Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Four (BWWM Romance Serial) (5 page)

IN A DIFFERENT RENTAL CAR this time, Ian drove away from
the rundown motel, heading back to the small airport where Raul waited with the
helicopter. He was a little tired and contemplated stopping for coffee.

Jada sighed deeply. “I’m starting to fade.”

“Me too. Coffee?”

“Please.”

As he drove, he kept an eye out for somewhere to stop.

“I don’t know,” she said. “We didn’t learn much from her.”

“I think she told us everything she knew, don’t you?”

“Yes, and that makes it worse. I was hoping to get more. I
thought she’d be the key to solving the whole thing.”

“You got her to admit that she lied, that she was bribed to
file a forged document,” Ian said.

“True, but we already had that figured out.”

Ian spied a fast food place ahead. “How’s the coffee at that
place? Any good?”

“It’s not a specialty blend from an exclusive plantation in
Java, brewed with the purest water from the most remote mountain in the
Himalayas and delivered on the backs of endangered ducks, if that’s what you
mean by good.”

That was a mouthful, Ian thought. He glanced at her to see
if she was joking. Nope. More like bitter sarcasm. “Did my question offend
you?”

“No. I’m just ... out of sorts. The coffee at that place up
there is plain old average coffee that doesn’t cost a lot. It tastes how you’d
expect ordinary coffee to taste. Does that answer your question?”

“Sort of,” he said. “So should we go through the drive-thru,
or no?”

“Yes, please,” she said, and turned her head toward her
window, shutting him out of view.

Something was wrong, he thought, and it wasn’t merely that
they hadn’t gotten much useful information from Sylvia. He wished Jada would
tell him what it was.

He’d been impressed with how she’d handled herself all day,
but particularly impressed with how she got Sylvia to open up. At first, when
she’d blown the plan by letting Sylvia off the legal hook, Ian had thought it
was over, that they’d get nothing out of the records clerk.

But then Jada proved him wrong. Her compassion and her
goodness earned Sylvia’s trust in a way that unspoken threats never could have.
Ian had been wrong about the best course to take, had convinced Jada to use
techniques which had worked for him in countless negotiations and business
deals. But this wasn’t a business deal.

Jada, being herself, had innately known the right thing to
do, and thanks to her, they now knew everything Sylvia knew. They’d gotten the
outcome they’d wanted and it was too bad Jada wasn’t seeing it as a victory to
celebrate the way Ian did.

It took only a few minutes to get two coffees from the drive
thru. He pulled into a parking spot so Jada could safely doctor her coffee with
a packet of powdered creamer that would have raised the hairs on the back of
Mrs. Best’s neck had she been there to see it.

Ian took a sip of his own black coffee. It was bland,
boring, a little weak. It had caffeine, though, so it would do.

“Want to sit here and go over the notes?” He hoped the
suggestion might brighten her up.

“No point. Hardly anything there,” she grumbled, stirring
her coffee with a plastic stick.

“What about the timeline? Let me think. Wednesday morning
before noon, Sylvia met with a tall woman in a disguise of dark glasses, a long
black wig, a floppy hat and—”

“Don’t be condescending,” Jada interrupted. “I’m not in the
mood.”

“I wasn’t condescending.”

“You were acting like it. Being all, let’s pretend Jada is
on the case and distract her with the little details that don’t matter anyway.”

Ian didn’t care for her attitude and for the first time, was
annoyed. “That’s unfair.”

“Were you going over the timeline because you think it’s
valuable and will help us solve the case? Or were you only bringing it up to
try to distract me out of my bad mood?” Her head wagged slightly from side to
side.

“Those are loaded choices,” he said, trying to keep it
light.

“Whatever.” She sipped her coffee and turned her head,
staring out the passenger window again.

“You did great back there, you know.” Ian pressed on carefully.
“We learned who made the second entry into the courthouse database. Sylvia
slipped into the office early Thursday morning, before Mrs. Nell got there, and
accurately entered the marriage license using Mrs. Nell’s workstation. I’m
happy to get that mystery solved. It was bugging me.”

One of Jada’s shoulders rose quickly and fell even faster.

Ian slogged onward. “I was disgusted that Sylvia’s plan was
to set up Mrs. Nell and let her take the blame for accepting the fake license.
I can’t believe anyone would do that to such a kind lady.”

“I don’t know,” Jada said, her voice low. “Sylvia knew
everyone would think Mrs. Nell simply made a mistake, which she does, a lot.
The worse thing that would happen to her would be forced retirement. And, let’s
face it, that might not be so bad a thing.”

“Okay, I can see that. I’m surprised that Sylvia did it for
so little money, though.”

Jada swung around to face him. “Five thousand dollars is not
a little money.”

“It’s not even close to a life-changing amount. She risked her
job and freedom for what ... less than a month’s salary?”

Jada snorted. “You think Sylvia makes that much? Not even
close, I bet. And she darned sure doesn’t actually take home five thousand
dollars a month. Ha! After insurance and taxes and all the other ways they
stick it to you when you can’t afford an accountant, she’s lucky to take home
three grand a month. And when you’re desperate to come up with enough to pay
rent or buy groceries for your children, even a hundred bucks can be a
life-changing amount of money.”

Ian knew he should back down, but her indignant tone irked
him. “Who’s condescending to who now?”

“You don’t get it, Ian.”

“And you do? When have you gone hungry? Not been able to pay
your bills?”

“That’s not the point. I grew up with these people. I know
them like ...” She sighed softly. “Never mind. It’s not your fault.” She took a
sip of coffee.

He watched her lips pucker around the rim of the cup. “Let’s
drop it and go back to what Sylvia told us, without passing judgment, either of
us.”

“Fine.”

“I thought the most interesting information she gave us was
that the mystery woman didn’t have the bribe money on her when she came to the
records department.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that,” Jada said.

“What do you think about it? What does it mean?”

“I’m surprised it was so complicated, actually. Sylvia
agreed to the deal, and accepted the fake license even after the woman admitted
she didn’t have the five thousand on her and said she’d have to go to a bank
for it. Then Sylvia texted her husband to call her at work and she pretended to
Mrs. Nell that the call was Sylvia’s kid’s school so she could leave for the
day. Then she went to a cafe to wait for the mystery woman to show up with the
money. It’s kind of crazy, when you think about it.”

“I have to admit, though, that I almost laughed when she
talked about slipping into the office the next morning to enter the license
into Mrs. Nell’s computer.”

“Oh, yeah, the part about how Mrs. Nell is always twenty
minutes late but claims she’s always on time, rain or shine. Good one,” Jada
said, a slight smile curving up the corners of her mouth.

Finally, Ian thought. A smile.

“On a different note,” Jada said, “who goes out planning to
bribe a clerk and doesn’t bring the money with them?”

“Good question.”

“My guess is that the mystery woman must not have gone to
the courthouse intending to bribe anyone, which would mean she thought the
bogus license looked good enough to be accepted without question.”

“It’s possible,” Ian said. “It doesn’t say much for the
intelligence level of whatever dimwit at CGTV created that obvious forgery.”

“There you go again. You’re all about the gossip channel, as
always,” Jada said, a frown returning to her face.

Damn. He’d screwed up. Why was she being so difficult? “Why
are you mad again?”

“Because you don’t take my suspect seriously. I know you
don’t.”

He wondered where she’d gotten that idea. “It’s not that. I
simply don’t agree with you. It doesn’t mean I don’t take you seriously.”

She gave him a long, steady look, then asked a question
which was more a statement than a query. “You really don’t know yourself, do
you?”

He didn’t understand what she meant. Of course he knew
himself. He couldn’t imagine why she’d think he didn’t.

Her phone chimed and she snatched it up. “It’s a text from
Marina. She wants me to call her. Oh, it’s over an hour old. Why am I getting
it so late? Oh, finally. She says she’s got news about Freya Volker.”

Ian hoped Marina’s news would put the issue of suspects
other than CGTV to rest for good.

Jada called her sister.

“Hey, Marina. I just got your text. Sorry, I—what? Okay,
I’ll shut up. Go ahead.”

Ian watched Marina’s face. Her expression went from interest
to mild surprise, to more surprise, to raised eyebrows. Ian wished she’d put
the call on speaker.

“Are you sure? Does it check out?” she asked, shedding
absolutely no light on the conversation.

More listening, more surprises. Her foot tapped the
floorboard as her knee bounced up and down.

Finally, her face lit up and she said, “I’m going to fill in
Ian then I’ll call you back for more details. Bye.”

She looked at Ian, dark eyes bright and shiny with
excitement. “Make sure Raul has the helicopter revved up. Pedal to the metal,
Ian. Let’s go. You drive, I’ll talk.”

He turned on the engine. “What’s this about?”

She was nearly bursting. “Marina talked to Freya Volker. We
need to return to the lake house.”

“Right now?” He backed the rental car out of the parking
space.

“Right now. You drive, I’ll talk.”

Her eagerness spilled over onto Ian. Adrenaline surged
inside him as he sped out into heavy traffic. “Off to the lake house then.”

MARINA MET JADA AND IAN on the porch. “I’m so glad you’re
finally here.”

Jada quickly hugged her sister. “You’ve done such a great
job.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“Sure we do,” Ian said, holding the front door open.

Jada and Marina rushed inside the house. After being out in
the real world for most of the day, Jada was struck anew by the splendor of the
lake house, both inside and out. Back down the rabbit hole, she thought.

“Where are they?” Jada asked.

“The large study down that wing,” Marina answered, pointing
to the right. “Before you go, though, do you have a minute to call Mom and
Dad?”

“You said you’d deal with them.”

“I know, and I have, but there was an incident at Smoky’s
Cafe.” Marina spoke quickly as they headed down the corridor. “A few people
recognized Mom and Dad, knew about what was going on with you, and started
staring and whispering. You know how stupid people can be.”

“Oh no,” Jada said.

“Oh yes. So Mom got snarky about the staring and pulled the
old schoolyard standard, ‘Why don’t you take a picture, it’ll last longer.’ And
one of the women said, ‘Thanks a lot! I’ll do that!’ Then she pulled out her
phone and took a quick shot of Mom and Dad.”

“Guess the old take-a-picture taunt has lost its punch these
days,” Jada said, noting a quick grin crossing Ian’s face.

“Exactly,” Marina said. “The woman plastered the picture all
over the internet, tagging it with your name, so it’s gone viral. Mom’s upset,
not because of the picture, but because she’s afraid you’ll think she was out
to ride your celebrity coattails. And that’s why she wants to talk to you, to
make sure you’re not mad.”

“That’s the most ridiculous—” Jada began, then paused for a
moment. “Call her and tell her that I don’t think she’s showing off, but that
I’m busy dealing with ... celebrity stuff. I’ll call her later.”

Marina looked like she wanted to argue, but she gave in.
“Okay. You really will have to call her, though. Promise you will.”

“Of course I will.”

They stopped outside the closed study door. Jada took a deep
breath and looked at Ian, who was perfectly calm and collected as usual.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded. “You sure you don’t mind us going in alone?” she
asked Marina.

“No. It’s best.
He
insisted that he stay, though.”

“I knew he would,” Ian said. “It’s okay.”

Marina shrugged. “If you say so. Good luck. I’m off to
Deb’s. I promised her she could give me a massage. Call me as soon as it’s
over.” She hugged Jada, then walked away.

Ian gestured at the door. “After you.”

Jada’s sweaty palm slipped on the doorknob. She and Ian
entered the cool, wood-paneled study. Ian closed the heavy door behind them and
flipped the lock.