“I’m still not sure I understand how that fact gives her that knowledge,” he said, pushing away the thoughts of the damage Aiden and Zoe had caused one another.
“He might have tried to reach out to her if he thought he had nothing to lose,” she started. “Based on what Agent Boon has said about Allan Peters and what they’ve pieced together of his history, she knows the truth about him and who he really is. Maybe part of what drove them apart was the lying. If he doesn’t have to lie or if he’s ready to try and make a fresh start, he might think she’d be interested in joining him. She loved him too; she had to have to put up with what she did for as long as she did. Maybe she still does.”
“And if she does, why would she give him away?”
Zoe sighed in frustration. She knew Mason was only trying to help by playing Devil’s Advocate, but she still hated to have something she was so certain of attacked. She’d questioned enough of her thoughts and decisions over the last few months; she wasn’t in the mood for others to question her judgment as well. “Maybe she doesn’t and she’d turn him in to get revenge. Or maybe he hasn’t contacted her at all. She still might have a better idea than anyone else. Again, she did know the truth about him all along. Maybe not the embezzling or that he had something to do with my mom’s death and Mr. and Mrs. Butler’s deaths, but she knew what he did before coming out to California.”
Mason was willing to concede that point and gave Zoe a nod of approval. She rolled her eyes but felt the flicker of indignation begin to ebb. “Haven’t the police or the FBI talked to her already? I mean, what you’re saying makes sense,” he amended under Zoe’s narrow gaze. “But it just strikes me as something they would have thought of themselves and tried already.”
“They haven’t been able to find her yet,” Zoe said with a smirk. “They’re pretty good about figuring out who committed certain crimes but when it comes to finding and apprehending anyone, they seem to lose whatever competence they possess.”
Mason chuckled. It was a jaded perspective but not entirely wrong – at least not with regards to Zoe’s limited personal experience. It seemed odd to him that the FBI with their extensive resources hadn’t managed to track the woman down. Given who she was in relation to a man they’d been trying to capture for more than twenty years, it seemed like something they should have managed by now.
“My guess is she doesn’t want to be found,” he remarked. “By anyone. Peters or the authorities. And I can’t say I blame her for that.”
“Not at all,” Zoe agreed. “But that doesn’t mean she cut off all ties to her former life. She would have wanted to know how Lucas was doing, after all.” Zoe’s confident air had returned and she began to spin a little from side to side in her comfy chair.
“What do you know?” Mason asked suspiciously.
“I’m pretty sure she stayed in touch with my Dad,” Zoe told him. “And if she did, then somewhere in his things is the phone number, email address, something we can use to get in touch with her. After all, he was her friend too and who better to let her know how Lucas was doing than his father’s best friend.”
“Have you started looking for it yet?” Mason was leaning forward in his chair now.
Zoe sat up straighter as they began to get down to the logistics of what she hoped to accomplish. “I wanted to talk to you first. I thought you might have come across something while you were going through his things.”
“If I did, I didn’t know what it was,” he said with a chuckle. “We can start going through things in the morning after you’ve had time to rest. Now come on. I’m taking you home.”
“I drove myself,” she objected.
“Perfect. I took the car service. You can drive us home.”
****
Aiden had locked the door to his tiny office and was sitting on the floor behind his desk so no one would see him from the door’s small window. He was shaking with a confusing mixture of rage and desire. The strong perfumed scent of her clung to his suit jacket and was giving him a headache. He’d grossly underestimated the way his body would react to seeing Zoe again. It was true, rumors of her return had given him time to prepare mentally, but there was no way he knew that could have kept the warm nearness of her body from sending off a reaction that had him sweating, trembling, and holding his briefcase in front of his groin for the entire walk back to his office. It was humiliating and disappointing and left him wanting her that much more.
But she had left him, abandoned him, just when he needed her most. And sure, what Jack said about how difficult and painful it was to be around him in those first days, weeks after his accident made sense. Still, he told himself that he would have understood and appreciated that she needed some space to process everything. I’m not unreasonable, he thought. But did she have to leave the country? Not a single visit in months. There was a difference between needing space and running away. Zoe had run away.
He tried to focus on the sense of betrayal, of the ache in his chest that came from being around her, hoping it would calm the raging pulsing of his blood. As the heat began to subside, he sighed.
She’d looked good. She didn’t look particularly well rested or tan but he’d already known she wasn’t the kind of person who found relief from emotional turmoil sunbathing on a beach. From what he’d strategically overheard, she had spent most of the last few months travelling Europe. How long had she been back? She didn’t appear too jetlagged and she certainly hadn’t flown in that clinging green dress. His breathing grew shallow again at the image of the forest green garment hugging the curves he remembered so vividly. The color was a perfect complement to the fiery hair flowing down her back and over her shoulders; even in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the elevator it shone and flickered like a live flame.
Betrayal. Abandonment. Not the silkiness of her thighs and calves as her legs rode up along his, squeezing his hips. Loneliness. Rejection. The physical pain after the accident. Those moments as he was losing control of the vehicle when he believed he’d never have the chance to tell her how he really felt.
Aiden regained control of himself long enough to stand and stagger as he gathered his things. It was still several hours until quitting time but he had to get away. He peeked into Mrs. Henry’s office next door.
“Mr. Butler, are you all right?” she asked when she looked up from an account file on her desk.
“That’s what I came to talk to you about,” he mumbled. “I’m not feeling well. I was going to head home and hope it passes. I’m bringing home the accounts—”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Henry interrupted, rising and holding a hand out for the materials that were sticking out from under his arm. He hadn’t bothered to store them in the briefcase yet. “Get some rest. We don’t need you ending up in the hospital with another attack. Better to do what you can to stop them before they start.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Henry,” he said, relieved of another burden. He felt guilty about skipping out like that when the Accounts Department was finally catching up on their backlog, but he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on doing any work at home. He’d be fending off questions from Jack and his grandmother from the moment he walked through the door. It wouldn’t take long for them to guess what had happened.
Aiden took the stairs to avoid the elevator, just in case.
Chapter 30
Amelia slept through the early breakfast Lizzie made for Zoe and Mason. She woke to the sounds of them in Steve’s study, going through the drawers filled with personal files and paperwork that had little if anything to do with Dunmore Corp.
“Morning,” she yawned in the doorway. Zoe was sitting upright in the chair while Mason was pulling things off of the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases. He was blocked from Amelia’s view by the desk. “I feel as though I have slept for a week, could sleep for another week, and would still be tired.”
“It’ll wear off in a few days,” Zoe assured her. “Food helps. Lizzie’s probably keeping somet
hing warm for you in the kitchen.”
Mason leaned on one arm so that he could peer around the corner of the desk without rousing himself from his spot on the floor. It wasn’t the easiest position to get up from. He could only see Amelia’s bare feet peeking out from some oversized pajamas.
The movement caught Amelia’s attention and startled her. She jumped back into the hallway and sent a questioning look to Zoe. “Who is that?” she mouthed to Zoe.
Zoe laughed and reached a hand down to help pull Mason up. “Mason, this is Amelia Barington. Amy, this is my friend, Mason Hamilton that I told you about.”
Amelia took a few cautious steps back into the study. She crossed her arms over her chest, very much aware suddenly that she was not wearing a bra, that she hadn’t showered in at least two days, and she was almost certainly a creased and rumpled mess; she couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept for almost eighteen hours straight.
“Hey,” Mason said brightly.
“Hello,” Amelia responded with less enthusiasm.
“Well, I guess that does it for introductions,” Zoe said with her eyes darting back and forth between Mason’s and Amelia’s expressions. “Come on, Amy. I’ll show you the way to the kitchen.”
Before they’d made it all the way down the hall Amelia had pulled her friend to a stop. “Do you think you could point me in the direction of a bathroom with a shower or a tub first? I would rather wait to eat until I have stopped smelling of airport.”
Zoe smiled and turned in a different direction. “Whatever you say. I was thinking – when you’re showered, fed, and anything else – we could head into the office. I need to meet with the Board to get my position back and you need to start learning your way around.”
“Oh,” Amelia said with a stifled yawn. She hadn’t known Zoe for long, but one of the first things she’d learned about her new friend was that Zoe liked to jump into things quickly. She was a young woman who’d offered to share a hotel room with a complete stranger after less than ten minutes conversation, and that was only the beginning of their friendship. Amelia was more comfortable with taking things slow, with putting off making changes until it was almost too late. Maybe trying things Zoe’s way wouldn’t be so bad. It had worked for Amelia so far – though she wasn’t sure she was embracing Zoe’s way of life so much as being dragged along for the ride.
“It isn’t a rush,” Zoe assured her. She directed Amelia through her own bedroom and into the attached bathroom. There were two other full baths in the house; one was part of the master suite that had been used by her father and the other was right next to the guest room Mason used. Zoe had always thought women had a habit of taking over bathroom space but Mason… “We’ll be in the study when you’re ready. I’ll have Lizzie send Amelia with a breakfast tray in about a half hour. There are towels in that cabinet there and you can use any of the hair products and soaps you see. There’s a spare bathrobe on the back of the door there,” she pointed and began backing out of the bathroom.
“Thanks,” Amelia said, blushing.
“Don’t mention it,” Zoe smiled.
Closing the door behind her, Zoe started back across her bedroom toward the hallway. A stack of envelopes on the dresser caught her eye. She hadn’t noticed them the evening before – she’d been too tired and distracted with thoughts of Aiden to even remove her sun dress before collapsing across the bed. She’d been rather single-minded again that morning as her stomach dragged her out of bed for breakfast on the terrace.
Zoe picked the stack up and started to look through them. They appeared to be condolence letters and sympathy cards that had flooded in after her father’s accident. She only opened about three or four before she set them aside for later. The pain had been too fresh and while she appreciated the sentiments, the task of reading through the grief of others was more than she could bear.
Was she ready to begin the task now?
She carried the stack back to her father’s study where Mason was now behind the desk looking through an address book. “Might have found exactly what we’re looking for,” he said with a grin. “Do you think he’d put her in here under Warner or her maiden name? Did she go back to her maiden name after she divorced?”
“No clue,” Zoe said, taking a seat on the other side of the desk and sorting through the envelopes. She sorted them into piles. Distant relatives, business associates, neighbors. She stalled on one bearing Aiden’s address. The date of the postmark was when he was still in the hospital so it was almost surely the work of his grandmother. She put that one in its own pile. She’d look at it first – or last, she hadn’t quite decided which.
“I think I found it,” Mason said excitedly. “There’s an address in Los Angeles that’s been crossed out and replaced with one in Sacramento but that’s been crossed out too. The phone number’s the same though. Shall we try it?”
Zoe set the last few envelopes from the stack to the side and reached for the landline phone on the desk. Her throat was a little dry. She swallowed a few times. “What should I say? ‘Hey Diane, it’s Zoe Dunmore. Remember me? You might not have seen the news but your ex killed my dad. Do you happen to know where he might be hiding?’ How do I do this?”
Mason’s brow furrowed for a moment. “Find out where she’s living and see if she’ll meet with you in person. Say it’s to talk about old times. Or that you have some things of your father’s you think she might want – no, that he left to her. The lawyers are finally getting his estate sorted out and you’d like to bring them to her personally.”
Zoe nodded as she dialed the number Mason pointed out. She licked her lips and cleared her throat a few more times while she heard the ringing on the other end. After three rings an automated voice came on to inform her that the number had been disconnected. She tried redialing three more times but it was no use.
She slammed the hand held unit back into its charging base and was tempted to throw the whole thing against the wall. That had been her best chance of finding Uncle David.
Mason guessed at the source of her frustration. “We can still give this to Agent Boon,” he suggested, holding up the address book. “They might be able to trace her using the old addresses.”
“It could be disconnected because Uncle David went back for her and she’s off with him,” Zoe snapped in frustration. She reached for the pile of envelopes, wanting desperately to destroy something. The pile from business associates was thick but they were also the ones she cared about least. It took some effort on her part to get through the middle of the entire stack. The muscles in her forearms throbbed from the expended effort. But it wasn’t enough.
She searched through the unsorted ones, selected a card from Hamilton Group. Mason must have mentioned her father’s death to his father. She knew Mason would understand. In fact, glancing up, he seemed to be enjoying her childish display. She ripped open the envelope and tossed the unread card in Mason’s direction, quickly shredding the envelope into confetti. That was a little better. She pulled another from the unsorted pile. It had no return address. She checked the interior of this card to see whom it was from and an additional note fell into her lap.
Zoe jumped to her feet with a loud gasp. Mason was at her side in an instant, looking over her shoulder as she skimmed the card and note. It was from Diane. According to the card she wanted to tell Zoe how much her father’s continued friendship in the wake of her divorce with David had meant to her. The note went into greater detail.
Zoe,
Your father was more than just and understanding friend to me. He was my eyes and my voice of reason where Lucas was concerned. I know Lucas has behaved poorly in many respects, especially towards you, and as his mother I feel it my duty to apologize. I also wish to apologize for keeping so much of the truth from both you and your father. He complied with my requests for discretion and assisted me on several occasions without ever asking for an explanation. I regret that I can no longer thank him personally
and, given David’ role in all this, wish I had revealed the truth while there was still time.
I’m sure you don’t need me to explain about David to you anymore either. The FBI will undoubtedly have done that. Know that I made him promise to discontinue with that way of life when I learned I was pregnant with Lucas. I do not know how long he kept his promise. I worried for a long time about leaving him, believing that if I did so he might no longer concern himself with keeping his word to me. Now, I suspect he’d broken it long before I finally left.
I want you to know that I am here for you, Zoe, if you should ever need someone to talk to. I doubt you’ll want to, now you know the truth, but I’m here if you need me, nonetheless. I’d like to watch over you for Steve the way he watched over Lucas for me.
Diane
Alongside the signature was a telephone number. Zoe turned the envelope over and checked the postmark. Philadelphia. It was a start.
Chapter 31
Lucas sat in his apartment trying to decide what to do. He had run into some problems after hitting his mother’s Sacramento address. He’d driven all the way to Phoenix and the next apartment in what was becoming an alarmingly long chain. No one there recognized the name Diane Warner or could give him any account of a woman fitting her description. Most of the tenants had simply moved into the building too recently to be of any use. Of course, he’d been hoping to find his mother still living there, but he was beginning to get the feeling she didn’t stay any one place too long.
There was one woman who’d lived in the building for close to fifty years, but she was supposed to be losing it upstairs. Still, he’d talked with her and the description of his mother seemed familiar to the elderly woman. Unfortunately, she was terrible with names and got her stories jumbled in the telling. Lucas had thought he was hearing a tale about his mother’s encounter with a presumptive employer who insisted on walking her home when she worked late but it turned out the woman was talking about herself. “I slammed the door in his face, I did. Thought about quitting each time it happened but I couldn’t do that. Couldn’t let him win,” she rambled.
Promised Box Set Page 32
