Authors: Yvonne Harriott
“I see.”
He didn’t, but she went on anyway. “I’ve given this a lot of thought and I want you to be an equal partner.”
Curiosity flickered in his eyes nothing more.
“Set up the Security Consultant side of the business. Run it however you see fit with no interference from me.” He gave her a ‘yeah right look’. “Don’t give me an answer right now. Think about it.”
Jamie didn’t say anything for a long moment. He sat there staring at her and she knew he’d decided to leave. And why wouldn’t he? She had messed up big time.
No, she wasn’t going to let him go without a fight. She took one last run at him hoping to change his mind.
“I’m making you the offer because you deserve it not just because I don’t want you to leave. You’ve always been there for me and I guess I never realized how much I leaned on you until we started working with Beck. I trust you and want you to stay.”
A raised eyebrow was his only response. He was coming around. She could tell, but he was going to make her beg.
“You’re the closest thing I have to a best friend,” she continued. “You’re not going to make me go out and find another one, are you? You know, I don’t have time for that.”
“I couldn’t allow you to mess up some poor soul’s mind like you’ve done to me over the years.”
“Does that mean you’re staying?”
He cocked his head to one side and a slow smile settled on his face. “Do I get a raise?”
Screaming with excitement, she jumped out of the chair, ran around his desk to hug him.
“Alright, alright. No need to get mushy. Go sit down.” He pushed her away gently clearing his throat.
She dropped back in the chair with a big smile on her face. The smile slid from her face when Jamie asked, “Have you spoken to Beck today?”
The last time she’d spoken to Beck was at the hospital. Then she’d thrown herself into work pushing him out of her mind. Well, she tried to.
“No.” She hesitated. “Why?” She’d wanted to ask how Beck was doing. Wanted to know if he’d asked about her, but the only thing that came to mind was, “Did Melanie resurface?”
“Not in Beck’s network. The monitoring software has been rewritten and his team is testing it as we speak.”
“She actually published the source code on how she’d broken into Beck Security Systems on one of those
How to Hack
sites? Why would she do such a thing?”
Before she left the house, Markie had scanned the email update that Jamie had sent. The backdoor into Beck Security Systems Melanie had used to bypass the normal authentication and secure access undetected had been found.
“It’s a rush. You don’t think you’re going to get caught.”
“Are we still talking about Melanie or do I need to start worrying about you?”
Jamie laughed. “No more than usual. You know, it was actually Malcolm’s idea to start checking out those sites. I didn’t think she would be daring enough to do it. That’s how we were able to trace it back to her computer and eventually uncover her IP address. She may be good, but we’re better.”
“Too bad Malcolm is not here to get the credit.”
Markie could still see him on the floor in Melanie’s apartment with the gash on the back his head. She couldn’t image what his parents must be feeling right now. They were lucky Sydney made it out alive.
“Beck’s getting ready to leave for Texas,” Jamie said watching her.
“Oh,” was all she could think of to say.
Oh,
how original. She figured since Malcolm was from Texas that was probably where he would be buried.
“Want to grab some lunch and we can talk some more?”
“Lunch?” Markie looked at her watch. “It’s almost three.”
“Okay early dinner then.”
“Can’t, been on the go since this morning. I’m heading over to the hospital. Sydney said that she might be released today if all goes well with her test results. If that’s the case, I’m going to be off for a few days.”
“Say hi to Syd for me,” Jamie said.
“Will do,” Markie said as she headed for the door then turned around. “One more thing.” She filled him in on the visit with the Daniels’ and told him what O’Malley had told her about Booker.
“Booker is scum,” he spat.
“Tell me something I
don’t
know.” Jamie understood exactly what she meant.
A thoughtful expression settled on his face for a moment. “I put him in traction during a charity football game. His face broke into a smile. You know, the one the precinct used to do for that children’s charity.”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Booker screwed up and made a bad call. Two good police officers died and the bastard blamed my team. Said he received wrong information. Wrong information my eye. He was just coming off the lawsuit with you and he couldn’t be caught with his hand in the cookie jar again.”
“So that’s how you ended up on my doorstep,” she said rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
“Yeah,” he said looking almost apologetic. “I started out just wanting to piss Booker off. What better way than to rub it in his face. The two people that he hated the most teaming up together to build an empire.” He swept his hands around the room with a smile.
Markie threw back her head and laughed. It felt good to laugh. There hasn’t been much to laugh about lately. “I wouldn’t call it an empire.”
“You did one helleva job with Brooks Investigations. I’m proud to be a part of it. Having my name on the door doesn’t hurt either. Brooks and Wright Investigations. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you thing?”
“Mmm…”
“I know that look,” Jamie leaned forward, elbows on the desk watching her closely. “What are you thinking?”
“I’ll tell you later. Gotta run.”
Markie made a quick stop into her office and found the number for Michael Blake. She dialed.
When his voicemail kicked in, she said, “Hey Michael, it’s Markie. Hope you and Angela are doing well. Yes, it’s been a while,” she smiled into the phone, “we need to talk. Subject: Jeffrey Booker.”
• • •
Beck rubbed his eyes as he stepped off the airplane. They felt like he had sand in them. Forty-eight hours had passed since he had actually lain on a bed and slept. Yet sleep, was the furthest thing from his mind.
Malcolm’s funeral was over. His friend was gone. Dead. A senseless death. But when did death ever make sense? When his mother died, he could remember his father sobbing.
There were things he should have told his mother. Like thanking her for being there for him or even telling her he loved her instead of causing her grief. He figured he had time, but she got sick. Then she died and things were left unsaid.
Maybe there were things he should have told Malcolm as well. Who knows? Beck made his way out to the passenger pickup passing people, but not really seeing their faces.
Pulling out his cell phone, he sat down on one of the iron benches by the door and punched in the first number that came to mind.
“Marklynn Brooks.” When she answered his mind drew a blank. He didn’t even know why he called her or what he wanted say to her. He just wanted to hear her voice.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Malcolm was buried this morning,” he said before she hung up. “It was a small funeral.”
A minivan pulled up to the curb. The rear door opened. A man jumped out from the driver side, kissed the woman and the two little boys, then loaded the luggage sitting on the curb.
Marklynn was silent on the other end of the line and he rambled on. He never rambled. Didn’t need to, but he felt lost.
Alone.
“There is something about death, you know.” He watched the van drive off. “It can’t be undone. If you forget to…” His voice trailed off.
“Beck, where are you?” Concerned registered in her voice.
“Airport. I just flew in from Texas on the 6:00 pm flight. I left Boston last night. I was…I wanted to…”
“I’ll come and get you.”
He told her the airline. Half an hour later she drove up stopping in front of him. Tossing his small travel bag onto the back seat, he slid into the front passenger seat.
“You okay?”
“No.” He laid his head on the headrest, closed his eyes and fell into the sleep that had eluded him for the last two days.
• • •
“Hey, wake up.” Beck felt a warm hand on his cheek and woke with a start. “We’re here.”
He didn’t know where here was until he saw his building. Marklynn had stopped at the entrance of the underground parking lot of his condo. Reaching into his wallet, he took out the security card and handed it to her.
Watching her as she maneuvered her way through the under ground parking, he kept thinking he should say something. They hadn’t spoken since the fight at the hospital and yet when he called her she came and picked him up. Why? Again the thought occurred to him that he should say something, but he couldn’t think of anything. So he remained quiet.
She slipped her hands in his and they walked from the underground, to the elevators, then from the elevators to his unit, all in silence while his mind raced. He wanted the last three months of his life back. He wanted Malcolm to be alive and Sydney to be well again.
Gripping the woman’s hand that held his, he wanted them to go back to the last time they’d made love. But nothing would ever be the same again. It was the loss that shook him then isolation. It was more overpowering than when Marklynn released his hand to close the door of the condo.
At that moment, it didn’t matter that he couldn’t go back to the past, he just wanted to. He wanted to hear her laughter. He wanted to touch her, feel her body against his and hear her cry out his name in the height of passion.
“Want something to eat?” she asked looking at him. The concern that was shown on her face was also evident in her voice.
“No. I want to go to bed.” He held out his hand. She took it without hesitation and he lead her to the bedroom.
Unzipping the black jersey knit, he pushed it off her shoulders and down her body. It fell to the floor and she stepped out of it, and then kicked off her black pumps.
Beck sat on the bed and pulled her down on his lap. “Thank you for coming to get me. I didn’t think…”
“Shh.” She placed her finger on his lip. “I’m so sorry about Malcolm.”
He held her face in his hands and kissed her hard bruising her lips wanting to recapture what they had the last time they made love. She returned the kiss with the same feverish intensity, but something was missing between them.
He knew she felt it too.
• • •
The last time they were together it was playful and erotic. The way Beck kissed her was out of need and fear and loss.
She felt it too. That’s what had driven them to seek refuge in each other’s arms. When she had heard his voice on the phone, picking him up from the airport was the only thing to do.
She didn’t think they would end up in bed, not after the way things had ended between them at the hospital. He was hurting and she felt it in the way he held onto her like a drowning man.
He laid back on the bed taking her with him as he worked to get them in the center of the bed without letting her go. That was okay because she didn’t want to let him go either.
Pulling away for a moment, he discarded his clothes quickly and returned to her with the same urgency.
Skin to skin.
The roughness in the way he’d kissed her before was gone when he came to her again. Something else had taken its place. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. They were two people desperately trying to hold on to a fragile connection that had somehow developed between them and trying to keep it from slipping away. But it was too late.
Nothing would be the same between them. Yet they both wanted it to as they struggled to reach fulfillment. Murder had touched their souls and lies divided them. That was enough because there was no climax.
Beck collapsed on top of her his body drenched in sweat. Panting in the dark. No words were said as they both clung to each wondering what the next step was as sleep claimed them.
I
t was the vibration of Markie’s cell phone in her bag that pulled her from sleep the following morning. She turned her head towards the night table and glanced at the digital clock. It was 7:55 a.m.
Beck’s arm was draped across her waist. Slipping out of bed, trying not to wake him, she grabbed her handbag, clothing and headed for the bathroom. She flipped on the light switch, dropped her clothes on the marble counter then dug into her handbag for the phone.
“Marklynn Brooks,” she said with the phone tucked between her neck and ear as she started to dress.
“It’s the superintendant from Sydney’s building.”
“Yes.” Markie figured he was calling to tell her the window was fixed. She had asked him to notify her, but at this hour.
“I wanted to tell you that your sister is back just in case you didn’t know.”
Her hand paused as she was zipping up her dress. A million thoughts raced though her mind, but only one stuck.
Melanie Daniels. It had to be her.
“Did you see Sydney?” She asked her voice calm not wanting to alarm him. She didn’t want him confronting Melanie if indeed it was her. But Markie had no doubt that it was.
“No. The guys are here to replace the window, but I can’t get access to the unit because the chain lock is on. I knocked but she’s not answering. That’s why I called. Maybe something is wrong.”
He sounded concerned. Concerned enough to enter the apartment and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want him to get hurt. Killing had become second nature to Melanie. Markie didn’t want him added to Melanie’s body count.
“Sydney is in the hospital,” she said deciding to be honest with him.
“Who is in the unit?”
“Please don’t go back to the unit. I’m on my way.’
“What about the job?” He didn’t sound too pleased that he would have to reschedule. “It’s going to cost money to have them come back.”
“I’ll foot the bill. Look, I know it’s inconvenient for you, but if you could reschedule the window installation I would appreciate it. Thank you.”