Chapter 14 – Off the Record
My vibrating phone roused me. I’d sat with my forehead on Sloan’s desk for minutes that felt like hours. In one line of text, all the life had gone from my body. My warm light was snuffed out.
I should be crying. The little flicker of hope I’d held so dearly all these days had been cruelly extinguished, and I was left shivering in the cold darkness alone. My entire body braced for the breakdown, but it never came. Only quiet sadness held me unable to move.
The vibrating started again, and finally I lifted my hand to check it. Elaine’s face and number blinked at me, but I only stared at her. I couldn’t seem to care. I wanted to slide under the desk and stay there forever. Still, my friend persisted.
And even with all the hope sucked out of my life, I knew if she were here, she’d say all the right things. I had to get up. I had to get out of this place and go to the new life I’d been working so hard to establish. Once I was there, I could break down, but not while I was still in this place of danger.
Before I left, however, something in me wanted this last bit of evidence, this last piece of betrayal. I moved the mouse over the print icon and clicked, waiting as the email printed out, not even reading it.
I left Sloan’s office quieter and far slower than when I’d entered. I walked down the passage and climbed the stairs to my room before I pressed the button to call my best friend back.
“Melissa!” Elaine’s voice was frantic when she answered. “I’ve been so worried. I couldn’t even sleep.”
“Where are you?” I managed to ask through the thickness in my throat.
“I’m minutes away. Are you ready?”
Relief washed over me in a wave so powerful, I had to sit on my bed. “Yes, I’m ready. I’m ready now.” I felt the breakdown threatening, but I had to be strong. “Oh, Elaine. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, honey,” she cried. “I’d be there even faster if I could.”
I ended the call and pulled myself up by force of will. I had to collect the last of my things. I had to make sure I wasn’t leaving behind anything I couldn’t live without. I was never looking back.
Opening my closet, I dug through the remaining shoeboxes and old photo albums. The good news was most everything I cared about was in Wilmington now, and as depressing as it sounded, there was very little I wanted to keep from these days in Baltimore. I was just zipping up the large suitcase when I heard the light knock on my door. Looking up, I saw Sloan standing there, a severe line between his light-brown eyebrows.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
I jumped back from the suitcase as if electrocuted. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to be at your office.”
“Gladys said you were acting strangely, and I should come home.”
“Mrs. Widlow,” I breathed. As if a switch inside me was flipped, the whole idea that every single person in this house watched me like a rebellious teenager and reported back to Sloan set me off.
The depression I’d been feeling over Derek turned into rage, and I jerked the suitcase off my bed. “There’s nothing strange going on,” I said, stalking over to my dresser and jerking open the small top drawer. I grasped the pepper spray canister, aiming it straight at his face. “I’m leaving this place. And if you try to stop me, I’ll spray you.”
Sloan’s eyebrow cocked, and he held both hands up as if I’d just pulled a gun. “By all means, leave,” he breathed a short laugh. It only fueled my rage.
“Don’t test me, Sloan. There’s nothing I’d love more than to burn your eyes out.”
At that he dropped his hands and walked out. “Have a safe drive,” he called over his shoulder.
Just then, Elaine jogged up the main stairway. When she and Sloan met each other, they both stopped. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what might happen. My best friend looked at my almost ex-husband as if he were Osama bin Laden, and he looked at her as if she were a witch.
I jerked up the handle on my suitcase and stalked down the hall, rolling it behind me. “I’m here, Elaine!” I called. “Don’t bother with him. It’s time to go.”
Her brow softened, and she turned from Sloan to me. “Let’s go,” she repeated.
On my way out, my eyes landed on a stack of envelopes sitting on the small table by the front door. The mail! I paused only briefly to spread them out, and my breath caught when I saw it—Aunt Bea’s check! It came! I nearly burst into tears at the sight of it. The envelope restored the tiniest bit of hope I needed. I was going to survive this. I was going to be okay. I might be alone, but I was going to make it through.
I snatched it up and walked out the door not looking back. I would never look back.
We lifted my huge suitcase into Elaine’s car and jumped inside. I watched as she guided us out of the long driveway away from the Reynolds mansion, but when we reached the main road, I put my hand on her arm.
“Wait before we get going.” My chest ached with what I was about to ask my best friend, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to have closure. “There’s something I need to do first. Will you help me?”
Her brows drew together, but she waited. “Of course, what is it?”
I pulled out the three pages that included Derek’s email and Sloan’s response. “I printed this off Sloan’s computer. Would you read it to me?”
Elaine was still frowning, but she took the sheets from me. “To [email protected]” Instantly she lowered the pages and looked at me. “Is this… Derek?”
“Please just read it,” I said, every muscle in my body clenched.
“Derek, I hope you remember your old mentor Sloan.” She stopped again, taking a breath and staring at me, brows clutched.
“Keep going,” I whispered.
“I found you online, and I hope you might be willing to do a favor for an old friend. Of course, I’ll pay you well.” Again she stopped. “Oh, Mel. I don’t think I can—”
“Please, Elaine.” My voice was sharp now. “Just read the damn email.”
She took a deep breath and continued. “I’m afraid my wife is having an affair, and I need someone I can trust to verify this for me. Attached is her photograph and information. She is somewhere this week. She wouldn’t tell me where. I think it might be with him.”
A knot tightened in my throat, and again Elaine paused. But instead of speaking, she took another deep breath and continued. “As you can imagine, this is very sensitive and quite humiliating. I hope we can keep this off the record.”
My head dropped at the phrase. It was the same thing he’d said to me after Patrick had revealed the location of their offices. Off the record.
“Your friend, Sloan Reynolds,” she finished. Then she lowered the pages to her lap.
His friend. I couldn’t speak. I had gone numb and nothing felt like it made sense anymore.
“He was spying on you?” Her voice cracked high with disbelief. “Was Patrick in on it, too?”
I shrugged, blinking slowly. Then I forced the words. “He responded. I printed out the whole exchange.”
She lifted the pages again and folded the first one back. “Dear Sloan,” then she glanced at me, but I was still sitting frozen, unable to feel. “I’m sorry to hear of your marital difficulties. I did observe your wife this week. She was with another female at the Cactus Flower Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. But I have to confess, I did not observe her with any male guests. As far as I could tell, she was alone the entire week. Sorry not to be more help. No payment needed. Cordially, Derek.”
At that she stared at the printout, her brow lined. She flipped the pages back and forth, then she turned to me in her seat. “Weren’t you and Derek…?”
For a moment, all I could do was stare at my lap in stunned silence. Then I slowly nodded, finding my voice. “We were together,” I said softly.
Her eyebrows flew up. “You slept together?”
“Several times.”
“But he said…” She looked out the front window a moment. “I don’t understand.”
I reached for the door handle, lifting it, and getting out of the car. I went around and opened the hatchback, unzipping my suitcase and digging through the file folders I’d placed on top until I found the one I was looking for. I walked back to the passenger’s side and got in, pulling the door closed. Then I reached down by my feet and dug out the small silk pouch I’d hidden in my bag.
“Would you please do something for me, Elaine?” I looked at my friend with such seriousness, she immediately nodded. “I need you to drive us to Princeton. There’s something I have to do.”
Her jaw dropped. “But—”
“Please? Sloan can’t call the shots any more.”
I watched as she chewed her lip. Then she grasped the steering wheel and turned her car toward Interstate 95.