“Stitches, concussions, broken bones, cracked ribs, fractured wrist, you name it, and she’s had it. Why in the hell would she stay with a man like that?”
“You know as well I do that some women come up with all sorts of reasons to justify the abuse and somehow it’s always their fault. His supper was late or she forgot to renew his newspaper subscription. You know the drill, Syd.”
Sydney shook her head again. “It has to be more than that. He must have something on her. The woman I knew would never put up with this.”
“You haven’t seen her for almost thirteen-years. People change.”
Sydney’s anger was almost to the boiling point. “That son of a bitch. I’d like to see him do that to me,” she spat, tossing the photos on the coffee table. “What about Caitlyn and Alyssa?”
“From what I can tell, he doesn’t lay a hand on the girls, just their mother.”
“He’s not Caitlyn’s biological father but I think if he were abusing her I would have seen the signs.”
“Not necessarily. There are more ways to inflict abuse on a person besides physical. He’s definitely a real piece of work. Take a look at this,” Jackie said and handed Sydney two documents.
Sydney scanned the documents. “I don’t understand, what is this?” she asked.
“Well, after I found the hospital records, I had a friend of mine in D.C. do a little deep digging for me. Seems that Mr. Eddie Ashburn isn’t who he claims to be.”
“Do tell,” Sydney said with a smile.
“Edward Ashburn, born June 16
th
, 1964 in Scottsdale, Arizona died at childbirth.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope,” Jackie said.
Sydney looked at the documents again. One was a copy of a death certificate; the other was the birth certificate for Edward Ashford, infant son of Martha and Samuel Ashford. “Then who the hell is he and why is hiding out under an assumed name?”
“Your guess is as good as mine but I intend to find out.”
“I want you to make this priority number one and the minute you find out what Mr. Ashburn is hiding, I want to know,” Sydney said as she gave the documents back to Jackie and stood up. “Whatever he’s hiding has to be pretty damn big.”
“My thoughts exactly. Most people who change their identity are on the run. We just need to find out what he’s running from. It would make my job a little easier if I could get my hands on a set of his prints,” Jackie said as she put the documents back into the file folder and followed Sydney over to the door.
“I’ll see what I can do about getting those for you.” Sydney laid her hand on Jackie’s shoulder, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “Thank you Jackie, I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“That’s why you pay me the big bucks.”
Sydney playfully pushed Jackie through the open doorway. “You know it’s much more than that.”
“You’re right. I do,” Jackie laughed as she stepped off the porch. She stopped and turned to look at Sydney. “I should know something in the morning and I’ll call as soon as I do but before I go any further I need to ask you one more time. Are you really sure, I mean one hundred percent sure you want to go through with this crazy scheme of yours?”
Now it was Sydney’s turn to laugh. “We’ve been following their lives for almost ten years now. So yes, for the umpteenth time, Jackie, I am sure and before you say anything else, let me assure you that I know what I’m doing.”
Jackie shook her head and grinned. “Famous last words, Syd.” Jackie looked at her for a moment. “Can I ask you one more thing?”
Sydney laughed. “Sure, not sure I will answer though.”
“I’ve never questioned anything you’ve asked me to do and I’ve never asked about Rachel but what is it about this woman? Why her, Syd?”
“Out of all the women I’ve known in my life, she’s the only one who ever left me breathless … she broke my heart. Crushed it actually,” Sydney answered without hesitation.
She intentionally left out the part that her actions were now fueled by revenge. Rachel Ashburn had ended their relationship without a second thought. It was bad enough that Rachel had decided she didn’t want to share the rest of her life with her. She could have dealt with that but it was the reasons behind Rachel’s decision that Sydney just couldn’t accept and no matter how hard she tried, she could not get the woman out of her head.
People say that time heals all wounds but it doesn’t. Time may lessen the pain but it never goes away, not completely. She wanted Rachel to feel just one iota of the pain she had felt all those years ago. The physical abuse that Edward inflicted, wouldn’t come close to the emotional havoc she was about to unleash on Rachel Ashburn.
Jackie knew exactly what Sydney meant. “Remind me to never get on your bad side,” she chuckled. Although she said it more as a joke, she knew that Sydney Welsh was the last person she would ever want to cross paths with unless they were fighting on the same side. She herself knew that the wrath of a woman scorned didn’t compare to a lonely woman with a cold broken heart.
Sydney smiled at Jackie. “Now get out of here before you convince me I’m crazy,” Sydney said with a wink.
She watched Jackie back out of the driveway and waited until her car disappeared down the drive before turning to go back in the house. She had just closed the door when her cell phone rang. She raced into the family room and snatched the phone off the coffee table. “Hello,” she said into the receiver.
“Hey, Syd, it’s me. Sorry to bother you at home,” Caitlyn said through the phone. “But this is really important,” she added before Sydney could respond.
“It’s okay, Caitlyn, what’s going on?” Sydney asked, sensing that something was wrong.
“You know how I’ve been working on updating our main computer system?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ve found some major discrepancies. I went over it several times and each time I came to the same conclusion. I should have had some idea that this was going on.”
“Spit it out, Caitlyn,” Sydney laughed.
“Ninety percent of our client accounts show monetary discrepancies.” Caitlyn took a deep breath and then added, “A substantial amount of money is missing.”
“How substantial?” Sydney asked.
Caitlyn was so quiet that Sydney thought she was no longer on the line. “You still there, Caitlyn?”
“Um, yeah. I’m still here.”
“How much?”
“Close to four and a half million dollars.”
Sydney’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. She cleared her throat. “Did I hear you right?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“And you’re sure that it should be there?” Sydney asked, not believing what she was hearing.
“Yes, Syd, I’m sure. I checked, checked it twice, and then crosschecked my checks. The money is missing, gone, vanished, vamoosed, history.”
“Am I right to guess that you might have an idea where it went?” Sydney asked, a small grin forming on her mouth.
“Do you really need to ask me that question?”
“Nah, just testing you,” Sydney chuckled.
“I do have a few ideas that I would like to run by you but I don’t think we should discuss it over the phone. Will you be coming into the office today?”
“I hadn’t planned on it but if this can’t wait, I’ll be in.”
“I don’t think one more day will make much difference. So, I guess I will see you in the morning then.”
“Thank you for taking good care of me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sydney tossed the phone on the couch and headed upstairs. She hoped that Caitlyn was wrong but something inside her gut was telling her different. She went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She ripped off her clothes and grabbed a fresh towel out of the linen closet. I don’t think this day can get much worse she thought as she stepped under the scalding hot water.
Fifteen minutes later, she came out of the bathroom wearing a fluffy, light blue, terrycloth robe, and feeling fully refreshed. She pulled open her dresser drawer. A loud thud against the side of the house caused her to jump nearly an inch off the floor. She went over to the window and pulled the curtain back.
A blood-curdling scream pierced her ears. It took her mind a good three seconds to realize that the scream came from her throat. A grey-haired old man, perched atop a ladder with a string of Christmas lights in his hand stared at her through the window. His lips curved upward, revealing a toothy smile.
Sydney raised the window and poked her head out.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean ta startle ya,” the man said with a southern accent as thick as road tar.
“And I don’t mean to be rude but who are you exactly?” Sydney asked, not recognizing the man.
“My name is Jedidiah Saunders,” he answered. He let go of the ladder to extend his hand to her and in the process lost his balance.
Sydney reached out and grabbed his arm just in time to keep him from falling to the ground below. “Maybe you should keep both hands on the ladder,” she suggested.
“I’m thinkin’ the same thing,” he said, a flustered look on his face.
“What are you doing out there?”
“Replacing this here string of lights, ma’am. When I came by ta check out my handiwork last evenin’, I noticed that this’n here string was deader than a doorknob.”
Sydney laughed. “A dead doorknob, huh?
He grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am. I reckon a doorknob is pretty darn dead.”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” Sydney said, grinning. “Well, Mr. Saunders, it’s very cold out there, so why don’t you finish hanging the lights and come on inside to warm up for a few minutes. Have a cup of coffee.”
“Thank ya ma’am. I just might’n take ya up on the offer when I’m done.”
Sydney looked down at the front yard. Christmas decorations were everywhere. She shut the window and closed the curtain.
When she arrived home earlier, she had been so curious about the car sitting next to Meredith’s Jag,
she hadn’t noticed any of the decorations on the house, nor did she notice the ones scattered around the front yard and bushes.
The sound of voices caught her attention. She tossed her robe on the bed, grabbed an old pair of grey sweats and a t-shirt and quickly got dressed. She made her way over to the upstairs rail and looked down into the family room. Her house was a flurry of activity with moving bodies. Everywhere she looked there seemed to be a person. Several were in the process of hanging decorations around the windows, while others were busy wrapping garland and lights around the oak rails, which surrounded both staircases in the foyer.
A young man and woman carefully slid a fifteen-foot blue spruce tree across the floor. They positioned it so that it sat directly in the middle of the large oval picture windows that overlooked the large lake near the back of the property. Two men dressed in overalls brought several boxes over to the couple. While the young man began wrapping the tree with lights, the young woman began the tedious task of sorting ornaments.
Sydney couldn’t believe it. In the short time it took her to take a shower and talk with Mr. Saunders, her house had become organized chaos. The front door opened and a line of men and women dressed in white caterer uniforms marched through the foyer and down the main hallway toward the kitchen.