Love Never Dies (21 page)

A sudden image of Mike Cooper flashed into her brain. “Well on Thursday after school a man by the name of Mike Cooper approached me regarding his nephew who apparently hadn’t gotten on the bus.”

“And just where was this?”

“In the parking lot at school when I was getting ready to go home. That’s when he approached me.”

“And did you stay wit
h him the whole time?”

“Uh no...
I went back into the office to check if his little boy got onto the bus.”

“So you left him alone near your car?”

“Well I guess so. Yes, yes I did.”

“Thank God we’re in my Pajero.”

“What’s this all about?” Her words no long sounded frightened, but angry, her fingers locked around her handbag. Simon was certain she would use it on him if he didn’t manage to placate her soon.

“Please allow me to explain it all to you later,” he asked gently.
“I need to concentrate on my driving, but believe me when I say I only have your best interests at heart. You’ve got to help me though. If you see anything resembling a silver BMW let me know. The man inside... he wants to kill me for sure and very likely you as well.”

Julia began to hyperventilate
; her hand vainly searching for the warmth of Seth’s soul, only no comfort was to be had, only a severe tightness indicating intense anxiety.

“
Okay,” she croaked, struggling to breathe. “I guess I’ll just have to trust you for now.” Julia swiveled in her seat and searched the busy freeway with anxious green eyes. Thus occupied, she managed to calm herself enough to ward off her previous light-headedness. A full twenty minutes later, Simon pulled off onto Lake Street in Pasadena to search for a secluded hotel.

“Ah, this will do,” Simon said thankfully
, after driving for several minutes along the beautifully treed streets of Pasadena. A low-roofed motor lodge stood on the right-hand side near Altadena Drive. He pulled up promptly before the reception area, removed the keys from the ignition, and ordered Julia to stay put. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest, unwilling to meet his concerned stare. Within five minutes, Simon returned with a hotel key dangling from his fingers.

“I managed to get us a room around the back.
There’s parking right by the room so no one can spot us from the road.” He maneuvered the truck around the back and parked under the shade of a mulberry tree just beginning to lose its broad leaves. Simon stiffly removed himself from the Pajero as Julia’s voice floated over the top of the bronze vehicle before she slammed the door angrily.

“I need some answers now Simon.”

“And you’re going to get them, but inside the hotel room. C’mon.” He unlocked the door, throwing his key atop the TV set before moving to the drapes. They slid shut with a hiss. Julia watched his movements, staring at him as if trapped in some sort of surreal dream. This was the kind of scene from some sort of grade-B movie, not her well-structured life, and suddenly a hot spurt of anger threatened her and she barely maintained control.

“I think
you have a lot of explaining to do mister,” she snarled, ignoring the burning sensation in her chest that suggested caution, and Simon turned bleakly toward her and nodded grimly.

Chapter 10

Simon sat across from her, his chair facing backward while his arms leaned across the pine top. He gazed intently at her pinched face that somehow managed to be frightened and an
gry at the same time. Julia perched upon the edge of the bed, her hands twisted in her lap as her confused face demanded credible answers.

“About sixteen months ago,” Simon began, “my brother Seth worked for a firm called Girard and Ti
erney. They are a large architectural company in Toronto and serve some of the main business interests in the city. Seth worked for the firm for over two years and had bought, as I mentioned before, a condominium on the shores of Lake Ontario. He enjoyed working for Lou Tierney and the two men became personal friends.

Lou had been son of a well-known businessman and seemingly entered the field of architecture through love, not obligation, having decided to reject ownership of his father’s successful textile business.
While Lou Tierney played at architecture, his firm was actually a front for other lucrative business holdings he held, unfortunately not all of them legal. Unbeknownst to Seth, Lou was a chronic gambler and to pay off his debts his well-established business was used by the mob.”

“Good God, the mob’s involved in this?” asked Julia, turning white.

“Unfortunately yes, and that’s where Seth comes in. His computer, having unfortunately crashed, severely set him behind on some plans he was designing. To catch up, he decided to work late and use his secretary’s machine. While using her computer, he noticed some files that, well, didn’t fit and realized he’d stumbled upon some very incriminating information. That night, by chance Mandy Gascone, whose real name was Mandy Gaskill and an undercover cop, came back to retrieve some papers and caught him at her machine.”

“I bet that didn’t
look good.”

“You’ve got that right.
She instantly thought he was involved with Lou Tierney and it took all of his sweet-talking skills to convince the middle-aged woman he wasn’t. Anyway, to make a long story short, Mandy enlisted his aid, asking him to keep an ear out for any additional information. Seth was simply going to be a source, nothing more, until a fluke accident occurred. As you probably have guessed, Toronto winters can get pretty chilly and icy. It was during a brief thaw that Mandy slipped upon the steps leading to the building and broke her leg in two places. Realizing that the carefully constructed sting intended to trap Lou Tierney in his money laundering business was about to go awry, she enlisted Seth’s aid again, placing him in contact with a man by the name of Angus O’Leary.”

“O’Leary? I never heard Seth mention either him or this Mandy.”

“I’m sure it’s because Seth didn’t want you to know Julia. All I can say is that things went terribly wrong. Seth’s cover was blown and even though Joe Alletti was arrested, a leak in the Toronto Police Department indicated that Seth and I, as well as our cousin Lucas, had been involved in the entire undercover operation. Our cousin Lucas had been down visiting us and some of Tierney’s associates took a snapshot of Seth and him. Of course, at the time, Joe Alletti couldn’t be sure if it was Seth or me who was involved because we were identical twins. As the trial approached and one government witness “mysteriously’ disappeared, the Toronto Police Department realized Seth’s life was in danger and because of our close relationship packed all three of us off. Lucas, I later found out, was stashed somewhere in British Columbia and I was sent down to Detroit.

Seth of course wasn’t speaking to me at the time because the incident regarding the girl
, Marcie, so I didn’t know he’d been stashed in Santa Barbara. Seth began a new life down here and in mid-October, flew up to Toronto to testify against Joe Alletti. No one knows how he was pegged, since his testimony had been sequestered, but when Seth returned to Santa Barbara he was tailed by the man following us now; Adam Gable. I’m not sure Seth became aware of his presence until December and by that time was hopelessly in love with you. He was instructed both by Angus O’Leary and Mandy Gaskill to relocate, but refused.” His voice tailed off and suddenly Julia realized what Simon hadn’t said.

“Oh no!
He refused to find a safe place because of me?”

Simon glanced down sadly, his fists clenching the chair top.
“It was a stupid mistake, one that cost him dearly.”

“So what you’re saying is that the collision between the semi-truck and his Jeep was no accident?”

Simon swallowed deeply. “I’m so sorry Julia.”

“So the man I loved was murdered?”
Julia suddenly rose, staggering blindly about the small room before backing into a corner of the room. She sank to the floor and leaning her head against the wall, cried silently.

“Oh Julia
, please...” Simon rose awkwardly and knelt beside her, placing gentle hands upon her shoulders. At first she resisted but finally, turning stiffly, sought the comfort of his arms.

“They killed my Seth,” she gasped. “They killed him
, those bastards.”

Simon held her for a long tim
e, soothing her hair and allowing the hot tears to rain down upon his chest. When Julia became calmer he lifted her from the floor, steering her toward the bed. Simon looped an arm over her limp shoulders.

“Julia, I hate to say it, but there’s more.
Joe Alletti was to stand trial on further allegations. Seth found out that Taylor Reynolds, an accountant with the firm, had access to a disk detailing Lou Tierney’s monetary connections with Alletti. Taylor didn’t trust the Toronto police, certain there was a leak somewhere in the department and unbeknownst to the police, mailed a copy of the disk to Seth, instructing him to hand it over to Angus personally if anything happened to him. Taylor was killed in January, just before he was about to testify, and because of his death part of the charges against Alletti were dropped. Within a day of Taylor’s ‘accidental fall’ from the balcony of his high-rise apartment, Seth’s Jeep burned to a crisp on a damp California highway.

A
lletti received information that Seth had secreted the disk of Lou Tierney’s workings somewhere in Santa Barbara. You probably didn’t know that Bastam, Hughes, and Glickstern suffered a burglary less than three days after Seth’s death. Seth’s desk was rummaged; his computer files pillaged, and his hard drive stolen.”

“I never knew that,” gasped Julia
, peering up at him with red swollen eyes.

“
I’m sure no one wanted you to know; particularly as the police began to put two and two together. Unfortunately, Alletti’s convinced that Seth made you privy to his secrets, which you and I know isn’t the case.”

Julia wiped her blurry eyes.
“He never told me anything about it. I wish he had.”

“I wish he had as well. While I’m proud he wanted to protect you, his mistake has unfortunately come back to haunt you. And the reason it has is partly because of me.”

“Why?” she asked simply.

“When we heard through the grapevine that you might be in danger, Angus O’Leary suggested you go under police protection.
Both Lucas and I protested, realizing what you had just gone through. Were we now going to tear you away from all those people who served as your support system? It was hoped that when no disk surfaced, Alletti would assume the truth; that you knew nothing. Therefore, it was instead agreed by the powers that be that you’d be watched.”

“Watched?” she repeated numbly.

“Yes, by an undercover detective named Stan Garten who’d been in contact with Seth. He drives a brown Chevy sedan and is a tall man with a bushy moustache.”

Suddenly Julia gasped.
“He’s the man I had removed from the school grounds because I thought he was stalking children.”

“Yeah,
and actually was your own personal bodyguard. That tale certainly made its way around the circuit. Anyway, Stan was at UCLA today watching over the two of us. It’s likely Adam Gable placed some sort of tracking device onto your car the afternoon he pretended to be the uncle of the missing student. Gable clearly wanted you out of Santa Barbara and away from your family and friends so he could ransack your flat after you left and then approach you.”

“Approach?”

“Maybe that’s too mild a term,” said Simon.

“So you just didn’t come down here to tie up Seth’s loose
ends at the architectural firm?”

“I c
ame to watch over you Julia.”

“Because they failed to protect Seth?”

Simon’s gray eyes were bleak. “That was only part of it Julia. I felt a responsibility for you. You were like some sort of lifeboat set adrift, alone and needing my help. Shoot Julia, you were practically family! How could I sleep at night knowing you might be in danger? It was bad enough you were so despondent over Seth. For months we worried that maybe you would...”

“Do what your dad did?”

“Yes,” he voiced sadly. “That’s before it became clear to everyone you had the strength and courage to go on. You can’t imagine how much I admire you for that.”

Julia’s hand rose to her breast and rub
bed. Seth’s soul had calmed, reassuring her that what Simon had just related was the complete truth. Simon noted the action and turned his head away, swallowing down the horrible lump in his throat.

Julia noted the muscles in his jaw tensing.
“All this must have been horrible for you as well; to lose your brother, knowing he’d been murdered and that this Alletti would stop at nothing to silence your entire family, including me. So what do we do now?”

Simon reached under his black leather jacket and pulled out the
Beretta hidden in his shoulder holster. “The first thing we’re going to do, Julia, is give you a quick lesson on how to use this.” Her dark green eyes widened, but if she felt fear or panic she kept it to herself.

“I’m ready,” was all she said
, and Simon understood Julia would valiantly face whatever happened next. That was the kind of woman she was.

Two hours later Julia lay sound asleep upon the queen-sized bed dominating the small motel room.
Simon rested uncomfortably in a low chair by the window, occasionally flicking the curtains aside to check the parking lot while he observed her sleeping form. Her blonde hair spread over the pillow in glorious disarray, her hand twitching occasionally as she slept soundlessly. She’d cried before falling asleep and Simon wished he could have comforted her, but such a move was highly inappropriate. This was simply a hands-off operation, but that couldn’t stop him from fantasizing about her.

His stomach gave a telltale growl and Simon rubbed the hungry spot in disgust.
This motel wasn’t equipped with any of the modern conveniences like room service, but did have a telephone, and within a couple of minutes he was flipping through the yellow pages searching for a nearby pizza delivery service. Julia awakened as he dialed the number.

“Pizza?” he mouthed and she nodded.
Julia was also strangely hungry and quietly observed Seth’s brother order two large pizzas; one pepperoni and one vegetarian, and a couple of soft drinks along with a Greek salad. Simon recited the address and room number and hung up the phone before flicking on the TV. Watching him now, Julia had a better understanding of Seth’s hesitancy about getting involved with her initially.

“Simon,” she asked, willing him to talk to her.
“You never told me how you got that white streak in your hair. Was it from the same snow bunny incident?” Her reference to the pink-clad skier caused him to smile.

“No, I was in a mino
r automobile accident several months later. Well maybe not so minor. I re-injured my leg and fool that I was, wasn’t wearing my seat belt and flew right through the windshield. I received a nasty gash on top of my crown and low and behold when the hair finally grew out again after the stitches came out the strands were as white as snow. I feel like Leticia from the Adams’ family.

“I’m sure it is quite appealing to the ladies.”

“Oh yeah,” said Simon, “they’ve been flocking around me in hoards. Haven’t you noticed how I’ve had to beat them off with a stick?” His tone was light as he gently mocked himself.

Julia sat up on the b
edspread and tucked a couple of pillows behind her. “I think Seth would be very proud of you Simon.”

His eyes, so like Seth’s, peered back at her.
“You think so, eh?”

“Now you sound Canadian with your
‘eh’s. I have the sense Seth always felt you were a little immature or self-serving. That’s just my impression, since he didn’t speak about you much. But here you are, risking your own life to watch over someone you don’t even know.”

“I know you,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“Seth
wrote me all about you. It wasn’t always what he said; it was what lay between the lines. He used to go on and on about your natural easy style with children, about how quick you were to laugh, and how beautiful your hair was. I’m not surprised he made you his soul mate. Do you still feel it Julia? Do you still feel him inside of you?”