“He’s here now. Everyone is.”
“A marriage license?” She shook her head. “Surely Alton has realized that I’m gone.”
I nodded. “Yes, that happened sooner than we’d hoped.”
She paled. “Does he know where I am?” She wasn’t only asking about location but also about with whom. We’d successfully kept our affair secret through the years. Once he learned where she was, that would no longer be the case.
“Not yet,” I said. “They’ve hypothesized that you are with Alexandria. Your husband is wisely not making a big deal out of your disappearance. So far there’s been no news coverage. According to Lennox’s assistant, the police believe you were kidnapped. They’re waiting on a ransom demand.”
Adelaide’s smile bloomed. “You did say you took me.”
“And I’m not letting you go. There’s no amount of ransom I’ll accept.”
“But what about Alton?”
“His hands are a little full with the murder investigation and bogus marriage.”
We both turned to footsteps as Chelsea stopped at the doorway.
“Miss Moore.”
“Chelsea?”
We both spoke simultaneously.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to interrupt,” she said, her eyes wide, one bordered by a sickening brown and green discoloration.
Adelaide’s hand went to her lips. “Chelsea… what happened?”
The young woman’s fingers went to the bruise on her cheek as her face tipped forward. “I heard voices and thought maybe Alex was awake.”
“See?” I said. “She’s here.”
Adelaide’s shoulders straightened. “Why are you here?” It was a tone I wasn’t accustomed to hearing come from her lips.
“Because she’s my best friend.” This time we all waited as Alexandria appeared behind Chelsea holding Lennox’s hand.
I took a deep breath. “Well, amore mio, this is what we’d wanted.”
Alexandria dropped Lennox’s hand and raced around the table to Adelaide. “Look at you!” she cried, wrapping her arms around Adelaide’s neck. “You’re sitting here. You’re eating.”
When the two separated, both of their eyes were moist with emotion. After Lennox pulled out a chair for Chelsea and another for Alexandria, he came forward offering his hand. “Mrs. Fitzgerald, Lennox Demetri.”
Her blue eyes scanned my son up and down. “My, my… you are the spitting image of your father.”
His lips quirked upward. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“And you as well. Please call me Adelaide.” She turned to Alexandria and cupped her cheeks. “We need to talk.”
“We do, but right now I want to relish the fact that you’re talking.”
“You visited me?”
“I did.”
“You were in Savannah?”
Alexandria swallowed. “I was.”
“How did you know? Did Jane call you?”
It was as if they were alone in their own bubble until Alexandria answered.
“No, Momma, Chelsea told me that you needed me.”
Adelaide turned toward Chelsea, her expression souring and neck straightening as it had when Chelsea first entered the dining room. “I suppose I owe you my gratitude.”
“No, Mrs. Fitzgerald, you don’t owe me anything. Alex needed to know what was happening with her mother.”
“Thank you.”
As the women spoke, my eyes met Lennox’s. Adelaide was right. My son was the younger reflection of me, the better parts of me, the parts before I’d sold my soul. In his eyes was my prize. He’d been spared so much.
“We’re all here—” Lennox began.
“Who else needs soup?” Silvia asked. “I may have made it a little spicier than the doctor recommended and for those of you not on restrictions, we have bread and…”
“I wish,” Alexandria said. “Silvia, it’s amazing, but…” She looked to Lennox. “…Deloris just called. I need to find my handbag.”
“And Chelsea, the three of us need to head back to Savannah,” Lennox added.
“No.” The word came from nearly everyone besides Lennox and Alexandria.
“Why?” Adelaide asked.
“It would be better to give our statements and get out of Savannah before Bryce makes bail.”
Adelaide’s head shook back and forth. “Alexandria, Oren was just saying something about a marriage license?”
“I didn’t marry Bryce. Alton tried to force it. He had a judge in his office. I didn’t say yes. If there’s a license, it’s forged.”
“We can’t let him get away with ruining any more lives,” Adelaide said. She looked at me. “Too much time has been wasted.”
Alexandria sat between Lennox and Adelaide. “We have a few minutes before Deloris gets here. Momma, help me.” She motioned between Adelaide and me. “How do you two know one another?”
Silvia was still standing. I reached for her wrist. “Let’s not worry about the food yet. Sit with us. This involves all of us.”
Chelsea began to stand. “I’m intruding.”
“No, Miss Moore. You’re here because you chose to help Alexandria. Sit.” I took a deep breath as all eyes turned to me. “We have too much to discuss to ease into any of it. Let me start. I first became acquainted with Adelaide—”
She reached for my hand. “It was a Christmas party…” Her smile shone, telling me to begin our story there, not years before. She turned to Lennox. “…your father’s first Christmas as a single man.”
“What?” Alexandria said before Lennox reached for her knee, pulling his chair closer to hers.
“Let them talk. I heard this from Oren about two weeks ago and it still hasn’t sunk in. Just listen.”
She nodded, turning back toward us. “Okay. I’m sorry. Can you define acquainted?”
Pink returned to Adelaide’s cheeks. “No, dear.”
“Holy shit,” Alexandria murmured.
“We spoke…” I emphasized the word. “…for the first time at that party. We were surrounded by other guests. I’d planned all these fantastic business pitches. That was why I was there. The guest list was exclusive. However, fate had other plans.” I turned to Adelaide. “Everyone else disappeared. It was only the two of us. I’d never been so attracted…” My eyes closed in memory and reopened. “…I had, but I never believed that I deserved to know that same kind of love for a second time in my life.”
Adelaide squeezed my hand as Lennox tensed. The muscles of his face flexed as he clenched his jaw, just as he had in his office when I’d explained this for the first time.
“It was a few months later before I tried to contact Adelaide again. I couldn’t get her out of my mind.”
As had happened decades ago at the Christmas party, the rest of the table disappeared. I was recounting our story to the only woman whose opinion mattered. In her gaze I saw the love I’d feared was gone. Was it because we were walking down memory lane or was it still there?
“He tracked me down at a luncheon,” Adelaide said. “Of course I hadn’t gotten him out of my mind either, but I never thought… when he stood there at that restaurant for a moment I thought he was a figment of my imagination.” She reached out and caressed my cheek. “But he was real, just as he was when I woke this morning.”
“Amore mio.”
“My love.”
NOX’S HAND ON my thigh kept me seated, kept me quiet as I listened to one of the most unbelievable stories I’d ever heard.
How is this possible?
How can it be true?
After the shock eased a bit, I tried to take in the scene. I focused not only on their words but also the way my mother and Oren stared at one another. They were well into their private history and stories of stolen moments and secret rendezvous when it hit me—my momma had an affair.
My mother screwed around on Alton.
I suppose that should have upset me. After all, shouldn’t I look to my parents as a moral compas
s? But the reality didn’t upset me. I’d known most of my life that Alton cheated on my mother. After the last two weeks, I believed it had happened right under her nose. What I never imagined was that my mother had done it too—that she’d actually experienced happiness.
“I couldn’t do as he asked.” Momma’s chest heaved. “Telling Oren to leave me and going back to you and Montague…” She looked at me. “…was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” She turned back to Oren. “I wanted you to find someone else.”
“That’s when you moved to London,” Silvia said to Oren matter-of-factly.
Oren turned toward her. “It was. You all had each other.”
Nox’s grip tensed. When I looked up, his jaw was set, hard and rigid.
“I didn’t know who you were,” Silvia said to my mother, “but I knew about you.”
“You did? How?” Nox asked.
“Angelina.”
His lips pursed.
Silvia nodded. “Get that look off your face, Lennox. She approved.”
Oren shifted in his chair. “I didn’t know that she told you.”
“It really is nice to finally meet you, Adelaide.”
My momma’s eyes glistened with moisture. “Thank you, Silvia, that means more than you know.”
A stillness fell over the dining room, a calm like that following a storm. Maybe that was what it was. The storm had passed and we were all here.
“Now it’s my turn,” Momma said, “to thank you. I don’t know who all is responsible for saving me…” She smiled, her eyes sparkling in a way I couldn’t recall witnessing. “…kidnapping me but thank you.”
We all turned toward footsteps on the wooden floor.
“Good afternoon,” Deloris said. “It appears you’re all having a party and I wasn’t invited.”
“Mrs. Witt,” Oren said, with a grand gesture. “Please, join us.”
She sat between Chelsea and Silvia, nodding at each and scanning our grouping. The dining room table was large, but in its current form we were nearing capacity. Deloris looked at my mother. “Mrs. Fitzgerald, I’m Deloris Witt. Nice to meet you.”
“Witt?” Momma turned to me. “Is she the one who spoke to Alton and me after the incident in the park?”
“Yes.” I looked from one to the other. “Momma, Deloris. Deloris, this is my mother.”
Momma nodded. “Nice to meet you, Deloris. You’re a strong woman. My husband was not impressed.”
With a slight smile Deloris continued as she scooted her chair forward, “I’ve been working on many different things and different avenues. I’d say the most important bit of information right now is that the medical examiner just released information on the body found at Carmichael Hall.”
She had the full attention of everyone in the room. Six sets of eyes opened wide in anticipation.
“Her identity has been confirmed as Melissa Summers. They haven’t said specifically how she was killed or where exactly she was found, only that a concerned employee called the police. They are estimating the time of death as only hours before discovery.”
The lunch I’d eaten earlier churned. That meant she was killed on Saturday, hours before our party.
“Hours?” Chelsea said. “Had she been there all along? Was he holding her there somewhere?” Her cheeks paled with each question.
Deloris shook her head. “They haven’t said.”
“He wanted me to come to Carmichael Hall on Saturday after I visited… you,” I said, turning to Momma.
She stared in silence waiting for more.
“But you had complications. Jane and I stayed with you.” I turned to the rest of the table. “He was angry. I mostly avoided his calls, but we did speak a few times.”
Chelsea nodded. “He wanted me to come over when Alex couldn’t. He blew up my phone, but Jane had asked me to help with things around town. Everywhere I went, I was afraid he’d be there. But he wasn’t. Was he with her… killing…?” She tucked her hands on her lap and looked up at me with round hazel eyes. “Do you think? Did she die because of us?”
“What?” Nox said. “She died because of that animal. Why would you say it was because of you?”
I covered his hand, the one that was still on my leg. “Not because of us, but in place of us…” Nox’s hand tensed. I looked to Chelsea. “…one of us.”
Pushing my chair back, I hurried around the table and wrapped my arms around my best friend. As she trembled in my embrace I looked up to Deloris. The anger I’d felt back in the hotel with Nox, learning that they’d been the ones to bring Chelsea into this mess came back to life. “This is your fault.” And to Nox. “And yours. This is your doing!”
“Alex,” Deloris said, “this is Edward Spencer’s doing. Chelsea, we’ll get you out of your agreement. You don’t even need to speak to anyone at Infidelity. I’ll take care of it.”
“Like you took care of her before?” I asked, my skin prickling with rage.
“There was always an out,” Deloris said.
“So instead of owning up to your part, you’re blaming Chelsea for not leaving him, for not walking out on her agreement, the one you told her to take?”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying. I take full responsibility for my role. As you both know, Chelsea’s agreement was meant for someone else. I turned away in a crisis and when I looked back, it was too late.” She looked at Chelsea. “Financial compensation will never take away what you went through, but you will get it, as long as you don’t press charges against Edward Spencer.”
“What?” Nox and I said together.
“It’s part of the Infidelity agreement. If Chelsea makes a statement against him that includes Infidelity, it will null and void her agreement and risk exposing Infidelity. She can report him to the company, but she can’t break the nondisclosure or confidentiality portion of her agreement. If she abides by it, Infidelity will pay its full one-year obligation.”
“B-but you said we were going to Savannah to make statements,” Chelsea said, looking up at me.
“I thought we were.”
We all looked to Deloris. “Now that they know the time of death, they’ll want to know where you both were on Saturday. Were you in contact with him? Did you ever see Melissa during the months you lived at Carmichael Hall?”
“I didn’t,” Chelsea said. “I never saw her. Oh God. The place is big, not as big as Montague, but there are other buildings, places I never went.” Chelsea turned to me. “Do you really think he had her there all those months?”
We both knew the answer. He’d made it perfectly clear that he intended to keep the two of us. We just hadn’t realized he’d not only had two, but three women at his disposal.
“Can I answer those questions? Will it hurt Infidelity?”
“You can. You can do whatever you want. I would suggest you do only that. Answer the questions. Don’t make accusations. Answer questions in regard to Saturday, to Mr. Spencer in general. Avoid the nature of your relationship from a legal perspective. Speak about it in general emotional terms.”
Chelsea’s hand moved to her battered cheek. “But they’ll see.”
Deloris nodded. “Which could be the nail in his coffin. Pictures speak louder than words.”
“What about me?” I asked.
“Technically, you don’t have to make a statement. A wife can’t be made to testify against her husband.”
My gaze met Nox’s as the small hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. “I’m not married.”
“Then that’s where we need to start. I believe we have proof that the marriage is illegal, at the very least that it was signed without the knowledge of either of you, thus fraudulently.” She shrugged. “However, there is the slight problem that our proof was not legally obtained.”
“What proof?”
“I bugged your phone.”
My nose scrunched. “My phone? The one Alton gave me? How?”
Oh, shit. I still need to find it.
&
nbsp; Deloris tilted her head. “The how isn’t as important as the audible recordings. Saturday morning Edward Spencer called you. I recently replayed the conversation.”
“That would have been before he…” It was hard to say it out loud, to say before he killed Melissa.
“During the call,” she went on, “Mr. Spencer specifically states that the two of you are going to be married. He doesn’t say that you’re already married.”
“That’s right! Can the recording help?”
“Not in a court of law. In the state of Georgia they’re only admissible if one of the two parties is aware of the wiretap.”
“I could say I knew.”
Deloris shook her head. “I’d rather not. However, I suspect we can stop this farce from ever getting that far. I can send the recording to Fitzgerald’s attorney. It will show him that we have evidence to fight the claim. That should help as well as a few other loopholes.”
Oren repeated, “Loopholes?”
Silvia laid a phone on the table. Though it wasn’t making noise, the screen was bright. “It’s the house phone,” she said, explaining how it was attached to her cell phone. “The caller ID only says Georgia.”
At first no one responded. How many times would it ring?
Finally, Oren nodded to Silvia, who connected the call.
“Hello?”
We all hung on each of Silvia’s responses.
“Yes.”
Her eyes darted to my mother. “Mrs. Fitzgerald?”
Momma’s head moved back and forth.
“I’ll talk to them,” I volunteered. Deloris had already said they’d tracked me down.
“No,” Nox said. “Give me the phone.”
Silvia asked the person to please hold before she pushed something on the screen. “It’s a Ralph Porter, representing Alton Fitzgerald. He’s looking for…” She bobbed her head toward Momma. “…Mrs. Fitzgerald.”
Nox reached for the phone. “This is Mr. Demetri.”
A familiar concoction of anger and fear stewed inside me, simmering below the surface.
“If we hear from her, we’ll let you know… Yes…” He looked at me. “…Miss Collins is here.” The way he emphasized my name made me worry Ralph had referred to me as Spencer again. “No, she’s unavailable at this time… I’m not sure. Perhaps you could try again tomorrow?… We’ll be looking forward to that… Yes, I understand you’re concerned. I hope you locate her soon… Goodbye.” Nox handed the phone back to Silvia.