“What the hell else could I do, Jessie? You're my daughter. And if you insist on marrying that stubborn sonofabitch, then I guess he and I had better find a way to get along.”
Elizabeth clung to Vincent's arm and grinned up at her father as he bent to kiss her cheek. “I knew you'd come, Dad. Just like I knew you'd come to watch me when I won first prize at the science fair.”
Vincent smiled benevolently down at his offspring and then looked at the curious hostess. “My daughters,” he explained proudly. “The elder one's getting engaged tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” The hostess smiled. “Congratulations. I believe everyone at the table is waiting for you.”
Jessie led the way back to the big table and took her seat beside Hatch as Elizabeth plunked herself down in her own chair. Hatch got to his feet and eyed Vincent.
“Glad you could make it, Benedict.”
“Always said you were a damned marauding shark.” Vincent sat down between Lilian and Constance, who each leaned over to give him an affectionate peck on the cheek. “Should have known once you made up your mind to have my daughter, nothing short of the crack of doom could have stopped you.”
“You were right.” Hatch sat down again.
An odd, charged silence descended on the table. Jessie was acutely aware of the strange tension flowing around her. It was as if everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Hatch and Vincent continued to eye each other across the width of the table, reminding Jessie of two gunslingers outside a saloon at high noon.
“The thing you got to remember about sharks,” Vincent said slowly, “is that they bite.”
“That's why we have teeth,” Hatch explained.
“And God knows, if Benedict Fasteners is ever going to have a shot at moving into the big time,” Vincent continued “it'll need a shark with a lot of teeth in charge. I'm reinstating your contract, as of now, Hatch.”
An audible collective gasp could be heard from almost everyone at the table.
“It's not quite that simple,” Hatch reminded him gently. “There's the little matter of splitting up the company among Jessie, Elizabeth, David, and me.”
“Hell, I know that.” Vincent scowled at him. “I wouldn't be here tonight if I wasn't agreeing to that part of the deal.”
Jessie sat back in her chair, limp with relief as cheers of delight went up around the table. These were followed by an exuberant whooping shout from David. Heads turned in the restaurant.
“Well,” Constance said with deep satisfaction as the clamor died down, “I'm pleased you've decided to be reasonable about this after all, Vince. Didn't think you had it in you.”
Lilian smiled at her ex-husband and patted his hand. “Congratulations, Vince. You're doing the right thing.”
“Way to go, Dad.” Elizabeth was grinning from ear to ear. “Now Jessie can stay here in Seattle.”
“Hatch was right.” David looked at Vincent. “You might be stubborn as all hell, but you're not entirely stupid.”
“Thank you, David.” Vincent slanted him a wry glance.
“What if,” Hatch said coolly, his expression unreadable, “I decide I don't want to go back to work for you?”
Another audible gasp was heard. This time everyone turned to stare at Hatch, who did not appear to notice that he was now the focus of attention.
Vincent smiled grimly, looking very sharklike himself. He picked up the bottle of champagne and poured himself a glass. “Why, then, I'll just have to sue you for breach of contract, won't I?”
Hatch allowed himself a slow grin. “You'd do it, too, wouldn't you, you sonofabitch.”
“In about two seconds,” Vincent agreed equably.
“Then it looks like I'll be going back to work at Benedict Fasteners,” Hatch said. Under the table his hand closed fiercely around Jessie's. “And the company will have some new owners.”
She turned her head to look at him, realization dawning slowly as she saw the cool triumph in his gaze. Then she started to laugh. Everyone started at her in astonishment.
“Honest to God, Hatch, if you tell me you planned it this way, I swear I'll dump the rest of this champagne over your head,” Jessie managed to get out between giggles.
Hatch smiled and pulled her close long enough to cover her mouth in a quick, hard kiss. “Sometimes a man just gets lucky.”
The scraping of a chair on the far side of the table broke through Jessie's euphoria. She turned to see Glenna rising to her feet in a quick, jerky movement. Her aunt's face was twisted with rage.
“No,” Glenna said forcefully. “No, this isn't right. It's not right, I tell you.”
The shocking sight of Glenna Ringstead looking nearly out of control held everyone at the table spellbound.
“It should have been David,” Glenna hissed through set teeth. “It should have been my son you put in charge, Vincent. The company should go to him. All of it. Not just a quarter, but all of it. He deserved it after what you did to his father. Damn you. Damn you to hell. It's not right.”
Before anyone could respond, Glenna whirled around, still moving in a stiff, unnatural manner, and fled toward the door.
It was David who broke the stunned silence that followed. He looked at Vincent. “Don't you think it's time you told me just what you did do to my father?”
Vincent's sigh was one of deep resignation. “Maybe it is. I think you can handle it, David. I didn't always think that way, but now…” He flicked a glance at Hatch. “Now I have a feeling you can.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
You want the God's honest truth, David?” Vincent asked.
“Yes.”
“Your father was one of the smartest men I've ever met. Your mother was right: back at the beginning, I depended on him. Without his abilities I would never have gotten Benedict Fasteners off the ground. I knew construction and I thought I knew the industry, but I didn't know much about running a business.”
“And my father did?”
“He sure did. Like I said, he was real smart that way. But two years after we finally started turning a decent profit, Lloyd nearly stole the company blind.”
David stared at him. “He what?”
“He embezzled over three hundred thousand dollars before I realized what was going on. That was a lot of money back then. Hell, still is. Benedict Fasteners nearly went under.”
David shook his head, looking stunned. “No. I don't believe it.”
“You asked for the truth and I'm giving it to you. Straight. Man-to-man. No more chocolate-candy coating to make it palatable, like your mother always wanted me to do.”
David's expression was nearly blank. “But Mom always said he was brilliant.”
“He was. Your father was a brilliant, lying, cheating thief. And when I found out what he was doing, I fired his ass. Gave him a choice between clearing out and going to jail. He cleared out. Glenna decided not to go with him. Couldn't blame her. What kind of future would the two of you have had with a man like that?”
“Mother always said you owed us,” David said in a dazed voice.
“When your dad left I told her I'd see to it that you and she never suffered. Told her I felt I owed her that much because of what Lloyd had contributed to the company in the early days. And because she was Lilian's sister and…well, there were other reasons.” Vincent glanced uneasily at his two ex-wives, who were watching him with rapt attention. “Like I said, I felt I owed her.”
“Why didn't anyone ever tell me the full truth?” David demanded tightly.
Vincent shrugged. “In the beginning it was because you were too young to understand. And because Glenna wanted the truth kept from everyone in the family. I went along with it. But I think that over the years she sort of chose to forget what really happened.”
“She just focused on how much her husband had done for the company back at the beginning and on the fact that you owed her,” Lilian said. “That explains a lot about her possessiveness toward you and the
firm.”
“And why she always felt David should have inherited,” Constance added thoughtfully.
“I can't believe you never told me the truth.” David shook his head in bewilderment. “I can't believe you kept that kind of secret for so long.”
“A boy doesn't need to hear that kind of thing about his father,” Hatch said quietly.
“Yeah,” said Vincent. “Doesn't do a kid any good to know his old man was a complete bastard. Sort of makes things harder than they are already. Just ask Hatch. Or me.”
“Why am I getting the full truth now?” David looked straight at Vincent. “Because I asked for it?”
“Nah.” Vincent picked up his champagne glass. “I've been sitting on that secret for years. Could have taken it to my grave. I'm telling you the facts now because I think you can handle 'em, in spite of what your mother says about you being so goddamned sensitive.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Hatch here told me you pulled your own weight when you went along on that stupid trip to rescue the Attwood girl. And you didn't send Jessie to ask me for money for grad school, like I was expecting you to do. All things considered, I figure you've turned into a man. You don't need protecting anymore.”
Hatch shrugged into his jacket and picked up his briefcase. He gave Jessie a very serious look as he paused to kiss her good-bye at the door of her apartment. “Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone.”
“You betcha.” She smiled beatifically up at him and batted her eyelashes.
Hatch groaned. “Why do I even bother to ask?” He kissed her soundly. “I should be back by ten tonight unless the flight is late.”
“Sure you don't want to stay over in Spokane and come back in the morning?”
“No, I do not want to spend the night in a hotel room in Spokane when I can spend it here in your bed.” Hatch scowled and glanced at his watch. “I just want to get this damn contract signed, sealed, and delivered before the wedding so I can enjoy my honeymoon.”
“This is that dippy little contract that Dad's so proud of stealing out from under Yorland and Young?”
“Right. And if I don't get it out of the way, your father will be calling me every day we're away, asking me when I'm going to come back and handle it.”
“Knowing Dad, that's probably true. Don't worry about me. I'll just be sitting here patiently waiting by the hearth with your pipe and slippers.”
“The hell you will. You're going to cook yourself an entire pound of ravioli and eat it all.”
“Look at it this way: after an entire pound of ravioli, I'm not likely to get into any kind of trouble.” She laced her arms around his neck. “I love you, Hatch—wing tips, boring tie, and all.”
His smile was slow and sexy. “Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Must be because I'm so damn good in bed.”
“Must be.”
“Just as well. Because I love you too, even if you can't hold a job.” He kissed her nose and then he kissed her mouth, hard.
And then he was gone.
It was much later that day, right after she'd eaten the pound of ravioli for dinner, in fact, that Jessie started to feel restless and uneasy. The sense of wrongness was so acute she could hardly stand it. She glanced at the clock. Hatch was not due home for another three hours.
“I wish you were here, Hatch.”
Jessie tried to read, but all she could think about was how badly she wanted Hatch to be home.
The phone rang shortly after eight. Jessie pounced on it, although she could not have said why.
“Hello?”
“Jessie, dear, is that you?”
Jessie exhaled a sigh of relief. “Oh, hello, Mrs. V. Yes, it's me. How are you?”
“Fine, dear. I was just sitting here watching television and I had a sudden urge to call and see if you were…well, all right.”
“I'm just fine, Mrs. V.”
“Good. I'm afraid I just had one of my little spells of uneasiness and it seemed to have something to do with you. Dear me, I do hope that blow on the head hasn't made my inner vision unreliable.”
“I appreciate your concern, Mrs. V. Is, uh, everything going all right at the office?”
“I've had to close it until things die down. I plan to reopen in a few weeks when everyone's forgotten the Attwood case. Do you know, though, I'm going to miss you. Have you found a new job?”
“Not yet, Mrs. V. But I'm sure something will turn up. It always does.”
The phone rang again at nine o'clock, just as the long, slow twilight of late spring was fading into night. Jessie grabbed the instrument a second time.
The voice was that of a woman and it sounded disturbingly familiar. But it was impossible to identify because she was apparently speaking through a cloth. The message was short and to the point.
“If you ever want to see your precious Elizabeth alive again, you will come to the new Benedict warehouse now. If you tell anyone or bring anyone with you, the child dies. You have thirty minutes.”
Nausea welled up out of nowhere. Jessie's knees went out from under her and she nearly collapsed on the sofa. Frantically she tried to remember Elizabeth's schedule for Monday evenings. Was there a soccer game tonight? She could not recall. Blindly she dialed Connie's number. There was no answer. She tried the office of ExCellent Designs. Again no answer. Then she glanced at the clock.
Twenty-eight minutes left of the thirty she had been given. There was no time to see if Elizabeth was safe, no time to determine if the call was a cruel hoax. No time to do anything but get to the new warehouse in the south end of town.
Jessie grabbed her car keys and rushed to the door.
She nearly fell down the stairs in her haste to reach the car. Outside on the street she fumbled desperately with the keys. She had just gotten the door open when she felt herself pinned by a pair of blinding headlights.
Memories of nearly being run down a few days earlier brought another wave of panic to Jessie's throat. But even as she turned to run she realized the car was pulling in to the curb behind her Toyota, and then she saw that it was Hatch's Mercedes. Jessie ran toward it.
“Hatch. She's got Elizabeth. I have thirty minutes to get there. No, about twenty-five now. Oh, God.”
Hatch was out of the car, moving swiftly toward her. “Who's got her? What are you talking about?”
“I don't know,” Jessie sobbed. “A woman, I think. Maybe someone I know. But her voice was disguised. She just called. She's taken Elizabeth to the new Benedict warehouse. Told me if I didn't come alone, she'd kill her.”
“We'll take your car because she'll be expecting it. Get in. I'll drive.”
“She says I have to go alone. Hatch, I'm so scared.”
“Just get into the car. We'll figure this out on the way.”
He was already pushing her into her car, getting in beside her, and starting the engine. Jessie tried to collect her wild thoughts. Something struck her suddenly.
“What are you doing home an hour early?”
“I caught an early flight.”
“But why?”
“Damned if I know,” Hatch said. “A couple of hours ago I just had a feeling I wanted to get home sooner than I'd planned. I made some excuses to the people I was dealing with, phoned the airport, and got on an earlier flight.”
“Thank God. Hatch, I'm so afraid.”
“You said it was a woman's voice?”
“Yes. I'm sure of it. Muffled, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Do you think…?” Jessie could not bring herself to finish the question.
“That it was Glenna who called? I don't know, Jessie. But we have to face the fact that it's a possibility.”
“I can't believe it. Why would she do such a thing?”
“You know why.” His mouth tightened as he guided the Toyota onto the freeway that sliced the city in half. “A part of her still thinks that everything should have gone to David. I wonder if she's finally flipped compl
etely and decided that the best method of ensuring that David inherits everything is to get you and Elizabeth out of the way.”
“No. She wouldn't kill Elizabeth. She would not do such a thing.”
“We don't really know what she'd do, Jessie. There's a lot of old anger buried in her. A lot of bitterness. What happened at the engagement party the other night might have been too much for her. Took away her last hope. Might have pushed her over the edge.”
Jessie shook her head, unwilling to believe such a possibility. “I've known her all my life. I just can't believe Aunt Glenna would go this far. I won't believe it until I see it for myself. Hatch, what are we going to do?”
“Give me a minute to think about the layout of the new warehouse. I took a look at the plans last week. Thanks to your father's outdated management style, the doors were rehung last week and we started moving inventory into the place. There should be a lot of cover inside the building by now, what with equipment and product stored in there.” Hatch fell silent beside her, his face set in forbidding lines.
A few minutes later he turned off the freeway and drove into a dark, silent warehouse district in the south end of the city. Buildings loomed, their windows unlit for the most part. Huge trucks were parked for the night near loading docks. The streets were empty.
“Hatch? We're almost there.”
“I know.” He glanced at his watch. “I'll get out at the next corner and cut through those two buildings over there. That will bring me into the back of the warehouse.”
“How will you get inside?”
“I know the security-system code. Your father and I chose it together so we could both memorize it.”
“How would Aunt Glenna get it?”
“Hell, she's family, isn't she? And she's smart.”
“That's true. You want me to drive straight up to the front entrance?”
“Right. But stay in the car. Let her know you're there but don't make it easy for her. She'll have to think about her next move, and that should give me some time to act. Glenna's not a professional kidnapper and she's got a very rigid personality. My guess is she won't know what to do if things don't go exactly according to plan. Still, we don't want to push her too far. She's obviously unstable.”