“This was your father’s office?” Green asked.
It wasn’t a tough assumption to make. Everything about the room resonated with a sense of masculine power. If her position at Ingram became permanent, Allie would eventually redecorate. Something lighter, more in keeping with her own personality and taste. But for now she had bigger concerns than replacing tapestry with silk. “And my grandfather’s before that.”
Colin returned with two china cups. Allie glanced up to find his handsome face etched with concern. “Thank you, Colin.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll call you if I need anything else.”
The moment he was gone, Allie turned her attention to the woman seated across from her.
“What can I do for you, Detective?” she asked, cutting right to the chase. Detective Green hadn’t stopped by just to tell her there were no new developments. Or to have a look at Ingram’s executive offices. There was a purpose for her impromptu visit, and as far as Allie was concerned, the sooner they got to it, the better.
Green put her cup back on its saucer and reached for the leather satchel at her feet. “There are a few things I’d like you to look over.”
A lump formed in the pit of Allie’s stomach. Surely this woman hadn’t come to her office in the middle of the day to show her crime scene pictures? Or worse, her parents’ autopsy photos? Regardless of the rocky start to her morning, Allie didn’t think she’d ever be ready to see those images.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Detective Green dug through her bag and pulled out not eight-by-ten photos, but a stack of papers that appeared to contain some sort of list.
“This is the complete inventory of your parents’ Lake Forest home. We’ve given a copy to the insurance company and asked them to cross reference it with the policy riders to see if they can determine what was taken.” Green slid the printout across the desk. “We’d like you to look it over as well.”
Allie pulled the list toward her and with trembling fingers flipped through page after page of items: artwork, furs, crystal, silver, jewelry.
Jewelry. An audible gasp escaped her lips.
“What is it?”
With wide eyes she met Detective Green’s curious stare, but when she spoke, her words were barely a whisper. “Her ring.”
“Excuse me?”
She swallowed hard to find her voice. “When they were bagging my mother’s hands, she wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. Would they have removed it?”
“No, they wouldn’t have tampered with the evidence.”
“My mother always wore that ring. She never took it off.”
“Can you describe it for me?”
“The center stone is an oval Ceylon sapphire,” she said. “About ten carats, I believe. It’s surrounded by a ring of diamond solitaires.”
The detective glanced up from her notes. “Like Princess Diana’s?” Allie nodded and the detective scribbled a few more lines in her notebook. “Is there anything else that jumps out at you?”
Allie scanned the list a second time. “It’s hard to say. Nothing as obvious as that, but I’ll have to think about it.”
“Take your time and let me know if you come up with anything. In the meantime, I’ll follow up with the insurance company and make sure a list of stolen property is given to area pawnshops as well as the local precincts. That ring would be hard to fence, but if someone tries to move any of the other items, we’ll be ready.”
“So you’re still going on the assumption that this was just a burglary?” Allie asked. It wasn’t hard to miss the hope in her voice. As much as she hated the thought that her parents’ death was due to some random act of violence, it was even worse to imagine they’d been targeted specifically.
“Right now we’re not ruling anything out. That’s actually the other reason I’m here. In addition to going over the household inventory, I’d like you to compile a list of any of your parents’ known enemies.”
“I’m not sure I’d classify anyone in their life as ‘known enemies,’ Detective. My mother’s friends at the country club can be catty bitches, but they’re relatively harmless.” She thought about that and added, “For the most part.”
“I know this is difficult, Miss Sinclair. No one wants to imagine such a heinous crime could have been committed by someone they knew. But your parents lived in a very elite, powerful circle. And at this point in the investigation, we have to look at any and all possible leads.”
Green leaned back in her chair and crossed an ankle over her knee as Allie turned her attention back to the list of household items. She’d just begun working her way through the section marked ART & COLLECTIBLES when the Detective clarified her earlier comment.
“Although you’ll be relieved to know we met with your new business partner on Thursday and have cleared him as a suspect.”
Allie’s head snapped up from the papers in her hand. “Hudson—I mean, Mr. Chase—was a suspect?”
“Given the recent revelation that he’d been targeting Ingram for a hostile takeover, and for some time it seems.”
She cringed at the mention of how long Hudson’s plan had been in the works. “Hostile is an expression, Detective Green. These types of acquisitions, while unpleasant, don’t involve murder.”
“I happen to agree with you, Miss Sinclair. And as it turned out, Mr. Chase had an airtight alibi.” She flipped the page on her notebook. “Visiting his brother at a rehab facility in Wisconsin that day. But we have to look at every possibility, and once we’d learned he’d met with your father—”
Allie felt the blood drain from her face. “He did?”
Detective Green nodded. “A few days before the murders.”
Why in the world would he have done that? And a better question, why hadn’t he told her?
“I’ll be in touch in a few days. But if anything comes to mind . . .”
“Yes, of course, I’ll call you immediately.”
Detective Green tucked her notes back into her leather satchel. “Sorry again for the impromptu visit.”
Allie began to stand but the Detective held up her hand. “Don’t get up, I can see myself out. I’ve taken up enough of your day already.”
The office door had barely clicked shut before Allie spun her chair around and booted up her father’s desktop computer. She’d spent the first week working off her laptop, not quite ready to sift through her father’s numerous files. But if what Detective Green had said was true, and she had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then Hudson had met with her father shortly before his murder. In this very office. A fact he had somehow failed to mention. She sighed. Just one more item on what seemed to be an ever-growing list. Then again, she thought as a headache formed behind her eyes, he might have mentioned it if she’d let him say more than two words to her.
Allie pinched the bridge of her nose while she waited for the calendar program to open. When it did, she discovered meticulous, color-coded notes indicating meetings, times, and topics. She scrolled through each of the dates, scouring the screen for any mention of Hudson’s name. It was so small she almost missed it. At the two o’clock entry on October 28, the words H. CHASE were typed in a simple black font.
October 28.
A cold chill ran down her spine as she read the date again. It was the day Julian returned unexpectedly from France. The day Hudson had come to her rescue, saving her not only from Julian’s attack, but from a life she no longer wished to live. He was the one she wanted to spend her life with. She’d made up her mind that morning after they’d returned from their weekend in Lake Geneva. But as anxious as she’d been to tell him the news, she’d wanted to do it in person, not over the phone. So she’d fought the urge to call him all day, only to later realize he hadn’t reached out to her either. At the time she’d meant to ask him what had kept him so busy, but with everything that had happened, the question had lost its significance. Until now.
Allie leaned back in her chair, trying to process what her father’s own ca
lendar had just confirmed. She had no idea why the two men met, or what they had discussed, but one thing was certain—after tomorrow’s board meeting, she was damn well going to find out.
Chapter Ten
Hudson wasn’t accustomed to losing a battle, especially not in the boardroom. Liquidating the newspaper division made perfect sense when balancing down to the bottom line. But Allie maintained the print edition was the cornerstone of Ingram, what her grandfather had built his empire on, and had cleverly used that nostalgia to her advantage.
She’d backed up her claim that it was the most identifiable brand within their holdings by coming to the meeting armed with meticulous numbers and a shit-ton of research. When someone targeted her theory she fired back, countering the naysayer with brass facts. More importantly, she presented expansion options for the current online content to include streaming media components that were projected to more than compensate for any resulting loss in revenue.
He had to hand it to her, she’d done her homework, presented her case, and persuaded the votes she needed to lock in the new direction of Ingram Media. Hot-fucking-damn, he should have been pissed she’d persuaded the board to side with her, but instead he was impressed. And it took all of his self-control not to clap his palms together when the meeting ended.
As everyone filed out of the room, Allie shuffled some papers around, then tapped them against the mahogany. A slight smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as if she were finding some satisfaction, even a little joy, from her victory in their power play.
Despite being out of options, Hudson’s will remained the same. He still wanted the woman who was doing everything in her power to ignore his presence. But she was giving him nothing to grab onto, nothing to draw her to him and make her see how fucking sorry he was. Without her the world no longer made sense. All he had were memories that bled into the horrific morning when she discovered his deception. The lies that cost him everything and left him a giant void in the shape of a grown man.
Allie looked up at him. Her smile smoothed out and the room became as cold as a morgue. “What are you waiting for?”
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. That wasn’t exactly how—”
“Don’t.” She cut him off with a sharp wave of her hand. “I meant, why aren’t you buying more shares of Ingram? One percent isn’t much at the aggressive rate you were acquiring stock. You could have surpassed me by now and then you wouldn’t have lost today’s vote.”
Hudson sucked in a breath and exhaled in a rush. “I’m not taking your father’s company away from you, Alessandra.”
“Why not? Wasn’t that the plan? Snatch Ingram out from under him while his daughter was under you?”
“Sleeping with you was never part of the plan.” Hudson remained calm, keeping his hands in his pockets and one ankle crossed over the other as he leaned against the wall. His eyes, however, were locked on Allie with the stealth and shrewdness of a hawk.
“But there was a plan, wasn’t there?”
“Not one that involved you.”
“No? So I was just an added perk then? Or maybe I’m flattering myself. Maybe it was all part of some twisted revenge for what I did to you ten years ago. Maybe you hated every minute of it.” Her words gained momentum with every syllable she lashed at him.
“Enough.” Hudson pushed away from the wall and drew his hand out of his pocket as he methodically moved toward her. On the outside he appeared calculated, while on the inside his spine started to vibrate. It was a sensation he’d grown familiar with around her, a big two-ton fuck me. He wanted her back and in the dangerous-edge kind of way. “Verbal daggers are getting us nowhere. Surely you know me better than to think I’ll give up. Hear me out; give me a chance to explain.” He played the only card he had left. “Then if you want, I’ll leave you alone.”
Allie regarded him for a long moment, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine, I’m listening.”
“I swear in the beginning I didn’t know.”
“But eventually you did know. And yet you said nothing. Not even when we were at the lake.” Her voice wavered. “In front of the fire.”
“I planned to tell you.”
“Making a decision is not taking action, Hudson.”
“Goddamn it, Allie.” Hudson balled his hand into a fist. He wanted to punch something, but all the fucking walls were glass, nailing them into a goddamn fishbowl. Lucky for them the conference room came with the frost-yourself special. Hudson jutted out an arm and hit the switch. Instantly the glass turned opaque.
“You really think it was all some scheme for revenge?” He laughed in a short burst. “You’re giving me too much credit. Hurting you wasn’t on my business plan.” He pivoted and ran a hand through his hair. When he faced her again, it was head-on. “You think that low of me?”
“I don’t have evidence that says otherwise. You’d lied to me the entire time we were together.”
“Not about how I felt, Allie, never about how I felt. I should have been honest with you about the rest, but the feelings I had for you were real.”
Now she was the one to let out a mocking laugh. “Feelings? Do you have any idea what it feels like to be deceived by the people closest to your heart?”
The reality of what his omission had done to her weighed heavily on him. Fuck that, he might as well have been wearing lead shoes at the bottom of the ocean.
“I lost you, I lost my parents. I lost my life as I knew it and everything I’ve ever known to be true.”
“Allie, listen, please . . .”
“It’s too late for this, Hudson. The damage is done.” She glared at him. “And this time it wasn’t me who royally screwed things up. You took care of that all on your own the day you decided to target my family.”
Hudson rubbed his temples and a vicious frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. “It wasn’t a personal attack on your father. It was business, nothing more. I was after the company, same as any other I’ve acquired, and I wasn’t seated alone in the crowd of prospective buyers. The fact that Ingram Media was on the verge of bankruptcy was public knowledge.”
“If it wasn’t personal, then why did you meet with him?”
Hudson blinked. “I met with your father to offer him a deal. The day after we came back from Lake Geneva, I was having second thoughts about—”
“Second thoughts?” Allie cut him off.
“About not salvaging Ingram Media. It’s a viable company with a wealth of potential. What I proposed was that the acquisition go through and Ingram become a subsidiary of Chase Industries. I told your father he could remain on as president.”
“He wasn’t interested in taking you up on the offer?”
Hudson paused and considered his answer. He seemed to be stepping into one pothole after another, and like hell if he was going to twist his motherfucking ankle on this one. But he swore to himself that he would never lie to her again, despite how much the truth hurt. Scratch that, he couldn’t tell her how her father had lashed out at him with anger sharper than any blade and handed him a one way ticket to “Go to hell” that read “Fuck you” on it.
“No,” he said with heavy sigh. “He wasn’t going down without a fight. He wanted a family member to man the helm and push Ingram Media into the future. Despite what transpired, the hell he was pushing you into with that French fuck, he loved you and believed in you. I believe in you, Allie.” The gravel tone of his voice was pleading, and when Allie met his eyes, there was a subtle softening; a pain mixed with an unrequited need. “I’m sorry.” The words didn’t even begin to cover it, but in the end it was the best he could do.
“It doesn’t change anything.”Allie’s eyes drifted shut. “You have to let me go, Hudson. Release me.”
Chapter Eleven
As Hudson hit the exit of the rehab facility he felt like he was being chased, which was goddamn insane. There wasn’t anyone of threat behind him, except the biography of people bottoming out after snorting
cocaine through deviated septums. The similar tie to them all was that the disease was a destroyer and it had not only claimed his mother, but was a grim reaper circling, ready to take his little brother down.
Fuck if that was going to happen.
What was behind him was a coin perpetually being tossed in the air with disaster on one side and shit out of luck on the other. The trouble was, he’d been trying to bury it there and had no plans of resurrecting it. And that little family group therapy session made him anxious as fuck to get the hell away from all the Kumbaya shit.
He must have checked his watch every ten minutes. All that sharing had his heart doing jumping jacks and his palms sweating, and the closer it came to his turn for a one-on-one with his brother, the worse it got. But even once they were out of there, away from all the other people visiting their loved ones, the things said in that room still crowded between them as they headed down the cobblestone sidewalk in silence.
When they hit the damp grass, the leaves that had fallen from the trees crunched under their feet and teardrops formed on the tops of their shoes. Nick stopped in front of a wooden bench and took a seat. He pulled the collar of his black pea coat tighter as Hudson shoved his hands into the pockets of his gray wool pants.
More silence.
But the noise couldn’t get any louder for Hudson. He pinched the bridge of his nose and debated what to say to his brother other than that he was proud of him for sticking with rehab.
In the end it was Nick who finally spoke. “The whole reason for this family stuff is to talk. You didn’t say but two words in there, Hudson. You’ve put up with a fuck-ton of my crap for, like, ever, man. This is our chance to work that out so we can toss our shit hand over our shoulders.”
Hudson rubbed the back of his neck and took in a deep breath, smelling the dried leaves. “That session is for you to . . .” He wanted to say unload, dump on, play the blame game. “Tell me what I can do to help you stay clean, not for me to pontificate to a room full of strangers.”
Release Me Page 8
