Return to Sender, page 13
“Give me five more minutes and then we can go again,” he whispered into my ear. “And this time, you’re going to be on top.” I ran my fingers across his lips and just nodded, still unable to speak. “And maybe you’ll even let me inside your ass,” he teased me as he sucked on my finger. I just moaned in response. This man could say whatever he wanted to me. I was too far gone to say no to him. I just had to make sure that he didn’t know that.
If he wasn’t ready to share all of himself with me, I wasn’t ready to give all of myself to him.
Chapter 18
My body was aching when I woke up, but it was the pleasant sort of ache that I didn’t mind. I rolled over in the bed to look for Wade, but he was gone. My heart lurched as I saw the note on his pillow.
“Not again,” I muttered under my breath as I reached for the note. The anxiety drained out of me as I read it. He hadn’t disappeared on another “trip.” He’d just gone out for the day and would be back for dinner.
I got up and made my way to the bathroom, annoyed that he’d left so early again. I just didn’t understand why he did that. Didn’t he want to wake up and hug and kiss in the morning, like I did? I enjoyed our lovemaking, but it seemed like every morning after, he disappeared. What happened to sweet kisses and breakfast in bed?
Though knowing Wade, he’d expect me to serve him.
I jumped into the shower and washed quickly. On the bright side, Lucy and I would have the house to ourselves while we looked for the basement. That would make it a lot easier for us to snoop.
Ten minutes later, I was dried and dressed and tapping on Lucy’s door.
“Hey, girl, you up?” I stuck my head into the room.
“I’ve been ready and waiting for an hour.” She jumped up off of the bed. “Good night?”
“It was okay …” I stared at her suspiciously. “Why are you so chipper? What went down last night with you and Henry?”
“Nothing went down, unfortunately.” She made a face. “Though I did get a little kiss.”
“You kissed him?”
“Well, he kissed me. I didn’t stop him.”
“Oh, Lucy, I hope you tell me a bit more later.” I giggled. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Are you cooking or are we going to the diner?”
“I’m cooking.”
“Then I’ll have a boiled egg and some toast, please.”
“You have no faith in my cooking skills.” I made a face as we walked to the kitchen.
Lucy just laughed. “Where’s Wade?”
“He’s gone out.” I shrugged. “I don’t know where, but he said he won’t be back until tonight.”
“Awesome!” Lucy did a little dance next to the counter. “I think the first thing we should do is look for the basement and see what’s down there.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, though I have no idea where it could be.”
“Did you see where Wade went when he went to get the wine?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Yeah, me either.” She sighed. “But not to worry, I have faith in us. We will find it.”
“I sure hope so.” I opened the fridge and took out four eggs. “I just hope we don’t find something horrible hidden down there.”
“We have searched this house for two hours and nothing.” Lucy’s voice expressed the frustration that I felt. “How can a basement be hidden this well?”
“I wish I knew.” I sighed. “But we’ve looked absolutely everywhere.”
“He obviously doesn’t want anyone to find it.” Lucy slapped the wall impatiently then reached for her phone to check it. “So what do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” I was out of ideas. “How about we go to the library? Maybe we can look for some more photos and letters from Wade’s mom or dad. Maybe there will be some clues. Or we could … Lucy, are you listening to me?”
Lucy’s eyes were glued to her phone. “Savannah, I think our luck has just changed.”
“Why?”
“I just received an email from the New York Public Library with some attachments.”
“The articles?”
“It has to be the articles.” She nodded. “Let’s go to the library. You look through the letters and photos, and I’ll go through these articles. You know I’m a speed reader. Let’s see what we can figure out.”
“Yes, Sherlock.”
As soon as we got to the library, Lucy immediately sat down at the desk and I walked over to the stacks of books that I’d found photos and letters in before. I grabbed some of the books and started leafing through them, not really knowing what I was hoping to find. The books were empty, and I put them down quickly. I was putting back one particularly heavy book when a piece of paper slipped out of the bottom.
“Oh shit, how did I miss that?” I murmured as I carefully pulled the paper out of the book and walked over to the table.
“Did you find something?”
“Looks like a letter, but I don’t know if it will be helpful. How are the articles going?”
“They’re interesting, very interesting.” She looked up, pen in her mouth.
“Are you going to tell me more?”
“Read the letter. We’ll talk later.” She shook her head. “Now shh, I need to read.”
“Fine.” I took a seat and read the letter. It was from Joseph Hart, Wade’s dad, and once again I felt like I was intruding on someone’s personal thoughts. I could feel myself choking up as I reread the letter. It felt so raw and my heart broke for Joseph, Wade, and Henry. “Lucy, you have to hear this. I found something interesting.”
“So did I.” Lucy’s eyes were lit up with excitement. “But you go first. What’s it about?”
“It’s a letter from Wade’s dad to his mom.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, listen to this. ‘To my darling Louisa, my heart beats only for you. I was staring at the stars last night and I saw a shooting star. I stopped and I watched it and I realized the last shooting star I saw was with you when we were in Australia. I love you, my dear. I miss you. Forgive me. Please forgive me. I cannot go on without you in my life. I feel like a fawn that has lost its mother and is living in the woods alone. The loneliness is unbearable. I need you more than I need air. Return to me. Come home. Save me or I shall surely die.’”
“Oh, wow.” Lucy’s misty-eyed expression suddenly vanished and she sat up straight. “Oh, wow!”
“What?”
“So, the articles I found, I think they might relate to that letter.”
“How?”
“Do you know exactly how Wade’s dad died?”
“No, why?”
“So get this.” She looked at my laptop, surveying the screen again and then continued talking. “He killed himself … and it looks like he did it in front of his sons.”
“Oh, no.” My hand flew to my face. “That’s horrible.”
“Supposedly, he jumped off a cliff into a waterfall and hit his head on a rock, but …”
“But what?”
“His body was never found.”
“Okay …”
“Yeah and get this, there was a reporter who wondered if Joseph Hart was actually murdered … by one of his sons.”
“No way!” My heart started to pound and I felt a little sick.
“Supposedly they’d all had an argument about something, and next thing you know, he was dead.”
“Oh, shit.”
“And the investigative reporter was Misha Waterman. Remember I told you about her before?”
“Yeah, her name does sound familiar.”
“And, Savannah,” Lucy’s voice dropped. “Don’t freak out, but I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
“Misha got an undercover job to investigate the possible murder.”
“Okay?” The sick feeling was intensifying.
“She got a job as Wade’s assistant.”
“She was his assistant?” I rubbed my temple. “Where is she now? What happened?”
“She quit her job as a reporter and she is no longer working for that newspaper. I can’t find any information for her online. She’s not on LinkedIn, she’s not on Facebook.” Lucy shook her head. “She seems to have just disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“Where did she go?”
“Maybe she didn’t go anywhere, Savannah. Maybe she’s still in this house.”
I shivered. “You’re scaring me, Lucy.”
“What if she found out that Wade killed his dad, and then he killed her? What if she’s buried in the basement?”
“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “There’s no way. Wade is not a killer.”
“Savannah, I know you don’t want to think he could be a bad guy, but we have to face facts.”
“I’ve slept with him, Lucy. I’ve looked into his eyes as he’s been inside of me. He’s not a killer. I know it in my bones.”
“You want to know it.”
“No, I know it.” I jumped up. “He didn’t kill his dad.”
“It would all add up, Savannah.”
“All we know is that the father died by jumping off a cliff.” I shrugged. “There is nothing to indicate that Wade pushed him.”
“Maybe he didn’t mean to kill him but there was a struggle and his dad fell. Or maybe he did mean to kill him and disposed of the body.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “You need to stop thinking with your filmmaking brain, Lucy. This isn’t a thriller on Lifetime. This is real life. Wade didn’t kill his dad. He had no reason to kill his dad.”
“Maybe Wade was pissed because he found out that his dad was cheating on his mom. Maybe he was pissed because he realized he didn’t have a relationship with her because his father’s actions. Or maybe it wasn’t on purpose. Maybe it was an accident.”
“That’s a lot of maybes, Lucy.” I shook my head. “It’s not possible. Wade could never do such a thing.”
“But if he did, and you were to find out and go to the police, that would ruin him, Savannah. He would be jailed. That would be it. You could destroy his life.” Lucy threw her hands up in the air triumphantly. “It makes sense, Savannah. I feel it in my bones.”
“So then we should leave.” I crossed my arms. “Let’s pack our bags and leave now. If you think he’s a murderer, then we need to go.”
“What?” Her eyes narrowed. “We can’t just leave. We need to figure out what’s the truth …” She sighed. “Okay, fine. So maybe I don’t have it down exactly.”
“Wade is not a murderer,” I said stubbornly. “I don’t care what you think. I just know it. Do you also think Henry is hiding the fact that his brother is a murderer? You think he’s okay with it?”
“No.” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so.”
“So there’s more to the story.”
“We need to find that reporter. We need to find Mischa.”
“How the hell do we find her?”
“I’ll call the newspaper tomorrow and see if I can get her contact info. I’ll say I’m a headhunter or something.”
“Okay.”
“And you need to ask Wade again what happened to his assistant and where she went.”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Try. Just be casual about it.”
“Ugh, I don’t know. That makes me nervous.”
“Savannah, don’t you want to know the truth.”
“I do!” I insisted, though I wasn’t entirely sure it was the truth.
“Don’t you think it’s suspicious that a reporter started to investigate him and the death of his father and now she’s just disappeared?”
“We don’t know if—”
“Savannah!” Lucy raised her voice.
“Fine, yes, it is a little suspicious,” I relented, though I almost felt like a traitor for saying those words. “I will speak to Wade and see if I can get any more information.”
“Great. I should do some work.” Lucy made a face. “I have a long conference call for work tonight, and I’m totally not prepared.”
“I feel ya.” I sighed. “I have some documents to transcribe for Wade. And I better do that before he asks me what’s going on.”
“If he does, you can just kiss him and change the subject.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Wade doesn’t play when it comes to business.”
“He does seem really dedicated to his work.” Lucy seemed thoughtful. “Was he working with his dad when the company nearly went bankrupt?”
“Girl, I have no idea.” I shrugged. “I don’t know him that well.”
“Well, remember that.” She gave me a knowing look. “You don’t know him that well, so there are many things that can surprise you.”
“You don’t like him, do you?”
“Honestly, I see his charm. I get why you’ve fallen for him. But you’re my best friend, and I’m not going to let you go any further down this rabbit hole until we figure out just how mad your hatter is.”
“I know. You’re a good friend. I guess let’s see what happens.”
Chapter 19
I sat in the backyard with Jolene, my feet hanging over the side of the pool kicking the water around. The sun was going down and my anxiety level was going up. Jolene was lying in the grass, snoring her head off, and Lucy was in the house on her business call. Wade still hadn’t come back home and I’d spent the last hour thinking of how I was going to ask him more about Mischa.
While I rejected the idea that Wade could have been involved in his father’s death in any way, there was still a small, nagging voice in the back of my mind asking if I was just being blinded by love and good sex.
“Jolene, am I a fool?” I asked my sleeping dog as if I expected an answer from her. “I’m just a fool living in a dreamworld, spending my days dreaming of you,” I sang to myself as I splashed. I thought about changing into my swimsuit and having a quick swim, but I didn’t want to get my hair wet. I loved swimming, but it was a hassle having to wash it after being in the pool.
I stood up and walked over to Jolene and bent down to stroke her silky hair.
“I’ve missed you, Jolene.” Her eyes fluttered open. She wagged her tail then rolled onto her back so I could rub her belly. I laughed as her mouth fell open and tongue lolled out. “Oh, you love me so much, don’t you, Jolene?” I giggled as I continued to rub her, but suddenly she rolled back over and stood up with a shake.
“Am I paying you to play with your mutt?”
I turned around to see a teasing look on Wade’s handsome face. He had shaved, and the scruff from his time in the woods was gone. I’d thought primal, primitive Wade had been even sexier than civilized Wade, but now that civilized Wade was back, I wasn’t sure anymore. They were both scorching hot.
I blushed at the look he was giving me. I couldn’t believe that he had such an affect on my body.
“Her name is Jolene, and I did the work you left for me.”
Wade crouched down and rubbed Jolene’s head. “Why’d you name her Jolene?”
“After the Dolly Parton song,” I told him. “It was one of my favorites when I was growing up. There was a girl in my high school who would sing it every day, and I guess it just stuck.”
“You like country music?”
“Yeah, do you?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “That’s not my jam.”
“What’s your jam?”
“Metal, classic rock, that sort of thing.”
“Typical guy music, I guess.”
“I’m anything but a typical guy.” He leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “I forgot to greet you properly.”
“Properly?”
“With a kiss. Isn’t that what you women like?”
“What we women like?”
“You know, to be shown attention from your men.”
“You’re my boss, not my man.”
“Well, last night when I was inside of you, I was your man.”
“You’re gross, Wade.”
“You didn’t think that when you were sucking my cock.”
“Wade!” I smacked him in the arm. “Stop.”
“You’re blushing.” He chuckled. “I love seeing you blush.”
“So, where were you today?” I asked him, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
“I had to run some errands with Henry.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him. “What did you do?”
“I was working.” I pressed my face into his chest. I didn’t want him to see that I was lying, but I wasn’t about to say, I just was looking for your basement to see if I could find a dead body. Oh, and Lucy and I snooped all through your house to figure out your secrets.
“Savannah?” He kissed the top of my head. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” I looked up into his eyes and stood up on my tippy toes so that I could kiss him. “I’m glad you’re home,” I said honestly, and I realized just how true those words were. I was never happier than when I was spending time with him.
“Do you trust me?” he asked me. His voice was soft, and his eyes were shining.
“Why?” I swallowed hard. Was he about to tell me his secrets? Was this all going to be over?
“Because I want to try something with you. I know you’ll enjoy it, but you have to relax.”
“Wade Hart, I am not having anal sex with you!” I snapped, covering my disappointment with annoyance. He was asking me if I trusted him because he wanted to have kinky sex with him, not because he was falling for me and wanting to share his deepest, darkest secrets with me.
“Did I say anal?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Then what are you talking about?”
“I’ll tell you if you say yes.”
“I’m not saying yes if I don’t know what I’m saying yes to.”
