She wrinkled her nose. “Hardly. It’s not like I’m engaged in any illicit drug research.”
“That’s not what I meant. Wilder Jones didn’t just show up out of the blue one night and burn down your father’s lab. He and Vella had an affair.”
Shock rendered her speechless for a couple of beats.
“They were lovers?” she finally got out.
“For almost two months. Wilder Jones seduced Vella, lied to her and used her to find your father and the lab.”
She sagged back against the counter, utterly floored. “Why don’t I remember him? The first and only time I recall seeing Wilder Jones was the night he and his men stormed into the lab.”
“Vella was afraid that if you knew she was dating you would become anxious about the possibility that she might leave you. She would never have done that, of course. She would have found a way to keep you with her, even if she had married. She would not have left you with your father. But until she was certain that the relationship with Wilder was going somewhere, she thought it best to shield you from it.”
She shook her head. “I’m stunned. I had no idea.”
“Vella fell for him hard. She told us she was in love for the first time in her life. Gordon and I used to take care of you on the nights when she and Wilder wanted to be alone.”
“No wonder she went hysterical the night Jones and his men destroyed the lab. She was betrayed by the man she loved. She blamed herself for everything: my father’s death and the destruction of his work.”
“Yes.”
“That certainly explains a lot,” Raine said quietly. “She was never really herself again after that night.”
“No,” Andrew said, “she wasn’t.”
“What happened to Wilder Jones? Did he ever come around again?”
“No. He disappeared.”
“Poor Aunt Vella,” Raine whispered. “At least I now know just why you’re so worried about my relationship with a man from Jones & Jones.”
“Yes.”
“But this time around things are different,” she said quickly.
“Because you think that Zack has been honest with you?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe he’s just using a different approach to manipulate you.”
“I may resemble Aunt Vella, but I’m not her. My eyes are wide open, Andrew.”
“I know, but—”
Raine walked to him, put her arms around him and hugged him.
“Now there’s something I want to tell you,” she said.
Andrew smiled wryly. “Is this going to be another shock to my system? Because if so, I think I’d better have a second glass of wine first.”
“Remember what you said a few minutes ago? About how when I lost Aunt Vella I lost the person who was the closest thing I had to a parent?”
“I understand.” Andrew patted her shoulder gently.
“You were wrong,” Raine said.
Andrew’s hand stilled on her shoulder.
“I loved Aunt Vella with all my heart and I know she loved me,” Raine said. “She did her best to take care of me. But you and Gordon are my real parents. Everything I need to know about life I learned from you.”
“Oh, Raine.”
Tears glittered in Andrew’s eyes. He put his arms around her.
They stood together in the kitchen for a long time, holding each other very tightly.
Eighteen
“Mitchell is a complete bastard as far as I’m concerned,” Gordon said. “He took advantage of Raine, used her to make himself look like a brilliant detective. Allowed her to think he cared about her. She started to fall in love with him. When she made her feelings clear, he humiliated her.”
“I know,” Zack said. “I got the whole story in Shelbyville.”
He and Gordon were in the living room sitting in deep leather chairs in front of the fire, drinks in hand. The sounds and smells of dinner emanated from the kitchen along with the low murmur of voices. If it weren’t for the interrogation he was undergoing he would have been able to settle back and enjoy a cozy, comfortable evening and a home-cooked meal. Instead, he was running the gauntlet.
He knew it was no accident that he and Raine had been separated almost immediately after they walked through the door. Smart, street-wise cops always split up the suspects for interrogation purposes.
Gordon was silver-haired and solid-looking. Something about his eyes, his haircut and the way he carried himself shouted ex-military.
“So you’re from J&J?” Gordon said.
“Yes,” Zack said.
“You know there’s some evil history between Raine and J&J.”
“Heard that.”
“She was in her father’s lab the night those SOBs stormed in and smashed everything in sight. She was just a little kid. I remember she had nightmares for months afterward. Between that and losing her father, she was badly traumatized.”
“I’m aware that J&J didn’t handle the situation well,” Zack said.
“Vella always maintained that Wilder Jones was responsible for Judson Tallentyre’s death.”
“I’m almost certain that’s not true.”
Gordon cocked a brow. “Almost?”
“There’s nothing in the files that indicates that Tallentyre’s death was anything other than a car crash.” He tasted the excellent wine and lowered the glass. “Besides, J&J doesn’t operate that way. It’s not some secret mafia-style organization or a firm that supplies hit men. It’s an investigation agency. It investigates.”
Gordon snorted indignantly. “It did more than investigate Raine’s father. Vella told us the men from J&J destroyed his life’s work.”
“That was an extreme case,” Zack said.
Gordon settled into his chair. “You know, there’s something we never did understand. Why the hell did J&J go after him so aggressively in the first place? Vella was never clear about that. We got the impression that he had stolen a formula for some kind of proprietary drug from the Arcane Society. Is that true?”
“I’m not at liberty to give you the details,” Zack said. “But yeah, that’s the bottom line. The Society has very strict rules governing research. Tallentyre violated those rules. He knew damn well what he was doing and he knew that if J&J found him, it would do whatever it had to do to shut down his lab.”
Gordon frowned. “If Judson Tallentyre was operating an illicit drug lab, the Society should have informed the police and let the authorities handle the problem. It had no right to send a bunch of vigilantes after a man.”