McNally's Chance Read Free Page B

to know how sincerely I had her best interests at heart,” Sabrina explained.
    “What have you got against Ward, other than his profession?”
    “I believe,” Sabrina said, ‘that his only interest in Gillian is to pump her for information about me for his rag. Gillian is a rather plain girl and Zack is very attractive, if you get my drift. She has had beaus but never one as comely as Zack, or as ardent. When I made my confession she was, of course, surprised but pleased. We had a good cry and celebrated the occasion with champagne.”
    Sabrina didn’t say that getting rid of Ward was in her best interests, too. She did say that it was several days later when Gillian began to pester her mother to disclose the name of her father. “I know she told Zack her news, and he immediately saw in it the scandal about me he was longing to write about. Of course the story would be worth twice as much in dollars and notoriety if it named the father. You see, I told Gillian that her father was a man of great wealth and pedigree. Given the combination of my name and her father’s, the story would not only make Zack’s career, but his fortune. A week later Gillian and Zack left New York for Palm Beach.”
    “Why Palm Beach?”
    With a gesture that said she had gone this far so why not go all the way, she answered, “Because I told her she was conceived here and that her father still lived here. At the time, I was in Fort Lauderdale on spring break. Gillian’s father was slumming.”
    “Zack notwithstanding, why, after all this time, are you reluctant to tell Gillian who her father is?”
     
    “Because I struck a bargain, Mr. McNally, and I intend to comply with the rules. I was given a great deal of money by my paramour, as I told you. Enough to raise my daughter in style and live a life that granted me the time and the experience to write and become the darling of publishers as well as investment bankers.” Sticking out her chin, she added, “And I will go to any length to honor his anonymity. Any length,” she repeated.
    “What are the odds of Gillian and Zack finding what they came looking for?”
    A million to one, but even those odds are too close for comfort. That’s why I sent Robert to see what they were up to and to wheedle Jill into returning home.”
    I forgot all about the missing Robert. “Is he Robert Wright?”
    “No, he’s Robert Silvester, but he is my Mr. Right. Robert is my editor and was fresh out of college when they assigned him to my first book. You know how it is with a first book. When we weren’t lunching together, we were on the phone. To cut expenses, he moved in. When Darling Desire was published to great acclaim we celebrated by eloping to Las Vegas.”
    As she filled me in on her marital exploits, I began doing a little arithmetic. She was eighteen when she had Gillian, who was nearing thirty. That would mean
    Sabrina Wright was nearing fifty. Sofia had told me that Sabrina’s first novel came out about a dozen years ago when Robert Silvester was fresh out of college. Unless he was a dolt, which I doubted, that would make him closer in age to Gillian than to his wife.
    Interesting.
    “Robert made a reservation at the Chesterfield,” she went on, ‘and checked in four days ago. He called me the night he arrived. The following evening he called to say he had found them and was dining with them that evening. He said he would call when he got back to the hotel, but he never did.”
    “Did he say where he found them?”
    “I’m afraid not. There was really no reason to ask.”
    “Did you try calling him?”
     
    “Yes. When I was connected to his room, it just rang and rang. I left a message for him to call me when he got in, but he never called. I hoped he was still with Gillian, trying to talk some sense into her.
    When he didn’t call the next day I again called the Chesterfield. They told me Mr. Silvester had checked out that morning. I couldn’t imagine what had happened but