On his knees, and then his back, Liam found the bolt. With very little effort he got it undone. And got sprinkles of water on his face, too. Clean water. Still, the shock of it stopped him for a moment. But with an eighty-year-old woman watching him, he quickly got moving. Following her instructions, which were impressive, he had the fill valve changed and the toilet flushing without error in less than half an hour.
He’d have to tell Gabrielle. She’d get a kick out of it...
His thoughts stopped. Why not tell Marie? She’d appreciate it, too. Heck, Gabrielle probably knew how to change a fill valve.
Because she knew everything about taking care of herself.
“You’re a good boy,” Grace told him as he finished.
He’d been about to roll his sleeves back down but stopped, deciding to head straight upstairs to the shower.
“I just want you to know, whatever the papers have to say, I don’t believe them. Except maybe the part about you and our Gabrielle. Do you two really have something going? Because I have to tell you, if anyone deserves a fairy tale romance, it’s her.”
He handed Grace’s wrench back to her. Washed his hands. And turned to her.
“Gabi and Marie and I...we’ve been friends for a lot of years and I don’t want us to lose that. You understand?” He spoke gently, but waited for her silent nod before he continued.
“The things the papers are saying about us...they’re lies. And they’re hurting Gabi. I need you to tell the other residents that Gabi and I...as a couple...it’s not true. They listen to you. And maybe, at least here at home, we can end this craziness and have some peace.”
Her face fell, her lips completely losing their smile.
“You’re sure, Mr. Liam? I know she’s a bit too serious, but Gabrielle’s a beautiful girl. Inside and out. And loyal. You’ll never meet anyone more loyal than that one.”
Liam chose to avail himself of his Fifth Amendment rights—staying silent so as not to incriminate himself—all the while cringing on Gabrielle’s behalf. He could just hear the string of words that would come from her mouth if she were hearing this.
“You’re sure there’s no way you could fall in love with her?”
“I’m sure she doesn’t want me to.”
“You’ve talked to her about it, then?”
“Yes, ma’am. And she is as emphatic as I am about the whole thing.” He could look her in the eye with that one. “So can you spread the word for me?”
Seemed like a fair trade for fixing her toilet.
“Yes. Of course,” Grace said, but Liam had a feeling he’d just ruined her day.
* * *
GABRIELLE’S CALLS TO Walter Connelly went unanswered. She left two messages and a third with his secretary. When she’d still had no response by lunchtime, she grabbed the tuna sandwich she’d brought from home and ate it in the car on her way to the swank part of town where the Connelly Investments office building stood—still in business. Regardless of the pending grand jury indictment, the arms of the company not included in the FBI’s investigation were still open and available for business. Because only one series of investments was involved in the investigation, that left the majority of the company’s holdings to run business as normal.
There’d been a run on accounts since Connelly’s arrest. But he had a lot of interests in companies that didn’t bear his name. Most people would never know those companies held ties to him. Certainly those whose lives were wrapped up in the companies he’d invested in wouldn’t want people to know. They’d go down with him.
She made it in the front door because she knew Liam’s relationship with the security guard and introduced herself as his lawyer. With a little persuasion, she made it upstairs to the top floor, too. Escorted, of course.
Coming off the elevator, not sure where she wanted to head, not sure which office was Walter Connelly’s, she glanced both ways.
And saw a familiar someone, his back to her, going in an office two doors down. An unusually tall someone who would be hard to mistake.
Elliott Tanner.
He hadn’t seen her. But she’d seen whose office he’d entered.
“Right this way, miss.” The security guard pointed in the opposite direction of the office Tanner had entered. And for the moment, she put the man out of her mind.
In the large scheme of things, he was small.
Liam had told her enough about the woman who guarded his father’s office to get a word in with her.