Father and daughter enjoyed their morning together, laughing and chatting in between sips of coffee and bites of their breakfast, but as noon approached, Joanna grew quiet. When he asked, she spoke honestly of being nervous about the future, and Robert almost voiced his opinion, but then he remembered this wasn’t about his future. It was about hers.

***

Looking around the car, Robert noticed two knobs tucked into an opening near his shoulder, and examining both, he turned one and watched as the glass divider between the front seat and the back slid downward.

Startled by the sound of the window opening, David Turner turned quickly in his seat. “Is there something you need, sir?”

“I’m sorry,” Robert said as the corners of his mouth turned downward. “I’ve forgotten your name.”

“It’s David, sir.”

“Oh, of course, David. That’s right,” Robert said, looking at the young man smiling back at him. “Tell me, David, what year Rolls is this?”

David’s teeth gleamed in his grin. “It’s a 1961 Phantom V, sir.”

“It’s quite impressive,” Robert said, running his hand over the gray leather upholstery.

“Yes, sir, that it is.”

Studying the rear partition covered in polished burled veneer, Robert counted no less than five integrated hatches. Thinking for a moment, he said, “David...I don’t suppose behind one of these little doors, I’d find some liquid refreshment, would I?”

Briefed by Evelyn Ward, before David Turner got behind the wheel of the Rolls that morning, he was fully aware who he was picking up and why. After stopping at Kane Holdings to get Francesca Neary, he drove to Burnt Oak and parked on a narrow street where a Rolls-Royce had never been seen. Accustomed to Addison Kane’s abruptness, meeting Joanna and Robert Sheppard had put a smile on David’s face that had yet to disappear. Even though it was his job to open and close doors, and assist his passengers in and out of the limousine, each time he had, the father and daughter had displayed the sincerest of smiles as they thanked him. They were polite. They were pleasant, and they didn’t treat David like he was invisible. He liked that.

Pointing over the partition, a twinkle appeared in David’s eyes. “I believe if you pull open that door in the middle, sir, you may find what you’re looking for.”

“Oh, do you mean this one?” Robert asked as he reached over and tugged at the polished chrome handle.

The compartment swung open to display a small storage area with a mirrored back, the courtesy light inside casting brightness over two crystal decanters nestled into openings made specifically to fit their size.

David had been watching Robert, so when he saw the glint in the old man’s eyes, he said, “The one on the right contains scotch, and the other has gin, sir.”