Uncorked (41 page)

“I’m great. My
head doesn’t hurt as much.”

“Fantastic.
Excited to get home?”

“I am. Chella
called. I asked her if she could come visit, but she said she couldn’t because
she was too far away.”

“She is,
Sweetie. San Diego is three hours drive away.”

“I don’t think
she’s in San Diego.”

“What makes you
say that?” Mitch asked curiously.

“I asked her if
I could come see her when I was better, because she said she couldn’t come to
see me. She said she had to go away.”

“We’ll see. I’ll
give her a call later. Maybe she had to travel for work. I’ll be heading back
home tomorrow. You think you’ll be able to manage without your dad for the next
few days?”

“I’ll be fine,
Daddy. Bring Chella with you next time. I’d like to see her.”

Mitch arrived in
San Diego early
the next morning. He had a business meeting, so he headed straight to his
office from the airport. By noon, all his meetings were out of the way.

He sat at his
desk, gazing at the photo of Chella. He picked it up and stared into her eyes.
He missed her, but he questioned whether he should be with her. The accident
with Emily opened his eyes, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able
to keep all the issues that followed Chella from spilling beyond the borders of
San Diego. For the first time since he’d started seeing her, he felt like he
had to make a choice between his daughter and the woman he loved. The choice
was clear. Now that his daughter had fallen in love with her, he’d be forced to
break her heart and tell her that Chella could no longer be a part of her life.
He was still so angry with Chella. If only she had trusted him, he wouldn’t
have been forced to make that decision.

His thoughts
were interrupted by a knock on his office door. Greta entered and handed him a
package.

“This just came
in for you. It’s marked private and confidential.”

“Thanks, Greta.”
He felt the package for any bumps. In the last few months, he made it his
business to learn how to recognize a letter bomb. He tore away the seal and
emptied the contents on his desk: nude images of Chella.

Ten of them,
maybe more, and a note that read

TELL
HER RUNNING AWAY WON’T FIX ANYTHING.

THERE’S
MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM, AND I INTEND TO USE THEM.

He flipped through the images.
With each disturbing vision, he clenched his teeth harder. He read the note a second
and third time and punched a glass of water he had on his desk. The glass and
its contents smashed against the wall.

He called Greta on the intercom.
“Greta, who brought that package?”

“It was delivered by messenger,
Mr. Mariani.”

“Thanks,” he said, ending the
call.

“He tried calling Chella, but her
phone went straight to voice mail again. It occurred to him she had
intentionally shut off her phone. This was the fourth time he had tried to
reach her.

He called her direct line at the
office, but there was no answer. When he tried calling via the operator at
Sheyenne International, he learned Chella no longer worked for the company.

His blood raced. He quickly
called the driver he had been using and asked him to pick him up immediately.
He slipped the pictures into his briefcase and headed over to see Craig at his
office.

Chella’s office door was closed,
and the lights were off. Jade sat at her desk, barely looking at him. She
muttered hello under her breath.

“Mitch, it’s good to see you. I’m
glad you’re back,” Craig said, shaking his hand as he entered the office.

Mitch closed the door behind
them.

“Where’s Chella?”

“She hasn’t contacted you?”

“No. The last time I spoke to her
was Friday. I’ve called her three or four times since, and I keep getting her voicemail.
She hasn’t returned any of my messages. I called here, and I find out she no
longer works here. What going on?”

“She resigned early Saturday
morning then left. She wouldn’t tell me where she was going, but she gave me a
new number to reach her and an email address. She refuses to tell me where she
is.”

“Can I have that information?
Please?”

“I’m sure she’ll kill me for
doing this, but she didn’t say not to. She doesn’t always know what good for
her, anyway,” Craig replied, writing the information on a slip of paper. “Note
the name on the email address.” He handed the paper to Mitch.

“Thank you.” Mitch replied,
glancing at the paper. “Any clue where she might be?”

“None whatsoever. She was out the
house by seven Saturday morning.”

“I need to call Detective Carter.
Someone sent me a package with pictures and a note.”

“When?”

“About a half-hour ago.”

Mitch called Detective Carter.
They made plans to meet at Craig’s office.

“So how’s the little one?”

“Better. She was released
yesterday.”

“How long before she’s a hundred
percent?”

“Six to eight weeks.”

“You know, Chella loves that
little girl. She feels responsible for what happened.”

“She should. If she hadn’t lied
to me, if she had trusted me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“I don’t blame you for being angry
with her, but this had nothing to do with trust. She was looking out for you.
It’s unfortunate that it backfired.”

“Of course it was about trust.
How the hell else do you explain what happened?” Mitch asked as he paced the
floors.

“Roughly a month ago, she
received a package at the office. She thought it was from you. It had your
return address label. It had a gift box inside. When she opened it, there was a
mutilated rat inside. She called the police and they came by. She told me she
was about to call you, but that was the day you found out your father’s
condition had taken a turn for the worse. I think that was also the day you
found out you were a match. She didn’t want to stress you further by telling
you about it.”

“She had plenty time to tell me after
that.”

“Did she? She was waiting for the
right time. Maybe in retrospect, there was no right time. There was a day you
had lunch or dinner with your sisters. She got an email telling her she was
being watched. The police were able to find out where the emails were sent
from, and I think they were able to pull some faces, but they weren’t people
she recognized.”

“Why did she feel it necessary to
keep this from me? The dinner wasn’t that important. I could have done that any
other time.”

“A few reasons. Mitch, I know you
may not understand this, but family means the world to Chella. When her parents
died, she lost all the family she ever had. It was important to her that you
keep those family ties and strengthen them. That’s the same reason she tried numerous
times with your mother. I think she was going to tell you that night, but when
she found out you’d be preparing for the procedure, she decided against it.
Soon after your father died, and then there was the funeral. You must take into
account everything that was going on at the time. I didn’t find out until after
the accident that she hadn’t told you. If I knew then what I know now, when you
called me to tell me Emily was coming over for dinner, I would have called her
and told her to stop you.”

 “I don’t know, Craig. Danger
follows Chella wherever she goes. I would take chances with myself, but Emily
almost losing her life in that accident made me question everything.”

“If you’re questioning
everything, then why are you here? Why do you care where she is? Why are you
still looking out for her?”

“I never said I didn’t care about
her.”

A knock sounded on the door.
Detective Carter entered the room. Mitch handed him the package and photos.

“What time did you receive this?’
asked Detective Carter.

“About an hour ago.”

“Who knew she was leaving?”

“I knew on Saturday,” Craig
replied. “I don’t know who else she told, but she asked me to send out a mass
email for her to the cosmetic division of Sheyenne International about an hour
and a half ago.”

“Really?” Detective Carter’s
eyebrows peaked. “I think our suspect just made a mistake.”

“What do you mean?” Mitch asked.

“Did you know she was leaving?”
the detective asked.

“No, I found out when I came to
see Craig. I was out of town.”

“It would be my guess that Ms. Noon
told very few people she was leaving. I can call her and find out.”

“She’s changed her number,” Mitch
responded.

“I have the new one. If my
instincts are right, whoever the suspect is might be in this building. One of
the people she sent the email to.”

“Jesus,” Craig exclaimed. “What
makes you say that?”

“The timeframe. Ms. Noon sends
out that email and within half an hour this person prepares a package and has
it delivered to Mr. Mariani? Seems a little too convenient. Do you have a list
of all the people who received that email?”

“Yes,” Craig replied. He called
his secretary and asked her to prepare a printout of all the individuals.

“I’m going to run background
checks on all those individuals,” said Detective Carter. “See if anything comes
up. I ask the two of you to keep this confidential. If word gets out, it might
give them time to get rid of evidence or cover their tracks.”

“Our lips are sealed,” Mitch
replied. Craig nodded in agreement.

“One more question, Mr. Spencer.
Would you allow us to have undercover officers in here while we try to resolve
this?”

“We can fill Chella’s post with
one of your officers.”

“That would be perfect. Let me
head back to my office and work this out. I’ll be in touch.”

“You might need to take a copy of
this to prep them,” Craig said, handing the detective a folder. “When Chella
resigned she gave me this report detailing how to execute the promotion,
complete with a task list and the team members she thought might be able to
perform them.”

“This is perfect.” the detective
replied. “Gentlemen, this might be the big break we’ve been hoping for. I’ll be
in touch.”

He shook both of their hands and
exited the room.

“Looks like there might be an end
in sight,” Craig said, smiling. “Who would have thought Chella leaving would have
forced them to make a mistake?”

“That might be true, but Craig,
please be careful. Everyone here knows that Chella is like a daughter to you.
That makes you a target.”

“I guess until we get those
undercover officers in here I can keep a low profile and work from home. Or
spend my days golfing.”

“Just be careful. I’m headed
home. It’s been a rough week.”

“Stay in touch, and think about
what I said. Ask yourself what you would have done if you were in her shoes.”

“I will. Thanks for giving me her
information.”

When Mitch arrived
home, he walked into his bedroom
with his luggage. The first thing that caught his attention was the letter and
keys Chella left on the bed. He got rid of his suit and dressed in his favorite
outfit. He put her copy of the keys on the bedside table. Things seemed so
final, like it was really over between them. He hated the way he felt, and he
knew that he wasn’t ready for it to be over between them. He glanced at a photo
of Emily on the nearby table and the images of her unconscious body after the
accident flooded his mind. Then the images of Chella he received earlier that
day made him eager to want to be with her and protect her. He never thought he
could have so many conflicting feelings. He was afraid that when he read the
letter from her, it would make matters worse.

Dear Mitch,

I’m so sorry for the pain I’ve
caused you, Emily, Charlotte, and her family. It was never my intention to hurt
any of you, but I did. For that, I am so very sorry.

If I stay here, my presence will
continue to hurt the people I love and care about. I’m risking everyone’s life
by being here, so I must go.

Thank you for bringing such
meaning to my life these last few months. Because of you, I was able to live a
little and love a lot. I will always be grateful to you for that.

Please let Emily know that she
will always hold a special place in my heart, as do you.

I wish you all the best life has
to offer.

Love,

Chella

P.S.

I’m sure this cannot begin to
cover your loss, but it’s only fair that I make a contribution to the losses
you’ve incurred because of me. I’ve made arrangements for $100,000.00 to be
wired into your account by the end of Monday’s workday. Once again, I’m sorry.