You're Not Alone

by Shanade White

  He’d be eternally grateful to her for that, but that was only a part of the reason he’d fallen in love with her. Unlike so many of the women who had been in his life, she wasn’t after anything from him, in fact she’d brought him something, a breath of life. When he’d insisted that she stay at the Plaza, she refused, explaining that she’d be much more comfortable at a cheaper hotel and he’d had to force her to buy some new clothes — the one’s she owned were practically rags.

  It was clear that she adored him as well, the longing looks she gave him always made his heart beat faster. When he’d discovered that she was still a virgin, it had sealed the deal, she was the woman that he was meant to marry. If she was a little hesitant to take their relationship further, he could understand why — she’d waited a long time to find the right man. But he was willing to be patient, to wait until she felt the same way he did, it would be worth it in the end, and in the mean time they had a play to produce together.

  Heather looked over her shoulder before she pushed open the door to the staff dining room then smiled, it might just be possible that she was taking the private detective thing too far. But it was fun, and Heather was never one to turn away from fun, especially when it was part of the job she’d been sent to do. She spotted Maria, the head housekeeper, almost immediately. She was hard to miss among the younger employees with her grey hair.

  She’d liked the woman the minute she’d met her the day before, and was looking forward to talking to her. After nearly forty years of working at the hotel she’d seen just about everything there was to see and had access to all the rooms in the hotel, not to mention all the gossip. Marci had done her a huge favor introducing her to the woman, who once she heard that Heather was on a secret assignment was just as excited to help as Marci had been.

  Maria waved her over to the table where she was sitting, “Right on time.” She said, when Heather sat down.

  “I hate being late.” Heather explained. “How long have you been waiting?”

  “Not long, I got here early so we could have a table away from everyone else.” Maria said, a big grin on her face. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

  “So, what have you found out?”

  “Well, from everything I can gather, it appears that Simone Peters is not the sweet innocent little darling you described. It was easy enough to get information out of the staff after her little tantum in the spa. From the minute she stepped into her room she’s been a nightmare for the staff, no one said anything because they all thought she was some kind of celebrity.”

  “That’s exactly how she sounded in the spa, like everyone should bow down to her.”

  “Who is she?” Maria asked, sure that Heather would know.

  “I have no idea, I’ve searched and searched for her online but I’ve found nothing. That’s why I need your help.”

  Maria loved a mystery and being involved in one was so much better than reading one. “What can I do?”

  “I was thinking that if we could get her fingerprints we might be able to find out who she really is, because I promise you she isn’t Simone Peters. No matter how small the village was that she’s supposedly from, there would be some record of her somewhere.” Heather had been thinking about the fingerprints since she’d left the spa the day before and knew they were the answer.

  “That’s perfect, you can run her fingerprints and find out who she is.” Maria was already figuring out how she’d get the prints. “I could leave a glass in the bathroom when I clean her room, then pick it up after she’s used it.”

  “She won’t have a clue.” Heather said, relieved that Maria was willing to help. “Maria, you can’t tell anyone about this, it has to be a secret if for no other reason than I think it might be illegal in some way.”

  “I know how to keep my mouth shut. Besides is it my fault if a glass she uses accidently gets left in your room?” Maria said, with a wink.

  Chapter 4

  Heather knew that it would take a few days for Maria to get the finger prints so she decided it was time to introduce herself to Marshall. Regardless of the results, she’d have to do so eventually and sitting around her hotel room waiting for fingerprints would drive her crazy so she headed to the theatre. It was the middle of the day so the theatre was deserted, the front door locked down tight, so she went around back to the stage door, surprised to find the door unlocked and the desk there empty she went in.

  It wasn’t hard to find the stairs that led up to the dressing rooms above the stage, and she had no trouble finding Marshall’s dressing room. There was enough shouting coming from the room that she couldn’t miss it. When she stepped up to the open doorway, she could see why there was so much shouting, the room was a mess. Open boxes were everywhere, piles of costumes covered every surface, and Marshall was yelling at a young woman who was standing in the middle of the room looking scared to death.

  “When I told the agency to send me an assistant I thought they’d send me someone with some brains.” He shouted at the poor girl, who looked like she was about to cry. “Clarence you’re just going to have to help me. The movers will be here in an hour and I have an appointment with the owner of the theatre I just can’t miss.”

  “Mr. Montgomery, you know I can’t do that. I have to stay by the front door, anyone could just walk in, I’ll lose my job.” Clarence said, turning to leave.

  “But you can’t leave me.” Marshall said, then opened his mouth to continue, but saw Heather standing in the doorway. “Never mind, it looks like my new assistant is here. You can go.”

  “How did you get in here?” Clarence asked.

  “There was no one at the door.” Heather said, trying hard to hide her sarcastic tone.

  “See.” Clarence said, shooting Marshall a dirty look on his way out the door.

  Standing in the doorway, Heather got her first really good look at Marshall up close, and when his blue eyes focused on her brown ones, she felt a charge of electricity flow through her. Her palms got sweaty and butterflies began to flutter in her stomach, then she felt a wave of desire so strong it took her breath away. It was so shocking to feel such a strong attraction she stood there stunned, unable to speak.

  Finally, she managed to say, “I’m Heather Whitcomb.”

  “What took you so long?” Marshall asked, then before she could explain who she was, he shoved a stack of papers in her hands. “I want this stuff packed up a certain way, it’s all covered in those instructions, you can keep her here to help or send her away, I don’t care. I have to go, I’m already late for a meeting.”

  “But I’m not…” Heather’s words were interrupted by Marshall’s phone ringing.

  He held up his hand to stop her, “Just a second.” He said, then looked at the screen on his phone, after a few curse words flew out of his mouth, he answered.

  As he listed to whoever was on the line, his face began to get red. “Now? What do you mean she’s on her way now?”

  The person on the other end of the phone talked some more, and Marshall’s face got even redder. “Dee, I told you that you can’t do this to me anymore. I don’t care if you have a photo shoot, I have stuff going on too. I can’t just drop what I’m doing and go running to the airport. You should have called me before you put her on the plane.”

  Heather could hear the sound of a female yelling on the phone from across the room. Finally, Marshall said, “Fine I’ll be there, but this had better be the last time you do this to me.” Then hung up the phone.

  Mumbling under his breath, Marshall began to gather up papers and stuff them into a big manila envelope. He tucked the envelope under his arm, grabbed his phone and headed for the door. Heather was still standing there, mouth hanging open. When he saw her, he stopped and stared as if trying to remember why she was there.

  “Are you still standing there? Get to work.” He said, then pushed past her and disappeared down the hall.

  When he was gone, she looked around her at the mess in the
dressing room and the scared girl standing in the middle of the room. “Well, that didn’t go quite like I expected.” she said, hoping that the girl hadn’t noticed her response to Marshall.

  “He’s not very nice, is he?” The girl said, with a hesitant smile.

  “No, he’s not.” Heather said, wondering what she should do now, follow Marshall and set him straight or leave and come back later.

  Packing up his dressing room was not in her job description, especially when he’d been so rude to her, but then she realized that posing as his assistant might just be the best way to find out what was really going on between Simone and Marshall. Of course, when he discovered who she really was, he’d be angry, but he was the one who hadn’t given her time to explain, she’d cross that bridge when she’d come to it. This was a prime opportunity to do some snooping without worrying about getting caught.

  “Looks like there’s too much work here for just one person, why don’t you stay and help me.” Heather said, finally stepping into the room.

  “I don’t know, Mr. Montgomery might be mad.” The girl said, clearly afraid of Marshall.

  “Did he tell you to leave?”

  “Well, no, but…”

  Heather wasn’t about to let her leave, “Well, then I think you should stay and help me. When he sees that we got everything done, he won’t be mad.”

  “I could use the money.”

  “Good, you start on the boxes and I’ll work on the desk.” Heather said, grabbing a box and setting it on the desk.

  “He left instructions.” The girl pointed out.

  “I think we can handle it without his instructions.” Heather said, opening the top drawer of the desk.

  Marshall couldn’t believe his ex-wife had done it to him again — they had an agreement, but she never seemed to remember that when she wanted her own way. They’d been divorced for years, but Dee still seemed to think that she had some control over him, could just wiggle her finger and he’d come running. Time and time again, she’d done this to him, put her responsibilities of on him so she could run off to a photo shoot in some far-off place. If this time was like the last, she’d be gone for days, possibly weeks and he’d be stuck with Chloe all that time.

  He hadn’t told Simone about Dee yet, he’d wanted to but never found the right time. It wasn’t an easy thing to tell your new girlfriend about your ex-wife, and as innocent as Simone was, he was afraid that she’d be turned off by the fact that he’d already been married and divorced. But now he’d have no choice but to tell her, the last thing he wanted was for her to find out on her own, she’d accuse him of hiding it, and the truth was he had been.

  But Simone was a kind and understanding woman; she’d understand that he’d made a mistake when he’d been just a kid. A mistake that would follow him for the rest of his life, but one that in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that big of a deal. It just meant that as young as he was, he had a few extra responsibilities. Simone would understand that, she just had to, the trick would be to tell her in a way that would make her understand that it didn’t change anything between them.

  As soon as he finished his meeting, he’d stop by the hotel and talk to her, then he’d go to the airport, there should be plenty of time for both. Feeling better, he sped out of the parking lot headed for the theatre he was planning to buy, that is if the bankers who controlled his money agreed. The meeting he’d had with them had gone better than he’d expected, but he had been prepared, more prepared than he’d ever been in the past when he’d asked for money.

  Sitting at the end of that long table, he’d felt intimidated by the old men staring at him. But he’d reminded himself what was at stake and plunged in, handing out copies of all the information he’d gathered in preparation for this meeting, pleased when the men actually gave their copies the attention they deserved. It wasn’t long before they began firing questions at him.

  “What makes you think that Anchorage can support another theatre?”

  “Has the historical landmark designation already been done?”

  “Who will run the theatre?”

  The questions went on and on, but Marshall was prepared for them, especially when they began to ask about the theatre and the contract that he’d given them for its purchase. He’d never thought about owning a theatre, but he and Simone had been talking one day and she’d mused that it would be so much easier if he owned a theatre and that had gotten him to thinking. Then as if fate was on his side, the rumors about him producing a play had made the rounds and a man had approached him who owned an old decrepit theatre in the old downtown area.

  Howard Miles was the son of the man who owned the theatre and although his father didn’t want to part with the theatre the taxes were piling up on the old building and they had to sell. He offered Marshall a great price, and after he’d seen the building it seemed like a sign, so he’d made an offer. But if the men on the board didn’t think that his plan was financially sound, they wouldn’t have given their approval and he’d be forced to take out the loan. It wasn’t the best way to go, but he was going ahead with his plan either way.

  Since then he’d had contractors in the building and everyone seemed to think it wouldn’t be that hard to bring it back to life. Now all he needed was the money to make it happen, and judging from the looks on the men’s faces, it might just happen.

  “I know that you’re anxious to hear our recommendation, but I think we’d all like to take a few days to think about it.”

  Marshall was disappointed not to have an answer right then, but then he realized that they hadn’t said no. “I can understand that, but I hope you’ll approve my plan. I think this will be a great investment and it will save one of Anchorage’s oldest buildings.” He’d said, getting to his feet.

  “We’ll let you know in a few days.”

  Heather threw the play she’d found in Marshall’s desk down, after reading it twice she had to admit that it wasn’t half bad and that it would showcase Marshall’s talents. If it wasn’t for the fact that Simone seemed to have no past, she would have told Seth that he had nothing to worry about. The play wouldn’t send Marshall into instant stardom, but it would probably garner a lot of ticket sales, and gain him the popularity that he seemed to crave.

  Deciding that more digging was necessary, she opened another drawer and found a packet of papers one of which was a contract to buy an old building downtown. The $600,000 price tag on the building seemed like a lot of money to her, but to Marshall it wouldn’t seem like that much, only a drop in the bucket compared to the billions that he had. Still, Seth hadn’t mentioned anything about the purchase of a building and this might be information he would be interested in so she quickly took pictures of the paperwork and sent them to him.

  She was just trying to figure out how to get a locked drawer open when the phone of the desk began to ring, ignoring it she continued to fool with the lock, but it just kept ringing and ringing so she picked it up.

  “Marshall Montgomery’s office.” She said, unsure how else to answer.

  “It’s about time you answered.” Marshall said, when he heard her voice.

  “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to.” Heather said, wishing she hadn’t.

  There was a huge sigh of impatience on the other end, then Marshall said, “I need you to go to the airport and pick someone up. I’m stuck in a meeting and can’t go myself.”

  Heather was silent for so long, that Marshall asked, “Are you there?”

  “I’m here, but I think you should know that…”

  But Marshall didn’t let her finish, “Don’t worry about the packing, it can wait. I need you to get to the airport now, the flight lands in 30 minutes and if someone’s not there it will be a disaster.” He said, then added, “It’s a private plane so you’ll have to go to hanger 10.”

  “You don’t understand, I’m not….” Heather was trying to explain that she wasn’t his assistant and wasn’t going to the airport.

 
Marshall sighed again, “I hired you to be my assistant and that means doing whatever I ask you to do. Now get in your car and go to the airport.” Then he disconnected the call.

  Heather hung up the phone and stared at it wondering how she’d ended up in this situation. Again, she’d let Marshall run right over her, and now she was left with two choices, pick up his guest at the airport or ignore his request. If she was going to make it on time she had to decide quick, and since she knew that she had little choice, she grabbed her purse and dug out her car keys.

  “I have to go to the airport.” She told the girl who was still packing Marshall’s costumes. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

  Anchorage wasn’t a big town, still it took her far longer to get to the airport than she’d thought. After she parked, she hurried through the airport to the hanger for the private planes, relieved when she entered the building and saw only a little girl and a flight attendant waiting there. Deciding that the plane she was supposed to be meeting was late, she began to walk towards some chairs against the wall, but before she could get there the flight attendant called out to her.

  “Are you here to pick Chloe up? Mr. Montgomery called and said he couldn’t meet the plane.”

  Heather looked from the flight attendant to the little girl standing next to her and then back again. “Umm, yes he sent me.” She said, wishing that Marshall had told her that it was a child she was picking up.”

  “Good, we’ve been waiting a while.” The flight attendant said.

  Heather opened her mouth to explain why she was late, but before she could the little girl let out a high-pitched scream, and wailed, “I want my daddy.”

  The flight attendant rolled her eyes and pushed the little girl toward her. “Chloe has been missing her father for the entire flight.” She said, raising her eyebrows at Heather.

  Heather rushed over to her and knelt down in front of her, “I’m going to take you to your daddy right now. It’s just a short car ride, I promise.”