Tina knew her mouth hung wide open after Destiny’s outrageous remark. Slamming it shut, she stared at the woman sitting across from her, trying to gauge if this was a joke or whether she’d lost her mind.
“Dead? Did you say you think Randolph is dead?”
“Bear with me, let me explain.”
“Better be good. That’s a serious accusation.”
Destiny held up both hands in front of her. “I’m not accusing anybody. Well, I have my suspicions, but nothing to base them on except my gut.”
Tina scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to wrap her mind around what had started out as a vivisection of her own life, and apparently had degenerated into a murder mystery. Was she supposed to guess whodunnit?
“Start at the beginning, so I can make heads or tails of what you’re alleging.”
Destiny reached into what seemed to be a bottomless bag and pulled out a large yellow legal pad with writing across several pages. Girlfriend had been busy, Tina mused.
“When I started digging,” Destiny shrugged, “I also looked into those closest to you. Your Aunt Maxie, Uncle Stanley, who seem like they’re good people. Your parents—”
“I get it. They aren’t Ward and June Cleaver.”
“Who?”
Tina blinked a couple of times. “Guess you didn’t watch a lot of old TV shows growing up, did you? The Cleavers were part of an old TV show. They were the perfect family, with kids who got into mischief and the parents were forgiving and willing to pass along life lessons. The antithesis of my own little nuclear family.”
“Ah, got it. Guess that’s another thing we have in common.” Destiny’s look of sympathy said without further explanation she’d had a similar home life. Which was a shame, because she seemed like a really nice woman.
“Anyway, I noticed whenever you were together with the ex’s family, you seemed to spend more time with Randolph than anybody else.”
Tina nodded. “He wasn’t half bad. Not like Liliana. She was a monster-in-law from the very beginning. If she’d had her way, Jared and I would never have married. I never measured up to her lofty expectations. I wasn’t rich enough or cultured enough. I didn’t come from a prestigious family. I wasn’t smart enough or pretty enough for her standards.” She laughed, hearing how ugly it sounded. “I was the one thing she couldn’t convince Jared to stay away from. In every other thing, he kowtowed to her every wish and whim. Honestly, I’m surprised he bucked her wishes and married me.”
“From what I saw, you probably wish he’d listened to Mommy dearest.”
“Let’s get back to Randolph.” Tina pictured the older man in her mind, seeing his salt and pepper hair, his sparkling blue eyes filled with intelligence. He’d stood a full head taller than her, his body honed from hours spent on the golf and tennis courts when he wasn’t in his high-rise office building, making deals and adding to the family’s already overflowing coffers. Yet, he’d always had a kind word or a smile for her. He’d been the one bright light in her disastrous marriage.
“I shouldn’t have said anything.” Destiny started to shove the legal pad back into her messenger bag, and Tina jumped to her feet, reaching across the table and slamming her hand down on top of it.
“No way, Destiny. You can’t drop a bombshell like that and then leave me hanging. Maybe you don’t have proof, but you found enough to make you think something’s wrong. Tell me.”
Destiny blew out a heavy sigh. “Randolph Webster hasn’t been seen in the office in weeks. His administrative assistant isn’t exactly the chatty type, but I managed to get her talking and she said Liliana Webster keeps saying he’s out of town, taking a little time off. Except he was negotiating some big takeover of another company, and his assistant said he’d never leave things hanging like this. When she pressed Liliana, she claimed he was under the weather, and his doctor didn’t want him coming into the office.”
“Randolph would never go out of town in the middle of negotiations. He’s known as a savvy shark when it comes to money matters. It’s like a game, a competition to him, where he always wants to come out on top. This doesn’t sound right.”
“That’s the impression I got about the guy. I talked to a few more people at the main office. Word of advice; never go straight to the top, they’ll never tell you anything. Always talk to the people really in the know, like admins. Catch them at the right time, chat them up like you’re their best friend, and you’ll be amazed at how much info you’ll glean.”
“Good to know. What else?” The gnawing in Tina’s gut wouldn’t quit. Of all the Websters, the only one who’d treated her with any kind of respect was Randolph. The thought that something might have happened to him seemed inconceivable.
“Nobody at their home is talking. I mean nobody. Gardener, maid, cook, nobody. Which raises a few more questions. I know, I know, that in and of itself doesn’t mean a thing. So, I did something I wouldn’t normally do. I caught a flight to California and did a little snooping. I went all old school, hitting the bricks.” Destiny grinned and it lit her face with an inner beauty that was hard to disguise.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What did you find, Sherlock?”
“Liliana Webster hasn’t left her house in several weeks, right around the time Randolph went missing. Sound like her?”
Tina shook her head. Liliana was a social butterfly, on a number of committees and charity fund raisers. Always featured in the social pages, though rarely in the gossip rags, because they’d quickly discovered she didn’t mind siccing one of her coterie of lawyers on them.
“She’d never be out of the spotlight for that long, not without a good reason.”
“That’s what I thought. Now Jared, he’s been going about his usual routine. Performing surgeries, heading his department at the hospital, dealing with patients at his office. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Except making my life a living nightmare.”
Destiny nodded. “Yeah, there is that.”
“This still doesn’t explain why you think Randolph is dead.”
“I looked into his finances, specifically his credit cards. If he was supposedly out of town, he’d have used either personal or business cards, right? Well, there has been no activity on any of his cards for months. Even the joint cards he has with Liliana, the only activity has been hers.”
“Maybe he used cash?”
“It’s possible, but was that normal for him? Especially if he was out of the city or out of the country? It didn’t fit the pattern of behavior from his previous trips. Everything is charged, especially in business, where there needs to be a paper trail for taxes and expenses.”
“But…”
“Like I said, this is only my gut feeling. Enough time has passed to arouse suspicion in my books. He’s somebody who’s a well-known businessman, energetic and fairly athletic if his country club records are correct. Yet he suddenly disappears off the face of the earth with nobody’s suspicions being aroused? Somebody’s covering up something. Either he’s sick enough to be incapacitated, he’s been institutionalized—though I can’t find any record of that, but it might be under a fake name—or he’s not around to raise a ruckus.”
Tina’s mind was awhirl with everything Destiny said. Jared wouldn’t be hunting her so diligently if his father fell ill. Her ex was a control freak, and needed structure and discipline in every aspect of his life, including his ties to his family. If his father was sick, he’d have taken him to the most prestigious hospital in the world, no matter the cost. Destiny was right: something was wrong, but she wouldn’t go so far as to say Randolph was dead.
“Okay, I agree something seems fishy, but I don’t see where it adds up to him being dead. It seems like a stretch.”
“You know the family better than me, Tina. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but it’s been picking at me. Like an itch you can’t scratch. Anyway, you’ve got the full file of what I found. I know I should have given it to Chance, since he’s the one who hired me, but I’m not going to. If you want to share with him, that’s your business.”
“Thank you.” Tina laid her hand atop the file folder containing every aspect of her life. Every secret, everything she’d done. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And she had to admit, there’d been some ugly times. Ones she wanted to forget, but it seemed like the past always caught up to her eventually.
“A word of advice?”
“Sure.”
“The few times I’ve talked to Chance about you, it seemed like he really cared about you. Oh, he never came out and said those words, but I could read between the lines. If you care about him, tell him what’s in there. As much or as little as you feel he needs to know, but don’t start any kind of relationship by hiding the truth. It never works the way you think it will. Speaking from experience, it’ll only hurt you in the end.”
Destiny stood and pulled her bag off the back of the chair, then reached and grabbed her glass of tea, swallowing down the rest until the remaining ice clinked against the sides.
“I appreciate you coming all the way out here and giving me the choice about talking to Chance. And the info about Randolph and Liliana. I’m completely out of the loop with them, deliberately, but I hope your gut instinct is wrong.”
“Me, too.”
Tina rested her chin on her hand and studied Destiny, again catching the peekaboo tattoo above the edge of her black tank.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Your tattoo. I couldn’t help noticing it, because the colors are so bright and vivid. What is it?”
Destiny set down her bag on the chair, and pulled down the top edge of her tank, exposing the tattoo in its entirety. It wasn’t big, maybe three or four inches tall, but it was exquisite. A blooming rose in shades of crimson, the petals looking like velvet, and so realistic and lifelike, it almost looked like it had just been plucked from the garden. On the edge of the flower sat a fairy, kicking her legs, with her wings half-furled behind her. Long dark hair spilled over the fairy’s shoulders onto the brilliant sapphire pixie dress covering the fairy’s torso. While the scene might appear whimsical, the artist’s ability made the piquant scene come alive with movement. A shiny drop of dew glistened on one of the rose petals, appearing to hang from its edge, like it would drip off any moment.
“That’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. A friend of mine did it,” Destiny smiled.
“Well, he or she is an extraordinary artist. I’ve seen a lot of ink work, and this is topnotch.”
“I’ll let her know. She works in a shop in Austin. She did this one, and the one on my shoulder.”
Tina moved a little closer, looking closely at the fairy. There was a mischievous expression on her face, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she was winking. Before she could straighten, she heard the back door open followed by a masculine gasp. She knew before she even looked up that Dane had walked in and immediately gotten the wrong impression. Typical male reaction, their mind always headed straight for the gutter.
“What’s wrong, Dane? Haven’t you ever seen one girl looking at another girl’s boobs?”
“What?”
Tina shot Destiny a quick look, noticing the woman’s eyes widen. She was staring at Dane like a chocaholic standing in front of an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet. Hmmm, interesting.
“I was looking at Destiny’s tattoo. Want a peek?”
“Um, that’s okay. I came in for a drink, but I can come back.” He shifted from foot to foot, but Tina noticed he hadn’t taken his eyes off Destiny, who still had the top of her tank top pulled down, like she was frozen in place.
“Let me grab you some tea.” She hip-checked Destiny as she walked past. Couldn’t leave her new friend standing there like a fish on a hook. Dane hadn’t moved an inch since he’d stepped into the kitchen, the back door still standing open.
She made quick work of pouring him a big glass of sweet tea from the pitcher and handed it to him. Leaning toward him, she whispered, “Dane, you’re staring.”
That seemed to shake him out of his stupor, and he lifted the glass, drinking down half of it in one swallow.
“I’ve got to hit the road before the boss starts looking for me.” Sliding the messenger bag across her body, Destiny headed for the front door, and Tina followed close behind.
“That’s Dane Boudreau?” Destiny’s eyes darted back toward the kitchen.
“Yep.”
“Ridge has mentioned him. He runs the ranch, right?”
Tina’s lips curled up, aware that Destiny was fishing for information. Guess she’d liked what she saw. Not that she blamed her; Dane Boudreau was worth a second look.
“He does. Want an introduction?”
With one final glance toward the kitchen, Destiny simply shook her head. “Not a good idea.”
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know. By the way, can you send the info about your tattoo artist friend? I might want to check her out, if I’m going to be around for a while longer. I could use some new ink.”
“New ink? You have tats?”
“One on my right hip, and one on my right shoulder.”
Destiny’s grin suddenly filled with mischief. “Chance see them yet?”
Laughter burst from Tina at her not-so-subtle question. “No, he hasn’t.”
“Maybe you should consider showing them to him. He’s a nice guy and sexy as sin.”
Silently Tina agreed with Destiny’s assessment. Chance was a walking, talking advertisement for the perfect guy. But she’d fallen for that before, and once burned…
“Thanks again.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “If you hear anything else about Randolph, would you let me know?”
“You got it.”
Tina stood on the porch and watched Destiny drive away. After several moments, she heard footsteps behind her, and Dane joined her on the porch. His gaze followed the beat-up sedan until it was out of sight, not saying a word.
“Her name’s Destiny. She works for your brother.”
“The hacker?” His voice deepened with the question.
“Yep. Seems to know her stuff. Brought me a file on everything she’d dug up on me.”
“In other words, some light reading.”
She gave an inelegant snort. “If you want to call it that. She’s cute, isn’t she?”
“What?”
“I can introduce you properly, if you want.”
A wistful expression crossed his face before he shook his head.
“You sure? She seemed to like you, too.” She couldn’t understand why he’d turn down her offer. His eyes had practically eaten the other woman alive in the kitchen.
“I need to get back to work. You need anything?”
“I’m good.”
Without another word, he walked down the front porch steps and headed around the side of the house. She couldn’t help wondering about his reaction to the pretty computer expert and his refusal to get to know her better. Seemed like there might be something going on with Dane. If she was sticking around, she’d probably stick her nose into his business, but she wasn’t. She had to head back to Portland.
No matter how much she wanted to stay.