Deadly Deception (Deadly Series) (3 page)

Anne hurried over to Casey.

“I am
so
sorry, I met this guy and we started talking….”

“Don’t you dare worry about
it.” Casey peaked over her shoulder. “He’s hot, Anne.”

Carter was now talking with the bartender.

“His name is Carter, and there is just something about him—I don’t know how to explain it. I mean, at first he came off as really arrogant.”

“Men!”
Casey quickly interjected.

“But when he said
Anneliese
, I swear my legs went numb and all the blood drained from my head.” Anne placed the palm of her hands on her cheeks, feeling the flush engulf them.

“Wow, maybe
it’s love at first sight,” Casey said. “Why don’t you have him give you a ride home?”

“Why? I drove here.”

“Really, Anne? Lie and say we brought you here. We’ll pick up your car tomorrow, unless you’ll be too exhausted to go anywhere.”

“No
! That is way too desperate!” She hissed.

“You need desperate. When was the last time you went out on a date?”

Anne actually had to think about that. It had been months.

“I’ve been busy and besides, I wouldn’t constitute sitting at a bar with a complete stranger for an hour as a date.”

“You better come into the twenty-first century. Trust me – he’s into you.”

“I’m doomed.” Amused, she rested her head on Casey’s shoulder.

“He’s looked over here at least a dozen times so head back over there and just go with it. Stop over-analyzing everything, even though that’s your job,” Casey whispered.

“I’ll try.”

They hugged and exchanged kisses on the cheek. She walked back to Carter, who was coolly leaning against the bar, flashing those irresistible dimples.

“Did you blame me for your absence at the party?” he asked.

“Absolutely! I threw you right under the bus.” She smiled, feeling her body flush with heat once again.

“I really should get home. It’s late.”

She felt awkward and out of practice.

“Would you li
ke to meet for coffee in about—,” he paused to look at his watch, “eight hours? I didn’t get all my twenty questions in.”

Anne laughed, exposing her edginess.

“Sure. Where?”

“How about my place?”
A fiendish look graced his face.

“Presumptuous much?”

Her pulse quickened, almost certain he was able to hear the rush of blood course through her veins.

“Not at all Miss Dirty Mind, I’ll pick you up and bring you back to my house and cook you an amazing breakfast. I’ll even give you my social security number and date of birth so in the meantime you can run a background check on me.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Smiling, Anne pulled out one of her business cards and wrote her address on the back of it. Carter did the same. They swapped the cards and walked to the front entrance, stepping out into the sultry summer night air.

“Are you parked close by?” Carter asked, looking up and down Eighth Street.

“Just a few cars up the way.”

“Let me walk you.”

Their arms brushed against each other. Anne bit down on her lip, stifling a school girl giggle. A pang of disappointment hit her when they reached her car.

“Thank you for the escort. It was wonderful meeting you.”

She backed up, feeling the metal push against her spine. Carter curved down just inches from her ear. She could feel his hot breath run down her neck, giving her goose bumps.

“Good night,
my
Anneliese.”

Then he placed his chaste lips on hers. Casey was right; it was indeed love at first sight.

***

Anne was biting down on her bottom lip as she exited the bittersweet memory. She slowly pulled into the sea of cars that stretched the length of a football field. In big bold letters, the sign on the front of the three-story ancient brick building read
LEEDS IMPORTS
.

She pulled into Carter’s old spot that sat between his mother’s Cadillac and his father’s Mercedes. Anne grabbed her purse and the envelope and walked toward the front entrance of the building and opened the heavy tempered glass door. Standing before her in the metallic and enamel reception area was Carter’s mother.

“Hello, Anne.”

Once upon a time Carter’s mother was vivacious. She had exuberated youth and radiance; now, she had a delicate frailty about her. She had beautiful thick black hair that fell right over collarbone, skin that was flawless and a figure that was 1950s sexy. Now, Rita Leeds had aged roughly twenty years in a short three. Losing her only son had dismantled her existence.

Her dry, brittle hair had succumbed to streaks of white and her skin told tales of sorrow in the lines and wrinkles that engulfed her sunken face. Rita was skeletal in Anne’s embrace.

“You sounded so urgent on the phone. What’s going on?”

Rita’s lackluster eyes stared at Anne. They were trying to figure out the necessity of this meeting. She hadn’t seen Anne in months.

“Can we go someplace private?” Anne looked around the reception area, knowing there were water cooler ears lurking.

“Sure, let’s go to my office.”

Rita and Anne walked up an open grand staircase to a mezzanine that overlooked the colossal steel warehouse. Turning left, they entered a spacious wood-paneled office. There were pictures of Carter everywhere, making the office seem like a shrine to her son. The smell was enough to unsettle Anne’s stomach. It was a mixture of musty air and sour fruit.

Anne sat down in a stiff green wingback chair that sat across from her desk. She had a mountain of paper work, file folders and pink message sheets. Rita shut the door, walked over to Anne, and sat down opposite her. It appeared she had slept in her clothes. Her silk white blouse and tan slacks were wrinkled, she had a small snag on the foot of her stockings and her brown heels were cracked on the sides.

“So what’s going on?
You had something important to discuss with me?” Rita asked once more.

Anne pulled out the envelope and handed it to her. Rita opened it with an inquisitive expression.

“Are these from Carter’s camping trip?” Rita asked, shuffling through them.

“Yes, they are. They were left in that envelope outside my office door sometime over the weekend. But that’s not the craziest part of it. Read the note.”

Rita slowly opened the creased paper. Her hands trembled as she read those three words. Tears flooded her eyes.

“And you said this was waiting for you this morning at your office?” Rita inquired.

“Yeah, and there’s no return address. That’s Carter’s handwriting. He was the only one who called me that. Have you heard from him, Rita?”

If looks could kill, Anne would have been dead on the spot.

“NO! Do you think if I would have heard from him I would be sitting here so stunned by this?”

“I’m sorry,
Rita. I’m so confused and I—I don’t know what to do with this.”

Anne swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure in check.

“Did you take this to the police?”

“Not yet. I wanted to come to you first. I thought maybe you knew something….”

Rita shot up. Anne’s spine stiffened.

“This is crazy! Carter has been gone for three years. I have had to accept the fact that my son is dead. This is some cruel joke!”

She threw the note and pictures back at Anne, scattering them across her lap.

“Rita, I’m not trying to hurt you. You know me better than that. I mourned him too. A lot of people did. I’m going to find out what happened that day. Something doesn’t seem right.” Anne raised the note into the air. “It looks like his handwriting and he was the only one who called me Anneliese!”

Rita shook her head at Anne’s words and darted for the door.

“You need to leave. I can’t do this right now.”

Anne halted in front of Rita, whose face was cloaked with fierce red blotches.

“Maybe someone forged this note, maybe Carter is dead, but why would they do this? Why now? Don’t you want to know?”

Rita looked away as her pale lips quivered.

“I just want my baby back,” s
he sobbed.

“And I just want the truth. I deserve that much.” Anne replied, choking back her emotion.

Quickly she made her way back to her car, feeling defeated and weak. The winds were starting to pick up and there was a vicious chill in the air, matching the one she had just left behind. Anne questioned Rita’s sincerity and true knowledge of the contents that burned through that manila envelope.

Getting back into her car
, she sat for a moment peering toward the building. Rita’s silhouette stood hovering in the window.
She is definitely hiding something
, Anne thought. She took out her phone and saw that she had missed many calls from Adam. Inhaling deeply, she dialed his number, knowing he would be upset about her ditching their lunch date.

“Anne!” Adam said in a tense tone.

“I’m so sorry. I had an errand to run and I left my phone in the car.”

“I called your office and Shelly said you left looking quite ill. When you didn’t answer your cell I was starting to get worried. Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m heading back downtown now. No worries, I’m fine. I’m sorry about lunch. Are you still coming over after work?”

“I have to run but yes, I’ll be over the moment the trial is done.”

“Okay. I love you so much Adam.” Her tone dripped with desperation.

“I love you too, babe. I’ll see you soon.”

Anne placed the phone down in her lap and tried not to burst into an emotional downpour. She couldn’t keep this secret to herself but she knew she couldn’t say anything to Adam—not right now anyway. As she started pulling out of the parking lot of Leeds Imports, she dialed Casey.

“Hey you!
Where are you? Shelly said you were sick or something.”

Casey must have been in the hallway. Anne was having difficulty making out the echo of words.

“Yeah, um, do you have a patient right now?”

“Not until one o’clock. I was heading down to get a coffee. Why? What’s up?”

“You know that envelope that was mysteriously left by the door?”

“Yeah.”

“There are pictures of Carter at his last camping trip and a note with his handwriting on it.”

Anne could hear Casey lose her breath.

“What? Are you serious?”

“So, let’s meet at the coffee shop. I don’t want to talk about this at the office. I should be there in about twenty minutes.”

“Are you sure coffee is going to work with this conversation?
Maybe a cocktail?” Casey asked.

“I don’t think seeing
patients after cocktails is a good idea.” Anne snickered.

“You win. Coffee it is. See you in a bit.”

Hanging up, Anne continued back on to the interstate. She began to think about the motives behind this sudden revelation.
Why now? Three years have passed so why would anyone want me to have these photos?
Anne racked her brain for answers. She was losing her concentration on the journey back downtown, and she nearly missed her exit.

The Jetta quietly arrived in front of the quaint coffee shop that was about a block away from their office building. She searched for change in her purse and fed the meter. With a heavy gust of wind another set of somber clouds rolled in, showing signs of late season precipitation.

She pulled open the thick wooden door and instantly an aroma of coffee and pastries filled her senses. She couldn’t help but intensely draw in all that sweet caffeine goodness. Casey was sitting at a small wooden bistro table in the back corner, already armed with mochas and scones.

“That was fast.”

Casey stood up and hugged her visibly shaken friend.

“Traffic wasn’t too bad. Thanks for getting me this.”

“I knew you would need it. So tell me what’s going on.”

Anne took out the envelope and handed it to Casey. She looked through the pictures and read the note while Anne dove into the blueberry scone
, carefully watching her expression.

“What do you think about this?” Anne inquired.

“I don’t know. I just don’t understand why now.” Casey was staring at her. “Do you think Carter is alive?”

Anne pondered the question.

“It’s crazy for me to say yes to the possibility but then that little sliver of hope that sits dormant inside starts to emerge. I mean, it could be forged. Maybe one of his friends had these pictures and wanted me to have them—I don’t know.”

“So where’d you go this morning?” Casey asked lifting a quizzical brow.