His Betrayal Her Lies (9 page)

Taylor snapped. She picked her keys and bag
up off the ground and jumped inside the car. Racing down Madison
Avenue, she broke every speed limit posted.

She whipped her car into a spot in the
visitor’s parking lot at city hall. Inside the building, she went
to the elevators and pressed twelve. The only door located on the
east wing of that floor was the office of Mayor John Briggs.

Her father’s bodyguard greeted her as she
entered. “Good morning, Mrs. Gallagher. It’s been awhile.” Frank, a
refined man who Taylor guessed to be in his fifties, had been her
father’s bodyguard sense he was an Illinois State Senator four
years ago.

Taylor rarely visited her father at work. She
knew he was a busy man and she didn’t want to burden him with her
problems. However, today was different. She needed guidance and he
was the only one who could help.

“Good morning, Frank. Is my father
available?”

“Yes, he just wrapped up a meeting. Go on
in.”

“Thanks, Frank.”

Taylor opened the door to her father’s
office. He was seated behind a humongous L-shaped, oak executive
desk. He looked up from a stack of papers and smiled.

“Taylor, I’m so happy you came to visit your
old pop.”

Taylor walked around the desk and gave her
father a hug. She always found comfort in his embrace.

“To what do I owe this visit,
sweetheart?”

She sat down on his black leather couch. “I
just needed to talk.”

Mayor John Briggs got up from his chair and
sat on the edge of his desk. “Okay, let’s talk.”

Taylor took a deep breath. “Before I start, I
need you to promise me that after I’m done, you won’t ask me any
questions and you will only give me advice.”

Her father creased his brow and looked
worried. “Are you in any trouble?”

Taylor shook her head. She knew his concern
came from the fact that she was always the strong one out of all
his kids. If she was here, it had to be serious.

“Okay, I promise only to listen and give you
advice.”

Licking her dry lips, she laid her head back
on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “I have a friend who is
keeping a secret from her companion.” She hesitated, then went on.
“Although she wants to tell him, she is holding back because she
has good reason to believe that he is holding on to a secret that
he should come clean with first. Of course all this is compromising
their relationship.”

She observed her father’s face to see how he
seemed to be taking her news so far. He steepled his fingers under
his chin and waited silently.

Choosing her words carefully, she continued,
“The catch 22 is that if this secret comes out, it could not only
hurt the couple but also their families.” She fingered the strap of
her bag and avoided eye contact with her father, just in case a
tear happened to sneak down her cheek. “I want to know what you
would do to save your friend’s relationship and family.”

“I have one question.”

“I said no questions, Dad.”

He shifted his weight on the desk. “Just one,
please, if you expect me to give an honest answer.”

Taylor nodded for him to proceed.

“Does your friend’s companion know about the
secret?”

“Yes.”

John ran his hand down the side of his face.
“It’s always better to keep no secrets from your companion. I say
tell this
friend
,” his fingers drew quotation marks in the
air, “to tell her companion that she knows about the secret. If
your
friend
is lucky, her family will support them through
the outcome. Trust and communication are the key factors in any
relationship.”

Taylor got up and hugged her father again.
Determined not to cry in front of him, she gathered her purse and
keys for a quick get-away. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll talk to you later.”
She pulled away but her father caught her hand.

“I’m glad you came to me, sweetie.” John’s
pleading eyes could not hide how badly he wanted her to confide in
him more.

“Thanks,” she whispered. One final kiss and
she was gone.

* * *

The plan was crystal clear now. Taylor knew
what she had to do.

Walking past her secretary, the older White
lady stopped her before she entered her office. “Good morning, Mrs.
Gallagher.” Taylor turned toward Mrs. Tab and nodded her head.

“I don’t want to alarm you but you have a
little surprise in your office.”

Taylor didn’t really care. All she knew was
she needed to be alone and whoever was in her office was about to
feel her wrath.

The unmistakable scent of roses filled
Taylor’s nose as she neared her office. Inside, it looked like more
than a hundred vases of yellow roses had been placed all over her
office. They were on the windowsill, her desk, and lined up in rows
on the floor. She was extremely annoyed as she made a path through
the ones on the floor and sat in her chair.

Mrs. Tab came in behind her. She was
absolutely delighted. “Your husband must really love you,” she said
picking up one of the roses and smelling it.

Taylor just stared at the woman. She was not
her normal self, and Mrs. Tab seemed to catch the hint. “Well, here
is the card I managed to find in one of the vases.” Mrs. Tab gave
it to Taylor and backed out the office door.

A world of trouble is what Taylor had gotten
from the last anonymous letter addressed to her. She almost had to
sit on her hands to stop them from shaking. She couldn’t believe
this psycho person was having this type of effect on her. She grew
up on the west side of Chicago and she didn’t scare easily. She
braced herself, opened the envelope, and read the card inside.

“
Hi, Taylor,

You ran off the other night without giving
me your last name. I had to go through great measures to find you.
Please accept these roses as a fresh start to our friendship.
Please give me a call. I’d like to take you out for dinner. I
enclosed another business card.”

Kalon Knight

Taylor tossed the letter in the garbage can
and buzzed her secretary.

“Yes, Mrs. Gallagher?”

“Can you please send up the janitorial staff
to remove all these roses from my office?”

“You want them to throw them out? All of
them?”

“Yes, I want them removed from my office.”
Taylor’s tone matched her irritation.

“Yes, Mrs. Gallagher. Right away.”

“Oh, and by the way,” Taylor rattled off into
the intercom, “if anyone sends anything else to my office by
delivery, please return it to the sender. No matter what it
is.”

Mrs. Tab had worked for Taylor for a few
months, and had never seen this side of her, rude and detached. She
was always nice and sweet.

“Okay, Mrs. Gallagher.” Taylor could hear her
secretary phone building management and request that janitors be
sent up.

After the last vase of flowers was taken out
of Taylor’s office, she called her brother. Tyler answered on the
fourth ring. “Good morning, sis. Speak your business.”

“What took you so long to answer the damn
phone?”

There was no sound, and Taylor pictured her
brother holding the phone away from his ear and staring at it. He
stood his ground. “Ahhh, come again.”

“Yeah, you heard me. The phone rang more than
three times. I know you’re not busy.”

“Look, Taylor, I don’t know how that stick
got in your ass, but you need to calm down. I do have a job. What
do you want?”

Taylor blew off his last remark. “I need the
number to that friend you went to college with, the one who became
a private investigator.”

“Why?”

She blew out an irritated breath. “Please,
Ty, I just need it. No questions.”

“This is against my better judgment but I
guess I’ll give it to you.”

A neon orange post-it was within Taylor’s
reach, so she used it to take down the information. “Thanks, Ty,
and I’ll call you later.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Tyler stopped Taylor before she
hung up. “Hey, sis, we used to tell each other everything. What’s
going on?”

“I’m sorry, Ty, but this situation I have to
handle on my own. I promise though that if I ever need your help,
I’ll let you know.” Tyler had always respected her privacy and she
assumed this time would be no different.

“Okay, sis. Love you.”

Taylor half smiled. “Love you, too.”

* * *

Taylor paced the floor in her office, waiting
for Ty’s private investigator friend to show up. She had met him at
Ty’s college graduation at her parents’ home on Christmas Eve. She
needed someone she could trust, someone who could be discreet.

Downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan were in
full view outside the picture window in her office. She sat at her
desk and looked through the plate glass. She needed her best
friend, Libby, but she had pissed her off. Pam seemed to be MIA
lately. Everyone was busy with their own lives.

Taylor was aimlessly rearranging papers on
her desk when the phone buzzed.

“Yes.”

“There is a Mr. William Bolton here to see
you.”

Taylor stood from her desk. “Please send him
in.”

William came into the office with a puzzled
look. He was a tall, lanky, freckle-faced man. Tyler had once told
Taylor he trusted William with his life. She hoped she could do the
same.

“Please take a seat, William.”

He hesitated before folding his tall, frail
body into the chair.

“Would you like some water or coffee?”

William scratched the back of his head.
“Ahhh, no thank you.”

Taylor walked over to the windowsill and
checked out the ducks swimming in the lake while she spoke. “You’re
probably are wondering why I called you here today.” She could hear
William moving around in the leather chair.

“Yeah, I guess I was wondering that.”

Taylor kept her back to him. “I’m going to
cut right to the chase. I want to hire you.”

“I never thought in a million years you would
require my help but okay, what do you need?”

Taylor turned to face William. “I need you to
follow my husband and get information about his daughter’s mother.”
She knew he was probably caught off guard because he, like everyone
else, thought that she and Ari were the perfect couple.

An ink pen fell out of his hand and rolled a
few inches across the floor. He leaned forward and stretched his
rubbery arm out to get the pen. “I’m sorry, Taylor, but I don’t
understand what you are talking about.”

Taylor took a seat in front of him. “Let me
explain. A few weeks before I got married, I received a letter in
the mail from a lady claiming she had a daughter by my husband
while we were in college. She didn’t leave a name and I didn’t tell
Ari about the letter. The day we were married, I think I saw her at
the reception. She was staring at me; she was wearing a black dress
and a black veil covered her face. She left before I could approach
her.

“A year passed and I didn’t hear anything
more from this lady. I started to think maybe it was a lie—until
this weekend. That’s when I went to the cleaners and came out to
find my car windows busted out. And then this morning when I
stepped out of my house, my tires were slashed and the words bitch
and hoe were keyed on my car.

“I tried to connect the dots and everything
seems to come back to this woman. I need you to find out everything
about her from the day she was born. I need to know what I’m
dealing with.”

William had taken out his note pad while
Taylor was talking and was writing. He lifted his head. “Is that
everything?”

“Yes, that’s all I know about her.”

“Do you still have the letter?”

Taylor reached into her bottom desk drawer
and pulled out the letter. Just touching it almost brought a
shiver. She handed it to him.

“I have a few questions.” William sounded
like he was in CSI mode. Taylor leaned back in her chair.
“Okay.”

William stood and walked over to the
floor-to-ceiling window. “First, where does Ari work?”

“He is a pilot for American West Airlines. He
is gone at least three weeks out of a month. He also flies
privately for celebrities like R. Kelly, Denzel Washington, and
Beyoncé.”

“Do you know where he and this woman met or
the little girl’s name?”

“Yes, everything is in the letter. She said
Miami and the little girl’s name is Adrianne.”

William stood in front of Taylor, rubbing the
back of his neck. “I have one more question. Why did you choose me?
I mean, I’m glad you did but I’ve only being doing this type of
work for a couple of months.”

Taylor lowered her eyelids to almost a slant
and crossed her legs. “I chose you because my brother trusts you. I
could have gone with any professional, someone with tons of
experience. However, I need someone who knows my family and knows
how much is at stake. My father could lose everything if this gets
out. So I’m choosing loyalty over experience and I have confidence
that you can get the job done.”

William closed his note pad with a satisfied
look. “If I have any questions, I’ll be in touch.” They shook hands
and he left.

Taylor sat back down with her arms folded and
studied the ceiling. She prayed to God that this was all a lie and
she would wake up from this ugly nightmare. She never thought her
life would be this dysfunctional.

There was a light tap at the door. She sat up
straight. “Come in.”

Libby came strolling into the office with a
stack of papers in her hand. They hadn’t talked to each other since
that day at the cleaners.

“I had to stop by and give you these profit
and loss statements to read over and I need you to review these
financials.” She deposited the papers on Taylor’s desk and turned
to leave.

“Wait, Libby.”

Libby stopped without turning around to face
Taylor.