After the day he’d had, he should have checked for bugs. Now his enemy knew everything he knew and everything he suspected.
Damn!
At least he hadn’t talked about Uncle Michael. People died in Africa all the time, but the only evidence Blade had found of Father Michael’s death had been a letter from a French nun. Unless Maria packed it, there was nothing from the Catholic Missions people, no letter extolling his dedication to the church and the orphan children of Angola.
From the car, Blade called the FBI agent in Seattle. “My room was bugged, and I didn’t see it until after I hung up the phone. I didn’t think to check, but then I’m not used to this cloak and dagger stuff.”
“I’ll get someone on it. Which hotel and what room?”
Blade gave him the information. “While you’re ‘getting someone on it,’ can you recommend a safe place to stay?”
“I’ll get back to you on that.”
You do that, thought Blade. You just do that. In that instant, he knew what to do.
“Where to?” asked the driver.
“The airport,” said Blade. Or the nearest bar.
Time to get the hell out of the city.
Chapter Seventeen
B
lade stood in line at the ticket counter while the man behind the counter checked his computer for flights out. “I can’t get you to San Francisco tonight. How about San Jose? The next flight leaves in about two hours.”
“I’ll take it.” San Jose would be at least a half-hour more driving time from Cara’s estate, but the flight was non-stop, and he wouldn’t have to sit in the airport all night. He’d always heard that things happened in threes, and there were two people dead. He needed to get out of the city before he became the third.
He checked his bags, all but the valise, which he carried with him, and called Maria. “I’m at the airport in New York. I couldn’t get a flight to San Francisco, so I’m coming through San Jose. I don’t suppose there’s someone there who can pick me up.” He gave her the flight number and time of arrival.
“Cara has a driver on staff. I’ll send him.” She hesitated for a few seconds before asking, “Is something wrong? I thought you were staying another day or two.”
“Yeah, I did, too. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”
The flight boarded early, and Blade settled in for the long flight. Airplanes always made him a little claustrophobic, even when he flew first class, but flying was the fastest way to get to his destination.
Thinking of Maria brought feelings he couldn’t identify. He’d never felt this way about another living thing and certainly not about another woman. Was it love? If love meant wanting to sleep with her every night and share his life with her, it must be love, because he wanted that with Maria. The thought of never being with her again, never hearing her laughter or sharing thoughts, and never making love to her again gave him an overwhelming sense of sadness.
The woman beside him cocked her head, brushed her frosted blond hair off her face, and looked him over good. At one time, he might have been interested, but not now. He’d never met another woman who could measure up to his wife.
Blade retrieved several letters from the valise, and even though he’d read them all before, he read them again. There had to be something here that he’d missed. What was so important about the letters that Edward kept them in a safe?
The stewardess brought dinner, and Blade slid the letters into the valise. Every letter was a plea for money. Was there a connection between his uncle and Hanzer Ships? Those stones Blade found in Edward’s home had to be worth millions. How much had Edward sent to that bank in France over the years? Edward’s accountant might know, but Blade didn’t stay in New York long enough to connect with him.
Edward only owned thirty-seven percent of the stock in Banner-Covington when he died, and Blade assumed he’d owned over half the stock at one time. Had Edward put the company in peril by selling too much stock, so he could send money to Father Michael?
Had the money really gone to help the orphan children of Angola? Or had someone used the priest to fence those diamonds?
Sister Bernadette might have the answers, if he could find her. Was she still alive? The letter from her was dated over twenty-five years ago. By his calculations, Michael would be around seventy if he’d lived.
If only he hadn’t sent those boxes from Father Michael’s rooms with the movers. It might be months before he could get his hands on them.
<>
It was after midnight, three in the morning New York time, when Blade arrived in San Jose. The airline had lost his luggage, but he was too tired to care. He filed a report and left with Cara’s driver. At least he didn’t have to drive. Between the stress of being in the city without Maria, facing Jacobs, finding the diamonds and letters and other things in the safes, Jacobs’ suicide, and the bug on the lamp in his hotel room, he’d been wound tight the past few days. Add jet lag and three time zones, and he didn’t trust himself to drive. He had no idea how to find the estate anyway. He’d flown in with Maria.
He tossed the valise on the backseat, strapped himself in beside the driver, and tipped the seat back. He fell asleep before they were out of the airport maze.
<>
The fog of sleep still pinned him to the bed the next morning when Blade heard a little voice say, “Mommy said to let him sleep.”
“But I’m hungry.”
“Daisy, no.”
Something small bounced on the bed and a warm, wet tongue assaulted Blade’s ear. Seconds later, that tongue slurped across his face in a sloppy puppy kiss. He moaned and pushed Daisy away. Before Blade could pry his eyes open, two kids jumped on the bed. He grabbed the closest one, Andy, rolled him down and tickled. Giggles filled the room. The other one jumped on Blade, so he tickled Jimmy, too. Their laughter made him smile. When he was a kid, he would have given anything to have someone play with him like this.
Daisy barked and wagged her tail. She wanted to play, too.
Maria stood in the doorway. “I told you to let him sleep.”
Jimmy started, “Daisy—”
“She didn’t mean to,” said Andy.
Blade laughed. He’d rather have Maria’s tongue in his ear, but it was a nice way to wake up. “Hey, boys, go find Mr. Pettibone and see if he can find me a toothbrush. The airline lost my bags.”
The kids and their dog bounced off the bed and disappeared.
Blade hugged Maria and walked toward the bathroom. “I want a kiss, but not until I brush my teeth.”
“Tough trip?”
“We’ll talk after I shower.” Maybe she could make some sense out of those letters.
After Blade went into the bathroom, the boys came to the room with a zippered bag containing a new toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and shaving supplies. “Mr. Pettibone said he could find some clothes if Blade didn’t have any.”
Maria opened the closet. The clothes Blade had worn the two days before he left on his trip had been laundered and hung in his closet. “He has enough to wear until the airline finds his bags. Where’s Robbie?”
“He’s talking to Cassie about breakfast.”
“I don’t know what we’d do without you guys.”
The kids grinned and took Daisy outside to play on the grass until breakfast. Andy had refused to eat without Blade, so they’d all waited.
Blade was in the shower when Maria put the shaving kit on the bathroom counter. “Cassie is cooking breakfast.”
“You don’t want to satisfy my other appetite first?”
She smiled. “We’ll take care of that one tonight.”
“I can hardly wait,” he said, and the sound of his voice crept into her body and lifted her spirit. “I missed you, Maria.”
“I missed you, too. We all did.”
“I didn’t have time to buy presents for the kids this time.”
“You don’t have to buy them presents every time you go somewhere.”
“I want them to like me.”
“They do like you, Blade. Robbie said if we wanted to get married, it was all right with him.”
Blade chuckled, a deep, husky sound. “Yeah, he told me the same thing, and I got Daisy’s okay this morning, when she licked my ear. Uh... you want to come in here and lick the other one?”
She’d love to, but not with the kids waiting. “Maybe later. I’ll see you downstairs in the sun room.” She laid his clean clothes on the bed and walked downstairs.
He surprised her when he called and said he was on his way home. She knew he’d intended to stay longer. Had he accomplished everything sooner than expected, or had his abrupt change of plans meant something had happened? If he hadn’t been so tired last night, she would have asked him then.
<>
At breakfast, Jimmy asked Blade if he’d seen any big ships in New York.
“No, I didn’t have time to look at the ships. We’ll do that in June, okay?”
Jimmy grinned and Blade peered at his mouth. “Did you lose a tooth?”
“Yeah. I saved it. See?” He pulled a tooth from his pocket.
Blade took it and raised his eyebrows. Maria said, “He wanted to show it to you before he put it under his pillow and the tooth fairy took it away.”
He cocked his head. “What does the tooth fairy do with all those teeth? Does she build a new kid or something?”
Jimmy giggled. “She uses them to build a castle.”
Blade shoveled in another bite of buckwheat pancakes. When he swallowed, he asked, “So, what does this tooth fairy pay for teeth? What’s the going rate?”
“A dollar,” said Jimmy.
“A whole dollar for one little tooth? This must be some castle she’s building.”
The kids finished eating and went outside to play. Blade pushed his plate back. “I suppose they still believe in Santa Claus, too.”
“And the Easter bunny,” said Maria. “I think Andy is getting suspicious, but he’s afraid to say anything because he wants the goodies.”
He’d missed all that when he was a kid. He got presents for his birthdays and Christmas, but there was never any joy in the holidays, never any pretending or anticipation of a fictitious creature bringing him something because he was a ‘good boy.’ According to Sunny, he’d never been a ‘good boy.’ At her house, holidays were the same as other days. She took whatever drugs she was on at the time, she drank, and to stave off the unhappiness, Blade drank, too.
He’d been tempted to order a drink on the plane last night, but he’d fought the temptation. He’d gone for years without craving a drink, and Sunny’s appearance in his life changed that. Seeing her brought back a lot of memories he thought he’d purged himself of years ago.
“Don’t let her do that to you, Blade.” Maria’s soft voice brought him back to the present. “Don’t let her undo all the good in you.”
He put his hand over hers. “I won’t.”
“What happened in New York? What haven’t you told me?”
“I told you Jacobs turned over the estate. I didn’t tell you he killed himself the next day.”
“Oh, no,” she said on a groan. “Why?”
“He left me a note that said, ‘I underestimated you. The company is yours.’ I don’t know if he had Sunny killed or not. At this point, I don’t know what’s going on, except it has something to do with the company. Someone wants it in the worst way.”
“Bad enough to kill for it?”
“Maybe. I need to make some phone calls this morning. I could be stirring up something sinister, but I can’t stop until I know the truth. I need to know who’s behind Sunny’s death and who pushed Jacobs so hard he couldn’t find a way out.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Yeah. You can read something for me and tell me what you think.”
After checking on the kids, Maria walked upstairs with Blade, and he handed her a packet of letters. While he made phone calls, she read the letters. They were all quite similar, all written with the same pen, and all postmarked Paris, France, yet they were supposed to have been written in Africa. Surely mail from Angola didn’t have to go through Paris.
After she’d read through half the letters, Maria realized Blade had finished his phone call. He motioned to the letters. “What do you think so far?”