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  51

  “THAT’S KEATON DOWN THERE, OFF the starboard wing, Mr. Farrell,” the pilot said as the sleek Learjet slid gracefully out of the cloud cover and began its final approach. “I’m going to make a pass over the airstrip before I set her down, just to make sure it’s in as good a shape as it’s supposed to be.”

  Matt reached up and pressed the intercom button. “Fine, Steve,” he said absently, studying his wife’s worried features. “What’s wrong?” he asked Meredith quietly. “I thought I reassured you completely that there’s nothing illegal about delivering a letter that was addressed to Julie Mathison in care of me. The authorities are well aware that I have Zack’s power of attorney to handle his financial affairs. I’ve already turned over the envelope his instructions came in so they can try to trace it. Not that it will help them,” he added with a chuckle. “It’s postmarked from Dallas, where he’s obviously paying someone to receive mail intended for me, remove it from its original envelope, and then forward it on to me.”

  Knowing how strongly he felt about what he was doing, Meredith made a better effort to hide her worry and asked, “Why is he doing that if he trusts you so implicitly?”

  “He’s doing it so I can freely hand over to the authorities whatever envelopes I receive from him, without giving away his whereabouts. He’s protecting both of us. So you see, I’ve adhered to the strictest letter of the law so far.”

  Meredith leaned her head back against the curved white leather sofa that dominated the plane’s cabin and said with a laughing sigh, “No, you haven’t. You did not tell the FBI that he enclosed a letter to Julie Mathison along with his letter to you, and you didn’t tell them you’re delivering it.”

  “The letter to her is in a blank, sealed envelope,” he countered lightly. “I have no way of knowing if Zack wrote what’s in it. For all I know it contains recipes. I hope,” he said with mock horror, “you aren’t suggesting that I should open the letter to find out what’s in it. It happens to be a federal offense to do things like that. Furthermore, my love, there is no law that specifically requires me to tip off the authorities every time Zack contacts me.”

  Alarmed and unwillingly amused by his bold nonchalance, Meredith tipped her chin down and looked at the handsome man she’d fallen in love with and lost when she was an innocent eighteen-year-old debutante and he was a twenty-five-year-old steel worker. In one short decade, he’d left the mills behind him and built his own financial empire on a foundation of daring, brilliance, and guts. And then he’d reclaimed her. Despite his veneer of smooth sophistication, tailor-made clothes, yachts, and private planes, however, Matt was, and would always be, a street fighter at heart. And she loved him for it. She loved that reckless, forceful streak in him, even though she knew it was the reason he was now ignoring the possible legal consequences of his actions. He believed in Zachary Benedict’s innocence, and that was the only justification he needed for what he chose to do. Period. Even though she knew it was futile and probably unnecessary, she’d insisted on coming along this afternoon, just to make certain he didn’t stick his neck out too far.

  “Why are you smiling like that?” he asked her.

  “Because I love you,” she admitted wryly. “Now, why are you smiling?”

  “Because you love me,” he whispered tenderly, putting his arm around her and nuzzling her neck. “And,” he admitted, “because of this.” From his breast pocket, he took out the letter Zack had written him.

  “You said that’s just a list of instructions about Julie Mathison. What’s funny about a list of instructions?”

  “That’s what’s funny—a list of instructions. When Zack went to prison he had a fortune in investments spread out all over the world. Do you know how many instructions he gave me when he gave me power of attorney to handle them all?”

  “No. How many?”

  “One instruction,” he said with a grin, holding up his forefinger. “He said, ‘Try not to bankrupt me.’ ”

  Meredith laughed, and Matt glanced out the window as the plane swooped down, racing for the runway, the setting sun glinting off its wings. “Joe’s here with the car,” he said, referring to their chauffeur, who’d flown into Dallas on a commercial flight that morning, rented a nondescript car, and driven it here to meet them. Matt wanted to arrive and depart without anyone knowing they’d been here, which meant they couldn’t call a taxi from the airfield, even if there was a taxi service in Keaton.

  * * *

  “Any problems, Joe?” he asked as they slid into the back seat of the car.

  “Nope,” he replied cheerfully as he slammed down on the accelerator and sent the car barreling down the runway in his habitual race-car driver fashion. “I got here an hour ago and located Julie Mathison’s house. There were a bunch of kids’ bicycles in the front yard.”

  Meredith clutched Matt’s arm for balance and rolled her eyes in amused resignation at Joe’s daredevil driving. To distract herself from the gravel flying from beneath the car’s spinning tires as they shot out onto the highway, she picked up their earlier conversation in the plane: “What sort of instructions did Zack give you about Julie Mathison?”

  Removing the folded missive from his coat pocket, Matt glanced at the first few lines and said dryly, “Among other things, I am to take careful notice of how she looks and ascertain whether she seems to have lost weight or lost sleep.”

  Zack Benedict’s unusual concern for his former hostage registered instantly on Meredith and softened her attitude toward him. “How can you know that by looking at her? You don’t know how she looked before she spent a week with him.”

  “I can only assume the stress that Zack has been under has finally worn him down.” Forcing himself not to show how badly he felt about that, Matt continued lightly. “You’re going to love the next item on this list. I am also supposed to discover whether or not she is pregnant.”

  “By looking at her?” Meredith exclaimed as Joe slowed and turned onto a tree-lined residential street.

  “No, I think I’m supposed to ask her, which is why I’m so delighted you volunteered to come with me. If she denies she’s pregnant, I am to let Zack know whether or not I believe her.”

  “Unless she’s used some sort of early pregnancy test, she may not know that herself. It’s only been three weeks since she left him in Colorado.” Meredith pulled on her gloves as Joe O’Hara brought the car to a teeth-jarring stop in front of a neat one-story ranch-style house where little boys were getting on their bicycles and pedaling away. “To be this concerned, he must feel very deeply about her, Matt.”

  “What he feels is guilt,” Matt predicted flatly, getting out of the car, “and responsibility. Zack always took his responsibilities very seriously.” As they started up the sidewalk, two little boys in wheelchairs came shooting out the side door and down a ramp onto the driveway, howling with laughter, with a pretty young woman in hot pursuit. “Johnny!” die called, laughing too as she raced after the child, “give that back!” The boy called Johnny executed a nifty wheelie on the driveway, waving a spiral-bound notebook in the air, keeping it just out of her reach, while his companion neatly used his own wheelchair to run interference for him. Matt and Meredith stopped, watching the exuberant interplay as a laughing Julie Mathison tried unsuccessfully to outmaneuver the boys’ joint defense.

  “All right,” Julie called, plunking her fists on her hips, unaware of her adult visitors, “you win, you monsters! No quiz tomorrow. Now give back my grade book.” With a triumphant shout, Johnny handed over the book. “Thank you,” Julie said, taking it and affectionately yanking his knit cap down over his ears and eyes while he laughed and shoved it up. She bent down in front of the other grinning boy and zipped his jacket up under his chin, then she rumpled his red hair. “You’re getting awfully good with those blocking maneuvers, Tim. Don’t forget them in the game next Saturday, okay?”

  “Okay, Miss Mathison.”

  Julie turned to watch them wheel off down the driv