A uniformed butler opened the door before Travis got up the stairs. “Mr. Pendergast is waiting for you in the south parlor,” he said as he led Travis to a large, pretty room with walnut paneling and a blue and cream rug. The furniture was meant to look as though it had been there for years. Old money. But Travis’s discerning eye saw that it was all new.
“This is more your style,” Russell said as he walked toward Travis.
“Cut it out or I’ll tell your mother on you.”
Russell caught himself before he smiled. “I was told to tell you that Borman will take two hundred grand, two fifty tops. But that’s way too much. Those vans of his aren’t worth much, and he owes some back wages.”
Travis nodded. “Where is he?”
“In the library. Got here twenty minutes early.”
“Eager to get rid of everything, isn’t he? Has he been told the terms?”
“To get out of town fast. To help him along, I used Mom’s AmEx to buy him a plane ticket to Costa Rica. You’ll get the bill.”
“I bet you enjoyed doing that,” Travis said.
“Very much.”
Shaking his head, Travis looked at his watch. He had on his best suit and a black tie with a gold stripe. He still had three minutes before four. “Your mom wants to retire to Edilean.”
“So she told me.”
“What about you? Where do you live?”
Russell didn’t answer the question. “I think it’s time you went in. Should I carry the papers for you?”
“I believe I can manage.” As Travis went to the doors leading into the library he remembered that Penny had told him the contract would be on the desk. But Russell had been here to hand it to him—which meant that he’d shown up without his mother’s knowledge. Interesting. “You ever do any climbing? Skiing? Sailing?”
“Yes,” Russell said, then nodded toward the door. It looked like he wasn’t going to reveal any more about himself. “You might like to know,” Russell said, “that I got Borman down to one seventy-five.”
Travis blinked a few times. He wasn’t used to anyone else doing his negotiating for him, but in this case, he was grateful. “Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate—”
Russell cut him off. “It’s four.”
Travis took a breath and opened the door. David Borman was sitting in a leather chair so big that it made him look small and insignificant—and Travis was sure that Russell had put that chair there on purpose. It was difficult not to smile. In spite of Russell’s hostility and his refusal to answer questions, Travis was beginning to like the guy.
As Travis looked at the man sitting in the big chair, his first thought was: Kim could do better. Borman wasn’t tall, was slightly built, and was so blond he was almost invisible. It wasn’t easy for Travis to reconcile what he knew of this man to what he saw. He certainly didn’t look treacherous.
“You’re Westwood, the owner of this place?” the man asked. His wide eyes showed how in awe of it he was—which was what Travis had wanted.
Travis didn’t answer, just looked at him with what he’d heard people call “the Maxwell glare.”
Borman sat back against the chair, his nervousness obvious.
Travis sat down and took his time looking over the contract. It was very simple. He was buying Borman Catering et al. He would get the name, the equipment, and even keep the employees.
The document had been signed by Russell Pendergast. Travis took more time looking at the signature than he did at the contract. It was bold, sure of itself—and it reminded him of something but he couldn’t think what.
When he looked up, Borman was chewing on his thumbnail and there was sweat on his upper lip.
“Mr. Borman,” Travis said as he folded his hands on top of the contract. “I have just been informed of a situation that may cause insurmountable problems.”
Borman drew in his breath and muttered, “What is it?”
“It has come to my attention that there’s something about a missing ring. I don’t want any problems with law enforcement.”
Borman gave a sigh of relief and lifted to one side to remove his wallet from his hip pocket. “That has nothing to do with my business. It’s personal.” He withdrew a small square of paper from his wallet and leaned forward to put it on the desk. “I must say that you have been doing your homework. So where do I sign?”
“This is a pawn ticket,” Travis said and knew what it meant. The employee that Kim trusted had given this man a ring, and Borman had pawned it. But Travis had long ago learned that he couldn’t jump to conclusions, that he shouldn’t base his assessments of a situation on hearsay. When it came down to it, he only had Russell’s word about what this man had been up to.
As much as Travis wanted to get rid of the man, get him out of his sight, at the same time he wanted evidence directly from the source. He leaned back in his chair and pointedly looked at the ticket on the big desk. “Mr. Borman, I run a legitimate business. I don’t sign contracts if pawnshops and the police are involved.”
“Police? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I owe a little money, for supplies and that sort of thing, but I’ve done nothing illegal.”
“From what I heard, this ring is worth several thousand dollars. I don’t want to retrieve it from the pawnshop then find out that it’s been stolen.”
Borman leaned back in the leather chair, glanced at the unsigned contract on the desk, then back at Travis. He looked thoroughly annoyed. “It’s nothing,” he said. “It’s about a woman, that’s all. Get the ring out of hock and return it to her. No one will press charges.”
Travis’s face was stern, the one he wore when he was working for his father. “Perhaps you should tell me exactly what this is about. Or maybe I should cancel this.” He picked up the contract and acted as though he was about to tear it in half.
“No!” Borman shouted, then calmed. “It’s just women stuff, that’s all.” When Travis didn’t relent, he said, “There was a woman, a cute little redhead. She has a jewelry store near here. It’s little, nothing special. The problem was that she’s a woman. You know what I mean?”
“I’m not sure I understand.” Travis put the contract down and gave Borman his full attention.
“The problem was that she worked on a small scale when she should have been thinking big. I tried to talk to her about it, for her own good. But she wouldn’t listen to me. I wanted to take her store national, make it into a chain. I was going to call it The Family Jewels. Get it?”
“I get it,” Travis said. Under the desk his hands were in fists.
“But she just laughed at me. Not that I told her I was serious about the name, as she can be a real prude. She’s the kind of girl that goes to church every Sunday. Anyway, she wouldn’t even consider going national, so I decided that the best thing would be to marry her, then I’d be able to help her out. I was really thinking of her. Know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do.” Travis took a breath. “Did she know why you wanted to marry her?”
“Hell no! She’s a clever little thing, so I had to be careful. I was very nice to her, sweetest person imaginable. Treated her with the respect of a choirboy. Even in the sack I was good. Nothing creative, if you know what I mean.”
Travis had to work to keep from diving across the desk and going for the man’s throat. “What about the ring? Where did it fit into all this?”
Dave shrugged, and his expression said that he was pleased by Travis’s interest. “If I was going to ask her to marry me I had to give her a ring, didn’t I? But why should I go buy one when she has a store full of them? They were just sitting there in her shop, about fifty of them, and they were free—or would be once we got married.” He leaned forward, as though he was about to reveal a confidence to Travis. “She has a safe inside her garage that’s full of . . . I can’t imagine what’s in there. She lives in a world of gold and jewels. An Aladdin’s cave of diamonds and pearls. She likes pearls. One time she even tried to lecture me on the different kinds of them. Like I care, right?”
“Did you see inside the safe?”
“Naw,” Dave said with a grimace. “I tried to get her to show me but she wouldn’t. I even tried to get her to give me the combination, but she refused.”
In his entire life, Travis had never felt such anger, such
hatred
for anyone before. “You understand the terms of the contract, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.” He looked at Travis as though they were men who shared a secret. “You don’t want any competition. You’re like me. We’re both businessmen and we understand each other. Too bad the women don’t get that.”
Travis didn’t dare respond as he didn’t trust himself not to say what he was actually feeling. He gave Borman a fake smile, as though he thought the man was a genius, then filled in the outrageous price Russell had negotiated for him. Travis would have paid more. He pretended to sign it in the place where Russell’s name already was.
Eagerly, Dave leaped up, signed the bottom without reading it, and Travis handed him his copy.
“Planning to call her to say good-bye?” Travis asked even while his hands were itching to hit the man.
“Don’t have time,” Dave said as he turned toward the door. “I have important things to do, including getting my old girlfriend back. Now there’s a girl who knows what to do to make a man happy in bed. If you get my meaning.”
“Yes I do,” Travis said, then stood there and watched David Borman leave the room. He felt like he needed a shower with a disinfectant.
Travis didn’t know how long he stood there before Russell came in through the side door.
“Did he take it?”
Travis hesitated. “The money? Of course.”
“What’s this?” When Travis didn’t immediately turn around, Russell stood quietly and waited.
Finally, Travis looked at what Russell was holding. “That’s a pawn ticket.”
“I can see that. What’s it for? Oh! The ring.” Russell looked at the address on the ticket. “Wonder what his plan was going to be for this weekend when he asked Miss Aldredge to marry him but didn’t have a ring to give her?”
“My guess is that he’d say he knew nothing about a missing ring.”
“His word against Carla’s, and she was the one who stole it from the shop.”
“That’s what I think,” Travis said as he reached out to take the ticket. “I’ll go by there and get it.”
“Do you have any cash on you?” Russell asked.
“A few hundred, but I have cards.”
“A pawnshop that takes credit cards? Besides, you can’t use yours.” Russell raised an eyebrow.
Travis knew nothing about pawnshops and what kind of payment they took.
“I’ll get the ring out of hock and you can go with me. Besides, your car has two flat tires.”
“My car—?” Travis began but stopped. He had a feeling that Russell was lying about Travis’s car being incapacitated, but he didn’t mind. Right now he felt like he needed some company, needed something to take the stench of Dave Borman from him. “Fine,” Travis said, “but I drive.”
Russell gave a noise like a snort.
Two hours later they had the ring and were almost back to Edilean. Russell was driving. For the most part it had been a quiet ride, and Travis wasn’t feeling that hostility from Russell that he’d first seen.
“What does Miss Aldredge think your last name is?” Russell asked.
“She hasn’t asked and I haven’t told her.”
“Good, solid foundation between you two,” Russell mumbled.
“Your life is better?” Travis snapped.
“Certainly not as complicated,” Russell said calmly.
Travis looked out the window. “Yes, I think it’s time to tell her.”
“Are you going to tell her why Borman won’t show up in Janes Creek? About the little play you put on in the library? How about that you’re now the owner of Borman Catering?”
“What are you? A federal court judge? You want all the facts?”
“Just curious how the great Maxwell son conducts his life.”
Travis started to reply to that, but they’d reached Kim’s house and there was a strange car in the drive. “You don’t think that’s Borman’s, do you?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Russell said, “but I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Park around the corner and I’m going to go in through the back door.” Minutes later, Travis was heading toward Kim’s house, Russell close behind him. “Where are you going?”
“Mom said to help you in any way I can. If it’s Borman, you might need backup.”
Travis knew that if it came to a confrontation, he wouldn’t need help with Borman. On the other hand, Travis didn’t know how Kim was going to react to what he had to tell her. And how much should he tell her? If he was going to tell her the truth about himself, maybe he should tell her about Borman and the ring as well. Or maybe he’d postpone the part about setting Borman up and buying his company and—
“I can see the yellow stripe down your back through your clothes,” Russell said.
“I wish Penny had spent more time with you and taught you some manners.”
“She tried, but she was too busy working for your family to do much for me.”
“If you ever want to compare childhoods, I’m ready,” Travis said.
“At least you had—” Russell began but they both stopped talking when they heard a man’s voice raised in anger.
Travis hurried to the back door. As usual, it was unlocked. He slipped inside, Russell right behind him.
As soon as Travis heard his name, he knew he should leave, but he couldn’t make himself move. He could feel Russell beside him, and he was as transfixed, and as immobile, as Travis was.
“Kim! Are you crazy?” Dr. Reede Aldredge was shouting at his sister. “You don’t even know who that man is.”
“That’s a stupid thing to say. I’ve known him since I was eight years old. He’s Travis . . .” She wasn’t sure if his last name was Cooper or Merritt or something else.
“He is John Travis Maxwell and his father is Randall Maxwell.”
“So? I’ve heard the name but . . .”
“You ought to read something besides jewelry magazines. Look on the
Forbes
Web site. Randall Maxwell is one of the richest men in the world. And his son Travis is his right-hand man. Maxwell specializes in taking over other people’s companies. When some guy is down and out, Maxwell steps in and buys the place for a song, then he sends in his crew to clean it up. He fires people by the thousands, puts them out of work. And you know who makes all this possible? His brilliant son, Travis the lawyer—the guy living in your guesthouse.”