Chapter Thirty
It was already early evening, and the happy couple had spent the better part of their day in bed. Jacey’s attempt to wash turned into a couple’s shower, so her actual cleanliness was in doubt. Since both of them were making up for lost time, she’d worry about a real shower later. Once they had dressed, Jacey realized she was starving. She hadn’t eaten since early yesterday afternoon. Naturally, there was little to be found in Asher’s cupboards. Once Asher had finished dressing, she saw him enter his study. Jacey entered the disarrayed room only a few seconds behind him, looked at his moderately cluttered desk, and shook her head. The answering machine light blinked demandingly, although Asher seemed contented to ignore it. Jacey was actually surprised at the large amount of unopened mail sitting on the corner of his desk. Nothing about him seemed disorganized, so she found it odd that his study looked as it did. Asher routed through the large stack of mail, looking for something in particular.
“What is all of this?” she asked and picked up a few of the letters that fell to the floor.
He eyed the letters in her hand and grinned. “Fan mail,” he teased.
She glared at him. “You mean death threats.”
“No, not necessarily true,” he protested then casually added, “some are blackmail.”
Jacey wanted to comment but didn’t bother. “Considering the state of the rest of your house, I’m surprised you’ve allowed this much junk to accumulate in here.”
“Actually, the post office delivered my mail yesterday,” he informed her. “I had them hold it while I was away. I didn’t have time to sort through it yet.” He hesitated then grinned. “You know, being on a bender and all.” Asher straightened and scanned his messy desk. “I know there’s a travel booklet around here somewhere.” He looked back at her and grinned. “Perhaps we’ll look through it later and pick someplace warm and tropical to honeymoon.”
“With horseback riding on the beach?”
He took her hand and kissed it warmly. “Anything you want, darling.”
Ironically, for as much as things were about to change for them, they seemed oddly similar to the way they had been. A strange thought then occurred to her as she stared blankly at the mound of mail. She finally looked back at him with the question she had to ask.
“Asher,” she asked gently. “When did you intend to tell me how you really felt?”
He didn’t bother looking at her and took no time to consider the question before responding. “Never,” he replied and then met her gaze. “I’ve been hiding those feelings for the last three years. It seemed foolish to risk losing what we had over my selfish desires. I felt it was for the best.”
She stared at him with surprise. “That would’ve been unfair and wrong,” she remarked, feeling a little cheated that he never intended to share his feelings. “Ten years from now, we could still be playing these games.”
He studied her a moment as if understanding her logic but not necessarily agreeing with it. “Not exactly a topic we can debate in a few minutes,” he informed her while maintaining his playful grin. “We’ll have to continue this conversation over a romantic dinner with champagne.” He considered the comment. “I’ll definitely need to find some champagne.” Asher looked at her and grinned. “Then, maybe later, a bubble bath.” He then sank into his own thoughts. “I really should have that tub replaced in the master bath. A garden tub for two might be a wise investment.”
Jacey smiled, held back her laugh, and kissed him warmly on the lips. “You are charming.”
“I’ll have to pull some strings if we’re going to get reservations for dinner at the country club on a Saturday night,” he remarked with a soft sigh. He then looked back at her with great affection and pulled her into his arms. “Then we’ll come back here and start working on forever.”
She gently ran her hands along his chest and met his gaze. “Sounds like a long night.”
“Hmm,” he agreed. “I intend to keep you in bed all weekend.”
He kissed her quickly but passionately then slowly pulled away and turned to his answering machine. He pressed the ‘play’ button on the machine.
“First--to see what my adoring fans want.”
The first message played. “Damn it, Asher,” Professor proclaimed from the machine. “Turn your ringer on. I’m looking for Jacey. I’ll try her house again.”
Asher smiled teasingly and glanced at Jacey. “Your adoring fan.”
“Asher, it’s Timon,” came the second message. “Is Jacey there? I’ve been trying to locate Professor.” They could hear the concern in his tone. “It’s not like him to be gone so long without checking in. He left a note this morning about having lunch with Roxy at the club. When I called there, they said his car was there, but no one’s seen him. Call me.”
As the message ended, Jacey and Asher eyed each other with matching expression.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Jacey announced with concern.
“If we’re lucky, Professor and Roxy had the same sort of afternoon as we had,” he announced then inhaled deeply. “Although I’d better go to the club and check it out.”
“I’m going with you,” she quickly chirped.
“No, I think you’d better wait here,” he announced firmly then frowned. “This has that all too familiar ‘institute gala revisited’ feel to it.”
“All the more reason for me--”
“--to wait here,” he replied firmly while raising his brows. “Bolt the door behind me. I’ll call you when I find Professor.” He then indicated the phone. “Why don’t you call Timon? Tell him I’m heading to the club.”
Without waiting for a response, he kissed her quickly but passionately, smiled, and then left the room. Jacey frowned and looked back at the cluttered desk. She didn’t like being excluded, especially if Asher was about to do something that could get him into trouble. She didn’t know why she felt the need to protect him. He didn’t need her protection. He was able to get in and out of trouble just fine on his own. Still--?
Jacey saw a travel brochure near the bottom of the mail pile and eagerly pulled it out. At least it’d give her something to do. The pile scattered to the floor. She groaned at her own clumsiness and picked up the fallen mail. To her surprise, she saw a padded envelope on the floor with handwriting that looked suspiciously like Jeannette’s, but that wasn’t possible. She picked up the envelope with just the city, state, and zip as the return address. Jacey straightened and studied the envelope in her hand. Why did that envelope look so much like those Davis would receive with ‘confidential’ written across them? She felt a small object between the bubble padding. It only took a moment for her to decide whether or not she should open Asher’s private mail. She carefully opened the envelope and stared at the flash drive. She looked around the office and frowned.
Asher certainly didn’t own a computer. It was not as if he was eager to join in on social networking. Unfortunately, she was the second to last person in the world who didn’t own a computer, which was why she did most of her articles on the computer at the library. There were several computers at the museum, and she was sure Timon or Professor would let her view the contents of the flash drive there. Jacey studied the flash drive a moment, considered its possible contents, and then stuck it down the front of her shirt for safekeeping. The phone on the desk rang, startling her. Jacey relaxed and picked up the cordless phone.
“Hello?”
“Jacey, I’m glad I caught you,” Timon announced. “Have you seen Professor?”
“Uh, no,” she replied. “Asher got your message. He was going to the country club to look for him.”
“Something’s wrong,” Timon remarked firmly. “Professor wouldn’t be gone this long without telling me, especially after what happened to Brian.”
“It’s not just you. I’m getting a bad feeling too,” she informed him. “Asher had that look on his face when he left.”
“Which look?”
“That a
ll too familiar ‘someone’s going to die’ look,” she replied. “I need to use a computer, but I’m stuck here without a car. Is it possible for you to come and get me?”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Timon replied. “I can get the keys to Brian’s Corvette. I always wanted to drive that car anyway. Give me fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks, Timon.”
Jacey replaced the phone to the cluttered desk then hurried from the study. She crossed the hall and entered Asher’s bedroom, which remained dimly lit and the bed severely mussed. Jacey approached the closet, routed through it, and removed Asher’s shoulder holster and gun from the box on the top shelf. She glanced in the closet at his leather jacket hanging before her. She tossed the shoulder holster onto the bed and grabbed Asher’s jacket. Jacey stared at it a moment and sank into thought.
†
A few minutes had passed since Jacey hung up with Timon. She entered the sunroom now wearing Asher’s leather jacket that had been hanging in the closet. She slipped into her shoes, where she had left them on the sunroom floor. They had been there since that morning before their erotic adventure. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked at the glass doors. One of the doors was partially open. Jacey stared at it a moment then nervously looked around the room.
“Shit.”
She removed Asher’s gun from the carefully hidden shoulder holster and slowly approached the glass door. She looked outside then shut and locked the door. After only a moment of debate, she headed for the doorway to the next room. Jacey cautiously entered the dimly lit front sitting room and looked around with her gun aimed. She’d search the house room by room. If someone broke into Asher’s house, they wouldn’t like the reception she was about to give them. The coat closet door near the foyer was partially open. Jacey slowly approached the closet door while keeping the gun trained on the opening. Someone appeared behind her in the dimly lit room. As she reached for the closet door, she was grabbed from behind and a cloth was placed over her mouth and nose. She gasped with surprise and immediately rammed her elbow backward, jabbing her attacker in the ribs. He released her while gasping with surprise to the sharp shot. She dropped to the floor and weakly reached for her discarded semiautomatic. The man sprang on top of her and once more applied the cloth to her nose and mouth. She barely struggled this time before collapsing to the floor.
Chapter Thirty-one
Nearly every light within the country club, both inside and out, was lit. Saturday nights were typically crowded at the club, being one of the few upscale places within a fifty-mile radius. In addition to the lounges and restaurants, there was usually some swank function being held in one or more of the banquet halls. Although, tonight’s most talked about celebration was the bachelor party for the mayor’s son. Just about anybody who was anybody from town and most of the county was invited. Asher’s invitation probably got lost in the mail. Despite the expense and grandeur of the bachelor party, it would end as most did and the hangovers wouldn’t discriminate. There were several dozen cars, which mostly filled the moderately small parking lot. Many cars, undoubtedly, would still be there in the morning.
Timon pulled up to the country club in Brian’s borrowed, red Corvette. He got out of the sports car, seeing both Professor’s sedan and Asher’s SUV within the parking lot. Timon pressed the remote button to activate the car alarm, hearing the distinctive, electronic beep beep. He hurried to the front entrance of the country club and headed inside. Since it was a classy place, security usually consisted of men in expensive suits looking more like secret service than security guards. One neatly dressed guard casually monitored the main entrance, while a woman in a designer dress sat at the front desk looking like a cover model from a magazine. Her disinterest in working the desk was evident by the way she filed her nails. Timon approached the desk and flashed his membership card, although he’d met the woman in passing before. She barely acknowledged him and appeared annoyed that he interrupted her self-manicure.
“Hey, evening,” Timon announced and attempted to act like a prestigious man with a degree for a change. He often came across like a country bumpkin rather than a man with a PhD. The receptionist typically looked down her nose at him as it was. “I was wondering if you could page either of my friends, Asher Konrad or Professor Ted Fuller.”
She gave him an impatient look, maintaining a superior attitude. Despite Timon’s PhD, she possibly was superior to him according to snob standards.
“Mr. Bennett--” she began in a scolding tone.
“Please, it’s Timon,” he interjected with a tiny grin, attempting to win her over.
She smirked in response, although it wasn’t in a good way. “We don’t page our members. If we did it for you, then we’d have to do it for everyone, and the board doesn’t like the paging system. It interrupts our members’ enjoyment.”
“But this is important, Diane,” Timon gently protested. “I can’t find Professor anywhere and now Jacey seems to have disappeared as well.” He placed his hands together and begged. “Please, make an exception just this once.”
“It’s Miss Hoffman,” she scoffed with disinterest. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bennett, but the rules are the rules.”
Timon was obviously displeased with her response and her snobbish tone. He casually placed his hands on the desk, leaned across it, and met her gaze. “That’s Doctor Bennett to you,” he snarled softly then straightened and walked away.
She stared after him with surprise, folded her arms across her chest, and then huffed in response.
†
Timon made his way around the entire country club, stopping in every lounge, restaurant, and even the private party in the smoking lounge looking for Asher, Professor, or Jacey. After nearly an hour, he’d have been happy to find Roxy or her father. He wasn’t permitted to enter the smoking lounge due to the private bachelor party that he somehow wasn’t invited to attend. It was moderately insulting, considering both Professor and Maxwell had been invited. Yet, somehow, he didn’t rank. After scanning the smoke-filled lounge of nearly two hundred men puffing on cigars and drinking expensive cocktails served by scantily dressed cocktail waitresses, he finally gave up. When he caught a glimpse Sheriff Monroe among those in attendance, Timon frowned his annoyance. Even the sheriff ranked and everyone knew Sheriff Monroe and the mayor loathed each other.
Having searched all the most logical places, he started his quest in the less logical places. The kitchen was chaotic between the regular staff, caterers, and additional wait staff for the large bachelor party. The kitchen personnel weren’t any more pleasant than the woman manning the front desk was or Lea at the smoking room entrance. After being chased from the kitchen, he entered the less traveled employees’ corridor and saw someone who looked like Asher heading through a doorway at the far end of the hall.
“Asher!”
It was too late. The man was too far away to hear him. Timon hurried along the corridor at a walking jog. He stopped before the doorway Asher had passed through. It was marked laundry. Timon slowly pushed open the door and uncertainly entered the large, dimly lit laundry room with rolling bins, industrial sized washing machines, dryers, and presses. The laundry room was obviously closed for the night and appeared abandoned. There was no sign of the man who had passed through the doorway.
“Asher?” he called out while looking around. As he scanned the room, he rubbed his arms, apparently feeling a chill. He hadn’t fared well in the laundry room at the museum gala just a few months ago. “This feels a little too familiar.”
Timon remained near the open laundry room door and continued to scan the area now with increased anxiety. There were dark corners and creepy shadows every ten feet. He appeared moderately concerned, shook his head as if saying ‘no way’, and then turned in the doorway. He nearly collided with Davis, who was now standing behind him. Timon cried out and leaped backwards a step while clutching his chest. Davis jumped with surprise as well and stared at Timon. Both men took a mo
ment to catch their breath then relaxed.
“Jesus, Timon,” Davis gasped and released an uneasy laugh. “Don’t do that.”
“What the hell’s wrong with you, sneaking up on me like that?” Timon demanded unable to remove his hand from his pounding heart.
“I wasn’t sneaking,” Davis insisted. “When I saw you come down here, I called but you must not have heard me. Why are you down here anyway? The bachelor party is upstairs.” He then indicated the laundry room. “The laundry room is closed for the night.”
“It’s a long story, man,” Timon informed him while shaking his head. “Everyone’s vanishing around me. This town is like the Bermuda Triangle tonight.”
“Tell me about it,” Davis remarked with a soft groan. “I’ve been looking everywhere for Roxy. She came here with me this morning, but I haven’t seen her since. She couldn’t have left. I mean, she could have gotten a ride from someone, but she wouldn’t just leave without telling me first. It’s important I locate her. I’m getting worried.”
Timon looked concerned as he stared at Davis. “Professor left a note saying he was meeting Roxy for lunch this afternoon,” Timon insisted. “His car is here--but no Professor. No one’s seen him either. A tall guy like that is hard to miss.” His concerned look increased. “Then Jacey calls me and asks me to pick her up at Asher’s place, because she didn’t have a car. When I got there, she was gone.”
“Her jeep is here.”
“That’s because she left it here last night when she drove Asher home. They took his car,” he informed Davis. Timon’s eyes then lit up. “Hey, why don’t we look for them together? You know, safety in numbers. I mean, they’re probably all hanging out somewhere and forgot to tell us.”
“That’s a good idea,” Davis replied. “I haven’t checked the indoor pool. Even though it’s closed, they could be there. I didn’t look in the steam room and spa areas either.”
“I didn’t think to look in those areas either,” Timon announced and attempted to relax. “Maybe they’re having a party and forgot to invite us.”
The Deadliest Institution Collection Page 39
