AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Max had written an article on Senator Crowley a few weeks back, but the piece read more like a campaign advertisement than a piece of cutting-edge journalism. It was little more than a reminder that James Thaddeus Crowley was working hard in Washington, D.C., for the people in Washington state. For jobs. For the economy. For the environment. For everyone. Nikki’s stomach roiled. Something stunk to the very gates of heaven. She was sure of it, and in a flash of memory she recalled that she had planned an exposé of Crowley, there was something…some scandal he had covered up. What was it? She worried her lip between her teeth and tried to concentrate, but other than her image of the cold man with the cane in the photography shop in Salvaje, she remembered nothing. Trent had said something about bribery. Think, Nikki, think!
Nothing came. Not one measly thought.
“Terrific,” she growled in disgust and let out a perturbed sigh. Disgusted with her lack of memory, she rifled through the new stories she’d been given: an update on new bike paths near Lake Washington, an in-depth article on the new director of the symphony, a story on the import/export business in Seattle, with a note that she could use her own father as one of her sources as he owned one of the largest import/export houses on the Sound.
Nothing of any substance. No investigative journalism. No dirt. Not one thing that really mattered.
No wonder she’d been after Crowley. Tapping her pencil on her desk, she squinted at her computer monitor. But what was Trent’s connection to the senator? He’d been in Salvaje, dogging Diamond Jim, just as she had. He’d been worried enough to pretend to be married to her. But worried about her safety? Or worried about what she might print about the senator? What was his ax to grind? She didn’t know, she thought, leaning back in her chair and frowning at the screen, but she damned well planned to find out!
* * *
“Not really married!” Connie’s jaw nearly dropped into her spinach salad. “But—you called. Said so.” Her face crumpled into a mask of confusion and a wounded shadow crossed her eyes as she stared at Nikki.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know myself.” While picking at her crab Louie, Nikki confided in Connie, leaving out nothing save the very painful fact that she was falling in love with the very man who had started this phony charade in the first place. She even told her friend about her amnesia and the fact that she could remember little.
“You’re kidding!” Connie whispered in the crowded restaurant. She glanced over her shoulder as if she expected to find, in the company of reporters, stockbrokers, secretaries and junior executives, a gun-toting mob hit man sitting in a caned-back chair, huddled over a plate of fettuccine, his gun and silencer visible when his jacket slid open as he reached for the garlic bread.
“Look, it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad, are you out of your ever lovin’ mind?” Connie hissed.
Nikki pronged a slice of egg with her fork.
“You fall or are shoved off a cliff, barely escape with your life, can’t remember a damned thing, and your rescuer, nearly a total stranger who just happens to be on an island few people have ever heard of, claims you’re married to him. Later, after you tell your family and friends that you’re married, he admits it was all a lie. And why? To keep you safe? I think I’d take my chances with a barracuda.”
“But you know him,” Nikki said, feeling the unlikely urge to defend Trent. Rolling an olive over a bed of lettuce, she tried to explain. “Look, I know it sounds bad—”
“Bad isn’t strong enough. Fantastic is more like it. Unbelievable is damned close, or downright deceitful is even better yet. God, the nerve of the guy. And, for the record, I don’t know him. Yes, I met him when I had that auto claim. Someone stole my BMW, remember? The one my folks gave me when I graduated from college.” She munched on some lettuce. “Did I tell you it was stolen by a guy who was involved with a ring of car thieves? Trent, working for my insurance company, exposed the entire operation.”
“So he’s not all bad.”
“Few people are. And he’s definitely not hard on the eyes. But I don’t trust a liar, Nikki, and neither should you. This guy lied to you. In a major way. If you ask me he should be strung up by his…well, his hamstrings or worse!” She tore off a piece of bread and leaned across the table. “So tell me, when you thought you were married to him—”
Here it comes! Nikki picked up her water glass and swallowed against a dry throat.
“What did you do… Well, you were supposed to be on your honeymoon. How’d you handle all that?”
Nikki nearly choked, but this time the lie—the half truth, really—rolled easily off her tongue. “I was hurt. My face, my ankle, my whole body. Trent acted as if my injuries were reason enough not to get too involved. Besides, you should have seen me. I wish I had pictures. My face was so ugly, no man would be interested.”
Connie lifted a skeptical brow, but didn’t argue, and Nikki felt like a heel. Why couldn’t she explain everything? Because the truth of the matter was she’d fallen for the louse.
“That’s why I can’t accept the wedding gift,” she added as she pushed her half-eaten salad aside. “It’s beautiful, but I’m not married.”
Connie managed a smile. “Keep it,” she said. “It was worth hearing all about this.”
“I can’t.”
“Consider it an early birthday present.”
“My birthday’s in May.”
“A late one, then.”
They argued, and finally Nikki gave in, agreeing to buy lunch in partial trade, just to keep Connie happy.
“Now, about that missing memory of yours. Maybe I can fill in a few blanks,” Connie said. “You were really unhappy before you left and you were on this…vendetta, I guess you’d call it, against Senator Crowley. You wanted to do an exposé on the man, and Frank refused to let you. Even when Peggy went to bat for you, he insisted that Max or John be given the story, and we all know that Max thinks Diamond Jim can walk on water. When Peggy insisted that you be given a fair chance, Frank put his foot down. The quote went something like, ‘Men just have a clearer insight into matters political.’ You know, something pompous and asinine and way off base. It goes without saying that it caused your blood to boil.” Connie cast Nikki a sly smile. “I think you were working on the story, anyway. You must’ve been if you found Crowley in Salvaje. What the devil was he doing down there?”
“I wish I knew,” Nikki said as the waiter slipped their bill onto the table. She picked up the receipt, determined to find out everything she could about Senator James Crowley, as well as Trent McKenzie.
