Now You See Me Read online

  Now You See Me

  Copyright © 2013 by S.Y. Thompson

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Another SY Thompson Book

  Other Yellow Rose Books

  Visit Us On Line

  Now You See Me

  by

  S.Y. Thompson

  Quest Books

  Copyright © 2013 by S.Y. Thompson

  ISBN 978-1-61929-113-3 (eBook)

  eBook Conversion June 2013

  First Printing 2013

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Cover design by Donna Pawlowski

  Published by:

  Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC

  229 Sheridan Loop

  Belton, TX 76513

  Find us on the World Wide Web at http://www.regalcrest.biz

  Published in the United States of America

  Acknowledgments

  This is my opportunity to give credit to the exceptional people who helped me see a dream made into a reality. Charley Hepplewhite, Kathryn Yates, and Linda North all selflessly devoted their time and considerable effort to beta this tale into a completed story. Charley, in particular, saved me from using the same word multiple times in one sentence, let alone in a single paragraph. Gun Brooke, you’ve been a great friend and I could have never done this without you.

  My undying thanks to the people at Regal Crest, who had enough faith in this story to pick it up. From Cathy Bryerose to the editors and art department, all of you make it seem so easy. Many thanks to Nat Burns, for her patience in editing and for her wonderful suggestions.

  Dedication

  This is for my fan fiction fans and Jack, a loyal friend.

  Now You See Me

  by

  S.Y. Thompson

  Quest Books

  Prologue

  HE WANTED TO believe that she was perched in the chair by the window, quietly lost in daydreams. He tried to ignore the vacant stare of sightless eyes and the way her breath no longer fogged windows frigid with winter’s kiss. Still, as much as he wanted to believe it, it wasn’t true. Mary was gone and so was the light in his heart and his purpose for living. She was as dead as the leaves from the trees outside, all trapped in winter’s embrace.

  The worthless doctors hadn’t been able to help her, even if they said they’d tried for months to halt the accelerated cancer growing inside of her. That disease, and the loss of his wife, was responsible for his fury now. He stood in the dark beside the small, still woman, facing out into the night, stewing in his anger and plotting what his next move should be.

  Mary got sick because of that chemical research lab. Damned thing spews toxins into the air less than a mile away and the corporation says they aren’t responsible, he thought angrily.

  By trying to fight the ones responsible for the air that had polluted their bodies, he’d learned the hard way that no one cared. The lab meant jobs for people who were trying to make it in hard times so everyone had turned a blind eye.

  Eventually, the money to fight the corporate lawyers ran out and he’d fallen into a pit of despair as he watched the life slowly drain from the only person that mattered to him. She required constant care in the end, and he couldn’t even afford to hire a nurse. Left with no alternatives, he willingly took on the task, and thanked God every day for each breath that Mary took.

  Too bad his blood-sucking employers hadn’t agreed. They fired him for being late, with no compassion for a man in such a horrible situation. Not that he really cared. Working the road crew was hard and unforgiving work, no matter what the weather, and being unemployed gave him more time to spend at home.

  That was the past. The time for staying at home was through. Now it was time to act and everyone would pay.

  He stared into the window and focused on his reflection, and that of Mary. Not for the first time, he reflected on their differences. She was blonde and frail, a light visited on this world for a brief time to touch profoundly the lives of everyone she met. Mary had never known a stranger, easily speaking to anyone giving friendly offers of encouragement. Everyone had liked her.

  In contrast, he was a mammoth of a man. He towered almost seven feet tall, and sported a dark shock of thick wavy hair with a heavy beard and mustache. When people looked at him, he could almost feel their terror. No one saw the gentle man who resided in the massive form, no one but darling Mary.

  And now she was gone.

  With a shift, he directed his focus outward, into the swirling snow. The barren landscape offered strange comfort, as hollow and forlorn as he felt. Windswept snow passed the window and he could almost taste the cold. The Christmas season was near and it had been Mary’s favorite time of the year and, for a time, his as well. Now it was meaningless, just another day in a season where the world danced in death.

  There was only one thing left to do. What became of him was unimportant. There was only revenge.

  But who, he wondered briefly. Which of all those greedy sharks deserved punishment the most?

  The research lab itself was incidental, and unimportant in making his anguish known. He had to cut the head off before the snake would die, and in this case, the snake was the corporate office located in downtown Chicago.

  That’s it. That’s where I’ll start.

  Carefully, he leaned down and adjusted the throw on Mary’s legs. He didn’t want her to get cold, but he didn’t have the heart to put her back to bed. She loved the view from here.

  After making sure she was comfortable, he pulled on a heavy black overcoat before he kissed her on the temple. Then he whispered goodnight to his wife of fifteen years and quietly went out the door.

  Chapter One

  ERIN DONOVAN HUDDLED into the thick coat, her chin tucked under a scarf as the wind bit into her flesh without mercy. It whistled around her like a beast with fangs and claws and tried to penetrate the thin cloak of warmth before rushing up her knee-length black skirt to chill her to the bone. The earlier snow had surrendered to sleet, causing temperatures to plummet, making the Chicago winter even more harsh and relentless. Now the snow was slush underfoot on the busy byways as people scurried to work. They resembled ants in a colony.

  She tried to ignore the damp chill and entered the protected courtyard that contained her office building. A gust of wind threw her hair into her face and Erin casually combed the red locks back into place, tucking some of the strands behind her ear. Her high winter boots beat a sharp tattoo on the cleared concrete as she walked around a giant fountain toward the double glass doors.

  Normally the huge water-spewing double dolphins portrayed on the water feature caused her to stare in astonished horror as she passed, wondering who could have thought such a monstrosity was the least bit attractive. Today, in the frigid winter weather and with the fountain drained and turned off, she didn’t spare it a glance. The double doors of the Holcomb Building were in sight, just up one more flight of stairs. Someone had thoughtfully cleared the steps of snow and ice but she still held carefully to the handrail.

  Christmas lights decorated the tops of t
he doors and wound around the outside lampposts. With the holiday only a week away, the crowd inside was heavier than usual, no doubt engaged in last minute pursuit of the perfect gift.

  Erin felt blessed in that regard. With few friends, there was only her father to buy for and he was easy. That left her free for more important details. Like work. Her career was absorbing and fascinating. No matter how many years she worked as an attorney, it never got old or stagnant. Little mattered to her, except the legal and financial welfare of her clients.

  I can’t wait to get some hot coffee, she thought as she walked toward the doors, casting a look overhead. She was glad she decided to take a cab that morning. The weather looked like it was going to get worse and she would hate to have to try to drive in it that evening.

  Her apartment building was only a fifteen-minute drive from work, but in this weather, it wasn’t worth taking the risk. Too many people drove recklessly on the busy Chicago streets at the best of times and with a blizzard, as yet unborn but readily sensed, traffic would be a nightmare.

  Erin closed in on her objective and reached out to push open the heavy doors. The door attendant beat her to it and she flashed him a grateful smile. The heat inside the building hit her full force, almost stifling in comparison to the frigid air outside. Condensation had beaded on the glass of the huge wall of windows.

  She paused for a moment to unbutton her heavy coat, and adjust the purse on her shoulder before she cruised through the press of human traffic. Erin shifted her grasp on the briefcase clasped in the other hand as she crossed the lobby and glanced at, without really seeing, the paint crew perched on a scaffold overhead.

  It seemed Holcomb Enterprises was constantly remodeling the structure, and there were workers everywhere. And not only paint crews. Rumor had it that contractors had gutted the entire top floor of the miniature high-rise. Erin really couldn’t have cared less. She didn’t work for Holcomb; her firm simply resided in the same structure, although her partners had discussed moving to the top floor after the refit was complete.

  As one of the senior partners of Eldridge, Donovan, and White, Erin was a successful corporate attorney. She kept a busy schedule and today was running behind because of the weather. The other two partners were in court today with a client. That left her with the dubious honor of showing a new patron her future offices on the tenth floor. Normally, it wasn’t a task Erin would lend herself to, but with the incredible amount of money the woman had offered the company, she didn’t really think a small tour would hurt.

  She hefted the contents of her briefcase and fumed a little as she took the escalator down one floor and crossed another lobby before she climbed into an elevator car. With three different sets of elevator banks that carried occupants in three different directions, it took a while for a person to remember the layout.

  Honestly, why is this place so big, she wondered. And is it just the architect’s perverse sense of humor to make me go down a level to get onto the elevator that will take me up to the sixth floor?

  Erin sighed and squeezed into a corner of the lift to avoid the heavy press of bodies. When the doors closed, claustrophobia made a brief, unwelcome visit. She gritted her teeth and tried to pin her gaze on the floor, but it was difficult with so many feet obscuring her view.

  Finally, the contraption stopped and Erin gratefully slid out of the small, confined space before the door finished opening properly. She walked briskly into her office lobby and heard the shrill ring of the telephone. The familiar sound was just what she needed to ease her stress level.

  “Merry Christmas,” she said distantly to no one in particular as she crossed the room to enter her private office.

  “Just a moment. I’ll see if she’s in.”

  Amy, her secretary, spoke into the telephone handset. Her words made Erin cringe internally as she had hoped the call wasn’t for her. She kept walking. She had yet to enjoy her first cup of coffee and until she did, Erin wasn’t ready to talk business with anyone.

  The secretary noticed the look on her boss’s face and told whoever was on the other end that Ms. Donovan was in a meeting and that she would have to take a message. Erin gave her a grateful look and her briefcase slipped out of her gloved fingers and dropped onto the floor.

  Amy pretended not to notice and finished the phone call. After she had hung up, Amy handed Erin the slip of paper and smiled a greeting. As usual, the first thing she said was a recount of her previous night’s dream.

  “I keep having this nightmare where the furnace goes kaplooey. Then all the phones stop working and we’re just stuck here, slowly freezing to death. I’m telling you if the storm doesn’t let up soon I’m never going to get any sleep!”

  Erin grinned at Amy’s account of her nocturnal struggles as she walked into her office and to the large teak desk. She retrieved her coffee mug before stepping through another door in the corner that led back into the rear of the receptionist’s area. The circuitous route was just another example of the architect’s perverted design.

  “That sounds like quite an adventure.” Erin smiled as she walked ahead of Amy, who followed her boss into the small kitchen alcove.

  Amy Dawson was in her early twenties, and already a professional businessperson, even if she did insist on too much make-up and bright red lipstick that contrasted sharply with her pale skin. Her nail polish today was a strange combination of orange and red.

  “Yeah,” the young woman agreed. “Only it was the same one.” She leaned against the wall while Erin prepared her coffee. “Last night was the third time this week.”

  Erin didn’t take the dream seriously. She concentrated on the first taste of her coffee. Amy’s very active imagination was always coming up with some new way in which the whole office would be involved in mass suicide, or some other kind of death. Erin walked away from the alcove and sensed the secretary trailing her back to the office.

  “I had a dream last night,” Erin said. “Only it was in August, and it was the air conditioning that went out. Everybody had to take their clothes off just to survive.”

  While she spoke, Erin dropped her scarf and gloves onto her desk before hanging her coat on the tall coat rack. She paused for dramatic effect and turned toward her secretary to gauge her reaction.

  “I like your dream even better. At least we’d all be warm.”

  “That’s when Ed Cupper took his clothes off, and danced naked on his desk,” Erin continued with a mischievous grin. She was pleased when Amy threw her head back and laughed aloud.

  Ed was a portly man with a receding hairline who took every opportunity to proposition the female employees. Usually he invited

  them to his place to look at his etchings. If he weren’t the vice president of the corporation that owned Holcomb Enterprises, Erin had no doubt that he’d have been fired long ago for sexual harassment.

  “That’s when I woke up,” Erin concluded as she picked up her mug for another sip. Her direct line chose that moment to ring. Irritated, she halted the rise of the much-needed brew to her lips.

  “Yes,” she inquired after she checked the caller id and snatched up the handset.

  Erin clamped down on her impatience since the call concerned Ray Eldridge’s new client that she’d been thinking about a few minutes ago.

  After a short exchange with the caller, she hung up and turned to her secretary. “That was the information desk downstairs. Mr. Sloan has sent the electrician to look at the tenth floor offices. Have Mr. Evans show him to that floor, and please make sure he’s clear on exactly what the client wants and the proper placement. After that, could you have him come and see me? We need to get that discovery on Jameson going.”

  “New client,” Amy asked.

  Technically, it wasn’t any of her business and Erin knew that her partners would have considered it beneath them to answer the secretary, but she had never been one to stand on ceremony. She also found that if she didn’t act as if she was better than those who worked for her, it m
ade her life easier. Often the receptionist or secretaries would overhear some critical bit of information the clients discussed in the lobby. These little tidbits would rarely reach Eldridge or White, but Erin always stayed in the loop.

  “She’s really Mr. Eldridge’s client, but he’s in court this morning. Since Ms. Tierney insists that one of the senior partners show her the offices, I’m elected.”

  The secretary shared a sympathetic look. “When is she supposed to be here?”

  “In about an hour.”

  “Tierney...Tierney. Is that Carson Tierney? Head of Delphi Technologies?”

  She was clearly impressed, and Erin couldn’t blame her. The founder of Delphi Technologies was a prodigy in every respect. Ray Eldridge said that Carson Tierney skipped several grades in public school, going from eighth grade to twelfth in the same year. She was in college on a full scholarship at thirteen, had more degrees than Erin could count, and had started Delphi Technologies three years ago. The company had rocketed to the top almost overnight.

  That Ms. Tierney went from being a poor girl on the wrong side of town to establishing a multi-million dollar company practically overnight was a testament to her intelligence and strict work ethic; a way of life that mirrored Erin’s own.

  Erin smiled. “One and the same, so now you know why I have to show the space instead of letting one of the junior partners handle it.”

  “Yeah, that’s a lot of money. They’re one of the leading computer research companies in the world.”

  Erin finished her coffee and set the empty cup on her desk. That was enough gossip for the morning and now it was time to get down to business.