Curtis sat there for several minutes while Royce watched him. He could see his brother’s wheels turning. Of all of them, Curtis was by far the most analytical when it came to problem solving. “She probably has a doctor’s appointment soon from the incident here. Let me make a few calls and see if we can get a test done without her knowing it. That way you’ll have your answer and she’ll be none the wiser.”
“Is that even legal?” Curtis shrugged. “Then don’t do it. I won’t have you getting into trouble over my mistake. I’ll get my answer and then everything will be all right. I’ll know she’s not pregnant soon and then get on with my life.”
“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? You think she’s not pregnant?”
No, Royce thought. She’d be pregnant and he’d be in court trying to fight his way out of any demands she had been dreaming up. “I don’t know, but just in case, I want you to draw up some papers telling her that I’m not going to be a part of the kid’s life if she stays out of mine. I’ll pay her whatever is reasonable for support, but that’s it.”
Curtis nodded. “And Mom?”
That, Royce had no clue. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Feeling better than he had in a week, after Curtis left Royce sat down to go over some of the things he’d been putting off. By five o’clock, he’d managed to get four projects completed and two more started. He was very proud of himself. It was nearly six o’clock when he left his office and he was home by six-thirty. Home to his new house.
The house was lovely. Huge, but very well made. The furnishings had been sold; he’d not had the same tastes as Benton and was having two of the bedrooms converted into an office on the second floor. The kitchen had been remolded recently so, when he’d moved in, he’d been able to cook for himself. He was enjoying the ability to play around in the kitchen again.
The house was a three-story colonial that had been built of brick. The front of the façade had been sandblasted of the white paint some years ago and the dark color meshed well with the four large white columns that graced the front. The double doors, oak and very old, opened into a large entrance hall that opened to a long, curving staircase that led to the upper floors.
Seven bedrooms filled the second floor with five baths. The halls were knotty pine and wide with indirect lighting along the floors. The stairs leading up to the third level were also curved and oak and spilled out into a room alight with skylights everywhere. Royce had been using the room as a large office/gym until the office on the first floor was ready. He had no idea what he was going to do with the room once he moved his things out of it, but it was a really nice room.
The master suite was on the main level. There was a fireplace in the bath and in the main room. His mom had told him that the two rooms off from the suite were a nursery and a maid’s room. He hadn’t been in either of them since he’d moved in. Royce cringed whenever he thought of his mom hinting about using those two rooms.
The kitchen and living room, the two rooms where he spent the most time, were the most furnished. He had gotten a living room suite that he wanted, complete with overstuffed chairs and a big screen television, and the kitchen was perfect.
He was standing in front of the refrigerator when his phone rang. He frowned when he realized who it was.
“I’m not happy with you, young man.”
Royce straightened up when his mother spoke.
“Why? What did you hear?” If Curtis told her what he swore he wouldn’t, Royce was going to kill him.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Miss York quit working for us? I think after all we’ve been through with her you’d at least let me know when she decided to move on.”
That was news to Royce too. “I didn’t know. When did she quit?”
“She told human resources this morning. I probably wouldn’t have found about it then if I hadn’t been in the lunch room when one of the guards happened by. He told me that she had another job and that she had moved into her own place.”
Royce slammed the door closed. Damn her. She had no right to move on when he was so fucking miserable that he was barking at everyone. He realized his mom was still speaking.
“I can understand that she’d want to not be in that office again. Poor girl probably has nightmares just thinking about it. But to up and quit without letting us find her something else. Well, I have to tell you I feel slightly miffed. And you say you didn’t know either? I thought the two of you had gotten close.”
Closer than she thought, he wanted to tell her, but didn’t. “Do you know where she moved to? I’d like to make sure it’s a better place than she was in before. That place was a dump.”
“No. All he told me was that he’d been to her house just over the weekend, that a bunch of the guards had helped her move her things in. He said it was a nice place. Small but nice. He didn’t know what she was doing for a job, though. He said that he guessed she was going to go to work for some company downtown.”
Royce was going to find out. Just as soon as he hung up from this call, he was going to be making a few of his own. The woman had made him suffer long enough. He was finished waiting on her.
After telling his mom he’d let her know what he found out he called Daniel. Daniel said he’d need until tomorrow, but he’d get back to him. He wondered why he didn’t ask why, but his phone was beeping again and he hung up.
“Mr. Hunter, it’s Herman Gordon with the fire department. There’s a fire at the old Benton warehouse. We were wondering if you could come down and help us out?”
Chapter 8
Leah was exhausted. Her head was pounding too. She put her untouched dinner in the sink and went into the living room to watch a little television and to relax. Maybe if she was lucky, her headache would stop hurting so bad and she could go to bed. She’d been tired all day.
She hadn’t worked for several days. Her body was just too tired to make it out of bed and she hurt more and more when she simply moved from the bed to the couch. Tonight was the first time in a few days that she had been in the kitchen and she had made a mess of it. She’d get to it tomorrow, she decided, after she had a good nap.
There was nothing on the television so she turned it to one of those music stations and tried to mellow out. Chilled, she reached for the throw on the back of the couch and nearly had it over her when her hand went numb. Lifting her arm up, she looked at it and was frightened. Her vision was becoming blurred.
Terrified, she reached for the phone just as blood began to trickle out of her nose. She knocked the phone to the floor and only just managed to grab the handset before it too fell. She knew this was the end, knew she was dying. She needed to make just one more call.
Calling an ambulance seemed futile. She would be gone long before they got there and she’d not get to do one more thing before it was too late. Dialing blindly now, she hoped she pressed the correct buttons and didn’t waste her last breaths on a stranger. When Kasey answered the phone, Leah wept a little.
“I love you.” She felt the blood pour from her nose now and spill on her shirt. “I love you very much.”
“Mom? Mom, what’s happening? Where…oh God. Please, Mom, answer me. Tell me you’re all right.”
She hadn’t meant to panic her, but Leah knew she would understand. “Be happy for me. You be happy. I love you.”
“I love you too. Please don’t die. Mom, I need you. Please, please tell me you’re fine.”
“I love you.” The world seemed to still for a few seconds. Her body went numb all over and the phone slipped from her fingers. Nothing hurt, nothing hurt anymore, and she felt at peace. A bright light blinded her completely and then nothing.
Leah York died as peacefully as she could.
~~~
Royce got back to house at just after ten the next morning. His body ached and he smelled like smoke. The building had been completely engulfed by the time he’d gotten there and the fire department was trying to keep the fire from spreading when his family showed up. Arson, the chief said, gasoline had been poured over every floor and the place had gone up like dry tinder.
“You have any idea who would do something like this, Mr. Hunter?” the inspector had asked when it was clear it was intentional. “This kind of fire could have been a lot worse than it was.”
“Yes, sir. Your men did a fine job keeping it contained. Who set it? I’m not positive. I have a few ideas, but nothing I can prove. And don’t ask me. I won’t tell you.”
“Didn’t think you would. You’re brother, the lawyer, he said you and the previous owner had had words over what you had planned for the building. Thinking maybe it could have been him?”
Royce knew it was him, but didn’t say anything. The inspector moved away after a few seconds. Royce had watched him stop and talk to his mom, but knew he’d get nothing from her either. Charles Benton had a lot to answer for and Royce was just in the mood to ask him.
When Royce stepped out of his bedroom after taking a long, hot shower, he tied off the trash bag he’d put his clothes in and took it to the trash can just outside the kitchen. The smell was as much a part of the material as anything and he knew he’d never get them clean. He was putting the lid back on the top when his mom pulled up.
“Hello, son.” She sounded as tired as he did. “Got anything to eat in that monster kitchen of yours?”
He invited her inside and, while she started the pot of coffee, he gathered things to put together a nice lunch for them. He wasn’t surprised when both his brothers showed up before the first pot was finished brewing.
“Do you think Charles was stupid enough to set the fire?” their mother asked as she bit into the large sub he’d made for them all.
“He probably didn’t set it himself, but I’d bet any amount of money he was a part of it.” Daniel got up and got them all a beer as he continued. “I have a few things to look into, one of which is the security cameras that I had installed. If they were up and operational before the fire we might have caught someone.”
Royce nodded. “They’re running. I got the okay to have them turned on the day before yesterday. I told them to run them now just in case.”
Jesse looked up. “You thought he’d try something? Damn it, Royce, you should have said something. I would have had some of the security team out there.”
“No, I didn’t think he’d be that stupid. I was running it so we could see if we’d put the cameras in proper position. The company that installed them said they could come out and move the ones we wanted. I never thought of them until just now.”
Royce hadn’t thought of much anything the past few weeks and was beginning to think maybe he might have missed more than that. He looked up when Curtis’ phone went off. He got up and left the room when he answered.
“I, for one, am exhausted, but I want to make sure that we are looking into this thing with Charles.” His mom yawned for the second time in as many minutes. “Why don’t we meet in the office—”
Curtis came back in and cleared his throat. “That was a guy I have looking into some things. Charles Benton was admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation. He’s on life support. It doesn’t look that bad, but they don’t want to take any chances.”
Royce looked over at his mom when she started crying. “I never meant for him to go to such extremes. I…his daughter didn’t deserve what he did to her, but I never meant for him to kill himself over some sort of revenge over this.”
She finally lay down on the couch and covered up. Royce and his brothers cleaned up the kitchen without saying much more. They agreed to meet at the office tomorrow, go over the recordings from the fire, and turn them over to the inspector. After another hour they left and Royce went up to his own bed.
His plans to talk to Kasey were going to have to wait until tomorrow. He had to figure this out with Benton and see what they could do about the building. He was a little worried about this house and whether or not he’d set up someone to torch this one, but he’d also had a nice security system installed before he’d moved in. Royce was just drifting off to sleep when he remembered that he’d left his mom on the couch. She’d be fine, he knew, and fell into an exhausted sleep.
He’d slept around the clock he realized the next morning. When his alarm went off at six the next morning, he knew he’d never slept better. The quick shower and getting dressed for the office made him realize that he’d not felt this good about going to work in a long while. He was pulling up out front when he got his first of many calls for the day.
“The recordings are being delivered by courier this morning. There is some news on CNN about the fire that implicates Benton. And before you ask, no, I didn’t let it leak.” Royce laughed at Jesse. “Also there are four meetings today with some of the guys from the Maple Committee. They want some updates on whether or not you’ve decided to let investors come in or not.”
“Why are you giving me updates and not Bobbie? I could have sworn that she did this every morning.” He pulled into the parking place just as he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re my new secretary.”
“Christ, no, but she called in. She said that there was a death and she needed to be there for them. She said something about it being a long time friend and if you wanted to dock her, she’d tell everyone where the bodies were.” Jesse laughed. “I told her I might just do it to find out where you stuff them.”
“I’m nearly in the building now. I’ll see you when I get up there. I suppose you’ve got someone coming up to cover for her, right?”
“Yeah, two ladies are on their way up. I know you have just Bobbie, but this is going to be a hell of a day and I don’t want anyone quitting on us right now. Oh and by the way, you have like forty messages on your machine.”
Royce pulled out his badge and swiped it over the machine. The man at the desk didn’t look familiar, but that wasn’t anything new. The security team was expanding every day, it seemed, and they needed even more people. When the new buildings they had opening by the beginning of fall opened they’d be short staffed again. With a nod, he went to the private elevator and went to his office.