To the Limit (29 page)

"And?"

"And that's it."

"This is earth-shattering
why
?"

"This is earth-shattering because that's the sum total of the information I was able to find on her. Period. Nothing before NYU. No family ties. Nothing. She just sort of materialized on campus as a fifth-year senior, then went on to get her master's in business. To say that prior to that point Clayborne's EA's past is murky is like saying the ocean is blue."

"Which tells me you're all over it."

"I've got Bob on it, too."

If anyone could find out information, her old boss at the Secret Service would be the one to ferret it out.

"OK," she said, then after a short hesitation added, "let me know if anything turns up. In the meantime, run these names, too, would you? Margaret Reed, Kat Hofsteader, and Sven Jorgenson."

In the booth across from her, McClain frowned, clearly curious about her reasoning.

"Anything out of the ordinary turns up, call. In the meantime, we're waiting to get a read on Tiffany's next move."

"We?"

Eve cut an uneasy glance at McClain, who was still watching her with interest. "I ran into McClain here. We ... we're sort of collaborating. For Tiffany's sake."

"Collaborating? With the—let
me think—rat-bastard, wasn't it?"

Seems she had mentioned McClain in those terms to her brother at some point. "Um, yeah."

"Interesting," Ethan said. "Frankly, I'm relieved. At least you're not alone out there. Has anything else happened I need to know about?"

"Nope." She was going to go to hell for lying. "I'll let you know if something else breaks."

"Do that. And watch your back, little sister. On all counts."

McClain was still watching her when she disconnected.

"Just being thorough," she said in response to his unasked question. "It's not that I suspect Kat or Sven or even Margaret of anything; it's just... who knows. I don't want any surprises blindsiding me." As they'd been doing lately. "You going to call Edwards soon or what?"

McClain slouched back in the booth, looking very male, very brooding, very attractive. She rocked her glass on the tabletop, cut her gaze to it instead of his mouth because it made her remember all the amazing things he'd done to her with his tongue.

Without replying, he punched in Edwards's number. While it rang, she was far too conscious of McClain's dark eyes watching her. Far too alert to the edgy awareness that, despite her determination to discount it, continued to hum in the air between them.

Sleeping with him had been a colossal error in judgment. And now she had to suck it up and deal with the fallout.

"Richard Edwards's office," Jazelle Taylor answered with professional élan after a receptionist had relayed the call.

"Hello, Ms. Taylor. It's McClain."

"Yes, Mr. McClain. We've been expecting a call from you."

"I need to speak with Mr. Edwards, please."

"I'm sorry, but he's in a meeting and instructed that he was not to be interrupted. May I take a message?"

"Actually, no. I need to speak with him directly regarding this matter."

"If it's about Tiffany Clayborne, Mr. Edwards indicated I was to ask you to brief me and I'll pass the information on to him. He's filled me in completely on Ms. Clayborne's, shall we say, situation. And frankly, I'm as concerned about her as Mr. Edwards and Mr. Clayborne. Have you had any luck finding her?"

Mac debated but in the end decided to give Jazelle the report. Clearly Edwards had briefed his EA or Jazelle wouldn't have privilege to even this much information about why Mac was in Edwards's employ.

Before Mac could speak, however, Jazelle said, "The truth of the matter is, Mr. Edwards is becoming a bit impatient. He's been upset that you haven't checked in before now. I'm hoping I can relay some good news to him."

Well. So much for pleasantries. "Actually, I do have something for him. Tiffany's still here in New York."

"Where in New York?" Her voice had sharpened noticeably.

"That's what I'm working on. Ms. Taylor," Mac continued carefully, "I'm starting to think that Tiffany is in trouble."

Silence, then, "I hope this doesn't sound indelicate, but Ms. Clayborne has been in some kind of trouble or other since she reached puberty."

"I'm not talking about mischief trouble. I think she's being held against her will."

Another silence. McClain glanced at Eve to see her face was sober with interest.

"What do you mean, 'against her will'?" Jazelle's tone had changed dramatically—as dramatically as a well-trained EA's could, given she was schooled to suppress all opinions. Still, Mac sensed a shift from barely suppressed cynicism to barely suppressed doubt.

"When Tiffany left Palm Beach, she left with a musician by the name of Lance Reno. Another man, Abe Gorman, is also with them. A third, who I've yet to identify, makes up the final member of the band. In any event, Reno seems to be calling the shots, deciding where they go, what they do. I've also been in contact with Tiffany's friend Kat Hofsteader. Just last night, Kat was involved in an incident where Reno made Tiffany leave with him against her will."

"Ms. Hofsteader actually saw Tiffany? And where was this?"

"At Oracle—it's a club downtown. According to Ms. Hofsteader, the situation was pretty ugly. You may wish to suggest to Mr. Edwards that he consider reporting this to the police. Possibly even the FBI."

'The FBI? Oh, please, Mr. McClain. That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"

Actually, Mac did think it was extreme. He believed what Eve had told Kat about calling the cops. Reno would manipulate Tiffany to the point that she'd deny he was keeping her against her will anyway. But he'd wanted to hear a reaction from the main camp. And he'd just gotten one. Jazelle's professional poise had slipped a rung or two.

He needed to get to Edwards. Mac wanted to hear his take on the prospect of involving law enforcement.

"Actually," Mac added, deciding to play this out a little further, "I think it might be the best option."

"I'll need to speak with Mr. Edwards about this. In the meantime, I strongly suggest that you do not pursue this avenue."

"When can I speak with Edwards?" Mac asked, point-blank.

"I'll make sure he frees up some time to call you within the hour."

"Well, that was interesting," Mac said when Jazelle had disconnected.

"EA with a power complex?" Eve suggested.

"Or something. Lots of alarm on her part when I mentioned the FBI. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Edwards very soon."

They'd just finished their sandwiches when Mac's cell phone rang.

"Twelve minutes," McClain said smugly after checking his watch. "You owe me a quarter."

Eve's money had been on fifteen minutes at the earliest.

"Do not, under any circumstances, involve the police or the FBI," Edwards stated without preamble when Mac answered.

All righty then. Sounded like they were getting right to the heart of things. "I take it Ms. Taylor filled you in on my report."

"She did and let me make this perfectly clear. You will not contact the authorities."

"You're an attorney, Edwards. You're aware that kidnapping is a federal offense," Mac said reasonably.

"Look, McClain. You're getting way ahead of yourself here." Edwards's patronizing tone was exceeded only by his anger. "And you're leaping to extreme conclusions."

"Out of concern for Tiffany."

"We all have Tiffany's well-being in mind. But you don't know her like I do. I can assure you that if Tiffany Clayborne wanted to extricate herself from her current situation, she is fully capable of doing so."

"Not if she's being drugged."

"Drugged?" He truly sounded taken aback.

"OK, look," Edwards continued after a moment, his tone a combination of weary patience and absolute authority. "Do not call the police or any other law enforcement agency and suggest this preposterous theory, do you understand? What you are to do is find her, notify me immediately when you do, and I'll take it from there. If you truly are fearful for Tiffany, you'll do your job and find her. And if, at that point, it's determined that she's being held against her will, then and only then will the authorities be notified. To suggest such a scenario at this point, however, will do Tiffany more harm than good. Particularly if drugs are involved. I'd much rather see her in rehab than in prison, don't you agree?"

"But if she
is
being held against her will—"

"Speculation, McClain," Edwards cut in again. "Now listen to me. You are being paid, and handsomely, I might add, to find Tiffany. If one single word of this ridiculous notion of yours leaks to the media or to any law enforcement agency, I assure you, not only your reputation but also the reputation of your business will be dealt such a crippling blow from the Clayborne PR machine that Discovery Unlimited will cease to exist.

"Now find her. No more talk about kidnapping. No more talk about contacting the authorities. And in the future, I expect frequent updates. You will call me daily at a minimum and you will report to Ms. Taylor if I'm not available. Now let's hope for everyone's sake that you call with news of Tiffany's exact location in very short order."

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Mac muttered after Edwards hung up without so much as a fare-thee-well.

"Protest from the peanut gallery?"

"A chorus of boos." He pocketed his phone. "A little Hitler complex there."

"Clayborne taught him well."

"You don't feel any better about Edwards, do you?" Mac asked after a protracted silence.

"Not really, no. I don't know. Maybe I'm just looking for something that's not there."

"Like what?"

"That's what I keep asking myself." She shook her head. "He's just too much of a ... stereotype," she finally decided. "Career driven. Perfect employee. No life. Just seems there has to be something more going on there than meets the eye. And Kat was right. Tiffany doesn't like him. That bothers me, too."

"You don't like him, either. Maybe he just has one of those obnoxious personalities."

"Maybe," she agreed but felt it was something more. She drained the last of her iced tea. "Logically, there's nothing to pin any of this suspicion to. Even if I don't like his tactics, his motive is sound. All his reasons make sense. Maybe what bothers me most is that the Clayborne public image seems to preempt concern for Tiffany's well-being."

"Then it's a good thing she's got us looking out for her interests."

Eve looked at him with renewed interest. "Yeah. It's a good thing."

"You know," he said after a moment, "I get the impression—have from the beginning—that Edwards is more than just Clayborne's mouthpiece. Like he's making the calls instead of relaying them."

"Interesting. Given Clayborne's lack of parental involvement, maybe it's the route their relationship has taken. You know—maybe Edwards has been more of an authority figure in Tiffany's life than her own father. Maybe Clayborne delegated that role long ago and it's simply status quo."

"Which may account for Tiffany's dislike for Edwards. Like Kat says, Tiffany would rather have her father, but she got Edwards pushed on her instead."

"Maybe," Eve agreed. "In any event, it's Reno, not Edwards, who's the most immediate threat. He's the one we have to target."

"Come on." McClain slid out of the booth and tossed some bills on the tabletop. "Let's go check her bank account activity. See if anything pops up."

Chapter 19

Nothing did. Mac couldn't find any
 
recent withdrawals from Tiffany's accounts when they returned to his hotel room and tapped his laptop.
The happy tribe is definitely lying low. Retooling. Resting. Who knew?
he thought as he switched off the computer.

Rubbing his neck and stretching, he looked up from the desk. Eve was curled up in one of the two chairs in the room, his folder on Tiffany balanced on her lap as she thumbed through pages of printouts.