Read Online The Mirror and the Mask by Ellen Hart - Free Book Online

in construction back in Traverse City, and he was still in construction, so that fit. Had he taken the money he’d stolen from Glennoris—and maybe money from an insurance payoff from his first wife’s death—and parlayed it into a fortune?
    â€œSunny’s not Jack’s biological daughter,” said Jane.
    â€œI know. She’s very open about it.”
    â€œNeither is Annie.”
    â€œBut I thought you said—”
    â€œMaybe Annie calls him Dad because that’s how she thinks of him.”
    â€œYeah, okay, but if she’s really his stepdaughter, you’d think she’d mention it to you.”
    â€œYou’re sure this Jack Bowman looks like John Archer?”
    â€œIt
is
him, Janey. No doubt in my mind.”
    â€œFrom what I just learned, he’s not exactly the fantastic guy you think he is. If he was, he never would have disappeared from Annie’s life.”
    â€œPeople are complex. So are relationships. And we can all grow and change, right? Come on, Janey, let’s get back to the point. Do I win some kind of award or what?”
    â€œI admit, finding him was a stroke of luck.” It was the wrong thing to say. Jane could almost feel Cordelia’s hand plunge through the phone line and grab her sweater.
    â€œIt wasn’t luck. It was my unfailingly astute intuition. I knew that if I showed that picture around, I’d find the right bar. Don’t give me up for Nolan, Janey. I’m the real deal.”
    Cordelia couldn’t seem to get it through her head that Nolan had something special to offer. Intuition could blow hot and cold. If Jane really did want to learn the business, Nolan offered her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not that she intended to take it. “I owe you, kiddo.”
    â€œYou bet you do. So, are you going to phone Annie? Give her the news?”
    â€œActually, she’s working here today.”
    â€œGreat. Call me after you talk. As for me, I finally get to take off this hideous Nazi interrogation bra.”
    â€œPardon me?”
    â€œIt’s a need-to-know kind of thing. You don’t. Peace.”
    Â 
    Jane spent the next hour chasing down info on Jack Bowman and DreamScape Builders. She located a picture of him on his business website. He looked older, heavier, his temples graying. The photo convinced her, like nothing else had, that Jack Bowman was indeed John Archer.
    Reading through the links, she learned that his company employed over a hundred people. Designers, architects, draftsmen, sales staff, plumbers, electricians, drywallers, concrete and patio specialists, excavators, landscapers, and on-site construction workers. The company was full-service: built houses, did remodels, and worked on just about everything else—all high-end.
    DreamScape Builders had been founded by Jack Bowman in 1997, the year after he’d disappeared from Traverse City. By accessing local marriage data, Jane learned that Bowman had married Susan Greta Llewelyn in 2000. Susan brought two children into the marriage—Curt, who would now be twenty-six, and Sunny, seventeen. Susan was the branch VP of Northland Realty’s Hastings office.
    Besides being the president and CEO of a large company, Bowman owned both commercial and residential property in the Metro area. He also served on the boards of several charity organizations, and for the last four years had organized a local golf tournament to raise money for disabled veterans. On paper, at least, he sounded like a model citizen.
    So where was the disconnect? Had Jack Bowman, alias John Archer, a possible ex-con, murdered his first wife, Mandy, making it somehow look like a natural death in order to collect on a hefty life insurance policy? Had he stolen from his business partner, Steve Glennoris, and never looked back? Had he changed his name and disappeared, relocating to the Twin Cities, parlaying his newfound wealthinto a booming construction