Page 120 of Second Chance for Mr. Alden

I glanced at the time. It was close to 1:00 p.m. and we had a little time until the bank closed today at 5:00 p.m.

Jess used my phone. We weren’t taking any chances her parents had access to her calls or text messages and dialed a number.

“Hey, Alistair. Yeah, so I need a big favor from Lynnie.”

“Mm hm. Do you mind if I put you on speaker. I have Alden with me. Yes, Alistair that one. No, no you will be nice to him.”

Based on this side of the conversation, I gathered Alistair was an important person to Jess and he knew our history.

Jess shot me a nervous glance and whispered,sorry, just as she tapped the button to turn on the speaker.

“Hello, Sir. It’s nice to meet you.”

“That is currently debatable,” he said, his voice filled with disdain.

“Alistair,” Jess yelped. “Be nice to him.”

“Alistair, love, are you giving Jess’s young man a hard time?” A sweet, gentle voice joined the conversation.

“I was just...” Alistair grumbled.

“Just saying hi, I’m sure. Jess, dear when are you planning on stopping by and introducing us?”

“Soon Lynnie. I need you to do a favor for us, but it’s okay to say no. There’s an old safety deposit box that’s still in your name that we need to get into.”

Lynette laughed. “Of course. I know which one you’re talking about. I can stop by this week and go with you to open it. Is there anything specific you’re looking for?”

Jess glanced at me, worry in her eyes. “It needs to be today.”

“Okay,” Lynette responded, quietly.

“We think my parents are hiding something. We’ve been searching through their online records and so far, haven’t found anything. This is a total long-shot, but I’d like to look inside the box, see if there are any clues there that might help us.”

“Of course I’ll help.”

“Lynnie, if you do, I’m not sure they won’t retaliate. We think they might have something to do with that guy who died in the Ellerton factory twenty years ago. And I think they...” Jess swallowed, her gaze staring unfocused out the front windshield.

She may hate her parents, but to have to verbalize that they’d been the ones to try to kidnap her was too much for her right now.

“We think they tried to kidnap Jess and they didn’t tell her about the extra shares her grandmother left for her in her will.”

“What the hell?” Alistair sounded pissed. “Those low-life... Jess, are you okay?”

“I am. Alden is helping with that.”

Alistair sighed. “We can be at the bank in...” he paused.

“It should only take us a half hour to get there,” Lynnette responded.

We hung up.

Jess leaned back against her seat as I started the car.

I brought her hand to my lips and placed a light kiss on her knuckles. “Should I be worried?

She smiled at me, a slightly confused expression. “About what?”

“Alistair?”

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