A Murderous Game (4 page)

"Stay out of my space, Billings," she warned
coolly, and stabbed him with an icy glare.

"Yeah, everyone knows you don't
like men in your space."

Unable to leash the quick spurt of
fury that gripped her, Abby lashed out. "What the hell's that supposed to
mean?"

Billings shrugged. "Guess you'll just
have to wonder."

Oh, she knew. It didn't take much
to guess what lies Dick had been spreading. Their failure of a marriage wasn't
her fault, though. She wasn't the one with the problem. She wasn't!

Abby realized Billings had purposefully changed maneuvers.
Not getting the anticipated reaction by attacking her competence, he'd aimed
for her Achilles heel. Unfortunately, he'd struck pay dirt. Even knowing his
tactic, it stung.

She had to rein in her emotions if
she was going to get through this meeting. Maybe Rachael was right and Gage
wouldn't recognize her. She'd just been some kid from the shore who used to go
into his uncle's taffy shop one summer forever ago. It was highly probable he
wouldn't recognize her. She didn't even recognize herself from pictures back
then, and she
knew
it was her.

"We better not keep the big,
bad Faraday waiting." Billings
pushed down on the handle. "He might bite."

He opened the door before she could
respond. Norwell sat at the conference table with their guest. Gage looked up
as she and Billings
entered the room. His keen gaze landed squarely on Abby, and she went blank.

~~~

"And this is Abigail
Carpenter." Norwell wrapped up the introductions.

"Ms. Carpenter," Gage
acknowledged. He extended his hand, giving no indication he recognized her.
Abby tried to still the trembling in her fingers. What was she afraid of…the
big, bad wolf? That was
Billings
's
ploy. If she gave in to his intimidation, she'd be letting him win.

Still standing, she reached across
the conference table and took Gage's hand. It was large, almost twice the size
of hers, and when she clasped it, she had to force herself not to overreact to
the contact. Relax, the voice in her head demanded. This is old energy—nothing
more. She had become a master at masking her emotions when faced with the
scandal of Dick's affairs. She would give nothing away now.

"Mr. Faraday." She
smiled, nothing overdone, no teeth. "We're thrilled you agreed to meet
with us. There isn't a marketing firm in the city that wouldn't want this
project. But," she continued on a lighter note, "I hope after this
morning you'll believe, as we do, that The Norwell Group is the best."

Gage's lips twitched. He gave an
abbreviated nod then sat back down. Abby did the same, folding her hands on the
table in front of her.

"Why don't you begin by
telling us what we can do for you," Norwell said to Gage.

"Your firm has had almost a
week to come up with the answer to that question," Gage replied smoothly.
He leaned back and glanced at his watch. "I'd rather have you tell me why
I should hire you."

Norwell cleared his throat and
looked at Abby. "You can start."

Abby flinched, caught off guard.
This wasn't the way they'd planned it. Norwell was supposed to lead off,
pave
the way,
as he'd said. Acting on instinct, she clicked on her laptop. 

"We recognize you have
tremendous demands on your time, Mr. Faraday." He'd already made it clear
he didn't like to waste it. "So I'll get right into what we've prepared
and how we can help you. You can follow along on paper if you'd like," she
added, handing everyone a hard copy of the presentation.

Technically, there had been nothing
wrong with her presentation, but once over, Abby thought it should have been
titled
The Harold Billings Show.
Every time she started to answer a
question, Billings
cut her off, stealing her thunder and worse, making her look incompetent. She
wanted to hit him over the head with her laptop.
Take them megabytes, you
officious creep.

She couldn't very well cause a
scene in front of a prospective client, though. Rather than stew, or reduce her
beautifully prepared copy of the presentation to a pile of spitballs and launch
them across the table at Billings,
Abby used the time to corral her conflicted emotions.

She'd convinced herself anything
she once felt for Gage had been put to rest years ago. But as she sat there
trying to appear serene, old feelings flooded her, springing back to life as if
they'd only been lying dormant, waiting for his return. She didn't want to feel
anything for him…for any man. She didn't want that pain, not after Dick, not ever
again.

How could Gage still make her feel
like someone had hijacked a 747 and was attempting to land it in her stomach?
Was it only because he'd been a childhood dream that never came true? Well, she
wasn't a child anymore, and life had taught her just how quickly dreams could
turn into nightmares. She'd learned too much to succumb to the emotional
residue of her past.

Straightening in her chair, she
skimmed her notes for some salient point Billings would probably claim
as his own
. If Gage was seriously considering their firm,
she'd have to say or do something before he left to convince him she wasn't a
vacuum brain. Her gaze drifted across the table and connected with a
penetrating grey one.

He was watching her.

~~~

He watched her. Gage had the
feeling they'd met before, but for the life of him he couldn't imagine where.

When she looked up at him from her
file he was struck again by her eyes. He'd never seen any so green. Yet, they
were the very thing triggering the sensation they'd met somewhere.

She averted her gaze in favor of
her notes. He made her nervous. Gage was used to it. He made a lot of people
nervous.

He continued to study her covertly.
She wore her honey blond hair pulled back in a sleek French twist exposing an
elegantly slender neck. At first glance he'd put her age around
midthirties
, not far from his own, but after closer
consideration, he adjusted it down several years. He chalked it up to her
manner, almost controlled. It misled.

Norwell leaned forward and put his
forearms on the table. "If you decide to go with our firm, Carpenter or Billings will handle the
account."

Gage nodded.

"Of course," Norwell
assured him, "I'd be at your disposal as well, but these are my two best
account managers."

Carpenter's gaze darted to Norwell
as if his comment surprised her. Her perfect poise seemed to waiver a moment,
then, as if realizing it, her calm demeanor slid back into place like a
well-fitting glove.

All was not well in Oz. Gage had
picked up on Norwell and
Billings
's
sexist attitudes early in the meeting. He wondered if they were oblivious to
their behavior toward Carpenter or if they just didn't care how she
felt.  

Perhaps he liked to think he was
better than that, or maybe it was because his modest roots had sometimes made
him an outcast growing up. Whatever the case, he didn't approve of the way they
treated her. He knew he had a reputation for being cold and aloof, difficult to
work for, but he was fair and a good judge of talent, no matter how it came
wrapped.

Billings talked a good game, but Carpenter
had been the one with most of the facts, and Gage suspected today wasn't the
first time the guy had used her work as a springboard to look good.

"I'll review your proposal and
give you my decision in a couple of days." He looked at Norwell. "In
the meantime, I want my legal group in Chicago
to review your contract."

"No problem." Billings jumped in.
"I'll send it to them right after the meeting. If you think of anything
else you need, just give me a call. I'll be in all afternoon."

"Thank you," Gage said
with a cursory glance. "Will you be available as well, Ms.
Carpenter?"

"I'll be out with clients most
of the afternoon." She glanced at Billings.
Gage saw something flicker in her eyes just before she looked back at him.
"I check my calls between meetings, though, and I'll be in the office most
of the day tomorrow."

Norwell cleared his throat.
"If you choose our firm, you'll have a team at your disposal, Mr. Faraday.
There'll always be someone available to you."

"My workday often runs well
into the night. What if I need to reach you outside normal office hours?"
Gage asked, curious how far Norwell would bend to get his business.

"We'd like to manage your
account. If it would seal a deal, I'll put it in your contract that you'll have
twenty-four hour access to us."

Gage almost smiled. "I'll take
your accommodating nature into consideration." He stood up and reached
past Billings
to shake Norwell's hand.

"We look forward to hearing
from you," Norwell said, and without looking at the woman, added,
"Ms. Carpenter will escort you to the main lobby." 

Billings handed Gage his business card.
"If you think of anything at all, don't hesitate to call me."

Gage nodded. "Thank you."
He held back to let Norwell and Billings
proceed them out. Carpenter came around the table, and he followed her from the
room.

"Do you have a card?" he
asked her.

"Yes, of course." She
reached into her portfolio, pulled one out, and handed it to him.

"Thanks." He flicked the
card once between his thumb and forefinger then slipped it into his shirt
pocket. Who the hell did she remind him of?

~~~

He hadn't recognized her. She was
relieved. It was foolish, but Abby couldn't help feeling a little disappointed
as well. To use one of Rachael's expressions, she'd been as forgettable as
yesterday's news.

"How long have you been
working for Norwell?" Gage asked.

"Four years."

"You must have a lot of
patience."

She shot him a glance. He didn't
know the half of it, but she couldn't tell him that.

"Norwell can be demanding, but
he knows the business, and the experience I've gained working here has been
invaluable." She might be furious with Billings for making her look stupid, but
she'd never say anything to put the firm in a bad light.

"I admire your loyalty."
Gage gave her a wry smile.

Abby held her tongue. Apparently
he'd picked up more in their meeting than she'd realized. Rather than say
anything that might influence his decision to choose another firm, she decided
to change the topic. 

They had reached the elevators, and
Abby pressed the call button. "You seem to have the mayor's full support
for River Place One." She used the name he had in the meeting.

"Really?"
He raised an interested brow. "How did you reach that conclusion?"

"I could tell by the way the
two of you interacted at the press conference."

"You were there?"

"No. I have a good friend who
works at a local television station. She streamed me a video copy of the
conference."

"So you're enterprising as
well." The elevator arrived and Gage extended his arm for her to precede
him on.

She smiled. "I thought it
might give me some insight into your vision for the project."

"You seem very thorough, Ms.
Carpenter. By the way, that was a nice presentation you put together." He
glanced sideways and arched his brows. "It was yours, wasn't it?"

"We all contributed." How
did he know? Harold had stolen the show, and she'd been sure Gage thought she
didn't have an intelligent thought in her head.

"If my guess is correct, I'd
say you're responsible for most of it." He glanced down at her again and
she looked away. "Yeah," he said with a chuckle, "I thought
so."

"Thank you for meeting with
us, Mr. Faraday," she said when they reached the lobby a few minutes
later.

Gage shook her hand. "The
pleasure was mine. I'll be in touch."      

She watched him walk across the
lobby. He turned and glanced back when he reached the front door, as if he knew
she'd still be standing there. He flashed a warm smile, not unlike those she'd
seen him use to charm the crowd at the press conference, and then he exited the
building.

Now she would wait.

~~~

Abby bought a hot dog from a street
vendor on her way back to the office that evening after her last meeting. She
was in no rush as she walked the five blocks from the train stop.

She turned the corner, heading
toward City Hall, and glanced up at the clock on the Billy Penn Tower. Five minutes to seven. She
wouldn't work too late. Just long enough to catch up on some paperwork.

If Rachael knew, she'd start in
with another lecture about using work to avoid rejoining the living. Abby
frowned. That's not what she was doing. She had a goal. If it meant working
hard for a few years, there'd be a pay off at the other end.

When she reached her building, she
pulled the ID badge out of her purse and swiped it through the card reader.

"Hey, Gary," she called to the evening
security guard as she crossed the lobby to the elevators. "How's your
grandson's team doing?"

"Joey hit a home run last
Saturday, fourth one this season. I'm telling you that kid's headed for the
major leagues." He beamed with pride.

"That's great!" Abby
couldn't help but smile. "Just make him finish third grade before he signs
with the pros."

Gary slapped a hand on the top of the
security desk and laughed so hard Abby thought he'd pop a button. "That's
a good one. Finish third grade first."

"Yeah," she said,
thinking Gary
was the one who needed to get out more.

She worked in quiet for about an
hour but didn't make much progress. Standing up, she walked to the sliver of
window in the corner of her office. She stretched her neck from side to side
and watched traffic inch along