“Well, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” asked Marie.
“What do you want to know that you haven’t already read in the papers?”
With a sly look towards Evie, Leigh said, “Well, we really don’t know much about you. Just the things that have to do with that nasty Jeremy, and of course, Lexi. But what about you, where did you grow up, what are your plans, you know, things about you.”
Anthony sighed. He really didn’t want to talk about his life with these women. Looking at their hopeful faces, he knew they just wanted to try and figure things out and why he was here. He looked at Evie and thought she just might be right; it would be easier to just tell them what they wanted to know and get it over with
Starting with the easy things, he went back to the past. “I was born in Washington D.C., but my parents spent a lot of time between the States and London. My family has been in the import/export business for generations. When my father took over he wanted to expand, hence spending time here.”
“So then you traveled a lot when you were younger?” asked Leigh. “I always loved to travel.”
“Yes, we were a family, just the three of us, and they wanted to make sure that we stayed together as much as possible. When I got older, I wanted to spread my wings so I spent some time in the Seattle area on my own.” He became quiet and reflective.
Softly Evie asked, “Is that where you met Tiffani?”
He looked deep into her eyes. “Yes. It wasn’t love. I was just enjoying myself, as she was also. We both knew what the score was. What we didn’t know was how seriously messed up her ex was.”
“Have you been able to find out anything about him?”
“Some. After Tiffani was killed I went back to London to stay with my parents for a while. I needed something stable. Sadly, I had some losses soon after that.”
He paused and looked down where Evie had reached over and grabbed his hand. His heart contracted at the simple, compassionate gesture on her part. Pushing away the thoughts as to why it meant so much to him he continued. “So I traveled more. Never staying in one place too long. I was lucky and Neil, the man who was running the family company was competent, so I left everything up to him.”
“Does he still run it?” asked Evelyne.
“As of right now he does. After traveling, I decided it was time I step up and take over the company. He retired and I had a good run, until the trial.” He paused, not sure how much to say. “Well, he came back and has been running things until I get this all cleared up.”
Leigh clapped her hands together. “All right, this is what I have been waiting for. What is your plan? What can we do to help? When do we start?”
Anthony glanced over at Evie who was trying not to laugh. “My plan is to meet with Lexi.” Hearing Evie’s gasp he quickly continued, “Of course, I would want to talk to Noah first, let him know what I want to do and help prepare Lexi for seeing me.”
“Excuse me? Talk to Noah first? Why? Because she’s a weak little woman and wouldn’t be able to make a decision on her own?”
“No, you can get down off of your chair and stop pumping your fist at the injustice towards women. I want to talk to Noah first because I feel that it would be better coming from him than me just showing up at their door one day.”
Watching as she crossed her arms across her chest, he appreciated how her breasts pushed up and stretched her shirt tight against them.
“The reason I want to talk to Lexi is to see if there is anything else that I might be able to say to her that might trigger something that she forgot from her two meetings with Jeremy. She is the only link that I have to him. I have to find him. He has to be stopped.”
“Well, you’re certainly right there. Now what can we do to help? You know we want that bastard caught just as much as you.” Evelyne had a truly scary look on her face and Anthony was happy he wasn’t on receiving end of it.
“You ladies aren’t part of the plan. I can do this all on my own.” Looking at their faces he thought it would be best if he added, “But thank you. If I need anything, you’ll be the first people I call.”
“You’d better call. Just because we’re old doesn’t mean we can’t kick some ass.” Leigh got up and proceeded to showcase her high kicks. Unfortunately, she was looking at Anthony more than where she was kicking and ended up kicking the bakers rack. “Oops. Well, in a fight I’d be more focused.”
“You know Anthony, we’ve all taken self-defense classes. After what happened to Lexi we felt it was something we needed to know. We don’t get as much practice as we’d like, but Evie here, well, she’s really good. In fact, she goes every week and is so good, she helps teach other women.” Marie said.