Almost Always: A Love Unexpected Novel (13 page)

Nineteen

The sun was just sliding below the buildings to the west. We sat on deck and sipped the last of our bottle of
Blanquette de Limoux.

"Would you like to dine in or out tonight?"

"Oh, that's a hard choice. Your chef is awfully good."

"Yes, he is. But to tell you the truth, Taishi, Shane and even Carlos get involved in the kitchen. I have been blessed with a staff of men who love to outdo one another at the stove. Chef Todd's the boss, of course, but he welcomes company."

"Well, we certainly brought back a cornucopia of produce for them. I can't believe the herbs!"

"There's also half a dozen fabulous cheeses from that one place and the veal sausage. Could you be satisfied with an omelet and a salad?"

"That sounds perfect. We seem to do nothing but eat. I'm going to go home as fat as one of those cute little pigs we saw today."

"A few days in France isn't going to fatten you up like a hog."

"Plump is cute on a pig, but pretty undesirable on a woman."

"Trust me, it would take a lot more than a few pounds to render you undesirable."

I smiled and puffed out my cheeks like a blowfish. "How's that?" I asked as they deflated.

He chuckled and then said, "I'm afraid I have a few calls to make. In just a few minutes, in fact."

I gave him an exaggerated little pout.

He kissed me sweetly and asked, "So, would you like to visit the 'adult' section of the beach tomorrow?"

A sudden insight told me that he was no stranger to the ‘adult’ section, and more so, that Elsa was the woman who had accompanied him. Suddenly, the whole trip started to sour. He was no stranger to this place, to naked fun in the sun, to what went on over on the 'adult side' of the beach.

As I sipped the last drops of my wine in rather sullen silence I couldn't get the picture of Elsa, the pretty girl next door, cavorting around the white French sands with Kason. It kind of made me sick to my stomach.

How did I allow myself to miss the whole point of this scenario? I was the new Elsa, minus the love and commitment. I was the replacement innocent.

"Is there something wrong, Annalise?"

Yes, there is something very wrong
. "Maybe I've got a bit of a headache."

"A bottle of wine in the afternoon can do that. Why don't you take a short rest in one of the staterooms? I need to make my calls and check some things."

"Okay, that's not a bad idea."

"Don't stay too long, though. Just rest your eyes. I want you refreshed . . . for dessert
and
tomorrow." He was bright and cheerful and I wanted to slap him.

I didn't even notice the interior of the boat, I just walked through the living area and down a few steps, opened the door to the first stateroom I came and flopped on the bed. I didn't want to sleep, I wanted to cry.

It
did
occur to me that Kason still didn't know I was even aware of Elsa. He didn't know that I had seen the wedding announcement on the internet. He wasn't aware of my conversation with Tom about her death. Maybe as far as Kason was concerned, I didn't know anything about Elsa at all. Hard as it was for me to believe, it was entirely possible that those assumptions were true.

Not everyone spends hours Googling someone they're interested in. Kason's engagement announcement was buried several pages back, eclipsed in the great search engine's eye by far more important items. And, if I hadn't asked Tom, and I hadn't met Roger and seen the dark cloud he brought to that rehearsal, I wouldn't have known to Google Elsa Maynard at all.

So, at least I had to dismiss the idea that he was
deliberately
torturing me with allusions to their sexual history. Once that was settled, I began to rethink the rest of my assumptions. What if he was simply talking in generalities?

But obviously he had been here before. Okay, so what? If he'd come with Elsa, so what again? The man wasn't a virgin and it was patently unfair for me to expect him never to have experienced…well, anything.

I got out of bed and sort of tiptoed up onto the aft deck. I suspected Kason was buried somewhere further in the bowels of the boat catching up on work. I needed some air. Hopefully the sea could blow some sense into me.

It made me unreasonably happy to see Taishi standing at the transom with a fly rod. He was flipping the line back and forth in a graceful even motion. I crept up behind him, but I should have known better than to sneak up on him. Without turning around he said, "Miss Annalise, if I didn't recognize your footsteps, I might have knocked you flat for that."

"Sorry Taishi. I was testing you."

"Be careful what you test."

I stood beside him and watched him flick the line over and over again before allowing the end to land on a spot in the water.

"What are you fishing for?"

"I'm not trying to catch a fish. Nothing caught in this water would be edible at any rate."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Just practicing. Fly fishing is a very meditative sport. Handling the rod just so has a Zen quality to it."

"I see." It
was
rather mesmerizing to see the brilliant orange line make fluid 'S's' against the backdrop of the blue and pink setting sun sky. "Can I ask you something?"

"You can certainly ask. Whether I answer depends."

"I know about Elsa Maynard."

"That's not a question."

"I mean I know he was engaged to her and I know that she died."

"That much is public knowledge. And you still haven't asked me a question."

"Did you know her?"

"No."

That surprised me. For some reason I figured Taishi had been with Kason since time began. "How long have you worked for Kason?"

"Five years."

"So you must have been hired right after she was killed."

"The two events were related."

"He hired you because she was killed?"

"I like to think that was only part of the reason."

"Do you know how she was killed?"

"As much as anyone except Kason, I suppose."

"Will you tell me what you know?"

"I would consider that a betrayal of trust."

"Well, was it an accident or what?" Kason had said as much but I wanted to know what the general thought was.

"I think that's something you should ask Mr. Kason. It's not my place."

I decided to change tactics. "Did Kason come here, to Cap d'Agde with Elsa?"

"As far as I know, I brought him here for the first time."

"You? Why ever would you bring him here?"

Taishi put his rod down and turned toward me. "In the beginning, he rarely wanted me to be out of his sight. After a few months, I was really longing for a little male companionship other than my boss's. What better place to be able to leave someone alone for a few hours than a nude beach? How much harm can come to a person wandering among naked tourists? I obtained an accomplished and beautiful lady to keep him company and wandered down to my own section. It's at the far end of the 'adult beach'. Five years ago," he added wistfully, "there was a lot more action in the dunes."

At this point, I was ready to hug Taishi. So, it wasn't Elsa who christened the place with him, it was good old Taishi. Taishi, the procurer of whores, Taishi the fashionista, Taishi the protector of mothers. What a great guy he was turning out to be. I couldn't stop grinning at how wrong I had been.

"Miss Annalise?"

"Yes?"

"Would you be offended if I gave you some advice?"

"Not at all, I could use all the help I can get. Your boss is a hard one to figure out."

"Actually, no, you're wrong there. He is very simple to figure out."

"Enlighten me."

"In spite of his career, in spite of his success and all the planning and forecasting that goes into it, Kason very much lives in the here and now. He seizes the day, as they say."

"I can see that, yes."

"He doesn't spend time dwelling on things that have passed and he doesn't spend energy on things yet to come. If you choose to remain with him, I suggest you aim to do likewise."

"No analysis. No expectations," I mumbled. It was not the kind of advice I found easy to swallow. Not that Taishi's advice was any different than what I had already been told, in no uncertain words and more than once.

"Those who know and enjoy Kason the most, and we are few, do so because we allow ourselves to become part of his present."

***

I went back to the master stateroom to freshen up for dinner and once again wrap my head around the situation I found myself in. Kason was still working. I presumed he had an office on board somewhere, but that hadn't been part of my grand tour. I was glad to have a little time to think. Taishi was probably as close to Kason as anyone. I knew I'd be stupid to ignore his advice.

I had a great guy to spend time with. He was smart, affectionate, generous, funny, and most of the time he was easy going. Sexually speaking, he might as well have invented it as far as my life was concerned. No one had ever attracted me as suddenly and thoroughly as the man I saw for the first time on the Mahkeenac Little Theater stage. From the moment I saw him I wanted him. When I had him, it was the most erotic and satisfying thing I'd ever known. To say he exceeded my expectations would be ridiculous.

Suddenly, it hit me. I stumbled onto at least a clue as to what Kason meant by 'no expectations'. Was it possible that he was such an incredible lover precisely because
I had no expectations
? Were the gifts he gave me all the more precious because I could not have anticipated them? More to the point, was it possible to carry that concept into the emotional part of the relationship? Could I, could
anyone,
love without expectations?

I studied my face in the mirror as I brushed my hair. There wasn't any point in trying to hide it from myself. There was no one around to hear me ask my brown-eyed reflection:
Can you do it
?
Can you love one day at a time? Can you love without answers?

Twenty

"Annalise? Annalise?" The knock was insistent and the voice . . . not good. I quickly pulled the light cotton sweater over my head and answered the door.

"What is it Taishi?"

"Mr. Kason needs you in his office right now."

I followed Taishi's quick steps up to the next deck and past the huge salon. I'd seen the spiral staircase in the corner of the fabulous room, but hadn't had enough free time to explore every nook and cranny of Royce's Risk. I'd missed Kason's nest tucked above it all. Taishi told me to go up the stairs. Something made me take them two at a time.

I knocked once and opened the door without being asked in. Kason sat at a glossy wood desk surrounded by lots of books and plenty of high tech gadgets including at least three computers. He leapt to his feet and came around the desk when I entered the room.

"Sweetheart . . . " I should have been thrilled at the endearment. Instead, I was terrified by the look in his eyes and the way he pulled me protectively into his arms.

I pushed away from him enough to see his face and asked, "What happened, Kason? Is it my parents?" That was the only thing it could be . . . the only thing that would put that look of panic on his face and make my heart pound like cannon fire in my chest.

"I'm so sorry. So sorry. Artie called. They got to Marjorie."

"Mom??? Tell me!"

"Early this morning. Your father went back to work yesterday. He surprised everyone, including the bodyguards. They didn't have time to do any real reconnaissance on the job site or call in back up. So one of them stayed at the house with your mother and the other one went with your father."

All I could do was nod and stare.

"Don had a lot of pent up energy and a bee in his bonnet when he got to the job site. He made a lot of noise about how he wasn't going to cave into punks. Said he was sick to death of everyone from the Teamsters to the Teacher's union wanting their piece of every tenpenny nail. He made a lot of noise about not giving up until someone paid attention."

"My mother, Kason, tell me about my mother!"

"This morning, your neighbor, Mrs. Caper . . . "

"Caperelli."

"Mrs. Caperelli came over and found George bound and gagged in the room on the ground floor and your mother gone."

"What the hell do you mean GONE? Gone where?"

"The assumption is that she's been kidnapped."

"Oh my God. Mom." Tears rolled down my cheeks with the image of my wonderful mother at the hands of some bastards like the ones who beat up Dad.

"Okay, now listen to me." Kason took my shoulders in his strong hands and grabbed onto my eyes with his. "They didn't hurt George. I don't think they're planning to hurt your mother. They want something from your father and your mother's the best way to get to him. Think about it."

I gulped back a sob. He was right. It was awful, but panic was going to get us nowhere. "What now?"

"Obviously, I want to get back to New York as soon as possible. I don't suppose there's any way you'd let me leave you here, out of harm's way? With Taishi?"

I shot him a look that was all the answer that absurd question deserved.

"Right, then. Let's go."

***

By the time Kason reached around me to fasten my seatbelt in the plane, he had been on the phone with the mayor of New York, the Chief of Police and the director of the FBI. I would have been impressed with the line-up of people who would take his calls, if I hadn't been literally sick with worry.

In between his calls, Kason had also managed to wipe my cold sweaty brow after I blew the contents of my stomach by the side of the road and again in the elegant bathroom of his airplane. I looked in the mirror after I finished retching and my skin had taken on an unnatural shade of gray. When I came out, Kason took me back to the master stateroom. He stripped my clammy clothes off and wrapped me in my elegant red velvet robe. Then he sat me on the bed and put a pair of his white cotton athletic socks on my trembling feet. Grabbing the furry throw from the bed, he marched me out to one of the recliners and pushed it all the way back. Then he covered me up and strapped me in.

"I want you to lay here and breathe deeply. When you start to feel warm, let me know. You've got a case of borderline shock. Don't let it get any worse." He held my cold hand in his warm one. "I'm going to take care of this and I'm going to take care of you. But right now, Marjorie needs your strength."

I nodded and tried to follow his instructions. By focusing on the plane taxiing down the runway and the rush of takeoff, I felt the blood returning to my limbs and my heartbeat returning to normal. I smiled at Kason to let him know I wasn't going to become part of the problem.

Soon after takeoff, Taishi came back into the main salon of the plane and Kason handed him the phone. There was a great deal of conversation in a language I didn't understand. I recognized it as an Asian language, but that's about it.

"Who's he talking to?" I asked Kason.

"George. I wanted Taishi to get a firsthand account in their native tongue, in case Artie or the FBI missed something."

"So
George
and Taishi are from the same country?"

"Laos. Don’t' let the names throw you. All of their names are practically unpronounceable. Taishi chose his name because it at least identifies him as Asian. You'll have to ask George why he chose that particular name."

"Seems an odd choice." The sing-song of Taishi's voice seemed to go on and on. "I sure wish I knew what he was saying. It is so frustrating to be up here in this airplane and now I can't even understand what he's talking about."

"Patience. You have to try to be patient. I know it's hard, but please try to believe me when I tell you that no one could bring more pressure to bear on this case than I have."

"I know that. I hope you don't think I don't appreciate it. You've been wonderful." I took his hand in mine, but kept my eyes on Taishi who paced back and forth. He seemed agitated. "Taishi seems upset about something."

"It's the language. It always sounds like they're yelling at one another to me, too."

"Is Taishi a leader of some group of Laotian bodyguards?"

"It's a loosely knit fellowship. They all trained together and trust one another. And, they're very good." He squeezed my hand. "And that's one thing that worries me a little."

I'm sure my eyes widened with fear.

"For the guys to take your mother, they had to have been fairly professional. This was not an amateur operation. George could easily take out multiple men."

"Yes, but Taishi told me that even he can't stop a bullet."

"True. And there are circumstances where a person just has to step back or risk getting himself or someone else killed. George probably recognized that the thugs would have everything to lose by harming Marjorie."

Taishi finally got off the phone.

"Well?" Kason asked him.

"Perhaps . . . maybe it's best we talk in private."

"Excuse me?" I was not about to be brushed off. "This is
my
mother we're talking about here."

"Annalise's right, Taishi. Whatever you have to say, she has a right to hear."

So Taishi launched into his narrative. A lot of the information we already knew. The abduction had taken place early, just after my father left for work around seven. The street would have been very quiet at that hour. There were four men. They had blown the lock on the outer iron door that led to the ground floor room where George was staying with some high-powered, quiet and effective explosive. George heard the whisper of the blast and jumped into action. He took one of the men down before he was staring at the barrel of two Glocks leveled point blank at his head. The intruders had his number, too. They remained out of the range of his deadly hands and feet until they were certain that he knew he knew there was no chance. If he had disarmed one, the other still had a clear shot.

They gagged George and bound him with cable ties. Mom had apparently gone back upstairs after seeing my father off to work. George could hear very little as he was on the ground floor and my parents' room is on the third floor. He could hear a little scuffle upstairs and my mother's shouts, quickly silenced. From his position face down on the floor he couldn't see anything. He followed the sounds of the retreating footsteps as the men made their way past his room and out the front entrance on the street level.

The man George had flattened had recovered enough to deliver a vicious kick to George's ribs as a parting shot.

"He said that as they were leaving, he heard one of the men say 'Calm down, Jazzy, we ain't gonna hurt ya.'" Taishi concluded. "Does that mean anything to you?"

I sat bolt upright. "Yes, it means something to me! No one calls my mother 'Jazzy' except family and close friends."

"I hope George told that to the authorities." Kason bit his knuckle in thought. "But it's possible no one paid it any mind, or didn't think it was important enough to tell your father."

"Also," added Taishi, "George has a thick accent. It would be easy to misunderstand anything he says."

"Thanks, Taishi. Now get some rest. I have a feeling we're in for quite a long day ahead of us and the jet lag's gonna be a killer." Kason turned to me. "I'm going to make a couple more phone calls—to Artie and my guy at the FBI. Artie will make sure the NYPD knows about the 'Jazzy' thing and then they can get your father's input."

"My father . . . I have to talk to my father."

"That's not such a good idea. First of all, it isn't going to accomplish anything other than upsetting both of you more than you already are. Secondly, I am now concerned that someone close to your family is somehow involved in this mess. The less your dad knows about where you are, who you're with and what you're doing the better. It may already be too late."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. Why kidnap Marjorie? What kind of ransom could your family possibly come up with that would be worth committing a serious felony?"

"I assumed the whole thing was about scaring Dad into backing off of his public outrage."

"And you may still be right. But there are lots of ways to accomplish that. If, however, someone learned that 'Jazzy' and Don's youngest was Kason Royce's girlfriend there might be an incentive to sweeten the pot with a hefty payoff in the form of ransom."

In spite of all the anxiety and fear about my mother, my selfish heart leapt when he referred to me as his 'girlfriend'. I felt badly about even noticing, given the danger Mom was in. But notice I did.

"Now, I want you to do the same as Taishi. We're only five hours out of New York now and when we land, we're all going to hit the ground running."

"You can't really believe I can sleep, can you?'

"You've had a major shock and I know the adrenaline isn't going to let you sleep right away. But I want you to go to the bedroom and lie down. I'm going to join you after I make the calls. We'll try to relax together."

"Come soon."
And hold me, Kason, just hold me like you'll never let me go
.