Absolute Zero (46 page)

“Why are you asking me this?” She gripped the phone tighter and scanned the room again.

“Just conversation. So did you?” he asked.

“No. No, I never….well, there was school and then work and…” she trailed off.

“What about now?” he asked.

“Now?” She suddenly felt her nerves rise up.
What was he after?

“No?” she responded, confused.

“No?” He repeated.

“I guess not. I’m too old and set in my ways to change my life so abruptly. There. Is that what you wanted to know?
Why
do you want to know?”

“Like I said, conversation,” his voice sounded much more confident suddenly. “So, can ya be home at six tonight? I want to take you on a date. That is, if you can keep yerself out of the
bar
…”

Ryan appeared at the corner of her cubicle.

“Yes. I believe that would be acceptable,” she answered in a cool professional tone as she looked up at him.

“Is someone there?” she could hear through the phone.

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Well, maybe after dinner we can play with your little toy? You can pretend it’s me pounding in to you,” he started before she interrupted him with a nervous cough.

“That could possibly be arranged,” she felt her body clench and her stomach flutter.

“…my tongue sliding in and out of you…” he stated in a low rasp.

“I will certainly consider that. Thank you. If that’s all…” she stated in a louder voice.

“…screaming my name…”

“Yes. Yes I will. Ok, then. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone with a distinct click before smiling nervously at Ryan. Hopefully her cheeks weren’t beet red.

A blip sounded from her computer but she refused to look at it. This was awkward enough.

“Carol asked me to grab you, she wants you to look at something,” Ryan nodded his head toward the lab. Anne immediately pushed back her chair but not before noticing the small smiley face emoticon rolling back and forth in her instant message box apparently laughing.

Ian McClellan, company owner and all around Master of Intimidation sent
her
an emoticon. She had to clamp her lips and hold back the smile and accompanying giggle that wanted to escape.

*****

She closed her eyes as the ringing continued a few days later. The number on the screen wasn’t entirely familiar but the area code was. Philadelphia. Dwyer Oncology, to be more precise.

That was
never
a good sign.

They didn’t call you if it was good news.

She simply wouldn’t answer it.

Finally, the tone stopped and a small ting sounded, heralding a voice mail.

She wouldn’t listen to it. She concentrated on Ron’s notes in front of her instead.

Her desk phone began to ring, the same number displayed on the digital readout.

A loud sigh burst from her as she squeezed her eyes shut and placed her hands over her ears tightly. If anyone should happen by her desk, she would look absolutely ridiculous, but she didn’t care. She popped one eye open after a few moments and immediately removed her hands when she noticed the readout was blank once again. The red light on top of the receiver flicked on and glowed like some sort of beacon.

A beacon of doom.

A small blip sounded on her computer causing a forceful “
Geez US
,” to burst from her mouth.

Ian McClellan’s message to you:

Good morning.

“Oh,” she sighed as her nerves calmed instantly before another blip sounded.

Ian McClellan’s message to you:

Can you talk?

Can I talk?
They talked all weekend. They talked each night this week about random,
safe
things minus one very important thing.

He still hadn’t told her about selling the facility. One would think…
well, maybe not
. Still, she was hoping he could at least
trust
her.

Beth’s words rushed back to her, serving to knock some sense into her. Her hand reached out and grabbed the receiver as she dialed his extension.

*****

He drummed his fingers on the desk, his mind elsewhere as the voice droned on from the speaker on his desk phone later that afternoon.

He should be concentrating. He should be paying attention, but all he could focus on was the big red circle on his calendar. He didn’t put it there. Mrs. Craigh did, the sneaky wench.

He would see Anne again in four days. Four long, drawn out days that he was sure would feel like a month.

“Ian?”

“Hmm?”

“I asked if we received a counteroffer yet. Anything?” the deep male voice asked.

He traced the bright red circle on his desk calendar.

“No,” he responded absently.

“Should I call the agent today?” he heard as his eyes snapped to the phone.

“Call them and tell them they have one week or we’ll pull the offer and find something else. This has dragged on too long. I’m tired of playing games,” he grumbled as he sat up straighter in his chair. “I want this thing settled before the end of the quarter. Period. Go ahead and call them, report back to me. Does anyone have anything else?” he asked in a clearly agitated voice.

Silence.

“Good.” He pressed the speaker button on the phone effectively cutting off the call. Almost immediately, Mrs. Craigh’s voice filled the room through the small phone.

“Ian? You have a call on Line Three,” she stated.

“Who is it?” he asked as he stacked papers and stuffed them into a manila folder perhaps a bit too messily. Mrs. Craigh could put them in some semblance of order later…

“Daniel Lyons?” The name caused his hands to stop moving as he stared at the phone.

“Ian?”

He must have been silent too long.

“Put him through,” he said as he continued to stare at the phone.

“Ian,” he heard Daniel’s voice a moment later.

“Yes?”

“I need to see you. I have the report,” he started in what could only be described as a grave tone.

“Can’t ya just…”

“Trust me,” Daniel cut him off, “I need to show you something. When are you free? I can come now,” he added.

“That’s…fine.” He would have to cancel a call, but at that moment he couldn’t have cared less about that. He was more concerned about what Daniel felt was so important that warranted a face to face.

“Is it…bad?” Ian asked cautiously.

“You have
no
idea,” was his answer.

“First off, can I just ask…this Anne…do you know her very well? I mean…does she function?” Daniel asked later that day. His expression set off warning bells inside of Ian’s head as he stared at the other man.

“She’s a bit…closed off, I guess. But otherwise…I guess she seems…normal,” Ian answered tentatively.
Of course, if she truly seemed normal, they wouldn’t be having this conversation,
Ian thought. “Why do you ask?” he added. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the other man. Daniel’s answering swallow seemed pronounced and audible as if he were choking down a lump.

Daniel took a deep breath before setting the folder on the desk in front of him.

“First of all,” he started as he pulled papers from the small red encasement, “the picture you sent me is
not
the Anne Bennett that I investigated.” He set two pictures side by side in front of Ian. He was too busy staring at Daniel to look down.

“I mean, it
is
Anne Bennett,” he added hastily, “just…modified.”

Ian looked down and his hands immediately grasped both pictures and pulled them toward him. The picture on the left was the one she texted him. The picture of the two of them standing on top of the castle. The one on the left…was the picture that came up during his search a couple of months ago. The woman staring back at him bore little resemblance to the woman on the right. She was heavier in the face, her nose was far too large for her face and yet…it was there. The shape of the eyes, the lips, the chin… She most definitely had plastic surgery at some point and he couldn’t blame her. He himself had gone under the knife to correct the atrocity he was born with. If that was the worst of it, he really didn’t have much to worry about, he decided.

“It gets worse,” Daniel stated, causing Ian’s eyes to snap to him as he laid the pictures down. “Much worse,” Daniel added, causing apprehension to course through Ian’s body. “I don’t even know where to start,” Daniel stated gravely.

“Start at the beginning,” Ian said simply, furls of dread developing in the pit of his stomach for some odd reason.

Daniel took another loud breath as he grabbed the few remaining papers from the folder.

“She was born outside of Sacramento California in a small town, her father was a Chemistry Professor at a college there; her mother was a stay at home mom. She had…a younger sister. From what I gather, Anne was of extremely advanced intelligence, skipping two grades in elementary and middle school and taking college courses as young as fourteen. I found quite a few mentions of her in the local paper winning science awards, scholarships for advanced study. She was, I guess you would say, a child prodigy of sorts. I mention this because it…comes into play.” He looked extremely uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat.

“When she was…sixteen, she umm…gah, I don’t even know how to say this…” he trailed off before shaking his head.

“What?” Ian asked as he leaned forward unconsciously.

“She...” He took another breath and blew it out. “Her father was molesting her sister. She was…thirteen. Anne apparently told a guidance counselor at her school and the police brought him in for questioning that same day.” Daniel’s eyes were glued to the paper in front of him. “They let him go, Ian.”

“What? Why?” he all but gasped out as his hands gripped the armrests on his chair.

“He…well, it’s rather vague what I could gather, but there was a question as to Anne’s credibility…”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll get to that in a moment. This gets much worse,” he admitted before continuing. “He was released and he…shot and killed the mother and the sister at their home. Anne was at a science fair after school that day. She found them, but only after…you won’t…”

“What?” Ian asked, glad he was seated. His legs were entirely numb.

“He committed suicide in front of her.”

Any air in his lungs was gone by the time Daniel finished his sentence.

“I know…I…couldn’t believe it myself. Can you imagine?” Daniel spoke to himself as he took the front paper and placed it behind the others.

“So…she had no living relatives other than her father’s parents. They refused her. In fact, they were quite vocal that they felt she had something to do with it. That and the fact that the police had to backtrack and state the reason why they would let the father go. Apparently the father, Sam, told them that Anne had fabricated the story because she was jealous of her sister. He was apparently concerned for his safety and his family’s safety because of her extreme intelligence. It was in the paper, almost like the police were trying to exonerate themselves by casting doubt on this young girl’s sanity. She went into foster care. According to what I have, she never had contact with her grandparents again. They’re both dead now, and she probably has no idea.” Daniel sat back in his chair and looked up from the paper.

“That’s the worst of it. There’s more, though,” he seemed almost relieved to be finished with that portion. Ian stared at him in stunned silence.

“They found DNA evidence on the girl and in her room, so it was pretty obvious that Anne was telling the truth. She was allowed to return to school five months after the…incident. She lived with her foster family for two years before attending college. She has one friend that I could find. Beth McGowan. Beth was also housed with the same foster family. From phone records, I can see that the two of them talk regularly. In fact, other than your number and hers, there aren’t many other calls except for a string of calls lately from a Philadelphia area code,” he stated.

“Who?” Ian breathed out.

“An Oncologist’s office,” he responded. If it was possible, Ian could practically feel the blood drain from his face.

“I don’t know why,” Danial continued. “That information is really hard to come by. I can’t access medical records, they keep that pretty much airtight in America,” he stated. “Her grandmother on her mother’s side died of breast cancer, so it could just be a routine visit,” he added.

Ian sincerely hoped so.

“So,” he fumbled with the papers once again, “She attended UCLA, double major in Chemical Engineering and Pre-Med. She continued on with her Medical degree, did her residency at St. Luke’s in San Diego. She stayed there for a few years as a Neurosurgeon and from what I can gather, she was phenomenal. Her success rate was 100 percent and to say that is a remarkable feat is an understatement. It makes no sense, though. She left. Just walked away. Took a year off, flew down to Colombia, came back with a new face from what I can gather and went back to school for a few courses in Chemistry and Psychopharmacology. She took a job at Haviland Bio-Med and worked there for two years before she was let go. I couldn’t get the specifics, they were pretty tight-lipped about it, just gave me the dates of her employment but there were rumors,” he said.

“Rumors about what?” Ian asked cautiously.

“She may have had a personal relationship with the VP of Operations, man by the name of David Sommerville. He’s married now, he wasn’t then. I really couldn’t get much information, just speculation from a couple of people that work at Haviland. I
do
know that she was rather highly esteemed at that facility, so I’m not quite sure what went wrong. She was unemployed for a while, but apparently Dunmed reached out to
her
, she was offered a job after interviewing with your HR Rep, ummm…Karen Tsartchev. She’s no longer employed with your company, but you probably already know that,” he stated.

Actually, he didn’t.

“I also have some financial information,” he stated as he pulled another sheet to the front of the pile. ‘She’s definitely over her head in bills. Her credit is…well, she’s keeping up but barely. I think she took a rather big hit after the surgery, at least from what I can tell,” he stated as he laid the papers on his desk. “Bought herself a new wardrobe and a rather expensive car shortly after she came back to America,” he added.

Ian reached over to grab the papers from the desk.

“That’s all I have for now. I think that’s enough, though, don’t you? My god, I can’t believe this woman can even…” he didn’t finish his sentence.

Function
. Ian finished Daniel’s sentence in his head.

“Do you want me to keep investigating?” he heard Daniel’s voice.

“No,” he shook his head, his eyes staring at the paper before him, his look vacant but his mind was positively reeling.

So many questions, but the answers could only truly come from one source. He barely noticed Daniel standing up. He was saying something, but Ian’s mind was three thousand miles away. He made some sort of response as he was left alone with his thoughts.

A feeling was washing over him as he sat and regarded the folder Daniel left on his desk.

It wasn’t guilt. He would justify his actions a thousand times in his head. Yes, it was wrong, but if he had the choice? He would have done it again.

“Mrs. Craigh?” he stated after pressing the button on his desk phone.

“Yes?” he heard through the speaker.

“I need the first flight you can get to Philadelphia.”

*****

Anne stood in front of the stove, debating whether or not to actually cook something. Her stomach was in knots for some reason and the thought of food wasn’t exactly appealing at the moment. Something was wrong.

In all the time she had known Ian, she had only initiated contacted with him maybe once or twice. Each time, he had always responded almost immediately. The text she sent him last night was never returned. It was a nice text, but one she regretted sending as she contemplated her empty stove top. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent it. Maybe he preferred the chase. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so mushy to send him a text to let him know she couldn’t wait to see him. It was so completely out of her comfort zone but it came from the heart and honestly, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

She had fallen in love with him and the realization of that fact last night caused her fingers to do something so foolish…

She let out a quick rush of breath. Maybe he was traveling. Maybe he was busy in meetings. That certainly was a possibility.
Maybe being in love turned normally sensible people into highly sensitized morons,
she though ruefully.

She should cook something. Her feet stayed rooted to the floor, though. The faint sound of…tinkling could be heard from the living room and the sound of the front door opening caused a loud groan to escape from her mouth as she rolled her eyes and hung her head, shaking it.

Footsteps sounded after the door closed and her head snapped up as they sounded closer.

Perfect.

Just perfect
, she seethed in her head.

“I’m not leaving,” she announced with her back still turned. “You can work around me, I don’t give a shit, but you aren’t running me off tonight,” she yelled out. Her hands were fisted at her sides. If Irene even so much as said something back in her normal snotty tone, Anne wouldn’t be responsible for her actions.

“Well, that’s good to know,” she heard from behind her.

Not Irene.

The deep brogue caused her body to jolt with awareness as she turned and automatically caught her breath at the sight of him. She practically bound the few steps separating them before she could stop herself and launched herself at the poor man.

“Ian!” she exclaimed as he caught her to him and held her as she planted a few kisses on his face. “What are you doing here?” she asked between kisses. She held both sides of his face as he held her body to his. She leaned back slightly to look at him; her heart was pounding wildly in her chest.

“Anne,” he started in a low tone, his face so completely serious and almost…foreboding. Not Annie, just Anne, he had said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t usually launch myself at people,” she stated on a suddenly nervous laugh. “It’s a little out of character for me. I think I scared you,” she attempted to push back but he kept her held firm. She wriggled enough to plant her feet on the ground.

“So, really, what are you doing here?” she asked, looking up at his somber expression.

His answer was an audible breath.

“Now you’re scaring
me
. Is there…something going on with the company?” she asked cautiously. Finally, maybe he was going to tell her about selling…

He gave a small shake of his head, his eyes still intense on hers.
Apparently not.

“Something wrong with…you?” she fished, only to receive another silent shake of his head.

This was completely strange.

“Something wrong with…
me
?” she asked on a whim and received the nod she didn’t expect but dreaded at the same time.

“I
know
, Anne,” he finally spoke. If he wasn’t holding her up, she would have surely crumpled to the floor. Her legs – her whole body felt numb suddenly.
What did he know?

Oh god
. Words just seemed to flow from her mouth. “We…listen. It…I’m sure it seems bad, but in our defense…you’re just so
stubborn
, and we were only trying to…” she stammered out before he interrupted her.