Magic Moment (17 page)

“My wife is pregnant, and you stress her out.” Chase sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “I’d rather you not bother her.”

“I’d rather not believe she was fool enough to marry you,” Saunders retorted.

Chase jerked out of his chair, fists clenched at his sides. “Look, you rotten — ”

“Chase!” Ned cautioned, silencing his client. He grabbed Chase’s forearm and pulled him back down. “My client and Laura Roberts are married.” Ned relayed the date and place where Chase and Laura had married, and advised Saunders to check the courthouse records.

“Can’t do until morning,” Saunders said, almost as if annoyed the marriage was an honest-to-God possibility. “Sorry, Donovan, until we can get this permit thing straightened out and check the records in Beach wherever, you’re a guest of the federal government.”

Chase threw his hands in the air. “This is ridiculous!”

“So is you being married to Laura,” Saunders said.

Chase felt smug. “It’s a fact, Special Agent Saunders. Laura and I are married. We’re expecting a child. We’ll send you an invitation to the christening.”

“Oh, I’ll see her before then,” Saunders said, stroking a clean-shaven chin with the back of a hand. “Your pregnant wife will have to show her pregnant self here, in my office.”

Chase glared at Ned. “I see a pattern of harassment toward both Laura and me, don’t you?”

Saunders sat easily on the table’s edge. “This turned out nicely for you, Donovan,” he said, his tone a sanctimonious one.

“What turned out nicely?” Chase asked, unable to hold back the bite in his own voice.

A wry smirk twisted Saunders features. “You marry the bookkeeper, get her pregnant, and then she can’t testify against you. We bring her in for a few questions, and you take her on a boat ride. Out of our reach.”

Before Chase snapped a retort, Ned interjected. “We’re here because you arrested my client for having a firearm. Which he has a permit to carry.”

“Permit or not, it’s never a good idea to draw on two federal agents,” Saunders said.

Ned wore his best courtroom demeanor. “And explain to me how we got from the insane charge you’re holding my client on, to an insinuation he married his wife to keep her from testifying against him?” he asked. “Testify against him for what? If you’re prepared to charge my client with another crime, do it. If not, keep the goading comments to yourself before I find something to add to the false arrest charge I’m filing once Mr. Donovan is released.”

Saunders stood and set his hard features on Chase. “Look, Donovan, I’ve dealt with plenty of rich, spoiled brats like you over the years. Too much with your old man and you doesn’t add up. We decide your bookkeeper has a tale to tell, she disappears, shows up with you on your boat in some hick town, then you show up back here. Without her and claiming to be married. What is it you don’t want your bookkeeper telling me?”

Ned answered for Chase. “My client took his wife to meet his aunt. He returned to Philly for the day, and Mrs. Donovan chose to remain behind. When you interviewed Mrs. Donovan previously, did you advise her not to leave Philly?”

Saunders’ lips remained tight.

Ned’s easy smile was pompous. “In that case, Mrs. Donovan is free to go wherever she pleases.”

“Why did you have Laura under surveillance?” Chase asked.

Saunders clamped his lips as if he had been provoked into saying more than he intended. After a pause, he spoke directly to Ned. “Laura Roberts, Laura Donovan or whatever she calls herself, needs to answer more questions. Your client, counselor, will be released when she walks into this building to do so.”

Before giving Ned a chance to comment, Saunders stormed out.

Chase turned to Ned. “He does have a certain charm, doesn’t he?” he asked with a sarcastic bite.

Ned disregarded his friend’s familiar cutting wit. “Chase, what the hell is going on around here?”

Chase frowned. “I have no idea, counselor. Isn’t it your job to find out?”

“How well do you know Laura? How much of her background do you know?”

Chase almost replied the truth; not much. “Why?”

Ned answered Chase with more questions. “Are you sure she told you the truth about her meeting with Saunders? That he kept her waiting? Asked a few crummy questions about merchandise? How do you know that she’s not involved in anything criminal?”

Chase laughed. The suggestion was an asinine one. “Criminal? Laura? No way.”

“Why? Because she’s a pretty woman? Who was quiet? Because she came to work and did her job?”

“Because of how I found her on my boat. My father’s behavior on the telephone,” Chase snapped.

“All he told you was to not get involved with her,” Ned reminded him. “To stay out of the situation. Your father’s words are open to many interpretations.”

Chase’s response was a contemptuous scowl.

Ned leaned closer. “I’m not saying those actions on your boat weren’t deplorable, or your father and this Daniels aren’t involved in illegal activities.”

Apprehension crawled through Chase. He wasn’t clueless to Ned’s implication.

Ned continued. “Suppose whatever’s going down, Laura is a major player. So major she has the FBI watching her.”

He waited for Chase’s reaction. When all he got was a fixed stare, Ned went on. “Laura’s role is so key the fed’s interest makes somebody decide she needs to be disposed of. Your father, Oliver Daniels, whoever. They’re afraid she’ll cut a deal for herself and start talking.”

“That’s crazy,” Chase muttered.

“You think?” Ned raised an eyebrow. “So involved is Laura that when you suggested you both get married and pregnant, she agrees. She knows you’ll do everything possible to keep your wife, your child’s mother, out of jail. You’re an attorney. Plus, you got money, lots of it.”

“No way,” Chase said, shaking his head. Ned’s theory was incredible. “Not Laura.”

The attorney refused to give up. “From what you told me, it took you two minutes to convince her to marry you and have your child,” Ned said. “I’ve seen firsthand your way with the ladies, buddy. Sure, you attract women like ants to a picnic. But be realistic. You said yourself that you and Laura hardly spoke in the office.”

“I said we made general conversation,” Chase corrected, aware the slight modification wouldn’t deter his friend.

Ned continued honing his point. “You say let’s get married and have a baby ASAP, and she agrees.” Snapping his fingers, he added, “just like that.”

Laura had been so excited to be pregnant. Chase had been relieved, although her reaction had puzzled him. He hadn’t dwelled on her enthusiasm, but rather reveled in his own.

She had been putting on an act? No, it couldn’t be. He didn’t want to believe his sweet Laura, who he had fallen in love with — he, Chase Donovan, who never imagined wanting only one woman — was pure and simply playing him for a sucker.

Ned went on. “When you found her on the boat, she said no hospital. No calling the authorities. Maybe she didn’t want to explain her own dirty deeds.”

Chase quickly defended her. “After I talked to my father, Laura did suggest we contact Saunders. I nixed the idea.”

“She suggested because she knew you’d refuse.” Ned pursed his lips. “She gambled on you protecting your father.”

This was nonsense. But unease nagged at Chase like those buzzing green-headed flies on Magic Lake Island.

There was Laura’s rainy-day money. Was it really from a trust fund? Or was the money her share of a corrupt business arrangement with Dick Donovan and Oliver Daniels?

“You still want me to see if you call her?”

Silence hung for what seemed like eternity. Feeling a tightness in his chest, Chase thought the ache might be his heart breaking.

“Let’s wait until tomorrow.”

Laura recognized the name, Ned Stahl. Cooped up on
Madre
during the storm, Chase had amused Laura with college stories of pranks with his friends, Ned and Tom. Lonnie gripped the phone’s receiver, and the color drained from her face. Laura clutched her stomach. Chase was injured. That was his reason for not answering his cell phone, and for not calling last night.

Oh, God, an accident had never occurred to her. She had assumed Chase was apathetic about speaking with her. Her mind ran with speculation. Ron and Lou had caught him. The man on the pier watching
Madre
had returned. Or Daniels or whomever — they couldn’t get Laura so they hurt Chase.

Lonnie replaced the receiver. “Laura, Chase has been arrested,” she murmured, her tone incredulous.

Laura felt her insides tighten. “What?”

Lonnie explained the events that had Chase in a federal jail cell. Laura needed to return to Philadelphia and secure his release.

Relief that Chase was physically intact, evolved into a simmering anger. Any thoughts of the man on the pier disappeared, and she targeted her ire at Special Agent Ross Saunders. Laura was convinced the man hassled Chase to spite her. If she remembered whatever the agent was so certain she knew, she would surely tell him. Saunders wasn’t as terrorizing as the men who had dragged her on
Madre,
but his constant threatening presence was as disturbing.

Lonnie drove the Toyota into Baltimore, and the two women caught a late morning train. Laura caressed her cell phone, smiling, remembering the evening Chase had given it to her. He had been so thoughtful. Perhaps he didn’t love her, but he did care about her. That he was locked away like a two-bit thug tore Laura’s heart. She dialed the phone number Ned had given Lonnie.

“Ned Stahl,” the voice answered.

After introducing herself and inquiring about her husband’s welfare, Laura gave the attorney the time their train was due.

Clipping her phone to her jeans, Laura thought Ned sounded aloof. She shrugged off her qualms. Not only was he Chase’s attorney, but his friend, and the detached manner Laura had heard was preoccupation with Chase’s circumstances.

Scarcely two hours, the train ride felt like two long, tedious days. Tears stung Laura’s eyes. The minutes must have hung for Chase as he sat in a jail cell. She bit back her fury toward Saunders. Why wasn’t he looking for the men who had abducted her? Who Chase was convinced were still after her?

Unless Chase hadn’t given up Ron and Lou? Hadn’t told what had occurred on
Madre
? Why not? Was he sacrificing himself to protect his father?

The women stepped from the train car and onto the cement platform. Lonnie pointed to the stocky, bearded, dark-haired man standing by the escalators.

“Laura,” Ned said, with a fast nod after Lonnie had made the introductions.

Anxiety coursed through her. “How’s Chase?”

“Jail’s not fun,” he replied, his tone curt.

As the group walked from the train station, through the parking lot to Ned’s maroon Ford sedan, he explained Chase’s situation. He directed his comments to Lonnie. Laura speculated Ned spoke to Chase’s aunt because they were familiar. He offered Lonnie the front passenger seat while seating Laura in the back. He conversed with Lonnie, telling her Chase had conveyed the details of the past two weeks. To Laura’s knowledge, Chase’s aunt wasn’t aware of what had led the couple to Sea Tower. Nevertheless, Ned continued his dialogue with the older woman, overlooking Laura completely.

By the time Ned drove the sedan into the parking lot across from the federal office building, Laura’s suspicions had been confirmed. Either as Chase’s attorney or Chase’s friend, Ned Stahl did not like Chase’s wife.

Ned marched the women through the revolving door, stopping for the portly navy-uniformed security guard. The attorney then led the way to the bank of elevators where an available one, doors spread, waited. He pressed the floor button and the elevator ascended upwards. They were the only three people in the car.

“When can I see Chase?” Laura asked.

Ned looked at her briefly, before turning back to the panel of floor numbers. “You’ll have to see Saunders first.”

“Laura, are you feeling okay?” Lonnie asked, putting a protective arm around the younger woman’s shoulders.

The baby demanded a nap. “I’m a little tired,” Laura sighed. “I want to pacify these people, get my husband, and get out of this city.”

The elevator doors opened. A man leaned casually against the wall. Tall, light-haired, California surfer type, in his early thirties, he straightened when he saw them.

“This is Kevin Woolfe.” Ned made the introductions all around. “Laura, Chase wanted me to sit in while you spoke with Saunders, but one attorney representing you both might be perceived as a conflict of interest. Kevin is a former associate. You’re in good hands.”

Kevin smiled. “That’s a sincere compliment coming from you,” he said to Ned.

Fear gripped Laura. “Chase wants me to have an attorney. Am I being arrested?”

“No, not at all,” Kevin said. Exchanging some legalisms with Ned, Kevin appeared up to snuff on events. “It’s never a good idea to speak to a federal badge without an attorney.”

From that very first day, when Chase had intervened, he had wanted Laura to have an attorney. She had refused, convinced everything was a misunderstanding. Misunderstanding or not, the situation grew worse with each passing day. She wished she had listened to Chase that day in the diner and allowed him to accompany her.

“I’ll show you where you can wait,” Ned said to Lonnie, taking her elbow. “Laura, Kevin will take you to Saunders.”

Kevin lightly touched Laura’s back and guided her down the corridor. “When will I be able to see my husband?”

“Let’s go talk to Saunders,” the attorney replied.

The agent’s office was simple and efficient. Desk with computer. A beige four-drawer file cabinet. There was nothing to personalize the room. No family pictures on his desk. No paintings on the wall. Not even an accommodation plaque.

All day Laura had been piloting on a combination of fear, annoyance, and despair. Upon seeing Saunders, the man who had turned her life upside down, she seethed. Breaking her stride with Kevin, she headed straight for the agent sitting behind the desk and studying a computer monitor.