And The Bride Vanishes

by Jacqueline Diamond

  “But—couldn’t he have left them before the accident?” Avery sounded dazed.

  “The victim rented the apartment after Mr. Farley’s disappearance, which means he had to have survived the accident to leave his prints,” Harvey said.

  “Then why didn’t he call Linda?”

  “I don’t know.” There was a heartbeat of silence, and then he said, “There’s a strong likelihood that he’s the one who kidnapped her.”

  “Good Lord,” Avery gasped.

  Behind the couch, Linda wondered how much of this conversation Mina could hear. Perhaps nothing. The other woman might have no idea what was going on out here.

  She prayed that Mina wouldn’t lose patience. Or Wick, either. The last thing they needed was for him to come storming inside.

  “You said the files Wick stole weren’t in the apartment,” Granville observed.

  “That’s right, which means Mr. Farley must have them. But we still don’t know what was going on between the time of his disappearance and Ms. Walters’s death, or what their connection was.” The police captain resumed pacing. “I’m afraid this raises another disturbing possibility.”

  “Captain, I don’t think my son needs to hear—”

  “I appreciate your concern, but you won’t be able to shield him once the TV newshounds start speculating,” Harvey said. “The fact is, if Wick Farley could kill one woman, he might have killed another.”

  She heard Avery’s sharp intake of breath. “For what possible reason? Linda didn’t pose any danger to him.”

  “Learning that she planned to remarry might have been enough,” Harvey said. “That could trigger violence in a possessive man.”

  “You’re talking about a guy I lived with for four years in college!” Avery said. “I know him like a brother. He isn’t capable of this kind of thing.”

  “I’m sorry,” came Harvey’s voice, “but we have to consider the possibility that he had a side you never saw. We haven’t found any indications of a criminal background, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t perpetrate something for which he was never caught.”

  “It’s all guesswork! No one can prove Wick’s actually done anything!” Avery insisted.

  “Can’t we?” growled Granville. “You’re forgetting that he stole my clients’ files, and that he’s been hiding for four months. He probably ran his car off the bridge on purpose, so he could disappear. He must have had reasons, and I can’t think of any that wouldn’t involve some kind of crime.”

  “At the moment, we just want to talk to him,” Harvey said. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”

  Avery cleared his throat. Linda felt a shiver of alarm.

  If anyone could figure out that they had gone to the cabin, it would be Avery.

  ALTHOUGH IT WAS EARLY, a trickle of guests had begun leaving. Wick wondered if the loud music was driving them away. He’d never been crazy about cranked-up amplification, himself.

  Several cars had already departed, when the Capeks emerged from the house. There was no mistaking Yuri’s constricted movements as he wedged his way down the steps with the help of his cane, disdaining the wheelchair ramp that ran to one side.

  Wick hunkered down in the driver’s seat while the trio climbed into their car and drove off. He was just straightening when another couple emerged, stunningly costumed in black and white. The D’Amboises.

  Cursing silently, he lowered himself again. If Linda and Mina would return, he’d like to tail that pair.

  Most likely the D’Amboises would head home, but there was always the possibility they were going somewhere else, particularly at this early hour. Any contacts they made might give him a clue.

  In his side-view mirror, he watched the couple head for a Lexus parked a few dozen feet behind him. They were so close he could hear Lynette say something irritable in French, and Pierre respond with a soothing murmur.

  A chauffeur jumped out and held the door. As she slid inside, Lynette tossed off her fur cape as if it was making her swelter, which on a hot night like this was distinctly possible. She didn’t appear to notice when her half mask dropped to the driveway, and neither did Pierre.

  After the Lexus pulled out, Wick checked his mirror again. The mask lay on the concrete, undamaged.

  He surveyed the area. Two valets were lounging against the side of a car, smoking cigarettes. They might think it odd if Wick darted out and retrieved the mask.

  He would wait a little longer. But if he had to go inside, Lynette D’Amboise had given him the means of disguising himself.

  AVERY GAVE ANOTHER slight cough.

  “Have you thought of something?” Harvey pressed.

  “Linda has a cousin in San Diego,” he said. “Wick might have taken her there, assuming she decided to throw in her lot with him. That way, she’d have access to obstetrical care.”

  She couldn’t believe Avery remembered her second cousin. He’d only met the girl once, when she visited Linda in high school. The two of them hadn’t been in contact for several years.

  “You think Linda might have gone with him willingly?” the policeman asked.

  “Damn crazy idea!” From Granville’s roar, the notion offended him. “She was planning to marry you!”

  “She didn’t love me, and I knew it.” Avery’s painful honesty squeezed Linda’s heart. “If she found out Wick was alive, even if he did abduct her, she would have given him the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Let’s hope that’s the case,” Harvey said. “If so, she might still be alive.”

  “Have you told her parents about Farley’s fingerprints?” Granville asked.

  “I just came from their house.”

  “What was their reaction?”

  “Shock, as you might expect. Her mother said they might have expected something like this from Mr. Farley. There was no love lost between them, I gather.”

  “Probably with good reason,” Granville said. “I don’t mean to question my son’s judgment, but Avery thinks well of everyone. Linda’s parents must have had grounds to dislike the man.”

  “Or maybe they just resented an outsider winning their daughter’s heart,” Avery said. “Listen, Harve, I don’t know you all that well, but you’ve always struck me as a fair-minded man. I’m asking you, if you see Wick, try not to hurt him. I still think there has to be a reasonable explanation for all this.”

  “We always try to make arrests without injury, if possible,” Harvey responded. “And of course, since there’s a chance Mrs. Farley might be with him, we’ll be particularly careful.”

  “Thanks,” Avery said. “How’s Janet handling all this?”

  “Scared to death,” was Harvey’s frank reply. “Apparently, her great-uncle’s got some paranoid notion that he’ll be hunted down for fleeing from Litvonia. He doesn’t seem to understand that the dictator’s gone and they’re a democracy now.”

  “He sees a connection between Wick’s disappearance and his home country?” Granville asked.

  “He was one of the clients whose files were stolen,” Harvey said. “Anything is possible, I suppose, but I think the possibility of someone seeking financial information is much more likely.”

  “Any new developments on that?” Granville said.

  “So far, no one has attempted to access any of your clients’ bank accounts,” the policeman said. “I’ll let you know the minute I learn more.”

  “Thanks, Harve. It was good of you to come here in person,” Granville said.

  “I’ll let you get down to your guests, then.”

  The men walked out. Linda forced herself to remain motionless behind the couch long after the lights were switched off.

  Then she went and let Mina out of the hidden room. The older woman seemed to be having trouble breathing.

  “Are you all right?” Linda asked. “Is it your heart?” Even in the uneven glare from outside, Mrs. Barash looked pale.

  “So silly!” she said. “Being shut in a small space, that has always fr
ightened me. But it is not your fault. You did the right thing. Now, we must go quickly.”

  Linda’s thoughts flew to the parking lot. They’d been gone a long time. She just hoped Wick had had the good sense to sit tight.

  Chapter Nine

  The two valets finished smoking their cigarettes and wandered toward the house steps. This was as good a moment as any to fetch the mask.

  Wick cracked his door open, then took one last look toward the house. At that moment, Harvey Merkel strode out.

  His heart rate accelerating, Wick slammed the door, but he knew that for a moment the dome light had shone directly onto his face. He cursed himself silently for not having deactivated it first.

  The police captain appeared to be staring at the BMW. Feverishly, Wick’s mind sorted through his options. Hiding was impossible, and he certainly didn’t intend to fight. A getaway by foot would have little chance of success.

  The wisest course would be to stay still and hope Harvey hadn’t seen anything. Keeping his face averted, Wick pretended to fiddle with the car’s radio.

  His skin prickled as footsteps crunched across the concrete. Muscles tensed as he waited for a rap on the window or a shouted order to get out.

  Harvey continued past. Down the driveway, the man got into his car, then sat there for long minutes. From the way he bent toward the passenger seat, with one shoulder lowered, Wick gathered he was making notes.

  The policeman was still sitting there when the two pandas came out of the house. One held the other’s arm as if for support, and for a harrowing moment he thought Linda might have been hurt.

  Then, watching their movements, he realized it was the older woman who was leaning. She didn’t limp but she moved shakily.

  Keeping his back toward Harvey, Wick jumped out and helped the women into the car. As he started the engine, he noticed, to his relief that the policeman had finally left.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Linda removed her mask. “It’s her heart.”

  “I’m taking her to the hospital.” Wick valued his freedom, but not at the price of someone’s life.

  “You will not!” Mina whipped off her mask. There was nothing weak about her attitude or her voice. “It was not my heart, it was a panic attack. I am ashamed of this. An old woman like me, afraid of the dark!”

  “Couldn’t that much anxiety trigger a heart attack, though?” Linda asked.

  “Nonsense. I am fine. I refuse to let fear make me an invalid!” the woman snorted. “So! Let us hurry home and see what we have found.”

  On the way, Linda explained about the contents of the safe and relayed the conversation between Harvey and the Lymes. Wick listened grimly. So he was now suspect number one to the police and apparently to everyone else except Avery.

  That was typical of his old friend, to think the best of everyone. Wick was sorry now that he’d ever doubted the man. In this matter, Linda had shown the best judgment.

  But he was glad he hadn’t let her go through with the wedding. He wanted her with him, for as long as possible. He wanted to watch the changing expressions on her face, to feel the baby move, to hear Linda chuckle.

  It was worth the risks. He only hoped she thought so, too.

  After dropping the two women at the cabin, he parked half a block away. Otherwise, it was always possible someone would drive by and wonder why a car was sitting in front of the Ryans’ house.

  When he came inside, he found that Linda was making tea, while color had returned to Mina’s cheeks. Still clad in her fuzzy black-and-white outfit, she examined a sheet of paper at the dining-room table.

  “Well?” He sat beside her. “Have our efforts paid off?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “This is something, but what? See for yourself.”

  She handed him a computer-printed sheet of paper. The words on it were a jumble of letters, numbers, percent signs and asterisks.

  He didn’t have to be an expert to see that this was a code, and not the sort to be easily broken by amateurs. “Computer generated, don’t you think?”

  Mina sighed. “I suppose only someone with the right computer program could unscramble it.”

  “Granville must have it in his computer.” Linda poured them each a cup of tea. “It’s Earl Gray. Anyone want sugar?” They didn’t.

  Wick studied the paper on the unlikely chance that the meaning might strike him. Finally he noticed something. “Look at the layout. Each line is fairly short, and there’s a space every three lines. I’ll bet these are names and addresses.”

  The women examined the page in turn. “The blocks on the back have four lines,” Linda observed.

  “Foreign addresses,” said Mina.

  “Do you suppose he’s blackmailing these people?” Wick mused aloud. “Or they could be contacts in some illegal business.”

  “Maybe we should send them to the police anonymously, with a note saying where they came from,” Linda suggested.

  Mina made a pooh-poohing noise. “They would just give them back to Granville.”

  It was a dead end, Wick thought. “There’s one thing these prove, at least to me. Granville’s got to be involved in something underhanded. That’s the only possible reason for keeping these in code, and in his safe.”

  “It doesn’t prove he killed Sarah. Besides, you said whoever cut a hole in her window must have been a professional…” Linda stopped to catch her breath. “Oh, my gosh. Granville used to be in some kind of elite Marine unit, a long time ago. Avery told me how proud his dad was of it.”

  Wick rested his head in his hands. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together, all right, but not in a way Harvey Merkel was likely to appreciate. He wouldn’t be in any hurry to arrest someone as prominent as Granville, especially not based on such sketchy suppositions.

  Mina tucked the paper back into her bag. “Let us sleep on this. Maybe an idea will come to us in the night. Tomorrow, we can regroup, as they say. Also, I will need to take the costumes back. No, no, don’t bother to change now. I will pick them up tomorrow.”

  He escorted her to the door. “You’ve been a trouper. Are you sure you can drive home all right?”

  “Absolutely. I am as fit as a fiddler.”

  It wasn’t her verbal reassurance but the sight of her now-rosy face that provided his answer. Nevertheless, she was old and it was getting late. Wishing he dared walk her to the car, Wick watched through a window until she drove off.

  “She’s amazing,” Linda said as she cleared the teapot and cups. “I’ll tell you, though, I’m definitely not cut out for the life of a secret agent. Hiding behind the couch scared me half to death.”

  Wick took her in his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’d rather it had been me.”

  “Wouldn’t that have been ironic, you crouching there listening to Harvey talk about your murderous tendencies?” she murmured into his shoulder. “Mmm. I love a man in a uniform.”

  “Even a chauffeur?”

  “If it’s this chauffeur,” she said.

  He escorted her into the bedroom and let her take off his uniform. Then they made love, slowly and gently.

  Wick wasn’t aware of dozing, but he must have fallen asleep. When he awoke, the digital clock showed that it was 2:47 a.m.

  Even in sleep, his mind had been replaying the day’s events. He had the impression that he had actually witnessed the pandas cracking open the safe and pulling out that mysterious file. He could even see the meeting in the library with Granville, Avery and Harvey.

  Yet it had all gone for nothing. Despite Linda’s and Mina’s hard work, tonight had yielded yet another dead end.

  Now that the police considered him a murder suspect, Wick knew he would be treated as potentially armed and dangerous. That meant if he and Linda were spotted, they might get hurt if the police misinterpreted anything they did. Despite Avery’s plea for his safety, Wick didn’t expect the patrol officers to give him any leeway.

  And if the killer h
adn’t known before that Wick was alive, he would learn it now through the news media. He would seek out his target, just as he had done with Sarah. By letting Linda stay with him, Wick was putting her directly in harm’s way.

  The kindest thing he could do right now would be to vanish, leaving behind a note of explanation. Once he was gone, his wife would be free to surface. Then Avery would take care of her.

  He remembered his thought from earlier this evening, that he couldn’t be so unselfish. Was it true? Was he really prepared to endanger his wife and child, just so he could keep them close for a little while longer?

  Propping himself on his elbow, he gazed at his sleeping wife. Dark hair tumbled around her face, which had softened into an expression of sweet innocence.

  He had always found her breathtakingly lovely, and, studying the curve of her cheek and the ashy sweep of her lashes, he knew that he always would. The beauty he saw in her was not the kind that time could dim.

  The sheets had bunched around her midsection, reminding him of the baby that slept there. Was it a boy or a girl? Would its eyes be blue like Linda’s or brown like his?

  He pictured the baby taking its first step, then holding out its tiny arms to be picked up. He wanted to be there, to give that child the love and security he had missed in his own childhood.

  But what kind of future could he offer? With every day, there seemed less chance of proving his innocence. Wick was willing to risk his own life, but not Linda’s. Not their child’s.

  Filled with regret for the pain he knew he would cause, he ran one finger lightly across his wife’s cheek. A strand of hair fell away from her ear, and he noticed that she was no longer wearing the tiny diamond earrings he had given her.

  He remembered noticing them earlier this evening. Puzzled, he leaned over until he could see her other ear. The diamond was still in place.

  She had lost one. It was a minor matter, but it gave him an even greater sense of loss. The fact that she had kept these for so long, and worn them even on the day she was to marry Avery, had been a sign of loyalty.