Chapter Seventeen
Dana and Caitlin had been giggling and whispering in the kitchen for the past half an hour.
Caitlin had phoned around lunchtime, asking when Dana was coming back.
Of course, then he had to tell her that Dana would be staying with him, and then she had to talk to Dana, and here they were, having a glass of champagne in the middle of the afternoon.
Don lifted his glass. “So, it turns out you do have a thing for our Dana.”
“Yeah,” David grinned unabashedly. “I do. It’s taken me all this time to figure it out, though.”
“Well, make sure you talk to Dale. There is one more thing you need to discover, but I’ll leave it to him to tell you,” Don said.
In the background, Dana’s phone rang. “What thing? I don’t need to discover anything else. I love Dana. For me, she’s the one. I don’t need to know anything else.”
“Talk to Dale, he—” But Don interrupted himself and stood up quickly, glancing over David’s shoulder.
David turned around. Dana and Caitlin were approaching but something was obviously wrong.
Caitlin had her arm around Dana, and Dana…
“What the hell…” David jumped up and rushed over to them.
Dana was pale and near tears.
Alarmed, he pulled her into his arms and looked at Caitlin. “What happened?”
“She got a phone call from the police in Hermanus…” Caitlin began, and a shudder went through Dana’s body.
He pulled her even closer.
“They’ve broken into my house, David,” Dana cried brokenly. “The police said—” she began, but she choked and buried her face against him.
Caitlin moved closer to them. “Her house has been…” She swallowed and placed her hand against Dana’s back. “It’s been trashed.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
Don joined them and pulled Caitlin into his arms.
“Who? Why?” David barked out.
Dana lifted her head and wiped her face. “They don’t know whether anything has been stolen. I… have to go back to see if anything is missing.”
“I’ll go…” David began fiercely, anger making him shake.
But Don shook his head. “Dana is the only one who will be able to tell what, if anything, has been stolen,” Don said.
David nodded, his brain working overtime. Was this linked to Dana’s dad? If so, who would do something like this? Could it be Sam Jordan? Too blatant, he thought, for someone like the smooth Jordan. But who the hell else?
*
They were nearing Hermanus when Dana remembered what had been bothering her for the past day.
“That’s what I remembered,” she murmured.
David was slowing down, because they’d entered the outskirts of the town. “What did you remember? When?” he asked.
“Last night. Something was bothering me, and I nearly remembered but then you…”
Grinning, he looked at her. “What? Had my way with you again?” he said and wiggled his eyebrows.
She giggled and touched his arm. It was still so wonderful to be able to do that, to see how he loved her touching him, how his eyes darkened in immediate response.
Sighing, she forced herself back to what she’d remembered. “I haven’t told you,” she began tentatively and quickly looked at him. He was so not going to like this, but she would have to tell him. “But when I went to see Sam Jordan, I also visited Toby Johnson again.”
“What?” David cried out, nearly turning the wheel in the wrong direction. Swearing, he brought the car back into the road. “Why?” he barked as he turned onto her street.
“Don’t shout at me!” She folded her arms.
David stopped in front of her house and turned to her, breathing heavily.
“Damn it, Dana! You should have told me. I… you…” Obviously exasperated, he pulled her closer.
“You’ll be the death of me yet. I don’t mean to shout, sweetheart, but you scare me when you do things like that.
” The hands that were stroking her back weren’t quite steady. “These are very bad people.”
Contrite, Dana looked up at him. “I’m beginning to understand, and I’m sorry. I was angry with you for wanting to buy half a car for me. I was angry with my mother. My life seemed such a mess. This was one thing I was hoping to solve.”
“Please don’t do something like that again, okay?”
Smiling, she nodded. It was nice to have someone who worried about her.
“Okay, so you went to see Johnson. What did you remember about your visit?” David wanted to know.
Dana frowned, trying to remember. “A brand-new Mercedes was parked in front of his house. I thought they had visitors, but when he opened the door, I didn’t hear any other voices.”
“Back up a bit, you said he opened the door?” David frowned. “But the other day he looked so ill.”
“Exactly. You were so right. I think it was all an act. Granted, I wasn’t there very long, but the wheezing and coughing were gone.
Also, and this is what I remembered last night, from where I was standing at the front door, I could look into the living room.
The television was on. And it was a new one, you know, one of those thin, sleek numbers.
I then also remembered that the first time we were there, the place looked dilapidated, but the dining room table was brand new.
How can someone who can’t even afford medicine have a new dining room table and a brand-new television? ”
David stared at her for a few minutes, his eyes showing the rapid workings of his mind.
“I’m trying to get this straight. He told us about Hastings’s scheme, about the money laundering, about his own involvement with Hastings, about Sam Jordan who didn’t like the fact that your dad wanted to report Hastings’s dealings. And he pretended to be very ill. Why?”
Dana nodded.
He snapped his fingers and then grabbed Dana’s hand. “How can we find out which client told your dad about Hastings’s dealings?”
Dana frowned and slowly shook her head. “I don’t know that I can. Maybe my mother’s financial advisor might know something? He and my dad were good friends.”
“Maybe we should try to talk to him and find out if he knows anything.”
Dana took out her phone and scrolled down, looking for the advisor’s number. “His name is Grant Simpson. I’ll see if I can get hold of him.”
Behind them, a police car stopped.
“I’ll talk to them while you see what you can find out from your dad’s friend.” He got out of the car.
Dana turned to stare after him and sighed. She didn’t know whether she was still dreaming, but if she was, it was one she hoped would never end.
“Simpson,” the voice answered.
She wasn’t quite sure why David wanted to talk to Simpson, but she’d try to set up an appointment for them to see him.
*
Dismayed, Dana stared at her trashed home. Everything that could break was broken. Food had been taken out of the cupboards and strewn over the kitchen floor. She felt like crying. Her lovely home, her safe place—she’d never be able to call it that again.
Behind her, David swore softly. “What a mess.” He took out his phone. “I have the number of the people who usually clean Don’s house. I’m phoning them to come and help.”
“It’s not necessary…” she began, but he was already talking to someone.
Fed up, she waited until he’d finished. “I said it’s not necessary. I can do it myself.”
“I know.” He pulled her closer. “But you don’t have to. You can supervise.”
Dana tried to pull out of his hold. “I am quite capable of doing things for myself, David. Just because I love you, doesn’t mean that I’m now suddenly helpless.”
He threw a hand up in frustration. “I know that, damn it. But because I love you, I want to help you. All that money I have that I don’t know what to do with? Well, here is something I can do with it. I can help you. I want to help you, because I love you. Can you understand that?”
Dana stared at him for another second before she laughed.
Grunting, he pulled her closer and landed a hard, wet kiss on her lips. “Anyone ever told you how difficult you can be?”
“I’m not difficult,” she whispered against his mouth. “I’m easy, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.” He grinned and kissed her again.
Her phone rang and, reluctantly, he let her go. It was Grant Simpson. He’d said he’d let her know about seeing them tonight.