by Adams,Claire
“Interested? Are you kidding? I’m ecstatic! Oh, Adam, the Plaza. We could have the wedding in the garden if the weather is good.”
“We can have it on the roof, if you like. I’ll book it and order a sunshine day while I’m at it.”
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you, too,” Adam said. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight, love.”
I hung up the phone and told my mother what Adam said. She got a thoughtful look on her face and said, “Wow, Valentine’s Day – that’s just over a month and a half away. It might not be easy to pull it off.”
“I know it won’t be,” I told her. “But the Plaza is booked years in advance. This is a golden opportunity. You’ll help me won’t you?” I asked, looking at both of my parents.
Mom and Dad looked at each other and my dad said, “Of course we will, right, dear?”
“Of course,” my mother said. I could tell right away that the excitement set in right away for Lady Winston. She started talking about what we should serve for dinner and who we would invite. She even called her personal assistant back home to have her start making calls to designers for my gown.
I couldn’t stop smiling. I was finally going to marry the man of my dreams, and I knew that no matter what, we were going to live happily ever after. My mother could plan it all as long as I walked out of there as Mrs. Adam Hanson.
On Saturday morning at breakfast, Mother was already conferencing on calls with caterers and decorators and bakers. Although I’d known her my entire life I was still impressed with her skills when it came to getting things done.
By the end of the day, her assistant had already found and booked a catering outfit right out of Manhattan. They texted over menu choices and we decided together on a sit-down salmon dinner. The baker was flying in from New Jersey just after New Year’s with cake samples, and the best and busiest wedding dress designer in France agreed, after some serious cajoling from Lady Winston, to come out just after New Years to begin taking measurements and to start the designs for me to choose from for my dress.
By Saturday afternoon, I felt like my head was spinning. It was all happening so fast, but I was happier than I had ever been. My mother was making sure that my wedding would make me feel like a princess, but the ultimate goal was to be Adam’s wife. I couldn’t wait.
My parents were meeting with old friends at noon for lunch, so Adam and I arranged to meet at Romaletti’s. I arrived before him and was seated by the hostess at the table they kept reserved for Adam and his guests. While I was waiting, I noticed a man in a business suit sitting alone at a table not far from mine. Glancing out towards the duck pond, I saw another lone man, that one dressed casually and feeding the ducks. I hadn’t given the FBI much thought since yesterday, but couldn’t help wondering if these were the men we had been told would be watching to make sure we were safe. I hoped that they were watching Adam as closely if they were. After all, they believed he had been the intended target of Marjorie’s murderer and I couldn’t help but worry.
Adam walked in just as my cell rang. I looked at it and saw that it was Miles. I wrinkled my nose and told Adam, “It’s Brigham.”
“Go ahead,” he said as he took his seat.
I answered and he said, “Hello, little lady. First off I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other night. I had a few drinks and sometimes tequila makes me act like an ass. I hope I didn’t upset you too much.”
“Apology accepted, thank you. What can I do for you, Mr. Brigham?”
“If you have the time on Monday, I would like to sit and talk with you about my case and also what the press is leaking regarding my son.”
“Absolutely,” I told him. “I have a court date early in the morning, but perhaps we can meet in my office around eleven?”
“I’ll be there, and thank you.” I hung up somewhat amazed at the change in his attitude from our last encounter. I told Adam so and he winked.
“I’ll bet you scared him straight.”
“Oh, yes,” I said with a grin. “I’m sure that was it.”
We both ordered a light lunch, and the chef came out and teased us about not liking his pasta. We both told him we liked it too much and didn’t want to have to roll down the aisle at our upcoming wedding. After lunch, we headed out to the duck pond and sat on a bench tossing them crumbs and talking about what Mother and I had arranged for our wedding so far. Adam was impressed that we’d already gotten so much done.
“Wow, I’ve always heard how long it takes to plan a big wedding. You and your mother are making it look easy.”
I laughed. “My mother makes everything look easy. I’ve never even see her break out in a sweat.”
“Lucky for us England is an ally, then,” he said with a grin. All I could think when I looked at his smile was,
“Lucky me.”
CHAPTER TWO
ADAM
I smiled as I thought of my own mother who was so unlike Alicia’s. I’d told them my parents were dead, but the truth was that my father abandoned us when I was a baby. I have no idea if he’s still alive or not. As if reading my mind Alicia said,
“I wish your parents could be here for our wedding. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, babe. I wish my mother could have met you, though. She would have loved you.” Alicia knew about my father. I just hadn’t thought it was something I wanted to discuss with her parents.
“She must have been a really strong woman.”
I nodded. “She was, I watched her work and sweat my entire life. She never complained, and she was always there when I needed her no matter what. I promised her when I grew up I would be rich and I’d take care of her.”
Alicia looked sad. She knew that my mother had died in her early sixties from lung cancer. “So sad,” she said. “She missed so much of your life.”
I nodded again. “I’d just opened my practice and it was a small and struggling firm at the time. Her death hit me hard. I was angry and confused. She never smoked a day in her life, you know? It didn’t make sense to me.”
Alicia smiled sadly and said, “In a way, she was responsible for your firm’s success, though.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t let it go and it turned into my first class action.” I spoke with people after from the factory where she had worked for over thirty years after her death. The factory made airplane parts, and although my mother had worked her way up to supervisor prior to her death, she had spent at least twenty years working on the floor.
The different types of materials that they used, the plastics and glass and steel plates, were often treated with chemicals to help them keep their shape and withstand heat and cold, etc. I found out that there had been a large cluster of people from the factory who had died from cancer over the years, specifically lung cancer.
With a lot of investigating, and after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that I’d had to borrow on experts and other expenses, me and my small team discovered that one of the chemicals the employees were in constant contact with had been banned a few years earlier by the federal government due to its tendency to cause lung cancer with repeated exposure.
The chemical had been in use at the factory for over forty years and the last ten, illegally. During that time, at least twenty-two employees had died of lung cancer. I sued the company in my mother’s name and for the families of twelve other victims who joined the suit.
We won a judgment of sixty-four million dollars. The company paid half of that, and then filed bankruptcy and went out of business two years later. My firm had made enough to pay off our loans, and had gained much needed positive publicity.
Hanson and Associates grew into a large and respected firm, and only got bigger and better from there on out. None of that had eased the pain of losing my mother, but I firmly believe that she was still looking out for me and I owed my success to her. Thinking about her had gotten easier over time when the pain had become less fresh. But at times like th
ese I missed her the most.
“No more sad talk,” I told Alicia. “This is our time.” My mom really would have loved her. She’d begged me not to marry Marjorie, but her warnings fell on deaf ears. In spite of that, she had been a big-hearted woman, and had tried to have a relationship with Marjorie for my sake, but Marjorie looked down her nose at the hard-working woman and only pretended to be nice to her when I was around since she knew I would have never tolerated anything less.
Trying to change the subject and lighten the mood, I said, “I wonder if the FBI agent over there feeding the ducks knows that his fly is open?”
Alicia busted out laughing. “I thought he was probably an agent earlier when I spotted him, but I hadn’t noticed his fly.”
“Well, I must say I’m glad of that,” I said with another chuckle.
We talked for a while longer, and when I walked Alicia to her car, I said, “So, are your parents home or do you think we have time for a quickie?” That made Alicia laugh again. She kissed me and then said,
“Just imagine the look on the Lady Winston’s face if she walked in on that.” We both laughed at the thought and then I said,
“Seriously though, do you think we’ll have some alone time before the New Year?”
“How about this,” Alicia told me, “I’ll buy them tickets for a Broadway show on Monday night and get them a room at the Plaza so they won’t have to make the drive back so late…and then…”
“Alone time,” I said with a smile.
“Alone time,” Alicia agreed, and we sealed the deal with a kiss.
********
Since I was going to be alone again, I decided I’d call Alex and see if there was anything I could find out. I knew they didn’t want me milking him for information, but whether or not he was involved was nagging at me. I just couldn’t believe it and I was still hoping they would turn out to be wrong about him.
“Hey, buddy,” he said when he answered the call. “What’s up? Are you okay?” All of this drama had made me question everything and I found myself even questioning our years of friendship. I suddenly wondered if this was a bad idea. I’m not the best actor in the world. What if he figured out what I was trying to do? “Adam?”
“I’m here, sorry. I dropped the phone. Alicia’s parents are still in town, and I’m bored. I was wondering if you might have time for a beer.”
“Hell, yes, I have time for a beer. I have been up to my eyeballs in financial documents all day. I need a break. You want to meet at Sports Center?”
Sports Center was a bar where we used to spend a lot of time hanging out. “Sounds good, about eight?”
“I’ll be there.”
I got to the bar before him and ordered a pitcher of beer and some nachos. I sat there and thought back to when Alex and I first met. We were both undergraduates at Brown University and had been at the same political rally. Alex had taken the stage against the current Democratic government’s latest increase in tuition and fees. I had been impressed with how articulate he was, and how well informed he seemed to be on current affairs. After Alex’s speech, I had gone up to him and told him so.
We began talking and I told him about my plans to start my own law practice after I graduated from law school in a few years. Alex told me he planned to be President of the United States. I had only known the young man for a few hours at that time, but I actually believed it was a good possibility.
Now, there were these federal agents telling me that the bright young man I watched grow from an ambitious college boy to a political powerhouse was nothing more than a mere criminal. I’d heard about how bad it felt to lose your best friend, but I had never experienced that kind of hurt until now. When I saw him come in the door, I told myself to shake it off or I was going to screw this up. I pasted a smile on my face and as soon as Alex sat down, he grabbed one of my nachos off the plate and popped it in his mouth.
“Help yourself,” I said with a grin.
“I think I will,” he said, taking another one.
“So, tell me how the new post is going,” I asked him while he chewed.
Alex sighed heavily. “It’s good, just tiring. It’s more than a full-time job, being accountable to the President himself.”
“I can imagine,” I told him. “I’m sure you’re accountable to a lot of powerful people these days.”
“You got that right. I have contributors calling me at all hours, wanting to know how every penny of our money is being spent or wanting to tell me how we should be spending it on top of the campaign staff and the Presidential advisors. Sometimes I’m tempted just to turn off the phone and ignore them all.” He took a long drink of his beer and another one of my nachos.
“You should,” I told him, “Give yourself a break, take a vacation, why don’t you?”
Alex laughed, “That’s the dream, buddy. Unfortunately, those powerful people we were talking about me being accountable to wouldn’t allow it. It’s alright, though. I’m making some great political contacts, not to mention an outrageous salary.”
I smiled. “I guess that’s the silver lining. Have you heard any more about what happened to Vick? The police have arrested Brigham, but I have to tell you, Alicia and I both really don’t believe he had anything to do with it.”
Alex rubbed his chin, a sign I had come to know over the years that he was trying to think of how to phrase his words wisely. “Vick was stealing from him. Brigham had a lot to lose as long as Vick was in that position.”
“I agree. But why kill him? Why not just expose him and move on? Brigham has everything to lose if he is convicted of this.”
“True,” Alex said. “But Brigham isn’t known for his rational thinking when he’s angry. He also had just found out about Vick and that David guy. Maybe he just went to talk to him, intimidate him, and the whole mess got out of control.”
“Maybe,” I said, thinking that Miles’ reputation as a hot-head had definitely helped out whoever had set him up if that had been the case. I decided to try something else.
“Alicia has an old friend who’s in town on business. His name is Jack Grant; do you know him?”
Alex looked surprised and then said, “Hmm, name sounds familiar but I don’t recall where I’ve heard of him from.”
“Oh, I was just asking because Alicia mentioned that she thought she had seen the two of you talking a few days ago outside of the courthouse. She asked me if you’d mentioned knowing him.”
“Oh yes!” he said suddenly, “That guy with the British accent.” I could actually tell that he was trying to sound as if he’d only just remembered. “He was asking me about some contributions his father was thinking of making to our campaign.”
“Kind of odd, don’t you think,” I asked, “Someone from the UK interested in putting money into our politics?”
“Yes,” Alex agreed, “I thought so, too, at first. It seems that his father is trying to bring his business to the US and I think it’s all about gaining some powerful contacts.”
“I suppose that would be a good way. It seems that the more money you sink into a campaign the more friends you make. Miles Brigham IV is a good example of that.”
“Yes, but unfortunately, Brigham’s recent escapades has made him like poison to be around. All the negative press has caused people in high up places, and people that wish to be in high up places to start cutting ties with him.”
“You were put in your position because of him, right?”
“Yes, that’s true. I’m grateful to him, but I have to look out for myself. If he’s found guilty of Vick’s murder, it might make it look like I’d been involved in that, too, right?”
“I don’t think he’ll be found guilty,” I told him.
“Oh?” Alex asked, “Even though you don’t believe he’s guilty, it sounds like the D.A. is going at him with both barrels.”
“When it does go to court, Alicia will be defending him. He couldn’t do any better than that.”
Alex laughed, “Spo
ken like a true fiancé.”
The conversation turned to Alicia and I getting married at the Plaza, and we sat and talked for over an hour more. I didn’t come away from it feeling like I’d gotten any more information than I already had. It made me sad to think that my best friend was a crook, and sadder yet to believe he may be tied to not one but two murders. I was dying to ask him just one question when and if this was ever resolved…why?
CHAPTER THREE
ALICIA
I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from lunch and I was happy to see that Adam and I were no longer top news on the tabloids. A young actor had overdosed at his Manhattan apartment the night before. He lived, thankfully, but the newspapers and magazines were speculating on whether or not it had been a suicide attempt. I was glad the young man hadn’t died, but I was more than happy to give the front page to him.
When I arrived home, Luis was at the door, as usual. He held the door for me and after asking how my day was going he said,
“You have company,”
“Yes,” I told him. “My parents are still visiting.”
“No, Mr. Grant just got here a few moments ago. I told him you were out, but he said he was here to visit with your parents today.”
“Oh.” He was looking worried that he may have done something wrong. I felt bad and said, “Thank you, Luis. He’s an old friend from back home. I’m sure my parents were happy to see him.” He looked relieved to hear that.
As I walked to the elevator in the lobby I noticed a man sitting in the lobby chair that I didn’t recognize. Being a New Yorker now, I of course did not know everyone who lived in the building, but I had lived there long enough that I knew how to spot a new face. The man was reading or pretending to read a New York Times. I waited a few beats before pushing the up button on the elevator, and when he felt me looking at him he looked up and gave me an almost imperceptible nod and a smile.
