Tightrope

by Amanda Quick

  “He was in town before that,” Matthias said. “I talked to Hyde. He confirmed that Calloway had asked for a few days off to take care of some personal business. The time off corresponds with the night the robot shot Pickwell and the night Fenwick broke into your inn.”

  “How did Calloway persuade Vincent Hyde to drive to Burning Cove so quickly?” Amalie asked. “He and Calloway arrived the day after the break-in.”

  “Calloway didn’t have to do any persuading. He simply placed a call to Lorraine Pierce in his role as her number one client and gave her instructions. She was already in Burning Cove because she had come here to murder Pickwell and collect the Ares machine. The morning after the break-in, Hyde received a call from Pierce telling him that she saw a golden opportunity to get some terrific publicity in Burning Cove but he had to move fast. She told him that to get his name in the papers he had to book a room at the Hidden Beach Inn.”

  “What about Ray Thorpe, the studio security guard who Lorraine shot?”

  “He was just a useful tool Calloway intended to get rid of when he was no longer needed. Thorpe is the one who stole both the robot costume and the empty aluminum version from the studio. Pickwell filled the shell with a lot of serious-looking wiring and mechanical equipment so that the reporters would have a realistic looking robot to examine and photograph before and after the performance. Pickwell assumed that his assistant would wear the costume onstage. Instead, Hubbard let Lorraine Pierce into the back of the theater and helped her into the costume. She went out onstage, shot Pickwell, and then disappeared behind the curtain. Hubbard probably helped her get out of the costume and then she slipped out a side door. Hubbard took off with the suitcase containing the Ares machine.”

  “Why didn’t Lorraine take the suitcase at that point?”

  “The machine is heavy. It would have slowed her down and there was a real risk that she would have been seen carrying it out of the theater or trying to stuff the suitcase into the trunk of her car.”

  “She’s a famous gossip columnist,” Amalie said. “People would have noticed her.”

  “People did notice her. Detective Brandon said that a couple of witnesses mentioned that they had seen her get into a car parked on a side street that night but they thought nothing of it at the time. No one else did, either.”

  “Just one more famous face on the streets of Burning Cove.”

  “And don’t forget, Pierce knew that others, possibly even government agents, were after the Ares machine. She did not want to be caught with it in the vicinity of a murder scene. All in all, it made sense to let Hubbard take the risk of getting the machine out of the theater. No one would have paid any attention to him.”

  “So, that’s it, then? It’s over?”

  Matthias’s fingers closed around her hand. “Some things are finished. The rogue spy code-named Smith is no longer a problem. The case of the killer robot has been solved. The bastard who followed you here to Burning Cove has been arrested for attempted murder and is talking as fast as he can about the Death Catcher killings in hopes of avoiding the new gas chamber at San Quentin. But there are other things that have come up in the past few days. Things I would like to talk about.”

  “Such as?”

  His fingers tightened around hers. “Our future.”

  She allowed herself to breathe again. “Is there a rush to do that?”

  He turned her so that she was facing him. Everything about him was intense, focused, determined. His eyes heated. Energy whispered in the atmosphere around him.

  “As far as I’m concerned there is a rush,” he said. “But it all depends on how you feel about a future that involves marrying an engineer who may have mob connections.”

  She caught her breath. “We’re talking marriage?”

  “I’m talking marriage. I hope you’re willing to discuss it, too, because I love you, Amalie.”

  “I feel I should point out that we’ve only known each other a very short time.”

  “If you need time, you can have as much as you want. I’m not going anywhere. Burning Cove is my home now.”

  “What about your career as a freelance consultant?”

  Matthias smiled. “There is one other bit of news that I haven’t told you. I’ve decided to take your advice and set up in business. I’m planning to do that here in Burning Cove. How does M. S. Jones Communications, Incorporated, sound to you?”

  “It sounds terrific. I assume the M stands for your first name. What about the S?”

  Matthias winced. “Sylvester. Unfortunately.”

  Amalie smiled. “An old family name?”

  “Very old. I had an ancestor in the sixteen hundreds named Sylvester Jones. The name has been handed down through the Jones family. I was the one who got stuck with it in this generation.”

  “Was your ancestor an engineer, too?”

  Matthias looked deeply pained. “Alchemist.”

  “Not such a very different line when you think about it. The old alchemists were always trying to turn base metals into gold, right? That strikes me as a kind of engineering.”

  “According to Jones family lore, Sylvester was the walking definition of a mad scientist. Obsessive. Paranoid. Reclusive. Some say he conducted experiments on himself that probably affected the bloodline. I’d rather ignore that side of my family tree, if you don’t mind.”

  Amalie smiled. “You don’t have to worry about the obsessive, paranoid, and reclusive stuff. We’ve already established that you are in full control of your gift.”

  “I’m not in full control of my heart. I’ve lost it, Amalie. You’re in charge of it now.”

  “That’s good to know, because you hold mine in the palm of your hand. Yes, I will marry you. There’s just one problem that I can foresee.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I have a feeling any clan that is handing a name like Sylvester down through the generations probably does big, elaborate family weddings.”

  Matthias looked wary. “Tradition. Why is that a problem?”

  “It’s a problem because my family consists of exactly two people, Hazel and Willa. My side of the aisle is going to look very sparsely populated.”

  “Forget the big family wedding. We’ll go down to the courthouse here in town with a few witnesses. Hazel and Willa and Luther and Raina. How does that sound?”

  Amalie smiled. “A small, quiet ceremony. I like the sound of that.”

  “So do I.”

  Matthias pulled her gently into his arms, careful not to hurt her injured side. He started to kiss her. She stopped him with a fingertip on his mouth.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Your family . . . ?”

  “What about them?”

  “Don’t you think you should introduce me to them before we get married?”

  “Trust me, there will be plenty of opportunity to meet the Joneses.”

  “Do you think they’ll like me?”

  “Honey, they are going to adore you.”

  “What makes you so sure of that?”

  “Because of you I’m going to take up a respectable engineering career. You are single-handedly saving me from a life of crime.”

  She started to laugh, but she did not laugh for very long, because he silenced her with a kiss.

  Chapter 60

  The phone rang the following evening just as Matthias was preparing to sit down to dinner with Amalie, Hazel, and Willa.

  “Probably another reservation,” Willa announced.

  She jumped up from the table and disappeared into the lobby, only to return a moment later. She looked at Matthias.

  “It’s Luther Pell,” she announced. “He wants to talk to you. Says it’s urgent.”

  “With Pell, it’s always urgent,” Matthias said.

  He got to his feet, went out into the lo
bby, and picked up the phone.

  “Considering the fact that you’re calling during the dinner hour, I’m assuming that whatever is in that notebook, it isn’t poetry written by a depressed rogue agent.”

  “No,” Luther said. “The verses are definitely some sort of code. My expert hasn’t been able to decipher the encryption. He’s still working on it. But whatever the case, I don’t think those poems were written by Smith. It’s a good bet that he stole the notebook.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because the Broker just called. He says he’s got a client who is extremely eager to recover a notebook full of poems that went missing a few months ago.”

  “What makes the client think the notebook might be here in Burning Cove?”

  “I don’t know. But something tells me Calloway’s death may have opened a door into a very dark chamber.”

  “That sounds like a line out of a horror movie.”

  “Calloway did promise me a sequel.”

  Chapter 61

  The wedding ceremony conducted a few days later was a small, quiet affair at the Burning Cove courthouse. The surprise reception held at the Paradise Club that evening, however, was neither small nor quiet.

  Matthias, with Amalie on his arm, took one step through the front door of the club, saw the big grin on the face of the normally somber maître d’, and knew that the plans he and Amalie had made for the night had gone up in smoke.

  “Sorry about this,” he said.

  “What in the world?” Amalie whispered.

  “Looks like we are the targets of a conspiracy.”

  “Define this conspiracy.”

  “Brace yourself. You’re about to meet my family sooner than we planned.”

  Before he could explain, the maître d’ stepped in to take charge.

  “Congratulations to both of you,” he said. “If you will follow me, please.”

  There was a drumroll from the orchestra. A spotlight found Matthias and Amalie at the top of the red carpet aisle.

  Amalie finally understood. “So much for the celebratory drink with Luther and Raina in the private booth.”

  “Don’t blame Luther. My mother must have telephoned him and given him his marching orders. I wouldn’t be surprised if my sister got involved as well.”

  “Wow. Your mother and your sister had no hesitation about giving orders to a nightclub owner who has mob connections?”

  “Nope. You’ll see why when you meet them.”

  Amalie smiled. “They sound like interesting women.”

  The drumroll ceased abruptly. Luther, dressed in a tux, walked up to the microphone. He had a glass of champagne in his hand.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “we are here to celebrate the wedding of Matthias Jones and Amalie Vaughn. Please join me in a toast to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jones. I am happy to tell you that they have decided to make Burning Cove their home.”

  Champagne glasses sparkled in the light of the glitter ball. When the toast was finished, a thunderous round of applause swept across the room. The orchestra launched into a romantic waltz. Matthias and Amalie followed the maître d’ down the aisle. The spotlight illuminated them every step of the way.

  When they reached the dance floor, Matthias took Amalie into his arms.

  “I thought you told me that you came from a long line of psychics,” Amalie said.

  “According to Jones family lore,” Matthias said. “Why?”

  “It strikes me that a real psychic would have foreseen a major surprise like this.”

  Matthias smiled. “Maybe I was distracted.”

  “By a killer robot and a rogue spy?”

  “No, by finding out that the woman I fell in love with the first time I saw her isn’t afraid of my talent.”

  “I used to fly for a living. Without a net. It takes a lot to scare me.”

  “I know. You’re going to fit right in to the Jones family.”

  About the Author

  Amanda Quick is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author, under various pen names, of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. There are more than 35 million copies of her books in print. She is also the author of the Ladies of Lantern Street novels and the Arcane Society series.

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