The Man She Almost Married

by Maggie Price

  “I told you all I know the day of the murder, Sergeant Cruze. I’d like to leave for the cemetery now.”

  “Fine, you can do that. Then, when the grave-side service is over, we’ll all go downtown and chat in a grubby interview room. Your choice.”

  A muscle in his cheek jerked as his gaze shifted, taking in the room’s soft colors, plush, upholstered chairs and bouquets of fresh flowers. “I’d be a fool to choose that setting over this. What is it you want?”

  “The truth,” she said simply. “Have a seat, Mr. Smithson.”

  She gestured to a padded, straight-backed chair a few feet from the desk. “I’m taping this conversation,” she advised, then clicked on her recorder and placed it on the table beside the chair into which he’d settled.

  He eyed the recorder steadily. “The truth about what?”

  “Your relationship with Vanessa West.”

  His gaze lifted slowly. “We were co-workers.”

  Halliday propped a shoulder against a bookcase that held several books of inspiration surrounded by brass and silver accent pieces. “What about the other aspect of your relationship?”

  “Other aspect?”

  Halliday nodded. “Yeah. Like, what compelled you to give her a truckload of classified files?”

  Julia held her breath as Smithson’s spine went rigid against the chair’s back. One well-molded hand clenched in a tight grip against his thigh. Got you, she thought. They’d only guessed the man had been Vanessa’s source for confidential personnel files. By the way Smithson’s already pale face had gone dead white, she saw they’d guessed right.

  “Classified files?” he asked.

  She took a step forward. “Mr. Smithson, you need to understand something. If you hold back information, if you lie to us, we will charge you.”

  His chin came up. “With what?”

  “Interfering With Official Process. You’ll wind up spending time in a cell with some not very nice people.”

  “Perhaps I should call my attorney.”

  “That’s your right.” Julia flicked a hand toward the desk, where a phone sat beside an azalea heavy with pink blooms. “When you get him on the line, tell him to meet us downtown.”

  Smithson shot a look at the closed door. “Some of my co-workers are still here. Mr. Remington may still be here. Do you know what it will do to my reputation if you march me out of here like a common criminal?”

  “Nothing positive is my guess,” Halliday stated dryly. “So why not talk to us here and avoid the embarrassment?”

  Jaw tense, Smithson stared at the phone, his eyes hard marbles of blue under silver brows. “All right,” he said after a moment. He looked back and gestured toward the recorder. “I’d like your assurances that what I say will be kept confidential.”

  “We can’t make any promises,” Julia said. “But if what you tell us in no way .relates to the homicide, then there should be no reason for us to disclose it.”

  He raised a hand, then let it drop. “I imagine you know a lot about Vanessa by now. About the kind of woman she was.”

  Halliday pursed his mouth. “Remind us.”

  “She was beautiful. Tall, elegant and stunning.” He paused to stare at a blank spot on the wall, while thoughtfully rubbing his index finger up and down the bridge of his nose.

  “We’re listening,” Julia said quietly.

  Smithson expelled a slow breath. “About a month after Vanessa transferred here, we began a joint project of evaluating Remington’s risk management policies. We had a deadline that required our working evenings and weekends. At that time I... admired Vanessa, was flattered when she turned her attention toward me.”

  “Did you have a physical relationship?” Julia asked.

  “Yes.” His face tightened. “The longer we worked on the project, the more...fascinated I became with her. I believed she was as attracted to me as I to her. She certainly acted that way.” He shook his head, closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Since then, I’ve learned Vanessa could dispense considerable charm if it suited her purpose. With me, she was infinitely charming. I don’t think I could have resisted her if I’d tried.”

  “Did you try?” Julia asked.

  “No,” he admitted. “My wife...” Smithson’s voice shook. “In the twenty-five years we’ve been married, I never looked at another woman, until... She’ll be terribly hurt if she finds out.”

  Instinct told Julia the remorse she saw in his eyes, heard in his voice, was real. But she knew that even some killers felt remorse. “Mr. Smithson, did you give Vanessa access to Remington Aerospace’s personnel files?”

  “I...no, I didn’t give her the files directly. I wouldn’t do a thing like that.”

  “You didn’t give them to her directly,” Julia repeated. “But she did gain access through you?”

  He let out a breath. “Yes. On one of our evenings together, Vanessa brought a bottle of wine she said she wanted me to try. I drank too much. At one point she mentioned a concern she had that someone had breached our computer system. Before I knew it, I’d outlined the security measures we had in place.”

  “Security measures,” Halliday repeated. “Such as access codes?”

  Smithson put a hand over his eyes, then lowered it. “I woke up the next morning in a haze. It took me a while to remember our conversation, but when I did, it appalled me to think what I’d told her. Appalled and shamed me. I got to work before any of my staff and checked the computer. Someone had accessed every personnel file. I went to Vanessa’s office. When I saw her sitting at her desk, her computer going, I got sick to my stomach. I told her I knew she’d accessed the files.”

  “What did she say?” Julia asked.

  “She told me all I had to do was keep my mouth shut and no one would have to know I’d given her the codes. And...my wife wouldn’t learn about our relationship.”

  Julia tilted her head. “How did you respond to that?”

  “Like a fool. I asked Vanessa how she could do that after what we’d shared. She just laughed. Said I was crazy if I thought what had happened between us meant anything. She said that all along she’d been seeing someone else in the organization. Someone in a position to further her career.”

  Julia’s heart stopped. “Did Miss West say who that someone was?”

  “No. I assumed it was...” He looked away.

  “You assumed it was who, Mr. Smithson?”

  “Sloan. Mr. Remington.”

  Her gaze slipped to Halliday. She registered the grim set of his mouth before forcing her attention back to Smithson. He was leaning forward in his chair now, his elbows propped on his knees, his face in his hands.

  “Did Miss West tell you she was involved with Mr. Remington?” Julia asked, her voice steady and calm. “Or did you assume it was him?”

  Smithson raised his head. “I assumed it.”

  “You must have observed them together at the office, in meetings, and on many occasions,” Julia persisted. “By the way Mr. Remington and Miss West interacted, did you get the impression they were personally involved?”

  “No. Sloan treated her as he does everyone.”

  A small thing, Julia thought, but it was in Sloan’s favor. She allowed herself a moment to feel the spring release of tension that came with relief.

  Halliday pushed away from the bookcase. “Okay, you screwed up and gave Vanessa the access codes to confidential files, then you came to your senses. What did you do about it?”

  “What could I do?” Smithson asked stiffly. “As I told you, Vanessa was already in her office when I arrived at work that morning. She’d downloaded the files before I got there.”

  “That was a breach of security,” Julia said. “Did you report it to Rick Fox?”

  “How would I have explained what I’d done?” he asked fiercely. “How could I have faced Sloan? My wife?”

  “Vanessa laughed at you,” Julia said, forcing back her growing dislike for the man so she could concentrate on her job. “She
threw another lover in your face. She threatened to tell all to your wife. How did that make you feel?”

  “Angry. Helpless.” Smithson raised his gaze to hers, his face bloodless now. “You can’t imagine the remorse I’ve felt over this. The pain.”

  “Enough to make you shoot her in the back?”

  His eyes widened. “God, no. I... No, I didn’t kill her. You’ve got to believe me.”

  Julia scowled. Dammit, for some reason she did.

  “Vanessa had the data in everyone’s personnel file,” she said. “Did she give you any indication of what she intended to do with that information?”

  “No.” Smithson shoved a trembling hand through his silver hair. “Thinking about the possibilities made me sick. I...” He took a shaky breath.

  “You what?” Halliday prodded.

  “I thought endlessly about going to Sloan and telling him what I’d done.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Julia asked.

  “I told you, it was possible his and Vanessa’s relationship went beyond business.”

  “You’ve stated that was an assumption on your part,” Julia reminded him. “On the other hand, you knew your files had been breached. You knew who’d done it. Yet you chose not to go to Mr. Remington—”

  “I couldn’t chance it,” Smithson said, his voice shaking. “Sloan and Vanessa spent two years working together at the Houston office. When Sloan came back three months ago, Vanessa transferred here. I know they were both involved in the new wing project, and that could have been the sole reason for Vanessa’s presence. But, I couldn’t be sure.”

  “Sloan...” Julia stood motionless while the blood drained from her face. “Mr. Remington spent the past two years in Houston? Working with Vanessa?”

  “That’s right.” Smithson nodded miserably. “Sloan is a fair man. He treats the workers on the production line with the same respect as his managers. But Vanessa had a way of making a man forget everything but her. I just thought...if she had her claws in Sloan...”

  Julia remained silent, her thoughts engaged in fierce debate.

  “I’m not proud of my behavior,” Smithson continued, his voice thick and low. “I was a fool to get involved with Vanessa. And a coward because I couldn’t bring myself to own up to what I’d done.”

  Julia cleared her face of all expression before meeting Halliday’s gaze. He stood motionless for a long moment before giving her a slight nod, a familiar silent message that showed he believed the man had told them the truth about his involvement with Vanessa.

  Julia agreed.

  Stiffly, she turned back to Smithson. “Do you keep track of the names of the employees issued service pins?”

  He blinked, giving her a puzzled look. “Yes, we have a list. Why?”

  “What about lost pins? Would people notify your office with that information?”

  “My department or security.”

  “Do you know if anyone has reported their pin lost recently?”

  He shook his head, looking convincingly blank. “I’d have to check. I can phone you with the information.”

  “I’ll expect your call. You can go now.”

  “You’re not holding me?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Do you think we should?”

  “No.” He pushed out of his chair. “Of course not.” He was out the door in less than two seconds.

  “Julia—”

  “I know what you’re thinking, Halliday,” she said as she snapped off her recorder. “That while they were in Houston, Sloan and Vanessa carried on a personal relationship.”

  “Did Remington ever once tell you he’d spent the past two years in Houston working with Vanessa?”

  “No.” That day in Sloan’s study, she hadn’t thought to ask where he’d gone after he left town, couldn’t think while she stood in his arms, her body trembling with need for him. She pictured again the cancer-related brochures she’d seen in the desk drawer. She hadn’t noticed a return address, just the center’s name: M. D. Anderson. In her emotional state, she hadn’t made the connection that the cancer center was in the same city where Vanessa West had worked.

  “I never knew where Sloan went when he...”

  “Walked out on you,” Halliday finished. “Sounds like Remington made a beeline for Houston, where Vanessa happened to work. Think about it, Cruze. They’re together there for two years. He comes back here, brings her with him. Things blow up and she publicly threatens to ruin him. The next morning she winds up dead. Remember what you said earlier about coincidence? You don’t believe in it.”

  “That’s right, I don’t.” She took a step toward him. “Halliday, listen to me. Sloan didn’t leave me because of Vanessa. He left because he was sick.”

  Halliday frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  With fatigue pressing down on her like a lead weight, Julia dropped into the nearest chair. Her headache had transformed into a slow, persistent throb behind her eyes; the aspirin she’d swallowed had burned a nice, neat hole in her stomach. “Sloan had cancer,” she said, then related what she’d found out three days ago.

  “Remington walked out on you because he thought...” Halliday shook his head. “Damn. I don’t know whether to pat the guy on the back or slug him.”

  “Sloan must have stayed in Houston to be near his doctors,” Julia said quietly.

  Halliday walked to the room’s single window. Eyes narrowed against the rays of the sun, he stared out in silence. Finally he turned and said, “It doesn’t matter why he was there. What matters is he was there, working with Vanessa. He brought her back here with him. That’s a connection that has to be checked out. We need to go to the company’s Houston office, find out what went on between the boss and his assistant while they worked there.”

  “Or what didn’t go on,” Julia added.

  “Or didn’t,” Halliday agreed, his voice going quiet. “Julia, I hope you’re right. I hope for your sake Remington didn’t kill her.”

  “For my sake?”

  “Yeah.” He walked to her, placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I figure this case isn’t the only reason you look like you’ve given up on sleep, partner.”

  She shook her head. “Sloan didn’t kill her, Halliday. I know he didn’t.”

  A dim beep sounded. Halliday pulled the pager off his belt. “Oh, my God,” he said, staring wide-eyed at the display.

  “What?” Julia asked, rising.

  “It’s the code Pam and I came up with. Jesus, Cruze, she’s in labor.”

  Chapter 9

  “What are you waiting for, Halliday?” Julia asked as she swung open the door of the chapel waiting room. “Go pick up your wife before she has the baby at home.”

  “Right.” Eyes wide, he stood unmoving, as if someone had glued his shoes to the carpet. “Cruze, I’m about to become a father. What the hell do I do?”

  “Why do men always fall apart under pressure?” Laughing, Julia grabbed his arm and tugged. “Go get Pam, hotshot. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  “Right.”

  The instant they stepped into the hallway, Julia’s gaze locked with Rick Fox’s. Remington Aerospace’s security director had settled in a plush leather chair across from the waiting room, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a cigarette dangling from fingers with neat, trimmed nails.

  “’Morning, Julia.” An engaging smile curved his lips.

  “I’ll see you at the hospital,” she said to Halliday’s retreating form before turning her full attention to Rick.

  “Somebody sick?” he asked, his gaze tracking Halliday.

  “No.” The crystal ashtray on the table beside his chair held four cigarette butts, all unfiltered, as was the cigarette between his fingers. With a seemingly casual glance, Julia checked the pearl-gray carpet in front of the waiting-room door. A few dark ashes had dropped there. The possibility that Rick had eavesdropped on the interview with Don Smithson grated on her already raw nerves.

  Mouth tig
ht, she crossed the short expanse of hallway, halting to one side of his chair. “Engaging in a little listening at closed doors this morning, Rick?”

  He put a hand to his chest. “Julia, I’m crushed you’d even suggest that.”

  “I’m sure,” she said coolly. She knew it was of great pride to Rick Fox that people considered him Sloan’s eyes and ears. Little went on at Remington Aerospace that its security director didn’t know. Had Rick been aware of Vanessa’s affair with Don Smithson? Julia wondered. Of the woman’s unauthorized access of the corporation’s personnel files? Of any other nasty tricks Vanessa might have had up her sleeve?

  “How long have you been sitting here?”

  “Long enough to see Smithson come out of that room looking like Satan himself had gotten hold of him. What did you do to the poor guy? Accuse him of murder?”

  Julia ignored the question. “Aren’t you going to the cemetery to pay your respects to the deceased?”

  “I didn’t respect Vanessa. My acting ability takes me only so far.”

  “How far is that?”

  He blew out a stream of smoke, regarded her through the haze. “You look tired, Julia. I guess this case has you working all sorts of hours.”

  “If you didn’t respect Vanessa, why are you here?”

  “Sloan issued a memo urging everyone to attend the service. When the boss speaks, I listen. That explains the presence of ninety-nine percent of the people you saw in the chapel. Vanessa’s mother, stepfather and grandparents make up the other one percent.”

  Julia tilted her head. “If everyone disliked Vanessa, why did Sloan keep her on the payroll?”

  He drew in smoke again. “Ask him.”

  “I’m asking you.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know the answer.”

  “Was it because of their personal relationship?”

  “Personal relationship?”

  “You know, Rick, how Sloan and Vanessa interacted outside the office.”

  “If they had a personal relationship, I didn’t know about it.” He stubbed out his cigarette thoughtfully. “As far as I know, Sloan’s only had one woman on his mind the past couple of years. That would be you.”