Authors: Emelle Gamble
By the time they arrived, Jill’s mind was no clearer, and her heart heavier. Millard was greeted at the door by Cheryl and Susan, who whisked the beloved teacher off to another group of alumni.
Jill pulled at the neckline of the dress and searched the crowded room. She spotted Carly standing near the bar, empty glass in hand.
That’s not a good sign.
Jill made her way through the sea of beautifully dressed people, stopping once or twice to give or receive a hug from a classmate she had reconnect with at the cocktail party. Millard’s comment that Max was “two men” kept replaying in her head.
She agreed. And she doesn’t even know that one of them carries a gun.
“God, you look like a princess in that dress. I get an A for buying it.” Carly said when Jill walked up. She held the empty glass up to toast her. “And I love the earrings. I told you that you should always wear sapphires. They turn your eyes to that sparkling color the minute you put them on.”
“Thank you. You need to move back to the States so you can pick out all of my clothes, and lend me all of your jewelry.” Jill touched the dangling earrings Carly had ordered her to wear.
“I may do that.”
“Your father and I would throw a party. You look like a goddess, by the way. I love that one-shoulder look.” Carly’s dark hair was swept up off her face and neck into a Princess Kate type of low chignon, and the sparkly plum sheath hugged every curve of her lush figure.
“Thanks. I like to show the girls off since I stopped nursing. Although I need a bra now with more support. Maybe one with steel under wires.”
“I think you are seeing something none of the rest of the world does.” She smiled and nodded at the wineglass. “What are we drinking?”
“Whatever this hunk is pouring.” Carly motioned to the buff bartender, who moved to their side of the bar.
“Can I get you another one? The same?”
“Yes. I could do this all night long,” Carly said.
The young man grinned and handed her a fresh glass of Cabernet.
“Thank you.” Carly took a deep sip. “I love California wine. Even the cheap stuff tastes like sunshine.”
From the look of her watery eyes, Jill judged that it wasn’t her friend’s first drink of the evening. “I’ll have one, too,” she said to the bartender. “So where’s Hamilton?”
“I don’t know. Possibly at the airport.” Carly frowned.
“What? He’s not coming tonight?”
“He got a call this afternoon and said he was going to have to leave on the first flight he could get to Brussels.” Her voice roughened. “I left at four to get my hair blown out so I didn’t have to deal with Julia wanting to help me, and told him he best not duck out on me before dinner, but he didn’t commit. He knows I’m pissed. I don’t know what the hell he’s doing. And right now I can’t say that I care.”
“I’m sorry. Dr. Millard is going to be disappointed. She was convinced she had talked Ham into being her star attraction at the talent show.”
“He had her fooled, then. He kept saying how he didn’t want anyone to hear how rusty he is. He was worried Millard would know he wasn’t the same musician he once was.” Carly shook her head. “Sometimes Ham is so vain. He should be more like Max, who says he can’t sing but is a good sport.”
“He is a good sport,” Jill said.
Among other things.
Carly squinted at the crowd. “Where is he, anyway?”
Jill glanced around the room. “That’s a good question. Max might not show up either.” Jill took a step.
“Whoa.” Carly grabbed her arm and stayed put. “What happened?”
Jill met Carly’s eyes. “I found out last night Max has been hiding significant things from me about his past, and his present. Things that make it hard to imagine how we’re going to push this personal reunion of ours into the future.”
“Oh my god, it’s not because of something my dad discovered about Ben Pierce’s murder, is it?”
“Shhh,” Jill said softly. The crush of people around them was growing. She spotted Andrew. He was at the doorway, talking to Eddie Fitzhugh. Eddie and his blond supermodel wife were holding court with a big group.
“Come on, let’s go sit down, Carly. I need to tell you what happened last night.”
“Oh my god, now what?”
“I’ll tell you when we sit down.”
Carly took a huge gulp of wine and set the glass on the bar. “When does the program start?”
“In a few minutes. At seven o’clock Professor Millard is going to give a short welcome. She’s over there with the techs sending up the microphones so it must be close to time.” Jill nodded at the dais. She took Carly’s hand and they walked to their table. Jill scanned the crowd again looking for Max, but there was still no sign of him.
They were the first to arrive at the table set for eight. Jill leaned close to Carly and quickly filled her in on the visit from Andrew and the armed associate, and about Max showing up at the right moment.
“Where the hell did Max get a gun?”
“He says he travels with one. For work.”
“Work? What does he do? I thought he was in investments.”
“He does that, but there’s something else mysterious going on.” She leaned closer. “Andrew told me a few unsettling facts, and your dad is talking to a lot of people to try and find out some answers. Until then . . .”
“Shhh, there he is.” Carly put a huge smile on her face, but she squeezed Jill’s hand as if she was commiserating. “Max! God, I love a man who knows how to dress. Where did you get that suit? Rome?”
“Good guess. Milan.” Max’s green eyes flashed. “You look gorgeous.”
“Thanks. If my best friend wasn’t sleeping with you, I’d ask you to sit beside me.”
“Carly!” Jill frowned.
“And if I wasn’t enamored with your best friend, I’d be delighted to be your dinner companion,” Max said, his voice rough with emotion. “Where’s Hamilton?”
“He abandoned me. Nothing new there.”
“He had to leave for business?”
“Yes. Something can’t wait in Europe. More important than his wife and daughter.” Carly reached for her wineglass. “I’ll distract my lonely self by staring at you. You look like heaven.”
“Thank you.” Max inhaled. “What do you think, Jill? I don’t want to embarrass you during our duet.”
Jill did not stand up to hug him. “Hello, Max. You look fine.”
“And you look delicious. Like warm cotton candy.” He cupped her chin with his right hand, and leaned down and kissed her hard on the mouth.
The kiss left her breathless. She had been dreading seeing him after their argument last night, as well as Dave’s caution to stay clear of him. But her body’s reaction to Max’s kiss confirmed the one thing she had not admitted to herself until now.
I’m falling in love with him all over again. And despite the questions, I trust him.
“May I sit beside you?” Max asked.
She nodded. “Yes.”
He sat and pulled a note card out of his suit pocket. “I brought my music.”
“What music?”
“‘Kiss Me Twice.’ I copied down the lyrics.” His eyes crinkled as if he were coaxing her to smile. “You didn’t forget?”
“Actually, I did. I should have practiced.” She touched her throat. “I’m going to sound like Kermit the frog.”
“You’ll sound great. But you do remember I can’t sing, right? But I will at least know the words.”
“It’s good of you to do this for Dr. Millard.”
“I’m doing this for you. I hope you know that.” He leaned forward. “I should have trusted you more. I hope you’ll give me another chance to explain some things.”
“Max, I . . .” Tears filled her eyes.
He put two fingers on her lips. “Not now. Later. We’ve got time, Jill. I’m not going to let you get away again.”.”
She blinked and then kissed his cheek as relief flooded through her. Max put his arm around her and squeezed her tight.
The lights dimmed and they all faced the stage where Professor Millard stood at the podium. With a sigh, she relaxed against Max’s hard body.
All we have to do is get through this party
, she thought.
What did Millard advise me to do? Take a leap of faith?
Next to her Carly drained her glass and reached for the bottle in the middle of the table. Suddenly Andrew appeared and slipped into the empty seat across from Jill.
“Hello all,” he said.
“You’re not sitting here.” Carly banged the bottle of wine down. “Go.” She pointed.
“Since your husband has taken a powder, this seat is empty and I’m filling it. I like the view from here.” He turned and stared at Jill.
Jill tensed.
“Let’s all be quiet now. The show’s about to start,” Max said. His stern tone seemed to knock Andrew off-balance.
Her ex-husband turned toward the stage and folded his arms over his chest.
“It’s okay,” Max whispered to Jill. “Keep your cool.”
Jill watched Carly, who picked up her glass and took a long drink.
“Welcome St. John Vianney class of 2001 Reunion Celebration,” Professor Millard said into the microphone.
Applause swelled around her, and Jill squeezed her hands into fists.
Chapter 18
In the dark, Jill and a hundred other people watched the flickering images on the screen mounted above them in the hotel ballroom.
Professor Millard narrated as scenes of sporting events and talent shows flashed by. Then taped events, the talent shows and graduation speeches, filled the air around them. There were spontaneous rounds of applause for Eddie Fitzhugh’s winning touchdown, wolf whistles for the cheerleaders, including an almost unrecognizable Marissa Pierce, and catcalls and laughter as the final segment, a ten-minute clip of two of the talent shows the class participated in.
There was a brief few seconds of her and Max, both of them to her eyes remarkably young looking, and then three different thirty-second outtakes of other groups of students singing. Andrew was in one group, which surprised her. Jill had forgotten he liked to sing in college. He was actually somewhat endearing in the clip where he and two other guys did a take-off on the Letterman trio.
The lighthearted acts were followed by a long passage of Hamilton Stewart at the keyboard, masterfully playing the Bach piece he won the California college championship with.
Jill stared at Carly. Her friend’s eyes were glassy as she stared rapt at Hamilton’s handsome profile on the screen.
She is missing him terribly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Andrew turn and she moved involuntarily closer to Max.
Andrew took a handful of nuts from the bowl on the table and turned back to watch.
With a start, Jill contemplated the fact that Andrew was eating nuts. Peanuts and cashews were mixed together in the bowls of appetizers sitting on the table.
And he had eaten peanut butter cookies at her house.
But he was deathly allergic. Were peanut allergies something people got over?
Jill suddenly found it hard to pay attention as her brain started linking all kinds of snippets of information.
Ben Pierce had said there was something ‘off’ about his college friend, and he needed to talk to him more before he gave his boss a name.
Was the off thing the fact that the Ben had realized his classmate was not who he said he was? Could the person who killed Ben have been impersonating someone from college?
Someone like Andrew Denton?
Was the man sitting six feet away from her the same man she had once been married to, or was he someone else?
Jill stared at Andrew’s left temple. She saw the scar from the bullet, but she would swear there was something different about the man. Andrew’s ears seemed more pointed than the college junior she had watched on screen. And his chin weaker. Jill leaned forward, squinting in the shadowy light as the recording of Hamilton’s piano piece came to an end.
Jill had the urge to grab Max and tell him what she was thinking, but she was afraid she might tip Andrew off that something was up.
I need to talk to Dave Hart.
As bizarre as it would be to say, she was terrified suddenly that the man calling himself Andrew Denton was not really Andrew. And if that was true, she was sitting six feet away from a murderer.
“Excuse me,” she whispered to Max. “I need to run to the ladies.”
“You okay?” His eyes narrowed.
“Yes. I’ll be right back.” Jill made her way out of the ballroom and rushed down the hallway to the ladies. She sat on the sofa in the lounge area, which was blessedly empty, and pulled out her phone and dialed Dave.
“Hi, Jill,” Carly’s father said. “What’s up?”
“Dave, I have to tell you something.” Quickly Jill rushed through the peanut allergy facts about Andrew, and about her observation that he didn’t seem to have an allergy now. “I got to thinking about what Ben Pierce told his supervisor, that there was something off about his friend, and I thought, what if the man Ben met with was an imposter, who was posing as someone else? I mean, what if Andrew isn’t Andrew? Maybe Ben was on to him, and Andrew, or whoever he is, knew it and killed Ben. And he’s now trying to frame Max.” She was horrified at her own words, but knew her reasoning was sound.
“You have the instincts of a detective,” Dave replied. “I heard from my FBI contact that ATF is investigating the same angle. They floated the idea that someone had stolen one of your classmates’ identity, and that Ben may have stumbled onto that fact when he ran into the guy in Paris.”
“Oh my god. You need to tell them about Andrew, and the allergy stuff!”
“Slow down, Jill.” Dave took a deep breath. “After our lunch today I had Andrew’s fingerprints from the business card run, to see if I got any hits on unsolved crimes.”
“And?” Jill felt as if she could not breathe.
“I didn’t. But more importantly, the print on his card matches his arrest record from ten years ago. Andrew Denton is the same Andrew Denton you went to school with and married, at least as far as his fingerprints go.”
The air seemed to go out of the room.
“Oh crap, do I feel dumb now. I was so sure these were very important discrepancies.” Jill slumped in the chair.
“They were. I can’t explain about the allergy, but it’s a good thing you called. There’s some tough developments involving Max.”
Before Dave could finish, Jill got a signal in her ear that a call was waiting. She checked the phone as the number calling flashed. It was Friend’s House.
“What’s wrong, Dave? Tell me, I have to take another call in a second.”
“The feds are going to bring Max in for questioning. Evidently Andrew was on the level about what he had heard. The government wants to interview Max about what he was doing in France when Ben Pierce was killed. And also about his work for the Swedish Intelligence services.”
“What?” she gasped. “Max is a spy?”
“I don’t know what he is. He works with some kind of special operations unit called the
Nationella Insatsstyrkan
. It’s an elite police force. My guys think that’s why he came to California, to track down someone they’re interested in.”
Not to see me.
Jill put her hand on her chest and struggled to breathe. Max had told her the first night she saw him that he had come to see her, to find his past, to explain.
If that was all a lie, what else had he lied to her about? “I, I don’t know what to say, Dave. But please hold on a minute, I have to take another call.” Jill clicked over. “Hello?”
“Miss Farrell?” It was the director at her mother’s nursing home.
“Yes. What’s going on, Karen?”
“You need to come right away, Miss Farrell. Your mother is missing from her room again, and . . .”
“What? I’ll be right there.” Jill clicked over to Dave’s call. “Dave, I have to go. My mom has wandered off from the nursing home. I need to go right now.”
“Okay, go, but call me when you get there. I’ll come if you need me.”
“Thanks, I will.” Jill stuffed her phone in her bag and ran from the ladies room, nearly barreling into Carly.
“Oh my god, Jill. You won’t believe what just happened.” Her friend was white faced.
“Carly, I have to go. My mother’s gone missing again at the nursing home again. I don’t understand this, the place is locked, but somehow she’s nowhere to be found.”
“What? Oh no.” She grabbed Jill’s arm. “Do you want me to go get Max?”
“No,” Jill’s eyes filled with tears. “No, your dad just told me some things that are kind of scary about him. I need to think things through some more.”
“What? Tell me!”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have time now. We’ll talk tonight, okay? I’ll just go in a get my wrap and . . .”
“Wait. You can’t go back in there right now.” Carly pulled Jill into an alcove, checking around them quickly for other people in the area.
“Why not?” Jill stared at her best friend. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Professor Millard stopped the program, and the police are here.” Her friend was white-faced. “Marissa Pierce was found dead a few hours ago. The cops want to talk to everyone. If you go back inside now, you’ll never get out of here.”
Jill covered her mouth with her hand. “What? How? What happened to her?”
“I don’t know. Everyone is so shocked.”
“Jesus!” Jill hugged her. “I wish Hamilton was here. Why don’t you come with me, okay? I don’t want you to stay here either.”
“No, I’ll stay and try and find out more details. If you need to leave, go now.” She hugged Jill.
“Don’t tell Max anything,” Jill said.
“I won’t. Now look, you better take a cab. I’m sure the cops have clamped down on the valet area.”
Jill looked past Carly toward the front door. She saw flashing lights and a crowd gathering. “I’ll go out the kitchen entrance.” She pointed down the hallway. “I can grab a cab to Friend’s House from across the street.”
The women hugged again and Jill sprinted away. Her mind was numb with shock about Max, about Marissa, but fear for her mother kept her moving.
The taxi dropped Jill at the entrance of Friend’s House, where police cars, two ambulances and an emergency rescue vehicle filled the small front parking lot. Several police officers stood off to the side, staring at a map someone had unfolded on the grass.
“Jill!” Karen called from the front door as Jill sprinted, despite her high heels, down the walkway.
“Have you found her?” Jill asked.
“Not yet. But I’m sure we will any minute.” The facility director’s face showed the strain of having one of her charges missing. “I’m so sorry.”
“I want to help in the search,” Jill said.
Karen’s eyes widened as she took in Jill’s elegant clothes and shoes. “Of course. Come to your mother’s room and you can change. I have some tennis shoes I can loan you. And some jeans and a shirt.”
“Thanks.” Jill was shaking with nerves as the women rushed down the hallway to Dorothy’s room. “I can’t believe how many police are here. How long has she been missing?”
“About an hour. I’ll introduce you to the officer in charge, Sergeant Martin. She’s out on the back patio. Once I explained the circumstances, they showed up in force.”
“What circumstances?” Jill asked. “An elderly dementia patient wandering around in the dark is urgent, but it looks like a swat event outside.” She stopped at the opened door to her mother’s room and gasped.
Karen grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to explain everything. It appears your mom’s room has been ransacked, and the back window screen was slit open. The police think there’s a possibility Dorothy was kidnapped.”
“What?” Jill’s glance moved fearfully around the room. All the dresser drawers were pulled out onto the floor, and all her mother’s things were scattered. There were reddish-brown smears on the window sash. “Is that blood?” she nearly screamed.
“We don’t know. Don’t touch anything, the police have called for evidence technicians who should be here any minute, but wait here and I’ll go get you things to change into.” Karen hurried out of the room.
Jill stood immobilized with fear for several moments. Slowly she walked to the window. Outside, floodlights were set up on the grass, and the birdbath threw a grotesque shadow against the wall. “Oh please, where are you?” she murmured.
“Jill, what’s happened?”
She whirled around at the sound of Max’s voice. “What are you doing here?”
He took a step, his expression wary. “I heard about your mother. Have they found her?”
“No. She glanced at the door. “I need to go help in the search.”
“I’ll help too.”
“No!” She glared at him.
“What’s wrong, Jill? Why are you angry at me?”
“Dave Hart told me that you are working for the Swedish government. That you’re here in California because of a case you’re working on. Not because you wanted to see me.”
He drew back, his arms stiffened at his sides. “I have no comment about that, except to say that’s not completely true. Seeing you was the reason I came here.”
She held up her shaking hand. “Stop. I don’t want to hear any more lies, Max. And who told you about my mother?”
He pursed his lips together.
“How did you even get out of the ballroom at the reunion? Carly told me there were police everywhere, because of Marissa Pierce.” She took a step toward him, anger building with every breath.
“I went to make a call when you went to the ladies room, and I heard Professor Millard’s announcement through the door.” He looked at her intently. “And I saw you running across the street to the cab stand, so I caught another one and followed you here.” He looked around the room. “I was worried about you, and then when I saw all the police in the parking lot . . . Did your mother do this?”
“No. The director said she might have been kidnapped.” Jill’s voice broke and she covered her mouth with her trembling hand. “Who would do that, Max? And why?”
He looked like he wanted to come closer, but he stayed where he was. “Don’t jump to conclusions. I can’t believe she’s been kidnapped.”
“But look at the window screen. And that smear on the ledge. Is it blood?” Jill clutched her arms to her chest. “My house was broken into. My mother’s things in my garage were ransacked. And now this!” Jill pointed at the shambles around her. “What the hell is going on?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” a deep voice said.
Jill and Max turned in unison. Three police officers, accompanied by a terrified looking Karen, filled the doorway.
“Are you Max Kallstrom?” one of the officers asked.
“Yes.” Max stepped forward, as if to shield Jill from them.
“I have a warrant for your arrest.” The burly, balding cop who looked to be in charge, motioned to Jill with his hand. “I’m supervisor Glass. Please step away from Mr. Kallstrom, ma’am.”
Jill could not move. “What are you arresting him for?”
“It’s okay, Jill. Do as the police officer asked,” Max said. “Why don’t you go outside and see what progress the officers are making? Call to your mom, like you said. I’ll be out to help you soon.”
The two cops flanking the burly sergeant walked toward Max. “I need to pat you down, sir,” the olive-skinned woman said.