Casey threw up her hands.“I don’t know.He isn’t in the habit of telling me anything important in his life,” and slammed the door behind her as she left.
“Well, I declare,” Eudora said, and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue as Erica came into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?”Erica asked.
“Ryder is missing,” Eudora said.
Erica looked startled and turned as her brother, Miles, sauntered into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.“What’s everyone doing in the kitchen?”
“Ryder ran off,” Erica said.
His expression changed from one of boredom to intrigue.“Really?”
Eudora frowned.“I don’t believe it.I’ve seen the way he looks at Casey.I suspect they’ve just had an argument.”
Miles scratched his head, as if a thought just occurred.
“If he’s gone, I wonder what that does to the terms of Delaney’s will?”
It was one of the few times in his life that his grandmother chose to slap his face.
* * *
Sometime toward morning, Casey cried herself to sleep.She would have been happy to know Ryder hadn’t gone too far.But she didn’t know, and because of the press it would cause, she hadn’t called the police.If she had, though, it wouldn’t have taken them long to locate that familiar white Lincoln.It was parked at the airport in very plain sight.And it wouldn’t have taken all that much longer to locate the driver.He was standing outside of the fences that separated the highway from runway, watching as planes took off and landed, trying to exorcise the demon that had driven the wedge between him and the woman he loved.It had taken hours before his conscience would let him admit that while she’d gone about it all wrong, she’d had the right to know.
As he watched, a small private plane was taxiing for takeoff, and he curled his fingers through the holes in the chain links, forcing himself to stand as the plane belied the laws of gravity.Since his arrival, over fifty planes had moved past his location, and not a one had crashed on takeoff or landing.
Then why spare me?
The question haunted him as much, if not more, than the fact that his father was dead.Weary in body and soul, he finally moved from the fence toward the car.He didn’t know how, but he and Casey had to find a way to make things right.Living life without her wasn’t worth the breath it would take.
But when he reached the car, it wouldn’t start.The battery was so dead that jumper cables wouldn’t even work, and because the battery was dead, the car phone was also inoperable.Ryder cursed luck and fate and everything in between, knowing that all he had to do was go inside the terminal and call home, but the idea of getting Casey out at four in the morning didn’t seem all that wise, especially after the fight they’d had.
Forced to wait until daybreak when a mobile repairman could be called, he crawled into the back seat of the car, locked himself inside, and lay down and went to sleep.When he awoke, sun was beaming in the window on his face and it was long past nine.He groaned.Casey would be at the office.It would be tonight before they could talk.
* * *
“So,” Miles said.“You’re saying if Casey doesn’t fulfill the terms of Delaney’s will by staying with her husband for the entire year, it could still mean default?”
Lash leaned back in his chair and nodded, while his heart skipped a beat.This was his chance.This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.Adrenaline surged as he contemplated the call he would make.Suddenly, he wanted Miles Dunn out of his face and he wanted it now.
“Look, Miles, it’s simply a matter of wait and see.All married couples argue and they usually make up.I don’t advise you to put too much hope in what you’re thinking.”
Miles looked slightly embarrassed as he stood.“Of course you’re right.And I hope you don’t think I was looking to gain anything by Casey’s misfortune.”
“Of course not,” Lash said, as he ushered him out of his office.
When Miles was finally gone, Lash told his secretary to hold all his calls, then he slipped out the back door.He intended to make certain that the call he was about to make could not be traced back to him.
* * *
Casey was trying to concentrate on a stockholders’ report when the phone by her elbow suddenly rang.It was the private line that only family used.She grabbed at the receiver, answering on the first ring.It had to be Ryder.Please God, let it be him.
“Hello?”
“Is this Miz Justice?Miz Ryder Justice?”
She frowned.The voice was crude and unfamiliar.“Yes, to whom am I speaking?”
