Eyes Only by Fern Michaels

story and gave me a hundred thousand dollars in American Express traveler’s checks made out in his name to give to him along with the story that he was to go to London, England, out to the countryside, and buy a little cottage with a lot of flowers, and she’d join him in a year. She left a letter for him, too. He took it all and left. And I’ve never heard from him since. I just assumed that Gretchen joined him at some point, since I never heard from her again, either.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t tell any of that to the other people who came here, snooping around?” Espinosa said.
    â€œLook, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can read people. What those guys wanted did not bode well for Gretchen. They looked like trained military, and I could tell that two of them were packing heat by the cut of their jackets. I think I pulled it off, because no one ever came back, and that was almost four years ago.”
    â€œDo you have any way at all of tracking down Albright?” Maggie asked.
    â€œNo. Sorry.”
    â€œDo you know where Gretchen met Albright? Did anyone but you know about him?”
    â€œHer secret bodyguard, I suppose, but like I said, she paid him well not to squeal on her. I suppose he could be turned. Money talks and bullshit walks. We all know that. The guy might be afraid to open his mouth for fear Gretchen’s father would fire him. She told me one time after too much wine that her father, and these are her words, not mine, was meaner than cat shit. She said he was a cruel man. Having said all that, there is nothing more I can tell you. She never said where she met Greg. I know they loved each other. I wish you could have seen her dance. She was a natural. She just glowed when she was free to be the dancer in her. It’s hard to accept that she won’t dance again. She was a good friend. A really good friend.”
    Maggie pulled a business card out of her backpack. “If you hear anything that will help us, please call. If anyone comes back, asking questions, be sure to let us know. We’re trying to help.”
    Zack Phillips got up and walked around the desk to shake hands with the little group. “If I hear anything, I’ll be in touch. If you talk to Gretchen, give her my regards.”
    â€œWe’ll do that, Mr. Phillips,” Maggie said.
    Outside in the balmy evening air, Maggie looked at the others and said, “Are you all thinking what I’m thinking?”
    Ted and Espinosa grinned and said in unison, “Isabelle.”
    â€œOh, yeah. C’mon. Let’s grab something to eat, head to the hotel, and call it a night. We’re outta here at six in the morning, and it’s a forty-minute ride to the airport,” Maggie said.
    â€œWe did good today, didn’t we, guys?” Dennis said.
    Espinosa clapped Dennis on the back. “Real good, kid. Real good.”

Chapter 6
    Z ack Phillips watched the sun creeping over the horizon. He’d barely slept, tossing and turning all night long. He’d talked last night’s situation over with his partner ad nauseam until he thought he would go out of his mind with the lack of any solution. His first loyalty was to Gretchen Spyder. She’d trusted him to do what she asked, and he’d failed her. Because. . . because . . . he’d thought Greg Albright had a right to know the secret he’d been entrusted to keep. He felt guilty as hell now. “A guy thing,” his partner had said. Bullshit! What could be worse than a man waiting for the love of his life to show up and being left hanging. With no explanation. And the baby. Twins. He needed to tell Greg that, too. Right or wrong, he had to live with what he’d done. And now he was going to compound the problem.
    Zack hitched up his sweatpants. Normally, he was out running at this time of the morning, but today he could barely place one foot in front of the other, much less run his usual