Runaway Heiress. Jennifer Morey

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       Chapter 1

      Sitting on an uncomfortable hospital room chair with his legs outstretched, elbows on the armrests and fingers teepeed together, Jasper Roesch watched Sadie Moreno sleep. Rest in unconsciousness, more like. She’d gone through twelve hours of surgery and a day of intensive care before the doctors rolled her into a recovery room. She’d survive her gunshot wound, which had narrowly missed her heart.

      The tall, slender Spanish-looking woman had long manicured nails. The nursing staff had put her ample head of jet-black hair up. Her Angelina Jolie lips were pale and dark circles shadowed the skin beneath her eyes. But even the signs of her close brush with death didn’t diminish her beauty.

      Three knocks on the door brought him turning to see a well-dressed man with neatly trimmed and combed brown hair and nickel-gray eyes.

      “Jasper Roesch from Dark Alley Investigations?” the man queried.

      Jasper stood and faced the man. “That’s me. And you are?”

      “Steven Truscott.” He stepped forward. “Sadie’s security officer.” After a brief shake of hands, the man looked over at Sadie. “She said she was going to hire one of you.”

      “I figured she had a reason for showing up at DAI.” And that reason ended up shooting her. “How did you find out she was here?”

      “The doctor called her home and her estate manager notified me.” Steven said. “Your agency called before the hospital. The estate manager passed the number on to me. Kadin Tandy said you were here watching over Sadie until I arrived.”

      The founder of DAI had let Jasper know Sadie’s security officer would be coming to the hospital to explain a homeless man’s murder case. He’d thought it odd someone like that would show up rather than a family member.

      “I was assured her safety would be your top priority,” Steven said. “I can’t be with her all the time.”

      “Where did you come from?”

      “Sadie runs an organization for the homeless. She has three facilities, one in New York, one in Dallas and headquarters in San Francisco. I work intermittently at her headquarters.”

      “Her address is in Wyoming.”

      “She works remotely.”

      He did, too, if he only worked intermittently. Many people worked from their homes, but something about this didn’t add up. Sadie worked from her home but the one person who came to see her at the hospital is her head of security who works remotely as she did.

      “She prefers reclusiveness,” Steven added, as though he felt he needed an excuse. Jasper would have questioned him further if he hadn’t turned a grave face to Sadie.

      “I worried something like this would happen,” Steven said. “She’s been after the police to catch Bernie’s killer. I kept telling her to stay out of the investigation. A woman like her stands out in a crowd.”

      Who wouldn’t be after police to catch the criminal who’d killed someone close to them? Bernie, he presumed, was one of her homeless men and the victim of murder that had brought her to DAI’s door.

      “Is there a reason she should stay out of the investigation?” Did she just want to avoid the public? Jasper hadn’t heard of her so she couldn’t be so famous for that to be a threat.

      “As I said, she prefers to remain reclusive.”

      The more he talked with this man, the more suspicious he became. He questioned a lot of criminals, many of them experts at lying. Steven was no expert, at least not when it came to Sadie. Maybe her being shot had caught him off guard.

      “Has anyone notified her family?” he asked.

      “I’m the closest she has to family. Her father passed several years ago. She was his sole heir.” He eyed Jasper as though sharing a piece of gossip. “Holdings in an oil and refining corporation.” So, Sadie had inherited her wealth, but hid herself from the rest of civilization in Wyoming. Why?

      “What about Bernie King?” Jasper asked. “Who is he to her?” For Sadie to hire DAI to investigate his murder meant she cared more than she might if Bernie was just another one of her homeless people.

      “Bernie is a special friend.”

      Movement from the hospital bed shifted Jasper’s concentration. Sadie began to open her eyes. He went to stand beside her, Steven going to the opposite side of the bed.

      “Steven?”

      “Yes, Sadie, I’m here.”

      Steven took her hand and held it while Sadie groggily smiled up at him. “I thought you went home.”

      “I did. But then someone from Dark Alley Investigations called and told me what happened.”

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