Second Chances(48)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE



"Her husband?" Cameron snatched the picture out of Julie's hands, his brow furrowing as he scrutinized the picture.

"Yes. From a couple of years ago, I believe."

His eyes flicked briefly up from the picture to Julie and then back down. A desire to flair out a hand and slap her flashed through his mind. Was she toying with him? He suspected she knew exactly who this was, no guess work needed. Her husband? Yes, that seemed very possible. The man definitely looked familiar and he'd have seen pictures of him if he were Paige's husband.

"What's his name?"

"His name?"

"Did I stutter? Who is this man?" he demanded as he tapped the picture.

"Norman? Nick. Something starting with an N."

"Nathan?"

"Maybe. I don't remember. It's late Cameron, can't this wait until tomorrow?"

She looked down at the corner of her desk and bit her lower lip, doing her best to appear to be thinking hard. She could feel the anger and anxiety rolling off of him in waves and couldn't decide how she wanted to play it.

"This is important, Doctor. Don't let me find out you had anything to do with this."

She didn't have to feign her shock.

"What the hell are you talking about? You think I had something to do with this?"

"Come now. Do you really expect me to think this is just coincidence? He just happened to come across her? Please," he said with a sneer. "I am not a fool. The odds of such a thing are so astronomical it isn't even funny."

He stepped around the desk until he was close enough that she could smell his cologne.

"Did you or he have anything to do with this? Come clean now and perhaps I won't take it out on him."

Her hand was moving before she even realized she had decided to take a swing at him. His head snapped back more from the shock than the actual force of the slap.

"I had nothing to do with this," she said through the tears rolling down her cheeks. "He had nothing to do with this. How the hell could he? For the love of heaven, explain to me just how the hell he could have had anything to do with this?"

"Then you are saying you acted alone?"

He saw the anger flair again in her tear filled eyes and stepped back before she could take another swing. No, she definitely had nothing to do with it, but he had had to know.

"Screw you, Cameron."

"Now Doctor, let's not get melodramatic about all this. Perhaps you can not maintain your objectivity anymore. Perhaps you need a break from this, from him. I can arrange for someone else to visit him this week. Perhaps these visits are just too distressing for you."

Julie shivered. Fear and anger waging a war within her.

"Don't even think it, Cameron."

He slammed the picture onto the desk top. "His name?"

"I told you, I don't know. Nick or Norman, maybe like you said, Nathan. I don't have any of the old files up here. Look in the archives. His name was something like Prince or Crown or something."

"Fine, I'll go check the archives."

"Cameron?" She asked through her tears, the tone of her voice unmistakable as was the unspoken question.

"You may still see him. However, if I find out you've been holding back some information or had anything to do with this." He left the threat hanging in the air as he stormed out of her office.

Julie collapsed into her chair. She wiped at the tears, a mixture of fear and relief flowing within her. She looked at the partially open desk drawer and cursed her carelessness. So close and she had almost screwed everything up. The timing of everything was so crazy, but maybe it would work to her advantage. She reached into the drawer and pulled out a small box from under a stack of papers and slipped it into her purse. Her eyes locked on the printed picture on the top of her desk. She removed the framed photo from her desk drawer and held it, looking from it to the printed picture. A sliver of a smile played on her lips for a moment then turned into a puzzled frown. She wondered what he would think of it all. If he could still comprehend it at all. She put down the framed photo and picked up the printed picture, shaking her head in disbelief. What were the odds of Nathan King stumbling across her?





CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX



Cameron let out a curse as he looked through the files. Nathan King? Well she had been right, his name had started with an N and his last name was like Prince or Crown. Part of him insisted she had known all along and that she had merely been screwing with him, but another part tried to rationalize it all. It had, after all, been several years and he had put more than a little emotional stress on her. No, had she known, she would have given up the information after he'd threatened to cut off her visitations.