Cavalli smiled. “Nothing you wouldn’t have done for me.” He stood and clapped Max on the back. “Meal’s on the house.”
He planted a light kiss on my cheek and then went back to the kitchen.
We sat there in charged, disappointed silence.
“I wasn’t here when he needed me most,” Tucker said quietly.
“Well, I was here and didn’t even know he was in trouble.” I added.
“The flash drive’s not here. We need to keep looking.” He pushed away from the table and stood. After dropping a generous tip on the table, he walked away without looking to see if I would follow.
Sometimes his mood swings gave me whiplash.
I looked around the restaurant one final time, remembering the last time I was here. It was with Max. We came for dinner, we talked about work a lot, but we had some good laughs too. That dinner was the last date we’d ever have.
Tucker reappeared beside the table. I tilted my head back to look up at him. “You okay?”
I nodded, swallowing thickly.
“I’m sorry I was an ass.”
I felt my lips pull up. “That was difficult for you, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“Apologizing.”
“I usually prefer to deliver my apologies in a different way,” he said suggestively. The desire that waved off his body literally melted me to the floor.
I didn’t know how to respond. Most men I talked to, most men I interacted with, were not even half as sexual as Tucker was. It was like he thought about sex every three seconds.
Thankfully, I was saved by my ringing cell in my bag. I pulled it out, noting on the screen it was my mother. I would have let it go to voicemail, but I needed a way out of this conversation.
“Hi, Mom,” I said, putting the phone up to my ear.
“Charlotte! How are you, honey?”
I stood from the table and followed Tucker across the polished floor toward the exit.
“I’m good, but I’m actually in the middle of something. Could I call you back in a bit?”
“Of course. I just wanted to tell you that I’m late mailing out your latest box.” I almost groaned out loud thinking about the monthly box my mother always mailed me. The boxes I always had to go retrieve from the UPS store.
Wait.
The UPS store. The note left on my door.
“You haven’t sent it yet?” I asked curiously.
“No, honey, and I’m sorry. But I found the cutest little slippers online. They will be just perfect for you on cold nights… but the color I wanted was all out of stock so I had to wait for them to come in. They arrived today so I will be mailing your box within a day or two.”
Tucker held open the door to the outside and I stepped through, out onto the cold New York City sidewalk. If my mother hadn’t sent me a package, then who did?
“Mom, I’m going to have to call you back,” I said quickly, not waiting for her to say good-bye before disconnecting the call.
I spun, practically knocking into Tucker. “Whoa,” he said, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Who was that?”
Was there anyone Max trusted—really trusted—that he might give it to for safekeeping? Tucker’s question bounced around in my swirling mind.
I did know someone Max trusted.
Me.
My eyes collided with Tucker’s. “I know where the flash drive is.”
25
Tucker
“You really think it’s in there?” I asked, standing in front of a UPS office, staring in the wide glass window at all the boxes and shipping supplies.
“If it isn’t, then I’m out of ideas on where to look,” Charlotte replied, rummaging around in her purse in search of some note the UPS left on the door of the apartment about a package just a few days ago.
I prayed to God it was in that package and that it had all the evidence the Feds would need to put away Wallace Jr. and Sr. and whoever else was guilty of corporate espionage and killing my brother.
“Got it!” she exclaimed, holding up a crumpled piece of paper.
We went inside and I practically paced the room while waiting for them to retrieve her package out of the back and hand it over. It was a small manila envelope addressed to Charlotte in neat handwriting. We both stared down at it like it held a ticking bomb.
After she signed for it, I wrapped an arm around her elbow and guided her over to the corner of the store, near a large counter where people could pack boxes. “Open it.”
“Here?”
Hell yes, here. I couldn’t wait another minute to see if it was what we’d been searching for. “Here’s as good a place as any.”
Charlotte tore the top off the envelope and turned it upside down. A small box and a folded piece of paper fell out onto the counter. I couldn’t help but notice the way Charlie’s hand trembled when she reached for the box. It was about the size of a jewelry box, a small rectangle. She lifted the lid and then overturned it in her palm. When she drew the bottom of the box away, I stared down…