“And your half brother. He works for you, but does not own any portion of the corporation itself.”
“That’s correct.”
“Mr. Bryant, we’d like to keep you alive.” A long pause ensued. Then Detective Newcastle said, “It was a rather sophisticated, but small, bomb. The kind of thing you see when rival gangs reach a new level of turf war. They meant business.”
“But this isn’t how the plane went down?” Kelsey reiterated.
“No. I’d say that was the destructive work of a talented amateur who knew just enough.”
“But you think these attacks were related,” Jarred put in.
“Yes. I do. I just don’t know how or, at this juncture, why. Has anything more come to you about Chance Rowden?”
“No.”
“Nothing?”
Jarred hesitated. “I dreamed about him.” “What was the dream?”
Jarred reluctantly told Newcastle about Chance supposedly being in his office. He finished by saying, “Maybe I’m just trying to come up with an explanation.”
Newcastle ran over a few more points a final time but he couldn’t get what he wanted from Jarred, so he lumbered to his feet. Kelsey walked him to the front door. “Are you planning to stay here tonight?” Newcastle asked, referring to the hammering and pounding.
“No. We’re going to the Four Seasons Olympic.”
“Good idea.”
When she return to Jarred, he was on his feet and staring through the windowpanes of the den to the black water of the lake far below. Firelight flickered on his jean-clad legs. He looked tense and stern.
Swallowing, Kelsey said, “I think I’ll pack my overnight bag now.”
He nodded. “I want to see the Rowdens. Maybe as soon as tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” She shivered. “Are you really up for this?”
“I think I’m going to have to be,” he said grimly, turning toward her. She moved forward and curved beneath the familiar warmth of his embrace, gazing up at him. He kissed her lightly, absently. “Now let’s get to the Olympic and try to find a way to sleep. Starting tomorrow, I’m back at work.”
They took a cab to the hotel because Kelsey’s Explorer, though still able to run, was charred, skewered with bits of shrapnel, and generally unfit for the road. Being back at the Olympic Four Seasons so soon after her dinner with Gwen was a bit like coming home for Kelsey. But instead of reflecting on moments from those first, uncertain years of her marriage, this time she enjoyed the warmth and security of being held close by a husband, who seemed to love her anew. Still, in the unfamiliar room, she kept waking up, startled, heart racing, tense, and ready to bolt. Jarred, too, slept lightly, and at those times when they would both awaken, he would wrap himself around her and the moment would pass.
Fear seemed to have settled in Kelsey’s bones, and when she examined the feeling, she realized it was fear for him. The fear of losing something she’d just rediscovered.
The following morning, Jarred got dressed for work. Neither of them said too much about the events of the night before. In the cab on the way to work, they sat in silence, lost to their own thoughts. Kelsey planned to walk into the office with Jarred, then head to the house and see how Felix and Mr. Dog were doing. Even though the garage had been secured in the night, she dreaded the idea of walking into the house alone. Her whole world felt as if it had been invaded.
As they headed up the elevator together, Kelsey threw Jarred a look. His expression was grim and determined. Something had happened to him. The explosion had started his engines, and he was no longer willing to wait for complete recovery. Whether this was good or bad, she couldn’t say, but one glance at his hard face and she knew better than to argue.
And she realized she wanted to help him learn the truth. She wanted to be his ally. His coinvestigator. Though he’d asked her to be his eyes and ears while he was recovering, now she wanted a more active role—one he would certainly object to. With last night’s attack still so fresh in his mind, he wouldn’t want to risk her safety. Still, she could be of help to him. And that was what she planned to do.
“Mr. Bryant!” Meghan called upon seeing him in the outer hallway. “Oh, my. You look wonderful. I hope this means you’re back for good!” Her enthusiasm was genuine.
“I’d say so,” he answered her with a smile.
Kelsey could tell how much it bothered him to use the cane, but it was still a necessity.
Gwen was the next employee they met. Seated at her desk in the anteroom outside his office, she glanced up in utter surprise, staring at him as if seeing the proverbial ghost. “Jarred!” she choked out. A hand flew to her mouth. For a moment, Kelsey thought she was going to cry. Then she pulled herself together and scrambled to her feet, giving him a self-conscious hug. “I’m so glad to see you. So glad. How are you? You look… great!”
“Thanks,” he said. Then, recognizing her deep anxiety, he asked, “And how are you doing, Gwen?”
“Fine. Good.” She bobbed her head. She half laughed. “I hope you don’t mind, but with that cane—-well, you’re the spitting image of your father!”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said, and Kelsey realized Gwen had not yet seen the terrible deterioration of Jonathan Bryant’s health.
The word spread and the company’s employees came like a horde into his office to wish him well. Sarah stood to the back of the room, surveying the group like a reigning queen. Will popped his head in, winked at his brother and left.
As soon as the crowd began to disperse, Jarred said, “So where’s your office?”
“I’m sharing Will’s.”
“I thought they were putting you in an office near mine.”
“There was talk of that, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Promptly he made his first order of business finding her a new space. A small, sometime conference room down the hall from his office became hers within the hour, and Kelsey moved her belongings into the private space, appreciating Jarred’s effort. Maybe this will work out, she thought, realizing that now she was a normal, regular employee whose boss just happened to be her husband.
It was so close to her one-time dream that a shiver of something like premonition slid down her back. Could anything like this last?
“I’m going to check on Felix and Mr. Dog as soon as I’m settled here,” she said, sticking her head inside his office later that morning. “You okay?”
“Better than okay.” His hand had been on the receiver of the phone, but he set it back down and motioned her over. “I should have come back last week. Too much is going on for me to just sit back and wait for it to happen.”
Jarred’s direct line rang. “They know you’re back,” Kelsey observed.
“Probably Nola again. I let her know what happened, and she’s been damn near hysterical. But it’s bound to hit the news.”
Kelsey nodded.
“Want me to go to the house with you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He frowned. “You sure?”
“Yes,” she said, giving him the benefit of a smile to prove, though it was a lie, that returning to the house was no problem at all.
“Could you wait?” she asked the taxi driver as she climbed from his cab. “I just want to check on some things. Then I’m going to need a ride to a car rental company.”
“What happened here?” he asked, staring at the boarded-up garage.
“An accident,” she said, beginning to hate that word.
She hurried to the front door. Fumbling with the keys, she entered the foyer and stood still. The house felt cold. Kelsey rubbed her hands together, checked the thermostat, then hugged both pets. Felix scrambled from her overenthusiastic embrace but Mr. Dog licked her arms and face and stayed close.
I can’t sleep here, she thought, hating herself for her own cowardice. Not until the garage was completely repaired. Not until the shards of metal sticking into the Explorer were removed and the SUV’s charred exterior wa
s buffed out and repainted. Not until I felt safe.
She knewing she should hurry; nevertheless she walked outside onto the back deck and stared down the hill toward the water. A winding trail with a series of brick stairs zigzagged down to the dock. She debated for a moment on traversing her way to the lake, because she needed some time to think away from the house. But the flirty wind that caught at her hair and blouse dissuaded her. Too cold. Too slippery. Outside of her security.
And where’s the brave woman who earlier vowed to help her husband solve this mystery?
After locking the doors, she returned to the taxi and gave the cabbie the car rental company’s address. Once she was behind the wheel of a clean, but rather well-used dark blue sedan she drove to the site of Jarred’s town houses, not far from Trevor’s Phase One and only a half mile away from Phase Two. On an impulse she checked in at the model, hoping to find Tara, but the door was locked and no one was around. Disappointed, she retraced her steps and wandered through the Bryant Industry town houses. The units were at the Sheetrock stage, and all the decisions for fixtures, hardware, etc., had already been made. Kelsey had okayed several invoices and had changed others, but her work, until the model needed to be furnished, was basically done.
Back at Bryant Industries she stood outside Jarred’s door but she could hear him talking animatedly on the telephone. Not wanting to interrupt, she turned back to her new office. She’d give him another half hour. Clearly, he was flourishing in his regular milieu—a thought that left her with a feeling of uneasiness she didn’t want to explore.
Around five o’clock, there was a knock on her door. She looked up. Sarah stood there. “Hello,” Kelsey greeted her, instantly on the alert.
Coming inside, Sarah closed the door behind her, sending all Kelsey’s nerves into overdrive. “I know you were shocked to see me at Jarred’s parents’ last night. I was a little shocked to have Will invite me.”
Arranging her pencils next to the leather desk pad, Kelsey said lightly, “Well, Will can certainly make his own decisions.”
“Yes.” Sarah frowned. “I’m sure you know that he and Danielle are having some problems. She’s here right now. Talking to him. Will says they’re hammering out a divorce settlement.”
“Really.” Kelsey was shocked. Though it was clear that Danielle and Will were having serious problems, divorce was such a final step.
“I felt that since you’re a part of Bryant Industries now,” Sarah went on in her flinty voice, “we should maybe lay some groundwork between us.”
“Such as?”
“I’ll try to give you a lot of space, and maybe you can do the same for me.”
“I think that’s very possible,” Kelsey responded evenly.
“Good.” Sarah still seemed to want to say something more, but the thump of Jarred’s approaching cane heralded his arrival. Sarah leaned around the doorjamb and observed, “You’re really moving around these days.”
Jarred appeared in Kelsey’s vision. “Not as fast as I’d like to,” he told Sarah, who offered a few more words of encouragement, then left. Jarred’s brows lifted. “Friends?” he asked Kelsey.
“Bosom buddies.”
He chuckled. “She does good work around here,” was his only response—not one Kelsey particularly wanted to hear.
“Are you ready to leave?” Kelsey asked, her heart sinking a bit at the thought of returning to the house.
As if reading her mind, Jarred said, “I’ve got some other plans before going home.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve talked to Marlena Rowden. I’d like to stop by and see her and her husband today. Would you mind driving?”
“Oh no…” Kelsey was flustered. Jarred at the
Rowden’s was a vision she found difficult to put into focus.
“I just don’t want to waste any more time,” Jarred said soberly.
“I understand.”
Last night’s attack was an indication that Jarred’s life was still in jeopardy. Waiting around in recovery was being a sitting duck, and he didn’t want to do that any longer. Grabbing her coat, Kelsey impulsively kissed her husband. Then she held the door for him as they headed for the elevators.
The Rowden’s home, a modest ‘60s ranch with white windowpanes in diamond shapes, stood at the end of a long, weed-choked driveway. Signs of neglect were every where, and Kelsey realized how little of the money she’d sent them had helped with upkeep. Robert’s condition took most of the cash. It was the financial hell of a long-term illness. Marlena had struggled to understand what the insurance company would and wouldn’t pay, and Kelsey, upon occasion, had tried to help her. But the bottom line was coverage included major medical and that was about it. A part-time employee who spent most of his duties in caring for Robert’s personal hygiene and a bit of physical therapy were outside the benefits. Medications were another issue. It was a mind-boggling mess— more stress than the family could cope with. And it was worsening by the minute.
“Robert Rowden has Parkinson’s disease,” Kelsey said as she parked the car. “I thought I should let you know.”
Jarred pushed open his door. When Kelsey came around to assist him, he shook his head. “I can do this on my own. Thanks.”
Kelsey led the way to the house. Jarred is getting remarkably adept with that cane, she thought, admiring his tenacity and natural athleticism—two qualities that were aiding his swift recovery.
Robert Rowden, on the other hand, was physically deteriorating. Still, he met them at the door and shook Jarred’s hand, setting the tone of forgiveness. Kelsey bent down and gave Robert a quick kiss on his cheek. He patted her hand and invited them inside as Marlena came from the kitchen, slightly flushed.
“Hello, Kelsey… Mr. Bryant,” she said. “It’s nice of you to come, but it wasn’t really necessary.”
“Call me Jarred,” he invited, moving toward the couch Marlena had indicated. “I know it’s less than nothing, considering you’ve lost your son, but I’m sorry about Chance.”
“Oh, I know. I know. Kelsey said so. And you were hurt, too.” She gestured toward the cane. “Please sit down.”
“Thank you.” Jarred sank onto the couch. Marlena clasped and unclasped her hands in front of him.
“That detective came to see us.”
“Newcastle?” Jarred asked.
“He asked us a lot of questions about Chance. I don’t think I was very much help.” She looked imploringly at Kelsey, who wrapped her arm around Marlena’s shoulder.
“I’m sure you were fine,” Kelsey soothed.
“He wanted to know all about where Chance lived and who with,” Robert added, clearing his throat.
“Have you been there?” Marlena asked Kelsey, who shook her head. “It’s not all that far from here. It’s… run-down,” she said a bit lamely, needlessly explaining Chance’s state of living.
“That detective called again today,” Robert added. “But we were at the pharmacy. Marlena was going to call him back, but then you called.” He inclined his head toward Jarred. “We decided to wait until after we’d talked to you before we called him back.”
“He makes me feel like a criminal,” Marlena confessed.
“You’re not a criminal,” Kelsey assured her with feeling. “Detective Newcastle’s just kind of that way. And anyway, I suspect he might be calling for another reason….” As gently as she could, she explained about the explosion that had torn off a wall of the garage and decimated Jarred’s Porsche. Robert and Marlena were shocked. Robert’s right hand tremored more violently, a symptom of his disease, while Marlena held a hand to her mouth.
“What is going on?” Marlena asked Kelsey, her voice quavering.
“I wish I knew,” Kelsey answered fervently. “That’s one of the reasons we’re here. To try to piece together what was going on with Chance right before the plane accident and see if anything’s related.”
“I’m obviously a target,” Jarred said. “But I don’t have a clue why
. I wanted to talk to you about Chance, if you don’t mind. See if there’s anything we can come up with that would have to do with this.”
“You think this has to do with Chance?” Marlena looked stricken.
“I don’t know,” Jarred answered truthfully.
Marlena reached over and clasped one of her husband’s shaking hands. “I would love to help you if I can,” she said, suppressing a shudder. “Would either of you like something to drink? Coffee, a soda, or water?”
“Maybe something stronger?” Robert said with faint humor.
Jarred and Kelsey demurred. They gently probed the Rowden’s memories for some clue as to why Chance would have gone to see Jarred, but both Marlena and Robert were as baffled as Jarred and Kelsey. The last few days of Chance’s life were still a mystery, and unless Jarred’s memory returned, they were likely to remain as such.
“The last time I saw Chance he was here with Connor,” Marlena admitted. “About two weeks before the accident.”
“Connor’s Chance’s cousin,” Kelsey explained for Jarred’s benefit.
Marlena sighed. “Connor stayed with Chance sometimes. He’s… well…” She cleared her throat. “He uses drugs, too, I think. He’s kind of erratic.”
“Where is he now?” Jarred asked.
The Rowdens shook their heads.
“Maybe he took over Chance’s lease on that house Chance was renting,” Kelsey suggested.
“Connor wouldn’t be able to make the payments. He doesn’t work.” Robert didn’t pull any punches. “He stopped by here looking for money. Well, you know what he’s like, Kelsey. If I blame anyone for what happened to Chance, it’s him!”
Jarred looked at Kelsey but she shook her head. There was no use stating the obvious to Chance’s father. If it helped Robert to believe there was someone to blame other than his son, so be it. And Connor certainly was no model citizen when it came to drug abuse either.
When the conversation dwindled for lack of any further information, Jarred and Kelsey took their leave. Marlena squeezed Kelsey and made her promise to visit again soon, and Robert solemnly shook their hands.
Not Without You Page 19
