by Karen Fenech
Allie’s thinning, sandy blond hair stood up in places. His shirt was slightly creased and his signature polka dot bow tie was askew. As usual, Allie looked rumpled. Eve found Allie’s rumpled state endearing. Of their little group, Allie was the one she was most fond of, and the one person she kept in touch with apart from the conference. She’d invited him out to visit her in New York in the past, but the elderly gentleman had regretfully refused. He was terrified of flying and prone to car sickness. If he didn’t live in the vicinity of this hotel, it was doubtful that he would attend the conference.
When Allie joined them, Eve reached out and embraced him.
“You have brightened this room with your presence my dear,” Allie said.
Eve laughed. “It’s good to see you, Allie.”
She straightened the bow tie for him, as she usually did several times during the course of the conference, then introduced Burke as Richard. She did so reluctantly. She hated perpetuating the deception on Allie.
“So this is your mystery man.” Allie clasped Burke’s hand in a firm shake.
Eve grinned at Allie’s description. Though he had never married himself, he was quite the romantic. Allie was something of a matchmaker and after learning that she was no longer married kept a watchful eye for prospective candidates for her affection.
Allie quickly engaged Burke in conversation. As usual, Allie’s topic of choice was chemistry and Eve’s stomach tightened. Burke hadn’t been expecting to have to step in and impersonate a chemist. Did he even know anything about chemistry? If so, did he know enough to be able to fool a professional?
Part of her wanted the smug Burke to fall on his face and she imagined herself apologizing to Allie for the deception when Burke slipped up. The more practical part of her, though, knew in order for the suspicion against her to go away, for Burke himself to go away, Burke’s impersonation had to work. She was thinking of how to rescue him from the conversation when it soon became apparent that Burke didn’t need a rescue. He was holding up his end with Allie just fine.
“Dr. Abernathy is about to begin his talk very shortly,” Allie said with a broad smile. “I don’t want to miss that. Shall we proceed?”
Eve fell into step beside Allie, leaving Burke, and Matt Deligne to follow. Inside the conference room, Eve set her purse on the floor and took a seat beside Allie. Burke sat on Eve’s other side. Though Eve usually enjoyed the seminars scheduled at this conference, and partook of as many of them as she could fit into the tight three days, she couldn’t have been less interested now. Keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Abernathy was introduced, made his way to the podium, and began to speak. Eve glanced at her watch. She’d never known time to move so slowly. She wanted it to be midnight and to be back at the cottage with the meeting with the buyer underway.
Abernathy droned on. By the avid expressions on the faces of the people around her, his audience was enthralled. Allie, in particular, had slid forward and now sat on the end of his seat. Eve shifted position in the plush chair. She moved several times more on the taupe cushion then Burke’s arm snaked around her shoulders, stilling her.
He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. “You’re wearing a hole in that chair.”
Of course, he was calm. This was a job to him. Business as usual. To her it was her life. Before she could give Burke that reply, Abernathy announced that he would be taking a brief intermission. Eve broke Burke’s grip on her shoulders and shot to her feet.
“Fascinating. Positively fascinating,” Allie said. He rose slowly to his feet. “I think I’ll help myself to some refreshment.”
A table took up a portion of one wall and wait staff bustled about setting covered dishes and trays on the white covering.
Allie glanced from Eve to Burke and then to Matt who now formed a semi-circle around him. “Anyone care to join me?”
Matt clapped Allie on the shoulder. “I’m with you.”
Allie turned to Eve. “How about you my dear?”
“Sounds good.”
Allie offered his arm.
A cell phone rang. Burke retrieved the ringing phone from his pocket. Richard’s phone, Eve realized. His name was stamped on the cover. The formula. The keys to the cottage. The cell phone. Burke had been thorough when he’d searched Richard’s body.
Burke glanced at the telephone briefly, checking the caller ID. Eve leaned over to do the same and saw that the number had been blocked.
“Excuse me,” Burke said to Allie and the others.
With a pointed look to Eve that she interpreted as a bid to follow him, Burke walked away. In this, she and Burke were on the same page. Following him was exactly what Eve intended to do.
“Sorry, Allie. Raincheck,” Eve said.
She fell into step with Burke as he wove his way through the men and women milling about the conference room and returned to the hotel lobby. Burke flipped open the phone but didn’t put it to his ear. Eve leaned toward him and saw that the caller had sent a text message. The angle of the phone, though, prevented her from reading it. An instant later Burke closed the phone.
“Well?” Eve asked.
“I’m to check in then proceed to my room. Our caller will meet me there in ten minutes.”
Eve felt excitement course through her.
Burke raised his gaze and his dark eyes settled on her. “If this is the buyer making contact, I’m wondering why he upped the time of the meeting and changed the location?”
Eve didn’t care for the suspicion she heard in Burke’s tone. “I have no answers for those questions and I’m not about to stand here with you and analyze his motives. As far as I’m concerned if this is the buyer or the accomplice, getting this over with now rather than later would be a good thing.”
Burke did not respond to her comment. He used his own cell phone and placed a call. After a brief pause, he said, “Lanski. Change in plans.” Burke went on to inform Lanski about the message he’d received then gave the order to mobilize a team of agents. “Tell our people to hold their positions. No one moves in without my order.” Burke ended the call then turned to her. “Okay, Doctor, let’s go.”
Burke proceeded to the front desk with Eve in tow.
“I’d like to check in,” he said to the young male clerk.
“Sure thing, sir.” The clerk nodded, and the red and blue tints in his hair glittered in the light from the chandelier overhead. “Name please.”
“Richard Patterson.”
“Are you with the chemist’s convention, sir?” he asked conversationally.
“Yes.”
The young man tapped the computer keyboard. “A great line up of speakers this year.”
“Quite good,” Burke agreed.
“Here you are, Dr. Patterson.” The clerk handed Burke a key card. “Room 1117 just like you asked for.”
Burke signed the register.
“Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you.”
Burke and Eve left the desk and the clerk bent his head over a stack of papers. A woman rushed by them, bearing an armload of towels.
“Did Richard reserve this room in addition to arranging accommodation at the cottage?” Burke asked.
“I don’t know. Can your people look into that?”
“I’ll get Lanski on it but since the room isn’t billed until checkout, there’s no way to trace the reservation through a credit card. I don’t like going into this meeting blind.”
Eve’s stomach tensed. “We have no choice. We have to see this through and do as your caller instructed.”
He studied her. “I have every intention of seeing this through.”
With his hand at her back, Burke steered Eve to the bank of elevators. The lobby was quiet now. The chemist’s conference was the big event at the hotel at this time of year and most of the hotel patrons were gathered in the conference room to hear Dr. Abernathy speak. No doubt Richard’s buyer would have known that and choosing this meeting time when few people would be about had not been a
coincidence.
Eve waited outside the room Burke had been assigned while he performed his customary check of the surroundings.
“All clear,” he said a few moments later.
Eve joined him inside. He hung a “do not disturb” placard on the exterior door knob, which she figured he’d also been instructed by the caller to do.
The room was a suite and a large one with plush furnishings and gilt accessories. A bottle of champagne cooled in a silver ice bucket. Strawberry, mango, and kiwi from an abundant fruit basket scented the air. It was precisely the kind of accommodation Richard would have booked for himself. If she’d made the arrangements, she would have reserved a simple room for Richard, like one she’d book for herself.
“Why that look?” Burke asked.
Eve removed her gaze from the long hall that led to the bedroom and looked to Burke. “Just that this room is so typically Richard.” She shrugged. “When he checked into a hotel, he always chose the best room available.” She didn’t add that he would have spared no expense if the business was paying. He had no concern for where the business stood financially. How many times had she gone head to head with him over expenses he charged to their partnership?
She shook off those irrelevant thoughts and directed her attention where it needed to be. “Is it possible the meeting at the cottage is a dupe and that this is the real meeting? That Richard and the buyer made a plan you don’t know about? Could your Intel be off?”
“No.”
Burke’s firm tone left no doubt that he trusted his information. Eve accepted his word on that. She glanced at her watch. “It’s been ten minutes.”
Burke sat on the arm of the chesterfield. “Yeah.”
Eve walked to a floor -to -ceiling window. The day had cleared. There wasn’t a cloud visible now. Sunlight streamed in, bathing the room in its warm glow. The suite overlooked an enclosed garden. Flowers and shrubs were in full bloom. The view was breathtaking, but Eve was not in a frame of mind to appreciate it. She turned away to pace the room. Sixty minutes went by. She was wearing grooves in the rug, she thought.
Another hour later, she stopped in front of Burke. “He should have been here by now.”
Burke nodded. “I think we can say whoever sent the message isn’t coming.”
Burke took out his phone and called Lanski. Eve tuned out Burke’s voice as he told Lanski the meeting was a bust. Disappointment weighed on her.
“. . . a set up,” Burke said, then ended the call.
His last words had caught her attention. “What did you mean a set up - set up for what?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Someone just played with us, Doctor. I’d like to know why.”
She met his pointed stare. “Are you insinuating something?”
“Not insinuating. Asking outright. Did you set up this little diversion?”
“Why would I do that?”
“As a signal to the buyer that your plan has gone south?”
“A signal . . .” Eve shook her head. “How could I have set this up?” She spread her arms wide. “I was with you when you got the cell phone text. I couldn’t have sent that. I want this guy found more than you do. It’s my life on the line if we don’t.”
“It’s your life on the line if we do find him. Once we have the buyer, we’ll have you. You won’t be able to deny your involvement.”
“I have nothing to deny.”
They left the room and rode the elevator to the lobby in a stony silence. When the doors opened, Eve stepped out ahead of Burke.
“Eve!”
Allie stood at the door to the conference room, shoulders raised, gaze intent, frantically waving to her. Abernathy’s lecture was over. Only a handful of people still lingered in the lobby and Eve crossed the room quickly to Allie.
“Eve, my dear,” Allie said. “I’d almost despaired of seeing you again today.”
Allie clutched her hand and Eve’s fears for herself dimmed for the moment in the face of his distress. “What is it Allie? Are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes.” He shook his head. A slight smile trembled on his thin lips. “Forgive me, my dear. Forgive my theatrics. You left in such a hurry that you forgot your handbag beneath the chair you’d been occupying.” He held her cream- colored envelope purse aloft. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought it best to retrieve it for you, rather than permit it to be placed in a lost and found.” Allie blinked owl-like and eyed her expectantly, awaiting confirmation, it appeared to Eve, that he’d acted well.
Eve smiled. “Thank you. I did forget about getting my purse when I left the conference room.”
“You dashed out in such a hurry, I feared you had taken ill?”
“No. I’m just fine.”
Eve skirted Allie’s implied question of where she went, and Allie didn’t press her. His concern for her touched Eve. She reached out and hugged him. His arms closed gently around her. The contact filled with such genuine affection brought tears to Eve’s eyes. Her current situation had her tense and on edge and she welcomed the comfort of a friend.
She hadn’t realized how close to the edge she was until a sob shook her. Allie’s hold on her tightened.
“There, there, my dear.” Allie’s voice softened. His tone became soothing. “Are you quite sure you’re all right?”
Her emotions were out of proportion to Allie’s act of retrieving her purse. Feeling embarrassed at almost blubbering on the man over a simple act of kindness, Eve pulled back from him.
“My life is in my purse,” she said, invoking some humor to cover her embarrassment. “You saved me from having to deal with credit card companies and the DMV and a host of other bureaucrats.”
Allie cast a narrow-eyed glance at Burke. Eve wondered if Allie’s matchmaking tendencies were kicking in and he was considering that Burke - ah, Richard - was responsible for her upset. She and Burke had left the lecture together, after all.
Burke showed no reaction to the animosity now coming off Allie in waves. Though Eve felt grateful for Allie’s loyalty and his fierce protectiveness of her, she didn’t want to cause her friend any further distress. She hurried to reassure him that she was well.
She gave him a bright smile. “Thank you, Allie. You saved the day.” Allie was considerably shorter than she and Eve bent and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
The deep furrows cutting into Allie’s brows eased. “Glad to have been of service. Now, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to an early dinner.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’m positively famished. I will also fill you in on the latter part of Dr. Abernathy’s lecture. Fascinating. Positively fascinating the strides he’s made.”
It would be an early dinner. It was just minutes after three p.m. Eve was in no mood to sit down to a meal, less in the mood to hear about Abernathy’s lecture. Her nerves were frazzled and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up appearances for much longer. All she could think about was getting back to the cottage to lay in wait for the meeting at midnight.
She didn’t know how Burke felt about Allie’s invitation. Didn’t know if Burke wanted to join Allie for a meal, maybe for appearances sake. At the moment, she didn’t care what Burke wanted. She was tired of having him decide her every movement for her. She simply wasn’t up to any more pretense this day.
She turned to Allie and shook her head, “I’m sorry, Allie. Not tonight.”
Without giving Burke a chance to refute her, she walked away.
* * *
He watched Eve Collins leave the conference. Head down she pushed through the double glass doors that led to the parking lot. The late afternoon breeze caught her hair and it swirled around her face.
Through the mass of dark strands, he saw that her features were pale and drawn. She looked “blown away”. The joke provoked a chuckle. Simply put, Eve looked blindsided by the situation she found herself in. Didn’t know what hit her. As well she should. He had worked hard to orchestrate recent events.
Before any
one could speculate if Richard Patterson had been working alone, the man who now watched Eve had thought it prudent to provide a decoy. Who better for that role than Patterson’s actual business partner? Eve had been the perfect choice. He laughed again.
There was no doubt about her guilt. His text message earlier to meet in a room in this hotel was icing on a very tall cake. When the buyer failed to attend the meeting, it appeared she had warned the buyer of the trap.
And now, with his anonymity assured, it was time he returned to the task at hand: obtaining the formula. He had taken steps to do that. It was just a matter of a little more time.
He could afford to be patient. Once the formula was sold, the hefty payoff would assure there wasn’t anything he could not afford.
