License to Love (39 page)

She had spent hours interviewing people and practicing
active listening and eye contact. So why did this feel so awkward?

“I tried to call him.” How ridiculous. Why did her father
send a stranger to relay the message? Several questions having to do with
Jerry’s work and Keith Holloway began running through her mind. People throughout
the city applauded Keith as a hero for donating money in all the right places,
but she just didn’t trust the Holloways.

Her reporting skills kicked in, even while she laughed
inwardly. Not everything was a scandal waiting to happen.

“Why didn’t my dad just call me?”

With a helpful expression, he said, “He’s busy at the
moment.”

He’s lying, but why?
Three details about the man
intrigued Cora: his hesitance, his looks, and the fact that she had never met
or heard of him. Nick… the name didn’t ring a bell at all. She wanted to know
more, but also felt a pressing need to get out of there.

“Well, thank you for driving over here to let me know.” She
turned and opened her car door.

“I don’t want you to miss dinner. Since you’re already here,
I’d love to accompany you. It’s an excellent restaurant.” He tilted his head
and displayed a poor-little-puppy look. She’d bet few women said no to that
face.

Maybe he had read her mind a bit ago. She wanted to fall
into his wonderful trap, but this just felt too weird.

“Thank you for the invitation, but I’ll be fine.” She said
the words with a smile although she wasn’t too happy about leaving him behind.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, as if he was
strolling down the beach, and watched her back out of the parking space and
drive around the corner. It felt like a missed opportunity for sure, but her
instincts were screaming at her. Had she missed something?

Well, hello. Her dad was missing, which was strange enough
by itself, and now a hot stranger showed up to tell her about it.

She felt rattled all right; she pulled over and waited. As a
reporter for the local news station, she could keep her cool in front of a news
camera or an audience, even when an interview got heated. This evening,
however, a short conversation with a lone man left her dizzy.

Cora wondered what Nick did for Keith. Was he some kind of
errand boy? Keith employed numerous people who seemed to lack an exact job
description. A new determination filled her, and Cora decided it was time to
talk to her father about his employment and ask him to resign. Beg him, if she
had to. He didn’t belong with these other men. The extra money wasn’t worth the
constant worry, and she could support them both if need be.

Cora put the car in neutral. She watched Nick’s red Mustang
rev up and pull out of the parking lot. She turned on her headlights in the
fading daylight, hoping to mask her car, and turned around and followed him at
a distance.

“I blew it,” Nick said to himself, shaking his head as he
drove. Of course Cora was able to see that he was nervous, lying, and
completely knocked over by her beauty. She wore casual business clothes on the
news, but tonight she had worn a thin flower shirt draped over a lacy red tank
top, and a black skirt. It was pretty and feminine with a hint of sexiness. And
yeah, it probably stopped most men from thinking straight. While muttering some
more, he grabbed his cell phone to call his cousin on the handless speaker.
“Adam.”

“Hey, why are you calling so soon? What happened?”

Nick sighed. “I talked to her for maybe five minutes and
then she took off. I think I made her even more suspicious.” He could hear
sounds from one of the Mexican restaurants, which Adam and his parents ran,
from Adam’s end.

“Man. . . Did you call Keith yet?”

“No, I’m headed back there to keep an eye on things.” They
both paused. Maybe Adam had been wrong in thinking that Nick could help. Nick
didn’t feel in control of the situation. This was his first assignment to prove
himself loyal to the family again, and it couldn’t have gone worse (according
to Keith’s expectations, of course). Nick got what he wanted, to meet Cora
Evans face to face. He doubted that he made a good impression. He added,
“Something’s bugging me.”

“What’s that?”

“Maybe bugging isn’t the right word. . . I’m afraid this
situation with Jerry will end up involving more people than we originally
intended.”

Adam paused before saying, “Only if the cops get called in,
and we don’t need to do that to help Jerry and his daughter. We got this.”

“I’m playing by Keith’s rules again when I wanted to take a
stand.” Nick sighed. Doing anything more could get people hurt. Cora hurt. Then
Nick asked out of the blue, more or less to change the subject, “Are you sure
she doesn’t have a boyfriend?”

Despite the mood, Adam laughed. “When I looked through
Keith’s file, I didn’t see anything about a romantic interest, just info on her
job, Jerry, and college.”

“Tell me.”

“That bad, huh? Well, she majored in journalism and aced
about every class, then jumped right into a job here in Eugene. Keith had a lot
more info on Jerry, but I think you know most of the boring details. The only
new thing I read was that he lost his wife before working for Keith.”

That was interesting. And sad. “How?”

Adam didn’t answer right away. “It’s a little strange, she
died of cancer.”

“Hmm.” Neither of them wanted to talk about the coincidence.
“I’m about to pull up to the house. I’ll talk to you later.” 

***

Cora felt more and more ridiculous as she kept on her
course, she soon parked a block away from the Holloway house.
Something
had happened to her father; she couldn’t ignore the sickening feeling. The
Holloways had a beautiful property lined with a tall fence and security system.
Oddly though, the front gate was unlocked and moved under her touch.

She would bet money that her dad was here. Since it was
unlocked, this couldn’t really be considered breaking and entering, right? Or
did she even care at this point? She’d done her share of sneaking around for a
good story, and this was far more important than her career.

She slipped in and hid among the shrubs along the fence,
ignoring her pounding heart and tight stomach. So what if she threw up on his
expensive landscaping?  Flowers bloomed on the bushes around her, soaking the
air with heavy, sweet perfume and littering the ground with tiny white
blossoms. The smell further twisted her insides.

She stilled in the shadows while watching the house.
Darkness fell and she felt fairly confident that she could now sneak around without
being noticed. Using a rose garden as cover, she crept across the property
toward the house. Her heels were short but they weren’t made for walking in
damp grass. With her heels sinking into the soft earth, she kept low and made
her way to the house.

The Holloways must not have been too worried about anyone
trying to break in. Maybe their reputation kept thieves and other criminals at
bay.

The glass decoration around the front door allowed her to
see inside, just an empty entryway. She made her way to a front window and
peered in. At the sight of movement inside, she jerked her head down. Then,
ever so slowly, she peeked in from the edge. Two soft lamps lit the room
inside, giving the space an artificial, orange hue.

Dad!
She spotted her father’s salt and pepper hair
and black-rimmed glasses. His normally warm face didn’t have a hint of a smile
as he  slouched down in a chair, looking defeated with his sagging shoulders.
She’d been right, but she wasn’t happy about it.

Keith Holloway paced in front of Jerry, using curt gestures
to articulate his speech. She didn’t see either of Keith’s two brothers, nor
did she see Alexander Pierce (the only other employee or relative she knew of
the family). All the better, because she couldn’t stand Pierce and did just
about anything to avoid him. He slicked his hair back, and if that weren’t
enough, he had overly thick eyebrows, a long nose, and a permanent sneer. The
combination made him scary and creepy at the same time.

A large, muscle-bound teenager stood behind Jerry. She
couldn’t tell if her dad was trapped there, or if he could leave. His hands
were placed in front of him, free. The big teenager behind him was simply
standing there. Maybe Keith was upset about his budget or something.

What, really, was she doing? How could she help her dad
without knowing what he was involved in? If she truly felt something criminal
was going on, she should get help. If only she could hear them.

Sudden shame hit her; she stepped back and decided to leave.
As soon as she got back to the fence line, she’d call 911. The police would
come; she’d get her father out safely and demand that he quit his job and all
involvement with the Holloways. She should have been more persistent when he
refused before.

“Good evening, Cora.” A low, hard voice spooked her as two
hands clamped down on her shoulders. He pulled her back and spun her around.

She might have screamed. She tried to run but his grip was
too tight.

Light from the window fell on a hard, frowning face. It was
Alexander Pierce. He didn’t give her much room as he stepped close and stared
down into her face. She’d never been able to tell his eye color before. Now she
saw that was because his pupil was so large that it crowded out the dark blue
around the edges. 

She could
smell
him.

“What are you doing here?”

“My father.” She gritted her teeth together and jerked free
of his hands. “I want to know what the hell is going on in there.”

He smiled.

“Then I’ll take you inside to see.” He grabbed her arm and
pulled her around the house and through the front door, ignoring as she fought
to pull away from him and tried to punch his arm.

She yelled for him to let go, but soon realized she could
either be dragged or walk with him. He swung open the front door and pushed her
in first.

The smell of cigarette smoke hit Cora one step into the dim
hallway. Ahead of them, Keith stepped out of the study.  As he shut the door
behind him, he cast a disapproving look at her through a cloud of cigarette
smoke. The man was
tall
and he strolled down the hallway with one hand
in his pants pocket. He possessed a seemingly self-inflicted ugliness, caused
by his lined smoker’s face, angry eyes, and oversized gray mustache.

Her stomach turned and she felt ready to hurl. She prayed
she wouldn’t pass out. She could do this. She could keep her head on straight
and get out of there.

“Are you this rough to all your company?” Cora asked while
trying to pull her arm away from Alexander. Keith ignored her comment.

She glanced back and saw Alexander share a look with Keith.
It was like she wasn’t there.

“How perfect is this?” Alexander’s voice filled with
pleasure over himself. “I think we need to go ahead with my plan now that she’s
here.”

Her vision blacked out for a second.

Keith nodded. “All right. Bring her in here.” He led the way
down the hallway, reopened the study door, and ushered them in. She almost
tripped. Alexander caught her and pushed her down into one of the two leather
chairs facing the desk, next to her father.

“Cora?” Surprise and fear registered on Jerry’s face,
pushing Cora’s heart rate up even further.

Keith jerked his head toward the hallway and stepped out
with Alexander, leaving Cora and Jerry sitting in the study under the watch of
the third, younger, man.

The idea of calling 911 hit Cora just before she realized
she had left her cell phone in her purse, back in her car. She didn’t think she
could make it to the phone on Keith’s desk, across the room, before the big
blonde tackled her from behind.

“Dad, what’s going on?” She slipped her words through her
clenched teeth. With his peppered hair raked in different directions, Jerry
looked hung over. He was so roughed up. Desperate. She’d seen him this way
before when they lost her mother.

“Oh, Sweetie, why did you have to come here?”

She reached over to grab his hand. It was shaking.

“I was worried about you.” Her voice cracked and she
stopped, trying to hang onto her control. “What is going on?”

“I can’t explain everything. I’m sorry but you’re not safe.
We have to get you out of here. Let me do the talking when they come back.”
Jerry looked like he wanted to comfort her, but he glanced back toward the man
watching them. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry. I’m in a lot of trouble.”

She’d figured that part out already. They were both in
trouble.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, but they think I did. Things
look bad, I’ll admit, but I didn’t. I still have to fix it though.” Jerry’s
rambling perplexed her.

She needed some facts here. “Dad, what did they accuse you
of doing?”

Hushed, he replied, “I didn’t steal their money. I’m an
honest man, I work hard. I thought I had proven myself to them.”

“Maybe this is a misunderstanding,” she offered. While she
couldn’t imagine talking their way out of this one, she wasn’t sure what else
they could do.

Jerry lowered his head into his hands, mumbling.

“How much are we talking about here?”

He shook his head, not bothering to sit up. “Someone’s been
skimming money for the last five years, right under my nose.
Right under my
nose!
How did I miss it?”

This sounded serious, and her dad had a very good question.
How did he manage their finances and miss that? Someone had to be pretty clever
to embezzle money for five years without the accountant noticing.

“Why, why did you have to come here?”

“I had to Dad. You scared me.” Maybe she should have kept
that to herself. Cora sat back in her chair and tried to pull in a few deep
breaths before returning to her original question: why did Keith think Jerry
stole from him? She knew her father would never steal.