Chapter Thirty

 

The quiet unlatching of the bedroom door broke my concentration. I abandoned trying to sleep and watched through barely opened eyes as the door eased open and light from the hallway spoiled the darkness. Paul closed the door with care and paused when it was shut -- probably getting his bearings. Then he padded to the bathroom. The door clicked shut, then light leaked from around the edges. After the usual bathroom noises of running water, flushing, and rattling around, the light went out and the door opened. Except for bumping into his suitcase, he came quietly to bed and eased between the sheets. He shifted around a bit more than necessary and cleared his throat.

"I found some of the invoices," he said, his voice barely above a whisper

Since my back was to him, I could look at the clock without him noticing. One thirty-two. I played possum-ish.

"They were in that buffet thing behind the desk."

He knew I was faking. "Credenza. I was going to look there next."

After a pause he continued. "I'm not sure all of them are there, but there's quite a stack."

I didn't comment.

"We've got complications I hadn't counted on."

He let the tidbit hang. He knew I wouldn't be able to stand the suspense. "Which are?"

"Julius' signature is on most of it."

"So?"

"So he received stolen property."

"But Sig bought it."

"With Julius acting as his agent. This is a potential career killer -- all because Dan suckered him in. I don't like the guy, but I don't wish this on him."

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

"There's more."

"More?" I rolled over to face him.

"Yeah." He turned toward me, propping himself up on an elbow. "The new fossils in the crate -- I've been looking at them closely. I'm almost positive they're fake."

"Fake?"

"Haven't been able to turn up the invoices yet, but if Julius' signature is on them he won't be able to get a job teaching high school science when Andrea gets the valuation done and all this gets out."

"Oh, dear."

"Not quite my thoughts."

"There's got to be something we can do. Dan can't be allowed to take him down, too. Crap. I feel so bad for him."

In the brief silence that followed I attempted to find a scenario that might be orchestrated to spare Julius. "I wonder if Dave can be persuaded to keep all this quiet."

"You can't ask him to put his career on the line, too. Speaking of Dave, did you hear back?"

"Yes. He wants me to go through the rest of the files first thing in the morning and let him know what I find."

"Looks like he's going to have his hands full from both of us tomorrow."

I nodded agreement. He shifted, lying on his back. After a few moments I felt him take a deep breath. The slow exhale was audible.

"Jan," he said, at long last. I pressed my lips together, not wanting to accidentally derail his decision to talk. After another breath he continued. "Her name is Jan and she still lives in Minneapolis. We'd been together off and on before I dropped out of high school. Despite the fact that our fathers were in the same medical practice, her parents didn't approve of her seeing me, so of course we snuck around. Then I joined the Army, and when I came home after Basic -- before shipping out -- it was to see her. We got a little carried away, didn't use the usual protection and she got scared she was pregnant. We arranged to get married before I left. Then she found out she wasn't pregnant, and six months after that she met someone else. She asked me for a divorce. I didn't object. I cared for her, but the honest truth was I was relieved not to be married any longer. That's all there is to tell."

"That's what you were afraid to tell me? Did you honestly think I'd care if you'd been married?" For a smart man, he could be a colossal idiot.

"No. But I'd neglected to tell you for so long, forgotten to tell you, that once we started having problems I figured it'd just be one more reason for you to pull away."

"What do you mean, 'once we started having problems,' and 'one more reason for me to pull away'? I didn't 'pull away,' you did."

"You did. Once I moved in it became obvious to me you weren't ready."

I rolled onto my back, stared at the ceiling, and counted to ten. Then twenty. "Paul … can we talk about this later? Maybe after we've taken care of what we need to do here." There. I was being reasonable and calm. "I just --" my words rang with an impatient tenor. I finished the exhale, and started over. "Thank you for telling me about your marriage."

He settled onto his back. "No problem."

Right. It'd been a big problem. For him. And I needed to do some damage control. "For the record, I'm just used to my stuff and the house is kind of small."

The bed jiggled again, and the blankets shifted. Paul's fingers found mine and wrapped around them. "I love you," he said.

I scooted closer and wrapped a leg over his. "I love you, too." Then I found his lips with mine.