Glow (Glimmer and Glow 2) - Page 80

“I’m sorry. I’m a curious son of a bitch, you know that. Always have been,” Jim said apologetically. Dylan slowly opened his eyes and met the sheriff’s stare. “Your reaction on the night the alarm went off set me down the path. Clearly, this wasn’t some run-of-the-mill bedmate, as wound up as you were. But the more I looked at Alice . . .” He shrugged helplessly. “I’m sure you notice the resemblance between her and Lynn, too. It wasn’t obvious at first, but there was something familiar that was tickling at my memory. Then it was prodding at it so bad I couldn’t sleep. You’re right. I couldn’t let it go.”

“She’s not ready to face the FBI’s interrogations. The press. The Durand board. The challengers to a claim that she’s the long-lost Durand heiress. The result of the Reeds being implicated in the kidnapping. I was just trying to buy some time for her.”

“Would anyone ever be ready for that?” Jim asked, compassion in his tone.

“Can you at least wait to tell the FBI until after the genetic testing is in? You could say we wanted to be sure before we contacted them.”

“That would require that I lie in regard to everything you just told me about Avery Cunningham’s deathbed confession, Dylan. That’s a hell of a lot of withholding, for a hell of a long time, whether the genetic testing is conclusive or not. Besides, both of us know what those results are going to be.”

“Just give me until the end of the week, then,” he bargained without pause. “For whatever reason, the completion of Camp Durand means the world to Alice. She wants to prove that she’s capable of being a Durand leader.”

“If that testing proves it, she owns the company, doesn’t she?” Jim asked, bewildered.

“Of course, but you don’t know Alice,” Dylan frowned. “She’s very . . . stubborn at times.”

“Hasn’t changed that much from when she was little, then,” Jim said with a small, sad smile.

“Just give me until Friday. Give Alice until then. That’s the last official day of camp. There’s a dinner and the individual awards and the Team Championship trophy are given here at the castle. You have no idea what it’d mean to Alice, to finish this before the swarm descends.”

“I can’t keep something this big a secret, Dylan. Not without sacrificing some pretty damn important professional ethics.”

“I know you have to inform the authorities. I understand. Just give it a few days? The counselors don’t know it, but the managers and Kehoe start to tabulate all their evaluations to decide which of the nine counselors are going to become Durand employees tonight, after the points are rewarded for team competition. The votes are tallied and the results are final by Wednesday. On Thursday, they start to inform each counselor who was chosen and who wasn’t in private meetings. At least give me enough time so that if push comes to shove, she could see the results and know she’d been selected as a Durand manager, fair and square.”

He sensed Jim’s continued hesitation. Frustration rose in him.

“Sometimes, I don’t think I’ll ever get her to accept her legacy if she can’t make the first step of successfully completing this damn camp,” Dylan said, slapping his hand on the desk. Jim started at his intensity. “She’s fixated on the idea. I can’t sway her. But then—” He exhaled and sagged heavily back in his chair. “Sometimes, I see her point, even if I’d rather not. She’s had a shitload of confusion and shock and disbelief dumped onto her. Completing the camp successfully feels like . . . some kind of tangible stepping stone for her, I guess.”

“Between Addie’s world and her own,” Jim said.

He met Jim’s stare and nodded once.

“I’ll give you until Thursday evening. That’s the best I can do, Dylan. I’ll let on like we just had this conversation before I contact them. And I’ll tell them that you were holding off in telling the truth because you wanted to see the results of the blood test first. The chances are that agents won’t arrive here until the following day, if I contact them after hours. Hell, I don’t even know who’s going to answer the phone for the number I have,” Jim said, shrugging dubiously. “For all I know, the agents who worked on the case are retired or moved on to other jobs.”

“Do you think I’ll be in trouble with the FBI?” Dylan asked quietly. “For withholding the truth until now?”

“I doubt it. All you did was succeed in a mission they failed at for twenty years. But there’s always the chance they won’t take to your keeping secrets kindly. I suggest we don’t let on so blatantly that we’re as convinced as we are that Addie Durand and Alice Reed are the same person. Who knows?” Jim said, shrugging. “It may turn out we’re wrong.”

“Not a chance,” Dylan said grimly. “You won’t think so, either, when I tell you about some of Alice’s returning memories.”

“I don’t need much convincing as it is.” Jim pointed toward the door. “I’m going to use the facilities first. Tell me about her memories when I come back?”

Dylan nodded. Jim didn’t shut the den door when he left. As Dylan waited, he heard a distant knocking. Hammering, actually. Someone was at the front door. He quickly checked his watch. It was going on ten o’clock. Who the hell was visiting at this hour?

As he neared the foyer, he realized the knocking was persistent and loud. He swung open the heavy front door and saw Sebastian Kehoe standing on the stoop, his face fixed and pale.

“Sebastian. Is something wrong?” Dylan asked, alarmed at his unexpected appearance and tense presentation.

“She won again tonight. The team competition,” Sebastian grated out without answering Dylan’s question. “She tied with Thad Schaefer, but it doesn’t matter. She won the team competition last week, as well. She’s managed to win the favor of every manag

er. They’ll all cast votes in favor of her.”

“What’s your point?” Dylan asked slowly.

“You don’t even ask whom I’m talking about,” Kehoe said bitterly. “You know I’m referring to her. Alice.”

“I figured,” Dylan said with false calmness. “Alice Reed. I’m aware that she won the team competition last week.”

“You’re aware of a hell of a lot more than that about her.”

Tags: Beth Kery Glimmer and Glow Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net
readsnovelonline.net Copyright 2016 - 2024