Page 110 of Ghostly
Was it? The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. He was still trying to climb over the current hurdle: wanting Wynona’s physical attention.
“Babe. You’re not angry, are you?”
A reporter glanced in his direction. He couldn’t afford to quarrel with Wynona here—one hint they weren’t the happy power couple, finally reunited after months of torment, and his reputation would go down the drain. As would hers.
Calm down. Wynona didn’t know of his struggles; she was simply doing what they’d agreed upon. “I’m not,” he said, though the words didn’t roll off his tongue with ease. “I only wish you’d given me the chance to surpriseyouwith that, before you surprised me.” A surprise which would’ve been much, much further in the future.
If ever.
“Aww.” She turned his face to her and kissed him. “If you slip the ring into a champagne glass at dinner, IpromiseI’ll act surprised.”
Gabriel smiled, but as Wynona left to finish her interview, the tightness in his chest returned. He sat down, the colorful prints in the lookbook blurring before his eyes. What had Ida said about battling stress? Clench the face muscles, grit your teeth, hold, release. He paired this with deep breathing— gather the tension, release, gather, release…
Ida, gathering the energy so she could touch him; Ida, laughing and hurling popcorn at a movie; Ida, with her eyes closed and face tilted up and lips ready for the taking—
Gabriel gasped as if he’d taken in a lungful of water. He couldn’t work like this. Live like this. He needed to get himself together, and it made nosense he couldn’t. This life hadn’t changed a bit, so why was it so hard to fit back in? And Wynona—he used to crave her touch. He remembered that clearly, even if the memory felt somehow distant, objective.
He liked her once. He could do so again, just had to get over this stupid mental barrier that sounded an alarm every time she drew close.
So when the reporters left and Wynona came back, he reached out a hand and pulled her into a hug. No pleasant tingling at her touch, but he could live through that. “The interview went well?”
“I think so. Although I bet they’ll still use the picture of us together, not any of me with my designs,” she grumbled. “Good thing you’re so photogenic.”
He laughed. “I would be wearing your shirt in the picture.”
“Touché. So…” Her hand slid down his chest. “Hungry?”
Over the mental barrier. Just jump over already.
“How about my place?”
Perry’s friend must’ve felt like he owed him. As Gabriel got home with Wynona, he only did a basic check of his email, but upon seeing Perry’s delivery—already!—he couldn’t help but start examining the data right away.
Either the P.I. or the friend was very organized: all the info was in neat spreads, each covering one month, and included job descriptions, client names, dates of payment and delivery, and all the relevant notes for a specific job. It was great.
Would’ve been easier if Gabriel knew what to look for, though.
Natalie made it sound like she worried about him. Gabriel had hired the P.I. only for one job—getting pictures of Harvey Sinclair’s affair. Had the P.I. cheated him somehow? Had he delivered false proof, which could potentiallyendanger Gabriel’s career? He didn’t need afalsifying proofaccusation on top of everything else.
He sorted through the files until he came to the October sheet. Vane, Vane, Vane—there he was! Commissioned, paid, received. All straightforward and clean. The job had been done on time, so the P.I. must not have had any issues. Gabriel rubbed his forehead. He could look at that entry as long as he wanted to—it wouldn’t magically change to an explanation.
He’d almost closed the file when he noticed the entry beneath his.
Client: Sinclair, H. G.
Task: any proof of affair of Mrs. S w/ G. Vane
Payment: confirmed received Oct 6 / S. O. Ensfield
Ensfield. Wynona’s new name. No, not new—her oldfamilyname. And S.O. Ensfield—that would be Stewart Oliver, her father.
But the job was commissioned by Harvey, and it was clear what it was—get pictures of Wynona’s affair. The pictures Anderson would use to doom Gabriel. This whole job was probably Anderson’s idea, but he used Harvey to commission it, so his hands would be clean in case something went wrong.
But why would they pay using Wynona’s family account?
Gabriel leaned back in his chair. Was this what Natalie wanted him to see? Everyone knew Harvey had financial issues at the time. Had he skipped on paying out of his own pocket by using Wynona? He did own a tech company, and he was smart enough he’d know how to cover his tracks.
All but this one.
