9. Chapter Nine #2
He was nearly as pale as the sheets. An IV ran from his wrist to a bag filled with something bluish-silver, while a bank of machinery that looked like it ought to be used to diagnose a problem with my McLaren filled the room with a quiet, rhythmic, mechanical beat.
His cheeks were covered in stubble, but I didn’t see any of the classic stroke symptoms: no drooping lip, both eyelids open at the same level, hair—
Daniel’s hair was uncombed.
Somehow it was that that wrecked me. I had not seen Daniel Ramsey with uncombed hair in twenty years: he’d rather have shown up at the office naked than with his coiffure out of sorts.
He looked up as we entered, slower and sleepier than I expected.
His blue eyes were still bright, still thinking—but there was a cloudiness to them that hadn’t been there when he’d outlined his plans to support the Avery Company.
I prayed that was just a temporary thing; an effect of the initial hit and the hospital trip.
“Angel,” he whispered, looking at Marcie. Then at me. “Son.”
If Vanessa calling me that cracked my composure, hearing it from him absolutely shattered it. I barely managed to keep from crying as I took a place beside the bed, taking one of his hands in my own. And only because he probably would have never let me forget.
“Daddy,” Marcie whispered, her bottom lip trembling. “Oh God…”
Somehow Daniel managed to laugh. “Don’t look at me like that, angel,” he said, managing a little bit of his good humor. “Bad enough that your mother keeps mooning over me that way.”
Marcie laughed through her tears. “Daddy, I was so scared…”
She hugged Daniel from the side, clinging to him like a piece of driftwood after a shipwreck. We were all lucky she didn’t try and climb onto the gurney the way she did with me back at the hospital.
After a few more reunion tears, Vanessa put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “Let’s get your father something to drink,” she said. “They say he’s allowed to have water and 7-Up. You want some 7-Up, dear?”
“Nothing could possibly be more disgusting,” Daniel rumbled. “I’d much rather have a… a…”
He blinked, gathering his thoughts.
“The thing,” he said, looking at me.
Jesus, I thought. “Right, the thing.”
“Coffee!” Daniel exploded, sitting up a little straighter. “God, you wouldn’t believe how long I’ve been in this place, Jack. I haven’t gone this long without a cup of Joe since that time we had that convention in Provo.”
He’s still in there, I told myself. Just running a little slower. He just needs to recover.
I prayed that was the case.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Vanessa told her husband, giving me a significant glance. “You make sure my husband doesn’t get into any trouble, alright?”
I understood. We were going to have a talk about Daniel’s condition—one that Marcie probably wasn’t quite ready to hear yet. “Sure.”
Marcie gave me a kiss before she left. “Be right back,” she promised.
Then they were gone, leaving Daniel and I with the beeping machines.
Daniel spent a long moment looking me up and down. “You look like hell,” he said flatly.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You looked at a mirror lately, boss?”
“Don’t give me that ‘boss’ shit,” Daniel said with a chuckle. “You married my daughter, Jack. That makes you son in this house.” He paused, his lips pressing inward. “Even if she wasn’t the only one you married.”
“Marcie’s very happy,” I assured him. “How are you doing? What do the doctors say?”
Daniel waved a hand dismissively. “They’re talking about me like they’re going to have to install a wheelchair ramp up at the house,” he said, his scorn rising to the surface.
For a moment, he sounded like the Daniel Ramsey I knew.
“Using words like managed care and physical therapy. It’s all bunk.
I’ll be up and walking around before you know it. ”
“If anybody can do it, it’s you,” I said, managing to keep the catch out of my voice. “Daniel, why the hell did you not call me?”
He held my gaze for a long moment. “I didn’t want you to know.”
“What!? Why?”
He swallowed hard. “You’re in the middle of a war, son. You, my Marcie, those other women. You had enough on your plates already. Besides, Vanessa was handling it.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “Daniel, Marcie found out about you on live television. She cried like a baby the whole drive to the hospital!”
Daniel made a face. “I’m an old fool, son. I thought… I thought I could ride this out.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Jesus.”
“Wait.” Daniel blinked. “What do you mean, television?”
As quickly as I could, I let him know what had happened during the Morning Harbor interview.
Daniel looked shocked. “Son, we didn’t tell anybody about this,” he said, the words coming out slower than they would have a few days ago. “Not me, not Vanessa. How the hell did that TV show find out?”
I shook my head ruefully. “Victoria Ruocchio,” I said. “I didn’t realize what a monster she is. She managed to sound almost reasonable when we met at the courthouse the other day.”
Daniel was quiet for so long I wondered if he was having another one of those foggy moments.
“Son… that’s not normal.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Hell, I know that. She must have told Jessamyn about it right after it happened. She called it her ‘ace in the hole’—she implied it was going to bring the whole company down.” I felt myself frown.
“Jessamyn said it was about money, though. She must have been winding me up, which means her whole deal is probably bullshit…”
Daniel cleared his throat. “Wait, when was this?”
Huh? “About 2 AM last night,” I said, thinking. “Believe me, I was about as happy about it as you probably think—”
“That’s not it, then,” Daniel said. “Son, they put me on a gurney and pulled me out the house at four. I was still asleep when you were hearing about this ‘ace in the hole’.”
Oh. Oh hell.
Daniel was right. I’d just assumed this had to be the thing Victoria Ruocchio sent Jessamyn over to crow about. But I was wrong. Whatever leverage she had over my boss, it predated the stroke. Which meant this was an even worse turn of fortune than I could’ve imagined.
Or it could be something even worse.
Could whatever Victoria be doing have stressed Daniel out enough to worsen his health?
If she’s responsible for this, we won’t need Samantha to take her into a room with a baseball bat, I thought. I’ll do the damn thing myself.
“Daniel, listen,” I said, leaning in close. For some reason, I felt like I had to drop my voice. “What the hell was Jessamyn talking about?”
Daniel stared at me, his eyes filling with confusion.
“Who?”
I bit back a sigh. “Jessamyn Fawkes. She’s…
it doesn’t matter. Daniel, Victoria Ruocchio has something on you that’s going to blow back onto me.
Something financial. Something that’s so bad that the SEC’s supposed to get involved—that’s going to blow the Avery Company to smithereens right as we start getting off the ground. I need to know what that thing is.”
“Son, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Daniel said.
I was already shaking my head. “I don’t care what it is, Daniel,” I assured him.
“I know you and Mona did all sorts of skullduggery while I was completely unaware of it over in my side of the business.” I forced out a laugh.
“Hell, I don’t care if you and Mona killed somebody.
I just need to know, so I can head this off at the pass—”
“I haven’t done anything financial,” Daniel insisted. Suddenly he looked agitated. “The company’s fine, Jack! Other than the fact that those venture capitalist assholes are sitting at the helm instead of you and my Marcie the way it was supposed to be…”
“Daniel. Victoria Ruocchio is banking on this. She leaked the news of your stroke to Morning Harbor right before Kiki’s interview to try and knock my wife off-balance and get those hosts to tear her apart on TV.
That woman traumatized your daughter. She would not be talking about this if she didn’t believe in it. ”
I could have been imagining it, but I swore I saw fear in Daniel’s eyes.
“I… I moved some money around during the whole merger thing,” he said, blinking rapidly.
The words came out halting, unsure—not at all like the powerful, intelligent businessman I knew.
“Maybe some of it ended up in the hands of some people it shouldn’t have.
But I have done nothing like what that woman is thinking.
My business affairs have always been above-board. ”
I couldn’t help but notice the way he stressed the word business.
“And your personal affairs?” I asked, my brows furrowing together. “Jesus, Daniel, you weren’t embezzling money or something, were you—?”
“Are you accusing my husband of fraud?”
I glanced up from Daniel’s bed. Vanessa had just reentered the room, Marcie in tow. Thank God she hadn’t heard what I was saying to her father.
Vanessa kept a smile on her face, but her eyes showed how stressed she was. “I gave you a few minutes alone with Daniel so you could talk father-to-son,” she said, her tone gently chiding. “Not so you could pepper him with questions about the business.”
“But—”
“No business right now.” Vanessa put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “He needs to rest. Whatever’s going on, it can wait.”
“Here, Dad,” Marcie said, taking a seat next to the bed. “I brought you a couple different things.”
Daniel smiled. “My girl. My sweet girl. You weren’t out there crying over me, were you, sweetheart?”
Marcie looked up at her father, blinking back tears. “Daddy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I wish you and Mom told me…”
As Daniel took Marcie’s hand, Vanessa hugged her daughter from the side. The three of them made one hell of a tableau: the Ramsey family, a bond that went deep. I was happy to see them like that.
And yet, the engineer side of my brain couldn’t stop thinking.
Vanessa was ready.
She knew the topic was coming. She knew how to shut it down.