Syd certainly deserved better than that. And they were in the middle of a crucial murder case and he didn’t want personal business to jeopardize the Lady in Red investigation.
So it would be prudent to wait. At least a few days.
Ryan dried himself off and stepped into the bedroom. Anne had put on a black nightgown. She’d also retouched her make-up. Ryan’s heart did a little flip when he saw her. She just looked so… beautiful.
“I better go,” he said slipping into his boxer shorts. “I need to touch base with Syd before the presentation tomorrow.”
“Speaking of Syd,” Anne said. “What’re you going to tell her?”
Ryan stepped into his pants. “That I care deeply about her, but I’ve realized I’m still in love with you and that you and I have reconciled.”
“Reconciled,” she said, pronouncing the word slowly as if tasting it. “Not a very pretty word for such a wonderful thing. It sounds so legal.”
“I thought you loved legalese.”
She got up, moved to him. “I speak legalese, I love you.” She put her arms around him and gave him a quick kiss. “Stay with me tonight. I want you to be the first thing I see when I wake up tomorrow.”
Ryan was tempted, but shook his head. “I just can’t, I’m sorry.” He picked up his shirt, put it on.
Anne reached out, started buttoning his buttons. “Are you going to tell Syd about tonight?”
“No, I thought I’d wait a few days, at least until we’ve wrapped up the Lady in Red
investigation.”
“A couple of days? What’re we supposed to do until then, pretend there’s nothing going on between us?”
She’d finished with the buttons. Ryan tucked in his shirt. “If you don’t mind. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be pretty ugly and I don’t want anything jeopardizing the case right now.” He picked up his jacket. The cell phone tumbled out and hit the floor.
Anne’s eyes locked on it. Would he notice she turned it off?
Ryan picked up the phone and stuck it in his pocket without even looking at it. “Syd’s a good kid and this is going to kill her. I just want to make sure I handle it the best way possible.”
“You’re sweet. Have I told you that?”
“Not in seven years.”
“You’re my sweet boy.” She kissed him again, deeper this time.
“You taste so good,” Ryan said. “I love you, Beautiful.”
“Me too, you, Handsome.”
Ryan crossed to the door, opened it.
“You know, it’s kind of funny,” Anne said. “You’ve now got two women in your life you have to pretend with. You’re hiding your relationship with Syd from the police department and you’re hiding your relationship with me from Syd.”
“Soon everyone will know about us. I promise.” He blew her a kiss and closed the door.
Ryan walked down the hall as happy as he could remember. There was a bounce to his step and he felt absolutely wonderful.
He pressed the button for the elevator thinking about tomorrow. So much was happening tomorrow; the lottery presentation and the Lady in Red investigation on the brink of an arrest. He was filled with confidence about both. About everything.
Ain’t love grand?
The elevator arrived and Ryan got in, pressed the button for the Lobby. It suddenly occurred to him that Syd hadn’t called. The last time he talked to her she was knee-deep collating Colin Wood and Adam Devlin’s phone books and she should have checked in by now. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and flipped it open checking for messages.
The phone was off. Ryan never turned his cell phone off. He even kept it on as he recharged it. What’s with that? Must be a technical thing, he decided. He pressed the button turning it on.
The phone beeped as it started up. His screen lit up — just the shrink-wrap Verizon logo — Ryan never downloaded a personal picture. Didn’t know how and didn’t care.
DING. The elevator door opened as he reached the lobby. He stepped out of the elevator. Sure enough, there was a missed call from Syd. And she had left a voicemail. Ryan was about to play the voicemail when he was interrupted. “Detective Magee?”
Ryan looked up to find a handsome blond man in a Brooks Brother’s suit. “Yes?”
“Could I have a minute of your time?”
There was something about the man that was vaguely familiar. And he was intense, a man on a mission.
“Sure.” Ryan put his phone in his pocket.
The man stuck out his hand. “I’m Rick Rogers, Anne’s husband. Or should I say soon to be ex-husband.”
Ryan shook the man’s hand warily. Every cop knows jilted husbands can do crazy things. “I don’t want any trouble,” Ryan said.
“Don’t worry,” Rick said. “You carry a gun, I carry a Blackberry. But there are some things about Anne I think you ought to know.” He indicated a couple of chairs in the lobby. “Shall we?”
Ryan wasn’t comfortable having any conversation with the man who stole Anne from him seven years ago, but he was curious about what Rick Rogers would have to say. They sat down.
“You were in Anne’s room a long time,” Rick said with a knowing look.
“Are you following her?”
“Let’s just call it idle curiosity.”
“I think the legal term is stalking.”
Rick sat back in his chair, smiled. “She’s good, I’ll give her that.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Did Anne tell you she was leaving the firm?”
“Yes. She said she was sick of the rat race and she’s decided it’s time for her to give something back. She’s going to run my charitable foundation.”
“Did she mention that she was given an ultimatum by my father, resign or go to jail?”
“What?”
“Look, Ryan, I feel bad about what happened to you seven years ago. I’d never met you so there was nothing personal. But now that I’m the one who’s been dumped and I’ve got a taste of what you must have gone through. And it sucks, big time.”
Rogers was rambling a bit and Ryan began to think he’d been drinking. “What does this have to do with your father’s ultimatum?”
“It’s the reason I’m telling you all this in the first place. To warn you. About Anne.”
Ryan had heard enough. “Thanks, consider me warned. Nice to meet you.” Ryan got up, started to walk away.
“Doesn’t it strike you as a little coincidental that Anne suddenly appears back in your life the day after you hit the Lotto?”
That stopped Ryan.
“Did she tell you we were broke? That we’re filing for bankruptcy?”
That turned Ryan around.
“Did she tell you that we forged my father’s signature to get a loan?”
That got Ryan back into the chair.
“Our marriage was shit, I’ll be the first to admit it,” Rick said. “But as long as Annie lived in a great house, drove a German car, wore French designer clothes and had a black AMEX card, she didn’t seem to care. But the minute we lost all our money, she started looking around.”
“Tell me about the forgery.”
“I bet wrong on the market. I lost all our money and our beach house. I went to my father on bended knee and he bought us a condo. Suddenly we were living on a budget and Anne hated it. Then I got a tip from a friend that a new stock was going to double. It was supposed to be a sure thing. A chance to get back on our feet. So Anne and I forged dad’s signature and took out a million dollar loan on the condo. The plan was to get in and out quickly, pay off the loan, and have a nice little profit left over. But the stock went down instead of up and we lost everything.”