Taken out? This has gotten way out of control. “But I always knew the child wasn’t mine. I offered to give her a lot of money once we had proof. She’s the one who went to the media saying I refused my responsibility.”
“I understand that. Fiona is on her way to you and should be landing in a little over an hour, and the police are flying into Lewiston commercially on the two thirty flight from Salt Lake. They will either be at the ranch tonight or first thing tomorrow.”
“Do they have an arrest warrant?”
“Not when they left, but they may have one by the time they land.”
I sigh. “Okay. Thanks, Jim, for the heads up.”
Our call disconnects. I close my eyes for a moment before I look over at Tinsley. “You know Claire is going ape shit over this, right?”
Tinsley nods. “Why don’t you call her?”
The thought sours my stomach. “She’s going to scream at me.”
“Better now than later, I suppose.” Tinsley gives me a tight smile, but her eyes are soft.
I take a deep breath and hold it. “You’re only saying that because she won’t be yelling at you.”
Our last week here at the ranch has been perfect. We usually make love when we wake up. Who needs caffeine when I can hear Tinsley scream my name before breakfast? That’s my adrenaline. Then we’re at the dining room table by eight. We break for lunch at twelve-thirty and work until at least two before we quit for the day and usually do something to explore the property. We are back for dinner by seven. We watch a movie snuggled up in bed and make love at least one more time before we go to sleep. We’re living in a carefully crafted bubble and loving every second of it.
I talked to my sister last week. Her house should be done after Labor Day, and the interest in our communications product continues to be high from PeopleMover. We’ve also been approached by others outside of social media. Now I have to alert her to the impending nightmare of more PR cleanup.
I look at Tinsley, and she kisses me softly for encouragement. I finally make the call.
“Hey. What’s up? It’s not our day to chat.”
Claire is bubbly, and I’m going to pop that bubble and incur her wrath.
“Jim called,” I tell her.
“What’s going on?”
“Heather McCoy is missing.”
“I saw that on the news this morning. We dodged a bullet on that one.”
“We’ll talk about why you didn’t call me as soon as you saw the news another time, but Jim’s heard otherwise.”
“What do you mean?”
“Despite my confidence and the proof of my non-paternity, the detective on the case supposedly thinks I hired someone to take her out.”
“What? Do they know you at all?”
There goes the bubble. Pop.
“Well, no. They don’t know me, but they’re on their way here. They arrive this afternoon.”
“Oh shit,” Claire breathes.
She’s taking this much better than I expected. I thought she’d go crazy on me like she did before she banished me from the company.
“Jim put Fiona on a plane, and she arrives within the hour.”
Tinsley stands and leaves the room. I hope she’s not pissed off.
Claire and I talk through some things she’s going to do to protect the company, including the thing I dread the most—my possible removal. It’s my company.
“If we have to go there, it will be temporary,” Claire assures me. “And we’ll make that legally binding.”
Tinsley returns with a bottle of bourbon and a glass of water. She scribbles a note: I told Molly Fiona was on the way. Frank will be there to meet her. We’ll manage this together.
I look at her and mouth, “Thank you.”
She winks at me, and my shoulders relax. My heartbeat slows.
“I should go. Fiona will be here, and I need to prepare.”
“I love you. This is all going to be fine,” Claire says.
“I love you, too,” I tell her. “I’ll call you, or if I get arrested, I’ll have Tinsley call you.”
“You’ll be fine.”
I wish I were as confident as Claire and Tinsley that this is all going to be okay. I don’t know what it was in Jim’s voice, but something has me scared, despite the truth on my side.
We hang up, and Tinsley crawls into my lap. She stares at me with her big brown eyes. “I know we haven’t said this, but I want you to know that I love you.”
I feel like I could leap tall buildings.
Tinsley leans down and kisses me, her tongue swiping languidly in my mouth. My hand goes to her breast, and I can feel my erection growing. Rather than meet with Fiona, I’d much prefer to make love to my girlfriend.
“I love you, too,” I murmur between kisses.
“We’re going to get through this. If Fiona can’t or doesn’t want to help, my mom went to law school in Los Angeles, and she has many friends who are still there. Her network can help us.”
I pull her in and hold her tight. The buzz of the plane can be heard long before we see it enter the valley.
My pulse quickens as we walk out to the porch.
Molly joins us. “Do you think she’ll be staying?” she asks.
I turn to her. “I’m sorry. Yes, I imagine she’s going to want to stay on the property. I should also warn you that the San Francisco police are coming to meet with me.”
“That’s fine. I don’t mind doing up a room for your lawyer, but I’m not doing up a room for the police.” Molly disappears with a sniff.
Tinsley squeezes
