Not What She Seems (11 page)

“Thank you, I will.” Steven walked across the library, sat down at the computer, and clicked on the newspaper icon. He typed in ‘Emily Grant’ and hit the search button. Two articles appeared. The first article was announcing her engagement to William. He clicked on the second one.

On the front page, in large letters it said, ‘William Grant Brutally Murdered, Emily Grant Wanted for Questioning’. Skimming the article, he realized it would be helpful to print a copy to keep. He walked over to the front desk, feeling bad for bothering the librarian yet again.

“Yes?”

“Can I print an article?”

“Sure, just click on the printer icon at the top. Each printout costs twenty five cents.”

After he had printed the article, he folded it and put it in his back pocket. He went back to the search results to read the other article. The engagement announcement had quite a lengthy story about William. The article didn’t mention much about Emily, but he printed it out also, as it had a good photograph of her, and it mentioned her parents’ names.

Steven finished at the computer and paid for his printouts. The librarian flashed a smile at him, and he waved to her as he left. An idea hit him as he slid into the leather seat of his rental car. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his personal assistant’s number.

“Elena, I need you to do something for me. I need the phone number of a good private investigator.”

“Sure, Mr. Ashton.
I’ll get right on it.”

“Thanks. Call me on my cell when you have it.”

After obtaining the name and number, Steven placed the call.

“This is Gerald.” The voice was deep and melodic. From the way he answered the phone Steven could tell he was a ‘get to the point’ kind of guy.

Steven explained his situation, and asked him if it was possible to find someone who was most likely on the run and didn’t want to be found. Gerald asked him a few questions, and by the time they were done talking Steven had convinced him to fly out to
Huntington
to start on Emily’s trail. The phrase ‘money is no object’ seemed to work wonders.

He pulled out the articles he had printed, scanning them over. Something gnawed at him. Emily told him her parents died in Stapleton. There should have been a news article about it.

Mildly embarrassed, he entered the library once more, and sat down at the computer. He scanned the wedding announcement and copied Emily’s parent’s names into the computer.

One article came up. It read, ‘Margaret and Joseph Carrington Die in Botched Burglary’. He read the whole thing, but it didn’t mention Emily once.

Frustrated, he typed in ‘Richard Hamilton’ and clicked the search button. If he couldn’t find out anything else through her parents, maybe searching her old boyfriend would help. At least he didn’t want to leave empty handed. One article came up, but it looked irrelevant. Steven clicked on it anyway.

‘Thousands Stolen from Mona Hamilton’ was the headline. Steven skimmed the article, ignoring the large photograph. ‘Mona Hamilton, a long time resident of Stapleton, reported fifty thousand dollars cash stolen from the safe in her home on
East London Drive
.’ “I was on vacation when the house was robbed,” Mona stated.

Steven went to close the article, when he glanced at the photo of the elderly woman and her grandson. A chill ran up his spine. The man with long hair hanging in his eyes stared at him from the computer screen. He had seen this man before, he knew it. ‘Mona and her grandson, Richard’ read the caption under the photo.

Panic clenched his stomach tight. He had seen this man hanging around the Downtown Café. This was the creep that stood outside the Laundromat the day he had asked Emily to lunch. Emily was being stalked by her high school boyfriend, Richard Hamilton.

******

Richard sat in his black sedan, waiting for the sun to set and watching Steven Ashton’s apartment. The car he stole yesterday filled with smoke as he lit a cigarette and took a drag. His fingers were frozen but he didn’t care. The fire that burned inside of him kept him warm.

Dark shadows crept over the apartment building. Steven’s truck was still gone. It was time.

Grabbing a crowbar and a flashlight, he walked around to the back of Steven’s building. He located the back window, removed the screen, and pushed on the glass. It opened inward a few inches, and then stopped against the metal hinge. One tap with his crowbar and the hinge broke, allowing the window to open all the way. He climbed in without a sound.

Rifling through Steven’s things, he picked up several papers to examine them. They weren’t important. The laptop caught his eye, and he opened it and pushed the power button. His foot made a tapping noise on the linoleum as he waited for the computer. A few clicks of the mouse revealed Steven’s searches for Stapleton in the Internet history. He knew it. Steven was going to lead him right to Emily.

Clicking on Steven’s favorites, he scrolled down to his web mail account. Signing in was easy. In the box labeled “Account” he typed the letter S. ‘Steven576’ appeared under the box, the auto-fill feature helping him sign in. The password must have been automatically stored on the computer, for the box below filled in with seven dots.

After scrolling through Steven’s email and not seeing anything helpful, he clicked on ‘Account Details’. If he could get the password, he could check Steven’s emails from any computer. He clicked on ‘change the password’ to see if that worked, but it wouldn’t let him in without entering the current one. He signed out and clicked “I forgot my password.” The words ‘Your password has been emailed to your other account’ appeared on the screen. After a few minutes of searching, he opened Outlook Express, which automatically signed him in. The email with Steven’s password waited in the inbox.

******

Steven couldn’t think as he pulled his rental car onto the highway. Emily was in terrible trouble. Richard could have kidnapped her. Horrible images flashed through his mind as he drove. He pulled over to the shoulder, and picked up his phone.

 “Gerald, it’s me, Steven. Look, I need you to get some information on a Richard Hamilton. He’s from
Stapleton
,
Minnesota
, and I think he’s connected to all of this somehow.”

“Sure, let me do some digging and I’ll phone you back as soon as I find out something about him.” Gerald’s deep voice was reassuring.

“Thank you.” Steven snapped his phone shut. His pulse quickened as he thought of Emily and Connor in possible danger. Helplessness was not a feeling he was well acquainted with. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel.

The image of Richard standing on the street corner smoking his cigarette flashed into his mind. There was something about that image that was bothering him, but he couldn’t quite place it. He sighed and stepped on the gas, anxious to get back to the airport.

It was only a thirty minute drive to
Minneapolis
, but the road seemed to stretch out forever. The sound of his cell phone brought him out of his thoughts.

“Steven,
it’s
Gerald. This Richard Hamilton is quite the character. He’s wanted for theft, grand larceny, and fraud in four different states. His grandmother was robbed several years ago and I strongly suspect he had something to do with it. And here’s the clincher. Over the past several years he’s been seen traveling with a blonde and a child matching the description of Emily and her son.” Steven felt sick.

“Thank you, Gerald. I’ll call you if I need anything else.” He hung up the phone and tried to swallow but his throat was too tight. The cigarettes in Emily’s car, the feeling of someone in her apartment, it all started to make sense. Richard wasn’t stalking Emily.
Richard and Emily were together.

******

Steven sat back in his chair as his private jet took off. He told his pilot to change the flight plans; he wanted to go back to
New York
. It didn’t matter that he had left his things at his apartment in
Huntington
. He didn’t want to go back there where everything would remind him of Emily.

He ran his fingers through his hair. The details kept running through his head. Emily was with Richard. Then why was Richard following her? And if she were with Richard, why had she agreed to go out with him? Things were not adding up. He put his head in his hands and rested his elbows on his knees.

Emily and Richard were thieves. The thought occurred to him that perhaps they had planned the murder of William Grant. William was wealthy after all. Then it dawned on him why she had gone out with him. Emily knew who he was. She
had
recognized him in the hotel, and they followed him from
Nevada
. This was all about his money, he thought bitterly. The realization slapped him hard, and he clenched his jaw.

He almost laughed when he thought of how stupid he had been. She’d lied to him about everything. Pain seared through him. Questions kept floating through his mind. How could she have done that? How could he have been so naive, to fall for another conniving woman? Didn’t he learn anything from going out with
Bailee
?

He buried all thoughts of Emily as his jet landed in
New York
. He didn’t call Rose, knowing that he was too upset to talk about it. Utterly exhausted, he had his driver take him to his penthouse condo where he went straight to bed.

Chapter Thirteen

Steven woke up with a knot in his stomach and a dull headache. He took a hot shower, hoping it would clear his head. It didn’t. He cut his face while shaving, because he wasn’t concentrating. Eating breakfast was out of the question. He could barely stand the sight of food.

He left for his office. There was always plenty of work to do, and Steven knew he could forget almost anything if he buried himself in his business.

Not too long after he got to his office, Alex, his longtime friend and business partner, popped his head in. He wore his red hair short and spiked, like he used to when he was a kid, and he still had boyish freckles on his face.

“You’re back,” he said, stating the obvious. “How was your trip?”

“Fine.”
Steven held his breath, hoping that would be enough.

“Your father mentioned something about a girl you’ve been seeing. Is there something you want to tell me?” Grinning, he raised one of his eyebrows. Steven sighed, and rubbed his temples. His headache was getting worse.

“I’m not seeing her anymore.”

“Oh, sorry.”
Alex looked as if he had just swallowed a live frog.

“No problem,” Steven mumbled, hoping he would leave him alone now.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to work. I just wanted to say welcome back.” He tossed Steven a half-hearted wave, and disappeared around the corner.

The intercom beeped, and his secretary’s voice came through. “Sorry to bother you, sir, but Ronald
Cohan
is on hold for you on line three. He’s insisting to speak with you.”

“Who?”

“Ronald
Cohan
, the news reporter.”

“Take a message.”

“I already tried, but he won’t take no for an answer.”

“All right, I’ll handle it. Thank you, Annette.” He picked up the phone and jabbed his finger on the button by the blinking light. “Listen, I know you are just trying to do your job, and I applaud you for your persistence, but I have no comment for you.”

“Mr. Ashton–”

“I will only say this one more time, Mr.
Cohan
. I have nothing to say to you.”

“I just called because you have been voted number one in the top ten most eligible bachelors in
New York
. There’s a ceremony and photo shoot on December fifteenth. I’ve been leaving messages but haven’t heard back from you and we need to know if you’ll be there.”

Steven felt heat rush to his face. He mumbled an apology and promised Ronald that he would be there. After he hung up the phone he paced in front of his large office window overlooking
Central Park
. He wondered what the odds were of a meteorite falling on top of him before the fifteenth.

******

Emily tried unsuccessfully to calm Connor down as he ran through the small home.

“I’ll need a five hundred dollar deposit and a month’s rent up front.” The frumpish landlady folded her arms across her large chest and made a huffing noise.

“Will you take a starter check?” Emily chewed on her thumbnail.

“Well…” She frowned, and rubbed the hair growing on her upper lip. Just when Emily thought she was going to refuse, she said, “All right.”