The Perfect Murder--A Novel Read online

  Reese ignored them and increased his speed, breaking free of the unruly mob and leaving them ranting and raving in the middle of the street behind them.

  As he continued along North Akard toward Baylor Medical, Kenzie’s mind remained on her son. She checked her phone messages, found call after call from Tammy Stevens, her next door neighbor’s teenage daughter who’d been babysitting Griff. But when she tried to return the call, Tammy’s phone went directly to voice mail. Kenzie’s worry continued to build. Dear God, let him be okay.

  As soon as Reese pulled the Jag into a space in the emergency parking lot, Kenzie opened the car door, jumped out, and ran for the entrance, praying all the way that Griff would be all right. He was only nine years old, his life just beginning. The thought that something terrible might have happened to him clogged her chest with fear.

  Reese’s long strides caught up with her before she reached the glass doors. He was tall, his expensive suits custom tailored to his broad shoulders and narrow hips. She knew he enjoyed sports, played tennis, and worked out with a martial arts trainer three times week. As his personal assistant, Kenzie knew a lot about Reese Garrett.

  He held the door as she hurried into a scene of organized chaos: nurses and doctors in scrubs, carts rattling by pushed by lab technicians, worried family members huddled together. The hospital smells of antiseptic and ammonia made her stomach roll. Vaguely, she wondered if Reese’s recent hospital stay had left him feeling equally unsettled.

  He steered her directly to the nurses’ station, identified himself, and introduced Kenzie as Griffin Haines’s mother.

  “We’d like to see the boy and speak to the doctor,” Reese said. “As soon as possible.”

  Kenzie was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Reese Garrett had driven her to the hospital and instead of leaving was staying to lend his support. Reese had never met her son, yet she could sense his concern. It steadied her, kept her from sliding into total panic.

  A petite, redheaded nurse behind the counter took one look at Reese and couldn’t move fast enough to help him. “I’ll find the doctor for you.” She took off at a run, and as they waited, Kenzie’s heart continued to pound.

  Where was Griff? How badly was he injured?

  “He’s just a boy,” she said, unconsciously speaking her thoughts. “He’s got to be okay.”

  Reese caught her shoulders, turning her to face him. It was the first time he had ever touched her, she realized. In today’s business climate, there could be no hint of impropriety. As her boss, Reese had been scrupulous in his treatment of her. Never once had he stepped out of line.

  “He’s going to be okay,” he said firmly. “You need to believe that unless you learn something different. If that happens, you can deal with it then. I learned that lesson a long time ago.”

  She swallowed. “You’re right. I need to be strong for Griff.” But it wasn’t that easy to do.

  THREE

  Kenzie paced the hallway, willing her son to be okay. She glanced up to see a small, white-coated doctor striding toward her, a stethoscope and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on a short silver chain around his neck.

  “Mrs. Haines?”

  She hated to be called that. She would have gone back to her maiden name after her divorce if it hadn’t been for Griff.

  “I’m McKenzie Haines.”

  “Dr. Marshall. Your son suffered a concussion when he fell off his bicycle and struck his head on the pavement. He was unconscious for a few seconds, so we’re doing a CT scan to be sure there are no complications.”

  Her stomach quivered. “Is he...is he going to be all right?”

  “He’s scraped and bruised and he’s got a nasty headache. We’ll want to keep him a couple of hours for observation, but if the test results are clear, you can take him home. By tomorrow he should be feeling better.”

  Kenzie’s legs went weak and she felt Reese’s hand at her waist to help keep her upright.

  “I think you’d better sit down.” After guiding her the few feet to a row of hard plastic chairs, he settled her in the seat.

  “I’ll let you know the test results as soon as they’re available,” the doctor said. Turning, he headed back the way he had come.

  Kenzie looked up at Reese. She hadn’t realized how terrified she had been until now. “He’s going to be okay.”

  Reese smiled. He didn’t do it often and it made him even more handsome. “Like I said, best not to worry until it becomes necessary. Something I learned on the job.”

  Kenzie felt that smile all the way to her toes. Just four years older than she was, Reese posed a dangerous attraction she had carefully avoided since her first day as his executive assistant, a job that paid a handsome six-figure salary, money she needed to take care of her family.

  As her worry receded, she heard a commotion and looked up to see a tall, lean, sandy-haired man marching toward the nurses’ station. Lee Haines, her ex-husband. A shiver of dread moved down her spine.

  “I want to see my son!” Lee demanded, overbearing and condescending in a way Reese never was. When she’d first met him, she’d been attracted to his good looks, Harvard education, and upper-crust social status. Coming from working-class parents who constantly worried about bills and occasionally where the next meal was coming from, she had craved the kind of security Lee’s family represented.

  Still, she wondered how she ever could have fallen for the man’s phony charm.

  She rose as he approached.

  “The police called,” he said. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Griff’s going to be all right. They’re doing a CT scan to be sure, but it looks like he’ll be okay.”

  “Where was Florence? I thought your grandmother was supposed to be taking care of him.”

  “Gran had a doctor’s appointment. She was only supposed to be gone a little over an hour.” Kenzie and her grandmother, seventy-year-old Florence Spencer, were Griff’s primary caregivers. Kenzie’s job demanded long hours and an occasional business trip with Reese. Her grandmother took care of Griff during the workday and whenever Kenzie was gone. Gran loved him and he loved her.

  “This is your fault,” Lee said. “You should be home taking care of him yourself. If Griffin lived with me, this never would have happened.”

  Anger slipped through her. “He was riding his bike. He isn’t supposed to go into the street unless one of us is out there with him. He’s a kid. He doesn’t always follow the rules. He fell off his bike and hit his head. Things like that happen.”

  “Why wasn’t he wearing his helmet? That’s the reason I bought it. It’s your job to make sure he’s safe.”

  She didn’t bother to answer. Instead, feeling Reese’s presence beside her and accepting the inevitable, she turned to introduce him. “Reese, this is my ex-husband, Lee Haines. Lee, this is Reese Garrett, my employer. He was kind enough to drive me to the hospital.”

  Lee looked Reese up and down, his gaze moving between the two of them as if he knew some dirty secret.

  “Garrett. I’ve seen you and your brothers at charity events over the years.” Lee didn’t offer to shake hands and neither did Reese, who seemed to understand exactly the kind of man Lee was.

  “Is that right?” Reese said coolly. “I don’t remember seeing you.”

  Lee’s mouth thinned.

  The doctor walked up just then. “You’re Griffin’s father?” he asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Then you’ll be happy to hear nothing unexpected showed up in the tests. As I told your wife—”

  “Ex-wife,” Lee corrected.

  “As I told Ms. Haines earlier, we’d like to keep the boy a couple more hours, then he can go home. The nurse will provide a dos and don’ts list, but he should be feeling better by tomorrow. I’d advise keeping him out of school at least for a couple
of days.”

  “Of course,” Kenzie said.

  “The nurse will let you know when you can see him.” Turning, the doctor hurried off to take care of another patient.

  Lee stared down at her. With her five-foot-four-inch stature compared to his six-three, about the same as Reese, Lee used his height to intimidate her. Not that it worked anymore.

  “This is just one more example of your incompetence,” he said. “Griff’s accident will be duly noted in the custody suit I’m filing against you.”

  Her chest constricted. “Custody suit? What are you talking about?”

  Lee smirked. “You heard me. I’m tired of all this shuffling back and forth. Griff should be living with his father. I plan to make that happen. You can contact your attorney, but it won’t do you any good. You don’t have the money to fight me, and we both know it.”

  He turned to Reese. “If you haven’t already found out, she isn’t even good in bed.” Turning, he walked away.

  Reese’s jaw looked iron hard, and she had never seen that particular shade of ice blue in his eyes.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  Kenzie managed to hold back tears. For the first time, she wished Reese hadn’t come with her, hadn’t met Lee and witnessed her humiliation.

  “He didn’t even wait to see his son.” She released a shaky breath. “I’m sorry that happened. Lee has never forgiven me for divorcing him.”

  Reese’s gaze flicked toward Lee’s retreating figure. “Clearly a good decision.”

  Under different circumstances, she would have smiled. “No doubt about that.” She took a shaky breath. “I appreciate the ride, but I need to stay, and I know how much work you have to do at the office. You should get back. I’ll call my grandmother, have her pick me up. It won’t be a problem.”

  Reese’s eyes shifted toward the exit as Lee walked out the door, and the glacial blue returned. “I take it you didn’t see the custody battle coming.”

  She shook her head. “The divorce was my idea and it was brutal.” Worse for her, since she’d given up alimony and taken a very low amount of child support in order to get it done. She wanted as little to do with her ex as possible.

  “Lee never wanted custody of Griff,” she said. “In his own way, he loves his son, but he’s never wanted the inconvenience of having a child around. Not until now. Arthur Haines, Lee’s father, always wanted him to go into politics and I heard Lee’s considering it. Raising a son would appeal to a certain segment of voters.”

  “Fighting the suit could get expensive. If you need some help...”

  Appalled, she stared up at him. “Thank you for offering, but this isn’t your problem, Reese. I can handle it on my own.”

  A flush rose beneath the olive skin over his cheekbones. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  She relaxed, felt the faintest hint of a smile. “I didn’t mean to take offense.” She glanced anxiously toward the nurses’ station, eager to see her son. Her cell phone vibrated and she pulled it out and read the name.

  “It’s my grandmother. She’s probably frantic.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Everything’s okay, Gran. I’m at the hospital with Griff. He’s going to be okay, so you don’t need to worry.” Gran explained that Tammy had misplaced her phone during all the commotion and they wouldn’t let her go in the ambulance.

  “Tell her Griff’s okay. I’ll call you back as soon as I can and explain what’s going on.”

  She ended the call and turned to Reese. “Thank you for bringing me. If it’s all right, I’ll take Griff home and stay with him for the rest of the day. I’ll see you at the office in the morning.”

  “You’ve been working a lot of overtime. Why don’t you take tomorrow off to be with your boy?”

  Warm gratitude slipped through her. “That would be wonderful.”

  The red-haired nurse came up just then, cast a quick glance at Reese, but spoke to Kenzie. “I’ll take you to see your son now.”

  Kenzie smiled at Reese. “Thank you again.” He just nodded. As she turned to follow the nurse, she could feel his eyes on her until she disappeared into Griff’s curtained cubicle.

  FOUR

  Aside from arriving at the office the next morning in the back of a limo to avoid dealing with the protesters milling around out front, Reese’s day started like any other.

  Except that Kenzie wasn’t there. Since she had never taken a sick day in the months since he’d hired her, she had been at her desk every morning before he arrived. Been there for their morning briefing and the list of what he needed her to do.

  What he needed from Kenzie was a thought that led in a direction he couldn’t allow. In six short months, she had become a necessity, as essential to his job as his laptop or his cell phone.

  Which meant he had to ignore the kick he felt every time he looked at her. Kenzie Haines was by far the best executive assistant he had ever worked with. And with the heavy mahogany hair curling softly around her shoulders, perfect curves, and a peaches-and-cream complexion, she was also by far the most beautiful.

  Kenzie was the kind of woman who drew a man’s attention without even trying, and there was a kindness about her that shined through her careful reserve. Unfortunately, any physical attraction he felt for her had to be ruthlessly suppressed. Except for riding next to her in the back of a limo, he had never made any sort of physical contact.

  As CEO of a billion-dollar corporation, Reese was in an extremely vulnerable position. He had to be careful of every word he spoke, every untethered glance, every thought.

  He amended that. So far no one had been able to police the thoughts running through a person’s head, but who knew when that could change.

  Until today, he had managed to quash any notion of Kenzie as anything but a highly valued employee, and though her fear for her son had touched him in a way he hadn’t expected, he intended to keep his distance, just as he had before.

  Reese sighed as he leaned back in the black leather chair behind his desk. The office was done in a modern motif with dark wood paneling and chairs upholstered in rich pearl gray.

  There was a separate conversation area, a fully stocked wet bar behind the paneling of one wall, and the most advanced high-tech equipment available. Everything from a top-of-the-line iMac Pro to a seventy-inch flat screen with a wireless HDMI transmitter and receiver kit.

  Reese checked his schedule for what seemed the fiftieth time. He was used to Kenzie keeping track for him. Without her there, he had run poor Louise ragged. He almost smiled. Kenzie’s assistant would be even more grateful to have her back than he would.

  He thought about her ex-husband. Since Kenzie rarely spoke about herself, Reese had never made the connection to the wealthy Haines family until he had seen Lee Haines, who looked a great deal like his father.

  Reese had never met Lee before, but he knew Arthur. Old Dallas oil money, an empire built by Arthur’s father. Along with Troy Graves, his late partner’s son, Arthur owned half of Black Sand Oil and Gas, one of Garrett Resources’ fiercest competitors.

  He wondered how much Kenzie had collected in the divorce settlement. Surely enough to fight Haines’s suit and maintain custody of her son.

  Or maybe not. He remembered hearing something about the senior Haines’s divorce. Rumor had it that Arthur had managed to leave his wife next to penniless. Her depression had eventually led to suicide. He wondered if Lee had managed to leave Kenzie with little or nothing, just as Arthur had done.

  Thinking of his assistant and her ex-husband’s foul attitude toward her, Reese felt an unexpected surge of protectiveness. If Kenzie needed help, he would find a way to help her—whether or not she was too proud to accept it.

  Rising from his desk, he wandered over to the window and looked down on the street. About the same number of sign-carrying protesters today as yesterday. He’d bee
n surprised this morning to find them still there.

  In Texas, drilling was a way of life. At least for now, fossil fuels were a necessity, though the company was heavily invested in sustainable energy, including geothermal, solar, and tidal. Reese sincerely hoped there would be enough alternate energy to run the world someday, but in the meantime, there was very little choice.

  The intercom buzzed. The unfamiliar sound of Louise’s voice still surprised him.

  “You have a call from Mr. Stiles, sir. He says it’s urgent.”

  Derek Stiles was his VP in charge of mergers and acquisitions, working out of the Houston office. He was a good-looking guy, thirty-four, same age as Reese, and one of his top executives. “Go ahead and put him through, Louise.” Reese picked up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until tomorrow.”

  “I know, but unfortunately, another problem came up—more trouble with the rig.”

  The deal to purchase the rig was being dragged down by unforeseen problems. For months, they’d been trying to close the deal with Sea Titan without success. The platform was only ninety miles off the coast, but the purchase couldn’t be finalized until a series of tests and safety drills had been performed and successfully completed.

  “What’s going on?” Reese asked. He rarely involved himself in the day-to-day business of actual oil production, but this deal was important.

  “There’s a situation with the lifeboats. They keep getting hung up once the men are aboard. The rig can’t pass inspection until the boats launch properly, and the problem needs to be fixed before drilling can resume. That definitely has to happen before we close the deal.”

  “So get it fixed,” Reese said.

  “The installation manager has been doing his best, but there’s some kind of equipment malfunction that’s going to require replacement parts. Getting them is going to take time, which will delay the drilling restart. I wouldn’t bother you except...well, as you know, this isn’t the first delay we’ve experienced lately.”