The Ideal Man (26 page)

“What was his mother like?” she asked.

“Loving,” he said. “And kind.”

“Did they adopt you right away?”

“If you were to ask them, they would tell you I adopted them. It became final when I was eight, and by then two more had joined the family. Bishop and Sebastian. And that court-appointed attorney who pocketed the estate money . . .”

“Yes?”

“Sent to prison,” he said. “And Dad was able to get most of the money back. He put it in a trust fund for me.”

“When did Bradley and Tyler and Adam join the family?”

“You remembered their names.”

“Of course.”

“Bradley and Tyler came five years after I did, and Adam was the last to become a Daniels a year later.”

“No girls?”

He laughed. “Mom and Dad said it would be cruel to inflict the seven of us boys on a sister. We were a rowdy bunch.”

“They sound like wonderful people.”

“The best.” He yawned. “We’ve got to do something about the heat in here.”

“I say we give the window unit another chance. You plug it in, and we’ll keep it on low.”

“Stay here. I’ll take care of it.”

The plan worked. It seemed that, on low, the air conditioner cooperated. Ellie begged him to push the lever up a notch to medium to see what would happen. And once again the Lear jet all but blew them out of the room. Luckily, when he flipped it back to low, the humming sound returned.

Ellie had another good laugh, rolled onto her stomach, and was sound asleep seconds later.

M
ax was standing in the living room waiting for Ellie when Annie motioned to him from the hallway.

“Could I speak to you in private?” Annie asked. Since he was the only one in the room, he thought the question odd. “Yeah, okay.”

“In your office?”

He laughed. “My office. I guess I’ve been using it a lot, huh?”

Annie nodded. “Ellie and I know what you’re doing. You’re hiding from Ava and John. I like the man, but oh God, he’s boring. I shouldn’t have said that, I know, but he really is.”

Max followed her to the office. She went in first and held the door. Once he was inside, she shut the door and leaned against it. Her complexion was green. Max reached under the desk for the trash can and held it out to her.

Annie noticed the leery look in his eyes. “I’m okay,” she said.

“You don’t look okay.”

She patted her cheeks, trying to get some color back. “It’s the smell of coffee. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Max set the trash can down but kept it close just in case.

“I’m sorry about throwing up last night. I hope that didn’t gross you out.”

“I’ve got six brothers. Nothing grosses me out.”

“I’m also sorry I didn’t finish our conversation. After I ran upstairs to brush my teeth, I was having second thoughts.” She looked uneasy and tentative.

“Would you like some fresh air? We could go out on the porch to talk.”

She shook her head. “Ava’s waiting in the drive.”

As if on cue, they heard a horn honk.

“She can be impatient,” Annie said.

“Uh-huh.”

“About the favor . . .” She hesitated.

“Yes?”

“Can you find someone for me?”

“I can try.”

“I don’t want him to know I’m looking for him. I just want to know where he is because . . . because . . .”

The tears started, and Max was at a loss as to what to do or say. “Oh, don’t do that,” he implored. “Come on, don’t . . . Let me go get Ellie or your mom. Don’t cry, Annie. I’ll find him for you.”

He didn’t know how to comfort her. He went to her, thinking he could guide her to her sister, but as soon as he touched her shoulder, she leaned into his chest, and the tears turned into gut-wrenching sobs.

What the hell? Max put his arms around her and held her. “It’ll be okay,” he promised. “It’ll be okay.”

Ava was honking the horn nonstop, and Ellie went looking for Annie while her mother ran outside to tell Ava to stop making so much noise.

Ellie opened the office door and saw Max trying to console her sister. He was patting her back as she cried all over him. Ellie quietly pulled the door shut. Then tears came into her eyes. How could she not love this man?

Ava could damn well wait.

T
he article about the garden party was in the local newspaper Friday morning. Ava was upset. She had requested that they run the piece on Saturday because more people read the
Winston Falls News
on weekends, not during the week.

The first line in the article gave Ellie chills. It stated that Ava’s sisters—as in plural—were hosting the affair. And that meant that anyone who read the paper would know she was back in town.

Had Ava deliberately included her as a way of getting rid of what she called “vicious rumors”? Ellie hoped not because that would make Ava a colossal bitch.

She couldn’t ask her because she and Annie had already left on a day full of spa treatments and errands.

Ellie was finishing her second glass of milk, watching the repairman and her father cross the backyard to get to the air conditioner. Her mother was sorting through mail at the table.

“Have you seen the article in the paper about the garden party?” Ellie asked.

“Yes, I did. It was quite nice, wasn’t it?”

It was apparent she hadn’t noticed the word
sisters
, and Ellie decided not to make an issue of it. She would just be adding to her mother’s worries.

“The backyard looks beautiful,” she said instead.

Claire beamed. “I thought the tent would make the yard look so much smaller, but I think it actually looks bigger now.”

Max appeared in the doorway. “Are you ready to go?”

“Where are you going?” her mother asked, looking anxious. “You’re not leaving Winston Falls, are you? You promised you’d stay, and Aunt Vivien and Aunt Cecilia will be so disappointed if they don’t see you. They’re arriving this afternoon.”

“Mom, we’re just doing some errands and meeting the agents Max has asked to help.”

“Dressed like that?”

“What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?”

“Eleanor, you’re wearing tattered jeans and a T-shirt, and those shoes . . .”

“I thought I’d show Max the falls. That’s why I’m wearing my old tennis shoes.”

“At least take a change of clothes. You don’t want to embarrass Max in front of his friends.”

“She could never embarrass me,” Max said. He tilted his head toward the door.

Ellie kissed her mother on the cheek and whispered, “We’ll be home in time to help with dinner.”

Ellie assumed Max hadn’t seen the article in the paper. She waited until they were on their way out of town to tell him.

He didn’t take the news well. “Son of a . . .”

“Maybe no one will notice.”

The look he shot her made her feel foolish. “Okay, but very few people read the local newspaper.”

The muscle in his cheek twitched. That wasn’t a good sign. Hoping to change the subject, she said, “Would you like to see the falls today? It’s a little hike, but not too bad.”

He shot her the look again. “What?” she demanded.

“We aren’t on a vacation, sweetheart. I’m supposed to keep you alive, got that? And trampling through the woods with a picnic basket isn’t part of my job description.”

“I never said anything about a picnic basket,” she snapped back. “And stop calling me ‘sweetheart.’ That’s supposed to be a term of endearment. You growl the word.”

His cell phone rang. She poked him in the arm. “If that’s Simon, you’d better ask him.”

“I will,” he said.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Simon. It was Ben with more information about the missing eyewitness, Greg Roper.

Max finished the call and said, “Agent Hughes doesn’t think Roper’s been killed. He thinks he’s running. Someone got to him and scared him.”

“What happens now? Can they even hold the Landrys without witnesses?”

They discussed the possibilities for several minutes and ended up frustrated with no answers. “Ben said he’ll call me later, after he’s had a chance to talk to all the agents involved.”

“Hughes will expect me to take the stand if the Landrys do go to trial someday. I’ll have to tell what I saw, even though I can’t point them out. Right?” Ellie asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know what the prosecutors will decide, but I’ll do everything I can to keep you out of this. It’s a wait-and-see game now.”

Max was taking his time getting to his destination. He was on the highway for a little while, then took an exit and drove down a side road for several miles before getting back on the highway again. He watched the traffic ahead of them and in the rearview mirror as he drove. She knew he was making certain no one was following them.

He spotted a sign for a pharmacy at the next exit. “Want to stop there and get the pregnancy test?”

“Too close to home,” she said.

He got the same response the next three times he asked. Finally, he said, “Are you going to buy this pregnancy test soon, or do you want me to drive to Miami?”

“You can stop at the next one,” she said.

“What would you do if you found out you were pregnant?”

She didn’t hesitate. “I’d have a baby.”

“That’s what Annie said.”

“I’ll help her any way I can.”

“Would you tell the father?”

“Yes, of course I would. I would have the responsibility to tell him. Did you ask Annie that question?”

“No.”

“She just took the bar exam.”

He nodded, indicating that Annie had also mentioned that. How long had they talked? she wondered.

“Where are we meeting Agents Clark and Hershey?”

“A restaurant called Hathaways. It’s about a mile off the highway.”

A sign for a national pharmacy chain appeared, and Max pulled into the parking lot. Ellie bought three pregnancy tests, each a different brand.

“Just to be sure,” she told Max at checkout.

The clerk behind the counter, a stout woman with rosy cheeks and short, curly hair, gave Ellie her change and, looking at Max and then back at Ellie, said, “I’ll be rooting for you.”

Ellie smiled. “Thank you. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

Once they were back in the car and on their way, Max said, “You’re keeping your fingers crossed?”

“I didn’t want to disappoint the woman.”

He shook his head. “You’re something else, you know that?”

“I bought dessert,” she said and held up a Hershey bar and a Clark bar.

He laughed and shook his head again.

They reached the restaurant a few minutes later. They were early and had their pick of tables. Max chose one in the corner for more privacy. From where he sat, he could look out the window, and their backs were to the wall.

“Do you know Agents Clark and Hershey?” she asked.

“I’ve talked to them a couple of times, but I haven’t worked with them. I’ve been told they’re good,” he added.

“How are they going to blend in?”

“You won’t know they’re there.”

“Max, it’s a small community. Every stranger sticks out.”

“Stop worrying.”

The waitress brought glasses of water and handed them menus.

His cell phone rang.

“If that’s Simon . . .”

“It isn’t,” he said. “And stop obsessing about football.”

She looked appalled. “That’s un-American.”

He answered the call on the fourth ring. “Agent Daniels.”

He didn’t say another word for several minutes but the look on his face told her the news wasn’t good. When he put the phone back in his pocket, he turned to her.

“That was Spike,” he began. “He said he got a call from a friend who runs a guns and ammo shop near Winston Falls. He told Spike that, about five minutes after he opened the store, Evan Patterson walked in and tried to buy a gun.”

“
T
his isn’t bad news,” Ellie insisted. “And don’t give me that look. Now I know where Patterson is, and hopefully he’ll come after me again, and you can arrest him.”

“Ellie, he’ll find a gun.”

“Would he know how to get one from the street? Where to go? Who to talk to?” Agent Clark asked the questions. He and Agent Hershey had joined Ellie and Max just minutes after Max had talked to Spike.

Max had been right when he’d said the two agents could blend in. John Hershey was under six feet and slight of build, though muscular. Ellie guessed him to be a runner, maybe even a marathon runner. With his thick, wiry hair and glasses, he reminded her of a professor at her father’s university. Pete Clark had a stocky physique and a balding head, and his jovial round face made him look like everyone’s favorite cousin.