An Engagement in Seattle

Virginia announced his arrival and Peck entered her office. He was tall and wiry, and much younger than she’d expected. Perhaps thirty, if that.

“Hello,” he said, stepping forward and shaking her hand.

“Please sit down,” Julia invited.

He took the chair on the other side of her desk. “This Stanhope fellow is an interesting character,” he began. “I’ve been tailing him for nearly a week. I managed to get photos of just about everyone he’s met. My guess is that whoever’s leaking information to him is a woman. Once you get a look at the photographs you’ll understand why. He’s quite the ladies’ man.”

This wasn’t news to Julia.

Rich brought out a folder thick with photographs, reached for a small pad and flipped through the first couple of pages.

“He had several business lunches, as best as I can tell. Although we’ve got a twenty-four-hour tail on him, there are certain periods of time we can’t account for.”

“I see. Do you think he knows he’s being followed?”

Rich snickered. “The guy hasn’t got a clue. He’s way too arrogant. He lives on the edge, too. I talked to his landlady and learned he’s two months behind on his rent. It’s happened before. His credit rating’s so full of holes he couldn’t get a loan if his life depended on it.”

“What about his position with Ideal Paints? Is that secure?”

“Who knows? From what I’ve been able to find out, he doesn’t have many friends. He seems to get along all right on the job. As for what he does with his money, that isn’t hard to figure out. The guy goes out with a different woman every night. He seems to get his kicks showing off what a stud he is.”

This, too, didn’t come as any surprise to Julia. Roger liked to refer to himself as a “party animal.”

“Go ahead and look through those photos and see if there’s anyone you recognize. Take your time. I’ve got them stacked according to the day of the week. Thursday of this week is on top. He left his apartment about ten. He seemed to be in a hurry and got to his office around ten-fifteen. He didn’t leave again until four, and then came out a side entrance. My tail noted that some girl came out the front of the building directly afterward and seemed to be looking for someone. Our guess is that he was escaping her.

“He waited around ten or fifteen minutes and then left. He went home, changed his clothes and was out again by six. He picked up some chick and they went to dinner. He spent the night with her.”

That, too, was typical.

“Wednesday…” Rich continued as Julia flipped through the photographs. “Again he was late to the office. He arrived about ten and left again at eleven-thirty. He drove to Henshaw’s, that fancy restaurant on Lake Union.”

Julia nodded; she knew it well. An eternity earlier it had been one of their favorite places. The food was delicious and the ambience luxurious but not overpowering.

“Whoever he was supposed to meet was waiting for him outside. I assume this was a business lunch. The guy he was meeting was angry about something. The two of them exchanged words outside the restaurant. We got several excellent photos. It looked for a moment like they were going to have a fistfight. Frankly, Stanhope was smart to avoid this one. The guy would’ve pulverized him in seconds.”

Julia flipped to the next series of pictures. Her gaze fell on Alek’s angry face and she gasped.

Rich’s attention reverted from the tablet to her. “You recognize him?”

Julia felt as if she was going to vomit.

“Ms. Conrad?”

She nodded.

“An employee?”

Once again she nodded. “Yes,” she managed. “An employee. You can leave the rest of the photographs here and I’ll go through them later. You’ve done an excellent job, Mr. Peck.” She stood and ushered him to the door. “Jerry will be in touch with you sometime later this afternoon. I believe you’ve solved our mystery.”

“Always glad to be of service.”

“Thank you again.”

Julia collapsed against the door the instant it was closed. Her stomach twisted into a knot of pain. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. She felt nauseous and made a dash to her wastepaper basket, where she threw up her lunch. She was kneeling on the floor, her trembling hands holding her hair away from her face, when Virginia walked into the office.

“Oh, dear! Are you all right?”

Julia nodded.

“Let me help you,” Virginia said. With her hand under Julia’s elbow, she raised her to her feet. “You need to lie down.”

“Could…would you see if you could find my brother for me?”

“You don’t want me to call your husband?”

“No,” she said forcefully, “get Jerry. Have him come as soon as he can.… Tell him it’s an emergency.”

Her legs were unstable and she slumped into her chair. In the past three years Julia had received a number of lessons in pain. Roger had been her first teacher, but his tactics paled when compared to Alek’s. It would’ve been easier to bear if Alek had aimed a gun at her heart and pulled the trigger.

It took her brother twenty minutes to reach her office; he must’ve been in the middle of something important when Virginia called. As she waited she gazed sightlessly at her desk. She should be sobbing hysterically; instead, she found herself as calm and cool as if the man who’d been betraying her and her brother was barely more than an acquaintance.

Jerry rushed into her office, apparently having run at least part of the way, because his face was red and he was breathless.

“Virginia said it was an emergency.”

“I…I was being a bit dramatic.”

“Not according to Virginia. She wanted to know if she should phone for an ambulance. You’re pale, but otherwise you look fine.”

“I’m not, and you won’t be, either, once you take a look at these.” She handed him the series of three photographs.

The blotchy redness faded from Jerry’s face and he blanched as he studied Rich Peck’s photographs.

“Alek?” he breathed in disbelief.

“It appears so.”

“There’s got to be some explanation!”

“I’m sure there is.” There always was. Something that would sound logical and persuasive. She’d been through this before and knew all there was to know about betrayals of trust. When she’d confronted Roger, he’d worn a hurt, incredulous look of shock and dismay. He’d angrily declared his innocence, told her it was all a misunderstanding that he’d be able to clear up in a matter of minutes, given the opportunity. Because she loved him so desperately and because she wanted to believe him so badly, she’d listened. In the end it all seemed credible to her and she’d defended him because she loved and trusted him. She loved and trusted Alek, too, but she’d been wrong before, so very wrong, and it had cost her and her family dearly.

“What are you going to do?” Jerry asked in a whisper. He hadn’t recovered yet. He continued to stare at the photographs as though the pictures themselves would announce the truth if he studied them long enough.

“I don’t know,” she said unevenly.

“You aren’t going to fire him, are you?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Julia, for the love of heaven, Alek’s your husband.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she repeated. “I just don’t know.”

Jerry rubbed a hand over his face and inhaled deeply. “We should confront him, give him the opportunity to explain. It’s possible that he’s got a very good reason for meeting Roger. One that has nothing to do with Phoenix Paints.”

“Jerry, you were ten before you stopped believing in Santa Claus. Remember? There’s only one reason Alek would contact Roger and we both know it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he argued. “Alek has more reason for Phoenix Paints to succeed than anyone. His career hinges on the success of our new line. Why would he deliberately sabotage himself? He spent years researching these developments.” His eyes pleaded with her.

“If you’re looking to me for answers, I don’t have any. Why do any of us do the things we do? My guess is that he’s out for revenge.”

“Revenge? Alek? Why? We’ve been good to him, good to his family, and he’s been good to us. He doesn’t have any score to settle.”

“Dad was good to Roger, too, remember? He was the one who gave Roger his first job. Dad hired him directly out of college when he could’ve taken on someone with far more experience. If we’re looking for reasons Alek would never do this, we’d be putting blindfolds over our own eyes.”

Jerry watched her for several minutes. “I’m going to talk to him.”

Julia folded her arms around her waist and nodded.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“No! I couldn’t bear it. Not again.” She squeezed her eyes shut and her body swayed with the pain. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I can’t believe it is, either.”

“Why do I continually fall for the wrong kind of man? There must be something wrong with me.”

Jerry walked to her window and stared out. His shoulders moved in a deep sigh. “We’re overreacting.”

“Maybe,” Julia agreed. “But I have that ache in the pit of my stomach again. The last time it was there was when Dad forced me to face the truth about Roger.”

“The least we can do is listen to his explanation.”

Julia shook her head. “You listen, I…can’t.” She didn’t want to be there when Alek made his excuses. She’d let her brother handle this because she was incapable of dealing with it.

Jerry’s eyes narrowed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you so…detached.”

“Let me guess,” she returned sarcastically. “Could it have been following my breakup with Roger?”

“This is different. You’re married to Alek.”

“That means it’s a little more involved, a little more complicated than before, but it’s not really so different. Until…this is resolved it would be better if Alek didn’t come into work. Tell him that for me.”

“Julia…”

“Tell him, Jerry, because I can’t. Please.” Her voice cracked. “It’s just until this is settled. Alek will understand.”

“But you aren’t going to listen to his explanation?”

“No. You listen to what he has to say, but don’t argue his case with me. I tried that with Dad, remember? I was so certain Roger was an innocent victim of circumstances.”

Her brother looked older, as though he’d suddenly aged ten years. Julia understood. She felt old herself. And sick. Her stomach felt decidedly queasy.

Jerry left and her stomach pitched again. Automatically she reached for the wastepaper basket.