"Jennifer?"
"Darling, I have no idea how those got here." She was visibly upset at the pictures in the file. They were pictures of her, writing at her desk, shopping, and walking Freeway. There were also more suggestive pictures. "That one was taken on my last writing assignment, when I was in Belfast," she said pointing to a picture of her in a purple nightgown, "and that one was taken during-"
"Our last trip to the Big Apple." Jonathan said, interrupting her. He was angered that someone had gone to such lengths to pursue his wife.
"Oh, Jonathan look at this one!" The color drained from Jennifer's face as she held up a picture of her and Freeway asleep on the couch in the living room. The picture was taken at close range from inside the room, not through a window like the other inside pictures. Jennifer looked like she was going to be sick.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart, we'll find who ever took these." He put his arm around her and she felt a lot safer, but she was still shaken at the fact someone had been in her house, watching her every move.
"Thank you, Jonathan." The two searched the office again, incase they had overlooked anything. "Hey, Darling, what do you say we give the rest of the house a look over?"
"That's not a bad idea, but we should be careful incase our visitor comes back."
"Right. I think we should start upstairs." The couple made their way up the big stairwell. Jennifer took the room on the right and Jonathan, the left. Jennifer's room was an elaborately decorated bedroom, overdone for her taste. The room was well lived in, she could see the dress that Allison had worn at her party the other night lying across a chair and her shoes on the floor. The bed was unmade.
"Jennifer," Jonathan said entering the room, "I think I found their bedroom. James' stuff is all over in there. They are not very neat people."
"Jonathan, I think this is Allison's room."
"Separate bedrooms?"
"I think Allison and James are not the happy couple they seem to be."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Allison seems like the perfect wife. She also, if you don't look too hard, seems genuinely concerned about her missing husband. James seems like the devoted husband. On the outside, they look like the perfect couple." Jennifer declared.
"Nah, that's us."
"Thank you, Darling." She said then gave him a kiss. "Most young, happily married couples don't have separate bedrooms. And, when you think about, why wouldn't Allison want to do everything, including calling the police, to find her husband? All she seems to be doing is sitting around our house, and making passes at my husband!"
"What does Allison gain by having her husband kidnapped, and, how do you figure in to all of this?"
"I'm not sure, let's look around in here more." Jonathan started going through dresser drawers while Jennifer went through the closet. A half an hour later they had come up with nothing. They sat together on the bed ready to admit defeat. "There has to be something we've over looked!" Suddenly Jennifer got up and moved the mattress off the bed. Jonathan helped her flip it to the other side. After examining it she noticed a spot where it stuck out. She took a nail file out of her purse and undid the badly done stitches that held the material together. "Fantastic!" she exclaimed.
"What is it?"
"A little black book," Jennifer said holding up her prize.
"Who's, Allison's?"
"I don't know, I'd have to see a handwriting sample to compare."
"What's in there?"
"Well, phone numbers, addresses." She studied the book a little more. "Wow, Mark Wilson, he's a bookie, and Terry Jaimson, he's got mob connections."
"How do you know all these people?"
"I've used them as informants in my writing. I don't know all of them. Like this one, Evan Caine."
"I know him," Jonathan said.
"Oh, you do?"
"Yes, he's president of corporation called L-9 Technologies. He's not one of my best admirers."
"Some people have no taste."
"Well, I've always had leg up on him in the business world. He doesn't like to play fair and often cheats people. I've caught him several times. Because of it people don't trust him. He also used to be a partner of James Sullivan. They didn't part on good terms. "
"How long ago was that?"
"Oh, I'd say five to seven years."
"This doesn't seem that old, in fact this is the new number for Terry, he's only had it about six months, and it's written in the same ink as Mr. Caine. Why would he be in here, and why go to all the trouble to hide this?"
"I don't know, Darling."
"Ah, the plot thickens!"
"Evan, damn it, I need answers!" Evan Caine had gotten nothing from having Allison's husband questioned. "Listen, If you want to destroy Jonathan, and I want to eradicate Jennifer, we need to get proof, and fast! I can't live with the Harts forever."
"Don't forget James, we want him out of the picture too, but Allison he insists he's not having an affair with Jennifer Hart."
"You didn't question him yourself, did you?" She was worried.
"No, of course not. I'm not stupid. Listen, we will get what we want, Jonathan Hart will not make a fool out of me again."
"Good. I think I'll go out tonight. I'm sick of sitting around here. If you need me you know where to reach me."
"Fine."
"Darling, I am extremely exhausted," Jennifer said as they entered their dark kitchen.
"You've had a long day. Max and Allison must still be out."
"Oh, look, a note from Allison," She smiled mischievously. "Jonathan, I think we've found the owner of the black book."
"Let's lay out all the facts and maybe something will come to us," Jonathan said, later, sitting next to Jennifer in bed. She was tired, but as eager to get to the bottom of this as he was.
"First, James is kidnapped."
"Then Allison lies about the shape of his office."
"Then I turns out that James could have mob connections, although, it looks like that could apply to Allison as well. Then someone knocks Max out in our kitchen."
"Then you're kidnapped."
"And we find out that someone has been stalking me." She shivered at the thought and Jonathan pulled her close to him. She smiled. " Then we find that James and Allison have separate bed rooms, and the address book, which in it has some of our friends, a bookie, a mobster, and James' ex-partner."
"What did you do with the address book, Darling?"
"I put it in my closet. I'll find a safer place for it in the morning."
"Ok. So what have we got here?"
"I think Allison is the key player in all this, somehow."
"We still don't know how you fit in to all of this."
"I don't want to fit in to it. Why are we always involved in messes like this? It's like were a magnet for them."
"I think we're a magnet for odd friends."
"I think we've had this conversation before, and remember Darling, James was your friend first." She said, teasing him.
"Trust me, Sweetheart, you've had just as many as I have."
"Well, fine. You know, between our strange friends, our uncanny ability to get mixed up in crime, and the number of times we've been kidnapped, I think it would be safer to just drop off the face of the earth and become recluses."
"That could be fun."
"Jonathan, get your mind out of the gutter and back on the problem."
"Sorry. There has to be some thing we're missing, some thing we've over looked."
"This is so frustrating."
They sat there for quite awhile in silence. Jonathan racked his brain, trying to recall something that would find the person who took those pictures of Jennifer. He looked at her, she was fast asleep. He looked at the clock and found it to be only eight o'clock. He realized the long day she had, and pulled the covers up around her. He then went downstairs to wait for Max, talking things over with him always seemed to help. He hoped Allison wouldn't be home anytime soon.
Max got in at about 9:30. "Early night Max?"
"We were incompatible."
"Better luck next Max."
"How's Mrs. H?"
"She's fine, right now she's asleep." He then proceed to tell Max of the night's discoveries.
" I don't think it's good idea for Allison to stay here."
"I know, Max, but we've got to get rid of her without her knowing we suspect anything. I could almost have this figured out except I can't understand Jennifer's involvement. I'm really worried about her. "
"That is the puzzling part, Mr. H."
"Shh, I think I hear Allison coming in." Allison entered the room. She was glad she didn't see Jennifer, she really didn't want to deal with her tonight. She was still angry that her earlier attempt to get her out the way was foiled. Allison didn't dare try anything now that Jonathan had raised the security around her. She would just have to wait. She hoped James would just confess to his involvement with Jennifer Hart, then maybe it wouldn't be necessary to abduct her.
"Good evening everyone, where's Jennifer?"
"She asleep." Jonathan answered. He had to suppress the urge to demand answers from her.
"Well that sounds like a good idea. Goodnight!" Jonathan was relived when Allison left. "I think I should keep an eye on her."
"After today I think Mrs. H is the one who needs that eye."
"Max, I've always had an eye on her." Max saw him smile for the first in their conversation and could tell although he was still troubled; he felt a little better.
"Mr. H, the only advice I can give you is to sleep on it. Maybe after goodnight's rest it will come to you."
"It's worth a try Max. Thanks for listening. Oh and Max, I don't want Jennifer to know how troubled I am about her role in all of this. It just might worry her more."
"Sure Mr. H, no problem. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
"Jennifer."
"Mmm."
"Jennifer, wake up."
"Oh, Darling can't it wait till morning?"
"No, I think I've got an answer..."
