The Perfect Frame Read online

  She looked questioningly at him. “You really think I’ll be staying that long?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m not willing to take any more chances. I don’t like the way or the speed with which things are closing in around you. It’s all so perfectly planned, and is being executed like clockwork.”According to Frank Clifford’s time clock, Toni reasoned bitterly.Mack pushed her suitcase off the bed and pulled her down onto it. “I’ve grown fond of you, Ms. Carlton,” he said huskily.

  She smiled. “Have you really?”

  “Absolutely. I think I’m more than fond actually.” His mouth covered hers hungrily. “That should give you some idea.”

  “Only a drop in the bucket.”

  He arched his brows in mock surprise. “You want more?”

  “Maybe later. Let me go so I can finish packing.”

  “You’re a cruel-hearted woman, Antonia Carlton.”

  “No, I’m practical.”

  “Practical?”

  “If we continue along these lines, I’ll never get moved.”

  “You won’t have an excuse once I get you home.”

  “Home. I like the sound of that when you say it.”

  “I’m glad.”

  * * *

  Later, after settling Toni into her room, Toni and Mack went into the living room. He put on soft music as they relaxed on the couch.

  “I’ve been wondering about Frank Clifford’s personal life,” Mack muttered. “You know anything about that?”

  Toni shrugged her shoulders. “No, nothing. He keeps his personal life private.” A memory of seeing him in the restaurant flirting with Nina Townsend flashed through her mind.

  From her expression Mack knew she wasn’t telling him everything she knew. He hated it when she did that.

  “What about Hank Warren?”

  “I can’t stand the man.” Toni glowered. “And could care less about his personal life.”

  Was her dislike as impersonal as she made it sound? Mack wondered. Had something gone on between her and Warren at one time which had led to her hostility? Could she possibly be a woman scorned? He wouldn’t like to think so, but anything was possible.

  “Are you only interested in his professional life, then?”

  She tilted her head, a questioning look in her eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

  “You’re both vying for the same promotion, aren’t you?”

  “And?” She inched away from him.

  He placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. “And you both want to appear at your best.”

  She made to pull away. “If you’ve got something to say, say it, Mack.”

  “I’m not ready to do that. I need to check out a few things first.”

  “When will you know whatever it is you need to know to solve this case?” Mack shrugged.

  Toni knew he was keeping what he thought and knew close to his chest, and it irritated her that she couldn’t get him to reveal any of it. “Is that all you’re going to tell me?”

  “Prickly, aren’t we?” He kissed the tip of her nose. “But, yes, it is.”

  * * *

  The next morning at his office while Mack was checking through the papers he’d gotten from the Townsend vault, Daffy buzzed him. He punched the com button, then picked up the receiver. “Jessup.”

  “This is John Townsend. It has come to my attention that certain papers are missing from the vault. Would you happen to know where they are?”

  “Why would you assume that I would know anything about them?”

  “I got a call from Frank Clifford this morning. He’s concerned about the investigation. He’s been doing some checking on his own and discovered that certain documents are missing. You and your associate were allowed access to the vault as a part of the investigation.”

  “That’s true. But believe me, I’m on top of this investigation.”

  “I know you said you would handle it your way, but your way doesn’t seem to be producing any significant results.”

  “Oh, it is. I’m just not ready to reveal my findings yet.”

  “When will you be ready?”

  “Soon.”

  “All right, I’ll give you time, but you had better show me something concrete. I’m answerable to the board on this matter.”

  Mack frowned as he hung up the phone. Clifford hadn’t wasted any time. Mack had a gut feeling the man was close to completely ensnaring Toni in his trap. What could he do to save her? Mack punched the com button.

  “Daffy, get Frank Clifford on the phone.”

  Seconds later Daffy buzzed. “He’s not in his office, Mack. His secretary said he was in a meeting.”

  “Is Marc back in the office?”

  “Not yet. You want me to have him come see you when he does?”

  “Yes, please.”

  * * *

  Hank’s attitude toward her when she went into the office puzzled Toni. Usually he didn’t pass up an opportunity to run her down, but for the last few days he’d done his work and kept to himself. Frank Clifford had eyed her with the-cat-that-swiped-the-goldfish-from-the-bowl look a few minutes ago when he left the office.

  How she hated this game he was playing with her. When would the final blow come? The suspense as well as the dread was killing her an inch at a time, and he knew it. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand the pressure without cracking up.

  Her phone rang. “Toni Carlton speaking.”

  “Ms. Carlton, this is J. V. Townsend. I’d like to see you in my office right away.”

  “But—” She heard the sharp click of the receiver. What now? She stood up and walked over to Pat’s desk.

  “I’ll be in Mr. Townsend’s office, Pat.”

  A feeling of déjà vu washed over Toni as she rode the elevator to the tower suite. The last time she’d been in the president’s office Mr. Townsend Sr. had summoned her. And that interview had ended on a tragic note. This one had the feel of—she didn’t know what. What could Mr. Townsend want with her? Nothing good, she would venture to guess.

  Mildred Frances shot Toni a curious, probing look when she instructed her to go into the president’s office.

  Toni knocked on the door.

  “Come in, Ms. Carlton,” she heard Mr. Townsend say.

  She walked in.

  “Have a seat, please.”

  As she moved to do as he asked, she noticed Frank Clifford standing by the coffee maker.

  He smiled. “Would you like a cup, Toni?”

  She cleared her throat. “No, thank you.”

  “Ms. Carlton, Frank has brought certain information to my attention. Is it true you’re staying at Mackinsey Jessup’s house?”

  Toni glanced at her boss. He had a smug, self-satisfied smirk on his face.

  “For my protection, yes.”

  “Your protection? Is someone stalking or threatening you?”

  “Yes, in a manner of speaking.”

  “Then why haven’t you contacted the police? It seems to me they could offer you more help and better protection.”

  “Mack—Mr. Jessup is an ex-policeman.”

  “I was given to understand—” Townsend glanced at Frank Clifford, then back at Toni, “that you and he were personally involved. What I want to know is, is it true?”

  “We’re close friends, yes.”

  “From what I’ve observed, I’d say it is more than that, Toni,” Frank Clifford interjected into the conversation.

  Townsend cleared his throat. “You may return to your work, Ms. Carlton.”

  Toni wanted to say something to dispel the impression Frank Clifford had given Mr. Townsend, but she had been dismissed. She rose to her feet and headed for the door. When she looked back, she sensed an almost sinister plot hatching between the two men. How could they be on such friendly terms when Townsend’s wife and Frank Clifford were obviously involved? Toni recalled how the woman had blatantly flirted with him in front of her husband the day she and Pat had seen them at the It
alian Kitchen. As she walked out of the office, Toni glared at her boss, hating him with a passion.

  * * *

  Toni sensed that the tense atmosphere in the office was fast approaching the breaking point when Pat Davis, usually cheerful and friendly, turned uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn. Hank was actually civil to Toni. Joe Davis, on the other hand, avoided Toni like the plague. Several other employees shot sly, knowing looks her way. Still others acted wary of her. The fact that she was staying at Mack’s house had gotten around the office with the speed of wildfire, thanks to her boss. It had been a week since Mr. Townsend had called her into his office. Mack was as close-mouthed as ever about the investigation. In the evenings at his house Toni had caught him staring at her with a grim expression on his face.

  While they sat embracing and listening to music in the living room after dinner one evening, Toni broached the subject they had avoided discussing since her summons to the president’s office.

  She eased out of Mack’s embrace and gazed into his face. “Mack, what’s going on? I have to know. A leper couldn’t receive any more negative attention than I have at the office. And here with you the atmosphere is almost as bad.”

  “I’m sorry if I’ve been neglecting you lately,” he said, drawing her back into the curve of his arm. “Things don’t look good for you. I don’t know what else to tell you right now. Every scrap of evidence so far points to you as the guilty party, with or without the help of an accomplice.”

  “But I’m innocent. There has to be a way to prove it.”

  “If there is I haven’t found it—yet.” He wanted so badly to reassure her that everything would turn out all right, but he couldn’t and it frustrated the hell out of him. That scared, lost, betrayed look in her eyes ripped his guts apart. Damn it, he had to find a way to expose Clifford, and quick.

  “What are we going to do, Mack?”

  “I don’t know, but we’ll come up with something.” He hoped they did before it was too late.

  Was that an edge Toni detected in his voice? Was it one of determination to help or acknowledgment that he didn’t really believe he could save her after all?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Two days later Toni stepped off the elevator on the seventh floor and glanced down the hall. She dreaded going into the office. The feeling of impending doom was bearing down on her like a runaway freight train.

  Toni squared her shoulders and marched into Townsend’s like a proud queen.

  “Here’s a message for you to call Mazie in personnel,” Pat informed her in her most professional executive secretary voice.

  Toni took the message from her. “What is it, Pat? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because I won’t buy it. Have I done something to offend you?”

  “No,” she said, but looked decidedly uncomfortable.

  Toni moved away from Pat’s desk and headed for her cubicle. After lowering her purse onto the desk, Toni sat down, picked up the phone and punched in Mazie’s extension.

  “I need you to come down here right away.”

  “Why? What’s up?”

  “It would be better if you just came down. Okay? I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

  Toni picked up on the strained cadence in Mazie’s voice. The same bad vibes she’d felt earlier came back to haunt her.

  “All right, I’ll be right down.”

  Fifteen minutes later Toni returned from personnel in a state of shock. Clinched in her hand was a blue slip of paper. Mr. Townsend had suspended her until further notice, pending the outcome of the investigation. She couldn’t believe it! But then, why shouldn’t she? It was all Frank Clifford’s doing. If she had learned anything at all, it was how devious and ruthless he could be. What was going to happen now? What would the man do next?

  “Are you all right, Toni?” Pat asked.

  “No, and I won’t be until the truth comes out. No matter what anyone thinks, I’m not a thief, Pat.”

  For a moment the other woman looked as if she wanted to say something, but refrained from commenting, cleared her throat and returned to her work. Pat had been her closest friend before this thing with Clifford.

  “How I hate that man,” Toni said in a low, angry voice as she glanced at the CEO’s office door. Pat heard her and let out a shocked little gasp.Toni headed for her ex-office space. Once within the cubicle she plopped down in her chair. After a few moments she started methodically clearing her desk. Then she heard Frank Clifford’s voice. Her nerves tensed and a knot of bitter frustration tightened in the pit of her stomach.

  “I’d like to see you in my office before you, ah, leave, Toni,” he called to her.

  She could hear the smug triumph in his voice and see it in his mocking eyes as he waited for her to precede him into his office. She hated him enough to kill him for all he’d done to ruin her career. Taking a cleansing, strengthening breath she entered.

  “Have a seat, “ he said, stepping behind his desk. The smile on his face reminded her of a crocodile licking his chops.

  “I’d rather stand, thank you.”

  “Have it your way—at least for the moment.”

  Toni gritted her teeth. “Just get on with it.”

  “You can be a vicious little spitting cat, can’t you, Toni? Well, you can hiss and spit all you want, it won’t do you any good.”

  “I have you to thank for the suspension, I suppose.”

  “I told you your downfall was assured,” he said confidently. “I don’t know why you refuse to accept that. My plan is flawless. I’d say it’s the perfect frame. The next step is your arrest and trial, eventually leading to your imprisonment.”

  Why was he telling her these things? To gloat? How she would love to deliver a sharp karate chop to his arrogant neck. She’d had just enough self-defense training to try it if she dared. The thought left her mind as soon as it entered. As he had said, it wouldn’t do any good. She would only succeed in making things worse.

  “If looks could kill…I’d advise you to do whatever you like now, before your freedom to do so is permanently curtailed.” Toni didn’t bother responding, just turned and stalked out of the office, slamming the door behind her. She grabbed up her purse and other personal items from her desk and marched out of the office.

  * * *

  “You haven’t handled this case to the board’s satisfaction, Jessup, so we’re dismissing you from the case,” Townsend said to Mack from his chair behind the desk.

  “Is it to the board’s satisfaction or yours?” Mack pointedly asked.

  “The board and I both feel that you aren’t moving swiftly enough on this.”

  “Frank Clifford wouldn’t have anything to do with this decision, would he?”

  “He is the CEO of this company. Of course his opinion carries a certain amount of weight, especially in this matter since it concerns his personal assistant.”

  “I see. What’s your reasoning for doing this, may I ask?”

  “Since you’re no longer officially associated with the case, I’m under no obligation to share that information with you. Send us a bill for whatever expenses you’ve incurred up to this point.”

  “Like that, I’m off the case?” Mack snapped his fingers. “What about Toni—Ms. Carlton?”

  “She’s been suspended with just cause. In my opinion we have our thief. I know you don’t agree, but then you and Ms. Carlton are—shall we say—close. Believe me, I know how a woman can color a man’s judgement,” he uttered bitterly under his breath, his mind having wandered off the subject of Toni Carlton on to something, or someone, else.

  His wife? Mack wondered.

  “So do I. But I think you’re making a mistake in this instance. By taking me off the case and assuming that Toni Carlton is the guilty party, you’re in essence allowing the real culprit to get away with the crime.”

  “I don’t believe I’m mistaken about who the thief is. She may have you fooled, but that’s because you’ve let yourself become personall
y involved.”

  “I wouldn’t say any more if I were you. I may be off the case, but I still intend to help Toni Carlton prove her innocence.”

  “You’re going to have a problem there, Jessup, because she’s guilty.”

  “I don’t happen to believe that. And I don’t think I’ll have a problem,” Mack said, and confidently strode from the office.

  * * *

  A worried frown beetled Mack’s brows moments later when he stepped into the elevator. The screws were tightening on the trap set to ensnare the woman he had fallen in love with. He got off on the seventh floor, hoping to catch Toni before she left.

  “Sorry, Mack, she’s already gone,” Pat informed him when he stopped by her desk. “It doesn’t look good for her, does it?”

  “I’m afraid not,” he said in a strained voice.

  Clifford opened his office door and, seeing Mack, strode over to Pat’s desk.

  “Jessup, I’m sorry about your lover—I mean Ms. Carlton. She’s on indefinite suspension, pending the outcome of the investigation.”

  Anger darkened Mack’s eyes to the deep gold of a dangerous cat’s. “Just what did you tell Townsend?”

  He answered, oblivious to the danger. “I didn’t have to tell him very much. You really should have shown him the documents immediately instead of waiting. Was it Toni’s idea?”

  Mack gritted his teeth. This man was cocksure about being in complete control of everything. His sights were beaded on Toni. But Mack would be damned if he’d stand by and let him destroy her.

  “No, she didn’t have to convince me to do anything. Since I wasn’t even close to completing my investigation, I saw no pressing reason why I should give them to him. You made a very basic mistake framing Toni, Clifford, and believe me, you’re going to pay for it.”

  “Threats, Jessup?”

  “No, a solemn promise.”

  * * *

  Mack had to take care of several important appointments he couldn’t get out of before he was finally able to leave the office. By the time he’d finally managed to do so it was almost five o’clock. He parked the Jag in the drive next to Toni’s car and crossed the lawn to the front porch and unlocked the door. He heard music when he entered the living room and saw Toni on the couch with a half-filled glass in her hand.