I rushed towards his office.
He let out a gasp.
I heard something fall to the ground. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he all but screamed.
I froze in the doorway, staring at the package on the ground. Red bled into the box. My stomach turned. I stared down at it, still bloody. A finger.
Oh, God, that’s a finger. I felt my knees grow weak.
“What—”
I heard a woman scream behind me.
Garth reached for the phone. No doubt calling the cops for the second time this week.
An hour later, they arrived. The officer who had been here this morning, and the woman that had helped get the press off my front lawn. I stared blankly, everything a daze, as she sat down beside me.
“Are you okay, Ally?”
“No,” I admitted. A dead body and no, a finger. I could feel tears stinging at the corner of my eye. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening to me.
She reached out, touching my arm. “We’re going to find the person who did this ... In the meantime, it might be a good idea to consider going to stay with family.”
“Are ... are you suggesting I could be in danger?”
“I’m not trying to. There’s no proof you could be, but it’s obvious that this was not a one-time deal.”
She gave me a soft smile, trying to make me feel better—it didn’t help.
I stood with the cop as he spoke to the mail woman. “I got it from downstairs. Betsy, the woman down there, said that a UPS delivery guy brought it in. He said the address wasn’t clear when they got the package, but he wanted to make sure the right person got it. The owner of the company here.” The cop nodded, taking notes.
Someone had targeted me—twice now. I took a deep breath. How was I going to deal with this. I thought about the note that had been left with it. Do you regret what you did yet? Was how it had started. You shouldn’t have thought you’d be safe. Was how it ended. What did it mean?
The cops kept asking if I had any idea what it could mean, but I couldn’t think of anything. I had never done anything that I could regret that much. I mean sure I did a couple stupid things when I was younger, but that was ages ago. And it was nothing that people would kill over. I could tell by the way she looked at me that the female cop didn’t believe me. Why does she dislike me so much? What is it about me that makes her want to punish me? I tried to figure it out. I had never met her before. I’d never been anything but helpful. I had never been part of any shady real estate deals so it’s not like it could be that ...
I tried not to stare at Ally too much. I didn’t want everyone cluing into the fact we were together. I didn’t need more drama than the drama of a dead body right now.
“Is ... was the finger from ...” Were there one or two dead bodies?
“It’s hard to tell right now,” the cop said. “If we have any questions, we’ll let you know, but we’ll hope that we can get an ID from the fingerprint.”
“Can it be moved yet?” I asked, trying not to look half as disgusted as I felt. The thing still lay on my office carpet. I’d be redoing the floors, that much was for sure.
“I’m sorry, but we’ve got to record the crime scene first.” The man gave me a smile. “Don’t worry, we’ve got some promising leads.”
That didn’t make me feel better. I knew it was supposed to, but what if it took them too long? What if there was actually someone out to get me—out to hurt me?
If they found out about Ally ... she could become a target. I swallowed dryly. I hated the thought of it and hated the thought of what I was going to have to do.
I paced to the couches where my staff sat. Most of the girls were crying or had been. Ally just sat there staring blankly at her desk. She didn’t move as I sat down beside her. She just stared off into space as people came in and out of my office, taking pictures, writing things down and talking to each other.
I sat back watching them, wishing I could do something about it. I’ll hire someone to solve this for me. Clearly the cops weren’t doing any good, so I’d deal with the situation myself. I must know a friend or two who has hired someone to solve an issue they’ve had.
After an hour, the police left again. I stood, forcing myself to pretend I was stronger than I actually was.
/>
“Ladies, I think you more than deserve to call it an early day. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you still get paid, but you should head home. Remember, if you need to talk to someone, that will be covered by benefits.” I gave them all the best smile I could muster. They nodded standing.
I watched as the collected their things and headed for the elevator.
Ally stayed behind a little, slowly packing her bag as the elevator door closed.
Goddamit. I thought. Why? Why did she have to give me a chance to do this? If she had left with the rest of them, I could have convinced myself to put it off a little longer.
I took a deep breath. “Ally, I’m really sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her voice was drained of all emotion.
I’m an asshole. I knew it. I knew there was going to be no nice way to do this. But I had to—right?
“Look, we need to talk.”
I looked up at him. If I could feel right now, I’d probably be worried. Lucky for me I couldn’t feel anything right now. “Then talk.” I knew my voice was deadpan. That was how I felt—dead inside. Was that bad? I’d just seen a finger from a dead person. I shouldn’t say I felt dead. Seems wrong.
“This ... what happened today ... It makes it clear to me that ... this is an attack on me.” I realized where he was going with this. I nodded, waiting for it, making him say it. “If ... I ...” He paused and took a deep breath. “I care about you so much more than I should after such a short time, but if this is an attack on me ... if you’re with me then you become a target. If you are around me, they will figure out how much you mean to me. I can’t risk that. I can’t risk you being the next dead body I get.”
“I see.”
I did. I totally got it. He was breaking up with me. He was doing it because he thought it was somehow the right thing to do or something. He thought he was being noble or some bullshit like that.
“I’m sorry ... I wish it could be any other way.” I didn’t bother telling him that it could be. He wouldn’t listen. “I just ... I care about you too much. I think it’s best if we don’t see each other outside of work.”
The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance Page 56
