by Tara Thomas
The papers loved to paint him as an egotistical philanderer, but she knew that more times than not, he’d rather spend his evenings at home. Besides, in the entire time she’d known him, she’d never seen or heard of him even taking a woman out to dinner, much less participating in anything anywhere near debauchery.
Kipling looked up from the purse. “Okay, I admit it. You’ve stumped me. Where is it?”
She was surprised he hadn’t located it and for the first time held out real hope that maybe whatever Allison had put in there, if anything, was still there.
She took the purse and shifted it in her hands, then flipped it over and exposed the hidden seam.
Kipling smiled. “I’m impressed.”
“Thank you, but what will truly be impressive is if we find anything inside.”
“Open it.”
She didn’t have to be told twice. Within seconds she had the compartment open. She took a deep breath and glanced at Kipling. He gave her a big smile of encouragement. Reaching into the space she’d made that was a little larger than a business-sized envelope, she honestly didn’t expect to feel anything and she froze when her fingers brushed paper.
“Alyssa?” Kipling asked.
“I feel something.”
He looked as shocked as she felt. “What is it? Take it out.”
Silently, she grabbed the papers and pulled them out. Someone, her sister she suspected, had them bound together with a rubber band.
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “It’s more than a sheet two.”
Excitement bubbled up in her stomach, but as she unfolded the documents, she felt something else. It was hope and she hadn’t experienced hope in a long time. And it felt good.
Looking through the stack of papers, the first thing that caught her eye was a handwritten note. She hadn’t seen her sister’s handwriting in a long time, and seeing it for the first time after so many years brought tears to her eyes.
“The note first?” she asked Kipling.
“I think so,” he said. “Are you okay?”
Obviously, he knew what a toll it took on her to see her sister’s handwriting. “Yes,” she said. “I’m more okay than I have been in a long time. I feel like we’re getting somewhere.”
“I agree.”
She picked up the note, and read out loud the first part:
This is my letter to the world;
That never wrote to me.
She looked up, unable to keep her eyes from filing with tears again. “She loved Emily Dickinson.”
I know that sounds horribly melodramatic, but it’s the truth as far as I see it, especially since I’ve been an unwed teenaged mother. However, this could be one of the last things I do, so I think I’m entitled to act a bit melodramatic.
I don’t know who’s reading this. But I kind of hope it’s Alyssa. Whoever you are, I’m probably now dead. I have only one thing to ask. Please, if it is at all possible, please don’t let him get Jade. She is all that is good and right with the world and he will destroy her. Please, please, please keep her away from him.
I’ve always heard to start at the beginning and while that’s good advice, I’m not really sure where the beginning is. I’ll start at when I came back. Why did I? For one, I thought Franklin might be interested in seeing his daughter. Apparently, he was not. He wouldn’t even see me, much less Jade. I don’t know why I was surprised. I told him when I called that I knew I should have gone by his house first. He got very angry and said he didn’t want to see me or his daughter again.
And then, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I went home. They wouldn’t let me see Alyssa and then I was told neither I nor my child was welcome in their home.
That’s how I ended up here, at the homeless shelter. It wasn’t my first choice, but I have a four-year-old and she needs to eat and have a bed to sleep in. So there I am feeling all sorry for myself and then he showed up. I called him my Miracle Man. I was too blind to see then, but he only had eyes for Jade.
At first, though, he was everything I wanted. He said his name was Howard and he was friends with Franklin. He leaned close, like he was going to tell me a secret and whispered that he knew that his friend always wanted a daughter. Then came the best part, he would let me stay at his house while we planned how to approach Franklin.
I knew something was off as soon as we moved in. It wasn’t a typical house. I mean, it was a house, right in the historic district and everything. I guess what I mean is, it’s not like a home. And there were all these strange men walking in and out at all hours. I asked him about it once and he just said they were business associates. I think he knew I didn’t believe him.
But there were long stretches when he was gone, so one day when he was out and there wasn’t anyone else walking around, I decided to snoop. And that’s when I found out the truth. He goes by The Gentleman. And he is mean and awful, evil and vicious. I should have known something wasn’t right when he kept brushing me off whenever I brought up Franklin, but it wasn’t until he told me to shut the fuck up about Franklin that I knew he would never approach him and I got scared and started to snoop.
Now I wish I hadn’t. I feel sick just thinking about the things he’s done and what he’s planning to do. I took what I dared, to have some proof if I ever got out of here, but that’s looking less and less likely. I think his office has cameras and if that’s the case, he knows I know. So I’m doing this for Jade now.
These papers are the confirmation that he plans on having Franklin killed. He’s going to make it look like an airplane accident. He’s still working out the how and when details, but trust me, the enclosed docs have what you need if you look hard enough. One is an email from Howard confirming Franklin’s travel plans. Another is Howard sending that confirmation to an unknown third party telling him the plan to take out Franklin was to move forward.
The other thing you should know about him is that he is running several businesses. But not the kind you’re thinking of. His are storefronts for people to shop for women. I don’t think I need to expand on that.
I started this out by saying this was my letter to the world. I was wrong. My letter to the world is Jade.
* * *
“That’s all,” Alyssa whispered. She blinked the tears out of her eyes and tried not to think about how she’d failed both her sister and her niece. She wasn’t sure what she had expected to find when she looked his way, but it most certainly was not the look of absolute horror she found. “Kipling?”
“Howard.” He spoke the name through clenched teeth.
“What?” she asked, too caught up in memories of her sister to make sense of what he said.
“Howard Germain. He has to be the person who was appointed as Jade’s guardian.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it until now. Especially after we discussed how odd it was Elise knew we had a sister.”
One by one, several pieces of the puzzle that made up the case fell into place and yet, with each seemingly answered question, two more popped up in its place. And how much more must Kipling feel that same thing? Howard Germain was a longtime friend of the family.
God, what a mess.
“Why didn’t your parents get custody of Jade?” Kipling asked. “They should have, right? Why didn’t they?”
Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t know. They never even mentioned a granddaughter.” Her stomach twisted at the thought that her mom had rejected he own flesh and blood. She jumped up.
“What?” Kipling asked.
“There has to be paperwork somewhere, right? I’m going to rip this place apart until I find it.”
He didn’t say anything, but simply followed her. There were three possible places she thought the paperwork might be: their safe deposit box, her mother’s bedside table, or the safe they kept their important papers in. She opted to try the safe first since it was closer and she didn’t want to go into her mother’s bedroom if she didn’t have to.
Sh
e found them in the very bottom of the safe, buried under a handful of two dollar bills.
“Oh my, God.” She passed the court documents to Kipling. “Part of me hoped they had nothing to do with it, but they did. They gave her to him.”
“Bastard didn’t even give her his name.” Kipling read through the pages quickly. “Kaja Jade German. What an ass.”
“No wonder she feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere.” Overwhelming sadness that she’d somehow failed both her sister and her niece washed over her. Next to her, Kipling reached for his phone, but his expression told her he felt the same.
“I’m going to fix this,” he vowed. “No matter what.”
She only hoped it wasn’t too late.
“Knox,” Kipling said into the phone. “Howard Germain.”
He didn’t need to explain, she heard the middle Benedict brother’s curses through the phone. Kipling glanced over at Alyssa. “We’re at Alyssa’s parents’ house. We just found some information that her sister had left hidden in a purse. It indicated he was the guardian and a lot more.” He shuffled through the pages. “We believe she also has the evidence that we need to prove he was behind the airplane accident as well as some trafficking operations allegations, but nothing that would hold up in court. Of course, we won’t know anything until we can get somewhere to look at it properly.”
From the other end of the phone came a low whistle. “I can’t believe he’s into all that,” said Knox.
“We can’t, either. It’s like the man we thought we knew never existed.”
“There’s something else,” Knox said.
“More than what we’ve already learned?” Kipling asked. “I don’t know if I can process much more. Hold on, let me put you on speaker.”
“This is important. You two have been staying at the beach place?”
“Yes.”
“I was getting ready to call you. Germain knows about it and he has bought all the surrounding property.”
Alyssa was positive that her expression mirrored Kipling’s. He had been so certain no one knew the place existed.
“How long has he owned them?” Kipling asked.
“It’s hard to tell with any certainty.” Knox was typing from the sound of it. “From the online records they appear to switch hands a few times but I can’t determine if these are real businesses or are just more fabrications like Finition Noire. If we assume that they are, he’s owned the land for over ten years. If it’s just since he’s been listed, maybe a handful.”
“Either way it’s not good,” Kipling said.
“I agree,” Knox said. “I don’t think you two should go back there.”
“I agree, we won’t. I don’t know where we can go that’s safe. I’m not coming to the house. If he comes after us, I don’t want us all together. I’m fairly certain he’s after Alyssa and myself now so I’d like to keep the focus off you guys. Benedict House is the best place for all of you. I don’t think you should split, but don’t go out if you don’t have to. Make sure Keaton and Tilly are adequately protected and don’t let Bea out of your sight.”
“Never doubt it.”
“I’ll call in and keep you updated when I can.”
The brothers hung up after saying good-bye. Alyssa couldn’t help looking over at Kipling. “What are we going to do?” she asked.
But he only shook his head. “I wish I knew what to tell you.”
Kipling had never felt more worthless. If it had only been him, it would be okay. Well, maybe not okay, but at least he could handle it better. He stood up and walked to the window. But it wasn’t only him, he wanted to support Alyssa. Not to mention ensure his younger brothers and Tilly and Bea were all safe. Most of all, Jade.
On that front he felt like a complete failure.
He looked out over the expanse of the neighborhood, watched people walking around with their normal lives. Looking as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. And for them, it probably wasn’t. He’d never wanted so much to switch places so badly before in his entire life.
Alyssa came up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. He leaned back toward her and she wrapped his arms around him.
“I would say it’ll be okay,” she said. “But I don’t know that it will. However, I do know that we’re in it together.”
He took her hand. “That means a lot more than you think it does. Thank you.”
“I don’t think we should stay here,” she said.
“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t want to put your parents in any danger.”
“I guess we can’t go to Benedict House, either.”
“Correct.”
“How do you think he knew about the beach place?”
“I’m not sure.” he said. “It’s possible Mom told him about it. I know they were all at the same college. I’m not sure how close Mom was to Howard.” He sighed deeply. “And I don’t know where we should go, either. Anywhere we go, we’ll put people in danger. The other option is to sleep in my car.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “How are you at camping?”
“Horrible,” she said. “If I hadn’t left the force, we could have asked for a safe house. Not that I think one would be safe. I’m not sure the police department isn’t in on this with him.”
“Yes, I agree with you on that. Let’s look at this rationally. What are our objectives?”
“Get Jade back.”
“Yes,” he said. “In order to do that, we have to know where she’s being kept. Unfortunately, whoever is keeping her—Germain, I assume—hasn’t contacted me lately. Knox is trying to track him down, but isn’t having any luck so far.”
“The other thing we need to do,” she said, “is to bring him down as well, but I don’t think we have information to do that yet, either.”
“Right.”
“So what do you think we should do?”
“If you think you’re up to it, I propose we go to the homeless shelter. The one your sister was at. Make it out to be like a little unannounced visit of Benedict Industries. We’ll do a little bit of snooping, and see what we find.”
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 11
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
As far as parties went, Howard Germain rated this one a solid six out of ten. Based on the time, he didn’t think this one had any chance of redemption. He was ready to call it a night. Kappa Sigma had one planned tomorrow night. Maybe it would be better. He headed to the door.
“Howard.”
He turned to his best friend and roommate, Franklin Benedict. It was highly unlikely Frank wanted to walk back to their apartment together since he’d broken up with his latest side piece of fluff. No, if he knew Frank, and he felt as if he did after living with him for two years, he’d be looking for a new bed to enjoy for an hour or two. Odds were in his favor he’d find it.
“Benedict.” Howard nodded in the direction of his friend. “What are you still doing vertical?”
Frank laughed as if it was the funniest joke he’d ever heard. “I found her, man.”
“Found who?”
“The future Mrs. Benedict, of course.”
Howard simply played along. He’d been introduced to future Mrs. Benedicts for as long as he could remember. It was almost a certainty there was nothing special about this one. But, to please his friend, he looked up when Franklin said she was over near the speakers.
He didn’t say anything for several seconds. He wasn’t sure he breathed.
The woman standing near the speakers took his breath away. It was more than her looks, though she was certainly beautiful. It was her entire being. The way she stood, the way she smiled; hell, even the way she tilted her head to the left a bit as she talked to the women around her.
He could see why she caught Frank’s eye. He preferred blondes and hers looked completely natural. Nothing like those out-of-the-bottle jobs so many of the women he went out with had.
“Come on,
” Frank said. “Let’s go introduce ourselves. I see Lisa just walked up to her.”
Lisa being one of the women he’d dated for six hours and then left.
“You sure you want to go up to her while Lisa’s up there? Aren’t you afraid she’ll tell her something so she won’t go out with you?”
“Lisa and I parted on good terms.”
“I get the feeling your definition of ‘good terms’ doesn’t mesh so well with mine.”
Frank punched him in the arm, but Howard wasn’t joking.
The crowd wasn’t as heavy as it’d been just an hour ago. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought the current party lacked something vital. But the small crowd only meant it took them less time to make their way to where the girls were.
“Ladies,” Frank said as he approached the small group.
As it turned out, Frank did walk home with Howard that night and he would sleep alone. But he had a dinner date for the next weekend with Helen (or the future Mrs. Benedict as he kept calling her) and that was all he talked about as they made their way home.
“What do you think?” he asked Howard at one point in the conversation.
Howard knew he really didn’t care one way or the other about what his roommate thought of his newest love interest. Likewise, Howard didn’t feel like discussing his thoughts about Helen with the guy he knew would be over her in a matter of weeks.
So instead of agreeing with Frank that yes, she was gorgeous and no, he’d never seen bluer eyes on anyone, he answered truthfully.
“I think I hate you.”
* * *
“I think we have a problem,” Alyssa said about five minutes after they left her parents’ house, as they drove along the highway to the homeless shelter.
Kipling glanced over at her. Every so often she was looking at the rearview mirror. When she wasn’t looking there, she was looking at the passenger-side mirror. “What do you see?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
His heart started to pound, and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. His gaze flickered to the rearview mirror. He didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
