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Seeing that the threat was just a stuffed teddy bear, Karen relaxed and seemed a little calmer as she ventured forward.
“Oh, how adorable,” she said, her face softening and forming a smile as she looked at the gift.
“Did you see who left this?” Marlowe repeated, this time more sharply.
Karen shook her head, looking somewhat nervous again. “No, Ms. Colton. Whoever left it must have come in before I did.”
Marlowe looked at the teddy bear as if it was the enemy. “So it was already in my office before you got in? What time did you come in?” she asked, her uneasiness growing.
It was obvious that it took Karen a minute to think. “I was here by seven,” she remembered. “I had some paperwork to catch up on. Whoever left this for you had to have done it before seven. Is something wrong, Ms. Colton?” she asked.
Marlowe didn’t answer the assistant directly. Instead, she instructed the woman in an urgent voice, “Call Security and tell them to come in here, Karen.”
Karen blinked, her eyes widening as she looked at her boss. “Security, ma’am?”
“Yes,” Marlowe answered, keeping her eyes on the teddy bear. “I want them to examine footage to see who dropped this off and check this thing out completely, just in case it’s wired for explosives.”
Chapter 11
She had to concentrate to keep her hands from shaking as she stared at the note she had taken out of the package. Congratulations on your baby. Wish it was mine.
All sorts of half-formed thoughts were ricocheting around in her head.
Who had sent this?
Why?
Did she have some creepy stalker tracking her after all?
Had someone followed her into the drugstore and watched her buy the pregnancy test? And even if that was true, how could this stalker have possibly known the results of that test?
Or was he just guessing? After all, there was a fifty-fifty chance of being right. But to what end? And why?
She was back to her first question: Who was doing this to her?
Marlowe could feel herself becoming nauseated again. She closed her eyes and willed her stomach to settle down. Willed it to cease its bitter-tasting rise up into her throat and mouth. She pulled her fingers into tight fists. This wasn’t the time to let her body dictate to her.
She needed to think, to do something, not just be a sitting duck.
Marlowe drew in a deep breath and then let it out slowly, then did it over again.
Security had come in and taken possession of the possibly lethal teddy bear a few minutes ago, so at least she didn’t have to worry about the damn thing exploding and harming anyone. That was something, she thought, silently consoling herself.
Marlowe took out her phone. Her hands were still shaking.
She started texting Bowie, wanting to tell him about this newest development in what was quickly becoming a very complicated saga. Before she had gotten to the third word, the company phone on her desk rang, making her jump.
She really needed to get a grip on herself, Marlowe thought.
Blowing out a tense breath, she yanked up the receiver and all but barked, “Hello?”
“Marlowe?” It was Ace’s voice on the other end of the line. He sounded as tense as she felt, she thought. “Good,” her brother was saying. “You are back, then. I need you to come into the boardroom right now. Ainsley just got the DNA test results back. She wants to tell us the results all at the same time. The rest of the board is already here.”
Of course they were, Marlowe thought impatiently. This was getting to be the story of her life. The last one in.
“Did she tell you what the result of the test was?”
She heard her brother laugh, but there was no humor in the sound. “You know Ainsley. If the result is supposed to be a secret until everyone is gathered together to hear it, then she intends to keep it a secret—even from herself—until then,” Ace told her. “She hasn’t even opened the envelope herself. So hurry up and get here. This suspense is killing me.”
