by Judith Gould
“She might have,” Ariadne said, “and I’ll never know unless I go see her for myself.”
“But how would you know?” Matt asked. “You don’t know her at all.”
“I realize that,” Ariadne responded, “but what if we made her some kind of offer?” Her fingers began to sketch her ideas as she spoke. “What if we put together a plan that would allow her to live in the outside world? Offered her a huge sum of money to keep quiet?”
Matt shook his head vigorously. “I don’t think it would ever work, Ariadne.”
“We’ll never know unless we try,” she replied.
“No.”
“I think I’ll talk to the advisers about it,” she said. “I’d like to see what they think.”
“If you say so.” Matt kissed her. “I myself certainly wouldn’t ask you not to, but I think you’re headed for a big disappointment.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, “but I’ll never know unless I try.”
Ariadne occupied the seat at the head of the boardroom table that Nikoletta had always sat in. On one side of the table sat Adrian and Honor, who now knew about the switch, and Sugar, and on the other were Angelo and Yves.
“I’m grateful to all of you for responding to my request for a special meeting of the advisers today,” she said, “and I wouldn’t have troubled you unless I thought it was an urgent matter.” She glanced at everyone present and smiled. “I know that some of you feel guilty about keeping my sister locked away in the clinic—”
“I am certainly not one of those individuals,” Angelo blurted out.
“I’m well aware of that, Angelo,” Ariadne said, holding up a hand to placate him, “and I’m well aware of your reasons for feeling that way. In any case, I personally feel a great responsibility for what has been done to her. In the months since she’s been there, the reports from the doctors have been nothing if not glowing—”
“Not in the beginning,” Sugar said defiantly. “They said she tried to seduce every male on staff and—”
Ariadne held up a hand again. “Please allow me to finish,” she said. “I’ll be glad to hear your comments after I’m done.”
“Sorry,” Sugar said, annoyed.
Ariadne continued. “Since the first couple of weeks of her confinement there, the reports have been very positive. She’s even quit claiming that she’s Nikoletta Papadaki, the doctors say, although she hasn’t said that she’s Ariadne. In any case, the doctors believe that she’s responded extremely well to their intensive therapy. I know some of you have your doubts about that, but in any case I’ve thought about this long and hard and am asking for your advice. What I would like to do to put my mind at ease once and for all is go to visit her.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sugar grab Adrian’s arm.
“I would like to take a statement with me for her to sign. The statement would be an ironclad agreement in which she would give up all claims to the PPHL empire and promise to live in quiet obscurity for a substantial cash settlement.”
The group began talking all at once, and Ariadne asked for their attention. “Please,” she said. “One at a time. Angelo?”
“Never!” Angelo Coveri cried, slamming a fist on the table.
“You would be making a terrible mistake,” Yves Carre said. “She would never live up to her end of the agreement.”
“Even if she signed such an agreement and took the money,” Sugar pointed out in an exasperated voice, “how do we know she’ll live in quiet obscurity? Niki’s never done anything quietly. She wouldn’t know how! Where’s she going to go? What’s she going to do? With the kind of money it would take to buy her off, she’d be so rich she could do anything she pleased.”
“You’re very well-intentioned,” Honor said softly, “but it would never work, Ariadne. Sugar’s right. Niki couldn’t live quietly. No matter where she went, she would create a stir. Besides, you are twins. A lot of people would immediately recognize her, and some of them might take her side if she decided to break the agreement and go public.”
“All of you have good arguments,” Adrian said at last. “But we all have the distinct advantage of having known Niki all her life.” He opened his arms in a shrug. “We can’t stop you if you decide to do this, Ariadne, but I have to agree with everyone else. I don’t think this is a wise plan. Even if she was forced to live in disguise in some place like Cape Town and the money was doled out in installments, guaranteeing us some kind of control over her, it would be extremely risky. As much as I hate to say it, Niki is a born troublemaker, and I don’t believe she’s changed. However,” he added, “I’ll back you up if you decide to go through with this. If you have to do something to assuage your conscience, and this is what it takes, then do it.”
Ariadne felt as if she would burst into tears when he had finished speaking, but she restrained herself. “Thank you,” she managed. “I appreciate your vote of confidence.”
“If you want me to, I’ll go with you,” Adrian offered.
“I really appreciate your offer,” Ariadne said, “but this is something that I want to do alone. Matt insists on going along because of security.”
“Thank God,” Adrian said. “You shouldn’t even think about taking a trip like this without security, but is he the only security you’re going to have?” He was obviously uncomfortable with the idea.
“Matt has it all planned,” she replied with a smile. “So I don’t think you need to be concerned at all. We’ll be taking a company jet with a couple of extra security men on board. Then we’ll helicopter to the clinic with them along.”
“That ought to do it,” Adrian said, “but I still think it’s awfully dangerous.”
“You know Matt. He wouldn’t even think of doing this if he didn’t think I was going to be safe.”
“Yes, of course. You’re right,” Adrian replied. “I just have . . . well, an uneasy feeling about it. I guess I’m a little superstitious.”
“I think you can put your superstitions to rest,” Ariadne said. “Whether Nikoletta is willing to sign or not, I think everything will work out fine. I just have to do this.”
Chapter Thirty-four
When Ariadne and Matt along with two security men pulled out of the underground garage at the PPHL headquarters in the early evening, none of them noticed the nondescript old van that eased out from the curb and followed them all the way to the airport in Teterboro, New Jersey. The van driver was careful to keep several vehicles between them at all times. He watched their jet take off a few minutes later, then found out what their flight plan and final destination were with ease: a revolver to the head of the lone man stationed at the PPHL hangar. Afterward, he knocked the man out with a single blow to the head, hauled him into the van, then left the van in a long-term parking lot at JFK Airport. He had just enough time to make a flight to Geneva, where Mother Earth’s Children had a cell. From there he could easily reach Château-d’Oex, perhaps even getting there before Nikoletta Papadaki and the three men with her.
Once in the air, he idly wondered why she was going to the tiny Swiss alpine town. Probably a spa, he decided. That area of Switzerland was infested with ski resorts and spas for the rich. Going to hole up with her boy toy for a few days, I bet. He grinned. Well, she has a surprise coming to her.
The chopper landed on the clearly delineated helipad at Clinique Château-d’Oex right on schedule, and Ariadne, Matt, and the two security men quickly debarked. Waiting for them outside the downdraft created by the chopper’s rotors were two lab-coated doctors, one male and one female.
“Mr. Foster,” the man said, proffering his hand for a shake. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. This is my associate, Dr. Weiner.”
“Dr. Bernheim. Dr. Weiner,” Matt said. “A pleasure. This is Nikoletta Papadaki, of course.”
“Yes,” Dr. Bernheim said.
“I would never be able to tell you from your sister,” Dr. Weiner chimed in.
“That’s what everyone says,” Aria
dne told her.
They walked the short distance to the clinic, chatting about the patient. The building resembled pictures Ariadne had seen of luxurious ski lodges, but she didn’t fail to notice the bars that enclosed the balconies that jutted out from each suite. Although it was almost planted out of sight, a high chain-link fence, topped by razor wire, surrounded the perimeter of the beautiful grounds. As they reached the door, Dr. Bernheim turned to her. “I think that you’ll be pleased with Ariadne’s behavior,” he said. “As we’ve indicated in our reports, she’s calmed down considerably, and hasn’t given us a single problem. She hasn’t even made a single claim to be you, since the first week or two of residency.”
Ariadne’s face grew pale. It was horrible for her to confront the reality that her sister’s true identity had been stripped away and she was herself the impersonator, not her sister. When she could finally reply, she said, “That’s wonderful news, Doctor. I can’t wait to see for myself.”
Inside the clinic, the doctors led them across the polished wood floors to the elevators, and Dr. Bernheim pushed the UP button. “Ariadne, as you know, is on the seventh floor,” he said as they waited for the car. “She’s expecting you, of course. I hope you’ll have a good visit.”
“Thank you,” Matt said. “I’m sure we will.” Holding Ariadne’s arm securely, he turned to the security men. “Jessie, stay down here at the entrance door, please, and Luke, you come upstairs with me.”
They nodded, but didn’t speak.
The elevator car arrived, and Ariadne, Matt, and Luke stepped on. The door whispered closed behind them. Matt took Ariadne’s hand in his as they began the ascent to Nikoletta’s suite.
The terrain here was rough, and he had to cover a lot of ground on foot, so his vehicle wouldn’t be within sight of the clinic. Kees didn’t mind. It was what he’d trained for all his life. He crawled forward through the rocks and scrub with his elbows and knees. At a large stone outcropping, he took out his binoculars. Easing up to the top of the stone, he peered through the binoculars toward the clinic.
Slowly moving them from left to right, he first saw some sort of outbuilding, then the main clinic building itself. Continuing to slowly pan the binoculars to his right, he spotted the helicopter. Goddamn it! They beat me here, he thought. At the entrance door to the clinic he spied a lone man dressed in a dark suit. One look told him all he needed to know. The man’s physique—thick neck, broad shoulders, chest barely contained by his suit—was a dead giveaway. A plainclothes security man. Kees was sure of it. He was one of the two he’d seen in the car with Nikoletta and her new main squeeze. And I would bet my binoculars that the other one is inside, or wherever she is.
He swept from left to right again, but saw nothing new, beyond the shadowy movement of people behind windows and the balcony doors. He idly wondered why Nikoletta Papadaki had come to this place. It wasn’t a spa, after all, he’d discovered from cell members in Geneva. It was a fancy loony bin for the superrich. Maybe she has a friend locked up here? he thought. But it didn’t make sense to him. It was out of character for Nikoletta Papadaki to pay a call of this type. She is the same self-centered, polluting bitch she always was, he thought.
Well, she was going to pay this time. She had to come back out of the clinic, and when she did, he would have her in his sights. He had the perfect perch behind the stone outcropping and could easily take her with a single shot without moving an inch. He quickly assembled his package from Geneva: an automatic rifle with a telescopic lens. He trained it on the bodyguard. The magnifying power was so good, the goon seemed to be twenty feet away.
Before they reached Nikoletta’s door, Matt instructed Luke to wait in the hallway, positioning him between the elevator and Nikoletta’s suite. “Keep one eye on the elevator,” he said, “and the other one on the door to the suite we’re about to enter.”
Luke nodded.
Matt wasn’t going to give the bodyguard the opportunity to see Nikoletta, if possible. Although Luke and Jessie were recent hires he’d made especially for this trip and had never met Nikoletta before, he didn’t want to have to explain anything more than necessary to them. He certainly didn’t want word getting out that they had gone to Switzerland to visit Nikoletta Papadaki’s twin.
Ariadne and Matt reached the suite, and he softly knocked on the door.
Nikoletta answered it immediately. On her lips was a tentative smile, and her expression was somewhat demure, as if she were shy, perhaps even embarrassed to be receiving guests here at the clinic. “Please, come in,” she said politely, opening the door wide and stepping back out of the way.
“H-hello,” Ariadne stuttered as she stepped into the suite. Seeing her mirror image on the threshold was a shock, no less so than it had been the first time she’d seen Nikoletta, but if Nikoletta felt anything at the sight of her twin sister, her face didn’t register it.
“Have a seat wherever you like,” Nikoletta said. “Would you like a glass of wine? I’m afraid it’s not very good, but it’s drinkable.”
“No, thanks,” Ariadne said, sitting down on the couch.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” Matt said. He slipped a bug-detecting device out of his jacket pocket and began moving about the suite, beginning in the entrance hall, sweeping for any listening devices.
Nikoletta watched him with amusement. “My, my,” she said. “Do you think the good doctors want to listen to me talk in my sleep?”
Matt didn’t respond, but continued sweeping the rooms, taking his time. After he’d completed the task, he returned to the sitting room from the bedroom, and took a seat next to Ariadne. He took her hand in his. “Clean,” he murmured.
“You?” Nikoletta asked, her eyes searching Matt’s. “Would you like a glass of wine?”
“No, thanks,” he said.
“Mineral water? Anything?”
“No, thanks,” they replied in unison.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I will,” Nikoletta said. She poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle that she’d taken out of the minifridge shortly before they’d arrived, then sat down in a chair across from them, curling her legs up underneath her. Taking a sip of wine, she gazed at them across the rim of the glass, then set the glass down.
“I have to confess that I’m very curious about why you came to visit me,” Nikoletta said. “It’s been months, and there’s been no contact. Of course, I’m sure the doctors keep you posted.”
“Yes, they do,” Ariadne said. “We are concerned about how you’re adapting to living here. I know that it must have taken a lot of adjustment and—”
“I think that’s an understatement,” Nikoletta broke in. “To tell you the truth, it’s felt like what I imagine death would be like, and the feeling hasn’t really gone away. I guess I might as well be dead. I no longer have a family. Nothing. Strange as it seems, that’s what I miss most. My little family: the advisers. They were really the only family I had after my father died.”
She turned her gaze on Ariadne. “Then there’s you. I never got to know you at all. Never had the chance to.” Nikoletta wanted nothing so much as to assault her sister, to scratch her beautiful face with her nails, to beat her with her fists, to pummel the life out of her, but she knew that she must remain calm and diplomatic. Otherwise, she would jeopardize her chances of getting out of this place. She’d suspected that Ariadne would be guilt-ridden and would come to see her, and in the back of her mind she entertained the possibility that her sister would eventually allow her to leave the clinic.
“I know the feeling well,” Ariadne countered, not unsympathetically. “You know how I grew up, snatched from the only family I knew. Never knowing why. Then suddenly I discovered there was you, and believe it or not, I wanted to get to know you.” She looked down at her hand, the one Matt was holding, then gazed back up at Nikoletta.
“I didn’t know about you until it was too late,” Nikoletta responded in a soft voice. “You know, I don’t really understand any of
this. I always did what the advisers told me to do. Don’t you know that? I always did whatever they made me do. Then they turned on me.” Her voice broke. “Then they decided to get rid of me, and it was too late to get to know you, the twin I never knew.”
Ariadne didn’t believe that. She’d seen all the evidence to the contrary, but she decided to let the remark pass. What she wondered about was whether or not Nikoletta really wanted to get to know her. Even if there was the tiniest shred of truth in that, she thought, then perhaps all of this was unnecessary. Perhaps they could be sisters after all.
“I’ve been misguided,” Nikoletta went on, “and I’ve made some terrible decisions on my own part. I realize that now, and I really regret them.” She hung her head, the perfect actress of contrition. “I only wish there was some way I could make up for my mistakes in the past. That’s been one wonderful thing about being here. I’ve had time to think without a lot of interference from other people. That and the therapy have helped me come to know myself better and to actually examine my past behavior. I’ve come to realize that I have a lot of amends to make, and more than anything else I’ve come to realize that I have real family I never knew.” She paused, looking into Ariadne’s eyes. “You.” She paused again, then added, “If it’s not too late.”
Ariadne was nonplussed for a moment. She hadn’t expected Nikoletta’s seeming warmth, although she’d been warned about her abilities to deceive. She finally cleared her throat and said, “W-we’ve come here with a proposition for you.”
“A proposition? What kind of proposition?” Nikoletta asked, wide-eyed with curiosity.
“I have an agreement,” Ariadne said. “I drew it up personally with the help of the advisers.” She slipped a folder out the leather carryall she’d brought with her, then opened it and drew out the agreement. “I would like for you to look it over before we discuss it.”
