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Paternity Unknown

Page 18

by Barrett, Jean


  “We’ll be stopping there on schedule at six thirty-five,” the conductor assured him.

  Ethan made a fast decision. “You’re able to call or radio ahead, aren’t you?”

  “I can contact the station there if necessary, yes.”

  “It is necessary. Get them to have the police waiting when we pull in.”

  The conductor looked reluctant. “Is this an emergency, sir?”

  “I promise you it is, and I’ll explain everything to the police when we arrive.”

  Ethan couldn’t afford the delay of an explanation now, especially about Foley’s death. The conductor might believe him, even help him and Lauren to get inside that private car. Or maybe he wouldn’t believe him and, instead, arrange to have Ethan held by the police, enabling Sara’s abductors to escape before the whole thing could be sorted out.

  Ethan couldn’t take that chance. He and Lauren had to remain unhindered, at least until they convinced the police of the presence of the kidnappers on this train.

  The conductor was still hesitant.

  “Please, this is vital.”

  “All right.”

  With the conductor’s promise secured, Ethan rushed on to the bedroom he and Lauren shared. She was still asleep when he entered. Hunkering down beside the berth, he put his hand on her arm. She was instantly awake. And alarmed.

  “What is it? Are we—”

  “Don’t ask me any questions, Lauren. Just listen to me. You were right all along. Sara’s abductors are on this train, hiding with her in that private car.”

  She sat up in the berth, her eyes wide and anxious as she searched his face.

  “There’s no time to explain how I know that. I just do. We’ll be pulling into Windrush soon. The police will be waiting there, but until then you and I—”

  “We can’t just sit here!” she cried.

  “We’re not going to do that. We’re going back to that private car. No, there’s no way we can get inside until the police order it to be unlocked. Whoever is inside is alerted now. They could be barricaded in there, maybe even armed.”

  “Then, what—”

  “We’ll stand watch outside the door to the car to make sure no one leaves it until we reach Windrush.”

  Ethan had been thinking about this. He would have preferred to guard the door on his own and not risk Lauren. But the job needed both of them. He’d save his explanation for that when they got there. Right now, they had to hurry.

  Trusting him, Lauren asked for no details. Swinging her legs over the side of the berth, she scrambled into her shoes and followed him out of the bedroom. Her gaze slid in the direction of Foley’s door.

  “What about Buddy?”

  “We don’t need him,” Ethan replied briefly. That was a story that would have to wait for a better time.

  The train was no longer asleep. Passengers were stirring, some on their way to the showers, others who were getting off at Windrush placing their luggage outside their doors. The corridor was crowded, making Lauren and Ethan’s progress along its length a problem.

  The day coaches were even worse, the aisles so busy that they had to squeeze through the traffic with hasty apologies. The dining car involved another maddening delay. Attendants, occupied with readying the tables to serve breakfast, were slow to let them through.

  Although the lounge, when they reached it, should have been deserted at this hour, they found themselves blocked by a couple engaged in a heated argument and in no hurry to let them by.

  All the while, precious minutes were slipping away. Frustrated by the time they were losing, Ethan kept checking his watch.

  They had three more cars to go when the train slowed and eased to a stop. Ethan was frantic.

  “What the hell! It isn’t six thirty-five yet! We should have had at least seven more minutes! Either the train is in early, or—”

  “It’s all right,” Lauren said, glancing out the windows on both sides. “There’s no sign of a platform or station out there. We must have just paused to let another train go by.”

  Ethan hoped so. Determined not to lose their target, he increased their pace. As they raced along the length of the next car, he related his plan to Lauren over his shoulder.

  “When we get there, we’ll open the outside doors on both sides of the vestibule. You get out on the platform side and I’ll take the other side. That private car is bound to have more than just the door off the vestibule. If the police shouldn’t be waiting, I don’t want them slipping away from us out one of the sides or through the back end.”

  Ethan didn’t know what he was going to do if the kidnappers emerged before the police arrived. He just knew he had to be there to prevent them from leaving with his daughter.

  They were one car away from the private car when, to his relief, the train began to crawl forward again. Urgency driving him, he sped toward the last vestibule.

  “Made it!” he said as, a moment later, the train slid into the station and rolled to a stop.

  Jerking open the car door, he started to step through it, then froze in disbelief. Where the private car should have been, there was nothing but the tracks stretching away into emptiness behind them.

  The private car was gone!

  “Where is it?” Lauren cried in dismay, joining him at the open door. “What happened to it?”

  One of the assistant conductors, who had arrived at the rear door to assist passengers on and off the train, overheard Lauren and misunderstood her expression of distress.

  “Are you missing a piece of luggage, ma’am?”

  “What we’re missing,” Ethan said quickly, “is the last car on the train.”

  “Oh, you mean the private car that belongs to the Sterlings. It was uncoupled from the train.”

  That was why they had stopped several minutes ago, Ethan realized. Not to let another train go by, but to detach the private car.

  “Where is it now?” he asked.

  “On a siding behind the old freight depot a few hundred yards behind us. It’s always parked there when one or both of the Sterlings visit Windrush. Mr. Sterling has an interest in the hotel. And just about every other enterprise in Canada,” he added with a chuckle. “Excuse me, sir.”

  The assistant conductor moved by them in order to post himself on the platform. Ethan drew Lauren off to one side.

  “I’m going after that car,” he instructed her rapidly. “The police should be out there at the station. If they’re not, wait for them, and as soon as they arrive bring them on to the Sterling car.”

  Not waiting for her response, Ethan swung himself off the train and raced along the tracks. As his long legs carried him in the direction of the freight depot, he prayed he wasn’t too late and that the couple hadn’t already fled from the private car, taking Sara with them.

  He could see the long building in front of him. Like the passenger station behind him, it was built in the style of a Swiss chalet. Probably to appeal to those guests of Windrush on a quest for the picturesque, and who expected to find it from the moment of their arrival.

  Not that this mattered to Ethan. All he cared about was that private railroad car. He had to round the back side of the freight depot before he spotted it parked on the siding. It looked deserted, the curtains at its windows drawn.

  Ethan mounted the steps without hesitation and hammered on the rear door. Unlike last night, there was only a brief delay until he heard the lock being turned on the other side. Either this meant nothing or it was a bad sign that indicated the car’s occupants had nothing to fear.

  The door was pulled back, disclosing the reedy figure of the young lawyer. His supercilious face expressed exasperation at the sight of Ethan.

  “Not you again.”

  Ethan was ready for him this time. “Where are they? And don’t lie to me again, because I know now for certain that you took them in last night and hid them. And if you don’t produce them—”

  He was interrupted by the cultured voice of a woman some
where inside the car. “Charlie, who’s out there?”

  The lawyer turned his head. He started to call out a reply when a figure emerged from a room just behind him. She was slim, elegant had raven hair, and was in the act of belting a quilted satin robe that Ethan knew hadn’t been purchased in any discount store.

  “I’m sorry you were disturbed, Mrs. Sterling,” the lawyer apologized in a tone of voice that was altogether different from the one he had used with Ethan.

  “You should know by now, Charlie, that I’m never disturbed unless I choose to be.” Despite her regal attitude, Ethan read a note of humor in her voice. “Now what’s this all about?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about, Mrs. Sterling.”

  “Thank you for your concern, Charlie, but I prefer to be the judge of that.” She turned to Ethan and said briskly, “I’m Claudia Sterling. What is it you want?”

  “Name’s Ethan Brand, and I want my kid,” he answered her with equal briskness.

  One of Claudia Sterling’s carefully groomed eyebrows elevated in surprise. “Are you telling me you have a child who’s missing?”

  “That’s right, and you have her.” Or did, he added to himself, hoping he was wrong about that and they were still here.

  “You see?” the lawyer said, his pale eyes glaring at Ethan from behind his glasses. “The whole thing is absurd. Why he should think we’re hiding—”

  Claudia held up a hand, silencing him. “Why don’t we let Mr. Brand explain himself.”

  Before Ethan could do that, a police car arrived. Lauren emerged from the vehicle and hurried to the rail car, joining Ethan on the platform outside the rear door. She was followed up the steps by an officer who wore one of those patches of beard on his chin so small that Ethan wondered why the young men his age bothered to grow them.

  The insignia on his cap identified him as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Although these days, Ethan knew, they were neither mounted nor, except for ceremonial occasions, garbed in scarlet tunics. Like any other cop, he was dressed in a blue uniform.

  None of this concerned Ethan. The fact that he was alone did. The officer must have been aware of his concern when Ethan cast a hopeful gaze in the direction of the police car.

  “Sorry,” he apologized. “I’m all there is. The RCMP depot down in Kingstown posts only one of us here, and that’s just in the season when the hotel is open. Not much action in a place as tiny as Windrush, and what there is is usually covered by the security people at the hotel. Name’s Dick Frazier.”

  This could be a problem, Ethan thought, shaking the hand that was extended to him. While the young officer seemed willing enough, he also struck Ethan as inexperienced. And with the main force of the law located in Kingstown, and who knew how distant that was, then what were their chances of—

  “I’ve filled him in on the essentials,” Lauren said, looking at Ethan as though she sensed his concern.

  “Perhaps one of you,” Claudia Sterling said dryly from where she continued to stand in the open doorway, “would be good enough to fill me in.”

  Frazier glanced at Ethan. “Uh, maybe you and Ms. McCrea ought to do the honors. I’m not sure I’m clear yet about the whole thing myself.”

  Lauren nodded at Ethan, indicating she chose to have him handle the explanation. As briefly as possible, he rapidly gave them the particulars, starting with Sara’s abduction back in Elkton.

  The lawyer looked at him with scorn when he was through. “And just where is this Buddy Foley you claim confessed to you I gave refuge to the kidnappers?”

  It was a tricky moment. If Ethan told them the truth, that Buddy was dead, they would demand to know exactly how his death had occurred. Maybe the young Mountie would believe him. But even an accidental death was suspicious until evidence verified it.

  Dick Frazier would have no choice but to take him in for questioning. And when he learned that Ethan had been arrested last year on suspicion of murder—and the lawyer would waste no time in informing him of that—then Ethan might end up being held.

  He couldn’t risk it. He had to make sure he stayed free until Sara was found and returned to Lauren. And only then would it be safe for him to explain about Foley.

  They were all watching him, waiting for his response, including Lauren.

  “I wish I could produce Foley for you. But he gave me the slip after I got the truth out of him,” Ethan lied, “and I wasn’t going to waste time looking for him. For all I know, he’s still somewhere on the train.”

  “Which has already gone on its way,” the lawyer sneered. “How convenient for you.”

  Ethan turned on him. “I wouldn’t be so smug about it, Charlie, because it looks like he’s run out on you and left you to take the heat.”

  “I’m not going to stand here and listen to any more of these wild accusations!”

  The Mountie must have decided it was time to calm the lawyer. “Easy. Let’s all try to take it easy, Mr….”

  “Heath, Charles Heath,” Claudia Sterling supplied the name for him, then went on to explain, “Charlie did some legal work for me when I lived in Seattle before my marriage. That’s why he’s here. He’s handling a difficult property trans action for me, and it all needed to be explained to me before I signed the papers he brought.”

  “Who else besides the two of you are occupying the, uh…” He nodded toward the interior of the private car.

  Claudia seemed amused by the young Mountie’s sudden awkwardness with a situation that could be defined as suggestive. “No one. My husband is joining me later, and we travel with staff only when guests are on board with us.”

  “Right. About last night then…”

  “You want to know what Charlie and I were doing when he was supposed to have admitted this couple and the baby into the car. Nothing very compromising, I’m afraid. I had a terrible sinus headache. I took something for it and went to bed in my room. Charlie stayed up to work on the papers he’d brought. I wasn’t satisfied with them.”

  “And this medicine you took?”

  “Knocked me out. I was sound asleep until Mr. Brand showed up at the door.”

  “So, it’s conceivable—”

  “That Charlie did admit them while I unaware of what was happening?” She stood aside in the doorway. “Look, this is easily settled. Come inside, all of you, and search the car. See for yourselves that they aren’t here.”

  Ethan glanced at the lawyer, waiting for him to object. Heath was still fuming, but he said nothing. His silence wasn’t encouraging.

  “If you don’t mind,” the Mountie said, “we will have a look.”

  Ethan knew by then what they would find. Nothing. Heath would have sent the kidnappers and Sara on their way the moment the car had been left on the siding. And now the bastard had nothing to worry about except preserving his innocence by expressing his outrage. But they had to make certain. The car had to be searched.

  Even though Ethan had been raised in sumptuous sur roundings, the private car’s accommodations turned out to be more impressive than he could have imagined. It consisted of four bedrooms, two bathrooms with gold-plated fittings, a galley, a dining alcove and a sitting room with museum-quality paintings on its paneled walls.

  They looked carefully in every area, but what Ethan had feared even before they began the search was true. There was no sign of the kidnappers or Sara, nor any evidence they had ever been here.

  The satisfied smirk on the lawyer’s face infuriated him, although he was more troubled by Lauren’s expression. She looked sick with disappointment by the time they ended up in the sitting room. He started to put an arm around her to steady her, but she shook her head, indicating she would rely on her own strength.

  Claudia Sterling also looked concerned by Lauren’s grief. The handsome brunette might be pampered by every luxury her husband’s wealth could buy her, but she was capable of a genuine compassion.

  “I’m deeply sorry about your baby, and I pray that you get her
back. But as you can see, she isn’t here and never was.” She turned regretfully to Ethan. “I’m afraid you were misinformed about that, Mr. Brand.”

  The Mountie cleared his throat. “It looks like we should be moving along. Sorry if we inconvenienced you, Mrs. Sterling.”

  Claudia and the lawyer, together with Ethan and the Mountie, started toward the door. Ethan hadn’t taken two steps when he realized that Lauren wasn’t joining them. She remained standing by the sofa, her head lowered in silence.

  Seriously worried about her now, he turned back and touched her arm. “Come on,” he said gently, “we have to go.”

  She didn’t answer him.

  “Lauren?”

  Still no response. She was dazed. That’s what he thought, until he realized she wasn’t staring down at nothing. Her attention was focused on the contents of the wastebasket squeezed against the side of the sofa.

  Before he could question her, she bent down over the wastebasket, her fingers closing around the edge of something that peeked from beneath a discarded newspaper. The others now were as puzzled as Ethan as they turned to watch her.

  Lauren straightened and held out what she had retrieved for all of them to see. It was a portion of a plastic wrapper, not much more than a torn scrap, but its label was clearly evident.

  “It’s the same brand as the one around the package I saw the blonde carrying out of the quick stop back in Elkton,” she said, her voice calm and sure. “I recognized it then, just as I recognized it now, because it’s the brand I use myself. In case you’re wondering what that product is, you can see it’s identified right here under the brand name. Disposable diapers. Now do you want to tell me Sara was never here?”

  There was a moment of silence in the room. Then Claudia turned to the lawyer, her gaze no longer registering her trust in him as she asked a slow, shocked, “Charlie?”

  Ethan had been wondering whether to hug Lauren for her sharp observation that had yielded her discovery or whether to remove with his fist the pompous expression the lawyer had worn throughout their search of the car. But there was no longer a need for that. Charles Heath’s bravado had collapsed. Fear had replaced it as he stood there visibly trembling. His guilt was as apparent as if he had already confessed it.

 

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