by Carmen Green
Mervyn Sr. looked around at the unsympathetic eyes of his family. “I’ll get the car. Jerry, bring Mother to the lobby.”
“Dad—” Alex said.
He looked at Alex and walked out.
“Wow. Well,” she said, then didn’t say anything else.
“Corporate America is a terrible place,” Dorothy predicted. “Make sure you want to be here. I’ll expect to see you two very soon when the three of us can get better acquainted.”
Alex bent down in front of her mother. “Thank you for coming. I know this was at a great sacrifice to you.”
“It’s not so bad once I’m out, but it’s leaving the house that shakes me up.”
“Thank you. I love you.” Alex kissed her mother’s cheek.
“Mama, this chair is on wheels. How about I take you for a drive,” Jerry offered.
Her eyes lit up and Hunter smiled. “Now, I’m not one of those football guys you can run into things. You take it slow and we’ll see how I like it.”
Jerry spun the chair around one time for fun and Hunter held the door. “Hold your feet up, Dorothy. You’ll have fun.”
“I’m taking your word for it.”
Jerry pushed her, and Dorothy’s face lit up like she’d won some money. Once they got into the lobby Hunter headed back to the conference room and Alex. He thought she’d be crying or near a breakdown.
But she was wrestling with her jacket.
“You’re like a kid that can’t wait to get out of her church clothes. Don’t you have an office where you can strip in private?”
“No. I’ve never had an office. I always sat at the front desk with Willa.”
The jacket flew out of the tiny kitchen to the chair. The hairpins were next hitting the bottom of the waste can.
“You’re kidding. You haven’t had an office ever since you came back from California?”
“Yes, I like it out there, but now I have too much stuff. So, I was thinking of moving into my grandmother’s office. The auditors were in there and now they’re gone. And now I’ve got you to think about.”
Hunter walked into the kitchenette to find her wrestling her sleeveless sweater over her head.
He kissed under her arm and took a love bite out of her triceps.
She squealed. “That tickles.”
“You look like you’re okay,” he said.
“I am. I hate that my brother blames me for his troubles, but that’s what people do when they don’t want to take responsibility. I’ve got two very big items on my agenda for the day. One going home. Two making sure I get there within a half hour because my new bed is being delivered.”
“Your new what?”
“Bed. Can you help me?” she said, leaving the tiny bathroom and meeting him in the kitchenette. “Put your hands there.”
She stood in front of him in a black bra, cream skirt and cream shoes, her hair cascading over her shoulder.
“Squeeze my tush right there.” He looked behind her and followed her request.
She leaned back and fluffed out her curls, her eyes half closed, the gold hoop earrings flat against a blanket of dark hair.
When she leaned up she put her arms around his neck.
“What’s this called again?” he asked, squeezing her bottom again.
“It’s a tush.” She kissed his neck above the open collar of his shirt. “Harder, please.”
She caressed the back of his head and gave him a love bite on the neck.
“Girl, where are you going with this?”
“Squeeze a little…” She sucked in a deep breath. “Oh, that’s good. Now hold me right there.”
“Good for whom? I’m suffering, and I can’t leave the building like this. I know I can’t walk. So who’s benefiting?”
“Oh, I am and you are too. You ended my drought. Now I can’t get enough. Let’s go back to my place.”
“No. One of the rules was no fooling around during the hours of nine to five.”
“But this is a celebration.”
“It’s still daytime,” he told her, his thumb riding over her butt. He couldn’t stop remembering how good it was to be with a totally uninhibited woman. Once she got over her insecurity, their lovemaking had taken on a new dimension.
“But it’s my lunch hour and I need to go home, Hunter. So let’s go home and we’ll come back after lunch.”
“No fooling around.”
“If you say so.” She was still pressed against him. “You’ve got to make the first move.”
He released her and she walked off, pulling her jacket on over her bra and fastening it. There was nothing between her neck and cleavage but pearls.
“What about your top?” he asked.
“I think you need it more than me,” she said and left the conference room with her papers and leather briefcase.
Hunter followed, her shirt shielding his uncomfortable hard-on.
CHAPTER 14
Hunter wished he were driving Alex down the Pacific Coast Highway. Instead, they were making their way through the side streets of Decatur.
If he had to face the same level of hostility that Alex did every day at work, he wouldn’t own his company, or those people wouldn’t work for him. As the hot sun beat down on his skin, it cleansed his bad mood, and it felt good to have Alex beside him with her hair flowing in the wind and her hand resting on the back of his seat.
She suddenly dug in her bag and pulled out a card from Willa. She read aloud, “‘Your bed’s all set up and the other one donated. Little Sweetie is with me for a couple days, if you don’t mind. My new puppy can’t stand being alone. Love, Willa.’”
Alex adjusted in her seat and turned toward him a little. “I have the most efficient assistant in the world.
“She’s good and she likes you. I like her too,” she said, digging for more papers, pulling out another folder.
“What you got there?”
“Papers from the audit.”
Quietly she studied them and wrote questions at the top of each page and he wished he had her in her new bed, tossing all those papers in her fireplace. Her family was crazy, with the exception of Jerry and her mother. The only reason she questioned her mental acumen was because her father and brother had god complexes. They were ridiculous.
The emotional abuse they’d inflicted on the family had been pervasive for too long. Alex needed to be away from them. Now he understood her reason for marrying Marc.
He legitimized her to her family. He was an older man who was a solid citizen with a steady job. If they knew he was a polygamist and a thief, she’d never hear the end of it. As far as Hunter was concerned, they needed to know that information.
“Is it possible that Marc simply blew the money or gambled it away?” she asked.
“It is, but I didn’t see a single shred of evidence that he gambled. Let me ask you something. What’s in the cabinet over the refrigerator?”
“Nothing. I can’t reach it. I don’t know why the builders put the cabinets up that high.”
“Jerry said Marc did most of the cooking.”
“I did my share, but Marc worked from home. This bank statement that you gave me says he took fifty thousand dollars out of the account a week before he died. What happened to that money?”
Hunter stopped at the light. “I don’t know, but it might explain why he was in Philadelphia, and why he went to California.”
“Chris never did explain that,” Alex said. “Why’d you ask me about the cabinet?”
“You said he never kept any papers at home, but he had to have kept papers somewhere. He was always cooking. I thought maybe he stashed something in the kitchen.”
Alex pushed her hair back, thinking. “I don’t know. I’ve never given that cabinet a second thought.”
“I think he did keep things hidden, but you ladies just didn’t know it. I believe he hid things in plain sight. That’s the way people like him think. He didn’t travel on commercial airlines. Didn’t stay in hotels
. Changed jobs every couple years, worked out of his home. Cell phones. He was slick to have three wives and not leave a paper trail. You have a few clothes and a few pictures of him, but nothing else.”
“Right. No family members. I believed he was an orphan. He told me he traveled a lot. Right from the beginning. If I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t be with him.”
“He was laying the groundwork.”
“Well, he already had two wives. He knew what would work.” Alex rubbed her forehead. “What I don’t get is why I didn’t suspect something. I don’t let people into my world. I have friends. I didn’t need him.”
“He was a master manipulator. People like him make mistakes. We’re going to find his mistakes and we’re going to fix them.”
Alex gave him a sidelong look. “You think something might be in that cabinet?”
“It’s worth a look.”
“We’ll find out. What happens then?”
“Depends on what we find. If it’s money, you put it back. If it’s paperwork, we go through it with a fine-tooth comb and decide how we’re going to approach it. Marc had secrets. Our job is to uncover them and do what’s right for you.”
“What about Renee and Danielle?” Alex asked. “What if he’s stolen from them?”
“We’ll find out tomorrow at the meeting. I doubt that he left paperwork of theirs in your home. That’s too risky. If you found it, he’d have too much explaining to do.”
“Yeah, he lied about having a brother. I doubt that he’d admit to having two other wives.”
The sun burned full force as Alex searched for her sunglasses. Sliding them in place, she leaned back and stretched her arm out the passenger window. “I think I’ll buy a convertible.”
Hunter got an eyeful. “A sexy car for a sexy woman.”
“Maybe next year when everything settles down. I never knew a man could be such a liar. Not a man that I was involved with. Men are such liars.”
“Hey, don’t paint all men with the same brush, Alex. You know good men.”
“Who? You saw my shining examples today. Except for you and Jerry, I’m not doing so well.”
“Fifty percent is better than zero.”
“You’re right.”
Hunter pulled into the parking garage and backed into the space next to Alex’s BMW. He studied the garage for a moment before starting the car again. “We’re leaving.”
“Why?” Alex sat up, looking around.
He put his hand on her midsection and made her lean back.
“Mervyn and another man are in that black four-door sedan six cars to the right. Recognize it?”
“No.”
“Does he know anyone else in the building?”
“Not that I know of.”
“My guess is he’s waiting for you.”
“Why?”
The driver got out of the car.
“I’m taking you to the front of the building. You stay with the doorman and let me handle this.”
“No. That’s my brother.”
“What did you hire me for?” he said forcefully and she jumped.
Alex closed her eyes and then squeezed them.
“My way, Alex,” he told her.
She nodded.
He left the lot and pulled in front of the building. Opening her door, he left her with the doorman. “Scottie, don’t let her out of your sight.”
“Trouble, Hunter?”
Alex looked between them. “You know him?”
“Scottie will explain.” Hunter gave the man a card. “Call and tell Samia to run this tag. It had Jersey plates. There was one on the front.”
Scottie wrote down the tag Hunter told him and then escorted Alex inside.
She waited, speculating as to what was going on but coming up with nothing good.
Alex worried over Hunter. Mervyn was there for money. There was no other reason. He probably wanted his job back too, but that wasn’t going to happen.
He’d threatened her earlier and that wasn’t going to go away with a quick “I’m sorry.”
Pacing, Alex continued to worry about Hunter. She reached for her cell phone but it was in the car.
“Don’t you have security cameras in the parking lot,” she said to Scottie, looking at his simple workstation, which consisted of little more than a podium and a phone.
“Not up here we don’t.”
“I thought that’s what part of the four-hundred-dollar-a-month condo association fee was for.”
“You’ll have to ask management, Mrs. Wright-Foster. I know they’re installing a new one, but I don’t know the details. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Alex rubbed the back of her neck and counted to a hundred, and Hunter came around the corner and she rushed outside.
“Where is Mervyn?” she asked, looking past him.
“Let’s talk about it upstairs.”
“Everything okay?” Scottie asked, looking concerned.
“It’s good. Did you reach Samia?”
“She said for you to call her when you get in.”
Hunter folded a bill into Scottie’s hand. “Good man. Thanks.”
“Anytime, Hunter.”
Hunter guided Alex into the elevator.
They walked inside her condo and she turned on him. “What’s wrong?”
“Come in the living room and sit down. You know, your brother has serious problems.” Hunter grasped her hands. “He came here to rob you.”
“Me?” Alex put her hand to her throat. “Mervyn?”
“Yes, and he brought a friend to take care of me.”
She was on her feet. “Okay, you know what? I’ve heard enough. We’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?”
“To a hotel that has security.”
“What hotel is that?”
“I don’t know, but if I’m not safe here, then what should I do? Let him hurt me? Let another man take advantage of me? Bring you into my life and let you get hurt? I can’t have that.”
Hunter brought her back to the couch. “Sweetheart, I’m the security agent.” He took all the things she gathered out of her hands and sat her down. “We’re going to go on with our plans.”
“And those are?”
“The kitchen cabinet.”
Alex folded her lips into her mouth and shook her head. “Wait just a minute. My brother came here to rob me. What does he think I have?”
“Jewelry, money. It doesn’t matter. He’s taken care of.”
“What happened down there?”
“I called a friend, and Mervyn is on his way to a hospital where he won’t be getting out for at least three days. Longer if he knows what’s best for him.”
“What’s that mean? A mental institution?”
“A rehabilitation center. I made the call right from the lot and Mervyn was picked up and is on his way to the facility now. But Mervyn knows something’s going on with the money, so the sooner we get this settled the better.”
“Understood. What about his friend?”
“At the sound of the word cop, he took off. I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“You did all that in that short period of time?”
“I never work alone, and I never work with only one plan.”
Alex had been listening to him with the heel of her right hand on her temple. She reached out and grasped his hand, pulling him to her.
She put her head against his neck, and his whole body accepted her. “Thank you so much. I swear I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
He thought about giving her new bed a test run, but then remembered he was on the job. “Hey? Come on. Let’s figure out the rest of this mystery.”
She looked up at him through hooded eyes.
“Okay. Let’s take a look.”
Hunter grabbed a dining-room chair and put it against the refrigerator. He offered her a hand up.
“No, you go up and hand me anything that’s up there.”
He climbed up on the chair and looked down. “Catch me if I fall.”
Alex smiled. “Of course, dear.”
Hunter opened the cabinet doors.
“See anything?” she asked.
“Nothing was supposed to be in here, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Then we’ve hit the mother lode.”
CHAPTER 15
Sipping white wine, Alex flipped open one of the folders Hunter had found in the cabinet. “I knew I’d seen him with these. I’m not crazy.” She pressed the seam flat with her French-manicured finger. A faraway look stole her focus.
“They’re contracts for a boat. Did you know he was buying a boat?” Hunter asked, admiring the vessel.
“That’s no boat,” she corrected him gently. “That’s a yacht. A couple girlfriends and I were invited to the launch of this line a couple years ago.”
“You and a couple girlfriends? I’ll bet it was a helluva party,” he said, watching her.
“I was single and didn’t mind being arm candy.” She pursed her lips, studying the brochure and then the contract. “Maybe Marc was in California to complete the transaction. What’s the sale date?”
Hunter verified what he’d just read. “Last month. But Atlanta’s closer to the coast of Florida. So why take possession of it in California if he’s not planning to keep it down there?”
“We’re speculating as to why he was in California. We don’t know for sure. What else is in the folders?”
“A receipt for interior remodeling of the boat,” Hunter said. “Says final on the bottom.”
“How much was that?”
“Fifty thousand dollars. Here’s an address. The boat’s here in Georgia. Do you have Marc’s keys?”
Alex looked around. “No. The only keys I saw were the ones Renee said were hers. But if the folders were in the cabinet, the key must be here somewhere.”
“I just remembered something. Where are the bank statements?”
“On the dining-room table.”
They headed to the table where everything was divided by month. Hunter flipped through the statements then plucked up a page. “He withdrew fifty thousand dollars last month to pay off the boat. See here?”
Alex leaned in. “Yes. It’s just more proof.”
