01 Untouchable - Untouchable (32 page)

I raised my head, tears in my eyes,
“Where is he?”

“
He left the room for a
little bit, he’ll be back. If he survives this, you’re gonna leave
the ugliest scar right across that stupid untouchable heart of
his.”

I didn’t like the way she said, if he
survives—God, let him survive this, I prayed silently.

Celeste and Giorgio came over and sat
wordlessly. For the ones in the room who knew what was happening,
the song had too much meaning; the exception being David who had
been entertaining himself at the bar.

Evan came out of the men’s room about
ten minutes later. He had it together, but I could tell he was
keeping it that way by a thread. He made it to the table and Gwen
decided it best to leave us alone.

“
Leese,” Celeste said
breaking the stillness, “I was trying to find the right time to
talk to the two of you, but—well it might as well be now—I got the
information I needed just before I came here tonight. We need to
speak privately.”

I looked to Evan. It was what I’d been
waiting to hear, but I needed to see if he was okay
first.

“
Let’s go back in the
banquet room.” He rose and offered me his hand.

Once we returned to the table in the
quiet calm of that room, she began.

“
Leese, do you know a Sharon
Norton?”

“
Sharon? She’s one of
Robert’s associates. She’s been to the house a couple times when
we’d have business parties. She was always stuck up and rude to Mom
and me. Why?”

“
She is the one who is
behind the second hit.”

“
I barely know her,” I
stated, clearly shocked that she was the threat.

“
Well, unfortunately, she
knows your step-father too well. I finally found the match in the
records that have charges in the same areas on the same dates.” I
guess she could see I didn’t understand so she produced a few
sheets of paper from her purse. “These are hotel suites that he
stayed in for the last six months. Look at her charges.”

We began comparing the lists, and there
were too many times they were in the same town on the same night
making charges in the same city, too many to be a coincidence.
Robert was having an affair and had been having it for quite some
time.

“
But this doesn’t make
sense. She is only about twenty-seven, twenty-eight, and she’s a
beautiful blonde. She could pick anyone, why Robert?”

“
Money. He’s the one with
the access to your mother’s money.” Evan stated plainly.

“
She also made a twenty-five
thousand dollar withdrawal, just one day before someone tried to
shoot you at the school. There’s more,” Celeste continued. “I
recently got some new documents that show he started the process
for gaining power of attorney over your mother’s
affairs.”

“
What! Mom is competent. He
can’t just step in and start taking over her money.”

Giorgio put his hand on
mine, “Look at his charge receipts for the last few months. He has
been getting prescription medication from the pharmacy, the kind of
things that could make anyone seem incompetent. We’re pretty sure
he’s been drugging your mother, and, if you are out of the picture,
he
will
be granted
power of attorney.”

“
Can I use all of this to
get him arrested?” I asked. My body was beginning to tremble with
fury. How could he do this to the woman who had loved him for
sixteen years? She would have done anything for the stupid bastard
if he would have just asked.

Evan spoke before his parents could, “I
think this is all circumstantial. We’re going to need something
more concrete. We could talk to Gwen for a little while. She could
tell us what we’d need to stick the scum-bag in jail.”

Celeste and Giorgio stayed behind as
Evan and I headed to the bar. Gwen was arguing with David, but she
grew quiet as we approached.

“
I need to talk to you for a
minute, Gwen.”

She looked at him and then motioned to
a nearby table.

We had barely sat down when David
sauntered over. He had consumed several cocktails and appeared to
be in a very good mood. “You, Miss Leese, are one hot singer,
baby.”

I could see the anger building in
Evan’s eyes. “Go away, David. You don’t want to start your crap
tonight.”

“
Ah, baby brother, you’re
just all pissed off ‘cause little Miss Perfect here won’t give you
any.” He winked at me.

“
I’m going to knock you
completely out if you don’t shut up.”

“
You know I’m right,” he
continued, ignoring the danger. “If you’d just go ahead and get
things done with her, you could blow her brains out no
prob…”

I saw the arm come up, but to my shock
he was going for what was in his jacket.

“
NO!” I yelled, reaching to
stop him.

Gwen realized the danger and got to his
arm before I did. She had some amazing strength as she grabbed with
both hands and pushed his arm to his chest and held it, “Don’t do
it, Micah,” she pled as she held on for dear life. “Think about Mom
and Dad—and Leese. You can’t help her if you’re in jail. He’s just
drunk. Ignore him.”

He relaxed his arm slightly as David
laughed.

Gwen cut her eyes to her foolish middle
brother. “Go get us some cokes, Jackass,” she ordered.

David gave her a salute, “Yes,
Sir—chief Gavarreen!” He headed back to the bar.

“
Never let him get to you,
Micah. He’s your best ally when he’s sober and when the chips are
down. You never know, he might find a way to help you straighten
out this mess for Leese.”

“
Gwen, your mom has this
figured out, but you’ve got to tell us what kind of evidence we
need to prove what’s going on and get my step-father put in
prison.”

We spent the next few minutes
discussing what we knew was happening. By the time we were ready
for her to explain what we needed to make the evidence stick, David
had returned to the table with the drinks.

“
Okay, hard liquor all
around,” he laughed. “Nah, I forgot this is the goody-two-shoes
group—just cokes.” He placed the glasses in front of us and sat
down with another cocktail for himself.

“
You’ve got to record him
admitting to setting this up. We could have D’Angelo send someone
to tell him there is a problem with the plan to kill Leese. Tell
him she got away, anything to get him talking. If we can have Mom
figure out what account he got the hit money from, then that would
be a big nail in the coffin. As far as this woman goes, we’ve got
some good evidence with her withdrawal, but we need to know who she
hired. Maybe Daddy could call in a few favors.”

“
I don’t think D’Angelo is
going to cooperate. He gave me a lot of warning when I took this
job, and he’s been pretty edgy since I told him I’ve got
her.”

“
I coouldd go, bro,” David
laughed at his slip of the tongue. “I’d beat the confession out of
him!”

“
That’s not the right way to
get a confession, bozo,” Gwen stated, then went back to ignoring
him.

We talked for another few minutes, but
it was getting late and David was getting drunker so, for safety’s
sake, we said good-night to his family and headed for the
car.

“
Wow, is it warm out tonight
or what?” I said unzipping my hoodie.

“
Leese!” He scolded, “Don’t
take that off.” Then he made a little gun with his fingers and
reminded me why I couldn’t.

We climbed into the Corvette and
started the journey home, but I was so warm and uncomfortable, I
couldn’t stand it. I had turned his air conditioner on full blast,
but I still felt like I was cooking from the inside out. “I’ve got
to take this off,” I whined.

“
Yeah, put it on the floor
by your feet. Unclasp the holster from your skirt and lay it down
there with the jacket.”

I obeyed but my hands felt clumsy as I
fumbled with the clips and buckles.

His cell phone went off and scared us
both. He answered and all he said was, “WHAT!” A string of
obscenities followed as he pulled the car off the road into the
grass. He snapped the phone shut and got out and ran around to my
side of the car, jerking me out.

“
What are you…”

“
Leese, listen to me, you’ve
got to throw-up! Do it now! David put something in your coke. Stick
your finger down your throat and puke. DO IT NOW!”

He was forcing me to my knees, and all
I could smell was exhaust, grass and dirt. My hands still weren’t
operating correctly, but I finally managed to get my finger down my
throat and gag, over and over until the contents of my stomach
rolled forward and spilt on the ground.

“
Do it again,” he
ordered.

I got to a point where I had the dry
heaves and he lifted me up and placed me in the car.

“
Why did he do this to me?”
I began to cry. I dug in my purse for a tissue and a mint. My mouth
tasted awful and my throat added to the still smoldering feeling
that was working its way through me. “I still don’t feel very
well—maybe I need to go to the hospital.” The strangest sensations
and emotions were pelting my brain.

He wasn’t talking, but I did happen to
glance at our speed and we were holding around a hundred miles per
hour on the interstate. “Slow down, please, please, please—I don’t
want you to get pulled over.”

I watched it decrease, ninety,
eighty-five, eighty and then it stopped going down. “Please say
something,” I begged, my hand clutching his arm. I began to smell
the cologne he was wearing, the feel of his muscles under his
clothes. My free hand splayed across that broad chest feeling the
rapid beat of his heart as he drove. I was becoming incensed at the
idea that I couldn’t get past his shirt to feel his skin. My
fingers struggled against his buttons, managing one and then his
hand came up and stopped me.

“
I’ll get you home, you’ll
be fine.” His voice was soft and warm, like someone was wrapping me
in a downy soft blanket.

“
I don’t feel right; I feel
strange and warm. What did he do to me?” I knew that I wouldn’t be
able to understand him in a little while as my mind seemed to be
drifting away. I struggled to keep focused.

“
He put a drug in your
drink, a strong drug that will make you do things—things someone
like you would never do. He must have given you a hell of a lot of
it, too. I can’t believe it’s still working on you.”

He turned down the drive and made his
way back to the house. I was still so warm, like I had been in the
Jacuzzi for a very long time. He opened the car door and began
walking me toward the patio, but the stilettos were making it
impossible to keep going.

“
Let me sit down and take
these off. You unlock the door.”

He walked away and I remember undoing
the shoes and my hot feet finding the cool deck, but then something
was at my ankles and I was kicking it away. I had to get in the
water, I had to cool off. I heard his footsteps as he came back for
me and then I heard him call my name, but it didn’t matter at this
point. I stood up and looked at him. His face was so handsome, his
eyes so wide and his lips parted, but he wasn’t making a sound. I
looked down and noticed my clothes lying on the deck and then I
remembered I wanted to swim.

He grabbed for me as I stumbled
forward, but he wasn’t quick enough and I was in the water. The
feeling of the water on my skin was like ice; I was trying to swim
but I couldn’t make it to the top. That’s when I felt a strong arm
around my waist and I was being pulled to the surface. He was
carrying me up the pool steps and I was clinging to his neck. He
smelled so absolutely wonderful, I kept kissing the base of his
throat, my fingers twinning through his wet hair. I needed him more
than I felt I’d ever needed anything, more than air, more than a
beating heart, more than life.

I felt the softness of my bed, but he
was trying to leave me. I got up to follow him and he returned,
trying to get me to be still.

“
Please don’t leave me,” I
begged.

He was saying he couldn’t stay. He was
saying something about a perfect gentleman. Every time he tried to
leave me, I had to follow. He finally said he’d stay with me if I’d
only stop. I wondered what he wanted me to stop? I knew his clothes
were dripping wet and my fingers were trying to help him remove
them. He kept repeating something about a perfect gentleman, be
still, and he wasn’t this strong.

I could taste the cologne by his ear,
my mouth seeking his, but he was refusing me. My hands moving to
forbidden places and then he was over me, holding my arms against
my chest, his legs pinning my own. I was trying to taste his skin
again, struggling to get free so I could touch him. It felt as if
the struggle lasted for hours, I remembered saying that I wasn’t
going to tell him how much I loved him because I didn’t want to
hurt him. I was telling him my plans to save him from having to
kill me. I finally gave up the struggle. Out of breath and tired, I
could feel something warm running against my skin and the taste of
tears that were not my own.