Uncorked (48 page)

Five hours later, the phone rang.
Detective Carter’s number appeared on the screen.

Chella got an antsy feeling in
the pit of her stomach.

“Detective, any good news?”

“Ms. Noon, Jade is definitely the
one, but some of the evidence suggests that she had a little help. We’re
interrogating her to see if we can find out who it is. If you do return to San
Diego, I suggest you keep a low profile until we can find out more.”

“What is the evidence that
suggests that?

“The emails to you were all blind
carbon copied to a person by the name of Robert Willis. We need to find out who
that is. Does the name sound familiar?

“Never heard of him.”

“We’re running background checks
right now on the name. Hopefully, something will come up. Give me a couple of
days before you return. I’d like to make sure you can live a normal life when
you come home.”

“Not a problem. I need to plan my
fresh start, anyway.”

“I’ll call you once I have some
more information.”

“Detective Carter, thank you so
much for all your help.”

Chella felt a sense of relief and
excitement. The first person she thought to call was Mitch, but she was afraid.
She wanted to respect his request and give him his space. After hours of
thought, she sent him a one-line email: Jade has been arrested. Thought you’d
like to know.

The next day, Detective Carter
called Chella to let her know they had located and arrested the so-called
Robert Willis. He was a prison guard at the jail where Aaron had been
incarcerated. Jade and Aaron would communicate through him.

Chella was free to return to San
Diego.

She wandered the house. The
thought of leaving brought her profound sadness, probably because in her adult
lifetime, she had never felt so at home anywhere else. She had rediscovered so
many of her old loves and passions again. While there, she had completed two
paintings, read books and found herself indulging in pleasures she had as far
back as before her parents died. She had begun to find her joy again.

She turned the set of gift keys
Mitch had given her at Christmas in her hand. She wasn’t sure whether she was
still entitled to use them. She had no clue where things stood between them. As
happy as this moment should have been, she felt emptiness.

A couple of
days later, Chella’s plane
touched ground in San Diego. She checked into a hotel and switched on her old cell
phone. She saw close to a hundred missed calls and text messages. She had no
idea what to do next. Should she call Mitch? Go see Craig, Kacy, or Vicky or
keep a low profile? She decided on the latter. After her five-hour flight, she
decided to take a nap.

Later that night, Chella called
Mitch.

“Hi, Chella.”

“Hey, how are you?”

“I’m still not in San Diego. I
had to go to Sacramento after I left Vancouver.”

“Is everything okay?”

“An opportunity came up for work.
That’s why I’m here. Look Chell, I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you when I
get back in town in a few days.”

“Okay. Talk to you then.”

“If I get a chance, I’ll call you
before, but it will be crazy for the next day or two at least.”

“Enjoy your trip.”

After the call ended, she was
pleased that she’d spoken with him. He didn’t seem angry or upset with her, but
he was still keeping his distance. Not making the time to stay in touch with
her was completely out of character for him. She decided to try to put it
behind her for now. She needed to focus on piecing what was left of her life
and reputation back together.

The perfect place to start would
be to go through all her emails and messages on her phone. After she received
the first threatening emails in Aspen, she hadn’t bothered to check them further.
First though, she had to pay a visit to someone special and make sure he was
doing well.

When she returned home from
visiting Craig, she went through her messages and emails. She had six requests
for interviews from local business magazines and news stations in San Diego
looking for interviews and comments regarding the pictures of her circulating
over the internet. Restoring her reputation was going to be a lot more
difficult than she thought. She was now facing a public humiliation scandal
that she had to face if she was going to put what was left of her life back
together. The thought crossed her mind to relocate, but in the age of the
internet, Facebook, and instant messaging, her problems would follow her. She
was also surprised that she had a call from Liz. She seemed polite, asking her
to call her as soon as she had time.

She returned phone calls and
messages over the next day. Craig offered her her job back, but with the state
of her reputation, she decided she would need to fix it before she could work
for him or any reputable company again. She returned the call she had been
postponing—Liz.

“Chella,” Liz answered.

“Hello, Liz. Happy New Year. I’m
returning your call.”

“I was about to try you again.
I’m in San Diego. Can we meet?”

“So you can try to embarrass me
and break up Mitch and me?”

“I had that coming. Please, maybe
just for a cup of coffee?”

“Sure. Where are you?

“Mitch’s penthouse.”

Chella hesitated at her response.
She wondered if Mitch was back. She didn’t want to ask Liz any questions that
might let on that her and Mitch were having problems. He had, however, told her
he’d be out of town for a few days. She agreed to meet Liz there.

Half an hour later, Chella
arrived at the penthouse. Liz was in the kitchen.

“What can I do for you?” Chella
said as she walked in.

“Why don’t we sit down? I made
coffee,” Liz said, carrying a tray to the living room. “I made sandwiches,
too.”

“Thanks,” Chella respond
politely, pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting in the egg chair near the
window.

“Chella, I owe you a huge
apology. For everything. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Why the change of heart?” Chella
asked, taking a sip of coffee. “What do you have up your sleeve?”

“Nothing. I’m being honest. I
want a life with my son. It seems he comes as a package deal these days, so I
promised him I’d be cordial to you.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.
I just wanted to apologize.”

“Apology accepted. This will make
your son very happy.”

“I know. Chella, there’s one more
thing…”

“What’s that?”

“Mitch didn’t tell me, exactly,
what happened to you, but he told me you went through something very similar to
what I did. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am. You’ve been in my prayers and
thoughts.”

“Thank you, Liz. I appreciate
that.”

“He’s been miserable these last
few weeks without you. First when he couldn’t find you then when I spoke to him
a couple of days ago. He seemed disillusioned.”

Chella’s heart ached at her
comment.

“I thought you wanted me out of
his life.”

“I used to think that, but I
realize you make him happy. And you make Emily happy. There isn’t a day that
goes by she doesn’t mention your name.”

“I love them both very much.”

“Then why won’t you marry him?”

Chella’s gaze snapped to Liz,
surprised by her words, “I didn’t realize you knew.”

“He needed someone to lash out
on, and he slipped and told me during a rant.”

“I refused because it was in his
best interest. I don’t want him and his business to be adversely affected by
his association with me.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“You don’t know all the details
about my life, neither do I care to talk about them, but if I know you as well
as I think I do, you’d be happy with my decision. I refuse to let your son be
affected by the drama in my life.”

“It’s too late for that. He’s deeply
in love with you. Whatever happens to you affects him.”

“Liz, it goes beyond that. I love
your son too much to let the problems of my life completely ruin his.”

“I’m starting to realize how
wrong I was about you,” Liz said, smiling.

“That’s kind of you to say. I
have to go now,” Chella said, standing up to leave.

“Before you leave, can I offer
you a word of advice?”

Chella bristled, but kept the
softness in her response. “What is it?”

“Don’t make the same mistakes I
did. Don’t forsake your emotional needs and necessities all the time. Everyone
needs nurturing and love and security.”

“Not if it risks hurting the
people I love,” Chella said.

She could feel emotions building
up within her; she wanted to get out of there.

“Don’t end up like me—not
allowing other people in, shutting others out. Loneliness is the bitter pill of
regret.”

 “Thanks, Liz. It was nice of you
to do all this, but I have to go,” Chella said, looking at her and smiling
softly. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Before Liz could say anything
further, Chella got into the elevator, eagerly pushing the closed-door button
several times so she would not have to face her again. On the way down, Chella
thought about the conversation she just had. Liz being nice to her and offering
her words of advice seemed surreal. Chella wasn’t sure she could trust her.

The elevator doors opened. Chella
walked into what felt like a brick wall. Momentarily dazed, she pulled herself
together. A pair of outstretched hands helped her regain her balance.

Looking up, she saw Mitch.

“Chella, are you okay? What are
you doing here?”

“I’m sorry. Your mom asked to see
me. I just came by to…how was your trip?”

“I got a lot of work done.”

“Great. Well, it was nice seeing
you. We’ll chat another time. I have to go.”

She left in a rush, headed
straight back to her hotel.

Chella met Vicky
and Kacy for lunch at a
waterside restaurant with a beautiful view of the San Diego skyline. They
exchanged hugs and kisses and sat comfortably at a table overlooking the view.

Vicky said, “We’ve been so
worried about you. What’s going on?”

“I guess I owe you both some sort
of an explanation. I know I left pretty abruptly, but things were getting out
of hand. If I hadn’t left, you all might have ended up in this mess.”

“Kacy told me about you being
drugged and what happened afterwards. Chella, I’m so sorry.”

“That isn’t the half of it.”
Chella told them everything—from two years prior to the day they met on the
lawns at U. C. Berkeley to the moment she returned to San Diego.

“You didn’t tell Mitch where you
were going?” Vicky asked.

“No. I realized I was drugged
after the car crash. He was with Emily at the hospital, and we had a big fight
that night. Our relationship sort-of ended after that. I felt responsible for
his daughter being in the hospital, and he blamed me for it, too.”

“Why?” Kacy asked.

“I neglected to tell him that
after two months of quiet and no threats that they had started up again. That’s
the only reason he took a chance and brought Emily here. He thought the danger
was behind us.”

“Chella, you couldn’t have
predicted this. This is not your fault,” Kacy said, giving her hand a tight
squeeze.

“That’s partly true, but I let my
guard down. Anyway, he realized he had blamed me in anger. He found me a couple
of days before Christmas.”

“That’s so sweet,” Vicky said,
quietly clapping her hand with excitement.

“It was, but it didn’t last very
long.”

“Why?” her two friends chorused.

“He asked me to marry him on New
Year’s while we watched fireworks. I said no.”

Gasping, Vicky asked, “Are you
insane?”

“I can’t agree to marry him—not
until these perpetrators are permanently behind bars. If these people knew he
and I were seeing each other, his life and his family’s life would all be in
danger.”

“That was very noble of you, but
they’ve all been arrested. So what’s holding you back now?” Kacy asked.

“An arrest isn’t a conviction.
Anyway, I think I really hurt him when I said no. We’ve communicated twice
since he left, and I saw him earlier for a minute, but he’s been distant.”

“He needs time. If he loves you
as much as it seems he does, he’ll get over it,” Kacy responded.

“I hope you’re right. I really
miss him.”

“Well, Chella, your reason was
legit. He’ll see that soon enough. His ego might be bruised a bit, but he’ll
come around. Personally, though, these people have been arrested. In my
opinion, you should move on with your life.”