Paternity Unknown

by Barrett, Jean

  The manager began by briefly filling in her security force about why they were there and then moved on to the particulars. “All right, people, this is how we’re going to handle it.”

  She proceeded to organize the search by dividing the areas, then appointing two people to each section.

  “Stick with your partners,” she went on to instruct them, “and keep in touch on your two-ways. I want each team reporting in every half hour to the command center. That will be my office, where either I or Officer Frazier will be available at all times.”

  “Donna told me,” the Mountie added, “that most of you would recognize Johnson and his girlfriend, and I know you’re trained for emergencies. But if you spot either of them, approach them only if necessary and with every caution. They could be armed.”

  “One more thing,” Donna said. “The entire staff has been alerted to be on the lookout for them. We’ll also be watching for any sign of that float plane. Trouble is, with the lake as big as it is and with so many streams feeding it, that plane could land anywhere. It’s much better if we find Anthony and Molly before the plane ever arrives. But we need to avoid alarming any of the guests, so keep all of this among yourselves.”

  With a scraping of chairs, they got to their feet. Before Lauren could leave the room with the partner that had been assigned to her, Ethan stopped her.

  “I don’t think your being a part of this is a good idea.”

  She knew his concern for her safety was genuine. She just wished it hadn’t been expressed so coolly.

  “They would prefer that neither one of us be involved in the search,” she pointed out to him, “but since you refused to listen to that suggestion for yourself…”

  “All right, so both of us insist on joining the search. I can’t stop you, Lauren, but how about coming along with—”

  “Who? You? I have my partner, Ethan, and you have yours. Let’s leave it by agreeing that both of us will be careful.”

  She didn’t need his protection, and didn’t want it, not with him feeling as he did. Before he could argue about it, she hurried away to catch up with the young woman she had been paired with.

  THIS IS A WASTE of time, Lauren thought, her frustration mounting as the minutes slipped away.

  She and her partner had begun by looking through the staff quarters located in the attics of the hotel, all without result. Nor had the other teams reported any success yet.

  Now she and the young woman, Barbara something or other, were out on the grounds where they had just checked the tennis courts and the cabana beside the outdoor pool. Useless. What next? Poking under shrubs?

  It was long past midmorning. Even though the rendezvous with the baby broker was scheduled for late afternoon, there weren’t that many hours left to them. Not with the days as short as they were in this season at this latitude. And the thought of losing Sara…

  They were on their way to a gazebo on the other side of the lawns when Lauren’s desperation could stand no more. Anthony Johnson might be all that was vile, but she didn’t think he could be a fool. Surely he would have anticipated a careful search of the entire hotel and avoided concealing himself on its premises. But if they weren’t here, then where? She had an idea.

  “Look,” she said, stopping her partner. “You go on. I’m going to catch the next trolley to the alpine village.”

  “What for? One of the teams already covered the village.”

  “I know, but I’d just like to look around up there.”

  The young woman was doubtful. “I don’t know. We’re supposed to stay together. What if something happens to you?”

  “It won’t. There are lots of people up there. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

  Before the woman could raise any further objections, Lauren was on her way across the lawn to one of the shuttles that had just pulled up to the front steps of the hotel.

  When she reached the village a few moments later, she saw that her argument about the large presence of people had been no exaggeration. Every boutique along the street was running an end-of-the-season sale, and the guests from the hotel were out in force to take advantage of all the bargains.

  Wandering in and out of the shops through the crowds, Lauren began to wonder what she’d hoped to achieve by coming here. The team that visited the village earlier must have been thorough with their search. What could they have overlooked?

  Nothing, apparently, although the garrets of the alpine buildings seemed a possibility. Until, that is, a clerk informed her that all of them were open lofts where stock was stored. And since the personnel of every store were kept busy chasing in and out of the lofts to supply the demands of their customers, it was highly unlikely that two adults and a baby could be hiding in any of them.

  But Lauren stubbornly persisted in her search, trying as she moved from shop to shop not to think about Ethan. Not that she was entirely successful. She couldn’t shake the unhappy realization that, once this was all over and done with, he would go back to his life in Seattle, while she—

  Enough. Concentrate on Sara. Right now Sara is all that matters.

  With that reminder firmly in mind, she arrived at the last shop at the end of the street. It was somewhat larger than the others, a kind of general store offering a variety of merchandise.

  Pointless. There’s nothing for you to discover here.

  Lauren was on her way out of the shop, with the intention of catching a trolley back to the hotel, when she overheard one of the clerks tell another clerk, “I sold the last baby formula on the shelf to that woman who was just in here, and there’s no more in stock.”

  “Well, we’re certainly not going to order replacements with the end of the season staring us in the face.”

  Lauren came to a halt. Was it possible? Heart hammering against her ribs, she turned to the clerk and asked breathlessly, “The woman you were talking about…please, did you see where she went?”

  “Out the back way, but—”

  Not waiting for her to finish, Lauren flew through the store to the back door. Had someone else purchased that baby formula, or could it have been Molly Janek?

  There was no one in sight when Lauren emerged from the rear of the shop where the forest crowded almost to the walls of the buildings. Where could she have gone? The path that wound through the trees? It was her only choice, and Lauren didn’t hesitate to pursue it.

  The trail was carpeted in needles and shredded bark, permitting her to travel it in swift silence. On either side rose giant cedars, hemlocks and spruce. At first that was all she saw, and then through the evergreens ahead of her she caught a glimpse of a figure. A thin woman with blond hair and carrying a plastic sack.

  Lauren’s breath quickened at the sight of her. It had to be Molly Janek!

  She was careful not to get too close and to use the cover of the trees as she followed her. But Molly couldn’t have been worried about the possibility of pursuit. She never once betrayed any nervousness by checking over her shoulder.

  This is dangerous, Lauren thought. I should have asked the clerk to phone the hotel. But there had been no time. I would have lost her if I had hesitated. Nor, reckless or not, did she consider turning back now. She had to learn where Molly was going, and only then—

  She arrived at a fork in the path, the left branch descending in the direction of the lake, the one on the right continuing in a route roughly parallel with the shore. Which way?

  There! She caught a movement through the trees. Molly was on the right branch. Lauren sped along the path after her.

  Within yards, the trees thinned and then fell away altogether. Lauren hung back behind a fir, carefully peering through its concealing boughs into a clearing within sight of the lake. Molly was on her way across that clearing.

  Lauren watched the woman as she waded through the high weeds, and then suddenly Molly vanished. In one second she was there out in the open, and in the next she was gone. As if the earth had swallowed her.

  Intent on the mys
tery of Molly’s disappearance, Lauren failed to hear any sound behind her. Never knew he was there until his arms went around her like a pair of steel bands, his voice at her ear whispering harshly, “Making a regular habit of this, aren’t you?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ethan’s partner was a heavy, balding fellow who complained about his aching feet.

  He’s in the wrong occupation, Ethan thought, trying not to be irritated with the lumbering slowness of the security man as they searched the maze of storerooms in the basement of the hotel.

  Finding nothing, they emerged from the back of the hotel at ground level. The slips where motorboats and sailboats were moored for the pleasure of the hotel’s guests were just below them.

  Ethan turned to his partner, Fred Griggs, and was about to ask him what area they were scheduled to check next when a young man down on the landing hailed them.

  “That’s Ted,” the security man said. “He’s in charge of the boats.”

  “He’s upset about something,” Ethan said as the young man charged up the slope toward them.

  “One of the boats is missing,” Ted reported when he reached them.

  “You sure about that, Teddy?” The security man gazed out at the lake where several craft were on the open waters. “It’s a fine morning, and if you’ve been busy supplying boats, maybe—”

  “I know my boats,” Ted cut him off, “and I know when one isn’t accounted for.”

  “How could that happen if you were there the whole time?” Ethan wanted to know.

  “Well, I wasn’t. I locked up my office, that little building there at the foot of the dock, and came up to the kitchen to get a thermos of coffee. I couldn’t have been away more than fifteen minutes, but when I got back the door was unlocked and one of the motorboat keys was gone from the board.”

  The explanation was immediately apparent to Ethan, who damned himself for not thinking of this at the start.

  “Anthony Johnson,” he said to his partner. “If he was a caretaker for the place, he would have known where to lay his hands on keys to everything, including a spare one for that office.”

  “I don’t get it,” the security man said, slow to understand.

  “He grabbed that boat. That’s where they’re hiding, somewhere on the lake. It makes sense. They’re out there waiting in the boat to rendezvous with the floatplane. How well do you know the lake?”

  “Well enough,” Griggs answered him. “But I gotta tell you, there’s all kinds of little bays and inlets. They could be tucked out of sight in any one of them.”

  “We’re going to cover them all.” Ethan turned to the young man. “What does the missing boat look like?”

  “A twelve-footer, white with a green canvas top and matching side curtains.”

  “Gas up your fastest boat for us,” Ethan instructed him. To Fred Griggs he said, “Better use your two-way to tell them at the command center what we’re doing.”

  Within minutes, he and the security man were speeding away from the dock. Ethan’s sense of urgency gave him no chance to wonder about Lauren. It was just as well. She already had him tied in so many knots that he’d been unable to think clearly. And he needed his mind clear for what was ahead of him.

  “YOU LIKE FOLLOWING people, huh, just like back in Elkton,” he growled at her ear, referring to the episode behind the quick stop.

  This was a sickeningly familiar repetition of that encounter. Lauren could smell the same faintly sour body odor on him, feel his fearful grip that she struggled to resist.

  “Only this time, you don’t get away,” he said, shifting his hold with such lightning swiftness that, before she could prevent it, he had one of her arms pinned behind her back.

  “Keep on fighting me, and I’ll break it,” he warned her.

  Remembering that he had killed both Jonathan Brand and probably his aunt, Lauren knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she provoked him. She stopped struggling.

  “That’s better. I’m gonna give you what you want. I’m gonna show you where Molly went. Move.”

  With her arm still painfully locked behind her, he shoved her forward. They left the trees and started across the weedy clearing. Too late, Lauren realized what a terrible mistake she had made in following Molly Janek without telling anyone what she was doing and where she was going. All she’d been able to think about was her baby. She was still thinking about her.

  “Sara,” she said anxiously. “Is she—”

  “Save it.”

  With the high weeds and from where she had stood behind the fir, Lauren hadn’t been able to tell that the clearing wasn’t entirely level. She could see now as they approached the center of it that it swelled here into a low, grass-covered mound a short distance from the shore of the lake.

  Then, without warning, a shallow flight of stone steps appeared, descending from the edge of the mound to a stout door below. He forced her ahead of him down the steps, ordered her to open the door with her free hand and pushed her inside.

  Lauren stumbled over an uneven floor. He jerked her up and then mercifully released her. Ignoring the soreness in her arm, she tried to see where they were.

  There were no windows and he had closed the door behind them, shutting off the daylight. It would have been completely dark if there hadn’t been several oil lamps burning, one of them hanging from a hook above a rough workbench whose surface was littered with various tools.

  Whatever this place was, its thick stone walls made it dank and heavy with the odor of mold. There was no sign of Molly Janek or Sara anywhere in the gloomy cavern, but she noticed another closed door on the far side.

  He misunderstood her probing. “Wondering what chance you’ve got of someone rescuing you? None,” he taunted her. “No one knows about this place but me. In the early days, the ice that was cut out of the lake in winter was stored here underground for summer use. Then when the hotel got refrigeration, this place was abandoned and forgotten.”

  He approached her, chuckling cruelly. “Smart, huh? Makes the perfect hideaway. Because even if someone did wander this way, they wouldn’t know we were down here. Wouldn’t even hear you if you screamed your head off.”

  Dim though the flickering light was, he stood so close that Lauren had her first clear sight of Anthony Johnson. She didn’t like what she saw.

  Though he resembled Ethan, his features were sharp and cold, his mouth twisted in a mocking smile. The blue-green eyes that stared down at her were intense, smoldering with what must be the bitterness of the legacy that had been denied him. He hadn’t shared in the Brand wealth, and now he never would.

  Lauren thought he was despicable, but she refused to let him see her fear. “Where’s my daughter?” she demanded. “What have you done with her?”

  Before he could answer her, the door on the far side opened, and Molly Janek appeared. She was startled by the sight of Lauren, her guileless blue eyes in her thin face nervously looking from Lauren to Anthony. He rounded on her angrily.

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay here with the kid?”

  “She was all right. I left her sleeping like the little doll she is. I had to go out, hon. The formula was all used up, and I knew she’d be ready for another feeding when she woke up.”

  “First it was diapers, and now it’s formula. Didn’t that stupid little brain of yours stop long enough to think about the risk you were taking? She followed you here, and if I hadn’t sneaked up behind her from the other path after snitching the boat and setting it adrift, she’d have blown it for us.”

  “I’m sorry, hon. I was only trying to take good care of—”

  “Shut up, and let me think.” He eyed Lauren, and then cast his gaze in the direction of the workbench. “Okay, maybe this isn’t so bad. Maybe we can use her as our ticket out of here after the kid is delivered.”

  “How so, hon?”

  “Never mind. Right now, we need to make sure she doesn’t get away before we’re ready for her. Get me those handcuf
fs I took from the security supplies at the hotel last winter. Looks like I finally got a use for them.”

  Molly obediently went to the workbench and poked through all the clutter he must have accumulated in this secret workshop over a period of time. While she was searching for the cuffs, Anthony confiscated Lauren’s shoulder bag. She regretted having it taken away from her. If the opportunity presented itself, she’d hoped to use her cell phone. It was something she should have done long before now, had she been thinking clearly.

  She ought to have known Anthony was too cunning to overlook the possibility of a phone. He found it immediately, looked through the other contents in her purse, pocketed the phone and tossed the bag on the floor. Molly returned and gave him the handcuffs.

  “Hold out your wrist, the right one,” he ordered Lauren. When she hesitated, he growled a menacing, “You won’t feel good if I have to persuade you.”

  She extended her wrist. He clamped one of the bracelets over it and snapped it shut.

  “I want both of you in the other room. And this time stay there,” he instructed Molly. “I’ve got work to do at the bench in here, and I don’t want any distractions.”

  Lauren had the uneasy conviction his work was connected with her and how he intended to use her to get himself and his girlfriend safely away from Windrush. Whatever that twisted brain of his was in the process of devising, she knew it couldn’t be pleasant.

  Useless to ask him. He wouldn’t tell her. In any case, her major concern was for her daughter’s welfare. She longed for some assurance that Sara was all right, which was why she permitted Anthony to lead her across the room and into the other chamber from which Molly had emerged.

  Oil lamps burned here, as well. There was a large basket sitting on a crude table against one wall. Sara had to be lying inside that basket, although Lauren was allowed no glimpse of her.

  Anthony dragged her in the opposite direction. They stopped at a metal rack holding rusted saws and tongs that must have been used long ago to remove ice from the lake. The rack was tightly bolted to the wall. He locked the other bracelet over one of the bars that formed the rack. Lauren was helpless now, chained like a felon to the wall.