Part 23 (1/2)
Luke glanced up at Blade when he reentered the room. ”How is she?”
”I think she's in shock. I know for a fact she's still in denial.” He glanced over at Alex. ”Even after all you've told her, she still wants to believe FDR isn't a suspect.”
Alex nodded in understanding. ”It's hard to comprehend that someone you trust has betrayed you.”
”Betrayed, h.e.l.l!” Blade stormed, his anger escalating. ”The man tried to kill her. Blow her up. What kind of d.a.m.n friend is that?”
”Calm down, Blade,” Luke said.
”I won't calm down until Rowe is put in jail and the keys are thrown away. But not before I kick his-”
The sound of Luke's cell phone ringing drowned out Blade's words, and Luke was glad. He'd never seen Blade this angry before about anything, and definitely not over a woman. He saw the caller was Mac. ”h.e.l.lo, sweetheart.”
”We have trouble,” Mac said, almost whispering into the phone.
Luke stood. ”Why? What's up?”
”Sam's parents are here. They arrived this morning and want to know where she is, and have threatened to turn this city upside down until they find her. When they first got to town they went straight to her town house, and someone at the security gate told them about the bomb.”
Luke ran his hands down his face. He had met Sam's parents before. They could be a force to deal with when it came to their children. ”Hold on a minute, Mac.” He then relayed to Blade and Alex what Mac had told him.
Blade released a curse. ”Great! That's all we need.”
”Yes, but at least we got our prime suspect under surveillance, and I'm going to contact Detective Adams to pick him up from the hotel and bring him in for questioning.”
”And I want to be there when you do,” Blade almost growled.
Alex rolled his eyes. ”I don't think that's a good idea.”
Blade met his friend's gaze. ”My woman was almost killed, Alex. There's no way I'm not going to be there when Rowe is brought in.”
Alex pulled in a deep breath of air, then pushed it out. ”Fine, but I wouldn't suggest that Sam be there. Are you going to leave her here alone?”
”d.a.m.n,” Blade uttered. He'd forgotten about that.
”Two of Jake's men are parked outside,” Luke said. ”I had them follow us to make sure we weren't followed by anyone. I can leave them here to keep an eye on things until we get back.”
Blade nodded. He knew all of Jake's men, since most of them had worked for his uncle for years. Since Jake and Mac were partners in a land-grazing deal, Jake's men rotated periodically to stay with the herd. They were men who could be trusted.
”That's a good idea,” Blade said. ”I'd feel better about leaving her, knowing they're here. Let me go check on Sam again. I want to tell her our plans and also tell her that her parents are in town.”
”Handling my parents won't be easy, Blade. Maybe I should go,” Sam said, easing off the bed.
”No, you should lie down awhile longer. I wish you'd let me call the doctor. Are you sure you're okay?”
Sam took a deep breath. She had no recollection of ever fainting before, even when she'd been told about Vivian. ”I'm fine, really. But maybe you're right. I should rest up to deal with my parents later. And Blade, I know everything that Alex said about FDR makes it look bad, and I know this might sound crazy, but I still refuse to believe he did it.”
Blade pulled her into his arms. ”There's nothing wrong with not wanting to believe the worst about someone you care deeply about, sweetheart.”
”But that's just it, Blade. I don't believe the worst in FDR. No matter what evidence there is stacked against him. He would not want me dead. I just won't believe it.”
As he drove to the law offices of Madaris, Di Meglio and Mahoney, Luke glanced toward the backseat of his truck. ”You're quiet, Alex.”
Alex looked up from his mini laptop. ”I'm just checking out a few things. I've learned from prior cases that it's not over till the fat lady sings, and for some reason she hasn't taken center stage with this one yet.”
Blade, who was sitting up front in the pa.s.senger seat, turned around. ”Are you beginning to think that it's not Rowe?” he asked.
Alex shrugged. ”I'm beginning to think we need to get him in and question him as soon as possible. I called Detective Adams and asked that he bring him to the law firm instead of picking him up and taking him down to headquarters. That way we'll have him and Priscilla Gaines there together. I met Ms. Gaines last year while handling that case for Mac, and she genuinely seemed to care for Mac, Sam and Peyton. She was almost overprotective of them. I can't see her wanting to hurt one of them.”
”Not even for love?” Blade asked. ”If she thinks she's fallen in love with Rowe and he's convinced her that he has a legitimate gripe with Sam, then she would possibly go along with anything he has planned-including murder.”
”Yes, but...” Alex shook his head. ”Even with a motive of revenge on Rowe's part, why lash out at Sam when he was there working at the firm every day with the very man who had put his father behind bars? Why not lash out at Antonio Di Meglio, Sam's mother or her brother?”
Alex didn't say anything for a moment. ”There is something I need to check out. I can feel it,” he said, looking back at his laptop.
Luke and Blade didn't say anything. They'd known Alex long enough to know that he wouldn't leave any stone unturned in this investigation, and that if someone other than Rowe was involved, Alex would uncover it.
Blade didn't know what to expect upon meeting Sam's parents, but it hadn't been a slightly older version of Clayton and Syneda. In their early fifties, the two were dynamic together.
Sam's mother, who looked like an older version of Sam, was simply beautiful, gorgeous in her own right. And her father was tall, dark and das.h.i.+ngly handsome. Blade would bet any money that the man had been a rogue in his day. And with his striking looks, Blade would also bet he had been a heartbreaker. Like his daughter, he had sharp eyes, and also like his daughter, an even sharper tongue.
Antonio and Kayla Di Meglio lit into him the moment he walked into Mac's office, and began questioning him as if he was on the witness stand. Who was he to their daughter? Where was she? Who would want to hurt her? And what steps were being taken to a.s.sure her safety?
He was grateful that, like Sam, Mac had a large office, big enough to accommodate the eight people crowded into it. He decided not to beat around the bush, and to let Sam's parents know his role in their daughter's life.
”I'm Blade Madaris, the man who's going to marry Samari,” he said, shocking everyone in the room.
”Marry her?” Sam's father said, with an expression indicating he was stunned, as well. ”I just saw my daughter a few weeks ago and she never said anything about being serious about anyone.”
”We became involved after she returned,” Blade said. ”Just believe me when I say that I love Sam, she loves me, and when all this is over, I am marrying her.”
”And what about babies?” Kayla Di Meglio quickly asked. ”You do want children one day, right?”
”Yes,” Blade said with a serious expression on his face. ”We will have lots of children.” He thought about the text message he'd received from Slade that morning, saying their great-grandmother had dreamed about fish yet again. What was this for her, a bonus year? That made him wonder.
”And as far as where Sam is,” he continued, ”she's in a safe location for now, until we discover who sent that bomb yesterday. I hired a family friend, Alex Maxwell, to investigate and-”
”Alex Maxwell?” Sam's father interrupted, glancing across the room at Alex, who was sitting alone in a corner, working on his laptop.