Read Online Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness by Sidney Sheldon - Free Book Online Page B

like lice.”
    Grace gasped. “You’re under investigation?”
    â€œDon’t worry, honey, it’s nothing. A shit storm in a teacup. They’re looking at all the big hedge funds right now. The point is, these are tough times, and Quorum’s survived them because of me. Which means those ungrateful bitches’ husbands have survived it because of me.”
    â€œPlease, darling,” Grace sobbed. “Don’t get angry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I can’t take any more fighting tonight. Really, I can’t take it.”
    Lenny took her in his arms.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve been a bit of a Grinch on this trip, haven’t I?”
    Grace nestled closer to his body. She always felt safe and happy pressed against him.
    â€œI tell you what. Tomorrow morning, I’ll get up early and take the boat out by myself. Sailing always clears my head. By the time I come home, I’ll be so relaxed, you won’t recognize me.”
    â€œSounds good.” Grace began drifting off to sleep.
    Later, she would try to remember the exact words that Lenny had said next. It was so hard to untangle dream from reality. What she thought she heard was, “Whatever happens, Gracie, I love you.” But maybe she dreamed it. All she knew for sure was that she’d fallen asleep that night happy.
    For the last time.

S IX
    J OHN M ERRIVALE TIGHTENED HIS SEAT BELT and closed his eyes as the six-seater, twin-engine plane shuddered its way up through the clouds. A nervous flier at the best of times, he was terrified of these little puddle jumpers. It was like trusting your life to a lawn mower.
    â€œDon’t worry.” The woman next to him smiled amiably. “It’s always bumpy first thing in the morning, before the sun burns through the clouds.”
    John Merrivale thought, Can sun burn through clouds?, then smiled at himself for being so philosophical, today of all days.
    If the lawn mower didn’t fail them, they would land in Boston in twenty-five minutes.
    It was 6:15 A.M.
    Â 
    A T 8:15 A.M ., A NDREW P RESTON TOOK his seat on a different airplane. The hundred-seater Fokker 100 was only two-thirds full. I guess not a lot of people fly to New York from Nantucket on a Tuesday morning. They all left yesterday.
    He had mixed feelings when he got the call late last night, telling him he was needed urgently back at the office. Peter Finch, the head of the SEC investigative team looking into Quorum’s accounts, wantedsome “face time.” Andrew dreaded the meeting. He could think of no good reason why Finch would summon him back to New York, and quite a few bad ones. On the other hand, being away from the office made him feel hideously out of control. He believed he’d covered his tracks, but these SEC bastards were like bloodhounds.
    In any case, he needed to get out of Nantucket. That guest cottage was starting to feel like a prison. After her public humiliation at dinner last night, Maria had flown into a hysterical fury, swearing and screaming at Andrew, even attacking him physically. Rolling up his sleeve now, he could still see the livid red scratch marks from her nails.
    â€œHow dare you allow Lenny Brookstein to treat us like that! He made a complete fool of me, and you sat by and did nothing.”
    Andrew fought back the urge to tell Maria that it was she who had started it, by trying to make a fool of Grace. Instead, he said, “What would you have me do? He’s my boss, Maria. He pays our bills.”
    â€œBarely! He pays you less than his goddamn cook. Didn’t you hear what he said? Doesn’t that bother you?”
    Andrew had heard. And it did bother him. He was 90 percent sure that Lenny was joking. If the chef was making more than he was, she was certainly overpaid. But it wasn’t unheard of for Lenny’s generosity to prompt some peculiar decisions. He tried to reason with himself. Why