by Neil, Louisa
Alex moved quickly through the party, spotting his father at the far side of the room. “Where’s Thea?”
“Getting changed. What’s wrong?”
“Jenkins. He slipped out a back door when he was escorted home.”
Both men moved quickly, Alex not bothering to stop when he collided with a guest. Instead, he bolted for the club’s private area. He came to the dressing room door in time to hear a loud scream and then a thud. He pushed open the door just in time to see his sister shake her fist several times as Lloyd Jenkins groaned on the floor at her feet. The shoulder of her dress was torn, and he could see a red handprint on her arm. He surveyed the situation and stepped over the man on floor.
“Didn’t I teach you anything, Thea? Always keep your hand closed, your fingers tight.” She burst out laughing and threw her arms around him. “It’s all going to be okay. Did he hurt you?”
“No. He would have, though, and he would have enjoyed it, Alex. He told me he’d rape me so that I’d be forced to think of him when any man touched me, ever.”
He tightened his hold on her. He could feel a chill run through her body. “Not anymore. You’re safe now.”
“Alex, how did you know?”
“The security man I sent with him lost him about half an hour ago.”
“Alex, I figure you deserve one clean shot at Lloyd too for all the damage he’s caused over the last two years, along with his plans for your premature death in an accident to be determined later.”
“I should, but I’ll let the law take control. We’ll have him held on assault and attempted rape charges until we figure out about the boys. And his behavior calls for a restraining order to keep him away from all of us.”
“Thea?” Alistair’s voice boomed into the room.
“I’m all right, Dad. Alex’s boxing lessons came in handy. So did my knee!”
The men waited while Lloyd was collected from the floor of the room, then closed the door and waited while Thea changed clothes behind the screen. Appearing in jeans and a white sweater with canvas shoes, she looked young and alive for the first time in years.
“How soon can I get a flight to the Pacific?” Thea asked as she brushed out her hair, undoing the fancy style meant for the wedding.
“We’re all heading back to Dad’s. Plans are being worked out.”
“Can we please bring Grace and Lucas with us?” Thea gave him her best pouty grin.
“Of course, I’ve already told her to get her things together,” Alex told her.
“Thank you for today, both of you. It must have been very hard to understand my motives these last months.”
“Come on, let’s go home and figure out where to look for your husband.”
Thea hugged her father. “I’m for that, and luckily enough, I’m already packed!”
All three of them had a good laugh as they headed toward the waiting vehicle. Grace was standing there too, Lucas asleep in her arms. Alex stepped forward to take the sleeping bundle from her. Alex hoped the look of longing on his face went unnoticed by Thea or Grace. He would have to be more careful, he reprimanded himself silently. Just because he had a crush on Grace didn’t mean she had feeling for him, and he didn’t want to put her in an awkward position.
The Wainwright house was old and drafty, and Thea thought it was the most wonderful home she’d ever spent time in. Wide stairways and large arched doorways melded with the Art Deco style of the structure. Beyond being familiar as her childhood home, it was always a place of security and laughter. Waiting in the dining room when they arrived was Michelle Dickenson, her father’s assistant. She had the table covered with folders and reports. They were chronologically arranged, and coffee and sandwiches were waiting on the sideboard.
The family lawyer had met them there and was on the telephone with the district attorney debating Lloyd’s house arrest and what he could be charged with in regard to attacking Thea. They agreed until the accountants had gone over the books and the correct crash site could be located, it was best to hold back on having him booked. Under the circumstances, it was agreed house arrest with lots of guards was their best solution. Lloyd had agreed to the situation not wanting to end up in the county lockup on attempted rape charges for the weekend.
Grace took Lucas up to the nursery for his nap while the others settled around the table and tried to figure out where to start. Alistair and Alex started at the beginning, reading each report then handing it to the next person. Ties were loosened and suit jackets hung on the backs of chairs. Marie sat quietly beside Patrick at the table, fingering her gold necklace while listening to the discussions. It held a photograph of Dexter, and she rarely took it off. Thea smiled to her and decided to take a different approach. With Michelle’s help, they pulled out the large paper maps and propped them against two chairs pushed together for better visibility. For a long time Thea stood before them, wondering where her beloved Dexter was and if he had survived the crash.
If he and Russell had survived, she couldn’t have thought of any better companion for either of them. They had been friends all through school, and she knew they would go to extreme measures to protect the other. In the past it had been a joke, but now she hoped it had turned into a reality. Marie moved beside her, studying the map.
“I know it’s strange, but no matter what happens, I feel better already. For any mother, knowing the truth is better than the unknown, which breeds angst. It is terrible for any mother to feel this way, but it is accurate. Dexter is my only child, but dead or alive, we’ll all have an answer and be forced to move ahead. Grace knows what I mean. When her husband was overseas, every day she worried. While the outcome was not what she would have chosen, at least she had closure and had to move forward.”
“I’m mixed with relief and hate right about now. I don’t understand how Lloyd could have left them there. What kind of man could put on such a show, and what’s worse, how didn’t I see through it?”
“None of us did, Thea. We were all emotional and in shock. We believed what we were told.”
“I know, but after a while I should have become more involved. I should have been more involved in the search instead of letting my emotions crumble me. I let other people do all the work and accepted their answers without questions.”
Thea dropped her arm around Marie’s shoulder holding on tight.
There had been a few arguments about where to search and who should go. The problem was where to go. Any place they chose would be random at that point. With Lloyd’s agreement, he was sequestered back at his apartment with several private security men keeping him company. He’d refused to talk to any of them and called in his lawyer. Apparently, he, too, had decided to stay sequestered with Lloyd to make sure no unsavory tactics were used to acquire the information.
Lloyd’s lawyer had been in contact with the district attorney and agreed to the house arrest at this time. Since Lloyd hadn’t been charged yet, it was the best Thea could hope for. She understood Lloyd would do almost anything to stay out of jail. To her thinking, this agreement bought him time to think up a new plan to weasel out of the charges about to be dealt him.
Exhaustion had sent Patrick and Marie to a guest suite for the night, and Grace was safely tucked away with Lucas in the nursery. Michelle was asleep on one of the living room couches.
“I’m stumped,” Alex said. His father agreed.
“Dad, Lloyd said he was looking on the wrong side of the Pacific for them. He also said he’d waited five years for me. What were the original coordinates?”
For the tenth time that day, they all walked to the map, the red circle marking the spot that Lloyd had told them was a dead end. “If we take five off each number, where does that leave us?”
Alex did the figures quickly in his head and gave her an approximate. It was the dead center of the ocean. It gave her a chill, and her hand reached for the ring around her neck.
“What if he only took the five off the longitude and not the latitude,
or vice versa?”
“Or added it?” Alex again did the calculations and pinpointed a small area of tiny islands. They used the same idea, taking the five off only one of the numbers, then adding it back to the original. When they were done, there were three viable locations which had tiny islands sprinkled throughout the ocean. Alex spoke quietly into his cell phone while Alistair and Thea went back to the reports.
“Dad, what’s going to happen with Lloyd?” Thea asked. “Besides the assault charges stemming from his behavior today against me, what can we charge him with in regard to misinforming us about the plane’s location?”
“We’ll wait and see what happens with the rescue team. If nothing else, we have him for assaulting you and attempted rape. We’ll have to let the lawyers work out the terms for his misconduct and the accountants decide if funds were misused.” Their eyes met, and he reached for her hand. With a squeeze they held tight.
Alex returned to them, telling them he’d relayed the new positions to the rescue team that was already searching.
“I feel like I should be there,” Thea said.
“I know, but where, Thea? I can get you to Hawaii, but that’s still just a guess right now.”
“I know, Alex, it’s like the last time. Sit at home and wait until somebody else finds my husband.”
“I think we should all try to get some rest. It’s been a long day. Thea?” Her father gave her one of his knowing looks.
“I don’t think I could sleep just now, Dad, but maybe I’ll go for a swim. You turn in though, you look tired.”
“Alex?” Thea called, nodding toward the pool area.
“I think I’ll have a swim too. Dad, get some rest, I’ll wake you if anything happens.”
Thea and Alex took long strokes in the heated water, the night sky twinkling above them. She swam to make herself tired. She swam to get out the hostility she held for Lloyd and his plans. She swam because nobody would see the tears that rolled down her cheeks. Alex had dropped onto one of the chaise lounges beside the pool long before she gave up her swim.
“When are you going to settle down?” Thea asked her brother as she shook the moisture from her hair over his now dry body. His annoyed look told her he was not impressed by her actions or questions.
“Let’s get one thing settled before we start another.”
“Thanks for your help today, Alex.” She paused and kissed his cheek.
“That’s what brothers are for.” She squeezed his hand before turning away. “Get some sleep. We’ll all need it.”
Returning to her room, she showered and changed into silk pajamas but knew she couldn’t sleep. Downstairs, she met Alex and Michelle both in the kitchen.
“Did we wake you with our swim?” Thea asked Michelle.
“No, I was just dozing. When I’m anxious chocolate always helps settle me. Want some?”
There was a pot of hot chocolate steaming on the cooktop and she helped herself. The three sat quietly, trying not to stare at the cell phone that rested on the table between them.
“Michelle, I haven’t thanked you for all your help today. I’m sure you had plans for the weekend,” Thea started.
“Nothing more important than this. I know I can’t change anything that happened, but I can be here for you now.”
Thea almost added, “And my Dad too,” but she didn’t want to embarrass Michelle. She and Alistair complemented each other well. Both having lost spouses, they were comfortable with each other. It struck Thea that if she’d been more herself these last years, she would have noticed their body language toward each other.
When Grace joined them, she had another revelation. Their conversation turned to Alex and Thea’s childhood pranks and horrors. Thea realized the looks that were being tossed back and forth between Alex and Grace, so she excused herself and went back to the files, trying to spot something that would tell her where the plane went down. She saw Michelle had dropped on the sofa again, and this time she was asleep. All she succeeded in doing from reviewing the files was give herself a headache.
She wandered the old home from top to bottom, hoping for a moment of brilliance when she’d figure out where the crash actually happened. It was frustrating to know Lloyd Jenkins knew exactly where to look and his attorney was helping him hide the information. Somehow it didn’t seem right. Why should his rights be protected when he’d been allowed to destroy so many others?
Thea pulled one of her mother’s old photo albums from a shelf in the library and paged through her past. She didn’t hold back her sobs looking at their wedding pictures, remembering the day. There was one of Dex and Russ, side by side in their black tuxedos. She ran her finger over the photo as if the men might feel her touch. They were both so handsome. Dex was dark where Russ was light. Dex had brown eyes and Russ’s were green. They stood equal in height and build, both smiling at her from the frozen moment in time. She closed the album and hugged it to her chest, letting her tears fall for all that might have been. Thea opened it again to the family photo. Everyone she loved was lined up around her and Dex, smiling. Tucked in a chair beside the fireplace, the book open on her lap, she finally dozed into a light sleep. Her dreams weren’t nightmares, for a change. Instead, she saw images of her grandmother Teddy and her mother, Dorthea, both with warm, reassuring smiles. She woke with a start, realizing she hadn’t dreamed of Dex. In all the time he’d gone missing and had been believed dead, she’d seen him in her dreams each night. This was a first, and she didn’t know how to react to it. Good or bad, she’d have to wait just like the rest of the family until something concrete was known. Putting the album back on the shelf, she again wandered through the rooms, hoping for some kind of inspiration.
While the house was full with people most of the time, in the last years it had been a quiet, restrained place. Today, just twenty-four hours after her almost-marriage to Lloyd, the house was alive again. The Nordens were with her father, and occasionally she’d hear their laughter. It was a pleasant sound. Grace was with Lucas in the pool, his water wings almost bigger than he. Alex sat poolside, watching them intently, their conversation in hushed tones. Thea stood back to survey the situation.
How had she not seen the chemistry between the two of them? How had she missed the way Alex was with Lucas? God, she thought with a sigh, realizing how from removed from reality she’d strayed. Alistair and Michelle were another topic she revisited. When had their business relationship turned personal? Was she in that much of a fog that she hadn’t seen her brother or father fall in love?
Thea wondered what else she tuned out over the past months simply because it was easier to let someone else deal with the details than to do it herself. Never again, she told herself. With or without Dex, she’d find her path again. As usual, everyone eventually gathered in the kitchen. She joined them and poured herself coffee, holding the mug to warm her hands.
When the telephone rang, everyone held a collective breath. Alex spoke calmly into the telephone telling the caller, “I’ll get back to you.” He disconnected and turned to them all. Holding up his hand to ward off their questions, he moved to Thea.
“It was Lloyd’s lawyer. He wants to cut a deal. He’ll give us the correct coordinates if we don’t press charges and let him leave quietly with his pension and without a public outing.” Alex kept his tone even. Thea realized he was trying not to influence her decision.
“No!” she said strongly. “Lloyd’s a coward at heart. Make him sweat. I want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He doesn’t deserve to cut a deal. We’ve already given him this time sequestered in his apartment instead of a jail cell. Now he wants us to believe he’s had a change of heart? I don’t believe him.”
Marie moved beside her, their arms linking. “I feel the same way,” Marie said. “Could we live with ourselves knowing we let Lloyd get away with what he did? I don’t know, Thea. If it was sooner…but for two years he could have stopped this.” She moved to the kitchen window, her arms rubbing he
r upper arms. “Patrick, what do you think?”
They gathered around the old wooden kitchen table as the topic was debated. They all agreed that Lloyd didn’t deserve a deal, especially with his pensions and a good recommendation rather than public ridicule. On one hand, it was hard to know they were turning down the one concrete lead they would have. On the other, they really didn’t know if he’d tell them the truth this time. Finally, Thea made her decision. She placed the call and waited for it to connect.
“Hello?”
“Lloyd, it’s Thea.” She braced herself against the counter, her eyes closing in disgust at the tone of his voice.
“I knew you’d see reason. I knew you’d have to know for sure. Get rid of these so-called security men, get my money ready, and when I’m satisfied you haven’t double-crossed me, I’ll radio you the coordinates. End of discussion.”
A full smile threaded along her lips as she realized from his voice he was afraid. “Lloyd, I’m going to like seeing you in prison garb. I’ll just bet a fancy man like you won’t have trouble finding plenty of dates.” The people around her all stopped midsentence, not believing what she had said. “Probably not going to be good for your manicure or your skin. Let’s see, do you think they’d put you on kitchen duty, or maybe you’d be better suited to the laundry?” Her laughter rang through the phone.
“You bitch!” he screamed, as Thea took the phone from her ear. Everyone in the room heard him. It didn’t matter. They all knew the conversation was being recorded anyway.
“Lloyd, no deal. No outs. If you had come to us two years ago, we might have been able to come to terms. As it is now, if they’re gone, we can’t change that. If they’re alive, I want you around for Dexter and Russell to get a clean shot at you when they get back. Now, one chance to do the right thing. What are the correct coordinates, Lloyd? I offer you no deal, just the chance to be a human being.”
