Framed For Love

by Rachel Ann Nunes

  Cassi grinned. “Thanks.”

  “And thanks for helping to bring us home,” Jared added.

  “Just my job.” Fred arose and opened the door for them.

  “Well, we appreciate it all the same,” Cassi said.

  Fred shook both their hands and the exited the room. “Oh, and if anything odd happens, or if you remember anything you haven’t told me, I’d appreciate knowing. There are still some loose ends that I need to tie.”

  Cassi tried to shake off the peculiar feeling that settled over her at the agent’s words. She smiled and put her hand in Jared’s, aware that Fred still watched them from the doorway.

  “After we see Linden, I’d like to go by Quentin Holbrooke’s,” she said as they walked toward the elevator. “I know the FBI will tell him about his painting, but I’d also like to thank him for his help. I guess I could call him, but I lost his phone card, and his number was on that. Besides, it’d be nice to tell him in person.”

  “Should I be jealous?” Jared teased.

  They had reached the elevator now and Cassi stepped inside, glad to see that they were alone and no longer under the watchful eye of Fred Schulte. She put her arms around Jared. “I love you and only you. You absolutely don’t need to be jealous.”

  “I’m not,” Jared said, kissing her for a long minute. “Okay, maybe I am. The sooner we’re married, the safer I’ll feel.”

  Cassi laughed, the odd feeling completely banished. “Oh, be quiet and kiss me again.”

  In the end, they decided to stop off at Quentin Holbrooke’s en route to see Linden. “We’ll just stay a minute,” Cassi said. “And it’s on the way.” She knew she was putting off the moment she would confront Linden in his hospital bed. Now that she was actually in San Diego, she dreaded seeing him. In her heart she had buried him once; now she might have to do it again. “It’s getting late, and if we don’t go to Quentin’s first we won’t be able to until tomorrow or the next day. I’ll need to stay with Linden, check in with the gallery, call some clients—”

  “Make plans for a wedding.”

  Cassi grinned, pushing away her guilt. “Let’s elope then. How does Friday sound to you?”

  “Two days away? A little long, but I guess that’ll be okay. What about a honeymoon?”

  “You take care of the ceremony,” Cassi said. “I’ll take care of the honeymoon.”

  “What about our trip on the Love Boat?” The cruise liner they had booked for their honeymoon wasn’t really called the Love Boat, but Jared insisted on using the name.

  “We missed it, remember? But I have another great idea.” Cassi frowned. “Of course it may have to wait. We can’t leave with Linden in a coma.”

  Jared tightened his hold on her hand. “No. But we can still get married. A honeymoon now or months from now. It’s all the same. We have the rest of our lives.”

  In that moment, Cassi knew she was the luckiest woman in the world.

  The driver pulled up at the gate to Mr. Holbrooke’s estate. Cassi got out and rang the bell, but there was no answer. Jared jumped out of the car and joined her on the walk. “What’s up?”

  “No answer. Not even from a maid. It’s really odd. The guy has a bunch of servants.”

  “Hey, look! The side gate’s open,” Jared said. “Maybe he doesn’t want the car to come through. Some of these millionaires are a little eccentric that way. He must have opened the pedestrian gate instead of the regular one.”

  Cassi hadn’t heard a buzz, but she had been intent on the speaker.

  “I’ll go tell the driver we’ll be right back.” Jared returned to the car while Cassi went through the gate. She looked for the Dobermans who had chased her before, but they were nowhere to be seen.

  Dark was falling quickly, and Cassi couldn’t help feeling a little leery of the increasing shadows among the trees. “Oh, don’t be silly,” she told herself. “You’re just jumpy because of Laranda.”

  Jared joined her, shutting the gate behind him. “So, you still talk to yourself. That’s a good sign.”

  “Yeah, well, get used to it.” Cassi punched him playfully.

  As they approached the house, Jared whispered, “Do you hear that sound? Like someone’s crying.”

  Cassi listened and heard the thin, muffled sound. “It’s around there.” She pointed to the left side of the house.

  “Come on.” Jared pulled her in that direction.

  When they reached the side, Cassi saw a young boy with tousled blond hair kneeling in the dark. “Sampson?” Cassi called. Quentin’s son was the only child she’d seen during her visit. It must be him.

  The boy started as he looked toward them, his face a mask of terror. “Sampson, what’s wrong?” Cassi asked.

  He made no reply, but his body shook as he stared at them, his gaze unflinching. Then Cassi saw the Dobermans lying on the ground in front of him. They looked peaceful and unmarked, but they weren’t breathing.

  “Who did this, Sampson?” Cassi’s voice was sharper than she intended. Sampson staggered to his feet and fled through the trees.

  “I don’t like this, Cassi,” Jared said.

  “Neither do I. But we can’t just let him go.”

  Jared looked in the direction the boy had taken. “I’ll go after him.”

  “Good idea,” Cassi said. “But be careful. Meanwhile, I’ll go tell Quentin what’s happened. We’ll help you find him.”

  Jared squeezed her shoulder briefly and headed into the trees. Cassi stared after him for a minute before going around to the front of the house. She rang the bell and waited. No one answered for a long moment, but then the speaker next to the door crackled to life.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Quentin? It’s Cassi Mason.”

  “Cassi!” He sounded surprised.

  “Uh, is everything all right?”

  “Yes, I just wasn’t expecting you, that’s all. Come on in. The door should be open. I’m in the drawing room.”

  Cassi felt uneasy opening the ornate door and walking into the house alone. Inside, only a few lights were on and the silence was unnatural. She shrugged off the fear that settled on her shoulders. Quentin had said everything was fine. He must not know about the dogs.

  She walked into the dining room and saw Quentin with a beautiful woman Cassi knew only too well. She gasped. “Laranda!”

  The barrel of a gun turned in Cassi’s direction. “Hello, Cassi. How nice of you to join us.”

  * * *

  JARED SEARCHED THE TREES WITHOUT success. He circled around the house, calling softly, but still found no trace of the boy. Where did he go? The estate was so large that Jared could be searching for hours. It was better to go back and wait for the father. Perhaps his voice would console the child and draw him out of his hiding place.

  Jared made his way to the house, noticing that from the back it appeared that all the lights were off except for those in one room on the main floor. Blinds covered the elongated windows, but three figures were silhouetted in the light.

  Jared paused next to a huge oak tree behind the house. Something about the way one of the figures in the windows moved its arm was odd, almost threatening. Could it be his imagination? What was in that person’s hand?

  Looking upward, Jared saw that someone had made a tree house in the oak. Was that where Sampson was hiding? He began to climb. Inside the tree house, he found nothing but an old tire, a crate, and a blanket heaped in a corner. A rope from the tire tied to a higher branch. From the look of the setup, Jared suspected Sampson had been using it to swing out of the tree house and over the large swimming pool below, perhaps jumping into the water.

  Jared glanced again at the silhouetted figures. There was a break in the top of the curtains, and if he could get in the right position, he might be able to see what was going on. Had whoever killed the dogs gone inside? Jared’s heart thumped heavily. Was Cassi in danger?

  He climbed out onto a limb and squinted. He could just make out the figure o
f a woman standing, holding a gun. For a brief second, his heart seemed to stop beating. Even from this distance, he recognized her all too well.

  Laranda.

  “But she’s paralyzed!” he said aloud. Had it been an act? It would explain how she’d left the cave.

  Laranda’s gun lifted as though she was about to shoot. Jared heard a man’s loud voice. Was that Cassi’s friend, Quentin Holbrooke? He wondered if Laranda was there because she’d discovered he’d helped Cassi. Or maybe Holbrooke found out about his forged painting and gone after Laranda. From the looks of his estate, he had plenty of money to chase her down. Maybe she’d come to silence him.

  Jared shook his head. It didn’t make sense. Why would Laranda come back to America when everyone was searching for her?

  Craning his neck, Jared caught a glimpse of Cassi. The idea of her under Laranda’s control again made him crazy. To lose her after all they had been through would be too much.

  He climbed down the branch and back into the tree house. With both hands, he grabbed the tire and pushed it to the edge. Then he returned for the blanket, wrapping it partially around him, leaving a fold he could draw up over his face. He stood on the tire, checked the rope, and then pushed off into the air. Not over the pool as Sampson intended, but straight at the huge drawing room windows.

  Through a shower of glass he sailed into the room.

  Leaping from the tire, he pounced onto Laranda, knocking her to the carpet. The gun in her hand went flying. Jared sprang to his feet, tossing off the blanket. More glass tinkled to the floor. He stood over Laranda, who still sprawled before him.

  “You!” she spat.

  “No thanks to you.”

  Laranda’s eyes flashed venomously as Cassi rushed to his side. He hugged her, the terror of possibly losing her gradually subsiding. “You should have stayed in Europe,” Jared said to Laranda. “You fooled everyone with your paralyzed act, but now you’re going straight to prison.”

  “Jared, you haven’t any idea what you have just done.” Laranda’s voice was like an ice dagger.

  Jared snorted. “Stuff it. We all know I just stopped you from killing Cassi and her friend, Mr. Holbrooke.” Reminded of the other man’s presence, Jared looked over at Holbrooke, whose face was obscured as he bent to retrieve Laranda’s gun.

  “We came to tell you your painting might be forged,” Cassi said. “But I guess you know that by now.”

  “Yes, I do. But thank you for coming.” Holbrooke straightened, bringing up the gun.

  Recognition flooded Jared’s mind. “Oh, no,” he said so quietly that only Cassi could hear. “I think we just jumped out of the frying pan and into the flames.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  FRED LOOKED UP FROM THE information on his desk. It had been buried in all the other paperwork. It was too serious to be overlooked, and it just might be the link he’d been searching for.

  A knock on the door startled him. He was even more surprised when he saw who it was. “Carl, come on in. But I thought you went home to your wife.”

  The older man guided his chair into the office. “I did, but I’m back. Something just kept bugging me about this case. How did those hoods keep finding Cassi? And later me in New York? Then I remembered that phone card Cassi had.” He drew it out of his pocket. “Here it is. I got a razor blade and opened it. Look what I found inside.”

  The chip on his finger was small, but more than adequate for a tracking device. Fred’s stomach felt ill. “This matches with the information I just found in this mess,” he said, motioning to his desk. “The house here where Laranda first held Jared and Trent is owned in a very roundabout way by none other than Quentin Thomas Holbrooke.”

  Carl smiled grimly. “Big Tommy?”

  “By my calculations, yes.” Fred went to the phone. “I have to warn Cassi. I heard her mention that she was going there after the hospital.”

  His phone conversation was brief. He turned to Carl. “She never arrived at the hospital.”

  Carl stared at him, aghast. “What are we going to do?”

  “You’re going to wait right here. I’m going to call Justin and then go have a word with Mr. Holbrooke.” Fred took his gun and holster from his desk drawer. Now they were finally getting to the bottom of this mystery.

  * * *

  BIG TOMMY, BIG TOMMY, BIG Tommy. The name reverberated in Jared’s skull. He’d seen this man before on the private jet to France. Cassi stared back and forth between him and Holbrooke in confusion.

  “What’s the matter, girl?” Laranda taunted contemptuously. “Don’t you know Big Tommy when you see him?”

  “Shut up,” Holbrooke said, lifting his gun. “This girl has more class in her little finger than you have in your whole body.”

  “That’s right,” sneered Laranda. “A woman should be whole and pure and submissive. Heaven forbid if she should be as corrupt and twisted as you are. Or as successful.”

  “I said shut up. I won’t ask again.” Holbrooke’s deadly manner left no doubt as to what he would do to Laranda if she disobeyed. Laranda clamped her mouth shut. She climbed to her feet and glared at everyone.

  Jared felt sick. He’d thought crashing through the window would save Cassi, but he hadn’t imagined this outcome. He didn’t have a cell phone, but he should have notified their driver when he first saw Laranda. But would she have killed Cassi before he returned? He would never know. At least he and Cassi were both still alive—for the moment.

  “The police weren’t coming at all when you found me, were they, Quentin?” Cassi’s accusation broke through Jared’s thoughts.

  Holbrooke relaxed slightly. “Oh, yes they were. You did set off the alarms. I just told them not to come.”

  “Those men searching for me here were yours. It was all an act—you pretending to save me from them. And Linden wasn’t dead like you said. All of it was a lie, all of it!” Cassi’s anger showed in her face and in the way she clenched her fists. “You weren’t being kind to a stranger in need. You were pumping me for information. You wanted the envelope.”

  Jared put a restraining hand on her arm, worried that she would make Quentin angry in return, but she continued, “You wanted me to think I was all alone. You let me go because I didn’t have what you needed, but you thought I could probably lead you to it. And I fell into your trap. Well, now you have what you want, so what are you going to do?”

  “You’re right, of course,” Holbrooke said. “One thing about being in charge is that I need to work every angle. But I must be getting a little lax. Laranda had come tonight—I thought—for a romantic evening of celebration. Imagine my shock when she told me she would be taking my place.” He made a disgusted noise. “As if my people would follow her, no matter what favors she doles out to them.”

  Jared guessed that Laranda had been much nearer success than Quentin Holbrooke wanted to admit. After all, if it hadn’t been for them, she would have succeeded.

  “You’re all alone,” Cassi said. “How did she manage that?”

  Holbrooke grimaced. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But I will. Needless to say, I appreciate your timing.”

  “I’ll bet you do,” Jared said.

  Holbrooke’s gaze flicked to him as though measuring and finding him lacking. “As it is, there is nothing to connect me to Laranda or to Big Tommy,” he continued. “Except for you two, of course.” He smiled regretfully at Cassi. “I am sorry for your sake, my dear. But unlike Laranda, I won’t allow obsessions to get in the way of my business ventures.”

  Jared knew what that meant. They were not only expendable but excess baggage.

  “We won’t say anything,” Cassi said.

  Holbrooke laughed without mirth. “Of course you will. You’re the kind of person who can’t be bought, the kind who has a conscience. In a way, I admire you.”

  “Your son.” Cassi looked toward the window. “We saw him running away. He was crying over the dogs. They were dead.”

  For the first ti
me, Holbrooke showed real emotion. His head whipped toward Laranda. “You killed my dogs? You will pay for that.” Laranda quailed at the fury in his tone, but said nothing.

  Jared looked encouragingly at Cassi, willing her to continue to talk, to keep Holbrooke busy. He didn’t seem hostile toward her conversation, and maybe she could distract him long enough for Jared to act. Otherwise, he was sure Quentin had some remote dungeon to hold them in until he could make three sets of cement shoes.

  Understanding flared in Cassi’s eyes. “What about your son, Quentin? We tried to talk to him, but he ran off into the trees. He was really upset. Shouldn’t we go find him?”

  Holbrooke chuckled. “Nice try, Cassi. But you aren’t leaving here, as much as I believe you actually care about him.”

  “What kind of a life is this for him? To live in a world where money and power are everything? What about love and beauty and sacrifice?” As Cassi talked she waved her arms, and Holbrooke’s eyes were on her.

  Jared inched slowly forward. His movement didn’t escape Laranda. She took two steps after him, as though wanting to see what he might do, probably to use it to her advantage. He noticed that she had no trace of a limp or any awkwardness. When had she recovered? When had she known? Had it been in the hospital, when she’d tied the orderly to her wheelchair and set fire to the room?

  “Frankly, my child is none of your concern,” Holbrooke was saying to Cassi. “He has everything he could ever want. Much beauty and fine art fills this home. All of it genuine.” He glanced toward Laranda, who halted immediately in her forward movement. “With the exception of a well-forged Pierre Bonnard, of course, but that will soon be remedied. And Sampson will learn about loyalty and about leadership.” That Holbrooke answered Cassi at all told Jared how much he liked her. “But we’re wasting time. I need to call someone to take care of you, and then I’ll attend to my son.”