For weeks he’d been asking her to accompany him on a business trip to Hawaii. He was interested in purchasing several condominiums on the island of Maui and wanted Beth’s advice on the contracts. He was leaving that night. She had been saying that she didn’t have the time, but now she changed her mind. There was nothing really pressing that couldn’t wait for a few days, and so she told him that she would go with him. Beth reminded him that it would be business only, and Jason laughed, saying he’d accepted that long ago. Beth hung up the phone thinking that she needed to get away. She needed to get away from Bram. The timing of this venture was ideal. Mindy had called to say that Joshua was improving slowly but steadily, and was expected to live and make a good recovery. She’d called the house and spoken to Mrs. Harkness. Beth didn’t ask about Bram, from whom she’d heard nothing since she left him in his library the previous night. She couldn’t bear to think of that final scene with him and so concentrated on other things.
