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“Yes, please.”
The woman set a piece of carrot cake in front of her.
Her boss compared his piece of carrot cake to hers and frowned. “How come my piece is half the size of Elizabeth’s?”
Joan flashed a sympathetic smile at her husband. “Oh, poor John, I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that Elizabeth’s cholesterol isn’t over 200. You’re lucky I’m letting you have a piece of cake at all, Mister.”
As Mr. Kent polished off his infant-sized piece of cake, his demeanor changed. He fidgeted with his fork.
Elizabeth bounced her gaze between him and his wife who was looking intently at her with that ‘motherly love’ look. It was the same expression she’d seen Angelina use with her kids.
Mr. Kent exchanged a glance with his wife and then his attention focused back onto her. “Do you ever wonder what happened to your predecessor, Maddie Moretti?”
She was a bit puzzled by the question. “No. Not really. I thought she left because of some big job she got out in California.”
“In a way, that is kind of what happened,” he replied.
“What do you mean, kind of?”
He cleared his throat and pressed on. “Maddie was very much like you—a young, intelligent woman full of determination. She was on the fast track like you are. Like you, she too started in the New York office and then was transferred here. While here, she and my oldest daughter, Sarah, became good friends, which is how I know what happened. In a way, you were right, Maddie did choose to leave the company, taking a job in California, but she was kind of prompted to leave by Mr. James. Basically, he got her the job in California and paid her a large sum of money to keep her mouth shut.”
Elizabeth attempted to process what he was trying to tell her. Her heart picked up pace.
“Oh my God! Patrick...he did this to Maddie, too?”
Joan reached across the table and placed her hand on hers to get her attention. Compassion filled her eyes. “No dear, it wasn’t Patrick. It was Mr. James.”
Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s face. She was sure she’d heard Joan incorrectly. She turned her attention to Mr. Kent who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but where he was.
“What does she mean, not Patrick, but Mr. James?”
“Elizabeth, Maddie confided in Sarah that Mr. James had taken advantage of her...sexually...and she couldn’t bear to be reminded of it every day at work.”
Elizabeth swallowed hard. “What exactly happened?” she asked, feeling a compelling need to know.
Mr. Kent exchanged a nervous glance with his wife.
Joan squeezed her hand and fixed her kind-hearted gaze on her. “After Maddie was transferred here, she was required to make a trip back to the New York office. While she was there she joined Mr. James and Patrick for dinner at Mr. James’ downtown suite. Mr. James received a business call and had to leave, but asked Maddie to stay with his nephew at the suite until he returned so they could finish whatever it was they were working on. The next thing Maddie remembered was waking up in her hotel room. She didn’t know how she got there, and when she finally cleared her head, she realized that...well, that she had been sexually assaulted. She immediately assumed Patrick was the guilty party, but wasn’t one hundred percent sure, so she called on her brothers to lend a hand. That day, Jimmy and Tommy Moretti paid Patrick a little visit, and it didn’t take long for the Italian duo to beat the truth out of him. He told Maddie’s brothers that it was, in fact, his uncle who had taken advantage of Maddie.”
Elizabeth gasped. “No, there’s no way that it was Mr. James. He’s so...Patrick is such a liar,” she shrieked as she buried her face into her hands.
Joan continued, “I know you think the world of Mr. James and probably don’t want to hear the rest of this, but you must. He’s not the man you think he is. Patrick proceeded to tell Jimmy and Tommy about how this is a little game his uncle likes to play. The routine is that Mr. James sets up the meeting with himself, Patrick, and the victim. Then Mr. James disappears for one reason or another, and while he’s gone, it’s Patrick’s job to incapacitate the victim in some way. In Maddie’s case, it sounds as though he slipped a little something into her drink, which made her oblivious to what was going on. Then Mr. James returns to the scene to take advantage of the victim. When he’s done, it’s Patrick’s job to clean up the mess.”
Elizabeth sat at the dining room table trying desperately to remember the events that took place in New York. She remembered how Patrick convinced her to return to Mr. James’ suite with him. He poured three glasses of champagne. She thought nothing of drinking the champagne because she hadn’t drunk any alcohol earlier that night. She recalled him hitting on her and holding her tightly to the wall with his hand around her neck. The next thing she remembered was waking up in her own hotel room, and finding the gold cufflink engraved with the initials PNJ, “Patrick Neil James,” which had been wrapped inside the panties and nylons she wore that night.
She glanced up at Mr. Kent. “Do you know Mr. James’ middle name?”
He nodded. “Nixon. Palmer Nixon James.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. Her whole body shook. She couldn’t control herself. Joan edged close to her side and held her, trying to soothe her.
Finally, between gasps for air Elizabeth muttered, “It was Mr. James, wasn’t it?” She couldn’t believe it. All this time she was blaming Patrick and thought the world of Mr. James, and he was the one, the one who was such a perverted pig.
“But why? Why would he do such a thing to me, to Maddie?”
Her boss shook his head. “I don’t know. But what’s confusing me even more is that he is so adamant that you return to New York. I would think he would want distance between you and him in the event that you would figure it out. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Elizabeth wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve. “I know why he wants me back in New York.”
