Under His Cover-nook (16 page)

“Call me back as soon as you know something. Tell them you’re her brother, her cousin, her bodyguard, I don’t care. Don’t leave her side if you don’t have to. I’m on my way.”

He encircled the phone with a tight fist and drew his knuckles toward his mouth, biting down. Jade pulled his hand away.

“Jesus, Rhys what is it?
What
?”

Pain radiated from his chest and his limbs shook. Rhys didn’t know his body was capable of anything at that moment. Sure, he’d lost his father, but this was different. Maya was only a baby, a child. His heart ached. Helplessness wrenched through him. It was his job to protect Maya but there was nothing he could do. He’d thought he was being proactive by hiring Jade and just this morning, getting Cade to watch over her, but it had all been for nothing. He’d run out of time.

“It’s Maya. She was victim of a hit and run.”

Jade took his hand in between hers. “Oh, Rhys. I’m so sorry. Is she okay? She’s not…”

He stared down at their linked fingers. Again, just like at the aquarium, he almost couldn’t tell where his stopped and hers began, the connection between them was so powerful. He was so cold inside and the warmth of her touch almost soothed him. Almost. He shook his head. “No. She’s on her way to the hospital now. It only happened about few minutes ago. That was my friend, Cade. I’d sent him to watch over her.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

He reached inside his inner pocket and gave her the envelope he’d received earlier that morning. When she opened it, she gasped and dropped her hand to her lap. “You didn’t want to worry me.”

Rhys covered her hand with his, relieved she understood and told her what he’d done.

“But I could have helped. It’s what you hired me for. You should have said something.”

A heavy sigh escaped as his stomach twisted in knots. “I know. It was a knee-jerk reaction. It would have taken you time to get someone there to protect her. Cade is already there on another case. I knew he could get to her quick, but even then, I was still too late.” He snatched the envelope away from her and tossed it across the interior of the car to the other seat. “They probably timed the delivery, knew they were going to go for her this morning before I had time to do anything, to warn her.”

“Probably,” Jade said in a quiet voice.

When the car pulled up to the curb in front of their departure entrance, he took her hands in his. “Look. I have to get there. I need to call her mother. Can you find a flight and get back to Memphis by yourself?”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No.” Rhys wanted to tell her so badly the truth about Maya’s birth, but he wanted to reassure himself that Maya was okay, talk to her first, ask her mother. It was the one thing they’d promised each other years ago. They wouldn’t tell anyone the truth about Maya unless they both agreed to it.

He hadn’t ever broken that promise. Even though his love for Jade ran deep, he couldn’t tell her just yet. He knew once he talked to Maya and her mother about it and they understood his plans and his future with Jade, they’d readily agree. But he wanted to get their permission first.

He sat with her, forehead to forehead, and she stiffened under his touch. She was angry, but he didn’t have time to deal with it right now. “As soon as I find out something I’ll call you.”

Jade pulled back, her lips thin. Why didn’t he want her there with him? “Sure. It’ll give me a chance to comb through the background files one of my partners should have ready for me by now. Hopefully by the time you find out something about Maya, I’ll have figured out who’s responsible for this.”

The driver opened the door, and they both slid out. He hugged her to him, then they retreated inside the airport and checked in. Because he was leaving from a private chartered flight, they parted ways at the security check point.

“I promise I’ll call you as soon as I know something,” he said.

“And I’ll have news for you when you do.”

It had been two days and Rhys still hadn’t contacted her. She had to force herself not to pick up her cell phone to see if she had a missed call or message. Why hadn’t he called? Were Maya’s injuries worse than predicted? Or, was she not important enough to know? She shook the feelings away and spread the files out on the large conference room table in his office. With a set jaw, she methodically scanned each file. The answer was here somewhere. She knew it. After they’d departed ways at the airport so he could fly to Fayetteville to see Maya, Jade had called Nicole to make sure her files were ready. As soon as she landed, she’d swung by Private Jane Inc. and picked up the first set of background checks her co-worker had run.

This morning, she’d picked up the last set. It would take her hours to comb through them all, but for Rhys and Maya she’d do it. Even if she was upset with him for not telling her about the note to begin with, even if he was ashamed to be photographed with her. What was going on with them personally didn’t matter right now. Only Maya.

How had it gotten so dangerous this quickly? In one week it had gone from letters and threats to a hit and run. God, Jade hoped Maya was okay. She could only watch as blood drained out of Rhys’ face, and the horror of what happened sank in.

Now, it was up to her to figure out who in the hell was doing this. Her hands flat on the table, she stood over the desk and scanned the thirty or so files and decided to put them in order of who had the most power down to who had the least. In her experience, it was always usually some powerful bigwig who resorted to such measures to get what they wanted. She just needed to figure out what it was and why. Surely hurting Rhys by killing Maya accomplished nothing, unless it was merely revenge. But if it was just that, why not try to kill Rhys instead? Why torture him with these letters first? Why bring an innocent child into it who no one even knew about?

Whoever it was could have easily blackmailed Rhys to keep silent or even tried to kidnap Maya. But obviously, it wasn’t about the money. They could have asked for that in piles weeks ago and Rhys would have paid it and wouldn’t have had to resort to hiring Private Jane Inc. to figure out who it was.

It wasn’t any of the scenarios she’d originally come up with. It wasn’t an old female acquaintance looking for revenge. It wasn’t some other personal connection.

The only thing left was work. Someone in this stack of files had to be sending the letters.

After she rearranged the files, she plucked the top from the list. The slimy senate pro-tem. Outside of a few fixed parking and speeding tickets and a small penchant for paying to see twenty-year-olds in strip clubs, Jade didn’t think Senator Franklin was her man.

“Hello?” she heard from the other room.

Jade walked quickly through the adjoining door and closed it. No one needed to be in Rhys’ office, especially when she had a file on half the people who worked in this building sitting on his conference table. “Hey, Cecily. Can I help you?”

“Oh, no. I heard that the lieutenant governor had to leave town for an emergency. Family business?”

Jade paused. Something was off about Cecily’s expression. “I’m not sure. He really didn’t have a chance to tell me. He’s supposed to call later.” She didn’t admit that later should have been forty-eight hours ago.

“Well, I just came in to see if there was anything I…I mean Senator Franklin or I could do, and I came by to pick up the latest round of pardon approvals. Since Rhys is gone, the governor asked the senator to look at them instead.” She took a step toward Jade’s desk.

“Oh good,” Jade said, rummaging around on her desk. “Here they are. That’s one less thing Rhys has to worry about.”

Cecily took the files, tucking them to her chest. “You’re staying for the watch party this evening, aren’t you?”

Crap. Jade had forgotten. The city was voting on a new sales tax the governor had put his support behind, and they were having a watch party to see the results roll in. “Yes. I’ll stop by to show my face, at least.”

“Excellent.” She walked toward the exit and shifted the bundle in her arms. “Again, if you need my help, just let me know,” and gave a little wave then left, closing the door behind her.

Who cared about whether or not some low-life criminals received a pardon? As far as she was concerned they were exactly where they were supposed to be. In jail.

Jade shook her head. These files have been sitting on Rhys’ desks for weeks, even before she started working for him.  His secretary had left her a note that the files were due back on the Governor’s desk by the end of November. Even though it was ultimately the governor’s decision if someone was pardoned for their crimes or not, Rhys confided to her that he always gave them to Rhys first to get his opinion. Nine times out of ten, he agreed with what Rhys suggested and took it from there.

Jade had sifted through them out of sheer nosiness to see who the prisoners were who were asking to be set free despite the crimes they’d committed. Off the top of her head, she remembered there were two murderers, some guy who’d robbed a bank where a teller got shot, and a couple of repeat offenders who’d exhausted their three strikes and were sent to jail without the possibility of parole. But she didn’t have time for that now, nor did Rhys so she was glad Cecily had come by to pick them up. Let Senator Franklin worry about those lowly criminals, and Rhys could spend some time with his daughter and make sure she was safe.

Despite the fact he hadn’t called, she still had a job to do, so she went back to his office to continue looking over the background checks. Next was Jack Carmichael, a man so squeaky clean she could probably wash her hands with his file. She’d never run across anybody that good before, but obviously there was at least one person, other than Rhys, who wasn’t a backstabbing political cutthroat. As far as she could tell, he didn’t cheat on his wife, had no secret penchants, and paid his taxes on time.

Jade moved through the pile methodically until way after it was time for her to leave.  She only had about fifteen or so files left to go and she’d come up with nothing. Not one single person had something in their history connecting them to Rhys, which would give them a reason to get back at him by harming Maya. It was down to the directors and the secretarial pool. She was having doubts about her career choice. 

Because it was getting so late, she put the folders she’d finished in a cabinet she could lock in Rhys’ office, then made a pile of the ones left and stuck them in her shoulder bag to take home.

Jade moved around the periphery of the ballroom, smiling and speaking to people as she did so, and mentally going through the files she’d absorbed about so many of the individuals standing around her. She was sure they’d be surprised to know she knew so much personal information about them.

Cecily stopped her as she rounded a table.

“Hi, Jade. This is my husband, Douglas Davis.”

Jade smiled. Double D. She wondered if he ever got teased in grade school about that.

“Honey, this is Jade. She’s working temporarily in Rhys’ office while his secretary is out on maternity leave.”

Jade stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Douglas.”

He took her hand in both of his, a wry grin on his face. “Oh, please, call me Dewayne. I don’t know why she always introduces me as Douglas. She knows I hate it, and no one calls me that.”

A memory swam around the recesses of Jade’s mind. “Douglas Dewayne Davis,” she asked.

He nodded his head, smiling. “Yep. Triple D. Both my mom and my dad’s names begin with D, so they made sure all their kids names started with D too.” He lightly elbowed Jade in her arm and winked at her. “I got teased terribly when I was a kid about those two D’s, if you know what I mean.”

Jade saw a moment of shock slide over Cecily’s face. “Oh, honey, don’t tell her that.” But she saw something else on her face too. Wariness, worry…suspicion.

They’d just announced that the polls were now closed. The band began to play, and several couples moved onto the dance floor while others moved to the buffet tables that just opened.

“You two go ahead and enjoy yourselves,” she said and pulled her office keys out of the small pocket of her jacket. “I need to run up to my office for a minute.

Cecily grabbed her arm and pulled. “Don’t tell me you can’t take a few minutes away to celebrate. Rhys never kept his secretary that busy.”

“No. There’s a file I need to take a look at. I won’t be long.”

Jade watched Cecily and her husband walk away, glanced around to make sure no one saw her, and slipped out of the room and down the marble hallway.

She pulled out her cell phone and groaned when saw she had a missed call and a text from Rhys telling her he was on his way back from Fayetteville. She glanced at the time. He’d called her almost immediately after she’d walked into the party. The noise in the room masked his call. He should be landing any second now if he hadn’t already. But when she tried to return the call, his voice came over the line, and she only got his voicemail.

“Hey, Rhys. I think I’ve figured it out. I think I know who’s been sending you the letters. I’m on my way upstairs to Senator Franklin’s office. Call me as soon as you get this message.”

She hung up the phone and held back a scream. All this time and it had been right in front of her face on her damn desk before they left for Nashville, at least until she’d handed the pardon files over to Cecily. No wonder she’d come into the office that day anxious to get her hands on them. All of it had been put in play just to get Rhys out of town and out of the way so the senator could make the decision about who should be pardoned.

As soon as she got on the elevator and the doors closed, her phone rang. “Rhys?”

But all she heard on the other end was muffled static. “Rhys? Can you hear me?”

The line went dead, and she had to wait another three flights to get to the floor she wanted to be on. When she got off, her phone signaled a voicemail message. The hallway was eerily quiet since everyone was downstairs for the celebration. Senator Franklin’s office was easy to find. With Rhys’ keys, she had a master that allowed her to get into any office in the building, aside from the governor’s. She decided to wait and call Rhys as soon as she found the evidence.