Paternity Unknown

by Barrett, Jean

  Okay, so it wasn’t much of a plan. But it was better than just barging in there without at least anticipating trouble and being ready to deal with it.

  “What are we waiting for?” Lauren whispered impatiently.

  Ethan turned his head to see her hovering just behind him. He might have guessed she wouldn’t sensibly wait in their bedroom.

  “Get back out of sight,” he instructed her in a low voice. “They know what you look like, and if they catch a glimpse of you out here, they’ll have that door shut and locked before I have a chance to act. There’s no reason to suppose they’ll recognize me, at least not before I manage to get inside.”

  To his relief, Lauren bought his excuse to remove her from any immediate harm. Once he had satisfied himself that she had backed off several paces down the corridor, he rapped his knuckles against the door. Not with the kind of angry force that had been his first impulsive intention, and which would have resulted in instantly alarming them, but with a firmness that he hoped would sound like someone official at the door.

  His knocking brought no response. He repeated his effort, a little louder now. Nothing. When he laid his ear against the door, he heard only silence. No noise of anyone stirring inside, no evidence of some hasty scrambling that would tell him they had been alerted to his presence.

  Ethan risked trying the door. The knob refused to yield. Locked of course. He should have known it wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to get tough about it.

  This time, he hammered on the door, calling out insistently, “Conductor out here. Open up, please.”

  There was no reaction from inside the bedroom, but there was plenty of it out in the corridor. Doors had opened along the length of the car, and heads were poking out. He could see they belonged mostly to the women who had been celebrating in the lounge car. From the frowns on their faces, he knew they were more than just curious about the disturbance. They were annoyed by it, as well.

  Buddy Foley’s door also opened. He emerged from it with hair tousled and wearing his suede jacket over a pair of loud pajamas.

  “Hell, Ethan, what’s going on out here?”

  Ethan hesitated. Then, deciding that he could use the support of a man he’d already shared their story with anyway, he rapidly explained the situation to Buddy, keeping his voice low so the spectators along the corridor wouldn’t overhear him.

  The cop looked at Lauren, and Ethan could guess by his expression what he was thinking, even though he didn’t say it. What’s more, Lauren guessed it, too.

  “I’m not delusional,” she swiftly defended herself. “I heard her. My daughter is in that room.”

  “What about through the wall on your side?” Ethan asked Foley. “You hear anything at all?”

  Buddy shook his head. “I was dead to the world. I didn’t hear anything until your knocking. But I suppose,” he conceded, “that it could have been some other couple with a baby that I saw boarding the seven-fifteen. But if that’s so, how did your couple get aboard this train? There were only the three of us there on the platform at Ida.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Lauren said. “They could have been hiding until the train pulled in and then boarded while Ethan and I were on our way to the lounge car.”

  Buddy nodded. “And managed to avoid me while I was headed in the other direction. Yeah, I guess that’s possible. Look,” he suggested, “why don’t I go find the car attendant and get him to let us into that compartment with his key?”

  Ethan was skeptical. “You think he could be convinced to open the door?”

  Buddy’s boyish face wore a conspiratorial grin. “A cop’s badge can be very persuasive, even if it isn’t a Canadian one. And, uh, while you’re waiting, you two need to go back inside and get some clothes on. You go on standing out here like that and one of these bystanders is apt to go running to a conductor with a complaint.”

  Ethan, aware that he was in nothing but his jeans, glanced at Lauren. She was in no better state. For the first time he realized she was wearing his shirt she must have snagged from the hook in her haste. And that’s all she had on. What’s more, he didn’t like the way Foley was eyeing her provocative flesh exposed below the tails of the shirt.

  “We need to try to keep a lid on this,” Buddy added, “until we know what’s what.”

  “Okay, but make it fast.”

  “Right.” The cop turned and started along the corridor, calling to the spectators, “Show’s over, folks. Nothing to worry about.”

  Muttering, they began to drift back into their compartments. While Lauren kept a vigil outside the locked door, Ethan hurried into their own bedroom to throw on some clothes. Within two minutes, he was back outside to relieve Lauren. The corridor was empty now and silent. Nor was there any sound of movement behind the locked door.

  Lauren rejoined him in the corridor a short while later, pulling a sweater in place over her blouse. They waited without talking. Where was Foley? What was taking him so long?

  It seemed to take forever before the cop finally reappeared at the end of the sleeper. He was accompanied by the car attendant in his dark blue slacks and matching vest. The man looked none too happy and didn’t hesitate to express his irritation when he reached them.

  “This makes no sense,” he said in a slight accent that Ethan thought was probably French-Canadian. “I told the gentleman here when he roused me out of the crew quarters that this bedroom is not occupied.”

  “What do you mean it isn’t occupied?” Ethan challenged him. “We were told the train was fully booked and that we got the last available accommodation.”

  “True, but this bedroom has a plumbing problem, so it couldn’t be offered. But your friend insists you won’t be satisfied until I open it for you.”

  “So, humor us.”

  Shrugging, the attendant produced a key, unlocked the door, spread it inward, and stepped back. “There, see for yourselves.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The bedroom was empty, including the water closet and the tiny clothes closet. Ethan was certain of that because he insisted on checking all of them while the car attendant hovered in the doorway, watching him with disapproval. Nor was there any sign that the compartment had been recently occupied.

  He retreated from the bedroom in defeat, joining Lauren and Buddy waiting in the corridor. Meeting Lauren’s gaze, he shook his head, even though he knew she must already be aware of the verdict.

  He was prepared to see despair in her eyes, or at least disappointment. The expectation had him feeling miserable, because he would have given anything in that moment to be able to place Sara in her eager arms. But to his surprise, her expression registered nothing but acceptance.

  “It looks like I made a mistake,” she apologized to the car attendant as he relocked the door. “I’m sorry we put you to all this bother.”

  Mollified, the attendant faced her. “That’s all right. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “I don’t think so. Our next stop is Windrush, isn’t it?”

  “It’s our only stop after Ida. The train will get in at six thirty-five.”

  Lauren thanked him, and the attendant went off down the corridor jangling his keys.

  Ethan was anxious about her. She was too calm. “Lauren, are you okay?”

  “Aside from feeling like a fool, you mean?”

  “There’s no reason for you to feel that way.”

  “I don’t.” There was defiance on her face now. “Because I’m not wrong. They were in that compartment.”

  “Lauren, be reasonable. You can’t go on believing that when you saw for yourself that the bedroom is empty. They couldn’t have just vanished.”

  “They didn’t, but they could have slipped away while I was trying to convince you earlier that it was Sara I heard crying.”

  “Even if I admit that’s possible, you heard the attendant. The bedroom was never occupied.”

  “I don’t care what he said,” she maintained stubbornly.r />
  “They were there.”

  “And where are they now?”

  “Somewhere on this train. They have to be since we haven’t stopped, and at the speed we’re moving there’s no way they could have gotten off.”

  “So what are you saying? That we should search the train?”

  Ethan wasn’t serious, but when he saw the earnest plea in those brown eyes gazing up at him, he knew that Lauren was. He felt helpless. What could he do when she refused to give up?

  Buddy had remained silent during their exchange. Ethan slid a glance in his direction. “What do you think?”

  The cop lifted his shoulders in a little shrug. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to look.”

  Ethan sensed, however, that Buddy thought it would be a waste of time, even if he did add agreeably, “Give me a minute to get out of these pajamas, and I’ll go with you.”

  Foley is probably right, Ethan thought as he and Lauren waited in the corridor while the cop went into his bedroom to change. This whole thing is a waste of time. But he couldn’t bear to destroy the certainty which Lauren clung to so tenaciously. And, if he were honest with himself, he continued to have a hope of his own, illogical though it was.

  “How about we start up front in the baggage car?” Buddy suggested when, fully dressed, he rejoined them.

  Weaving slightly with the movement of the train, the three of them went forward to the baggage car, which was just across the connecting vestibule from the sleeper. The door to the baggage car was unlocked, probably in order to give passengers a ready access to their larger luggage that was stored there. They discovered when they entered the car that any valuables the train carried were securely locked inside a steel cage.

  “No place in here for two adults and a baby to hide,” Buddy observed.

  Still, Lauren wasn’t satisfied until they checked the entire length of the baggage car, including the contents of several crates and an old trunk.

  “From the sound of it, the engine must be just in front of us,” Buddy surmised. “That makes this the first car.”

  And without any way to reach the engine from here, Ethan concluded. He’d noticed the only doors other than the one by which they had entered were two pairs of wide, sliding doors at the side of the car. That meant the baggage car was a dead end.

  Leaving the baggage car, they began to work their way back toward the rear of the train.

  The temptation to knock on the doors of the other compartments in their own car, which was the only sleeper on the train, had to be resisted. Any unofficial request to search those compartments was certain to be resented when they had already disturbed their occupants. And since those occupants had behaved in no furtive manner earlier, it seemed highly unlikely Sara’s abductors would have sought refuge with any of them.

  The crew’s quarters in a portion of the next car were also off-limits, although their open doors were an indication that none of the service staff had anything to hide.

  The dining car was dim and silent. It would be another hour or so before breakfast preparations would bring it to life again. The lounge was also deserted except for the conductor and his two assistants, who were resting at one end. None of those relaxed figures challenged them as they passed with a studied innocence through the car. Although they could have tried to enlist the help of the conductor, they feared he might prevent them from continuing their search.

  Systematically, the three of them moved from car to car, looking into the sleeping faces of the passengers in the coaches, checking restrooms and observation decks. Nowhere did they find anyone resembling the couple they sought traveling with a baby.

  Except for the hypnotic rattle of the wheels on the rails, there was an early morning stillness throughout the length of the train that seemed to emphasize their failure. Ethan could feel Lauren’s mounting discouragement by the time they crossed the vestibule and arrived at the door to the last car.

  Aching for Lauren, he reached for the knob. It refused to turn. “Locked,” he said, puzzled by the discreet No Admittance sign on the door.

  “And no way to see what’s on the other side,” Lauren said, indicating the shirred curtain behind the glass of the window.

  Buddy looked regretful but resigned. “Looks like we have no choice but to turn back.”

  But Ethan wasn’t ready to give up. “The hell with that.” Lifting his hand, he rapped sharply on the door.

  “Jeez, man,” Buddy muttered, “think of the hour. If there is anyone in there, they’re not going to thank you for this.”

  “Too bad.”

  There was no answer to his knock. Ethan tried again. When there was still no response, he hammered on the door with a loud, “We’re not going away until you open up!”

  This time, to his satisfaction, his demand was not ignored. There was a snapping sound of the lock being turned on the other side. The door was pulled back just wide enough to reveal a man in the narrow opening.

  Ethan figured he was somewhere in his late twenties, well dressed and wearing glasses on a face he would have described as pompous. The light in the vestibule was not strong, but it was sufficient enough for Ethan to tell that the eyes glaring at him were not blue-green. Unless he was wearing tinted contacts, this couldn’t be Sara’s abductor. Nor did he fit the image in any other respect, though there was something about him…

  “Didn’t you see the sign on the door?” he challenged them coldly. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  Ethan explained their need as briefly as possible. His request was met by an immediate denial.

  “In case you haven’t realized it by now, this is a private car. What makes you imagine the people you want would be in here? They couldn’t possibly have gotten by this door. We keep it locked at all times.”

  “Still, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us have a fast look around. There’s always the chance that—”

  “Absolutely not. Mrs. Sterling, whose husband owns this car, was feeling unwell when she went to bed. I won’t have her disturbed by something so preposterous.”

  “Maybe this will change your mind,” Buddy said, displaying his badge.

  The pale eyes behind the glasses glanced down at the shield. “Very impressive,” he said as he continued to block the door. “Except it identifies you as a member of the Seattle Police Force. You have no authority here, and if you did, I would be asking to see a search warrant. Now, either you go away or I call the conductor.”

  Ethan was in a mood where he would have forced his way into the car, and damn the consequences, if Lauren hadn’t placed her hand on his arm, restraining him. Before he could argue about it, the door was shut in their faces. They heard the sound of the lock being shot on the other side.

  There was a moment of silence. Then Lauren, her voice dull with defeat, murmured, “A private car. He was right. They can’t be hiding in there, and since they’re nowhere else on the train…” She drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “It looks like I was wrong, after all, and they were never in that compartment.”

  Ethan wanted to take her in his arms, comfort her, but he didn’t think she would welcome that. Not in this moment when he could see she was struggling valiantly to hang onto her self-control, to accept her mistake.

  “It was worth checking out, anyway,” Buddy said. “You two ready to head back to our rooms?”

  Ethan looked at the locked door to the private car before he turned away. “There was something funny about that officious jerk.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Buddy agreed. “He was wearing a business suit, tie and all. It is funny he should be dressed like that at this time of the night, but it isn’t suspicious.”

  “I suppose that’s it.” What else could it be? Ethan thought.

  Returning to the sleeper, Buddy parted from them outside his door. “I’m sorry we didn’t have better luck,” he said. “You going to be okay, Lauren?”

  “Yes,” she assured him.

  But Ethan didn’t think she was okay
at all. She looked drained. He waited until they were inside their bedroom, and then he took her in his arms.

  “We’ll catch up with them at Windrush,” he promised her, holding her close.

  “I want to believe that. I’ve got to believe it,” she added fiercely, threading her fingers through her hair.

  “You’re exhausted. There’s plenty of time yet before we get there. Why don’t you go back to bed?”

  He thought she might resist his suggestion, but she didn’t. When he released her, she kicked off her shoes and crawled onto the berth without bothering to get out of her clothes. He perched on the edge of the berth beside her.

  “Aren’t you going to stretch out, too?” she asked him, lifting her head from the pillow.

  “In a bit.”

  Her head sank onto the pillow again. She closed her eyes on a long sigh. Within seconds, her breasts were rising and falling with the slow, rhythmic action of a woman sleeping soundly.

  Ethan was mesmerized by the sight of those lush breasts, by the memory they evoked of the fantastic sex he and Lauren had shared earlier. He felt his groin tighten and knew that, if he weren’t careful, he would be fully aroused again.

  Bad timing, Brand.

  It was safer to shift his attention to another area. He settled his gaze on her upraised arm where her hand was curled around her head. Her fingers were in her hair. She had fallen asleep that way, tugging unconsciously at the silky, auburn strands.

  It made him smile to remember how she was forever abusing her hair, raking her hands through it, winding it around her fingers, brushing at it without worrying about its tumbled state. He had never known a woman to treat her hair like that. It was exceptional. But then, she was an exceptional woman, without vanity as far as he could tell.

  It was one of the things, among others, that Ethan had learned about her in these past two frantic days. Things the brief interlude in her cabin last winter hadn’t permitted him to learn. And the more he discovered, the more he liked and admired just who and what Lauren McCrea was.