stood while he tucked Jamie into the covers.
“Love you.” Jeremy kissed Jamie’s forehead.
“Love you too, Daddy.”
Jamie’s eyes closed and he began to slip into sleep. Precious. Children could fall asleep so easily.
Jeremy headed for the door and Adeline left ahead of him. Out of the room, he stopped in the loft.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to throw you into that on your first day here.”
“It’s all right. I enjoyed it.” She tried to sound nonchalant, as though reading to her son and handling a serious question were no big deal. That wouldn’t affect her when it came time to leave...not.
* * *
The next day, Jeremy stepped into his office building with concern weighing down his brow. He and Adeline had just dropped Jamie off at Camille and Oscar Biggs’s house. Camille had offered to watch Jamie temporarily until Jeremy could find a new nanny. He and Oscar were friends as well as colleagues. Camille had told them Oscar would want to talk to Jeremy when he arrived in the office. Jeremy had received a text saying the equivalent from Oscar himself. His general counsel wouldn’t relay a message like that if it wasn’t important.
He guided Adeline into the elevator, vaguely aware of how she took everything in around her, from the marble lobby to the security desk and the sign in the elevator mapping out businesses on each floor. She wore her professional PI attire again, this time in a man-torturing black pencil skirt with matching vest over a white shirt. She had her trench coat over her arm, and runnable heel-height ankle boots, showcasing her leggy strides.
The elevator opened on the top floor. He walked out with her into the open reception area flanked on three sides by cubicles, the windowed walls lined with the executive offices. Adeline’s heels tapped against the gray slate tile.
“Good morning, Mr. Kincaid,” the receptionist greeted from behind the marble-plated half wall from her desk. She wore her black hair pulled tight into a bun. A vase of white lilies and a large round bronze clock added a touch of warmth. Light streamed through windows on each side, and irregularly placed tables with white chairs provided books and magazines catering to a variety of interests.
Jeremy guided Adeline down a hall between cubicles to the west side of the floor and his corner office.
His assistant rose from her chair when she saw him. “Oscar said to get him as soon as you arrived.”
“Send him in.”
“I’ll wait out here.” Adeline stopped near the assistant.
She and Jeremy were going to go over Tess’s accident this morning and strategize on how to take his lead further. But now they had another meeting with Oscar to squeeze in.
“Oscar said to include your PI,” the assistant said.
That brought both his and Adeline’s head turning.
Was this related to Tess?
“I’ll go get him.”
Jeremy met Adeline’s eyes, hers likely less astounded than his. She might expect the unexpected while working cases. In business he could handle that. This was personal, though. Oscar never insisted on talking to him so urgently. If something important came up, he usually just stopped by his office.
He remained standing with her as Oscar appeared at his assistant’s desk. A shade over six feet, Oscar dressed in a suit and tie every day and kept his body in good physical condition. He wore scholarly glasses and still had a head of dark hair, clipped short and peppered with gray.
He came into the office with a curious glance at Adeline.
Jeremy introduced them.
“The PI,” Oscar said, shaking her hand and giving her form a quick, purely observational once-over. “Not quite what I expected.”
“Did you expect a man, Mr. Biggs?”
Jeremy couldn’t tell if she sounded defensive. She didn’t strike him as a woman who’d let anyone get away with treating her with anything other than respect.
“I’m not sure what I expected, Ms. Winters, but it wasn’t a woman with such a fine presence.”
She had a way of balancing social etiquette with a serious question, her smile engaging and, yes, her presence was fine...very fine. Whatever she’d sought to find out must have satisfied her.
“Thank you... I think.”
Oscar put his hands together in a soft clap. “On to the purpose of this meeting.”
“Coffee.” Jeremy’s assistant entered with a tray and put it down on a conference table.
Jeremy sat at one end, Oscar to his right, Adeline to his left. She didn’t take a cup of coffee, just a glass of water. Oscar sipped from a steaming cup and Jeremy waited for his to cool.
Then Oscar put his cup down and, after a lengthy silence, finally turned to Jeremy. “What I have to say isn’t easy, Jeremy.”
Jeremy didn’t get uptight over that announcement. He’d already anticipated something big. That it wasn’t easy to say suggested this was personal. Nothing related to his business would be that shocking. Oscar must know something. No matter what, Jeremy preferred he tell him.
“You know how people talk around here. I heard you suspect Livia Colton may have something to do with Tess’s accident,” Oscar said.
Jeremy grew instantly more alert. Did Oscar know something about Livia that could help his case? “Yes.” Why had he brought that up? Had he found a connection? Jeremy contained his flaring hope.
“How long have you suspected her?”
“Not seriously until recently. Why?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Oscar asked.
Why would he? “I had nothing to go on, only a hunch.” He waited for Oscar to tell him what he’d come to say, which seemed more and more to be a confession of some sort—a confession related to Livia’s involvement in Tess’s accident.
Oscar lowered his head briefly, uncharacteristic of such a powerful man. He had major difficulty with his declaration. He must have kept this secret for some time and something had compelled him to come forward.
“Before I came to work for you, I was involved with Livia,” Oscar finally said, not sounding or seeming proud.
“You had an affair?” Adeline asked.
He nodded. Jeremy could see how Oscar might be ashamed of that.
“What might make you think that is related to Tess’s accident?” Adeline asked.
The way Oscar turned to her and then slowly, reluctantly, met Jeremy’s eyes, warned of what was about to come next.
“I was the man
