by Tami Kidd
One more thing I didn’t know about Thomas. Mara swallowed before she could respond. “Thank you for your honesty.”
“You’re welcome. Mara, I want you to know how sorry I am about Thomas. He was a good man. He loved you very much. He talked about you all the time. What the two of you had was very special.”
No one said a word. Finally, Alex asked, “What assurances do we have that Mr. Gerard will not come after us when he doesn’t receive his payment?”
“Mr. Gerard will receive payment as promised. Therefore, he will have no reason to cause you or Mrs. Byrne any hardship. I’ll make it clear he’s to have no further contact with you.”
Shocked, Alex said, “Why would you still pay Gerard?”
“That’s my business, Mr. Strange. If I am correct, isn’t Mr. Gerard going to share his profit with you and Mrs. Byrne?”
“Yes, that was the plan, but—”
She waved her hand to dismiss him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m a woman of my word. I agreed to pay twenty-five million for the letter and I intend to honor my commitment.”
“Your choice,” Alex said. “I do have one last thing to ask you. I’ve been reading about discoveries you made regarding the Mayan Civilization. Does that have anything to do with the letter?”
“I see you’ve been doing research. Unfortunately, I cannot share that with you. It’s for your own safety. As soon as I get the letter, I will destroy it so the information cannot be revealed.”
“Then you won’t get the letter back,” Alex said without hesitation.
Color rose in Jessica’s cheeks. She blinked and took a deep breath. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Then tell us what is in the letter.”
She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in cupped hands, her mind deep in thought. “If I tell you what’s in the letter, then trust me, you will wish you had never asked. All I will tell you is the letter contains code to the coordinates of a location of great importance to millions of people.”
“Tell—”
“Stop!” Mara interrupted. “Alex, no more. Give her the letter.” She put her hand on his forearm and squeezed.
Alex looked at her in disbelief. His brows knitted together. “I—don’t you want to finish this?”
“It is finished. I want to go home.”
Dr. Foster held out her hand. Alex pulled the letter out of his back pocket and handed it to her. When she had the letter in her hands, she unfolded and read it.
“Thank you,” she said. Dr. Foster stood and took a shiny Zippo lighter out of her front pocket. She held it up to the letter and set it on fire. They watched it burn until nothing more than ashes fluttered away into the night.
The letter that had shattered Mara’s world, turned her life inside out, led her to this moment, simply vanished. She realized having the answers wasn’t always a good thing. Sometimes it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Alex looked at Mara with such tenderness and love, she felt it enfold her. He took her small, delicate hand in his and gave it a squeeze. She smiled and squeezed back. “Let’s go home.”
Twenty-Three
Alex read the statement in his hand for the fifth time. I’m not making any headway on this case. Both physically and mentally drained, his eyes crossed, and still nothing made sense. Time to call it a day.
He pressed the intercom and waited for Janet to answer.
“Yes, sir?”
“Go home, Janet. It’s Friday. Time to knock off. Do some Christmas shopping. I’ll see you Monday morning.”
“Are you sure? It’s only one o’clock.”
“I’m sure. Scoot before I change my mind.”
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll see you Monday. Have a good one.”
Alex snapped the intercom off. Good one? Ha. Since the day he and Mara returned home from New Jersey, this weekend would probably end up like the rest: lonely. Now that the case was closed, he had no idea why he thought she would want to have anything to do with him. After all, she still mourned the death of her husband—a husband who never had an affair. Twenty years of marriage that wasn’t a lie. Okay, maybe he did keep a few things from her…no, he kept a lot of things from her, but he was faithful.
With Christmas only a week away, he felt like crawling inside a deep hole until summer. He made a few attempts to call Mara after they had returned. She was always polite, but something seemed amiss. He could have sworn she had feelings for him. Did he misread the signals?
Alex did what any self-respecting man would do: he stopped calling her. If he didn’t call, he didn’t get rejected. He made up his mind to get on with his life and try to forget her. She had her life and he had his, and obviously they were not going to end up together.
His hands scrubbed his face. I must be getting old.
A tap on his office door made him jump. “I told you to scram, Janet. Why are you still here?”
Silence hung on for a minute. And then—
“It’s me, Mara. May I come in?”
Alex went pale. He held his breath, certain wishful thinking played havoc on his mind. Okay, it’s official. I’ve finally lost my mind.
“Alex?”
Alex regained his composure. “Uh, yeah, come on in.”
“Am I disturbing you?” Mara asked as she opened the door a few inches.
“No, I was about to head home for the day.”
“I’m sorry to drop in unannounced like this.” She looked at her feet. “But I was afraid if I called, you wouldn’t talk to me. Can I please have a few minutes of your time?”
Alex looked at her big brown eyes and couldn’t say no. “Yeah, sure. No problem.” His pulse must have jump-started into double time. Calm down before you have a heart attack.
Mara hesitated at the door before she stepped into the office. She looked like a beautiful angel waiting for judgment, solemn and fearful. “May I sit?”
Alex motioned for her to take a seat facing his desk. “Of course, sorry.”
She sat down and took a deep breath. “Alex, I wanted to come by to say I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” He hoped she took him seriously, not at all trying to be funny. Okay, I deserve it, but... Do I need to spell it out? He sensed her shame and how she wanted to hide, but decided to continue.
“Well, for ignoring you all this time.”
“Look, Mara, you don’t owe me any explanations. I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, sure I do. You’re not interested in me.”
“You’re wrong. Alex, I’m very interested in you.”
Alex lost his voice, uncertain what to say. Is she kidding? All this time goes by and she decides to pop in out of the blue to tell me she’s interested in me. He wasn’t sure whether to kick the wall or twirl around on one foot, his version of a happy dance. He finally found his voice. “Okay, I take it back. I don’t understand. If you’re interested in me, why’d you blow me off?”
“Look, I can give you all the excuses in the book for why I acted the way I did: mourning my husband, busy selling my house, moving into the new house, and tying up loose ends. The truth is, I was scared to death.”
“Scared? What were you afraid of?”
“Of my feelings for you. A wise person once told me that if my feelings for you resulted from losing Thomas, they would eventually go away. I had to find out for myself what these feelings really meant. I couldn’t do that if I saw or talked to you all the time. I had to put some distance between us to find out how I truly felt.”
Alex swallowed hard. “What did you find out?”
“The feelings I have for you are real. They haven’t faded away. I still miss Thomas, and even after everything I found out about his job and his past, I know our marriage was solid. He never cheated on me. I also know he would want me to be happy. I wanted you to know how I feel. I understand if you’re angry at me for ignoring you. If you don’t want to have anything to do with me, say the word, and I won’t both
er you again.”
Alex got up and walked to the chair where Mara sat. He held out his hand to her. She took it and stood to face him. Their eyes locked. He cupped her face. “I’ve been miserable without you. I may be a little upset with you for giving me the cold shoulder, but I love you, Mara. I told you a long time ago, when you were ready for a relationship, I wanted to be first in line. I haven’t changed my mind.”
Mara pulled him into her arms and kissed him.
His heart felt like it would burst when she squeezed him so tight. He thought he heard his ribs crack. Alex pulled back, smiled, and then kissed her like there was no tomorrow.
“Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. Right now, I’m as happy as a dung beetle on a cow patty.” He broke into his earth-shattering smile.
“I missed you so much,” Mara said.
“I missed you too. How ’bout we get out of here and go for a ride?”
“Sounds great. Would you like to go see my new house? Well, it’s actually a log cabin near Lake Arrowhead.”
“Wow, you found something in the country. Good for you. Have you moved in yet?”
“Yeah, I’ve been there a few weeks. Helen did an outstanding job. My new place is a dream. It has everything I wanted. So peaceful. I love it.”
“You should have called me to help you move your stuff.”
“Oh, I had plenty of help. My brother Noah drove in from Arkansas. He brought his two oldest boys to help. Since he couldn’t make it to Thomas’s funeral, he refused to take no for an answer. I loved seeing him again. I miss all my brothers. I’m going to make it a point to visit them more often.”
Alex kissed her forehead. “That’s wonderful. I’d like to meet them some day.”
They left the office hand in hand. Alex felt a twinge of nostalgia when they got into his truck. It felt like coming home. He started the engine. “Say, whatever happened with the movie deal?”
“They bought the movie option, so now it’s a waiting game. The odds that they will actually make a movie are slim. I know many authors who sold the movie rights to their books and the movie was never produced. That’s okay, because as long as they keep renewing the option, the money keeps rolling in.”
“Speaking of money, did you hear about our old pal, Larry Gerry?”
“Oh my God, yes. Convicted on ethic charges. They found millions in a Swiss bank account. He couldn’t explain where he got all that money, claiming it wasn’t his. Pretty clever of you, by the way, opening our account in his name. When he transferred the five million dollars into it, he actually transferred the cash into his own account.”
“Thanks. I do have my moments of genius.”
Mara hesitated. “So, there’s something else I’ve been dying to know.”
“Shoot.”
“Where did you hide the letter at the mall?”
Alex laughed, “Has that been bothering you all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you.” Alex merged onto Highway 91 toward San Bernardino. “Remember when I told you the cases I like the most are the ones where I help people connect with their family?”
“Yeah. What does that have to do with your hiding place in the mall?”
“Well, a few years back, a man came in asking me to help him find his biological mother. He worked as a janitor at the mall and had very little money, and was willing to give me his life savings if I’d help him find her. So, I took the job for next to nothing. We found his mother and they’ve been close ever since.”
“So, he helped you hide the letter?”
“Yep. I didn’t take his money, and he said if there was ever anything he could do for me to just ask. So, I figured the letter would be nice and safe in his locker.”
Mara shook her head. “What would you do without your friends?”
He winked at her and said, “Sweetie, I don’t ever want to find out.”
The End.
Here’s a sneak peek at
Deadly Deception
the exciting sequel to Deadly Discovery.
One
Mara Byrne placed a palm to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could disappear. Hot cheeks burned from embarrassment. Fear raged through her body. When a strange man in dark sunglasses and a sharp suit boarded the plane, her dream vacation turned into a nightmare.
****
Earlier, Mara had settled into her seat on the Boeing 747, excited to visit her family in Arkansas. The first part of the flight had gone smoothly, the June weather picture perfect. The calm, cloudless sky was a traveler’s dream. She even enjoyed engaging conversation with a good-looking young man who was a male nurse. While she sipped her diet coke, they compared notes about life in Arkansas, learning a little about his background. He sat across the aisle from her, and leaned over the armrest in an effort to distance himself from the bulky man seated beside him. Eventually he asked Mara if he could move to the empty seat next to her. She obliged, letting him join her.
Switching seats, the young man extended his hand. “Hi, my name is Calvin Lewis. Everybody calls me Cal.”
“Nice to meet you, Cal. I’m Mara Byrne.”
“Business or pleasure?” Cal asked.
“Pleasure.” Mara smiled.
“Good for you. Visiting family?”
“Yes, my brothers. How about you?” she asked.
“A little of both actually. I’m going to attend a workshop at the University of Arkansas Medical School in Little Rock, but I also hope to visit family in Hot Springs.”
Mara’s face brightened. “I’m from a small town just south of Hot Springs called Persimmon Hollow. Ever hear of it?”
“Oh, yeah. Nice little area.” Calvin’s words garbled somewhat as he crunched on ice from his drink.
“I can’t wait to see it. I haven’t been back there in years. I bet it’s changed a lot.”
A baby wailed a few rows behind Cal and Mara.
Cal leaned toward her, cupped his hand to one side of his mouth, and raised his voice. “How come you haven’t been back in years?”
“My husband’s career didn’t give us much time to travel. We were pretty much homebodies.”
“I guess that’s why he isn’t with you. He probably stayed home to work, huh?”
Mara paused for a beat. “No, he passed some time ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cal said. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Mara felt uncomfortable telling people about Thomas’s death. To her it seemed almost like a lie. Happily married for almost twenty years and then he was gone. The suddenness of his death still rocked Mara to her core. In her heart, Thomas wasn’t dead. He still lived inside her mind, existing in another dimension, somewhere unattainable. His death left her devastated. At first, unable to function, she didn’t allow herself the joy of writing, even though her friends and agent gently encouraged her to get back to what she loved. The heroine of her novels, Alex Strange, floated aimlessly in the dark recesses of her mind. Then one day, Mara read a passage she had written in one of her novels. It opened her eyes. To truly honor Thomas, she had to stop the downward spiral and survive.
Then Mara met Alex Strange, same name, but not the heroine in her books. A hero nonetheless. He took her on the wildest, most dangerous ride of her life. Together they searched for answers about Thomas’s past that haunted Mara after she found a mysterious letter in his belongings. The letter had ripped out her heart and made her doubt the foundation of her marriage. As part of the deception, it was written as a love letter to throw spying eyes off course. The letter held clues some would stop at nothing to possess.
Thankfully, the letter no longer existed. The author burned it to ashes to keep it from villainous hands. During the ordeal, Mara and Alex built the foundation of a strong relationship, one that could be long lasting.
Mara looked at the wedding ring that Thomas had slid on her hand so many years ago.
A symbol of their love, she twirled it around her slender finger, thankful that mystery was now behind her. So much had happened since his death. Yet, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
Awkward silence filled the air around Cal and Mara. Even the baby a few rows back stopped crying.
Cal opened his mouth to say something when a booming voice overhead interrupted him.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Captain Scott Mannis. We will be making an unscheduled landing shortly. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. We will try to keep our delay to a minimum. Thank you.”
Mara and Cal exchanged glances. Cal shrugged. Murmurs of concern from the passengers floated throughout the cabin. Her mind raced with her own worries. Driving from California to Arkansas didn’t seem like such a bad idea now. Before this, the thought of taking a road trip by herself proved daunting. If only Alex had come with her, then they could have taken turns driving. Instead, he had to stay behind to testify at a trial, promising to join her when he completed his obligation. Too late to worry about what-ifs now.
****
The 747 taxied down what appeared to be a rarely used, dust-covered runway in Cimmerian, Texas. The wind blew wildly. In the distance, Mara could see dust from the barren field whisking into the desolate, gray sky.
Cal moved back to his seat looking slightly green.
She guessed her coloring looked much the same. The landing had been rough, so she breathed in a deep sigh as the plane slowed and started its advance toward the gate. No covered gangways led to the terminal. Instead, a rolling stairs sat solemnly in the scorching sun, its glare radiating off the concrete made her squint. The small airport looked uninviting and bleak, an unwelcome impression for first-time visitors.
Mara did not get a sense that this was a friendly place. Clearly, the airport personnel had no interest in making the place an appealing tourist destination. Through her window, she saw a heavy, middle-aged woman in a tight, dark-blue airport uniform pretending to sweep near the only door leading into the terminal. The ashen tone of woman’s face matched the dusty haze of the sky. Chills spread over Mara’s body. Looking back, it felt like a lifetime had passed since she first labeled this a perfect flight and enjoyed the enlightening conversation. Lives really can change from one heartbeat to the next.
