Rory stiffened at the insults hurled at her. “What did you say your name was?”
She glided toward the door, opening it and turning suddenly before she left.
“Maddie Winslow.”
The door closed with a soft ticking sound, like the sound of a clock that was running out of time. The sound reminded her that her time as Gabe’s wife was coming to an end.
Rory tried to ignore the inkling of doubt that sat heavy in the pit of her belly.
The worst part was Maddie Winslow was right.
She lacked all the culture and sophistication Gabe needed in a wife. She didn’t have charm or the model-like beauty that was necessary to a man as important as her husband.
Her brows puckered in worry and she wondered how long it take before Gabe realized it too.
Chapter Thirteen
A persistent buzzing jerked Gabe awake.
Fumbling in the dark, he reached across to his nightstand and grabbed his phone.
“Gabe here.” He pushed himself up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Only family members and a few other important people had this private number.
“Morning Gabe. It’s Max Harrison.”
Bracing himself he realized there could only be a few reasons Max was calling this morning, and not any of them good. “What’s up?”
“There’s been another fire on Walker’s Island.”
“What! Where?” Gabe did his best to keep his voice calm, but his heart was beginning to race with anxiety.
“Someone started a fire at the Health Spa location last night. Don’t worry, the workers caught it and put the fire out.”
Gabe breathed a sigh of relief.
“But, the damage is done and the frame that was being constructed for the Health Spa has been destroyed.” Max’s neutral tones, helped calm the fear building in Gabe.
Without a doubt they needed to find the person responsible for causing these fires… fast. “Did any of the workers see who did it?” He had hired workers who came with great recommendations, but had he misplaced his trust in one of them? Was there a disgruntled worker who was expressing his anger through burning things down?
“I asked around. No one saw who did set the fire. However, I looked through yesterday’s videos from the hidden security cameras you added to the Resort area. We found something. But, we need both you and Rory to meet me at my office to view the video so we can get a better idea of who we’re dealing with.”
Max’s office was downtown and Rory was still sleeping after last night’s late night. He would need to wake her it couldn’t be helped.
“Of course. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” Gabe hung up the phone and stepped into the hallway staring at Rory’s bedroom door.
He didn’t like disturbing her sleep, but this had to be done. With quiet movements he stepped inside her room and stopped. His wife looked so peaceful lying there beneath the fluffy white comforter.
Last night when they came home Rory had been standoffish, putting even more distance between them. They really needed to have that talk, but now wasn’t the right time.
With gently movements he shook her shoulder, sitting on the bed beside her. “Rory, I’m sorry but you need to wake up.”
Before long, she opened her eyes and sat up in bed seeing him beside her.
“What’s up?” She rubbed sleepy eyes, trying to come awake.
Gabe thought he’d never seen anyone so cute. He wanted to kiss her and if he was honest he wanted much more, but that would need to wait.
“Max phoned. Someone set fire to the Health Spa on the Island and we need to go to Max’s office to look at some surveillance videos.” Gabe could see Rory’s eyes darting quickly down and then back up, and knew that her thoughts were racing.
“My aunts are okay?”
“Yes and so are the workers. They put the fire out. But we need to go see this video footage. Maybe we’ll be able to deal with this quickly.” Gabe squeezed her hand and walked to the door before he turned.
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” Gabe nodded relieved that she knew what he was thinking.
He hurried to shower and change and they met each other in the kitchen almost at the same time.
The drive to Max’s office was quiet and a little tense.
Gabe parked the car and reaching over, he covered her hand with his. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure out how to stop whoever is setting these fires and making us all scared.”
“Thanks. I know.” Rory’s eyes were brimming with unshed tears. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then got out of the car to help her out.
Hurrying up the stairs to the office, Max there to greet them.
“Good you’re both here.” Max looked over at his assistant. “Darien, could you bring coffees and meet us in the Media room?”
“Sure thing.”
“Follow me and we’ll take a look at these videos.” Max led them into a large media room that held several computers. Three large computer monitors spanned the back wall and two of Max’s assistants were working to get the video files up on the monitors.
Max indicated chairs for them to sit down and Max’s assistant came into the room handing them each coffees.
“Okay looks like we’re ready to go. These videos are from different security cameras that are located near the Health Spa. Look at the monitor on the far left.”
The security video showed a man at a distance walking up to the Health Spa. All Gabe could see was the hat he wore on his head and that he wore jeans and a t-shirt. He used a lighter to set fire to a piece of cloth and threw it into the construction site.
“Hmm, not much that I can identify in that video.” Gabe looked at Rory.
“I didn’t see much either. Is there another video that has a closer shot?”
Max spoke to his assistant. “Yes. This one surveillance video will show the same man at a different angle.” The video started playing. “Notice this time you can get a better idea of his clothes.”
“Looking up close now, I see the t-shirt has the Portland State Vikings logo. But I still can’t see his face.”
“It looked like for a moment he turned to look upwards. Could we zoom in closer to this guy and run the video in slow motion?” Rory asked Max.
“Yes.” Max’s assistant ran the video again, but in slow motion and zooming in for a better look.
“Stop right here.” Rory stood to her feet her hand shaking. Gabe took the coffee cup from her hand and set it on the table.
“What is it? Who do you see?” Gabe put his arm around her shoulders and could feel her trembling.
On the monitor screen was a close-up of a caucasian male who looked to be around Rory’s age. He was looking up and they could see his face.
“He looks like a younger version of my father.” Rory’s voice shook as she spoke.
“Do you have a cousin?”
Rory shook her head. “No. But as I read my mother’s diary, she wrote that she was fairly certain my dad’s interest had drifted to another woman. That was about about three years into their marriage.”
“When were you born?”
“They were married five years when I was born.” Rory sucked in a breath staring at the video screen, a hand over her mouth.
“You think he might be your half-brother?” Gabe rubbed his hand on her back, trying to calm her fears.
“I do. He looks too much like my dad, to not be related to me. And he looks to be close to my age.” Rory looked at Max and then to Gabe. “This whole investigation just got a little more personal. I’d like to meet him and talk to him.”
Max gave her a skeptical look. “We’re still not sure that he’s your half-brother.”
“No, I’m not completely sure, yet. However you did say that the DNA you found was from the fire at the cottage, was from a man named Ned Baxter?”
“Yes, that’s the name that came up in the data base.” Max nodded, his brows furrowed and hesitation in his voice.
“Well my
dad’s name was Edward Shepard. Do you think he might have chosen to go with the shortened form of Edward to call himself Ned and maybe choose to take his mother’s last name?” Rory folded her arms across her chest.
Gabe nodded. “I think my wife might just have solved the case, Max.”
“Maybe. But, I still don’t know if it’s a good idea to talk to him. There’s some reason he’s been trying to scare you and attack things that are personal to you Rory.” Max tried to reason with her.
“I know, he probably has a personal vendetta against me. But I still want to talk to him before he’s charged with anything. Can I do that?”
Max nodded. “Sure, I’ll get the information to the police in Oregon and let you know where you can find him.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Gabe wasn’t sure if Rory meeting her half-brother was a good idea. Especially since they were fairly certain he was the setting the fires and scaring Rory and her aunts. But, if she really wanted to do this, he determined he would be right by her side as her protection. Even if they only had a marriage-in-name-only, he couldn’t let anything else happen to his wife.
Rory sat beside Gabe fidgeting with her hands on her lap. They were in one of the private meeting rooms at the police station in Portland, Oregon.
They had flown to the city right after Rory had delivered her skin care products to the clients at the Market. Max had hadn’t taken very long at all to capture Ned Baxter. The police said she could meet with him yet today.
“I can’t believe we’re here and I get to meet a half-brother I never knew I had.” Rory turned to Gabe still thinking the whole thing was unbelievable.
Gabe put his hand in hers. “Remember he is the same guy who set those fires and tried to harm you Rory.”
“I know. But, I still want to meet him and talk to him.” Didn’t Gabe understand? She’d never had any brothers or sisters growing up. Now she was finally meeting a half brother she never knew she had.
“Well you’ll get your chance soon. But, I’m not going anywhere. I will be right beside you to protect you.” Gabe squeezed her hand lightly, his blue eyes filled with the compassion and warmth.
“Thank you.”
Without warning, the door to the room opened and a guard brought a young man into the room. Handcuffs were on his wrists and a sullen expression was on his face.
He sat down in front of them his eyes narrowing as he stared at Gabe and then at Rory.
She realized this would not be an easy conversation. “You are Ned Baxter?”
“Yes.”
Obviously getting answers from him would be a little like finding needles in a haystack. A prod here and a dab there.
“I’m Rory Shepard.”
“I know who you are.”
“You look so much like my father. I believe you might be my half brother.” Nervously she pulled at her sleeves, waiting for his response.
“Yeah, so? Didn’t want a brother messing up your life, hey?”
Rory gave him a small smile. “Actually I very much want a brother in my life. It was only me growing up and I was very lonely. I always dreamed of being part of a bigger family.”
His eyes flickered with a little more interest, but he stayed silent.
“So I need to ask you Ned, did you set both fires on Walker’s Island — the one by the cottage and the other by the Heath Spa?”
“Yeah I did. I was just having a little fun.”
Rory leaned closer, feeling more confident after witnessing true emotion when she talked of family. “I think it was more than that. Please tell me the real reason you wanted to scare me and my aunts and Gabe here.”
For a few moments he was silent and then like a waterspout being turned on, his words gushed out. “I just wanted to scare you. You always had everything so easy. Dad was always home for you, at least until the house fire. But me? I got the leftovers. He would visit once every six months maybe until it finally dwindled down to nothing. It’s like my mom and him weren’t worth his time anymore. No he had to go back to princess Rory.”
“So you just decided one day that you needed to get your revenge?”
Ned stared at her for a moment then said. “No, it was actually suggested to me by my mom’s friend Mallory Murphy. She’s your aunt I think? She contacted me and suggested I scare you a little, that it might help me to feel better knowing that my half sister was getting a little of what she deserved.”
“My aunt Mal? Her name hasn’t been mentioned by my three aunts for years.” Rory was troubled by this bit of information. She decided to leave it there and ask her aunts later. “Please go on.”
He took a breath and kept going. “I wanted to take away those things that you loved because you took away my Dad — the person I loved. Ironically, even on the day he died, he was celebrating your life — your birthday — not mine.”
“I’m so sorry. I never knew.” Tears brimmed over in Rory’s eyes and slipped down her cheeks.
“It doesn’t change the past.”
“No, but it could change the future.”
“How do you figure? They have me here in handcuffs. I’ll probably be locked away for a long time.”
“If you promise you won’t ever set fires again on Walker’s Island, I will ask the police for to lessen the charges against you. I will ask them to lower it to a misdemeanor and community service.”
Gabe turned to her, his brows furrowed. “What are you…”
Rory interrupted him. “This is the right thing to do. I feel it with everything in me.”
He nodded slowly without saying a word.
“Why would you let me get off so easy?” Ned’s eyes flickered with little bit of hope, but the skepticism remained.
“For a couple of reasons. First, you are my brother and my own flesh and blood. My dad would want me to do this. Second, because I know what it’s like to be treated like you’re a second-class citizen. When I would go to take swimming lessons at the small town near the Island I was always teased by other kids. They called me the dumb Island girl who only had animal friends not people friends.” Rory stopped, realizing she probably shared too much. But, she was encouraged to see Ned’s eyes had lit up and the corners of his mouth turned up just a little.
“All right. I’ll agree to your rules.” Ned expelled a breath and continued. “And I’m sorry for setting those fires and for scaring you and I promise to not set anymore fires on Walker’s Island.”
“Thank you for that Ned.” Rory stood up with Gabe at her side. “And once you’ve done you’ve finished your community service and you’ve proven you can be trusted, maybe I can help you get setup in something you want to do.”
Ned nodded a curious furrow now on his forehead. “That’d be all right.”
“See you later Ned.”
Rory talked some more to the police asking them to lower the charges against Ned. After that was done, they headed back to Gabe’s plane.
The sun was started to set and Rory was tired, but happy that there was a little more hope for her brother. Hopefully Ned would see this as a fresh start and turn things around in his life.
Seated across from each other, Gabe still eyed her a lingering question in his gaze.
“You look like you have questions.”
“I do. I realize Ned is your half brother, but I just hope we’re doing the right thing by letting him off so easy.” Gabe sounded so sure of himself.
“I know it might not seem like the right thing, but I have a gut feeling about this. I think Ned just needs another chance Gabe.
“If you would’ve died in one of those fires that your brother set, you wouldn’t have had a second chance.
“No I wouldn’t have. But it didn’t go that far.”
“I just want to protect you Rory, but I can’t if you make decisions that might not be wise.”
“But we don’t know that. It might be a great decision.” Rory thought for a moment of her conversation with Gabe’s mother. “Are you extr
a protective of me because of what happened years ago with your friend Billy?
“Who told you about Billy?”
“Your mother did when we were at the spa the other day. She mentioned how you tried to protect and save him. That he was really too naive, trusting and simple about the ways of the world. Your mom mentioned Billy just went along with those popular guys at school who were daring him to jump into those dangerous waters, because he wanted to be popular and fit in too.”
“Yes he was. I tried, but he didn’t listen to me. And he died.”
“I’m sorry about that Gabe, I really am.”
“Yeah well sometimes those you really want to protect, are the ones that end up dying.’
“Not always.”
Gabe blue eyes were shadowed, but he was silent.
“Your mom shared with me how innocent and trusting Billy was.”
“Yeah he was.”
Suddenly all of Rory’s fears came back, that she wasn’t good enough to be Gabe Stevenson’s wife. What Maddie Winslow had said at the gala was true. She was a simple Island girl who didn’t fit in.
“Sort of like me.” Rory’s voice wavered, looking down at hands that shook on her lap for a moment before she looked at her husband again.
“You? How do you mean?” Gabe glanced up surprised. “I thought we were talking about my friend Billy.”
“Yes, but don’t you see the similarity between your childhood friend and me?” She steadied herself uncertain if she wanted to hear what he had to say.
Gabe looked taken aback. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Is it? Then tell me Gabe, why did you marry someone like me — a lonely Island girl who is naive and simple and with no sophistication or culture? You could have married someone else who was more beautiful, elegant and had more knowledge of your world.”
“My world? What does that mean?”
The Billionaire's Marriage Promise Page 16
