Control (Harper Security Ops #18)

Fourteen

FOURTEEN

Alana

“Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us today.”

A pleasant expression marred by a hint of sadness stared back at me. “Thank you for calling me. I’m happy to be here to talk about Annie. I’m just sorry that Bethany declined.”

It had been a week since the near disastrous impromptu meeting with Monica and Reed Sanders. I’d immediately reached out to both Bethany and Clover later that afternoon, and Clover was the only one even remotely interested and willing to meet with me. But she wanted to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I’d arrived at the café roughly ten minutes ago with Ty, and the two of us waited for Clover to join us. We’d been spending so much time with one another, but ever since that meeting, I’d found it difficult to focus on anything but the meeting at the Sanders’ estate.

For those few minutes this morning, I let go of all the work-related thoughts and gave myself a chance to appreciate the man who was sitting beside me in the booth, something that had grown over the holiday break.

It was the first time in weeks that I’d gone without seeing Ty. He’d offered to be with me, to remain by my side in case I needed him, but I wanted him to be able to spend the time with his family. Plus, my own family would have asked too many questions if Ty showed up with me for Thanksgiving.

Being back in his presence now, I appreciated the physical closeness to him. Not only did I feel incredibly safe with Ty, but I’d grown accustomed to having the masculine scent of him around me. Plus, I enjoyed looking at him—he was entirely too handsome—and I adored the way he joined me on these outings and simply allowed me to do my job without interrupting. And after we’d interviewed anyone and were alone with one another again, he didn’t mind running through it with me, allowing me to share my thoughts while also giving me his impression.

Ty was so easy to be around; there was a part of me that wished I could have him as my personal bodyguard for the rest of my life.

Staring across the table in our booth, I smiled reassuringly at Clover. She was an outwardly friendly woman who I suspected would be far bubblier if she hadn’t just lost her best friend. “It’s okay. I can understand why something like this might be too soon for her. I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in either one of your shoes. I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Bethany tends to be a bit…” Clover’s voice trailed off as her eyes went over our heads. Ty and I turned at the same time to see a blonde woman walking in our direction, her eyes focused on Clover. When she came to a stop beside the booth, Clover scooted over and said, “You changed your mind.”

Apparently, this was Bethany. She didn’t respond to her friend, but she did sit down beside her.

“Bethany, this is Alana and Ty. Guys, this is Bethany.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you,” I said, Ty giving her a nod. “I’m so glad you decided to join us this morning.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure my friend was accurately portrayed,” she said, a bite of snark in her tone.

Recognizing I wouldn’t do myself any favors by attempting to defend myself, I returned, “Well, Monica Sanders had said the two of you would be the two best people to talk to, if I wanted to get a real impression of the more intimate side of Annie.”

“I’m not interested in revealing my best friend’s secrets,” Bethany declared.

“I don’t want you to share anything with me that betrays her confidence in either of you,” I assured her. “I’ve talked to a lot of different people recently about Annie’s philanthropic work. There’s so much there to celebrate and honor. If that’s all I have to work with, I’ll still be able to put together something beautiful. But my hope was that I’d be able to give this community, to give the people who’ve never had the opportunity to meet Annie, a better understanding of the woman behind the good deeds. I want people to feel like she’s relatable while honoring her legacy.”

Bethany opened her mouth to respond, but Clover placed her hand on her friend’s arm and said,” We’d be happy to help. This kind of thing is exactly what Annie would want. She’d want people to know her and to be inspired by her.”

“What exactly do you want to know?” Bethany asked.

Before I could respond, our server returned with drinks for Clover, Ty, and me. “Oh, I didn’t realize someone else had joined. Can I get you something to drink while you decide on what you’d like to eat?”

Bethany didn’t need to spend time looking at a menu. She quickly rattled off her order, and the four of us were alone again.

I immediately dove right back into the conversation and answered Bethany’s questions. “All I want to know is anything you’d like to share about your friend, anything you think she would want people to know about her. It can be very simple. Like, for example, how about you tell me how the three of you came to be such close friends.”

“Our families were always at the same functions when we were kids, so we didn’t really have any choice in the matter. It was either be friends with each other or go to school and have people hate us for being born into the families we were.”

I found this intriguing. “Are you telling me that the three of you were bullied?”

“No, not really,” Clover insisted. “There were some people who were bitter or jealous, I guess. But Bethany’s exaggerating a bit. Annie always had that kill-them-with-kindness attitude. I tried to learn from that and can say it worked. Bethany was not so forgiving.”

Bethany rolled her eyes and muttered, “I wasn’t going to allow people to talk about me behind my back one minute and be nice to my face the next.”

She seemed so much the opposite of Annie and Clover. It amazed me how they could be so different and still be such close friends.

Our server returned with Bethany’s coffee and informed us our food would be out soon before taking off again.

“Well, I think it’s great that the three of you remained friends all these years. What were things like for the three of you as adults? Did you see each other frequently, or did you only get together for special occasions? What was the dynamic there?”

Bethany and Clover looked at one another, sadness moving through their expressions. When they returned their attention to us, Clover’s hazel eyes were brimming with tears. “We came here once a week,” she rasped.

“Here? To this café?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “It was sort of a ritual for us. We’d get together for breakfast once a week, at a minimum, and we’d talk about whatever was on our minds.”

“We did that for at least the last six years or so,” Bethany added.

My heart hurt for these two women. Before Annie had been murdered, none of them likely even considered that there’d come a time when their worlds could be turned upside down, that something that had been so common and routine in their lives would be so different. I would have been willing to bet they weren’t thinking it’d be a possibility that one of them would die so young.

“Wow,” I murmured. “Have you two continued that tradition since Annie…”

“We have. Our conversations aren’t the same as they used to be. Now, we spend our time talking about her. It hasn’t been easy.”

“I can only imagine how painful it is to do that without her. She seemed like such a kind, gentle, quiet, and reserved person. Was she always like that when it was just the three of you together?”

Clover laughed through her tears, lifting her hand to swipe at those that had spilled down her cheeks. “Annie was absolutely the most reserved of the three of us, but she was the one who could make anyone smile. She was happy all the time, and her kindness knew no bounds.”

If there was one thing I could feel good about regarding this whole situation, it was learning that Annie seemed to love her life in the short years that she had. Of course, that led me to drawing all sorts of conclusions about what could have happened to her. She might have just been unlucky—a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time. But it was also possible she was so happy in her life and somebody else wasn’t. To think someone could be so jealous to take an innocent woman’s life was unsettling. And while I guessed it was still a possibility, I hadn’t heard any evidence yet of Annie being at odds with a single person.

Believing this was a reasonable time to steer the conversation in that direction, I asked, “Was there anything that left her feeling upset at all?”

Bethany didn’t hesitate. “Injustice.”

I should have assumed as much. “That’s why she was so committed to the work she did.”

“Exactly. It bothered her to see anyone suffering. She felt for everyone, especially children, which is why she put so much time and effort into causes that benefitted kids. But overall, she just didn’t like seeing anyone in a situation that she believed could be fixed. She wouldn’t hesitate to step in whenever she thought she could make a difference.”

I slid my eyes to Bethany. “You made mention of wanting to be sure your friend was accurately portrayed. I know there are reporters and journalists who stretch the truth or spin things to paint someone in a bad light. And though I’m not the kind of person who would ever do something like that, I’m not sure I’ve heard a single thing from anyone I’ve spoken to that could be used in a negative manner. It seems as though everyone loved her.”

“That’s because they did,” Clover confirmed. “Even the boyfriends.”

My brows shot up. “Boyfriends? I didn’t know she was dating anyone.”

Clover quickly clarified, “Technically, she wasn’t. Not when she died. Annie was a long-term relationship kind of girl. She only ever had two serious boyfriends.”

“Cole Brown and Mark Watson,” Bethany said, her tone indicating she might have been physically present, but her mind was somewhere else.

“Yeah. She and Cole got together just before she turned twenty, and they stayed together for almost three years before they realized they were better off as friends,” Clover began. “It was cute between them. Sweet, even. He was her first love. The real tragedy, though, was with Mark.”

Confused, I glanced briefly at Ty. This was the first either one of us was hearing anything that could be considered even remotely negative in Annie’s personal life. “What happened between her and Mark?”

“At first, nothing. They were great together. Everyone thought they were going to wind up married. And we were all shocked when they mutually decided to separate about a year ago. It was so sad.”

Seeming to be the one who focused on the negative, Bethany picked up the story from that point. “But what was worse was Mark had left town after their break-up. He was gone for months. Annie seemed to be doing just fine until about…maybe a month or month and a half before she was killed.”

I sat up straighter in my seat, and whether he knew my heart was hammering or not, I didn’t know. But Ty instinctively placed his hand on my jean-clad thigh and squeezed. While I was sure he wanted to simply reassure me, offer comfort, or make me aware that this was important, I was stuck on the feeling of his hand on my leg. God, I loved the way it felt.

It was impossible to ignore, so I had no choice but to try to pretend it wasn’t there and that I wasn’t being affected by it. Fortunately, our server returned with our breakfast and gave me a moment to collect myself. Even with his food in front of him, Ty didn’t remove his hand from my leg.

Focusing my attention on everything else in front of me, I picked up my fork, poked at my eggs, and lifted it toward my mouth. Just before I took that first bite, I asked, “What happened when Mark came back?”

Clover had managed to regain control of her emotions and revealed, “Mark wanted to get back together with her. According to Annie, after all the time apart, Mark realized just how much he loved her, and he was willing to do just about anything to get her back. He wanted to reconcile.”

I tipped my head to the side, genuine curiosity moving through me. “She didn’t?”

Clover shook her head. “No. She felt they had their time together, and it didn’t work out for a reason. They wanted different things, things that he still wasn’t willing to compromise on even after he returned.”

“Like what?”

“She wanted marriage and children.”

“He didn’t?” My head was spinning with all of this new information.

“No. He just wanted her. He’d give her the marriage, but he was adamant about not having children. Annie was never going to give up her dream of becoming a mother.”

There was a moment of collective silence. I should have said something or asked another question, but I was reeling. Somewhere over the course of the four to six weeks before Annie was murdered, her ex had come back to town, looking to reconcile. Was it possible he knew what had happened to her?

For a few moments, everyone sat in that silence and ate. Eventually, I felt compelled to get back to digging. This was far too important not to say anything. But I didn’t get the chance.

As though I hadn’t already been given enough information to sort through and consider, Bethany felt compelled to pile on more. And everything she said was wholly unexpected. “I never understood it.”

“Pardon?”

“It made no sense to me why Annie turned Mark down. The man was perfect on paper. He adored her, and they could have lived such a happy life together,” she reasoned with a disappointed shake of her head.

“She wouldn’t have been happy,” Clover cut in. “If she gave up her dream of having children, Annie would have been miserable. And considering she’d dedicated her whole life to caring for others and looking out for them, I’m glad she turned Mark down. She deserved to put herself first when it came to her dreams for her own future. You know how important that was to her, Bethany.”

Bethany sighed. “Of course, I do. I just think she should have reconsidered things, because Mark was perfect for her in every other way.”

Clover shook her head and leaned toward me as though she was about to tell me a secret. But she never lowered her voice, so everyone at the table heard each word she said. “Bethany’s simply feeling sympathetic to Mark, because she understands his plight. Given that she’s been in love with someone for years, and the guy barely seems to notice her existence.”

“He knows I exist,” Bethany spat.

Clover smiled. “Of course, he does. But the fact that Reed hasn’t pursued you, despite your efforts, has made you a little testy.”

“Reed? You mean, Reed Sanders?”

Bethany pressed her lips together, almost as though she suddenly recalled she was sitting across from Ty and me. But Clover didn’t hesitate to confirm I’d guessed correctly. “She’s loved him for years.”

“Yeah, and I’m just unlucky. Not even my best friend could hook us up with one another,” she mumbled.

Reed.

The man who’d been so undeniably irritated when Ty and I were at the Sanders’ residence days ago. As insightful as the conversation had been already, it seemed it was about to get even more interesting.

“So, Annie tried to set the two of you up?” I asked.

Bethany nodded before looking away. Evidently, that hadn’t gone well.

Shifting my attention to Clover, I pressed, “Wouldn’t Reed take advice from his sister and ask her friend out?”

“Oh no,” Clover answered, her voice grim. “Reed and Annie were almost always at odds with one another. Well, he was at odds with her. She tried her best to keep things cordial between them, but he refused.”

Feeling like I was about to lose my mind and needing something to calm my racing thoughts, I didn’t think twice about it. I sat back in the booth, reached beneath the table, and sought out Ty’s hand on my thigh. He didn’t hesitate to release my thigh and flip his hand over to grab hold of mine.

“Why would Reed be at odds with her?”

Bethany was quick to defend him. “He’s a businessman. He views things very differently than Annie did, and he was worried she wasn’t looking out for herself.”

Clover vehemently disagreed. “That wasn’t it. Reed was looking out for himself, not Annie. He was so terrified that all the good work Annie did was going to lead to the family’s fortune being squandered away. Annie always found new causes, and though she did plenty of fundraising within the foundation she’d set up to donate to the causes most important to her heart, she still sought donations from her family.”

“And how did her parents respond? Were they worried about it?”

Both women shook their heads. “Annie was a daddy’s girl, so Sully would hear her out and do whatever he could to make her happy. Monica has always been concerned with the family’s image. Not donating wouldn’t paint the family in a good light, so she never fought her husband on it, whether she agreed with the cause or not.”

It was nice to know Ty and I weren’t crazy when we’d been in that interview with Monica and Reed. There had clearly been some tension, and the more I heard from Bethany and Clover, the more suspicious I became of everyone involved. Hoping for more information, but not wanting to make it seem like a true investigation, I took a bite of my toast and redirected back to the one person I wasn’t sure I had quite enough information on just yet.

“Whatever happened with Mark? Did he just give up after Annie rejected him?”

“No. No, he was persistent, willing to do whatever it took to win her back, so he’d show up at places that he knew she’d be. He went to her house on at least two separate occasions to talk to her and try to convince her. She felt awful about having to continuously reject him, but she refused to concede on her dreams.”

I was compiling a list of names in my head—everyone I now believed could be a suspect. The worst part about all of it was that it wasn’t anyone removed from Annie. Everyone on the list was someone I wholeheartedly believed Annie loved in some way, shape, or form. Could she have been killed by someone she trusted?

I could only bring myself to glance briefly at Ty and see he must have been compiling the same exact list in his own head.