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Authors: Janelle Taylor

Watching Amanda (25 page)

BOOK: Watching Amanda
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“We'll see ourselves out,” Ethan said, getting up.
“I can still go to the papers,” Tara said, rising. “I can still put the rumor out there and ruin his good name.”
Amanda turned to face Tara. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
The woman looked uneasy. “Go ahead. I don't have to answer.”
“Did you have a relationship with William Sedgwick?” Amanda asked.
The woman nodded. “I worked for the company that took care of all the plants at Sedgwick Enterprises. I was responsible for his floor. So I was watering the ficus tree in his office and he came up behind me and he asked if I knew who he was, and I said, ‘Yeah, you own the whole company.' And he asked if I wanted to sleep with the man who owned the whole company. At first I was taken aback—I mean, he was like thirty years older than I am, but he was a good-looking man and so powerful, and so we did it in his office bedroom.”
“His office bedroom?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I guess he worked such late hours that he slept there sometimes. Or maybe he just slept with women there. It was like a converted walk-in closet. But it had a full size bed and a stall shower. Anyway, every two weeks, when I came in to water the plants, I slept with him in the bedroom. And each time he had little gifts for me—expensive gifts. A heavy gold bracelet. Diamond stud earrings. They all turned out to be real.”
“So you were angry he didn't leave you money in his will?” Ethan asked.
“I was so surprised,” she said. “I thought I was special. I know, that sounds really stupid and cliché, but he made me feel like I was his special little treat. He was probably sleeping with every female employee in that back bedroom.”
“I'm sorry he hurt you,” Amanda said. “But even though he didn't leave you anything, you have a healthy child and your youth and your entire life before you. You can do anything. I've learned that's all that really matters.”
“That's because your last name is Sedgwick and you can talk when you're rich as hell,” Tara said.
Lucy came into the room, holding a doll and a brush. “Mommy, dolly's hair is all knotted. Can you help me?”
“Sure, sugar plum,” Tara said. “I thought you were seeing yourselves out,” she added to Amanda and Ethan.
Amanda smiled at the little girl and she and Ethan left, running down the stairs and out the door as fast as they could.
“I don't want to meet another person my father knew,” Amanda said. “I've had more than enough. I've learned a little too much about my dear old dad.”
Ethan slung his arm around Amanda's shoulder. “Let's go home.”
She glanced at him and nodded.
CHAPTER 26
“I'm so glad you're home,” Lettie said when Amanda and Ethan came through the door of the brownstone. Tommy was sleeping in the playpen, his breathing just slightly labored, and Lettie looked nervous.
“Lettie, what it is?” Amanda asked, her heart racing. “Is Tommy okay?”
“Tommy's fine. He's got a slight fever, but he drank a little milk and ate some banana.”
“Lettie, what happened?” Amanda asked, putting steadying hands on Lettie's shoulders.
“I think someone tried to break in!” Lettie said. “I kept hearing jiggling downstairs. I was afraid to go down there and look, so for a while I stayed upstairs in your room with Tommy with the door locked. I wasn't sure if I was hearing things, or if it was the wind or what, and I didn't want to call you unnecessarily. Maybe it was just the wind that knocked down a branch and it was banging against the window.”
“That's probably what it was,” Amanda said. “I'm sorry you had such a scare.”
“You know unfamiliar houses,” Lettie said. “Always making noises. I'm so used to my own apartment. I'm probably just making a big to-do over nothing.”
Amanda hugged Lettie. “Why don't I make you a cup of tea?”
Lettie smiled. “No thanks, dear. I'd better get going. I have some shopping to do. My bridge group is meeting tonight.”
Ethan took Lettie's coat from the rack and helped her into it. “Come, Lettie. I'll hail you a cab.” He persisted, despite Lettie's assurances that she was all right. He gestured for Amanda to lock up behind him. He was gone for just a few minutes, then knocked. “It's me.”
Amanda opened the door, and there he was, filling the doorway, her gorgeous Ethan with his dark eyes and beautiful mouth and all she wanted was to collapse in his arms. “It was wrong of me to leave Lettie here alone with Tommy when I knew someone out there is trying to kill me. What if he or she had gotten in? Lettie could have gotten killed. Tommy could have been killed or kidnapped. What the hell was I thinking?”
“I wasn't thinking either,” Ethan said. “We got lucky. Very lucky.” He threw his notebook against the wall. “Dammit! Who the hell is it?”
Amanda took a deep breath. “Ethan, what if we don't find out before the month is up. Then what?”
He held her gaze. “I would never leave you in jeopardy, Amanda. Never.”
“I'm sorry, Ethan,” she said. “I know you want to go home. I know being here, in this city, must be so hard for you. I know what you're going through for me.”
He turned away for a moment so that she wouldn't see the expression was on his face. Even if he wasn't quite ready to admit how he felt, she would know from his expression that he was in love.
“I don't want Olivia's and Ivy's mothers to be the ones,” Amanda said. “I couldn't bear that for my sisters. And I don't want it to be Paul. I couldn't bear that for Tommy. Is it Clara? Is it one of my father's lady friends? Is it someone we haven't even suspected?”
“I wish I knew, Amanda. And not because I want to run away from you. I want to know because I want you safe. I want to go to bed every night knowing you're safe.”
I want to go to bed with you every night.
“Oh, Ethan,” she said, closing the gap between them.
The doorbell rang before she could do whatever she was about to do, which was wrap her arms around him. Paul stood there.
“I tried calling, but no one answered,” he said. “I was scared that that meant you'd taken Tommy back to the hospital. Is he okay?”
Amanda nodded. “He's sleeping now, but he seems to be on the mend.”
Paul glanced past Amanda, and when his gaze landed on Ethan's, Amanda noticed Paul's entire body stiffen. “He's always here,” Paul whispered. “I feel like I'll never get a chance to be alone with you. I want us to get to know each other again. As these new people we've become.”
Amanda smiled, her stomach twisting. “I know, Paul. It's just the terms of the will—”
“You don't have to explain,” he said. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't be whining about our relationship when our son is so ill. I'm being very selfish.” He lowered his voice. “It's just that you're all I can think about, Amanda. You and Tommy and me as a family.” She was sure she saw tears glistening in his eyes. He glanced away sharply, and she knew he was embarrassed.
Oh Paul. Why does this have to be so confusing?
“How about a quick cup of coffee,” she said, touching his arm.
He smiled. “That would be great.”
When she turned around, Ethan was gone. She glanced upstairs in time to see the door to the white bedroom closing. Not all the way of course. It was left slightly ajar. Ethan trusted no one.
She felt Paul's hands on her shoulders. He stood behind her and gave her tired muscles a gentle squeeze. “I'll go start the coffee. Why don't you relax in the living room.”
Relax. Right.
She dropped down on the antique chair. Now wasn't the time to sit anywhere where he could sit directly next to her. He would start touching her, and she had no idea where it would lead.
In a few minutes he joined her in the living room. “Coffee's brewing. I also brought you some cookies,” he said, “just in case you need a sugar boost.”
Amanda stared at the bag of Milanos, the very ones Ethan had set out for her after the first attempt on her life.
“You look tired,” Paul said. “I wish I could erase that worried expression in your eyes.”
“I'm okay,” she said. “But thanks. I really appreciate all you're doing.”
“The coffee's probably ready. You sit. Let me get it. One sugar and a little milk, right?”
She smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”
He brought the coffee, which they drank in companionable silence. The entire time Paul didn't so much as touch her. He offered her another cup of coffee, and when she said she was too wired, he collected their cups, brought them to the kitchen, washed them, dried them and put them back in the cupboard. “I'll let you get some rest,” he said. “Could I stop by tomorrow to see Tommy?”
She smiled. “How about on your lunch hour?” Amanda suggested. “Tommy usually wakes from his morning nap around one o'clock.”
“Perfect,” Paul said. “It's a date.”
A date.
She closed the door and glanced up at Ethan's bedroom door, hoping it would swing open and he'd come out so that they could finish their conversation.
But the door closed all the way.
 
Ethan decided to fill his head with research on William Sedgwick to keep thoughts of Amanda and Paul out. He sat at the desk, his laptop open to a search engine, and he glanced out the window at the early evening sky. Across the street there were Christmas lights in some windows. He could see a tree with a star atop it, in the window of the brownstone diagonally across from them.
He drew the white curtains and forced his attention back to the laptop. He typed in
William Sedgwick and child
, then hit enter.
He scrolled through entries that didn't relate as usual, his eyes looking for anything that might jump out. Nothing he hadn't seen before. He then did the same for search engines of the three major New York City papers. Nothing.
Damn!
Ethan muttered, slamming the long desk drawer with his booted foot.
The drawer popped open, and Ethan slammed it closed with such force that it popped open again.
There was a piece of paper in it, folded in half. The name
Karen Anderson
was written on it.
Amanda came running up the stairs and knocked. “Ethan? Are you all right? What's all that banging?”
“Hold on a sec,” he called, “it was just the desk drawer.” He grabbed the paper, an ordinary piece of white unlined bond paper and left the room. Amanda waited outside. “I found this inside the desk drawer.” He handed it to Amanda.
She glanced at it. “It's my father's handwriting.
‘Dear Karen,” she read. “Sorry doesn't even begin to cover what I've done. I know I hurt you. I know I should have left you alone. But you're so beautiful and I'm so weak. I know you want to believe that the baby you're carrying is mine. But it's not. I'm very sorry. I know you want some fairy tale ending where I ask you to marry me. But that can't be. I'm not the father of your baby. I can't be. Please forgive me. I know what a delicate flower you are, and I should have left you alone. My best, William.”
“Wait here,” Ethan said. “I want to check something.” He ran back inside the white room and typed
Karen Anderson and child
into a search engine. It was such a common name that thousands of entries came up. Ethan added the name
Sedgwick
into the mix. One entry came up.
May 3, 1984 ... Anderson, Karen, thirty, of Brooklyn, died unexpectedly Thursday night in her home. A household staff member of William Sedgwick, the New York City entrepreneur, Anderson is survived by month-old daughter, Willa... .
The air whoosed out of Ethan's lungs. He grabbed his laptop and rushed out to the landing. “Read this obituary,” he told Amanda.
As she did, the blood drained from her face. “It sounds like she commited suicide. Do you think she did it because of the note he left her? Her baby was only a month old. Oh God, Ethan.”
He typed Willa Anderson into the online white pages. His stomach rolled. Willa Anderson lived practically around the corner, on Broadway between Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth.
“Maybe it's a coincidence,” Ethan said. “And maybe she's been waiting her entire life to make her move. Maybe she's heard her entire life that her mother killed herself because her employer, Willa's father, wouldn't marry her, wouldn't acknowledge their baby. Maybe Willa expected to be remembered in the will. Maybe she wants this house just the way Kevin Fanwell did.”
“It's such a horrible story,” Amanda said. “I hate it! Why did my father have to be so careless with people's lives? How dare he?”
Ethan put his arm around Amanda's shoulder. “I need you to stay strong. We've come this far, okay? We'll go sniff around Willa's building and learn what we can about her when Tommy's well enough to stay at Lettie's or Jenny's for the day.”
She took a deep breath and shook her head. “We can't wait, Ethan. Go check her out now, before it gets too dark. I'll be okay here. The windows and doors are all locked. I'll keep my cell phone in my pocket at all times. If I hear a single jiggle, I'll call 911.”
“No, I'm not leaving you here alone.”
“Go, Ethan. You'll save me by leaving me.”
He looked into her eyes. She was serious, adamant. “If something happens to you, Amanda—”
“I've got the phone,” she interrupted. “I've got your baseball bat. I've got double locks. No one is getting in here.”
“I'll never forgive myself if something happens to you.”
“Ethan, she lives around the corner. You'll do some fast talking, get some info, nose around, and you'll be back in, say, no more than an hour.”
“Come downstairs with me,” he said. “I want to hear you locking the door and the deadbolt when I'm outside.”
She touched his arm. “Okay.”
At the door, he looked at her, then gently pulled her to him and kissed her. He took one last look and then rushed off into the gathering dark.
 
It was still oddly warm for December, and Ethan tried to unzip his heavy leather jacket as he hurried up the block. “Zipper's stuck,” he muttered, jabbing at the tiny silver tab. He fought with the stupid thing, then began shrugging out of his coat. His thick wool sweater was all he needed.
The moment he went to pull his arms free of his coat, he was jumped. Someone had grabbed him from the side, as though he'd been lurking between the parked cars and waiting for him. He felt something crash against his head, and everything went black for a moment. He saw a flash of white and his legs gave out.
“Take my money,” Ethan barely managed to croak out, spitting out blood. “My wallet's full of cash. Just let me get on my way.”
“You're not going anywhere, you bastard,” said a voice he recognized too well.
Something heavy came down hard again on his head, and his face hit the concrete. Blood dripped over his forehead, down his eyes, down his cheeks and mingled with the blood in his mouth.
He tried to speak, but couldn't.
Get up
, he told himself as the light in his mind started flickering.
Up ...
BOOK: Watching Amanda
10.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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