Lady In Red

by Fayrene Preston

  He flicked another glance at Cassidy, reassuring himself that she really was all right. “Not everything. It took me quite a while to figure out where you had those two thugs take Cassidy last night. But once I realized it was you, it became easier.”

  “How?” she asked, her voice brittle. “I thought the subbasement would be the last place anyone would think of.”

  “To start with, places to hide a person are not that easy to come by. You’d need someplace secure, where someone could be constrained and not heard. There weren’t too many places like that I could think of. But I had something going for me. My knowledge of you. You always go with the familiar, Janet. That narrowed the field to your condo and here, and the area around your condo is too populated - ”

  “What do you mean, I always go with the familiar?”

  “I’ve seen it in your work time and again.”

  “Am I that bad?”

  “If you were, I wouldn’t have kept you on.”

  She seemed to slump, though she didn’t actually move. “For five years I’ve watched you.” She shook her head in amazement, as if she still couldn’t believe what she had seen and learned. “When I first came to work for you five years ago, I had my eyes set on the stars. I thought I would be able to write brilliant programs and create wondrous, marvelous things. Then gradually as the months and years passed and I watched and worked with you, I began to realize what true brilliance was.” She blinked away angry tears. “Time and again I’ve seen you spin an idea out of thin air and create something from nothing that absolutely took my breath away and everybody else’s. And I came to understand that much as I wanted to, I’d never be able to take people’s breath away with something I created.”

  His expression solemn, Zach steepled his fingers together. “And so you came to resent me.”

  Janet gave a short laugh that was full of pain. “It’s funny. I was half in love with you when I first started working for you, but you never saw me as a woman.”

  “I saw you as a more-than-capable computer expert, Janet, and a valued colleague. But apparently that wasn’t enough for you.”

  Janet looked down at her hands; she had twisted them together in her lap. “No, that wasn’t enough. I decided I’d get the money while I could and get out of the business.”

  “Yet you came to work today.”

  “I didn’t know that you knew the master disk was in jeopardy. And I sure as hell didn't know about the damned camera. I thought that even though I had lost the sale, I could arrange for Cassidy to be released without anyone figuring out who or why, and still hold onto my job.”

  “Until you found something else to steal?”

  “That’s exactly right,” she said, tortured and arrogant. “I was going to use you by continuing to take your money until I could find something else to take away from you.”

  Zach rubbed his eyes with a thumb and finger, chasing a phantom ache. “The police are waiting for you in the lobby, Janet.”

  Fear rushed into her eyes and claimed her expression.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his jaw taut. “I truly am. I would have been inclined to fire you and let it go at that, figuring that the loss of your job and the money would have been enough punishment. But you made the mistake of bringing Cassidy into it. You went one step too far, Janet.”

  She rose unsteadily to her feet. “I know, but I knew that snatching her was the only way I could get you out of the house. If it had started to rain, I would have seen to it that she got out.”

  “Thank you for the lantern,” Cassidy said, feeling a debt of gratitude toward the woman even though it was her fault she had needed it.

  A grim smile touched Janet’s lips. “If it had been me down there, I would have been terrified without a light.” She started for the door, then turned back. “I’ve got to know, Zach. You’ve got to tell me. Where is the master disk?”

  He lifted a forefinger to his head and tapped his temple. “It’s here. It’s always been here.”

  Janet’s laugh carried a thread of hysteria, and watching, Cassidy understood. It hadn't been a piece of technology that had defeated Janet, but rather a piece of brilliant creativity, the very thing that made Zach the out-of-the-ordinary creator he was, and the very thing that Janet would never have.

  “Janet,” Zach said. “Tell the police about the thugs you hired, and they may go easier on you.” His gaze stayed on the proud line of her back as she left the room. When the door closed behind her, he expelled a long stream of breath and let his head fall back against his chair’s headrest.

  Cassidy set aside the baby doll and reached to cover Zach’s hand with hers. “Don’t take it so hard. You’re not responsible for what she did.” He rolled his head from side to side along the chair’s back as if he still couldn’t believe it. “I liked and respected Janet. But by putting you in danger, she forced me to face the fact that it was she who was trying to steal from me.”

  “How did you come to realize it was Janet?” He shrugged. “I’m not even sure. It was just a very certain feeling, like something I had really known all along. And then I came here and the security guards confirmed that she was the only one who had left the building late. She had probably made it a point to learn the security routine when she was looking for the master disk. I’m sure she had the kidnapping plan set to go, waiting for when I announced I would be working on the master disk, and where. Then when the time came, she stayed behind to slip you and her cohorts into the plant between security rounds and direct them to the subbasement. When I think of what she put you through - ”

  Her hand tightened over his. “It’s all right. I built the castle, and I thought. It was how I remembered what had been nagging at me. She had said she was the only one of them who hadn’t missed a day of work with that cold they’d all had. She must have copied their disks on the days they were out sick.”

  Zach stared at her for a long moment. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For wearing red to the party.”

  She smiled. “I’ll tell you something I haven’t told you before. Red’s my favorite color too.”

  His lips curved upward, but his expression remained serious. “And thank you for confiding in me about the theft.”

  She made a face. “I’d like to meet the person who could hold out information from you, because I sure couldn’t.”

  “And thank you for loving me.”

  She went soft inside. “I do. I only thought I had a chance at resisting you. But the reality was, you bowled me over right from the start.”

  A faint twinkle danced into his eyes. “Let’s go home and play.”

  “What a good idea.”

  “Tell me the truth,” Cassidy said, addressing Zach across the train tracks in his study. “The stuffed animals are reproducing, aren’t they?”

  Zach smiled at her. She was wearing a red jump suit and sitting cross-legged on the floor across from him. “What makes you say that?”

  “I see at least ten new stuffed animals in here. This zebra for instance.” She pointed to the black and white animal lying against her knee. “I’m sure I’ve never seen him before. And what about this ostrich?” The fluffy bird’s long neck was across her ankle. “And then there’s this guy.” She picked up the cushy and amiable buffalo that had been resting comfortably against her thigh.

  Lily glanced over at her from her position beside Bobby. They were at Zach’s computer, playing with the just-put-together prototype of The Game. “I hate to tell you, sugar, but this house is a veritable stuffed animal jungle.”

  “If they bother you, I guess we could confine them to one area of the house,” Zach said.

  “No, don’t be silly. They’re actually sort of sweet, the way they seem to cluster around me no matter where I am.”

  “Children,” Lily said unexpectedly. “I understand children are sweet too.”

  “Yeah, but you have to feed them,” Bobby said, surprising everyone by following the conve
rsation, even though his eyes were glued to the computer screen.

  “What’s so hard?” Lily asked. “You stick the food in their mouths, and they eat it.”

  Cassidy’s lips twitched, wondering how the conversation had gotten away from her. “Have you ever heard of good, old-fashioned, basic teddy bears, Zach? I mean whoever heard of a stuffed ostrich?”

  Leaning down so that his head touched the carpet, he critically eyed the wheel alignment of a boxcar. “We have teddy bears. I’m sure we do. Lily, where are the teddy bears?”

  “There’s nothing more basic and old-fashioned than children,” she mumbled in answer. “Children, yes sirree.”

  Cassidy caught Zach’s eyes as he straightened, and whispered to him, “Does Lily have something in particular on her mind?”

  He chuckled, and whispered back, “Lily doesn’t believe in keeping anything on her mind. She has a philosophy about sharing.”

  “Cassidy was born to be a mother,” Bobby said abruptly. “Look how well I turned out.” He immediately returned his attention to The Game. “This is awesome, Zach.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cassidy cleared his throat. “I thought we were talking about stuffed animals.”

  “After I finish my ikebana class. I’m thinking about signing up for a nanny class,” Lily said loudly to no one in particular.

  Cassidy colored in embarrassment at Lily’s, and even Bobby’s, comments. She hoped that Zach wasn’t equally embarrassed. In a relatively short time she had fallen deeply in love with him. But she didn’t believe in moving too fast. They had plenty of time…

  She looked over at him, and he winked.

  Her heart somersaulted with tenderness and love. She was well and truly lost, she thought, if such a simple gesture could make her feel so good.

  He took a rolled-up piece of paper from his pocket and put it in the open boxcar in front of him. Then he started the train. It made its circles and loops around the little town, up the sofa cushion, around a bowl of water that apparently represented a lake. Finally it stopped in front of her.

  She automatically reached for the tiny silver coal scoop, but then she noticed the rolled-up piece of paper.

  She glanced at him and saw an expectant expression on his face. She looked over at Lily and Bobby and saw the same expressions on their faces. “What - ”

  “It’s for you,” Zach said.

  She took the piece of paper from the boxcar and unrolled it. A large, dazzling diamond solitaire tumbled into her lap. “Good heavens, Zach. What is this?”

  “Your basic, old-fashioned engagement ring. It was my grandmother’s”

  “Your - ” Shock cut off her words. She looked down at the paper. It read, “Will you marry me?”

  “Well?” he said softly. “Will you marry me, Cassidy?”

  Pure unadulterated joy flooded through her with such a rush that her eyes filled with tears and emotion clogged her throat.

  “Yes, she will,” Bobby said, abandoning The Game with glee.

  “Of course she will,” Lily said emphatically.

  “Well?” Zach asked, his blue eyes twinkling more than she had ever seen them.

  “Yes,” she said happily, forgetting forever her thoughts about not moving too fast. “I will.”

  Bobby and Lily cheered and hugged each other.

  Zach surged to his feet, stepped over the tracks and the little town, and pulled her up into his arms. “I love you, Cassidy.”

  She blinked away her tears. “And I love you.” He drew away from her only long enough to slip the ring onto her finger.

  Over at the desk, Lily and Bobby fell into a discussion about which room would be his.

  The stuffed toys regrouped themselves around Cassidy’s legs.

  And Zach bent his head and kissed her, putting a seal on their future together, a future they both knew would be bursting with love, happiness, toys, stuffed animals, and lots of happy, healthy, giggling children.