TheCrystal

by Sandra Cox

  “And you believe her?”

  “I never did before. But I’m beginning to think, my darling, that our fate is sealed.”

  Gabby lifted her head in the air. “I make my own destiny.”

  He nodded. “Understood. Shall I take the globe back when I go?”

  “No!”

  “But if you don’t believe in the legend, why keep it?” His voice sounded very reasonable.

  She gritted her teeth. “You can’t have it. It’s mine!”

  “But what about Aunt Tam?” His eyes and voice teased.

  A look of regret crossed her face. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head impatient. “We seem to have wandered off course here.”

  “You noticed.” He gave her a wicked grin that turned her heart over.

  “Do you love me?”

  “About this love thing.” Christopher paced the room then stopped and turned toward Gabby, his eyes intense. “I…”

  Gabby straightened, feeling she was on the verge of a cliff and she would either go tumbling into a deep, dark abyss or discover she had wings and fly.

  Christopher cleared his throat and started over, “I don’t know what your…”

  Someone knocked at the door.

  Christopher swore under his breath. “Gabby…”

  The knocking grew more insistent.

  Gabby got off the couch and gave an apologetic shrug. “Saved by the bell.”

  “Who? You or me?”

  “I guess it depends on what you had to say.” Gabby gazed at his torso and gave a regretful sigh. “You better get your shirt on. If it’s Amy, the sight of your bare chest might be too much for her.”

  He gave a rueful smile then headed toward the bedroom. “We’ll talk later. I promise you.”

  Gabby waited ’til Christopher was out of the room and then opened the door. Her eyes widened in shock. “Daddy!”

  He walked in and enveloped her in a bear hug. “Just wanted to make sure my little girl was all right and to see if you’d changed your mind about living with me.”

  “Dad, we’ve been over that a million times.” She sent a mental message to Christopher to stay in the bedroom.

  He apparently didn’t receive it, since he came strolling out, buttoning his shirt.

  “You,” Sergeant Bell roared.

  Christopher gave an almost imperceptible jerk but recovered immediately and continued walking into the room. He nodded his head. “Sir.”

  “I don’t know what you are doing here but you can just get your pretty butt out of here.”

  Though anger darkened Christopher’s eyes, his expression never changed. “Glad you like it but that pretty butt is solely your daughter’s, sir.”

  Gabby put her head in her hands and groaned. What ever possessed him? Did he have a death wish?

  “You get the hell out of this house right now, or by God I’ll take you down and thrown you in the slammer and bury you under so much paperwork you won’t ever get out.”

  Gabby moved quickly. Before Christopher could respond she laid her hand on his arm. It was taut beneath her fingers. “Just go, please.”

  Their eyes locked. For a moment, Gabby thought she glimpsed hurt behind the anger, before the sardonic mask he showed to the world was firmly back in place.

  “No problem. I’ve been practicing that line since the first day we met.”

  Ned whined uneasily at his feet.

  Christopher patted him absently then walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

  Gabby rounded on her father. “Whatever possessed you to say those things?”

  Her father’s ruddy complexion became more so. His eyebrows rose, “Me? Me? The nerve of him.”

  “You pushed him Dad and you know it.”

  “He’s nothing but a common thief, Gabriella.”

  “There is nothing common about Christopher,” she retorted, then shook her head at what she was implying. “You don’t know that.”

  “I can smell a rotten apple a mile away and that one’s rotten.”

  Gabby wondered around the room. “Christopher is a complicated human being.”

  “So was Benedict Arnold and Lee Harvey Oswald or so I’m told.”

  She heaved a sigh. “So what is he, Dad, a thief, a traitor or a murderer?”

  “Gabby he’s a known associate of an international jewel thief.”

  Her eyes troubled, she looked at her father. “Who?” As if I don’t know.

  “He’s called The Tiger.”

  “All that makes him guilty of is keeping bad company.”

  “I know in my bones, he’s a bad one.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Your bones have been known to be wrong, Dad.”

  “Don’t be impertinent.” He grabbed her and gave her a quick hard hug. “Your experience certainly didn’t affect that mouth of yours.”

  She grinned then turned serious. “Dad about Christopher, what do you really have against him?”

  He dropped his hands and threw them up in the air. “He’s a rich, good-for-nothing playboy. He has more money than is good for him and you are probably nothing more than an amusing diversion for him. What you need is a good solid Irish boy. Now take Officer Mahoney…”

  “You take him. We’ve had this conversation before.”

  He grinned sheepishly. “Well, maybe once or twice.”

  “So what you really have against Christopher is his money. It intimidates you.”

  “Is that any way for a good Catholic girl to talk to her father?” He toured over her in a manner most civilians found intimidating. “Like should marry like.”

  But Gabby was nothing if not her father’s daughter. “Dad, that is completely unfair and prejudicial.”

  “Oh, so you’ve decided to give up on being a nosy reporter and become an ambulance chasing attorney instead?”

  Gabby rolled her eyes. And the man wondered why she wouldn’t move back home. Before she could respond, his pager went off. “All cars in the vicinity of Eighteenth Street, a robbery is in progess.”

  Gabby sent a prayer of thanks heavenward.

  She followed closely on her father’s heels, opened the door for him then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re a pain, but I love you, Daddy.”

  He hugged her then gave her a quick buss. “And you are my heart’s delight,” he said walking out the door to his car.

  Gabby stood in the doorway and waved as he drove away. She smiled remembering a very happy childhood.

  Her mom had been a teacher. They were the typical middle-class family. Well maybe not typical. They had been very happy. Were all families as happy as hers? She doubted it.

  Dad could be a royal pain, but he loved her ferociously. And the poor man was lonely. Mom had died three years ago. For some reason Gabby remembered that with clarity.

  She had always been healthy as a horse or so everyone thought. Mom had taught English at the local community college. By the time she found out she had cancer, it was too late to save her. She died just before her forty-eighth birthday.

  Gabby felt a fresh wave of grief. “I miss you Mom.”

  Sensing her sadness Ned nudged her hand with his wet nose and Jericho wound through her legs.

  Gabby swiped at a tear that coursed down her cheek. “Okay, gang, let’s go look at the globe.” She had put it back in a bowl in her bedroom.

  She walked in the room, reached over and picked up the globe. It felt cool to the touch. Clutching it to her like her firstborn, Gabby sank down on the bed.

  Immediately, the globe began to warm. “Just like a mood ring.” Gabby giggled nervously. Hues of green and blue began to swirl in a familiar pattern. Then fell away.

  Christopher’s face appeared. Since her fall into the ravine the ball had always shown her the same picture—Christopher with the cold eyes of a stranger. But this time, the picture changed.

  Gabby stared, all color drained from her face. The ball rolled from her nerveless fingers out of her lap and onto the floor.<
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  This time instead of distant and cold, his eyes registered pain and he was covered in blood.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Gabby punched in Christopher’s cell phone number for the dozenth time. She had been calling for hours. “Come on, Christopher, pick up.” She paced around the apartment. Once again the recorded message came on. “Damn it, Christopher, I know you are there. Please pick up or call me.”

  She waited five minutes then dialed again.

  “What do you want, Gabriella?”

  “Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?”

  “I have a dozen messages from you all saying urgent and all you can say is why didn’t I pick up my phone?”

  “Christopher, what would have been the point in you punching out my father or him hauling you off to jail?”

  “You followed the path of least resistance, Bell.”

  Gabby shot back stung, “Well, no one can ever accuse you of that. If there is a way of stirring the pot you do it.”

  “Stirring the pot? What the hell are you talking about?”

  Gabby shook her head. How had a simple thing like a phone call gotten so complex? “Oh never mind. What I called to tell you is that you are in danger.”

  “From who? Your old man?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  “Get a grip, Bell. What are you babbling about?”

  She could hear the irritation in his voice and since when had he started calling her Bell? She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. “I saw it in the crystal.”

  “What?” She didn’t need to see him to know he had just taken the phone away from his ear and was looking at it as if it were an alien from another planet.

  “You saw it in the crystal.” His voice had the tone people usually reserve for soothing hysterical children or the insane. Gabby had no doubt what category he pigeonholed her in.

  “Just what exactly did you see in the globe?”

  “You.”

  “So? I thought you said you had seen me in it before.”

  “Of course, but this time it was different.” Gabby’s voice was rising. “You were covered in blood.”

  “Probably from banging my head against the wall when I get off this phone.”

  “Will you please be serious?” Her voice shook.

  “You think I’m not? Okay. Okay. So what exactly did you see?”

  “I told you. Don’t you understand English?”

  Heavy breathing sounded over the phone as if Christopher was breathing through his nose.

  “You were shot, maybe knifed. I just don’t know but you were in pain.”

  “Calm down. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you actually care.”

  “Of course I care you idiot.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  Gabby paced around the room. “What did you expect me to do Christopher? Stand there and let you duke it out with my father?”

  “You asked me to leave.”

  “The only other option would have been to gag you. What the hell was that ‘my pretty butt’ comment?”

  “You tell me, your dad made it,” he shot back.

  Gabby heard the car door slam. She could picture his long sleek body lounging against the black Jaguar. “Where are you?”

  “Not that it’s any of your damn business, but I just got home.”

  “Are you leaning up against the car.” Her tone was almost wistful.

  “Looking in your crystal ball again,” he jeered.

  “No, I’m looking in my heart.”

  “Don’t, Gabriella.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t play with me.”

  “I’m not. Damn it Christopher. We are getting way off course here. I called to tell you to be careful.”

  “So noted. You have warned me. By the way, if your dad is looking for his wallet I turned it in to his precinct.”

  Gabby stared at the phone appalled. “You stole my dad’s wallet?” she whispered.

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “The officer on duty said he would be very appreciative. Do you think he will be? Gabby. Hello. Hello. Gabriella?”

  Then a flash. A beautiful Asian leaving the party, followed by a shriek. “My necklace has been stolen.” “I didn’t take the damn thing. Get out of my way before I strike you.”

  “It was a childish thing to do. It was beneath you.”

  “How would you know whether it was beneath me or not? Okay, I gave in to a stupid impulse. I haven’t lifted a wallet in twenty years. But you know it wasn’t to steal it. Just to piss him off. And you are right damn it. It was a stupid thing to do. But I was so damn angry.”

  Gabby spoke slowly thinking aloud. “At the ball I thought you stole Marie Antoinette’s necklace.”

  “Are we back to playing ‘to figure out where we’re going we look at where we’ve been?’ Well forget it, we obviously are going nowhere,” he snarled.

  “And my dad thinks you are a thief.”

  “I told you this is going nowhere.”

  “And I think you are hiding something from me. Why is that do you think?”

  “You’re a newspaper reporter or so you claim, figure it out. By the way Tam said to tell you she has been filling in your column for you and having a blast.”

  The phone went dead.

  “Really? Hello, hello.” The dial tone sounded in her ear.

  “Jerk.” What did she see in the man anyway, other than mind-blowing sex, a great body, loads of money, a quick wit and polished manners—when he chose to use them. And was she or wasn’t she engaged? She looked down at her bare left hand. A definite no on that one.

  Gabby tapped her chin with an Auburn-Awe colored fingernail. An evil smile played across her lovely features. No reason Mahoney had to know that. She could always pick up a zirconium ring at a pawnshop. Yes indeedy. That should work.

  It was a moment before she realized he had sidetracked her completely from what she had seen in the globe. Eel.

  Well if he wouldn’t take her seriously, she would just have to do something about it herself. Her chin came up and with it her tenacity.

  She punched in speed dial on the phone. She would call Aunt Tam and warn her, then make arrangements to return to New Orleans. “Beatrice. How wonderful to talk to you.” I think. “No, no, I don’t want Christopher. I’d like to speak to Tam. Oh she’s not? Would you have her call me back? No need to mention this to Christopher. Thanks. Bye now.”

  The phone rang again, almost as soon as she hung up. “Christopher? Oh, I’m sorry I thought you were someone else. Ned and Jericho’s shots are due tomorrow? Thanks so much for reminding me. Both of them right? Three tomorrow? I’ll be there.” She hung up the phone. An inexplicable feeling of dread had come over her while she talked to her vet’s receptionist. Something about her voice triggered an unpleasant response.

  Lai sat in the chair of her luxury suite in downtown Springfield and hung up the phone. “So you were expecting Christopher, you silly bitch. No one but no one gets the better of Lai Mao.”

  Driving a nondescript gray sedan, Lai pulled onto Gabby’s street, stopped two doors down and killed the engine. She looked at her watch. Two-twenty. Ms. Bell should be leaving anytime.

  She’d come alone. She’d given Leaky and the fool of a proprietor their chance and they’d failed. Now, she would do this job herself and reap all the rewards. No one would share in the riches.

  A police car cruised by. Of course, she thought contemptuously, we don’t want anything to happen to daddy’s little girl.

  She pulled down the visor and looked into the mirror. She wore a red curly wig, designer clothes and large sunglasses. From a distance she would pass for the bitch’s little friend. She’d carefully watched the comings and goings since the Amazon arrived home, including Christopher’s arrival. Her hand tightened on the steering wheel. She took a deep breath and made herself relax.

  The Amazon’s friend was an inch or two t
aller than Lai, but no one observing them from a distance would notice.

  As she watched the house, Gabriella Bell came out, a cat carrier in one hand, the dog on a leash in the other. She hustled them into the car then pulled out of the drive.

  She waited another five minutes then picked up an elegant silver striped shopping bag. She walked to the house then picked the lock. She had just opened the door, when Gabby’s neighbor came out on his porch.

  “Hi Amy.”

  Lai waved.

  “You just missed Gabby. She was taking the dog and cat to the vet.”

  Lai pointed at her bag, then the door.

  “Oh, you’ve got a present for Gabby, cool.”

  Lai nodded again and slipped inside. She went straight to the back bedroom, hoping the blonde ox still kept the globe in the same place. Her eyes swept the area as she stepped into the room. There it was, sitting in the same bowl on the bookcase. Lai smiled, triumphant. “Of course, the woman has no imagination.” She approached it eagerly, took out a loupe and studied it. Elation coursed through her. “Just as I thought.”

  She dug into the shopping bag and pulled out a white square box. Opening it she took out an identical looking globe. She placed it on the bed then walked over to Gabby’s green crystal and started to pick it up then bit back a cry.

  The moment she touched it, it froze her fingers. She drew them back, stiff and cold. Lai looked around. An untidy heap of clothes lay on the floor. She grabbed a faded green tee shirt and gingerly lifted the globe. Even through the tee shirt, it stung her hands.

  She carried it quickly to the box and dropped it in and then placed the globe she’d purchased for $19.95 in the bowl. Grabbing the box, she shoved it in the bag then walked out of the house.

  Hips swaying, she strolled to the van, placed the sack in the passenger side and pulled out into the street.

  She caught her reflection in the rearview mirror, her glistening taupe lips parted in a smile, jubilation lighting her eyes. It was a perfect plan. The ox would blame Christopher for the theft.

  This would drive them apart. She would have him or no one would. But regardless, she had the crystal and would be rich beyond her wildest imaginings.