Secret Lover

by Shawna Delacorte

  “I don’t understand what’s been happening here, either. I thought I did, but now I realize that I’m as totally out of the loop as you are.” She looked up into the sadness in his eyes. “Yesterday you asked me to go away with you. Is that offer still open?”

  The ringing of the phone interrupted the moment. Andi went to answer it and returned a minute later. “It was nothing, just a wrong number.” She furrowed her brow in concentration for a moment. “At least I think it was a wrong number.” She looked at him quizzically. “Do you suppose it could have been someone wanting to know if we were here?”

  He shook his head in dismay and did not answer her question—this one or the one about going with him. “I need to finish packing...just in case.”

  Andi did not know what to say. For the first time she felt as if she had a true inkling of what Jim had been through for the past five years...not knowing who he can trust or what was real and what was a lie. It saddened her that she had begun to doubt Steve. Was this how Jim felt about her? Did he have doubts whether or not he could really trust her?

  She took a steadying breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. “What time is Steve supposed to be here?”

  “He said he’d be here by lunch. So, either he’s busy with something or he’s not in this area. Perhaps he’s in Los Angeles...maybe meeting with someone?”

  Andi shook her head as she stared at the floor, her voice soft. “I don’t know, Jim. I just don’t know...not anymore.”

  He pulled her into his embrace and rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Just a few hours and that will tell everything. Either Steve has some satisfactory answers or he doesn’t. If not, then I’m out of here. My continued presence can only be an added danger for you.” He continued to hold her a moment longer, but his thoughts were elsewhere as a plan began to take shape.

  He glanced at his watch. It was only seven-thirty, which was nine-thirty in the morning Chicago time. “Andi—” his voice was hesitant as if he were thinking out loud “—we need to make some phone calls. Let’s contact everyone on that list. You call half the names and I’ll call half the names. That way, anyone comparing notes with someone else on that list might be thrown further off guard by not knowing if they were ultimately dealing with a man or a woman. We’ll tell them we have some information to sell, that we know where James Hollander is hiding. Then we’ll follow it up by saying we have it on good authority that he’s leaving the country in two days, headed for Mexico. We’ll say we’ve seen him and talked to him, but he’s had plastic surgery and no one else knows what his new face looks like. Let’s see what kind of reactions we can get with that.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?”

  “Wise? As opposed to what? Sitting here and doing nothing? There has to be someone on that list who has some current connection with what’s going on. Besides, it’s Milo Buchanan who is the ultimate catch. His ego will force him to insist that he could recognize me, no matter what I’d done to my appearance.”

  They both warmed to the task. The first order of business was to obtain telephone numbers. “It would sure be nice if you had a cellular phone in addition to your regular phone number. That way we could both make calls at the same time.”

  “Of course!” A triumphant smile spread across Andi’s face. “Why didn’t I think of it before? We do have another phone number. I have a separate phone number for my computer and fax machine. We can plug a regular phone into that so we can both make phone calls at the same time.” She quickly unplugged the phone from her bedroom and took it to her office. She disconnected the phone line from her fax machine and plugged in the other phone.

  With two separate phone lines now at their disposal, they set about procuring the phone numbers they needed. Half an hour later they began making calls. They knew it was a long shot. Neither of them truly expected much in the way of results from the exercise. They were primarily looking for any unusual reactions to their calls, someone who might be caught off guard by the call and would let something slip. It was also a way of keeping busy while waiting for Steve to arrive. At least that was the way Jim thought of it. He could not deal with any more inactivity, with the nerve-racking reality of waiting for something to happen.

  Andi placed her call first. “Cliff Turner?”

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “Never mind what my name is. I have some information that I think might be of interest to you. It concerns James Hollander. I know where he is.”

  There was a long pause on the other end before Cliff responded. “And why would I be interested in this James Hollander?”

  A little tingle of excitement began to flicker inside her. Something about the hesitation combined with the tone in his voice told her that she had struck a nerve. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you think about this? He’s planning to leave the country in a couple of days. He’s had plastic surgery and I know what his new face looks like. You decide what that’s worth to you and I’ll call you later.”

  “Wait!” A sense of urgency surrounded his words. “Who are—”

  Andi hung up before he could finish the sentence. She dialed the next number on her list. “Frank Norton? I have some information that I think might be of interest to you. It concerns James Hollander.”

  His voice showed immediate attention. “Hollander? Do you know where he is?”

  Andi quickly straightened to attention. This was even more promising than her conversation with Cliff Turner. Frank Norton had not even bothered to ask who she was or pretend to not recognize Jim’s name. “Yes, I do. I also know that he plans to leave the country in a couple of days and has had plastic surgery. I can provide a picture of his new face. Why don’t you think about what that would be worth and I’ll get back to you.” She hung up before he could say anything.

  Jim attempted to make some phone calls. His first call was to Phil Herman. All he could ascertain was that Phil had gone to New York the day before and would not be back for a week. On his second attempt he found out that no one knew where Theo Gunzleman was, that he did not work as a court clerk any longer.

  He finally connected on his third call. “Lou Quincy? I have some information I believe will be of interest to you. It concerns James Hollander.”

  “I don’t know who you are or what you think you’re trying to pull, but let me set you straight. There isn’t anything you can tell me. Hollander is a dead man and that’s the end of that.”

  “No way, my friend. He’s far from dead. He does have a new face, though. And he plans on leaving the country in a couple of days. Now, if that’s of any interest to you, we can discuss what it’s worth when I call back.” Jim quickly disconnected from the call.

  He dialed the last phone number they had. “Sally Hanover? What would it be worth to you to have a picture of James Hollander’s new face and to know when and where he plans to leave the country?”

  MILO BUCHANAN SNAPPED to attention at the obvious alarm in his caller’s voice. “Calm down. You’re talking so fast I can’t understand you. Now, who called you?”

  “I don’t know who it was, but the gist of the conversation was that Hollander has had plastic surgery and plans to leave the country in a couple of days. I’m supposed to decide how much his new identity is worth and wait for another call. What do you think?”

  “When did you get this call?”

  “Just a little while ago, maybe fifteen minutes.”

  Buchanan leaned back in his chair. “I think someone is playing with your head, trying to run a scam.”

  “But what if it’s true? What if he’s had plastic surgery?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Even if he does have a new face, there’s no way he could hide his identity from me.” The bitterness crept into Milo Buchanan’s voice. “That man has been a thorn in my side, the bane of my existence for five years. I knew it was just a matter of time until he surfaced again. I’d recognize him anywhere—the way he walks, the way he talks, the sound of his voice, his mannerisms.�
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  STEVE DIALED THE NUMBER for the pager, then punched in the number of his cellular phone. A few minutes later his phone rang.

  “Benny, we’ve hit a little snag in the plans. I need to be on an eleven o‘clock flight out of Los Angeles. I’m afraid we’re going to have to move the time of tonight’s meeting. We have to move it up to eight o’clock. We’ll still use the same location. I assume you’ll be able to arrange everything without any problems?”

  Benny’s voice told of his nervousness. “I don’t like none of this. Too many people gonna be around earlier in the evening.”

  “Not at the location we used last time. Everyone will have been off work for at least a couple of hours. It will be just as deserted as it was the last time.”

  “Yeah, I can do that.” A bit of anxiousness crept into his voice. “You’ve got my money, right?”

  “Don’t worry, Benny. We’ll take care of you. You just make sure your end of things goes off as planned. I’ll check back with you—” he glanced at his watch “—in a couple of hours.”

  As soon as Steve finished his conversation with Benny, he made another call.

  “Everything okay on your end, sweetheart?” Steve leaned back across the bed in his motel room, his manner becoming a little more relaxed than when he talked to Benny.

  “I got it, Steve. I found that third numbered account and it’s a whopper, the largest of the three.” The elation in her voice was unmistakable. “The dollar figure for the three accounts totals even more than you thought. It’s just a shade under twelve million.”

  A low whistle of appreciation escaped his lips. “Wow! I thought it would be somewhere close to ten million, but nearly twelve million...what a bonus. Are you ready to do the transfer as soon as the flight is in the air?”

  “Yes, I’ve already set it up in the computer as an automatic timed transaction to take place ten minutes after the scheduled departure time of the flight. That puts it in the time frame when all phones and computers have to be turned off, so there’s no way they can check until after it’s done.”

  Steve allowed a soft chuckle. “And by then it will be too late.” The grin faded and his voice took on a more serious tone. “At least your part is going off as planned. I’ve got problems elsewhere. In fact—” he glanced at his watch again “—I have another call to make, then I need to get something to eat before heading for La Jolla.”

  He quickly terminated this phone conversation, then placed another call, this one to Phil Herman’s cellular phone.

  “Where are you right now?”

  “I’m at the Denver airport. They’re just starting boarding for my flight. Everything’s on schedule, so I should be arriving on time. What’s the problem?”

  “Hollander’s giving me problems. And what’s worse is that now Andi’s stirred up and beginning to question things. I still don’t know where they were last night. He’s demanding a face-to-face meet today. He says he wants some concrete answers or else he’s walking.”

  “What do you plan to do about it?”

  “I told him I’d be there by lunch.”

  “You don’t think there’s any danger of him deciding to take off before you get there, do you? If there’s any chance, then it might be wise to have her house secured. Without him we’ve got nothing.” Phil’s comments only gave voice to Steve’s unspoken concerns.

  “I think he’ll stay put until I get there, otherwise there wouldn’t have been any reason for him to make the demands. He would have just taken off instead.” Steve spoke the words with a positive tone to his voice, however his inner thoughts were not as firmly entrenched.

  “Well, I just got another little piece of information to add to our puzzle. Theo Gunzleman.”

  “Yeah? You were able to find him?” So much had happened in the past couple of days that Steve had almost forgotten about the conversation concerning Theo’s current location.

  “Sort of. He was killed almost four years ago—drowned at a lake during a Fourth of July celebration.”

  “Is that confirmed?”

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “All right, I’m here. Now, what did you want to discuss?” Steve turned to face Jim as Andi closed the front door.

  Jim studied Steve for a minute before speaking. Whatever thoughts were going through Steve’s head were expertly hidden behind that nondescript facade of his.

  Jim did not waste any time in polite conversation. “I want to know exactly where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing while we were left here to fend for ourselves with no knowledge of your plans. Maybe Andi is accustomed to this type of behavior from you, but I’m not. I don’t know you and so far you haven’t done anything to instill any trust in me. You seem to have a constant flow of incoming information, very little of which you have chosen to share with me. My suitcase is packed and I’m ready to leave here right now unless I get some satisfactory answers.” Jim blatantly looked Steve up and down. “And I don’t think you will be able to physically restrain me unless you have some help standing on the front porch.”

  Steve took his time pouring a cup of coffee and carrying it into the living room. He pulled aside the drape covering the living room window and looked out at the street, noting the cars parked at the curb, the motor home in the driveway of the newly rented house, and the two boys riding their bicycles.

  He finally turned toward Jim, his voice calm and very matter-of-fact. “We seem to have an impasse here. I’m supposed to trust you with all my contacts, with people who need to have their identity protected just as you do, along with my means of gathering information, but you don’t want to trust me to know what I’m doing.”

  It was not at all the answer Jim was looking for. He leveled a long, cool look at Steve. “This has nothing to do with how well you do your job. As near as I can tell, no one on your end is literally gambling with their life, yet that’s what you want me to do. You want me to put my life on the line on nothing more than blind faith that something positive is going to happen. I’m not even sure what it is you’re trying to accomplish anymore. Ross Durant is dead. An informant has hinted that there’s someone connected with all this who is also on Buchanan’s payroll. On the basis of that very iffy bit of information, I’m hiding inside a beach house in La Jolla once again constantly looking over my shoulder while Milo Buchanan’s day is business as usual without a hint of inconvenience.”

  “Give me twelve more hours. By that time everything will be over.” It was more than Steve wanted to say, but he could see it in Jim’s eyes and hear it in his tone of voice—he had to say something definitive to satisfy Jim or be prepared to attempt to physically restrain him. Jim was about three inches taller, ten years younger and in much better shape. Jim had been correct. There was no way Steve could overpower him. Having Jim as an adversary rather than an ally would not do anyone any good.

  “Exactly what is it that will be over?” Jim was not buying the words on face value. He wanted more than just a blanket statement that did not have any meaning or teeth to it.

  “Your need to hide away and constantly look over your shoulder to see who’s behind you.”

  Jim still had a very uneasy feeling inside him. Steve’s words could have several different meanings, not the least of which was that dead people no longer had any worries. He looked at Andi, at the anxiety on her face and the tenderness in her eyes. Once again it was not his own safety that was uppermost in his mind. Even though he knew that leaving was the most prudent thing to do, he reluctantly followed his heart rather than his head. He swallowed down any further objections and allowed a sigh of resignation. “Twelve more hours, but not a minute longer.”

  Andi stepped into the awkward silence that followed the exchange between Jim and Steve. “I was about to fix something for lunch. Have you eaten yet, Steve?”

  “Yes, I had something a little while ago—sort of a late breakfast. I have to go. I have an appointment in forty-five minutes down the road in San Di
ego.”

  Jim’s head snapped around at this latest disclosure. “An appointment? So, you’re taking off and leaving us alone again. And this appointment is with whom?”

  Steve’s answer was immediate. “All of my business on the West Coast does not revolve around you. I have another investigation that I’m working on, something I was involved with before Andi called me from Vancouver Island to announce that she had stumbled across the long-missing James Hollander. I can’t talk to you about what else I’m working on any more than I can talk about you to someone else not connected with this. I’ll be back in about three hours, in plenty of time to discuss the details of tonight’s meeting with Benny. So, if you’ll let me get on with my business...”

  There did not seem to be anything else to say. Jim and Andi watched as Steve got into his car and drove down the street.

  Steve drove directly to the San Diego airport. Timing would be tight for the rest of the day. He had to be back at Andi’s house no later than four o’clock. He glanced at his watch. The flight was due in at one-thirty. He hoped it was on time.

  He parked his car in the short-term parking and made his way to the gate just as the ramp extended out to the plane. A few minutes later Phil Herman exited the plane.

  The two men shook hands. “Good to see you, Phil. How was the flight?” They walked quickly through the airport and headed toward the parking lot.

  “Not exactly a direct flight—Chicago to New York yesterday under my own name, then leaving New York very early this morning for Denver under an assumed name, with a plane change in Denver along with another name change before continuing on to San Diego.”