Maxwell ran his hand through his hair. “So you’d have no problem with someone dredging up your past then?”
“Is that a threat? Because if it is, I don’t care. Like I said, I’ve owned up to everything that’s happened in my past.”
We’ll see if you mean that, Donovan. Maxwell regarded him for a few seconds. “You cannot print any of this.”
“You have my word and signature.” Donovan pointed to the signed agreement on the table. “You can take my advice or leave it, but I still think he needs to turn himself in. If what he’s told you is true, given his impeccable record he would most likely be pardoned. Over sixty fugitives have been offered pardons for crimes much worse than his since the Northern Ireland Offences Bill. With your contacts, money and help, the worst that would happen is that he’d return, be convicted with a criminal record and then freed with a pardon.”
“I’ll discuss that with him.” Maxwell let out a breath. “But it’s not my decision.” He gave Donovan a pointed look. “Nor is it yours.”
Donovan nodded. “If Liam Galvin wants his story told then I’ll write it. With his permission.”
Maxwell glanced at his watch. “If there’s nothing else, I must ask you to leave, I have a dinner engagement.”
“Oh, there is something else.”
What did he want to know now? Maxwell thought, reaching for the brandy decanter. He needed a drink, forget restraint. “What is it? I only have a few minutes.”
“You’re going to want to change your dinner plans.”
Maxwell poured a finger of brandy. “Why would I do that?”
Donovan stepped closer and pierced him with a confrontational glare. “I want to know what gave you the right to run a DNA test on Maddie’s hair without her consent. And what are you planning on doing after you get the results?”
“Why the hell is that Crystal skank looking into your life?” Reece said to Maddie on the phone. “Have you ever even met her?”
“I don’t know what she wants with me but I intend to find out,” Maddie said. “I never met her. Caught her trashy talk show a few times.”
Out of morbid curiosity Maddie had tuned into Washington’s program, Crystal Clear. The late-night show was mostly filled with Mustang-Ranch sorority lookalikes who spouted hateful anti-male rhetoric.
Okay, maybe some of the women did have a valid beef with the scumbags from hell they had dated, but their behavior on the show made Jerry Springer’s guests look like Ozzie and Harriet. Crystal encouraged these women to set up a cyber dunk tank, complete with pictures, names and addresses, to publicly humiliate the men.
Besides Crystal Washington’s stunningly beautiful looks—her brown skin was flawless, her eyes were the color of dark topaz and her hair was jet black, long and gorgeously curly—Maddie wondered what the hell Alex ever saw in her.
“So about this info,” Reece said. “Are you sure the PI is on the right track?”
“Yeah, even though I still have to make sense of it all, I think it’s legit.” Maddie laid her head on the pillow and rubbed her temple. She’d returned to Kinko’s to surf the net, looking for answers based on the information PI Bernie had sent her. She also Googled Crystal Washington and found out who her agent was. Maddie had left the agent an urgent voice mail, asking him to give his client a message to call her on her cell phone.
Maddie had composed an e-mail to Reece to fill her in as best she could. Soon after receiving Maddie’s e-mail, Reece called her hotel room. Reece was a night owl and was still up, working on her artwork.
“I doubt I can get any information by phone or even e-mail,” Maddie said. “So if you could check out those places for me, I’ll be that much closer. No idea if they’ll cough up any information, but I’ll appreciate anything you can get and—”
“And don’t worry about the details.” Maddie could tell Reece was sending her a reassuring smile. “I’ll flash my press pass and my charm, tell them I’m working on a piece and voila.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask—”
“Nah. I’ll hit you up for a kidney if I ever need one,” Reece said. “You sound down. I’m worried about you.”
“Thanks, you’re the best.” Maddie forced a lighter tone to her voice. “Sometimes you can be a bitch, but that’s besides the point.”
Reece laughed. “Did you talk to Alex about any of this? He probably has some contacts—”
“Not yet. I didn’t have a lot of information to share until now. We’re leaving for Maui after breakfast. His family’s vacationing there and I had planned to go there for my article. Soon as we have some time, I’m going to fill him in and tell him about Crystal Washington’s sticking her plastic nose into my business.” Like it or not, Alex was going to have to talk about his ex-girlfriend.
“You think she had a nose job?”
Maddie slipped her reading glasses off and put them in their case, sighing. “No. I’m being catty.”
“Be careful with that bitch.” Reece’s voice turned serious. “You’re dealing with a lot, and she does have a history with Alex.”
Reece was like a sister to her. They not only had fun, shared clothes, secrets and at times bickered, but they always had each other’s backs.
Maddie forced herself to chuckle to lighten the atmosphere. “You know I can take her, if I had to.”
“Chica, that I know. It’s this thing with you and Alex that has me worried.”
Maddie’s cell phone sang its tune. “Speaking of the handsome devil, he’s calling me on my cell.”
“I’ll let you go then,” Reece said. “I’ll get that info for you soon. Call if you need me.”
“Will do.”
Maddie hung up the hotel phone and pressed the talk button on her cell phone. She hoped Alex was on his way over. She wanted his arms around her. “Hey now,” she said. “Lemme guess. You and Maxwell made up over a candlelight dinner and fine wine and now you’re drunk dialing me?”
“You deserve a spanking for that.”
“Promises, promises.” Even though he sounded tired, his voice lifted her mood, like air into a deflated balloon.
“I can see where this conversation is headed,” he said. “I have a few minutes alone. So tell me, what are you wearing?”
“A smile.”
“And?”
She looked down at her polka-dotted lounging pants and Alex’s Yankees sweatshirt. “That’s it.”
“Oh man, you’re killing me.” She heard his loud sigh. “I know I said we’d get together tonight, but it looks like I’m going to be here longer than expected and then I have some work to catch up on.”
“Oh.” Maddie picked up her watch from the nightstand. It was eight o’clock. Couldn’t he wrap it up, and work on his assignment another day? But she knew him better than that. Work trumped everything else.
“You okay?” he asked.
No, I’m not okay. I opened up a can of worms before coming to Hawaii, thinking it would take months to find out the truth. I thought after some fun, sun and time with you, I’d be totally able to cope with whatever came my way later. But it’s all happening now, and it’s disturbing, sad, frustrating and confusing, and I want your shoulder to lean on more than I want to admit.
“I’m tired.” She yawned for emphasis. “I need a solid night’s sleep.” And a hug from you.
“You sure that’s all?”
I’m not sure about anything, only that I miss having you here and that scares the shit out of me. She pulled out another yawn. “I’m fading as we speak.”
“Guess we both need a good night of sleep,” he said.
“Don’t work too late, and I’ll see you at breakfast.”
“Can’t wait to spend a few uninterrupted days with you in Maui,” he said. “I’m sorry about tonight. Sleep well, sweetheart.”
“No biggie, and back at yo
u.” She hung up and gathered the papers strewn all over her bed, shoving a few of them back in the envelope.
“Ouch. Dammit.” A staple sticking out from one of the sheets of paper jabbed her. She headed to the bathroom to wash off the blood. Her blood. Her blood that was part Felicia’s and part…she had no idea who else’s blood flowed through her, and if she had deciphered the paperwork correctly, Felicia probably had no clue, either.
She turned the cold-water tap on, placing her bleeding finger under it and thinking about her birth certificate. Father Unknown. Tears stained her cheeks. Reece was going to verify some of that information, and if it was accurate, then her biological father would probably stay unknown forever.
“Thank you, Felicia,” she said aloud. Hot tears flowed down her cheeks. She blew out an aggravated breath. “Screw this.” Tears weren’t going to get her any answers, they never did. She dried her hands and face and went back to the bedroom.
Juiced up on a carafe of hot chocolate and half a package of chocolate chip cookies she’d devoured earlier, she pounded the New York phone number into her cell phone and waited for Felicia to pick up. “She owes me answers, dammit.”
“Hello?” Felicia answered in a drowsy voice. “Who…who’s calling?”
Maddie thought about hanging up. Instead, she took a few deep breaths and dived right in. “Take your sleep mask off. Nudge Eddy out of bed. Tell him you need privacy. Splash cold water on your face and pour yourself a cup of anti-whatever new-age stuff you’re drinking these days. Because we are going to talk.”
“Madison?” Felicia cleared her throat. “Do you realize what time it is here?”
“Abso-frickin-lutely. It’s time you tell me the truth.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Alex said to Hollister. “I’m not signing another nondisclosure agreement.”
“And why the hell not?” Hollister snapped back.
Alex pushed himself up from the sofa where he’d been sitting for the past hour, waiting while Hollister made some calls in his office to reschedule his evening. At least it gave Alex time to call Maddie and to catch up with Tim, who had been following Victor Grant. It hadn’t taken Tim long to get back to him.
“Of all the gin joints in Hawaii,” Tim had said, doing a Bogart drawl. “Guess who walked into the Makana Piano Bar?”
“I’m guessing not Ingrid Bergman,” he had answered.
Tim then went on to tell him that he had followed Ferret Face, aka Victor Grant, into the bar and not five minutes later, in walked Crystal Washington. Undetected, Tim scored a booth nearby and eavesdropped on their conversation.
Alex now tumbled back to the conversation at hand with Hollister and said, “If what I suspect is true, Maddie has every right to know.”
Hollister leaned forward and just when it looked like he was going to argue with him, a light tap on the door interrupted them. “Come in.”
Two young men entered the room, each carrying a tray. One tray held a silver coffee pot, cups, saucers, cream and sugar bowls, and the other carried a tray with an assortment of cheeses, crackers, fruit and sandwiches.
“That will be all,” Maxwell told the two men as they placed the trays on the mahogany table.
Hollister poured coffee into two cups, handed Alex one, and took a piece of cheese from the tray. “Help yourself.” He waved to the trays.
Alex took the coffee, but declined any food. His stomach was in knots as it was at the thought of Washington’s presence on the island, but he’d deal with her later.
“As I was saying,” Hollister said. “I’d like your cooperation again. Sign the—”
“Not going to happen.”
Hollister put his cup down, shattering the saucer. “Then I want your word that you will keep this information to yourself for the time being.”
“I can’t make any promises. Not when it comes to something like this.”
Tension as thick as the sandwiches on the tray filled the room. After a few beats of silence, Hollister said, “Let me ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“What are your intentions with regard to Madison? I know for a fact she spent the night in your room.”
Alex scalded his tongue with the coffee. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I don’t kid.”
“Your fatherly concern is twenty-eight years too late.”
“You’ve already judged me without knowing the whole story.” The old man’s face reddened. “I am not a deadbeat father.”
“Jesus, it’s all so obvious.” The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in Alex’s tired brain. “You, George and Felicia Saunders cooked this up, didn’t you?” He blew out a short laugh. “This magazine spread is nothing but a sham. Why now?”
Hollister wiped his mouth with a linen napkin, placed it on his knee and waved to the suede chair in the corner. “Sit the hell down. Your pacing is irritating. I’ll explain if you don’t interrupt and promise to keep this to yourself for a few days.”
Alex sat on the arm of the chair. “I’m listening.”
“And you’ll keep this to yourself for the time being?”
He crossed his arms across his chest. “I’ll get back to you on that.”
Hollister bunched the napkin into a ball. It looked like he was going to stuff it in Alex’s mouth, but instead he threw it on the table. “Stubborn asshole.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
The lines around Hollister’s eyes deepened, giving him a haggard look. “George Saunders is the one that brought it to my attention. Until a year ago, I had no idea I may have fathered a daughter. Saunders contacted me. The short of it is that after a lot of discussions and meetings we struck a business deal. I bail his magazine and publishing house out of financial ruin and in return he tells me a well-kept secret. It took so long to get her here because of Madison’s schedule, not mine. We kept this confidential at my request. I wanted to meet her, get to know her and I wanted her to get to know me before I introduced myself as her father. George is no fool, he saw a good thing, and it seemed simple enough to him. Felicia had no choice but to go along with it.”
“Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling all over.” Alex shook his head in disgust. “I was right then. This assignment is nothing but a ruse?”
“Not entirely. I would still like Madison to showcase the island’s amenities.” Hollister cleared his throat and ran his hand through his hair. “When I found out what Felicia had named her daughter I was,” he fingered the napkin on the table, not meeting Alex’s stare, “even more determined than ever to meet her.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hollister sagged, now looking every minute of his sixty-eight years of age. His voice was now hoarse. “Elizabeth is my late wife’s name, and Madison…well, Madison Avenue means something to Felicia and me.”
“Jesus, you people are all bent.” Alex rose again and paced. “Is it safe to assume you were married when Maddie was conceived?”
Hollister nodded. “To my second wife.”
Alex poured himself a glass of water and took a sip. “There’s a hell of lot more to this story, isn’t there?”
Maxwell bent his head, rubbing his temples. Alex thought it was as if he were talking to himself. “Where do I begin?”
Alex wasn’t in the mood for the gory details of an affair obviously gone bad, so he suggested, “Let’s start with the unauthorized DNA test.”
Maxwell raised his head and voice. “How else was I going to be sure? I may have been the first, but I doubt I was her only client.”
“Client?” Mother of God. He felt as if someone had pressed an ice cube against his neck. “Are you implying that Felicia Saunders was a call girl?”
“You want to have a conversation now?” Felicia said after Maddie was instructed to hang up and wait for Felicia to shake the cobwebs off. She p
romised Maddie she would call back, and surprise of all surprises, she actually did, thirty minutes later. But she didn’t sound as though she would be receptive to a Q-and-A session with her daughter.
“Yes, now,” Maddie continued before Felicia hijacked the call with inane topics. “I’ll make this quick.” Frustration pulsated through her, but she managed to keep her voice steady. “Who is my biological father?”
Were it not for the white-noise machine Maddie could hear in the background, she would have thought Felicia had hung up.
Finally Felicia answered, “Madison, I told you, it’s complicated.” Maddie thought she heard a sniffle, as if Felicia were crying, but it must have been a sigh combined with the humming of Felicia’s white noise machine. “You’ll find out soon enough. On that island. That’s all I’m going to say.”
“What are you talking about? What does this assignment have to do with it? Why can’t you for once act like a parent, take some responsibility and have an adult conversation with me?”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t discuss this with you.”
“Fine then.” Maddie grabbed a cookie, biting down hard. “I probably have enough information to figure it out myself.”
“What…what information?”
“Thought you didn’t want to talk about this?”
“Madison! You called me. Woke me up in the middle of the night. Started in on me with no provocation on my part. I deserve an explanation. Now what information are you talking about?”
Un-frickin-believable. I owe her an explanation?
“I hired a private investigator a few months ago,” Maddie blurted out.
“Is this one of your pranks?”
“No.”
“You’re serious?”
“As death and taxes.”
Felicia gasped. “Oh. My. God.” She gasped again. Louder, this time. “You had no right. What did you do?”
“I said I hired a private investigator and—”
“I heard you the first time.” There was no mistaking it this time. Felicia was definitely sobbing. Shit. Maddie swallowed hard. She couldn’t back down now, even though she felt guilty about reducing Felicia to tears.
What a Girl Wants Page 22
