Lisa Gardner - Touch & Go

“You always the one who helps him? Or maybe someone else?”

“There aren’t assigned agents, if that’s what you mean. We all take turns helping everyone.”

The girl was withdrawing. Not deliberately rude, not yet. But her smile had dialed down a few notches. Inside her sharp navy blue blazer, her shoulders were starting to round, her body hunch.

Talking about Justin Denbe hurt her. And she was just a kid, not wise yet in all the ways to hide that kind of pain.

“Maybe he swept his wife away on some romantic getaway weekend,” Tessa said. “Office rumor mill said Friday night was date night. Sweet, if you ask me, after all these years.”

“Would you like the traveler’s profile now?” Kathryn asked softly.

“Kathryn… Kate?”

“Yes?”

“Justin Denbe has gone missing. So have his wife and child.”

The girl looked up sharply. “What?”

“I am with Denbe Construction. As corporate security. The family disappeared last night. We’re trying to find them.”

“I don’t understand.”

“How long have you known Mr. Denbe?”

“Just, you know, since I started here. Nine months.”

“I’m told you and Justin were pretty close.”

The girl blushed, looked down at her desk. “You were misinformed,” she said quietly.

“Kate. Now is not the time. This isn’t about reputations, or job security, or the state of Justin’s marriage. This is about finding a family while they’re still alive.”

The girl didn’t speak right away. She seemed to be conducting an in-depth examination of her dull gray keyboard. Then, “Can we step outside?”

“Sure.”

Kate rose to standing, walking around her desk toward the double-glass doors. She was about Tessa’s height of five-six, but with a lithe build that had all the right curves. Male clients probably flocked to Kathryn Chapman. It didn’t surprise Tessa that Justin had been part of the pack, nor that he’d emerged victorious. The consummate alpha male.

Jerk, she thought, but it made her sad now. Because in many ways, Justin Denbe sounded like just the kind of strong, successful guy a woman like her hoped to find one day. And look where that had gotten his own wife.

Turned out, Kate was a smoker. They exited the back of the building, to the last refuge smokers had left: a five-foot patch of real estate next to the Dumpsters. The girl lit up; Tessa let the silence work its magic.

“I didn’t mean to get involved with him,” the girl said abruptly. “I’m not a home wrecker, you know. But, I mean, have you met him?”

Tessa shook her head.

“He’s good-looking. Even for an older man, and, and… I guess I got a thing for older men. Daddy issues and all that, right?” Kate’s lips twisted. She took another drag of her cigarette. “There was this snafu with his plane tickets, so Justin came down to work it out in person. I looked up, and…there he was. Tall, broad shoulders, wearing construction boots, for God’s sake. When was the last time you saw a guy in an office building in downtown Boston wearing honest-to-God work boots? I just… I wanted him from first sight.

“But, I mean, I never woulda,” the girl interjected hastily. “He was a client, and it was just business, and I saw his wedding band, not to mention part of the ticket snafu was he wanted to return on Thursday night so he could have a three-day weekend with his family. Then, he got to talking about his wife and daughter. He gushed, you know. Actually beamed with pride… It was so clear he loved them so much. I couldn’t help thinking…” She sounded wistful. “I just thought, God, why can’t I meet a guy like that?”

Tessa didn’t say anything. Kate looked up at her.

“Are you married?” the girl asked.

“No.”

“You ever go to the clubs? You know, go out drinking and dancing, hoping to meet a cute guy?”

“Can’t say it’s come up.”

“Don’t bother. The clubs, the bars…they’re filled with assholes. Petty, self-centered drunks who won’t remember your name in the morning. Trust me on this one.”

“Okay.”

“Justin…he was different from all that. A nice guy. When I spoke, he listened. He even looked into my eyes, you know, instead of staring at my chest the whole time.”

“And yet…?”

“Lunch,” Kate whispered. “It started one day at lunch. I was heading out of the building, and there he was. And he just kind of said, want to do lunch? And I said yes. It sounded so innocent. But I knew. I just looked at him, and I knew. But I wanted him. I even told myself I deserved him. I needed him more than his wife and kid.”

“Where’d you go?”

“The Four Seasons.” She blushed. “He, ah, went right up to the front desk, got a room key, and up we went. Room service, he said. We’d order room service. But we never did.”

“Sounds like a pro,” Tessa stated dryly.

“No! I mean, he said…he said I was his first. He’d never cheated on his wife before, wasn’t that kind of guy. But there was something about me…”

“You were special.”

“Exactly.”

Tessa stared at the girl, gaze hard. After another moment, Kate flushed again, looked away.

“Yeah, there were probably others,” the girl said, tapping her cigarette. “Stupid thing is, I expect that kind of bullshit in the bar scene. You know they’re feeding you lines, you got your guard up, your armor on. Then, I came to work, sat at my own desk…and, yeah, he totally reeled me in, hook, line and sinker. I believed every word he said. Because I wanted it to be special, something other than the slutty travel agent stealing away with the big boss guy for lunchtime quickies.”

The girl’s voice broke off bitterly. She gave up on her cigarette, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist, that whole armor thing, except it was too late.

“How long did it go on?”

“Not long. Maybe four, five months.”

“Ended?”

“His wife found out. We’d started texting. I mean, he traveled a lot. Four, five days a week. Then his family… It wasn’t easy to get together. I imagine his wife felt like she got the leftovers of his attention once his work commitment was done. But I was one rung even below that. I got the leftovers of the leftovers. The whole…affair… It wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

“He ever fly you out to meet him?”

“Maybe, um, a couple of times.”

“Define couple.”

“Five or six times. In the beginning.”

“Definitely you were one rung above leftovers, then.”

Kate flushed, looked away. “Only the first month. When everything was new.”

“So the relationship starts to cool. You see him less. Text him more.”

“He didn’t like me texting. He worried about his wife. ‘That’s how they all get caught,’ he’d say. But toward the end…” The girl looked up, her face suddenly set. “I wanted him to get caught! I wanted the whole thing exposed. Because I thought”—she swallowed hard, eyes welling—“I thought, stupid, stupid me, that he’d choose me. That his wife would find out, kick his sorry ass out the door, and he’d come running to me. To me !”

Tessa waited a beat, let the girl calm down. “But that’s not how it played out.”

“He dumped me. Called me up, said he’d made a terrible mistake, he loved his wife and it was over. Don’t contact him again. And that was that. I waited. Thought maybe, after a few days, he’d call or text. Or even just show up downstairs. But nothing. His secretary took over his travel plans. That was it. I loved him, you know. I was stupid and naive and…and I loved him. I thought, maybe, he loved me, too.”

“You ever visit his house?”

The girl shook her head.