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

He’ll be forty on August fourth.
Didn’t Marc email you?”
    “I haven’t been checking emails on my honeymoon.
We promised each other we’d totally unplug.”
    “Good for you. Proud of you for sticking to it.
I’m not sure I could.” Susan took a deep breath and continued. “Marc’s renting
a private dining room at The Mill. There’ll be dinner, music, and fireworks
over the Shawnee River.”
    “Sounds like quite the party.”
    “Aaron and I will fly in on the first and home on
the sixth. I know you won’t be able to take time off of work. Don’t worry about
meals or entertaining us. We can wing it on all of that. In fact, Marc doesn’t
want Alex to know his brother is in town until the party. He’s afraid Aaron’s
being here will give it away.”
    “He might be right about that. How is Marc
planning to get Alex to The Mill on his birthday without him being suspicious?”
    “Marc’s booked to play for an event there the
night before. He’s going to tell Alex that he forgot the cord for his amp and
get him to ride out there with him to pick it up.”
    “Sounds plausible. So what will the two of you do
when you’re in Westbury before anyone can know you’re there?”
    “I’m looking forward to spending time with Aaron.
I don’t care if we just hang out at Rosemont and read or binge-watch TV. As it
is, he’s either studying for his boards or working. We barely talk and have
only had dinner together twice during the last month.”
    “Has anything changed between you or is he just in
the final crunch before boards? I remember that you lived like a hermit the
month before the bar exam.”
    “I think it’s that he’s busy, but I’m wondering
whether his feelings for me have cooled. This trip will be right after he’s
taken his boards, so I’ll be able to tell then.”
    “Sounds like it will be exactly what you need.
You’ll have lots of time together because John and I will both be busy at work.
We can have dinner together; but the rest of the time, the two of you can be on
your own.”
    “Perfect. And you don’t mind if we stay with you?”
    “Of course not! Where else would you stay?”
    “I can’t wait, Mom. I’m going to let you go. Give
that husband of yours a hug from me. And remember—this is a surprise
party. Don’t spill the beans to Alex!”

Chapter 4
    “I’m leaving to take the deposit to
the bank,” Loretta Nash said as she paused in the door to Frank Haynes’ office.
“Would you mind if I cut my day short and went home after that?’
    “Sure. That’ll be fine,” Frank said, without
taking his eyes off of his computer screen.
    “It’s just that I need to get Sean and Marissa
some clothes and supplies for church camp,” she said.
    Haynes waved his hand dismissively. “Fine.”
    “I could wait until tomorrow, if you’d prefer,”
she continued.
    Haynes looked up. “Go now.” She turned on her
heel.
    Frank Haynes watched until Loretta Nash pulled out
of the parking lot, then locked the door to Haynes Enterprises and removed the
painting by his office door that concealed the wall safe. He opened the safe
and withdrew a folder labeled F.H./Rosemont , leaving the only other
thing in the safe—a jump drive—undisturbed. Haynes glanced at the
jump drive and stopped short. Had it been moved?
    He took a deep breath. That was impossible. No one
else had access to the safe. He was letting his imagination run away with him.
Maintaining the secrecy of the information on that jump drive was crucial. It
was his insurance if the fraud investigation ever got close to him. He had
enough evidence on that drive to put Delgado in jail for decades. The jump
drive was his ticket into the Witness Protection Program.
    Frank Haynes returned to his desk and leaned back
in his generous leather chair. He paged through the thin file until he came to
an original copy of his mother’s birth certificate, listing his grandmother and
Hector Martin as her parents. Hector Martin, town