All That Glitters

by Ruthe Ogilvie

  She’s going to call Francois! I have to stop him from going to that hospital!

  As soon as Lilli was out of sight, he ran up the stairs two at a time, and tapped lightly on the door of Hildy’s and Jay’s room.

  Jay answered. “What is it, Zack?”

  Zack put his finger on his lips. “I just overheard Lilli on the phone,” he whispered. “Jeremy and Cammie are in the hospital in Chaumont. One of them has been shot, but I don’t know which one. Lilli is calling Francois right now. We’d better hurry and get there before he does!”

  Hildy started to run downstairs.

  Zack stopped her. “Play it cool!” he warned her. “Don’t let Lilli suspect anything.”

  After asking Jenny and Peter to cover for them again, they crept down the stairs. They got quickly into the limousine and drove off to the hospital in Chaumont.

  CHAPTER XXXII

  When Gabe regained consciousness, he returned to the Chateau de Boulanger. A long gash on his head was still bleeding where it hit the rock.

  Francois met him at the door. “Where’s Cammie?” he demanded. Gabe’s bleeding head made no impression on him.

  “Sir,” Gabe replied, “I found her, but Jeremy Douglass interfered. I shot him, but he came at me anyway. I tried to shoot him again, but Mademoiselle Stuart knocked the gun out of my hand. My head hit a rock. When I came to they were gone.”

  Francois glared at him. “You botched it up again! How could you be such an ass?”

  A ring on the phone interrupted him, and he went inside to answer it.

  Gabe followed, holding his sore, aching head.

  The call was from Lilli. “Gabe shot Jeremy,” she told Francois. “He’s in the hospital in Chaumont in surgery. Cammie is in the waiting room. Get over there fast and bring her back to the Chateau before Jeremy comes to and says too much! You’ll have to get rid of him and finish the job that Gabe started. He’s too much of a threat to our plans.”

  “Merci, mon mere!” he said. “I’m glad someone is alert enough to know what to do.” He hung up and glared at Gabe. “Mademoiselle Stuart is at the hospital in Chaumont. I’ll go and get her myself. I can’t depend on you. Get down to the plane. Check the fuel and warm up the engines. Be quick about it. I’m taking Cammie to Biarritz as soon as I get her back here.”

  He went down to the garage, leaving Gabe bleeding and unattended. His mind raced as he sped along in his Rolls Royce. All he could think of was finding Cammie and stopping her. I won’t let her ruin our plans, he muttered under his breath. We’re too close to getting what we’ve worked so hard for. It can’t slip through our fingers now!

  He cursed under his breath. It’s not enough that Cammie has escaped, and Gabe botched things up, but now I have another problem. How do I do away with Jeremy? I have to find a way. We can’t have him blabbing his mouth off to the gendarmes.

  * * *

  At the hospital, Cammie sat by Jeremy’s bedside, holding his hand. In about ten minutes, he opened his eyes.

  “Jeremy,” Cammie whispered, “how do you feel?”

  He was quite groggy as he looked at her. “Where am I? What happened?”

  “Shh,” Cammie soothed him. “You were shot. I got you to a hospital. They got the bullet out and stopped the bleeding. You’re going to be fine.”

  “That man!” Jeremy exclaimed. “The one who shot me! Francois sent him to find you?”

  “Yes! He’s Francois’ caretaker, Gabe. Thanks to you he didn’t succeed.”

  Jeremy reached out and took her hand. “Well, thanks to you he didn’t get a chance to shoot me again.”

  Suddenly Cammie spied Francois talking to the nurse at the desk. “Jeremy!” she gasped. “Francois is outside looking for me! I can’t let him see me!”

  “Hide in the bathroom!” he ordered. “Lock the door! Hurry!”

  Cammie no sooner disappeared when Francois entered Jeremy’s room with two policemen.

  “There he is!” Francois said, pointing a finger at Jeremy. “He kidnapped my wife! Arrest him!”

  If Jeremy hadn’t been so stunned by the false accusation, he would have laughed in his face.

  “You thought you could get away with it, huh?” Francois yelled. “The nurse caught you red-handed! Thank God she was alert enough to call the authorities! Where is Cammie? I want my wife back!”

  As Francois continued with his tirade, Jeremy felt a strange mixture of repulsion and amusement toward him. He couldn’t decide which emotion was strongest, but the amusement finally won out.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, trying to keep a straight face. “I didn’t kidnap her.”

  “That’s a lie!” Francois shouted.

  His outburst brought the doctor to Jeremy’s room. “Sir!” he warned Francois. “There are sick people here trying to get some rest, and this man has just had a bullet removed. Please be quiet!”

  Francois straightened up to his full height and faced the doctor. “Do you know who I am? I am Count Francois Dubonnet II,” he sputtered, “and I won’t be spoken to that way!”

  This didn’t deter the doctor one iota as he stared him down. “I don’t care if you’re the King, I won’t have my hospital invaded like this. Now be quiet, or I’ll have you thrown out!”

  “I could have you fired from this hospital and your license revoked!” Francois threatened.

  “I want you to leave!” the doctor told him. “Now! The health of the patients is far more important than any position of authority. Please go!”

  Francois left in a huff, still threatening to report him.

  As soon as the doctor left, Cammie came out of the bathroom. She was shaking. “Jeremy, I’ve got to get out of here! They’ll never believe me if I tell them that Francois kidnapped me and intends to kill me! They’ll make me go with him!”

  Jeremy pointed to the dresser across the room. “Look in the drawer,” he told her. “My wallet should be in there. There are five hundred dollars worth of francs in it. Take it!” he ordered when she started to protest. “Take the keys to the car and get out of here! You can contact me later when you’re some place where you’ll be safe.”

  Cammie was hesitant. “Will you be okay?” she asked anxiously.

  “I’ll be fine!” he replied. “I’ll be even better when I know you’re safe! There’s no time to waste! Now get out of here!”

  “What will you do for money?” she asked.

  “I have my credit cards and travelers checks. Just go—please—before Francois finds out you’re still here.”

  “I’ll try and get to Mom’s and Dad’s Castle in Scotland,” she told him. “I’ll contact you as soon as I get there.” She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

  * * *

  As she left the room, Francois spied her. Startled, she turned and ran toward the nearest stairway exit. Francois followed her into the stairwell, but Cammie, with all of her ballet training, leaped over the banister and raced down the stairs. She jumped in behind the steering wheel of Jeremy’s rented car, and was off like a shot before Francois could catch her.

  The last she saw of him, he was running to his Rolls Royce in an attempt to follow her.

  She drove off just before Zack drove the limousine into the hospital grounds.

  She was headed in the opposite direction, intent on escaping. Zack was equally intent on getting to Cammie before Francois kidnapped her again, and they missed each other.

  * * *

  Zack, Hildy, and Jay entered the reception room of the hospital. “Where are Cameron Stuart and Jeremy Douglass?” Zack asked the nurse. “Which one was shot?”

  “Monsieur Douglass was shot. He’s out of the operating room and is recovering,” she replied. “I called the gendarmes and they’ve set up a twenty-four hour wa
tch. He won’t get a chance to kidnap the Countess again.”

  “What?” Zack exclaimed. “He didn’t kidnap her! He was trying to save her! Where is she now?”

  “A man came for her. They left a few minutes ago.”

  Zack was exasperated. “You don’t know what’s going on!” he exclaimed. “She’s in more danger now than she was before!”

  “I’m sorry, Sir,” she apologized. “I didn’t know.”

  “What did this man look like?” Zack asked her.

  “He was tall and slim—about six feet. Quite handsome, with brown hair. I don’t know what color his eyes were—he was wearing dark glasses.”

  Zack nodded. It was Francois all right, he muttered. Gabe is only five feet eight, gray-haired, and stocky.

  He rushed back to where Hildy and Jay were waiting. “Quick!” he said. “We have to go back to the Chateau de Boulanger. Francois came and took Cammie!” As they ran toward the door, he called back to the nurse. “Call off the gendarmes!” he shouted. “Now! Jeremy had nothing to do with the kidnapping!”

  They ran out the door to the limousine, and sped away at full speed.

  * * *

  When Francois lost sight of Cammie, he returned to the Chateau.

  Gabe was there, ready to go with him to the Chateau in Biarritz. “Where is Mademoiselle Stuart?” he asked Francois.

  “You botched things up again!” Francois snorted in disgust. “She got away.” He paused, plotting what to do next. “Gabe,” he ordered, “I want you to go back to the hospital. Find a way to disguise yourself as an orderly. I want you to kill Jeremy Douglass. I don’t care how you do it. Just do it!”

  Gabe grabbed a pistol from the gun rack and left immediately in the truck.

  CHAPTER XXXIII

  When Zack, Hildy, and Jay arrived at the Chateau de Boulanger, Zack ignored the “Do Not Enter” sign by the driveway, and drove the car up to the Chateau. He tried desperately to control his anger as he jumped out and pounded on the door. He was surprised to see Francois standing there greeting them most cordially.

  “Where is Cammie?” Zack demanded to know.

  Francois assumed a deeply hurt and innocent expression. “Why, Zack, I thought you knew. Cammie has been kidnapped.”

  Zack pushed past Francois and strode up the stairs two at a time to the fifth floor. Never mind the elevator. Francois could easily shut that down and trap him inside.

  Francois followed Zack up the stairs.

  Zack pushed open the door to each and every room, but no Cammie. He rushed past Francois, down the stairs, and sped out to the limousine, looking grim and disappointed. “She’s not here,” he told them. “Somehow she must have escaped.”

  “Where do we go from here?” Hildy asked in despair.

  “We should go back to the hospital and make sure Jeremy is okay. We can’t let the police arrest him for something he didn’t do. Maybe he’ll know where she went.”

  * * *

  At the hospital Gabe, dressed as an orderly, entered Jeremy’s room. Jeremy’s eyes were closed, and he was just about to drift off to sleep.

  Gabe closed the door. As he approached the bed, he withdrew his gun from his pocket, and grabbed a pillow to silence the shot. Just as he took aim, the doctor entered the room. Startled, Gabe slipped the gun back into his pocket, and pretended to fluff the pillow.

  Jeremy opened his eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of the man’s face. Gabe!

  “What are you doing here?” the doctor asked him.

  Gabe muffled an answer and fled.

  “That was one of the orderlies,” the doctor said, puzzled. “I don’t know what he was doing here. The nurse told me she had done everything that needed to be done. I just came in to do an extra check on you.”

  “That man wasn’t an orderly!” Jeremy told the doctor. “He’s the man who shot me! He came back to finish the job!”

  “What is going on?” the doctor exclaimed.

  “It’s a long story, but I think you had better put me in another room and have a guard stationed outside. These people mean business. They’re trying to make sure I don’t talk!”

  He started to rise from his bed, but the doctor stopped him. “I’ll call a nurse and have you moved.”

  “How soon can I be released from the hospital?” Jeremy asked the doctor. “I have to make sure Cammie is safe before her abductor kills her!”

  The doctor sat down in the chair next to the bed. “Who is this ‘Cammie’?”

  “Haven’t you seen the headlines in the newspapers? She’s Cameron Stuart, the actress and singer.”

  The doctor’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh! The one who just married the Count! You know who kidnapped her?”

  “I certainly do,” replied Jeremy. “Cammie brought me here when I was shot. Then the kidnapper came here and tried to take her again. I’ve got to go after her and make sure she’s safe!”

  “The Count must be devastated,” the doctor said, “losing his wife right after the wedding.”

  Jeremy was saved from answering the doctor’s comment by the arrival of the nurse who came to wheel him to a room where he would be safe.

  * * *

  When Zack, Hildy, and Jay arrived at the hospital, Jeremy was just being wheeled into his new room.

  The nurse was all apologies. “I sent the gendarmes away,” she told them. “I’m so sorry. Countess Lilli said Jeremy Douglass was the kidnapper.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Zack snorted under his breath.

  “Where is the young Countess now?” the nurse asked.

  Zack looked grim. “We don’t know,” he replied.

  “How is Jeremy Douglass doing?” Jay asked her.

  “He is recovering nicely,” the nurse told them, and pointed to the orderly pushing Jeremy’s wheelchair.

  Zack and the others followed as the nurse got him settled. Jeremy’s eyes lit up when he saw them. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he said. “Did you see Cammie?”

  “No,” Zack replied. “We thought Francois had kidnapped her again, but we went back to the Chateau de Boulanger and she wasn’t there.”

  “She was here,” Jeremy told them. “She got me to the hospital. I gave her the money I had in my wallet, and the keys to my rental car. She said she’d try and get to your Castle in Scotland where she’d be safe. How did you know we were here?” he asked, puzzled.

  “I overheard Lilli talking with the nurse on the phone,” Zack explained. “I hope Cammie makes it to Scotland okay. She said she’d try and contact you when she gets there?”

  “That’s what she said, but she won’t know where to reach me. The doctor plans to discharge me tomorrow. Is there a phone there? Maybe we could try and reach her.”

  “There is, but now that we know the doctor will be discharging you tomorrow, I think we should head for Scotland right away.”

  “I’d like to go with you,” Jeremy said.

  “Right now? But you’re still recovering from the gun shot and the loss of blood!” Hildy exclaimed. “Besides, I thought you were anxious to stay here and do more digging into your past.”

  “That can wait,” Jeremy replied. “I feel fine. The important thing is to make sure Cammie is safe.”

  Hildy looked at him intently. “You’re in love with Cammie, aren’t you?”

  Jeremy nodded. “I never believed in love at first sight, but I do now. The more I get to know her, the stronger I feel. I’ve never felt like this before. I can’t bear to think of anything happening to her.”

  Hildy walked over to his bed and kissed him on the forehead. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.”

  “I only wish she’d met you first,” Jay said.

  Hildy looked tenderly at Jeremy. “You risked your life
to save her. We’ll never forget that.”

  Jeremy looked surprised. “She risked her life to save me. I wish you could have seen her!” He chuckled as he pictured it. “Gabe tried to shoot me a second time, and Cammie gave a ballet kick and knocked the gun right out of his hand! Gabe’s head hit a rock. He was unconscious when we left. That’s the last thing I remember. Somehow Cammie managed to get me to this hospital. I would have bled to death if she hadn’t.”

  “Thank God you’re both safe,” Hildy said.

  “Do you think the doctor will release you?” Zack asked. He looked at his watch. “How long will it take? Do you think it’s wise?”

  Jeremy turned to the orderly. “Will you please get the doctor?”

  In two minutes the doctor appeared, looking very anxious. “The nurse tells me you want to be released now. We really should keep you overnight.”

  “My friends here are leaving for Scotland this afternoon to join Cammie,” Jeremy explained. “I need to go with them.”

  The doctor hesitated, then nodded. “Leaving here may be the safest thing you could do,” he told Jeremy. “If the man who tried to shoot you should return, he won’t find you here. You’ll have to sign release papers.” He turned to Zack. “Will you make sure he doesn’t exert himself? We can’t be responsible once he leaves the hospital.”

  Zack looked at Jeremy. “Someone tried to shoot you again? Who? Gabe?”

  Jeremy nodded. “Francois is afraid I’ll talk. I’m sure he sent him here to finish what he started.”

  Hildy was extremely upset. “Jeremy, we have to get you out of here!”

  “Will you do as the doctor says?” Zack asked Jeremy. “Will you sit back and take it easy? No heroics?”

  Jeremy gave him a mock salute. “Aye, aye, Sir. I feel stronger already. Just knowing we’ll be going to Cammie to make sure she’s safe is a big help.”

  CHAPTER XXXIV

  Hildy, Jay, and Zack waited outside of Jeremy’s room while the nurse helped him get dressed.

  The doctor came in to do a last minute checkup, and brought the dismissal papers for Jeremy to sign. After signing the document, Jeremy left enough travelers checks to cover the bill.