Perhaps, Someday

Chapter 2-3

The next morning, at Hildebrand’s office, Caiden was working on things for the incumbent councilman’s upcoming meeting when the phone rang. It was Mrs. Waugh, asking, well—subtly telling him to drop by her office that afternoon. She didn’t say why. Just suggested it would be in his best interests to do so.

He did, then listened to her talk about a vote coming up at the next City Council meeting. She didn’t order him to do anything. Instead she implied that if he dropped a word or two to the councilman he worked for, about how it might be a good idea to oppose the bill, she would be very grateful.

He agreed to do it and they parted allies on that particular project. Again, as soon as he left the building, Caiden called Zander to update him.

That evening, Caiden picked Elizabeth up and they went to dinner at a small café he liked in the French Quarter. When they finished, they decided to walk through a nearby park. They found a bench, sat, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“I wish,” Elizabeth said, “we could stay like this forever.”

“We can,” he replied. “Well, maybe not here, but like this—calm and peaceful.”

She looked up at him. “That would be nice, but…” She frowned slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Caiden asked.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Come on, Elizabeth, spill it. What’s bothering you?”

She pulled away, moving to sit at the far end of the bench, just looking at him for a moment. “It’s about my mother. I know you went to see her again today. She called to tell me.”

“Why?” he replied, surprised.

“She likes you, John. And she likes you with me. I think she’s trying to use you to get back in my life again, but it’s not going to work. She…” Elizabeth paused, apparently trying to think of the words she needed to explain. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to get angry?”

He smiled at her. “I promise.”

“All right. But first I have a question for you. Does she want you to be her, well I guess, her protégé?”

“She offered to help me if I decide to run for the City Council seat, yes. Why?”

She scanned his face for a moment. “And she wants something from you in return. Right?”

“Nothing I can’t handle, Elizabeth. Nothing illegal, if that’s what you mean.”

“John! She’s a viper. If she gets her claws into you, you’ll never get away.”

“Oh come on, Elizabeth. She’s a very powerful and important public figure,” Caiden said. “You’re making it sound as if she was some sort of—” he hoped his next words would push the right buttons, “—some sort of crime boss or something. If she was doing anything illegal, don’t you think someone would have found out about it long before now?”

She stared at him, shaking her head, then stood and reached for his hand. When he gave it to her, she held it, clutching it as if she was afraid he would disappear. “Do you trust me, John?”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

She replied quietly, “Then come with me, back to my place. I have some things I think you should see.”

“All right.” He stood, pulling her into his arms, gazing into her eyes. “This should be interesting.” He hoped he was right. He wanted this over before he ended up hurting her by doing things the real John wouldn’t.

Standing on tiptoe, she gave him a quick kiss before breaking away. “I hope so. And I hope it doesn’t drive you away, because of your wanting mother’s help.”

When they got back to Elizabeth’s place, she asked Caiden to wait while she got what she wanted to show him, telling him it would take a few minutes. While he waited, he checked out her books, and the carvings displayed on one shelf. One of them was a very detailed dragon.

He almost dropped it when she came up behind him, saying, “That’s my favorite piece. Isn’t it marvelous?”

“It is.” He put it back, turned, and saw she was holding a large case. The kind people use to keep important papers in where they’ll be safe from fire or other damage. She led him to the sofa, put it down on the coffee table, and opened it, before handing him a sheaf of papers.

“Read these for starters,” she said. “Then I’ll show you the others.”

He scanned them quickly to see what was in them, then started over, reading them in detail. They contained a list of businesses and other dealing Mrs. Waugh was involved in. An incredible list and all of them definitely illegal. I’ve hit pay dirt. But…

“All of this you…Can you back it up with evidence?” He asked, feigning shock and disbelief.

“Oh, yes! That’s what the rest of this is.” Elizabeth pointed to the case, which was full of papers and documents.

“Do you mind?” He pulled some of them out to look. After a while, he glanced at her. “How, and where, did you get all of this?”

“Most of it I found a couple of years ago. I was going through the last of my father’s things, deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. He’d left a lot of stuff in boxes at…at my mother’s house, after he…died. Unbelievably, as far as I’m concerned, she thought it was just junk and stored it in the basement. I went over one day when she was gone and found them. A friend helped me move them here.”

“And these papers were in them?”

She shook her head. “No. Mother would have destroyed them, if they had been. There was a small, carved box, the kind a man uses for cufflinks and what have you. I was fiddling around with it, looking at the carvings, and must have pushed something because a small drawer popped out. There was a key, and a note, in it. The note had a series of numbers. It took a while, but I finally figured out the key and numbers belonged to a safety deposit box that, apparently, mother had no idea he owned. Long story short, I was able to gain access and that’s where most of the papers came from. I guess he’d been collecting them. Maybe for…” She shrugged. “I don’t know why, but now I have them.”

“Why haven’t you done something with them?” Caiden asked. “Taken them to someone like the police?”

“I don’t know. I think…I don’t know, John. Maybe I hoped this wasn’t really true? All these awful…” She pointed to a list of clubs, all of which Caiden knew were the bottom of the barrel for sleaze. A couple had reputations for being centers for prostitution and worse, although so far, there had been no solid evidence to prove it.

“How could she be involved with something like this, or the drugs, or…” She stuttered to a stop, shaking with emotion.

He frowned, saying, “You do know that these clubs aren’t in her name. Maybe they aren’t really hers.”

She grimaced. “Oh, they’re hers all right. She was just smart enough to…I don’t know what it’s called, where someone else’s name is on the papers and all. But there are documents in there that show she’s the real owner.”

Caiden nodded. “All right. We have to find someone to give these to. Let me think about it.” Of course he knew exactly who. After all, it was why he’d been given the job in the first place. It was just a case of doing it in such a way that, when the real John Hildebrand returned, he would know what had happened and agree to be the one who actually delivered the case with all its information to whomever Zander designated. How that would be arranged would be up to Zander, not Caiden.

Elizabeth and Caiden put the papers back in the case, and then she asked him to keep it. That way, she pointed out, it would be easier for him to hand them over when he found out who to give them to. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. At least one part of the problem was solved. He could leave with the case in hand.

“Maybe you know someone in the mayor’s office, or on the Council?”

He smiled. “That’s a possibility. I’ll think on it tomorrow.” He reached out, pulling her close. “For now, I want to think about nice things. A pretty woman. A sexy woman. A woman like you.”

“John Hildebrandt, are you trying to put the moves on me?” She laughed softly.

“I was thinking about it.” He tilted her chin so he could kiss her. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, but he felt he owed her at least a kiss for what she had done.

“Is that it?” she asked breathlessly when they broke apart.

Regaining control, he said, “For now, my dear girl. I want to take our budding…romance?” He looked at her, getting a tiny nod in reply. “I want to take it slowly. I want every second to be perfect. Do you…? Can you understand that?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “We should…You should go, before we both change our minds.”

“I should.” He stood, pulling her up into his arms, kissing her softly. “Until tomorrow, then.”

“Yes. Tomorrow.” She picked up the case, handing it to him. “Give this to the right people. Please.”

“I shall,” he replied. She walked with him to the door, they kissed one more time, and then he left.

* * * *

Caiden turned the information over to Zander. Zander in turn, gave it to people who would shut down Mrs. Waugh and her organizations. Afterward, Zander paid a visit to the real John Hildebrandt at the politician’s ranch. Caiden didn’t know what exactly had been said, but in the end, Hildebrandt was willing to take credit for giving the information to the proper authorities. Somehow, Zander was able to convince him that an agent trained in impersonation was able to convince Elizabeth, and Mrs. Waugh, that he was Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt apparently accepted Zander’s story, and returned to the city two days after Caiden had given Zander the case, acting as if he had been there all along.

Zander’s comment to that was, “The boy definitely has the makings of a politician. He can lie with a straight face and everyone believes him.”

Caiden laughed, hoping that didn’t mean that Hildebrandt would stray off the straight and narrow as a result. He had the feeling, when he heard a few weeks later that Hildebrandt and Elizabeth were engaged, that she would make certain that didn’t happen. She was, Caiden knew, a strong woman with a strict moral code. Hildebrandt was lucky to have her in his life, as far as Caiden was concerned.

Perhaps, someday, I’ll find someone like that for me. A man who will understand me, and accept me for who, and what, I am.

He seriously doubted that, after all these years. But a guy can hope.