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Chapter 4

  • 7❧
  • It had been at least three days and she hadn’t heard anything from anyone as she sipped her coffee and sitting in her sun room. Her tablet on her lap going over the files for her new business venture when her daughter came in the room, “Momma, I think I would like to get more involved into horses.”
  • “Like riding or what baby?”
  • “I to the horses at the rodeo, barrel riding I think it’s called. I want to get more involved in the rodeo.”
  • “That is a hard life baby.”
  • “Well I think I want to own a ranch one day. With cattle and horses and well I know you just bought some land to get into it and I thought it would be reason to stay here more often.”
  • “What about you cartoon and the acting baby?”
  • “I like the model work and I think the cartoon show and the acting is fun. I just think I would like to get more involved in ranching. I really don’t like the city that much.”
  • “I know. Why I wanted to come back home. You want to make this your home then?”
  • “I like living here. You seem to be more like mommy then when we are in the city. You and I spend a lot more time here together too.”
  • “I got some good news then. Our condo in the along with our other estates in New York, well. They are being sold as well. With aunt Tina wanting to stay in the city and we thin it’s best to have different locations. I will be only flying every three months and no longer than a week. She is going to let me stay with her and for those days and then I am back here. Plus I’ll be hiring someone to go to every hotel and other locations to go check them out but I will still be on the go but not as much or as long either.”
  • Her phone went off and she saw that it was the private investigator calling.
  • “Baby go upstairs and change into your clothes. Your instructor will be here soon enough.”
  • “Yes momma.”
  • She answered the phone, “Hello Mr. Masters, what did you find out.”
  • “I was wondering if we could meet for lunch today?”
  • “Yes. I don’t have any appointments today.”
  • “Would twelve be okay?”
  • “Yes. Where at?”
  • She wrote down the place and once their conversation was over she got a message on her phone and she read the message. “Turn on the television.”
  • She hated the television but she went to the den where the maid and cook would go for their breaks and she turned on the television. There on the news was report of the bodies on the Colbert estate and the reporter stated they had found the bodies of Dave and his family. Melissa sat down astonished at what she was watching. She felt sick because even though the family had never really treated her well but she would never want anything to happen to them.
  • Then came detective Hillard making a statement to the news reporter.
  • “So far we don’t have any suspect and so far we know the bodies were burned pretty badly.”
  • The reporter then asked if this had any connections to Mr. Dave Colbert going missing and the Colbert’s business that had burned down five years ago?
  • Detective Hillard replied, “We are not ruling anything out. Right now we are asking the public for help.”
  • The reporter then asked if Melissa the Billionaire who went from rags to riches was suspected of foul play.
  • “We are not ruling anyone or anything out. I cannot answer anymore questions.”
  • Melissa looked into the mirror as her sun kissed tone was now flushed. She soon was getting phone calls from Tina then her lawyer. She talked before looking at her cameras and saw a few news reporters where there but being stopped from coming on the property. She dressed quickly before making anymore calls.
  • 8❧
  • At twelve the private investigator was shown to a private room where they would be having lunch as he went through some of the documents he had found when she showed up wearing a black blazer over a dark red blouse and black slacks. She had a few guards keeping the media away from her as she entered the building and was shown where the investigator was waiting on her.
  • “I just saw the news. Are you okay?”
  • “I am in shock to be honest. I almost canceled but I know I need the truth to be found before this becomes a circus. So what have you found out?”
  • “I had been looking for Steve and his family but as you are now aware of it they are dead. Your mother-in-law is in a coma and of course the business had never really recovered. The insurance was paid out but we don’t know if Steve had already cashed the check or who exactly did but it was cashed. Right now we have to wait to find out how long Steve and his family was killed. Now Bethany was fired the weekend that your husband had went missing and once your husband was declared dead she left town. I tracked some of her friends down and they stated that Steve wasn’t the only man she was having an affair with. A year prior to her being hired by your husband she was working as a stripper. Your husband went to Colorado to the same town and a year later she is working as his secretary. This is the picture I found of her.”
  • Melissa looked and saw that Bethany went by the name Skyla. She was wearing a wig and several pictures later she knew Bethany loved wearing wigs and other costumes.
  • “Can you send this to my attorney?”
  • “Yes I can. Now here is the thing, I went through some of your finances or should I say your husband’s book keeping. The money that he was making didn’t add up. However when I went to go look up the finances from the warehouse business a lot of the paper trail had been destroyed in the fire. Your husband did take a insurance policy on himself a year and half before his disappearance. Her is the named person Alyssa Walter as the beneficiary. I am looking for her now and even contacted the insurance company to see if they can do a fraudulent investigation on their side as well.”
  • “You are definitely money well spent. I mean that as a compliment. Not being rude or condescending.”
  • “You’re not. You are spending high amount of money to clear your name. And yes I think I am a good investment. I know you already contacted lawyers and public relations for your business so they are well aware of what is going on. So again you are protecting yourself and there are people who should be taking notes. Now there has been one thing that before I forget. Your mother-in-law was filthy rich I mean bills always paid on time. If anything she was tight fisted. However her bank accounts have been wiped completely clean and she owes the hospital thousands and no one has paid her bill while she has been in a coma. I have contacted her lawyer trying to find out who or how her money has already been taken if she is in a coma. By her funds over five years ago she shouldn’t be poor. When she went into a comma she had Steve as an overseer but now I wonder if the same person who got the insurance money from the business insurance and collected your husband’s insurance if it’s not one and the same person.”
  • 9❧
  • “So I should be cleared because all of my money has been kept on and I have everything to back up everything I have and owned.”
  • “You and your friend Tina accounts are in fact crystal clear even your daughter’s funds are kept up on. So now we wait to see what the autopsy reveals.”
  • “You think my husband is alive don’t you?”
  • “I don’t want to say just yet. Right now I am gathering as evidence I can so that your lawyer has several legs to stand on.”
  • She ordered hot tea and he ordered a soda while looking over a menu. She smiled for a second, “Dave use to order a whiskey sour whenever we went out for lunch which wasn’t very often. I guess he really did have a secret life.”
  • “You are not the only one who has ever had a spouse or dated someone who led many lives. Narcissist don’t care for other’s feelings or care who they hurt. Selfish people only care about themselves and what they can get at that moment.”
  • “So what about yourself Mr. Master? I got a feeling you and I are going to be working together for a little bit. Might as well know you a little bit.”
  • “Not much about myself. I was in the Army for ten years. I was in internal affairs I guess is the best way of describing my job. When I got out I went to work in NYC as a detective then moved back up to internal affairs for another five years. Then I started doing private investigation the last five years. I enlisted when I was sixteen but I didn’t do the internal affairs till the last six years in the Army. I started out as a military police and went to school.”
  • “So you’re thirty-six on the verge of turning thirty-seven?”
  • “Yes. I lived in New York for most of my childhood and when I got the opportunity to enlist in the Reserve I did so I could go to school. My father signed for me because he couldn’t pay for my college and I didn’t want to get a loan.”
  • “So you’re living down here because?”
  • “I work in different areas but not too far from the city. So what made you come back here when you could be living anywhere?”
  • “I am from this town. My mother and father raised me here and now I want Rachel to enjoy the country life. So does Mrs. Masters approve of you going to lunch with clients?”
  • “I have been divorced for ten years when she found out I wanted to leave the military. She had her heart set on being an Army wife and she married a Marine a year after the divorce. We didn’t have any children even though I wanted at least one child. She wanted her cake and ice cream too. A friend of mine warned me about her but I loved her and didn’t want to believe the rumors.”
  • “Now I don’t feel as bad.”
  • He chuckled, “I am surprised you are not dating movie stars or another business man…”
  • She held up her hand, “Oh no. When I had Rachel I didn’t have his family there only my best friend and my family. I know Rachel needs a father in her life but it’s hard to trust when you find out that the man you married never really loved you. When I was entering my second trimester I was living in a camper. Then I had to get a job as a teller for a month then I won that money. After schooling and being on my own for a while I realized how much of a fool I was.”
  • “We all make mistakes Melissa. I have no room to talk similar on why I haven’t dated. My career isn’t something that is easily dealt with.”
  • 10❧
  • “I promised my daughter that I would go back to dating though. I don’t even know where to start. Part of me wonders am I going to punish someone for what Dave did or will I choose someone who is going to be like Dave all over again. It’s a lot to think about and he really didn’t hurt me. I mean I was good to him but reality was I was a cover for him. Rachel never got to know him and in a way I am grateful that she was never tainted by his family.”
  • He ordered another soda right as their food was served and he looked at her and her golden honey eyes. The sadness and the hurt was all to painful and then he thought she was really gorgeous but then he thought about himself that she probably wanted to date someone who as much or more than what she had but she didn’t appear to be that way either.
  • “So when this all blows over what is the next plan for yourself and your daughter?”
  • “She wants to get into ranching and learn to ride like they do in the rodeo. My uncle use to do bullriding. I know how hard of a life it is but ranching is deep in our blood. I even bought land to get into breeding bulls and horses. I think we are going to stay here and travel every so often. I think the stability would be good for my daughter.”
  • “I do have a question. I mean in my age..”
  • “You are not that old so try again.”
  • “I mean in my age I don’t like to dance around the fire. I would like to take you out for dinner.”
  • She put her salad down because the one thought of dating someone who knew about her financial status was would that be why but then again would he be deceptive like Dave? Her mouth closed and thoughts flooded her but then she felt an energy between before back at her home and she felt it still. She felt like she could be herself around him and she decided to crack a joke, “Would that be added to the bill?”
  • He cracked a smile when she smiled in such a way that it let him know she was joking.
  • “Oh yes, business expense. My treat. Something casual.”
  • “My heart is telling me that it doesn’t want to get hurt and/or used? My brain is telling me that I should be smart about this too.”
  • “You like cook outs?”
  • “Grilling? It’s been awhile but yes I like a good steak.”
  • “My neighbor just killed a steer and I buy half a steer once a year. I don’t have a lot but I like to grill one night. Just a laid back night.”
  • “You know I could use a quiet night with everything going on sounds like my kind of night.”
  • Lunch went by pretty quick and she paid but he refused it.
  • “I did the inviting. Besides, tax write off.”
  • The guard waited outside the door where they were and then escorted her back to her vehicle. Calvin Master contacted Melissa’s attorney and before he went back to the office drove by where she was staying till the situation with her client was done. He dropped off the paperwork and she handed him some information.
  • “My boss wanted to hire another private investigator but since you are already on the case I figure keeping you would be better than hiring someone else.”
  • He took the files she had for him and he knew he would have some homework to do when he received a phone call from Melissa, “Hello?”
  • “You never said what day.”
  • “How about tomorrow?”
  • “Do I need to bring anything?”
  • “Yourself and an appetite.”
  • “I am bringing drinks then.”
  • “Fair enough. Beer or what?”
  • “Both.”
  • She smiled after getting off the phone because she had a date something she hadn’t done in such a long time. She reached her home and typed in the code before pulling in as the reporters came towards her.
  • “Are you afraid to be suspect in your husband’s disappearance and now his family’s death?”
  • She stopped her vehicle and got out. She wasn’t wearing anything to cover her face and she looked directly into the camera, “I just found out today about my in-laws. It’s horrible and they didn’t deserve it. I haven’t been around them in years matter of fact at the time of my husband’s disappearance I was pregnant with Rachel. When my husband went missing I contacted the media to begin with and took a polygraph so that the law could do what they do best. I want to believe my husband is alive and that if he is or if someone knows something should step forward. The day he disappeared was so many questions and not enough answers. Steve and his family should be alive and be enjoying the holidays. I have been cooperative with law enforcement and have nothing to hide. My story has never changed from the first day to now. If you know something contact the local law enforcement. I am offering a two-hundred thousand reward for information on what happened to Dave Colbert. Then I am offering two-hundred thousand dollars reward for information on Steve, his wife Janet and their daughter Heather’s death. That is a four-hundred thousand dollar reward.”
  • CHAPTER 4
  • She could have offered more he knew but now she was upping the game. He had to applaud her for having the balls. He drank his whiskey as he watched his wife on national television. He wanted twenty million and he would have went away and now his wife was making it harder on herself. The news went back on the story of his wife and then he saw his daughter who looked so much like Melissa. Then he saw her eyes and realized that in fact that was his daughter. The media already dubbed Melissa as the good wife and several polls believed she was innocent. The charities that she was involved in and her last year had helped some inner cities children who now were coming to her defense. She no longer was the helpless naive housewife. No she was all business. Already her company’s public relations were on top of what was going on and nothing was concealed. Bethany looking at the news with him and then got up pacing.
  • “We are so screwed. I just had an email from an old friend and someone was asking about my career as a stripper. I used so many costumes that someone is going to figure things out.”
  • She had her back to him and without turning, “Let’s just go Dave.”
  • He got up and slapped the fire out of her, “Do not ever call me by that name out loud. I not you but I have sacrificed everything.”
  • She moved away from him slowly but then he smiled cruelly as he raised his gun at her, “You know what. I think you have worn out your usefulness Skyla.”
  • He pulled the trigger twice before lowering his gun and then sat back down and finishing his drink. He had an idea and now he was going to make his wife pay for being so stubborn. His daughter deserved to know her father.
  • 2❧
  • Rachel excited to see her mommy dressing up in a skirt with her cowgirl boots then her mommy putting on cotton long sleeve shirt and putting on the long earrings with a choker. Her mother done her own hair and Rachel was smiling, “Mommy you look beautiful.”
  • “Thank you baby.”
  • “Mommy are you dating someone who is gonna be my daddy?”
  • “One day at a time baby. I am going on this date but it takes time baby.”
  • “Mommy how long will it take?”
  • “Depends on how things go. But you won’t meet him right away baby. I need to make sure he is okay.”
  • “Mommy do you like him?”
  • “I like him but not like like him yet. I cannot rush this because mommy needs to be smart about this.”
  • “Mommy I love you.”
  • “I love you too baby. Now uncle Bill and aunt Martha are coming over and staying while I am away.”
  • “How long are you going to be out momma?”
  • “A couple of hours no more than three. Tomorrow we are going shopping and having lunch because aunt Tina is coming over because you need pick out some styles. Christmas is around the corner and the photographer wants to get you on the kids magazine and do an interview. March is around the corner so we need to go over a few things like what needs to be said. Plus you got a few commercials are going to be airing in the next few days. If the cartoon does good they will want dolls and a clothes line.”
  • “Momma, I want to do a country show.”
  • “First thing first. Remember what momma always say?”
  • “Keep your eyes on the ball and do things in order.”
  • Melissa hugged her daughter and then grabbed her purse before heading out. Calvin pulled up the drive way and he saw the lay back country gal she had mentioned to him before. He drove to his cottage house on the other end of town because tonight her bodyguard was staking out the house so that her daughter would have extra security.
  • He played some music from back the eighties.
  • He pulled up to his home which wasn’t massive but she would call it comfy.
  • “Not bad.”
  • “I know it’s not as massive as you are use to but it paid for and it’s mine.”
  • “I grew up in a farm house that was built in the 1800’s. A house is a house regardless of the size but home is where the heart is.”
  • The backyard was fenced in and the drinks she had delivered were now in the cooler.
  • He started the grill and the steaks were marinating since last night.
  • “I just want to say I normally don’t ask my clients out. Before you say anything you are not the first high class either.”
  • “I know people see me as high class but I don’t really consider myself high class. I don’t go crazy with money. I just live and try to pay it forward.”
  • He put the steaks on the grill and before he could open up her beer bottle. She opened up her own beer and settled down on the sofa. He went back outside and came back inside though it wasn’t chilly the nights were cooler.
  • “I don’t keep sauces…”
  • “If a steak is done right then you don’t need a sauce.”
  • He smirked, “Hitting a nail on the head.”
  • “I still cook dinner just not breakfast or lunch. I love to cook home cooked meals for my daughter. I have our cook teaching Rachel to cook plus she goes to workshops. Rachel helps the maid from time to time so one day she can feel accomplishments.”
  • 3❧He had the fire going in the fire pit and he then handed her a blanket.“Dinner was delicious by the way.”“Thank you.”He sat near her but was caught looking at the flames for it only had been an hour and he normally didn’t talk unless it was business. He stole a few glances over at her but she was watching him.“I am a normal person you know that right?”“It’s just your the first person I have dated since my ex-wife. Work I talk but I don’t think you want to hear about work.”“No.” She said with a small laugh, “I work a lot already. Did you play sports in school?”“Baseball and soccer mainly. I wasn’t into football.”“But you are so tall.”“What about you?”She smiled, “I was a chunky girl back when I was in school so I was into writing and after high school I got into running and tennis. I was going to a community college but then I got married and I just finished school officially a couple of years ago.”“A little meat doesn’t hurt to have.” She moved over so that he could sit down beside her and he finally was able to relax.“I do love your home though. It’s not busy or crowded.”They stared at each other for a moment and he couldn’t help himself as he leaned forward and kissed her lushes lips. The only kiss she had ever had was from Dave and he never kissed her with this kind of passion. It was harsh and demanding and his way. Completely opposite with Calvin as she returned his kiss which was like heat with passion like warm sunny day. She felt his hand cupping her face and her fingers running up and down his arms. He kissed her neck and though she wanted to say she needed to go home the passion she felt was something she had long to feel. She pressed her hands against his harden chest and though her senses were telling to remember Dave and that she could still be married. Her body wanted him every part of him. “I’m sorry. My mind is torturing me.”He stopped and rubbed his thumb against her lips, “I wasn’t trying to rush you into anything.”“You wasn’t it just. I don’t want to appear easy but at the same time I think I am over thinking things.”“You know when it’s right.”“She looked at the time and it wasn’t even two hours yet.” “Do you need to go?”“Oh no. It’s not that. I told my daughter I would be gone for three hours.” He opened his mouth to say something else but she kissed him as the fire crackled from the fire pit.“
  • Thank you for treating me like an average person. That means a lot.”
  • “I almost backed out of asking you because…”
  • “You thought I was going to turn you down?”
  • “Yes.”
  • “I like you Calvin. I came from nothing and I know what it is like to have to watch every penny.”Melissa stopping her thoughts of doubt and putting aside her emotions as their lips pressed against each other. Calvin running his hands down her back. Her hands touching his face expecting his facial hair to rough but she found them to be soft against her skin. Her skin was soft and her hair smelled of spice and citrus. He picked her up and went inside as her body trembled underneath his touch.