by Alice Sharpe
“I mean forever,” she said. “It’s okay.”
“You don’t—”
She stepped over the towel. In her hand, she held a foil packet that she set next to the lamp. Then she turned the lamp off. “Move over,” she whispered into the dark. Once she’d slipped between the sheets and fit herself against him, filling his arms, breathing against his neck, she added, “If all we have is one night, let’s make it count. Let’s make it perfect.”
And running his ravenous hands over her soft, exquisite body, he buried himself in her warmth.
THE RINGING PHONE woke them both a few hours later. Nick kissed Katie before answering it.
“Mr. Nick?” his housekeeper said. It was a lousy connection and he assumed she’d called to tell him the storm that was predicted was a fact. It passed through his mind that he might need to delay returning for a day or so. Glancing at Katie’s upturned face, he smiled at the thought.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Come home,” she said. “You…later—”
The first stirrings of alarm made Nick swing his feet to the floor.
“Helen? I can’t make out what you’re saying.”
“—didn’t know—just—”
It wasn’t just the phone line—it was Helen. She sounded upset. Almost incoherent. Afraid. Nick’s mind flew immediately to Lily.
“What’s wrong?” he barked in such a way that Katie sat up. “Helen? Is it Lily?”
But the line was dead.
Heart thumping in his chest, he sat staring at the receiver, too startled to think.
“What is it?” Katie asked.
“The line is dead. She sounded frantic.”
“Call her back!” Katie insisted.
Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that? He called her number and got a busy signal. He hung up and waited a few moments, then tried again. Still busy.
Meanwhile, Katie scurried around the room, pulling on jeans and sweater, lacing shoes. “Nick? What is it? What did she say?”
“Practically nothing,” he said, pulling on his own clothes. “Something about coming home. It was the way she sounded.”
Once dressed, he called Helen again with the same results. He called information next, and got the number for the Vixen Hill police department. They answered on the first ring.
“I know the place,” the officer on call said. “I know Helen, too. Saw her just yesterday in town with a little girl. Your kid, huh? Cutie. Listen, sir, I wouldn’t be too alarmed. We’ve got wind and ice here and sometimes the lines go down for days. I’ll get out to her cousin’s place later this afternoon if the weather lets up. Call me back. And don’t worry, I’m sure everything is fine.”
Nick hung up the phone and stared at Katie.
“He told me not to worry.”
“It’s not his baby,” Katie said. “What are you going to do?”
“Catch the next plane out of here,” he said, throwing his clothes in his duffel. He had a gut feeling. Life had taught him not to ignore a gut feeling.
Maybe he hadn’t been so clever, after all. Maybe Benito had known all along where Bill Thurman would go to retrieve his money. Maybe he sent Carson along to watch over things. And maybe he sent someone else along to watch over Carson. When Bill and Carson more or less disappeared, maybe this wild card stayed in Alaska, waiting for word the deal was done.
But the word didn’t come. Instead Carson was missing and Benito was in jail.
Maybe Benito knew that short of killing him, the one surefire way to stop Bill from testifying against him was to threaten Lily Pierce, Bill’s one and only granddaughter.
If so, he hadn’t figured on Nick.
Chapter Eighteen
Katie packed her own suitcase in a hurry. Nick was going to drive to the airport and fly to Juneau on the next available flight. He told her to keep the motel room, that she and her sister would need someplace to stay, but she couldn’t sit there by herself.
She’d go to her mother’s room and await Tess. She’d take care of her family while Nick took care of his.
So, why did it feel so wrong?
It wasn’t until Nick pulled into the hospital parking lot that she knew why it felt wrong: because it was wrong.
Tess and her mother were family, yes, but they weren’t the family that had taken root in her heart, not yet. Nick and Lily were that family, even if she wasn’t that family for them. She didn’t know if that made sense, but it was the way it was.
She’d given herself to Nick with no strings. But that didn’t mean strings didn’t exist. She’d known the moment she slipped into his bed that she was in love with him and that would have to be enough for both of them.
Maybe Nick was wrong and the phone lines had simply gone down with the wind or ice. Maybe Helen was panicking over a childhood fever or a sound outside her cousin’s home. Who knew? But Nick thought it was more and that was good enough for her. And if, heaven forbid, he was right, was she going to leave him to face the consequences alone?
“I’m going with you,” she said as he rolled to a stop.
“But Katie—”
She smiled as she touched his cheek. “Don’t you know by now that it’s pretty useless arguing with me?”
He nodded. It looked as though his eyes had watered. Turning her head to give him privacy, she said, “We only have an hour and a half before the plane leaves.” She took out her cell phone and called Tess.
They made a slight detour on their way to the airport, at a shipping pier more or less abandoned in the middle of the night. Nick slipped out of the car and walked to the end of the pier. She saw him toss something toward the water, then quickly return to the car.
“Did you just get rid of Carson’s gun?” Katie asked.
“I couldn’t check it through with my luggage,” he said, backing the car up and turning it around. “Besides, I don’t want any connection between you and me and Carson. Still, that makes three guns we’ve dumped in Puget Sound since yesterday.”
“Three guns and one body,” Katie amended. “I’m beginning to feel like Bonnie and Clyde.”
THE FLIGHT BACK took twice as long as the flight down to Seattle had, or so it seemed to Katie. As anxious as she had been on her mother’s and Tess’s behalf, she was twice as anxious now to get back to Lily. Nick had checked into some kind of combat zone. He was tense and focused and looked dangerous.
Katie hoped he wasn’t having the same kind of thoughts she was having. For the first time in a day or two, she had nothing to do but think; there were things that didn’t add up and she was beginning to suspect the answers were going to be devastating. But certain things made sense when looked at in the proper light. Hopefully, Nick wouldn’t reach these same conclusions before he could act on them.
They landed in the early morning and took a taxi through the drizzle to the water port where Nick had left his plane. It was still several hours flying to Vixen Hills, where Helen and Lily were staying. While Nick settled his bill and did a preflight check, she camped in the phone booth and called Helen’s cousin’s number. Her cell phone was out of its range again. The signal was always busy. She also called her mother to explain her absence at the hospital.
Nick had written down the phone number for the police and she called that, as well. She was told the man Nick had spoken to earlier that day had gone off shift hours ago and that he’d checked on Helen and Lily on his way home.
“So, you’ve heard back from him?” she asked.
“Hours ago, ma’am,” she was told. “He didn’t find nothing out of the ordinary. He’d just put in a double shift so he was going on home to bed. It’s been real windy here, though it’s dying down now. Don’t worry, everything is fine.”
Katie reported all this to Nick, who nodded briskly and didn’t look the least bit relieved.
Much to her surprise, Katie dozed during much of the flight to Vixen Hill. Nick was so tied up in knots he couldn’t hold a coherent conversation and it seemed like
weeks since she’d had a good night’s sleep. Her head didn’t hurt anymore and even her leg seldom throbbed, but her fatigue was like an unwelcome guest who wouldn’t take the hint and go away.
She woke up as the plane bounced around upon landing in Vixen Hill. Her eyes few open and a rush of adrenaline left her dizzy.
Nick made arrangements with the airstrip for the loan of a four-wheel-drive Jeep. He reclaimed his rifle from the back of the plane and transferred it into the Jeep, pocketing the gun they’d left in the plane. Katie crossed her fingers they wouldn’t need to use either weapon.
Thanks to the people at the airstrip, they had pretty good directions to the cousin’s house and, within twenty minutes, pulled up in front of a simple green house set out on a huge parcel of land. The drapes were closed but there was a lamp burning inside. There was also a police SUV in the long driveway.
“What’s he doing still here? Or did someone get called back?” Katie said.
Nick swore under his breath. “I knew something was wrong,” he said, jumping out of the Jeep, the rifle in his right hand. Katie trotted along behind him. They quickly crossed the heavily shadowed yard. A figure sat in the SUV and Nick knocked on the window. When the figure didn’t respond, Nick opened the driver’s door.
A middle-aged man in a uniform toppled toward Nick. He had a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.
Katie gasped.
Nick caught her hand. “Quiet…”
Gently shoving the dead man back into the SUV, Nick closed the door without making a sound. He kept Katie’s hand in his and pulled her toward the house, using the coming darkness and shadows to hide their movement.
The front-room drapes were pulled, but once they got closer they could see a gap in the middle. Nick knelt down and peered through the gap as Katie examined the front door. It had looked shut tight from the street, but now that they were closer, she could see it was slightly ajar. Moving over to Nick, she leaned down and whispered in his ear. “Nick?”
He jumped back to his feet, unsettling her, catching her arms with his hands, steadying her. “Stay here,” he demanded, and flinging the front door open, disappeared into the house.
“Like hell,” Katie said to herself, and followed Nick inside.
The house was small and immaculate except for the pool of blood staining the beige carpet. Helen lay in this pool, her eyelids fluttering as Nick knelt over her. “Where’s Lily?” he demanded. “Helen, where’s Lily?”
Katie’s heart pounded against her ribs. She tore off down the hall and opened every door, looking for a small, frightened child.
Erupting back into the living room a moment later, Nick said, “See if the phone works. Call nine-one-one.” He held a sofa pillow against Helen’s chest.
Katie found the phone off the hook. She replaced it and was rewarded with a dial tone. As she made the call, she watched Nick trying to help Helen.
The woman’s pale face was as translucent as an icicle. Her own blood, splattered onto her cheek, looked garish next to her pale skin. Katie spoke into the receiver and then joined Nick by Helen’s side.
“It’s my fault,” Helen said, staring right into Nick’s eyes.
“Shh,” he said.
“Lily—”
“Where is she, Helen? Did someone take her?”
“He took her.”
Helen’s words hung in the air for a second.
“He?” Nick said at last.
“I don’t know his name,” she said haltingly. “Only a phone number. I thought…I thought I was helping.”
“Helping who?” Nick said.
Katie touched his arm. This is what she’d feared, what she’d anticipated. There had to be someone on the inside and Helen was the only possibility. She said, “She thought she was helping you.”
“Helping me?”
“She intercepted the wedding invitation from my mother,” Katie said, staring at Helen. “The one my mother sent you without your father’s permission or knowledge.”
Nick glanced at Katie as though she were crazy. “She tried to hide it. So what?” he snapped.
Helen spoke again. “Weeks after Patricia died, a man came. He told me…he told me your father was responsible for her death. Patricia wouldn’t have died if your father had stayed away. He’d come again and next time it would be Lily who got hurt or you…I had to stop him.”
“How?” Katie said softly.
“All I had to do was watch for some sign he was coming back and pass it along to this man. He would see that your father was brought to justice for what he did to Patricia. He would keep Lily safe.”
As Helen closed her eyes, Katie added, “And so when that invitation came, you passed along the return address and that’s what began the current problems. Right, Helen?”
Helen’s hand flopped feebly by her side. She was holding a piece of yellow paper. “I didn’t know,” she gasped softly, her eyes open and pleading for understanding. “I’d never hurt Lily. I didn’t know.”
“Where did he take her?” Nick said, his voice icy calm.
Helen whispered, “He took…cousin’s truck.”
“When? Where?”
“Four hours? Five?”
“Helen, where?”
Blood gurgled from the corner of her mouth. “I…I didn’t know…”
Her eyes remained open, but took on the glassy stare of death.
Nick felt for a pulse, closed her eyes and took the blood-smeared paper from her hand.
His jaw tightened as he read it before handing it to Katie.
Pierce,
Your father for your daughter. Your house. No cops. You have until nine tomorrow morning and then the little girl dies.
Katie swallowed.
Nick stood abruptly. “I have to get out of here. It’ll take two hours to fly to Doc’s house to get my father and then four or five to get back to Frostbite.”
Katie caught his arm. “We can’t do that! We can’t trade your father—”
He glowered at her. “Don’t start with me, Katie. This is my child. What has my father ever done to deserve to live?”
“Deserve to live? Listen to yourself. I have to tell you something—”
“I’m leaving right this moment,” he interrupted. “If you’re coming, come now.”
And with that, he grabbed his rifle off the floor and darted from the house. Katie spied a small gray form on the carpet by the door. Picking up Lily’s abandoned bunny, she hurried after Nick.
THEY PASSED emergency vehicles on the ride back to the airport where Nick had made arrangements to have the plane refueled during their absence. They were in the air in record time, headed south to Doc’s place.
Katie said, “Why didn’t they make Helen tell them where Doc lived? Why take Lily and risk you calling the police?”
“Helen didn’t know where Doc lives. She didn’t even know his last name.”
Katie shook her head. “This is a trap, Nick. They could have found Doc somehow. They’ve been one step ahead the whole time.”
“Thanks to Helen,” Nick said. “I trusted that woman and all this time, she was working for the mob? Reporting to them? She must have told Carson we were going to Seattle—I fed her everything they wanted to know.”
“She didn’t know who she was working for. She thought your father was responsible for your wife’s death and she wanted revenge.”
“My father responsible? How? He was walking with Patricia. His fault was leaving her there to die alone.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you. Back on the ferry, Carson insinuated he drove the car that killed your wife. I think your father recognized him and that’s why he disappeared. Your father didn’t want you or Lily to get hurt. He left to protect you and your daughter, to draw Carson away.”
He turned to face her. “But he came back.”
“I’ve been thinking about this. I think this is what happened. Helen alerted Carson to your father’s new location and change of last name, th
en Carson told the mob. They waited until he and my mother made an easy target, kidnapped my mother, told your father to produce his life-insurance policy or else. It probably never occurred to them that your father would still have the money. Remember when you talked to Benito? You said he was surprised the money was still around. Anyway, Carson was sent to keep an eye on your father. Your father used the promise of the money to buy time. Carson thought he had a surefire way to make a million bucks. With your father dead, no one would know.”
“So he led Carson to my house. He led him to Lily.”
“He must have escaped Carson and thought he could break into your house, reclaim the disk and leave without you ever being the wiser. But Carson caught up with him and you caught up with Carson.”
“And he told you all this?”
“No. I figured most of this out when I stopped to wonder who could have put the finger on your dad. He’d been missing for over two years. Helen was the only one. She hated your father with a passion.”
“So did I,” Nick said.
“It was your father who was supposed to die in that accident. Patricia was just an innocent bystander. He knew that, Nick. Can you imagine how guilty he’s felt all this time?”
Nick closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his fist. “I have to return him if I’m going to save Lily,” he said at last.
“No,” she said, touching his shoulder, trying to make him see that he wasn’t alone. She was there, and she could help if he would only allow it.
“You said Doc told you that your father couldn’t travel yet. A trip like this will probably kill him, Nick. And in the end, his very presence will be a handicap, someone else for you to worry about because you know as well as I do that you aren’t going to hand a wounded man to a cold-blooded killer and that even if you could, the killer would never allow you or Lily or me to walk free. Leave your father out of this.”
“But Lily—”
“We’ll get her,” Katie said. “You’ll rescue her. I have faith in you.”
He was perfectly still for a moment. Katie looked out the windshield into the night. They were up above the clouds. The stars twinkled and shone as they always did. It was hard to believe evil could exist on earth when the heavens looked so peaceful and pure.
