Cain (21 page)

~~~

Cain managed to be only five minutes
early. And though it was technically early, he still felt as though
he was running behind. Of course it didn’t help that every time he
stopped for more than, say, two minutes, his mind wandered to
Alyssa and what she might be doing right then. It was noon before
he found the time to call his house. Jazzie answered on the first
ring.

After he found out how she was feeling
and if she’d heard from Quinn, she launched into her plans. Plans
from Jazzie could be scary or insane, depending on how much effort
she put into them.

“
I’ve been trying to
figure out a job to keep me busy. I know that I said I’d wait for a
few weeks, but after all this, I’m bored. Know anyone who might be
hiring a slightly used up jack of all trades?”

“
No. But I’ll keep an ear
out. Have you heard from Mother? I wondered if she…if she called
about his funeral.” Cain wondered when the last time was he’d
called his father anything but “him” or “he.” There were other
names, names not so flattering, but he wasn’t going to think about
those right now. Not with his funeral only days away, he
guessed.

“
Yes. She called my cell
this morning and left a message. She wanted your number again. I
haven’t called her back. Do you think she has the money for his
funeral and stuff? The last I’d heard, he only had about twenty
bucks and that was because Mother had borrowed it from me and gave
it to him.”

Cain didn’t want her to have his phone
number. It was bad enough that she knew where he lived. Then he
felt bad for that thought. She was his mother, after all. He
supposed he’d end up paying for his father’s services and as soon
as she found out he was footing the bill, she would go all out for
it, costing him much more than his father deserved. “I’ll give her
a call. When are you going in to see Quinn? I have rounds with
Damon in an hour and thought I’d stop in and see her then. When I
spoke to her earlier, she said the doctor hadn’t been in to see her
yet.”

“
I just talked to her. Did
you know that Alyssa called her? I guess they talked for a long
time. Quinn said that Alyssa was very sweet to her, but avoided
talking about you every time she mentioned you. Did you piss her
off again? Cain, I really want her as my sister. You’d better fix
this.”

Cain laughed at her tone. Jazzie could
be very protective when she wanted to and she was extremely
protective of what she considered hers. Cain was the same way.
Especially when it related to his family, and now Alyssa. “No. I
didn’t get a chance to talk to her much last night. She and I are
going to talk tonight. Will you be all right there by yourself
another night? I don’t…I’m not sure what Alyssa’s plans are right
now.”

“
Why don’t you bring her
back here? I’ll make dinner and then you two can ‘talk’ all you
want. I won’t bother you at all.” Cain grinned at her tone when she
said the word “talk,” as if she didn’t believe they’d be doing much
of that.

He hoped not either, but knew that they
did have to talk eventually. He told Jazzie he’d have to call
Alyssa and let her know. The other line was ringing and he told her
he’d talk to her later and hung up. He wished as soon as he
realized who it was that he’d had someone take a
message.

“
Hello, Mother. What can I
do for you? I’m kind of busy.”

“
Your father is dead, I
would think the very least you could have done was call me and told
me how sorry you were about it. That damned policewoman just shot
him in cold blood. I’m going to sue.”

Cain took several deep breaths before
he trusted himself to speak. He knew that she’d just lost her
husband, but wondered if she even thought about what he’d done to
his own daughter or what he’d planned to do if the money had not
come when he’d demanded it.

“
The police had no choice,
Mother. He was going to kill someone and had been warned, several
times I might add, to drop his weapon and to step back. He advanced
instead of stopping, leaving the ‘damned policewoman’ no choice but
to kill him. You do know that he was planning to kill Quinn if he
didn’t get the money, don’t you?”

“
So you’re going to side
with the others instead of defending your own dad? I should have
guessed that’s what you’d do. I suppose that money-grubbing whore
was a part of this too. You know if you’re going to give away your
money to strumpets, you might as well just give it to me. I need it
now more than any of you do anyway. You’re young enough to start
over, but I’m all alone.”

Cain marveled at his mother. She had
managed to turn his father into a saintly man, ignore the fact that
said father planned to kill his own daughter, call Alyssa a whore,
and a money-grubbing one at that, and demand his money all in the
same breath. Unbelievable.

“
Mother,’” he started as
calmly as he could. “As of this very moment, I want you out of my
life. Never do I want to hear from you again. I don’t want you to
come around me, call me, or even think about me. I’ve had enough.
I’ll make arrangements to pay a part of your husband’s funeral
bill, but nothing more after that. I’ve never been so sick of or
ashamed of anyone in my entire…Don’t call here again. The staff
will have instructions to not put your calls through. And for your
information, that ‘whore’ is going to be my wife if she’ll have
me.”

Cain had the satisfaction of slamming
down the phone as she was still talking. He didn’t know what she
was saying and frankly, didn’t care. Sitting back in his chair, he
thought he felt good, really good for the first time in months, no,
maybe years. Leaning forward again, he picked up the phone and
called Alyssa.

~CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE~

Alyssa stared at the two men in the
office with her. She couldn’t figure out how they could suck all
the air out of the room and still be able to breathe. She looked
longingly at the window to the left of her. She could honestly say
that she’d give just about anything right now to be inside the big
box she’d lived in for all those years. But there was nothing she
could do about it now. Sitting up straighter in her chair again,
she cleared her throat. It didn’t seem to matter to the men, they
continued on with the argument that they’d been having for the past
hour. Her shrill whistle shut them up.

“
As I was saying…Christ,
you two are driving me insane. There isn’t any way that she is
going to go quietly in the night. I want my mother to sign off on
the house and whatever else she took from Daddy. Monday at the
latest. I have paid for enough of her stupidity.” The phone ringing
at her elbow had her scream.

Lucky for the caller, Thomas answered
it and not her, not that she would anyway. That was something she
wasn’t really keen about doing just yet. She looked over at Drew.
He was going to be a great asset to her if she could ever get him
to loosen up. He was by and far the most uptight man she’d ever
met.

“
Tomorrow, I want you to
look into that project for me. I just want you to look for now.
There is the building on Tenth Avenue that will suit better. And
for the love a Zeus, will you please bend a little? I’ve seen
telephone poles with more flexibility than you.”

“
All right. There is also
the matter of household staff. Are we still going to conduct
interviews tomorrow? I can run background checks on most of them
from the hotel, but extensive ones will take a little
longer.”

She needed someone she could trust in
the house. Not just trust, but someone she could get along with
too. Drew had set up three different hotel rooms over the city to
conduct one on one interviews for everything from cooks to yard
help. No one would know who they were interviewing for and wouldn’t
unless they were called back for a second interview. She thought it
was a sound ideal.

“
Do what it takes. I also
want you to find Lily for me. Find out what you can about her and
do a check on her too. She is aware that you’re coming to see her.
She said that she’d meet you in the warehouse on Hudson Avenue on
Thursday morning.”

“
Miss, the phone is for
you. It’s Dr. Waite. Shall Drew and I leave the room for you? I
have things I, too, would like to add to the list of potential
questions for the hired help.”

Her entire body felt sweaty all of a
sudden. No one had called her in…well, never since she’d been back.
She eyed the phone with the feelings of terror and trepidation. She
nodded to the two men and picked it up.

“
Hello, sweetheart. How’s
your day going so far?”

How did she answer that? Did he care or
was he calling for…she stopped that train of thought. It wasn’t
going to get her anywhere.

“
I’m trying to find people
to work for me when I go home on Friday and staff for my office
both there and at home. I’m terrified out of my mind that the board
won’t accept me back. Not that they couldn’t, but I don’t like not
being able to get along with them. I have three pro…no, four
projects that are making me insane. I miss my daddy more than I
thought I ever would. My mother is spending my money to pay me rent
in my house. I need to pee really bad, my head hurts, and I want to
go outside and run through the trees on the back lot until no one
can find me. I have to take the driver’s test on Tuesday and I’ve
never driven a car in my life.” She brushed away the tear on her
cheek. “How’s your day so far?”

He was quiet for so long that she
nearly hung up. She’d scared him or repulsed him. Either way, he
was going to tell her that he wasn’t coming over tonight and more
than anything she’d been doing today, that was the one thing that
had kept her focused. And she wasn’t even sure why.

“
Quinn can run an office
better than anyone I know. I can ask her to help you out until you
get someone else. She’s been looking for something anyway and this
will help her out. Jazzie can organize things for you at home. I
know she can run a kitchen. She ran a five star restaurant until
she got bored and quit one day. I have my driver’s license and a
car. I could teach you how to drive in a couple of afternoons. I’m
sure if you just got up and went to the bathroom, everything on
your desk will be there when you return. The mom thing…can’t help
you there. Sounds like you need a good attorney. Take two pain
relievers for the head and take a break in the woods, if that’s
what you want. I’m sure you’ll feel better. Did I miss
anything?”

Alyssa burst into tears. Not just
tears, but sobbing her heart out, nose running down her chin,
hic-uppy tears. She could hear Cain talking to her, but she
couldn’t answer. In less than two minutes, he’d fixed it all for
her. Thomas came into the room with his cell phone to his
ear.

“
Yes sir, I can see her
now…yes, she’s crying very hard. What did you say to her? I will
hurt you if…oh, I see…ah, yes…no, I don’t see that it will matter
one hell of beans to…oh what a splendid idea. I believe she is
calming now, sir. Shall I tell her to talk to you now?”

Thomas handed her a box of tissues and
shook them in front of her. Putting down the phone, she took
several out and blew her nose. Next, he handed her the trash can.
She glared at him as he stood there. After depositing the used
tissue, she started to pick up the phone again when he cleared his
throat. He was holding the antibacterial stuff in his hand, ready
to squirt it into her palm. She was going to murder him in his
sleep.

“
May I pick up the phone
now, or did you want to disinfect my shirt too. I’m sure there
are…oh, I don’t know, maybe several billion germs on my feet as
well. Want maybe I should dip them in that crap too?”

“
Don’t be crude. I would
like you to stay healthy. Now talk to that young man. I have
errands to run. I’m also picking up that disgusting pizza you
wanted for lunch. Would there be anything else?”

“
No. Not that I can
think—yes! That movie you told me about. Can you see if you can
find it too? Pretty please with sugar on top?” She batted her
lashes at Thomas and could hear Cain laughing as she put the phone
to her ear.

“
You would do well to
learn to beg like that more readily, I think. As for the movie, I
have already purchased it. It is in the living room. Also, just so
you know, cook has been making all your favorites tonight. Will Dr.
Waite be joining you for dinner?”

Before she could ask, Cain answered.
“Tell him yes, if that’s okay with you. What am I having
anyway?”

Alyssa nodded to Thomas and he left the
room. “I don’t have a clue. I have been eating whatever they set in
front of me for a week now. It’s easier than arguing. I’m going to
be as big as this house before I leave.” She leaned back in her
chair. “Thank you. It was just suddenly too much.”

“
I wish I could help more.
You actually helped me too. My mother called. I’ll talk to you
about it tonight. You really should just take a walk. I wish I
could join you. I love the outdoors too.”

They talked for a few more minutes and
when they hung up, she went to the bathroom and took two
Ibuprofens. Going into the kitchen, she sat in the chair and
watched Mike cook. He didn’t say much even when he was deep in
conversation with someone, and she liked that about him.