“Oh!” Greg said as though he just remembered. “I lent a handkerchief to Hildy one day. She never returned it. They probably staged this whole thing to make it look like foul play. They must have a guilty conscience, and decided to disappear and frame me for the whole thing!”
Jay didn’t know what to believe. Greg suddenly seemed like a stranger to him. He rubbed his eyes in confusion. “I’m too tired to continue this tonight,” he told Greg. “Maybe things will seem clearer in the morning.”
He went to his room, but couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t get Zack’s call and accusations out of his mind. What if he’s right? I never gave Hildy a chance to explain.
When he thought Greg was asleep he went back into the living room and called Zack in Paris.
“Zack,” he said, “please keep me posted on Hildy’s disappearance. I’ve got to know she’s all right, regardless of what she may have done.”
Zack sighed. “You still don’t believe her, do you, Jay?”
“If she’s so innocent, why didn’t she tell me who she was? I’m her husband. I have a right to know.”
“What would you have done if she had?” Zack asked him.
“I would have confronted Greg and demanded to know the truth!”
“Exactly!” Zack exclaimed. “Then Greg would have known who she was and denied everything. You would probably have believed him, and then he’d have gone after her. Hildy couldn’t take that chance! Her life was in danger. If he put a bomb on her plane when she flew to Paris, who knows what fiendish plan he’ll come up with next!”
Jay couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Greg put a bomb on her plane?! What makes you think that?”
“Well, somebody did, and he certainly had the motive. He wanted her out of the way so she wouldn’t expose him for the fraud that he is. She wrote ‘The Pepper Pot’ under the name of ‘The Ginger Jar,’ and she has proof!”
For the first time since Jay got back from Paris, he felt a glimmer of hope. Oh, dear God, could it be that Hildy really was telling me the truth?
“The French police are working on their disappearance,” Zack continued, “but so far they’ve come up with nothing. They’ve looked everywhere, and they’ve run out of leads.”
“Keep trying, Zack, and keep me posted,” Jay said. He hung up abruptly. Greg had come into the room.
“I thought I heard voices,” Greg said. “Isn’t it a little late to be calling anyone?”
“There was something I wanted to run by the stage director,”
Jay replied.
Greg looked at his watch. “At this time of night?”
Jay was becoming annoyed. “He was expecting my call,” he answered, trying to stay calm.
“Oh,” Greg said. “I thought I heard Zack’s name.”
Jay did his best not to explode. “The director’s name is Zachary,” he reminded Greg.
Greg’s whole attitude changed to one of relief. He nodded, apparently satisfied with Jay’s explanation. “See you in the morning,” he said, and returned to his room.
CHAPTER XL
Four days had gone by since Zack informed Jay of Hildy’s disappearance. He could hardly eat or sleep. He thought that by now they would have found her. He kept in touch with Zack every day, but still no news, and every day the grave doubts about Greg piled up. The handkerchief with “G.W.” on it haunted him. It was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. He knew it was useless to question Greg. He would probably deny everything, just as Zack said.
Greg had returned to Boston for “some kind of appointment,” he said. “I may have another musical for you soon,” he told Jay.
His absence gave Jay a chance to think more clearly, and he wondered if Greg had returned to “help” someone else with a new musical - or, rather, to help himself to someone else’s new musical.
He decided to call Zack again. It was eight o’clock in the evening in New York, which made it two the next morning in Paris, but Jay couldn’t wait any longer. He had to know if they had made any progress in finding Hildy.
Zack answered immediately when the call came through. “Hildy and Roger haven’t shown up yet,” he told Jay. “The gendarmes have no further clues. They’ve exhausted the possibilities. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“Please,” Jay begged, “keep me posted. I’m very worried. If anything happens to her - - “ He broke off. “Someone’s at the door. I’ll talk to you later.”
When he opened the door, a messenger handed him a small package postmarked from Paris. Jay tipped him and went inside to open it.
In the package were Hildy’s engagement and wedding rings. No note. Just the rings.
Tears came to his eyes as he thought of the happy day he gave them to her. It seemed like years ago. So much had happened since then, and the return of the rings made everything seem so terribly final.
The script for “La Fleur Rouge” lay on the table beside his coffee cup. He was so upset that when he reached for the script his hands shook and he accidentally hit the cup, knocking it over. The hot coffee spilled over the title page.
He grabbed a paper towel to wipe up the mess when suddenly something caught his eye. The corners of the stickers with Greg’s name and the title, “The Red Flower,” had started to lift up. Jay put his thumb and forefinger on the edges and gently pulled them back.
He sat in stunned silence! Underneath the stickers, neatly typed, was the title, “La Fleur Rouge,” with Hildy’s name as author and composer! For a moment he couldn’t move as the truth dawned on him. Then he sprung into action.
He dashed over to his files and pulled out the scripts to “The Pepper Pot” and “Sunny Days.” He carefully dampened the stickers and inserted his thumbnail under what had become known as Greg’s logo. The titles, “The Ginger Jar,” and “The Happy Heart,” were finally uncovered with Hildy’s and Roger’s names on them. Here was the proof of what Peter had tried to tell him!
Jay was overcome with remorse and fear. How could he have been so naive as to be taken in by Greg’s lies? Has he really done something to harm Hildy? She’s been missing now for almost a week. Where could she be? As he sat there thinking, something nudged at his memory. What was it? Then he remembered!
He picked up the phone and called Parisian Airlines. “Please book me on the next flight to Paris, “ he said when the ticket agent came on the line. “I have to get there ASAP! This is Jay Stuart.” He waited while she checked. When she came back on the line he looked at his watch. “Nine-thirty? Yes. First Class is fine. I’ll be there.”
He hung up and dialed the stage director at his home. “I have to go back to Paris tonight,” he told him. “I can be reached at La Grande Veue Hotel if you need me. Hold up production on ‘Sunny Days’ until you hear from me again. I can’t explain now, but don’t under any circumstances tell Greg where I’ve gone. This is very important! If he asks, tell him I went out of town on business. You don’t know where. I’ll call you when I get back.”
Next, he dialed La Grande Veue Hotel again in Paris. “Zack Davis, please,” he told the operator. “It’s urgent!” He waited a moment. It took only two rings. “Zack,” Jay said, “I’m coming back to Paris. I have a hunch where Hildy and Roger might be. I know now that what you’ve been telling me about Greg is true. I’m sure he’s at the bottom of this. I have something very interesting to show you. My plane gets in at four-thirty in the morning, Paris time. I’ll take a cab to the hotel.”
Zack’s relieved voice came over the wire. “I think that’s a wise decision,” he said. “I only hope your hunch is right. We’re extremely worried. I’m sorry if I came down on you too hard, but it’s time you knew what Greg is really like.”
“Don’t apologize,” Jay told him. “See you in a few hours.”
“I’ll alert Peter and we’ll be waiting for you i
n the lobby,” Zack promised.
Jay hung up abruptly, threw a few things into a small suitcase, put the scripts into his carry-on bag, and rang for a cab. He arrived just in time to board the plane. It took off immediately, and he was on his way to Paris to try and find Hildy.
His mind raced as he thought of her in possible danger. How could I have doubted her? he berated himself. I should have known she couldn’t steal anything. If it hadn’t been for what looked like infallible proof, he would have dismissed Greg’s accusations immediately. Finding out from Greg who she really was, knowing she had kept it from him, was a shock, and made it hard not to believe his story. Not that that excuses me! he muttered.
A heavy feeling of dread weighed him down. If anything happens to her I’ll never forgive myself, he thought sadly. Why didn’t I listen to her back in Boston? Why didn’t I let her explain before leaving that note for her in Paris?
It was Greg who talked me out of it, and I trusted him! What a fool I’ve been! How could I have been so stupid? Hildy is the one I should have trusted!
It seemed forever before they finally landed at Orly Airport at four-thirty in the morning, Paris time. In spite of the fact that Jay hadn’t slept a wink during the flight, he was wide awake and alert in his desire to find Hildy. This was uppermost in his mind. He hurried off the plane and went immediately to the taxi area.
“Take me to La Grande Veue Hotel as fast as you can, please,” he told the driver. “It’s an emergency.”
“Oui, Monsieur,” he answered, and stepped on the accelerator.
They arrived at the hotel in twenty minutes instead of the usual half hour.
Peter and Zack were waiting for him in the lobby. When they saw Jay enter, they rushed to meet him.
“Thank God you’re here!” they exclaimed.
“Any word?” asked Jay anxiously.
“No. We’re completely at sea about where to look,” Zack said.
“I may know where they are. It’s just a wild guess, but we’ve got to try. I only hope if I’m right that we’re not too late.”
Jenny arrived just then on the elevator. She looked exhausted from worry. “Jay!” she greeted him. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She turned to Peter. “Any word?”
“Not yet,” Peter answered, “but Jay has an idea.”
“Let’s go up to your room, Peter,” Jay suggested. “We can talk freely there.”
As soon as they were settled in Peter’s room, Zack spoke up. “What finally convinced you that I was telling the truth about Greg?”
Jay reached into his carry-on bag and pulled out the scripts to “The Ginger Jar,” “La Fleur Rouge,” and “The Happy Heart,” and handed them to Zack. “Here are the scripts with the stickers that Greg placed over the original titles. I was so used to seeing them on all of his musicals, it never occurred to me to question them.”
Zack took the scripts and studied them for a moment. He looked grim. “I’d better hang on to these,” he said. “They might be just the thing we need when we sue Greg in court.”
“Why couldn’t I have discovered this sooner?” Jay berated himself.
“This is no time for self-incriminations,” Zack said. “Where is this place you think Greg may have taken them?”
“Greg’s parents used to own a lodge in the Alps. They left it to Greg when they died. He’s an expert pilot and he flew me there once. I don’t know why this has come to me, but it would be the perfect place to hide them. I won’t rest until we check it out. I think we should call one of the companies that rent planes.”
Peter put in a call to the first one listed. It was seven o’clock by now. After talking to the man briefly, he hung up and turned to the others. "No one by the name of Gregory Wilcox rented a plane." He looked disappointed. "Maybe they’re not there. What now?" he asked.
But Zack wasn’t fooled. "Did anyone rent a plane that day?" he asked Peter.
"Only one, he told me. A man by the name of George Wilson."
Zack looked at Jay who turned pale and gripped the arms of his chair.
"It was Greg!" they said in unison.
Jay rose to his feet. "That's the alias Greg uses when he doesn't want anyone to know who he is!" he explained to Peter and Jenny. "That's where they are all right! I'm sure of it! We can't waste any time!"
"Can anyone here fly a plane?" Peter asked.
"I flew combat in the war," Zack told him. "We'll have to rent a ski plane. I've never flown one, but it can't be too different."
"It wouldn't hurt to take my gun," Peter suggested, reaching for his briefcase. But when he opened the secret compartment in the bottom, the gun wasn't there! "Well! This is interesting!" he remarked. "My gun is missing! First the script - now the gun. And look what's here in its place!" He held up the unopened bottle of Scotch that Greg had wrapped in a newspaper dated the day he was scheduled to fly back to New York with Jay.
"Greg's favorite drink!" Jay said in a hollow voice.
"How could this have happened?" Peter asked.
"You put the case on the coffee table in the lobby when you waited to speak to the clerk," Zack reminded him. "You remember - the night Greg flew back to New York with Jay. Greg must have taken the gun the same time he took the script. There's no other explanation!"
"Greg didn't fly back with me on the eleventh!" Jay exclaimed. "That's the day he showed me what he claimed was his copy of 'La Fleur Rouge' and said Hildy stole it from him two years ago in Boston. He stayed here to have it out with her."
He thought for a minute. "Let me check on something." He picked up the phone. "Get me the Saint Germaine Hotel, please," he told the operator. He waited a moment. "Can you tell me what day Gregory Wilcox checked out of your hotel?" he asked when the clerk answered.
"One moment, s'il vous plait. I will look on the roster." A moment's silence - then - "Monsieur, he checked out a little after nine-fifteen the night of the seventeenth. He said he had to catch the next plane to New York."
"Thank you," Jay said, and hung up. "One more call," he said and dialed Parisian Airlines. "Was Gregory Wilcox a passenger on your flight to New York on the seventeenth?" Jay asked the ticket agent. "It would be the ten PM flight from Paris." He waited while she checked.
"No, Monsieur," she told him, "there's no Gregory Wilcox listed."
"How about George Wilson?"
The clerk checked the list again. "Oui, Monsieur. He made a reservation around nine in the evening for the ten o'clock flight, and boarded just as it was about to leave."
"Thank you." Jay hung up and turned to the others. "There was a George Wilson on that flight. It was Greg. He told me he stayed two nights in Boston before coming to my place. But that would mean he had to leave Paris on the fifteenth, not the seventeenth. All these years I've known him and trusted him," he said, shaking his head. "I find this whole thing so hard to believe."
Jenny, who had said nothing until now, could no longer keep quiet. "You should have found it hard to believe that Hildy would do the things Greg accused her of," she chided him.
Jay looked crushed. "I've told myself the same thing a thousand times since I uncovered these stickers."
Jenny looked penitent. "I'm sorry, Jay," she apologized. "I shouldn't have said that. I know how badly you feel." She rose from her chair. "What are we waiting for? Jay is right. Greg took them to the lodge and left them there to die. We can't wait another minute! We'd better call the police and have one of them go with us. If we find them there we'll need a witness."
"Good thinking, Jenny!" Peter picked up the phone and called the police to arrange for one of the gendarmes to meet them at the hangar. Then he handed the phone to Zack. "Here," he said, "you know what kind of plane you can fly."
Zack called the rental company and arranged for a plane to be waiting for them when they arrived at t
he hangar. After picking up plenty of Danish pastry and a giant size thermos of coffee at the hotel, they hailed a cab.
It was almost nine o’clock when they arrived at the hangar. The sun was just poking its head through the overcast sky.
The gendarme was waiting for them. He and Jay went inside with Zack while he filled out the necessary papers.
"Bonjour, Monsieur," Zack greeted the man behind the desk. "I called about renting the ski plane."
The man handed him a form. Zack filled it out and turned to the man. "What kind of plane did George Wilson rent?" he asked. "Was it a ski plane?"
"Oui, Monsieur," the man replied.
"Did he tell you where he was going?" Zack asked him.
The man hesitated.
The gendarme showed him his badge. "Police business," he said.
"Oh," the man answered. "He said something about wanting to visit his lodge. I believe it's somewhere in the French Alps near the Swiss border."
"Was anyone with him?" Zack asked.
"Not that I noticed," the man told him.
"How long was he gone?"
"About three hours. A very short trip."
"Just time enough to do his dirty work," Zack said to Jay.
"He flew to the lodge all right. Think you can recognize it from the air?"
"I'm sure I can," Jay replied. "I remember the reading on the compass when Greg flew me there before."
They quickly boarded the plane and took off.
CHAPTER XLI
Hildy and Roger had run out of food and wood. It was cold, and it looked as though they were in for another snow storm. Hildy was snoozing in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace where the last bit of wood was burning.
Roger walked over to her. “Hildy,” he said softly.
She opened her eyes and saw the worried expression on his face. She sat up. “What is it?” she asked.
“We’ve got to get out of here and look for a road or a house. There must be some nearby.” He looked at his watch. “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon and it’s beginning to snow again. We have to find a phone before it gets too heavy."
La Fleur Rouge The Red Flower Page 20
