Read Drawing Close: The Fourth Novel in the Rosemont Series for Free Online

fine.”
    “Good. And thank you for all of your help with
this, Loretta. You’ve been invaluable.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    He took a step back. “Don’t worry about being at
Haynes Enterprises bright and early tomorrow. You may need to get some extra
sleep,” he said, and she was certain she heard kindness in his voice. He turned
to go.
    “Frank,” she said, grabbing his elbow and leaning
toward him, her breath warm and fragrant against his face. She paused, then
placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. For everything.” She stepped
back into her dark apartment and closed the door.
    ***
    Frank Haynes pulled out of the
parking lot of Loretta Nash’s apartment and, instead of proceeding directly
home at this late hour, turned toward Rosemont and his familiar perch in the
berm of the road that ran below the grand home’s back lawn. The house was in
complete darkness, its residents—Maggie Martin and John
Allen—undoubtedly fast asleep. Residents for now, he thought.
    He smiled and patted the breast pocket of his
jacket, where he’d secured Loretta’s notes about Roger Spenser. He knew what
his next move would be. He’d find Spenser and get him to confess to removing
the evidence that established Haynes’ ownership of a half-interest in Rosemont,
probably for a hefty sum that he received from Paul Martin. Enough to allow him
to retire at an early age and for him and his wife to live out the remainder of
their years indulging their passion for—what did Loretta say they called
it—birding? He’d have to think through how he was going to present this
to Spenser. If he was really a dying man, he would be immune to threats. He’d
appeal to the man’s better nature; maybe he’d be concerned about his immortal
soul.
    Haynes stared at the dark edifice of Rosemont,
washed in moonlight. He brought his hand to his cheek and touched the spot
where the softness of Loretta’s kiss lingered. Happiness—an unfamiliar
feeling for Frank Haynes—surged through him. Whether the feeling arose at
the prospect of owning Rosemont or over the memory of her kiss, he couldn’t
say.

Chapter 7
    “Alex? What’s up?” Maggie said,
pressing her phone tightly to her ear to compensate for the poor connection.
“Is everyone all right?”
    “Yes, fine. Sorry if I alarmed you.”
    “Two voice mails and four text messages in six
hours will do that.”
    “I wanted to catch you before you left to come
home. You leave tomorrow, don’t you?”
    “We catch the train to London first thing, and
we’ll be on a red-eye flight home.”
    “How would you like to extend your honeymoon?”
    Maggie snorted. “Nothing I’d like more. Cornwall
has been marvelous, and my new husband has been spoiling me rotten,” she said,
smiling at John. She angled the phone away from her mouth and said, “It’s Alex.
He wants to know if we’d like to stay here longer.” John gave two thumbs up.
    “I didn’t say stay longer in Cornwall,” Alex said.
“I said extend your honeymoon. At least, that’s what we’d have the outside
world think.”
    “You’ve got my attention,” Maggie replied. “What
would we be doing instead?”
    “Going through four boxes of the documents that we
obtained from the banks in response to our subpoenas. We’ve segregated the most
critical documents, and you need to go through them with a fine-toothed comb,
using your expertise as a forensic accountant.”
    “I see. I’m not so sure that’s necessary, Alex. I
can return to work on Monday as planned and still get through the documents in
the next several months.”
    “That’s why we came up with this plan. We don’t
have several months to sit on our hands and wait, Maggie. And we don’t have the
money to hire anyone else.”
    Alex cleared his throat and Maggie knew he was
just getting started. She leaned back into the chair in their hotel room and
eased her aching feet out of her shoes.
    “Right now, no one knows what we’ve got in our
hands. We