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“Aren’t you going to eat that?” She waved at my plate.
“I’m all nerves.”
“We don’t want it to go to waste, do we?” She switched trays with me and dug into my meal with an unabashed appetite. I wondered what she was really hungry for.
After our trays were cleared away, and we were sipping cognac, she took out her phone. “Can I get a selfie with you?”
Her question left me lost for words. For about half a second.
“Are you fucking crazy?” I asked in the sweetest tone possible, grateful when she laughed at my indignant response. “In case you didn’t notice, Simon banned all but his own photographer at the party. Don’t you remember checking your phone at the door? He’s fanatical aboutnothaving our pictures on social media sites. What do you think he would say if pictures of me, cuddled up to you on the plane, popped up?”
“Daddy might have to spank, eh?” She nailed me with her eyes and a small smile played on her lips. “I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”
Her bulls-eye guess sent heat burning up my neck and cheeks. I willed my racing heart to slow down.
“Got you, didn’t I?” Ronnie laughed, staring at me hard.
“Got me how? The fact that I get embarrassed when people talk such nonsense? Honestly, I think you might be more interested in that subject than I am.” Somehow, I managed to stifle a nervous quaver in my voice. “The fact is, I don’t even have my own picture on my Facebook profile any longer.”
“I noticed that. It’s a picture of your horse now, isn’t it? Didn’t Simon just give you that pony? It took you two seconds to change your profile photo?”
She had noticed it. Interesting. The change had happened barely twenty-four hours ago and probably most of my friends hadn’t seen it. Ronnie was stalking me.
“That’s right. Simon took a picture of her and suggested I use it as my profile shot. The man is happy to be rich, but he doesn’t like the idea of being famous.”
“Too bad for him that those things seem to come together.” Ronnie slipped her phone back into her purse and I breathed a little easier.
We talked a little longer until my mind began to drift from lack of sleep, too much alcohol, and too little food. I took my toiletries and went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before going to sleep. When I returned to my seat, Ronnie was sitting up, watching a movie. I wondered if I should try to stay up to make sure she didn’t take a picture, or worse yet a video of me sleeping, mouth open and snoring lightly. Simon might think my snoring was charming. I was pretty sure the rest of the world would see it more as comedy than romance.
Simon
All the way back to the car, I clenched and unclenched my fists. Ronnie Flynn would be glued to Sadie’s side the whole way to Montreal. Ronnie knew what flight Sadie was on and that was a major breach of information. Layla’s first job in the morning would be to find out how and where Ronnie got that information.
The redeye to Montreal was five hours. Maybe they would sleep. I shook my head, knowing Ronnie wouldn’t, not if there was hope of prying a secret or two out of Sadie.
Sharks never sleep. A bloodthirsty creature like Ronnie kept swimming her entire life so that water, or in her case gossip, moved constantly over her gills. Like all sharks, she probably just slowed her brain activity for brief periods to rest.
I was sure her brain would be fully engaged whenever Sadie was near.
Things had just become more difficult. Earlier that day all I’d been concerned about was Cynthia undermining Sadie’s confidence in the marriage. To a lesser extent I was annoyed by the confidentiality breach at Madame Sainte Clare’s, but that was schoolyard bullshit. Cynthia was a bigger worry, a much more powerful influence. I’m not an overly warm person and before she arrived, I’d hoped she’d wait to pass judgement on me. Her chilly manner hadn’t cooled in the two weeks of her visit and I expected that once Sadie was home again, Cynthia would be filling her head with doubts.
Now there was another hazard. Ronnie was known to wheedle secrets from the most tight-lipped members of society. Sadie would be putty in her hands if Ronnie pulled out all stops.
Well, my love, this is the start of the real test of whether you’re ready to walk my road. How do you cope under enemy fire?
I sat in the car in valet parking and sent an email to Layla. Her top priority was to have a limousine meet Sadie at the airport. The driver was to be told on no uncertain terms that only Ms. Donohue was to travel in the car.
Then, first thing tomorrow morning, I wanted Layla to identify everyone who had access to details of Sadie’s travel itinerary. When she found out who leaked the specifics of Sadie’s flight, I wanted to fire them personally.
I sent the message and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for a response. It was almost one in the morning, but I didn’t care. I wanted answers.
Within a minute Layla answered.Are you the undead? Go home and go to bed. Of course, I’ve arranged a car for Sadie. I’ll send Wayne the additional details now.
I smiled at that last remark. Years ago, I met Wayne, the owner of the limousine company, the very day that he had discovered he’d lost his life savings. He drove me to the airport with an occasional tear escaping down his face. All he would admit, at first, was that he’d just given his employees two weeks’ notice. When I prodded, Wayne said that he would have to sell his small fleet of luxury cars in order to meet all his payroll and tax obligations. I told Wayne to leave the limo at valet parking, charged to my personal account.
Then I took him to a private meeting room and calmed him with a cup of milky, sweet tea and learned the rest of the story. Wayne had poured all his savings and the cash from his business into a Ponzi scheme. When he tried to get it out, the person he’d given it to had disappeared. The office was abandoned, and services had been cut.
I sympathized with the man’s naivety and misfortune and, acting on a fierce hatred for people who victimize the unsuspecting, I stepped in as Wayne’s silent partner. I bankrolled his liabilities and added more capital to expand the fleet. Then I put one of my own investigators on the case and turned all the evidence over to the police.
