Temptation - Brenda Jackson [2]
Grabbing his cell phone the moment it began to ring, he knew who the caller was before answering it. “Yeah, Brad?”
“Zeke, where are you?”
“I’m only a few minutes away. And you can believe I’ll be getting to the bottom of this.”
“I don’t know what kind of sick joke someone is trying to play on me, but I swear to you, that baby isn’t mine.”
Zeke nodded. “And a paternity test can prove that easily, Brad, so calm down.”
He had no reason not to believe his best friend about the baby not being his. Brad wouldn’t lie about something like that. He and Brad had gotten to be the best of friends while roommates at the University of Texas. After college Brad had returned to Royal to assist in his family’s banking empire.
Actually, it had been Brad who suggested Zeke relocate to Royal. He’d made the suggestion during one of their annual all-guys trip to Vegas last year, after Zeke had mentioned his desire to leave Austin and to move to a small town.
Zeke had earned a small fortune and a great reputation as one of the best security consultants in all of Texas. Now he could live anywhere he wanted to, and take his pick of cases.
And it had been Brad who’d connected Zeke with Darius Franklin, another private investigator in Royal who owned a security service and who just happened to be looking for a partner. That had prompted Zeke to fly to Royal. He’d immediately fallen in love with the town and he saw becoming a business partner with Darius a win-win situation. That had been six months ago. When he’d moved to town, he hadn’t known that his first case would begin before he could get settled in good, and that his first client would be none other than his best friend.
“I bet Abigail is behind this.”
Brad’s accusations interrupted Zeke’s thoughts. Abigail Langley and Brad were presently in a heated battle to win the presidency of the Texas Cattlemen’s Club.
“You have no proof of that and so far I haven’t been able to find a link between Ms. Langley and those blackmail letters you’ve received, Brad. But you can bet if she’s connected, I’ll expose her. Now, sit tight, I’m on my way.”
He clicked off the phone knowing to tell Brad to sit tight was a waste of time. Zeke let out a deep sigh. Brad had begun receiving blackmail letters five months ago. The thought nagged Zeke’s mind that maybe if he had been on top of his game and solved the case months ago, it would not have gotten this far and some kid would not have been abandoned at the club.
He of all people knew how that felt. At thirty-three he could still feel the sting of abandonment. Although his own mother hadn’t left him on anyone’s doorstep, she had left him with her sister and kept on trucking. She hadn’t shown up again until sixteen years later. It had been his last year of college and she’d stuck around just long enough to see if he had a chance in the NFL.
He pushed that hurtful time of his life to the back of his mind to concentrate on the problem at hand. If leaving that baby at the TCC with a note claiming she was Brad’s kid was supposed to be a joke, then it wasn’t funny. And Zeke intended to make sure he and Brad had the last laugh when they exposed the person responsible for such a callous act.
Once Sheila had reached her floor at the hospital, it became evident why they’d called her in. A couple of nurses were out sick and the E.R. was swarming with patients with symptoms ranging from the flu to a man who’d almost lost his finger while chopping down a tree in his front yard. There had also been several minor car accidents.