Chapter 25
Kelly woke up alone.
She experienced a strange heaviness before she was fully conscious, before she could fully open her eyes. Then she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, remembering the long night before.
She felt different this morning. Like she was a different person, like Caleb was a different person too.
But when she turned her head to look over at his side of the bed, it was empty.
He was gone. It was Saturday, but that never stopped him from working. He was probably in his office even now, burying himself in work, remembering the man he’d always been.
He’d been vulnerable last night. Uncertain. Almost broken.
He wasn’t the kind of man who would allow that to continue.
It was good. It was just as well. It was hard enough for Kelly to do what needed to be done as it was. If Caleb became even softer, more human, then she might never be able to reach her end.
The distance he needed this morning would serve her well too, and the twisting feeling in her gut—like she felt let down, betrayed, because he’d left without talking to her after what had happened last night—didn’t matter at all.
She rolled over and reached into her purse on the floor next to the bed for her phone.
It was habit, really. She wasn’t expecting there to be any messages coming in between two and seven on a Saturday morning.
But there was a message from the unlisted phone number that Jack Martin always used to contact her.
She glanced at the closed door of the bedroom, assuring herself that Caleb wasn’t around, and listened to the message.
“Hey,” Jack’s pleasant, lazy voice said in the message. “Call me when you get a chance. Progress.”
She stared down at her phone for a minute, her heartbeat picking up.
He wouldn’t have said there was a lead like that if he hadn’t found more evidence. And the evidence they were really waiting for was going to point them either toward Vinnie DiMauro’s guilt in her father’s death… or toward Caleb’s.
She never called Jack from Caleb’s house. He had all kinds of security measures set up, and it was too dangerous to risk a call where she might be overheard or observed.
But she wouldn’t be able to get out of the house until the middle of the day—not without it looking suspicious—and she really wanted to know what Jack knew.
It would change things.
It might change everything.
She couldn’t imagine the tender, uncertain man from last night actually killing her father. Caleb was cold and ambitious, but he wasn’t heartless, and her father had been innocent.
Surely—surely—she wouldn’t be feeling like this toward Caleb if he were actually that kind of monster. What she’d overheard last night could have meant something else. Kelly wasn’t naive, and she wasn’t weak. She wouldn’t have fallen for the man if he’d really killed her father.
She simply wouldn’t have done it.
So, nearly shaking with anxiety and expectation, she took her phone into the bathroom.
She locked the door and triple-checked to make sure it was locked. Then she turned on the shower, figuring if Caleb or Breah, his housekeeper, came into the bedroom, they’d only hear the shower running.
She scanned the room carefully, but she knew there wouldn’t be a security camera in Caleb’s bathroom. There would be limits to even his paranoia.
Satisfied that she was as safe as it was possible for her to be in this house, she pulled up Jack’s number and connected the call.
She normally wouldn’t have called anyone so early on a Saturday morning, but he’d left the message less than an hour ago, so he must be up himself.
“Hey,” he said, picking up on the second ring. “I thought you’d be asleep.”
“I woke up early. Why aren’t you in bed?” She fell naturally into the light banter that was characteristic of her interactions with Jack, but her hands were shaking as the nerves coursed through her. He’d found something. Something she needed to know.
“One of my guys woke me up an hour ago. They have no respect for my beauty sleep.”
He was obviously expecting her to respond with teasing, as she normally would have, but she couldn’t muster it. “Did your guy find something out?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, his tone changing to the professional one he used for work. “We uncovered an email trail. It was deleted from the server, but my computer guy somehow dug it up. I don’t know how the hell he does it, but he’s good.”
“What email trail?” Her voice was a little wobbly, but she was speaking softly so she hoped he wouldn’t notice it.
“Between Vinnie DiMauro and his uncle, Roman DiMauro. The big boss in Baltimore back then.”
Kelly knew all about Roman. He’d been one of her mother’s primary targets after her dad’s death.
Jack continued, “It looks bad. Whatever happened, Vinnie and Roman were definitely involved.”
“What about Caleb?” She felt like her whole existence was poised on the edge of a cliff, and she was either going to fall backward onto the ground with a bump or fall forward into an endless void.
“He could be too, but he’s nowhere in the email trail. We still need more information.”
Kelly took a long, shuddering breath and sank down onto the bathroom floor, huddling up and trying to process this news. There was still a chance that Caleb might be innocent.
She wished she didn’t want it so much.
After a minute passed without her saying anything, Jack asked slowly, “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She was close to tears, but that was probably just the aftermath of the emotional night she’d had.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Jack said, sounding a little hesitant. “We don’t have any real proof at this point, and even if he didn’t do this, you know he’s still not a good guy.”
“I know he’s not a good guy.”
“There’s no happy, rainbow-filled wedding for the two of you at the end of this.”
“I know that.” She stiffened her shoulders, Jack’s wry words actually helping her pull herself together. “I’m not a fool.”
“Of course not. But shit happens, and sometimes we’re not as smart as we should be. You’ve put yourself in a bad situation here, and I’d like to see you get out of it in one piece if possible.”
“I get it. I want that too. So what needs to happen now? You said I might be able to?—”
“Did you find out where they store the paper corporate records?”
“Yeah. There’s a storage area in the basement of the main headquarters, I guess.
Caleb said that’s where they keep their old files.
He was complaining about email, and I used that to ask him about paperwork.
He says they only keep important stuff, and it’s all in fireproof cabinets underground.
” She’d found out that information—like so much else she’d needed to know, by manipulating conversations to go the way she needed them to.
She hated doing that to Caleb now, but she didn’t know enough yet to give up. “Why? What do you need?”
“There’s nothing in any electronic records we can access, so we need to check the paper records.”
“They’re not going to keep written proof of murder in the storage room.”
“You never know. But that’s not what I’m expecting to find. I want to get the personnel records and see if there’s anything else on Vinnie and Marshall in there.”
“They evidently keep the storage area locked, but Caleb’s assistant has a master key fob in her desk. I saw her take it out when I stopped by last week. I might be able to?—”
“No, no. My guys can do it. It’s too dangerous for you to try to get in there yourself.”
“But it’s dangerous for your guys too.”
“Yeah, but they’re professionals, and you’re not. Just give me a week or two, and we’ll figure out a way to get in there.”
Kelly bit her lip, hating the idea of waiting that long before they had concrete proof one way or the other.
Jack evidently sensed her hesitation. “You’re okay with keeping this charade up a little longer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Just try to hurry it up.”
“I will. I want you out of there as soon as possible. In fact, you can probably leave now.”
“I’m not going to leave until this is over. You might need something else from me, and I’m not going to walk away when we’re almost there.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I didn’t think so. Just be safe and hang tight, and my guys will get to the records as soon as possible.”
“Okay.” She hesitated before she added, “Have you talked to my mother lately?”
“Yes. She calls every day.”
“Is there—” Kelly broke off, hating how awkward she felt talking about her own mother.
“Is there anything new with her?” Even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t have a conversation with her mother.
Talking on the phone would be risky, and Caleb had a bodyguard following her around all the time, because her fictional bloodthirsty Russian ex-boyfriend with gang connections was still a threat, so it was very difficult to sneak away for a covert meeting.
“She’s going downhill healthwise,” Jack said, his tone changing. “But she’s just as determined as ever. I’ve never met anyone as driven as she is.”
“Yeah.” She sighed, feeling heavy and poignant.
“My dad’s death consumed her whole world—even more than mine.
It’s an obsession for her now. Nothing is going to soften her at this point.
Let me know if… if her health gets even worse.
” Her mother was supposed to have at least another month, but those kinds of prognoses were never perfectly accurate.
“I will.”
“And call me if you find out anything else.”
“Will do.”
She hung up the phone and stepped into the shower since she needed to be wet if anyone had heard her in the bathroom like this. She soaped up and rinsed quickly, deciding not to wash her hair. She’d washed it yesterday evening before the party, and it took forever to dry.
She turned the shower off, dried off, and put her nightgown back on since she hadn’t brought any clothes into the bathroom with her.
The bedroom was still empty when she opened the door. Caleb was probably working, distancing himself from her to get his bearings back after last night.