Chapter 28

The night was still. A dark, moonless sky ignored the large brick house. A light breeze blew through the bare branches of the maple trees that guarded the large front yard, rattling their bony fingers together. A shadow amongst shadows flitted through up along the tall, ivy clothed wall that bordered the estate and perched upon it as silent and still as a gargoyle. The figure leapt from the ivy and alighted upon one of the trees that bordered the manor. The shadow dropped to the soft manicured lawn and slipped from tree to tree without so much as a whisper. In the pressing darkness two low shapes sprang across the field, their swift gaits betraying their presence as they closed in on the intruder. A dull flash of steel flickered in the muted night and the guard dogs fell to the floor and slid across the smooth grass. The shadow knelt beside them and inspected the precision of the strikes. He pulled out a piece of cloth and wiped down his weapon then moved on, as silent as the shadow he emulated.

Scaling the Talworth Manor wall was easy enough with its unfinished brick façade and the shadows soft rubber soled boots. His hands moved quickly, surely, and saw him to the ledge of English windows on the second floor. A small pouch was produced from the strap on his thigh and revealed a row of intricate tools when unrolled. He selected one of the instruments and slowly cut through the pane of glass near the catch of the frame. Another device was produced from a different pocket and was placed on the windows locking mechanism, disabling the alarm trigger connected to the catch. He opened the window and melted into the room.

A flashlight strapped to the figures head was flipped on and a small beam pricked the darkness. The thin shaft swept back and forth across the office, revealing the large mahogany desk hunching over the plush blue rug. The figure worked his way through the drawers one by one but moved on without interest. He fired up the computer resting on the polished wood and examined the room as he waited for the console to boot up. Nothing of interest caught his attention and he returned to the keyboard and mouse. The night-clad figure worked quickly, his gloved fingers clacking the keys as he worked diligently. Information was pulled from the hard drive and copied over onto a disk the hooded and masked figure produced from one of the many pockets that covered his black bodysuit. He waited patiently for the information to transfer over then erased all traces of his passing.

The man slipped back into the night and disappeared with the wind.

"To love and marriage," Sean toasted. Elizabeth, Vanessa, and Eric raised their own glasses and clinked them appropriately. The four friends had decided to get together once every week to plan their double wedding. Elizabeth and Vanessa had taken to the assignment with fervor with some input from their fiancés. Most of the time, though, Sean and Eric simply shot the breeze and chatted about their jobs. At the moment Eric was talking about an upcoming Renaissance Fair and had invited Sean and Elizabeth to come along with he and Vanessa.

"They even plan on having a simulated battle with swords and armor. It will be quite the event," Eric pitched.

"Sounds like fun," Sean answered. "I'll talk to 'Liz about it but I'm sure that she would be interested."

"What's this?"

Sean and Eric turned their heads at Vanessa's question. The redhead was staring at a CD that she turned in her slender fingers.

"Something Sean and I ran across that could help those lawyers on Charles' case," Elizabeth replied. She calmly took a sip of her wine. Vanessa gave her a questioning look but thought better of it. Eric did likewise with Sean then shrugged. He knew as well as Sean did what the game they were playing was like. Vanessa on the other hand was usually a straight shooter but just this once, for the sake of her friend, would she not pursue the topic any further.

"I'll see what the lawyers can do with it after I take a look," she tactfully replied. Elizabeth nodded and they let the matter rest.

The rest of the lunch passed quickly with good table conversations and more planning for the wedding. It so turned out that Sean wasn't the only millionaire sitting at the table. Eric had an inheritance from an uncle that he hardly knew but who had been keeping tabs on him. The man died of cancer about five years back and admired Eric from afar. The money helped launch his writing career and now he was sitting comfortable with his own earnings as a writer as well as his inheritance that had accrued a decent amount of income from interest. Together, the skies were the limit for wedding arrangements. Vanessa and Elizabeth had a delightful gleam in their eyes as they plotted and planned while the men grew paler and paler at how much it was going to cost them. Granted, they were rich. But even so, they did have some notion of frugality. However, the women cajoled and pleaded until the men gave in to pretty much whatever the women wanted. It would be quite the event.

They finished their lunch then headed out to several stores and phoned several other recommendations. Hammering out all of the details, from flower arrangements to limo rental, took the remainder of the day until finally all four of them decided that they had done enough for one day and called it a night. The real trick was finding a date that would work with all of the arrangements. Finally, they settled on the fifteenth of July in a nice church with the dinner party in the dining hall at the Marriott.

Sean closed the door behind himself and Elizabeth then slid the deadbolt home as they entered his apartment. "So how do you think it went?" Elizabeth asked as she kicked off her shoes and put them on the rack.

"About the disk?"

"Yes," she answered. "Vanessa seemed to take it well. Although I'm not sure what the lawyers can do about it. I never managed Charles' accounts but I knew something wasn't right about the numbers."

"Well, Eric took it all in stride. He and I think alike so he probably can guess how we got it."

Sean felt Elizabeth's warm hand on his shoulder. "Do you think we're doing the right thing? I mean, is going to work?"

Sean turned around and reassured her as he pulled her close to him in a comforting embrace. "Yes, we are doing the right thing. There's no other way that I can think of to get him out of our hair. If we bloody his nose a bit maybe he'll leave us alone for good."

"Or possibly enrage him. Believe me, I should know. During the last couple of years that I was with him he seemed, I don't know, irrational."

"Irrational or not, this is the best way to handle things."

"I hope you're right."

"I do too," Sean replied and kissed her on the forehead. "So, when are we scheduled for our next viewing of available real estate?" Sean asked, changing the subject. They had begun home shopping not too long ago but they were as of yet to find something that they wished to call home. Price wasn't too big of a problem, between Sean's inheritance and Elizabeth's divorce settlement, so they wanted the right house, the perfect home. There were a couple of candidates that perked their interest but nothing that seemed to fit the bill.

"Tonight," Elizabeth finally answered.

"Tonight?"

"Yes, the agent said that a house was just going on the market tonight and that we'd be the first ones to view it. She said it would be perfect for what we want. Five bedrooms, two and three quarters bath, and a decent sized yard amongst other amenities."

"Hmm, sounds interesting," Sean thought aloud as he headed for the bookshelf. "Alright, let's check it out."