“You’re making a mistake,” she said, following him out of the kitchen and back into the living room. “Going as a couple will look a lot less obvious, even to an office building. We can make up some excuse about getting lost while we were Christmas shopping or something. If worse comes to worse, I can say I’m there to check on something for my father.” When he didn’t say anything, just walked around the room shutting off the lights, her whine grew. “C’mon. You can’t leave me here by myself. What if Heath shows up? What if I decide to cook again and burn the whole place down? What if—”
He faced her at last, standing so close she could feel the heat of him penetrating her shirt. “Fine. We’ll go first thing in the morning. Don’t be late, and don’t make me regret my decision.”
She did her best not to and at nine sharp the next morning they stood outside the sleek metal and glass building at 124 West 52nd Street. Melody squinted up at the brass number above the glass revolving doors, her nerves on edge. “Will Heath and Murphy be here too?”
“No,” Daveed said, turning up the collar of his black wool coat against the stiff breeze gusting off the Hudson River. “I want to check this place out myself first to make sure it’s credible before bringing them in. Murph’s got enough on his mind right now, and Heath’s still doing damage control.”
The edge in his voice reminded her that she wasn’t completely out of the woods yet where his trust was concerned. She shivered under his frosty stare. The forecast was for more snow later that day, and from the icy chill, Melody didn’t doubt it. Her tension eased a bit at the news she and Daveed would be alone for their search of the building. Not that she didn’t need to see Heath again, if only to explain what happened with Jefferson. But she wanted the meeting to take place on her terms so she could be as prepared as possible for what was sure to be an awkward as hell situation.
“Right.” She twined her arm through his and pasted on a wide, fake smile. They’d settled on a happy couple lost while doing their holiday shopping and she intended to look the part. She’d even brought along a couple of shopping bags from Saks and Bergdorf’s full of things from her suitcase to complete the ruse. “Let’s do this then.”
Inside the lobby, weak sunshine filtered through the glass ceiling of the soaring atrium and people in business attire milled about. A quite hum of conversation rode atop the low thrum of carols from the overhead sound system. Four huge Christmas trees bedecked in tasteful garlands and ornaments of gold and silver sat in each corner of the enormous space and four escalators ran up and down from the center. Before them sat a huge security desk, which luckily appeared to be empty at the moment.
“C’mon,” she said, tugging him toward the escalators. “Before they stop us.”
Daveed gave her a side glance then followed her toward the bottom of the escalators. They passed by a large sign declaring that all visitors past that point must register at the security desk, but there still wasn’t a guard in sight, so they hurried up to the second floor amidst a crowd of other patrons. Once on the mezzanine, they wandered over to a large directory. Melody adjusted the large red picture hat on her head and searched the names of the companies. She’d wanted to hide her identity as much as possible while here, but still look sophisticated and chic. The hat perfectly matched her red Louboutin pumps and the Vuitton bag over her arm.
Daveed cursed low and adjusted the plaid Burberry scarf she’d insisted he wear around his neck. If she was going to play the part of bumbling heiress, then he needed to look like her doting fiancé. She could feel the tension in his body through the sleeve of his coat. “There’s too many companies in here to search before we get caught,” he said. “Aileen could’ve been investigating any of them. If I was alone, I could slip into the stairwell and move more freely.”
“If you were alone, you wouldn’t have even made it this far.” She cocked her chin toward the downstairs atrium, where the missing guards were now amassed around a single man in a plain trench coat who apparently had tried the same route around the security desk that they had. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been as lucky as Melody and Daveed. A uniformed officer promptly showed the man the door. “See, aren’t you glad you brought me, honey?”
He harrumphed and scowled at the directory. “Okay. Let’s start with the most likely culprits and work our way to the least. Which law office is your father’s?”
“That one.” She pointed a red-gloved finger toward the small brass plaque reading Baines, Monroe, and Walford. “Do you want to start there?”
“No. I’m saving that in case we get caught.” He took her hand and pulled her over to a wall of elevators. “We’ll start with the energy company first, since they take up the top floors, and work our way down.”
Two hours later, however, their snooping had turned up nothing. No one had seen or heard from Aileen. Melody had even used some of the acting skills she’d garnered during her time in the drama club at Vassar to pull attention away from Daveed so he could slip past the receptionist desk of the financial firm on the sixth floor and do a little checking through their computer appointment records to see if Aileen had ever been there. No sign of her within the last six months.
It was all rather disheartening, really. Shoulders slumped, Melody followed Daveed downstairs and past the security desk where the guards even wished them a merry Christmas. While they were waiting at the corner on the sidewalk outside to cross, Daveed’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out and cursed softly again.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her breath now frosting on the air. “Bad news?”
“I suppose it’s in how you look at it.” He showed her the screen. “It’s from Heath. He’s at a pub about a block from here and wants to meet me for a briefing.”
“Oh.” All her nerves and stress from earlier rushed back like a tsunami,
threatening to engulf her. Yes, she needed to see Heath and mend fences with him, if she could. But was she ready? From her shaking hands and tight chest, it didn’t feel like it. “I can catch a cab back to the condo then.”
“With what? Your good looks?” he asked, clicking off his phone and shoving it into his pocket before taking her hand again, the warm strength of his grip reassuring. “No. It’s time you face this matter with him and get it over with. If you explain what happened as you did to me, he won’t hate you.”
“Are you sure about that?” she asked, stumbling forward as the light turned green and he tugged her beside him.
“No. But I’ll be there with you, so no matter how things go, I’ve got your back, okay?”
* * *
They walked into Nessa’s thirty minutes later to find it still packed with people from the lunch crowd. Daveed scanned the crowd for his buddy, Heath. The place was a typical cozy Irish pub, with wood-lined walls and an array of draft beers and typical bar cuisine. The guys often hung here after work or to discuss some facet of this current mission in one of the dimly-lit, secluded back booths. It was in one of these that he spotted the top of Heath’s messy brown hair.
He started to tug Melody forward through the crowd. He still had a hold of her hand, and he didn’t want them to get separated in the chaos of people. That’s the excuse he was going with anyway.
“Wait,” she said from behind him, digging the stiletto heels of those expensive shoes of hers into the sticky hardwood floor and forcing him to stop and face her. With that big picture hat of hers and her matching red lips, she looked like some 1940s starlet who’d magically been transported to the modern day. Her forlorn expression was like a sucker punch to his heart.
Daveed frowned and stepped closer to her, bending close to her ear to be heard over the crowd. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for this yet.” She still had her pricey purse and shopping bags stuffed with things from her suitcase slung over her arm and they kept getting jostled by patrons squeezing by. He moved her a bit more to the side for privacy before she continued. Her pale brows knit and she stared at the floor, refusing to meet his gaze. “I know you said you had my back and all, but my parents aren’t talking to me, and the last thing my dad said to me was that if I don’t straighten out this mess with Heath then I won’t get a penny more from my trust fund and they’ll cut me out of their will.” Her breath caught and he fisted his hands at his side to keep from pulling her into his arms. “I can’t afford to screw this up too, just like I’ve done everything else.”
For a moment, Daveed just blinked at her, realizing that he needed to say something here—something uplifting and courage-bolstering—but not sure what that would be. In the end, he went with the truth. “Listen, I’ve admitted to being suspicious about you and your motives from the start. I’ve even admitted to believing all that tabloid trash that was printed about you. But I’m telling you now, you can do this. The woman who helped me figure out the code in those notes, the woman who snuck into the building with me today and bullshitted her way through security, that woman is smart and resourceful and worthy of respect.” He couldn’t quite believe he was saying this, but he was. “And if Heath can’t see that, then he doesn’t deserve you and you’re better off without him.”