The Black Feather

by Olivia Claire High

  “He’ll go home.”

  “How did he get the security guard at the gate to let him through?”

  “We’ve been watching and waiting for our chance. We saw the plumber’s van coming, and I sat on the side of the road holding my ankle. The driver stopped. He said he was on his way to the clinic to fix a plugged toilet, and would take me there. My friend snuck up behind and knocked the guy out. He took the van and told the guard he was the plumber. He saw you being put in that storeroom. The rest you know.”

  “You’re very resourceful.”

  “You would be too, if you grew up in a family when every day might be your last.”

  Thad stared at the empty closet where he’d left Suzanne and raked a frustrated hand through his hair.

  Where in the hell had she gone now? What ruse had she used to get someone to let her out? He looked around. Could the Montanes have anything to do with her release? God, he hoped not. But anything was possible considering how many people they had on their payroll.

  Did someone snatch Suzanne away in broad daylight? It’d be an odd twist for them. They were more used to masterminding something like this under the cover of darkness and in a place without people, so there wouldn’t be any witnesses. They reminded him of rats running through sewers. They carried their vileness with them, gnawing and biting as they went along, not caring that they destroyed everything and everyone getting in their path.

  He could check back with the Martins, but the more Thad thought about them being involved in Suzanne’s latest disappearance the more he dismissed the idea. Who else would want to get in touch with Suzanne? Her mother? Maybe, but the last he heard she was still lying by the pool at her hotel in Mexico playing footsies with her companion.

  He’d have to wait and hope that Suzanne would show up. It wasn’t going to be easy. But one thing he did know, and that was how he’d failed one more time to keep her contained in a safe place. He’d earned a big fat F in protection, if anyone was grading him.

  Suzanne entered the private waiting room at the clinic later that afternoon. Thad didn’t turn around when she opened the door, but she knew by his body posture he was aware of her presence. He stood at the windows with his back to her, his arms crossed over his chest.

  A full minute ticked by, and he still didn’t move. His continued silence made her uneasy. She’d been back long enough sitting in her father’s room with Muriel to have Thad come and talk to her. Suzanne knew he’d been informed of her return, but he continued to stay away. She decided to go look for him.

  She didn’t blame him for being angry, but it wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t where he’d left her when he returned. She’d come here to explain to him how she’d been whisked away without a chance to let him know what had happened.

  She was perfectly willing to apologize if that’s why he was giving her this silent treatment. Anything to break through this strain she felt between them that was making her feel more uncomfortable by the second. Suzanne approached him carefully, not sure of her reception.

  “Thad, I’m sorry. I know you’re . . .”

  “Don’t bother.” He turned to face her. His voice sounded flat, and his expression revealed no emotion at all. He looked at her as though she might be a stranger.

  “I’ve asked to be assigned to another case. I’ll be leaving here as soon as my replacement arrives.”

  She blinked in surprise.

  “Why? I thought I had become more than just another case to you.”

  “You had, until you broke your promise to me once too often. I can no longer protect you because I’ve lost my objectivity where you’re concerned. I let myself become too personally involved. I actually believed you when you said you wouldn’t run off again. Bad judgment on my part. Obviously.”

  “I know Muriel told you about how her friend came and took me, but you never gave me a chance to explain what really happened with Heather. She made me believe she and Aaron were in trouble, and that it was my dad’s fault. I had no idea she was lying. How could I?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes.

  “No, but you could have told me about her call, and given me the opportunity to decide what would have been the safest course of action. Trust. That’s what you promised me and that’s what I gave you in return. The problem is you didn’t keep up your end of the bargain. I might have seen that about you if my instincts were what they should be where you’re concerned. But they’re not. You made me soft, and that in turn made me careless. That’s why you need someone else to be in charge of your welfare.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks now.

  “I don’t want anyone else. I’ve never had to run from anything or anyone before, but since all this happened with my dad, all I’ve done is run. I’ve been trying to do the best I can. You know that. I thought you understood. You . . . you can handcuff us together. Clip me to a leash. Put tracking devices on my ankles. I’ll accept any and all of that. Please, say you’ll stay.”

  “It’s too late for that. I no longer want to be with you. By the way, if my replacement happens to tell you your life is in danger, it might be a good idea if you gave him the benefit of the doubt.”

  “You . . . you mean you’re leaving right now?”

  “I already have.”

  His eyes moved over her, letting her know he was distancing himself mentally and emotionally. Suzanne reached a hand out to him, but lowered it when he stared at her, his expression cold and remote. He walked to the door and stood there with his back to her, shoulders hunched, and with his forehead pressed against the panel before straightening up and yanking the door open.

  “Goodbye, Suzanne,” he said in a hoarse whisper, and left without looking back.

  The soft snap of the door shutting sounded like a thunderclap inside her head, making her flinch as though she’d been physically struck.

  Nineteen

  Suzanne stood shaking, unable to believe Thad really meant to abandon her. She stared at the door, fingernails digging into her palms until the realization hit her that he really wasn’t coming back. She slumped down to her knees, pressed her hands to her face, and wept until she was straining to draw air into her tortured lungs.

  Full darkness encased the room by the time she groped her way to the small couch and sagged back against the cushions. Her heart struggled to accept that Thad didn’t care enough about her to stay. She knew she needed to go back to her father’s room, but her legs felt like lead. In fact, her entire body felt heavy and mired in misery. She blamed herself for this; and self-blame was the hardest to bear, because one had to take the full brunt of the burden. Bad decisions had cost her dearly.

  Trying to put all the blame on Heather didn’t ease her own guilt. Suzanne felt like kicking herself for not telling Thad about her phone call. She’d rushed off ready to try and be Ms. Fix-it. She’d allowed herself to be sucked into Heather’s lies and ended up having a lifetime of friendship shattered within a few hours. But the pain of losing their relationship paled in comparison to how she’d trusted Heather to help her father and ended up putting him in a hospital instead.

  Suzanne stood up and groped her way through the dark ready to return to her father’s room, when the door abruptly flung open. Someone snapped on the light switch flooding the room with brightness, causing Suzanne to blink against the glare.

  “Here you are. What are you doing in the dark? I’ve been looking all over for you. Your father looks like death, and I must say you don’t look much better.”

  Suzanne gawked in surprise.

  “Mom! What are you doing here?”

  Bobbett Conway sailed into the room on a cloud of heavy floral perfume and settled herself on the couch. She crossed her legs exposing a great deal of bare thigh in the bright blue mini skirt she wore. She reminded Suzanne of a peacock bringing a burst of color to the drab room. The couch could have been a throne the way Bobbett draped herself over the modest furniture. But Suzanne knew her mother could be sitting on a dried dung heap and ma
ke it seem like a perch fit for a queen.

  “Sit down before you give me neck strain.”

  “What are you doing here?” Suzanne repeated, sinking down next to her mother.

  “Well, you can darn well bet it’s not my choice. Davy received an urgent summons to come right away, so he could babysit you.”

  “Babysit me? Who is this Davy?”

  “As far as I knew he was just my vacation companion until a few hours ago. But it turns out he works for a fancy dancy security outfit. I thought that sounded exciting until he told me the one watching you was assigned elsewhere meaning Davy had to take his place. I’m not pleased to have you and your father drag me into this mess you two have whipped up. You’ve interrupted my vacation.”

  “Your vacation? Is that all you can think about? You said you saw Dad, so you know how ill he is. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

  Bobbett flipped a strand of long bleached blond hair away from her tanned face.

  “Your father stopped bothering me a long time ago. Oh do stop glaring at me like I’m the one who pushed him out that window. Why are you angry with me? He’s the one who stole money for his pregnant girlfriend.”

  “She’s not his girlfriend.”

  Bobbett waved her hand in the air.

  “Whatever. The point is I’ve been forced to come here because Davy’s company thinks your father’s antics have put me in danger. Little wonder that I don’t have any sympathy for his predicament. What I want to know is why did the guy watching you ask to be reassigned? Did you bore the poor man to death with your pitiful tale about James deserting you? I swear I don’t know what your problem is that you can’t hold onto a man.”

  Suzanne surged to her feet. Listening to Bobbett’s complaints and insults was the last thing she needed right now. She’d rather be in a room with a sick man too delirious to make sense than stay here, subjecting herself to her mother’s cruel barbs.

  “I’m going to go check on Dad.”

  The door opened at that moment revealing a deeply tanned man. He wasn’t as tall and muscular as Thad and looked to be a little younger, but he was big enough to crowd the space with his presence.

  “Here’s my Davy now,” Bobbett cooed.

  He held out his hand to Suzanne.

  “David Hamilton. I’m happy to meet you, Ms. Conway, although I wish for your sake it could be under less stressful circumstances.”

  His handshake was as warm and friendly as his words. His polite manner felt like a soothing balm to her bruised heart after losing Thad and having to face her petulant mother.

  “Thank you. I’m sorry you had to cut your vacation short.”

  “You needn’t apologize. It’s part of my job.”

  “I understand you’ve come here to look after me. I want you to know I’ll do whatever you think is best to make your job easier,” Suzanne said, remembering Thad’s words to be more cooperative.

  “I appreciate that. I’m here to help you in any way that I can. I hope I’m not interrupting this mother/daughter bonding time.”

  Suzanne almost laughed at the idea of ever being able to have any kind of bonding with her mother.

  “You’re not interrupting anything important.”

  “You can say that again,” her mother echoed.

  David’s gaze shifted uneasily between the two women. “I, um, came to tell you that you’re wanted in your father’s room.”

  The blood drained from her face. “God, is he . . .?”

  “Oh, no, no. I didn’t mean to upset you. Sorry. Apparently he’s showing signs that he’s becoming more coherent. The doctor thought you may be able to decipher some of what he’s saying.”

  “Thank you. I’ll go to him right away.”

  “I’ll have to go with you,” he said, his tone almost apologetic.

  Suzanne couldn’t help thinking how different he was from Thad. He pulled Bobbett to her feet.

  “You have to come, too.”

  “Why?” she pouted. “I’ve already seen him. I don’t want to go back in there. His room smells like antiseptic,” she whined, wrinkling her nose.

  “Well yeah, hospitals have a tendency to do that. Be a good girl and do this for me.”

  Girl? Suzanne barely held back a snort of laughter. Despite telling everyone she was in her late thirties, Bobbett was actually a couple of months away from shaking hands with fifty. But she managed to pull off the lie thanks to the miracle of plastic surgery and a deft hand with makeup.

  “But Davy . . .”

  “I’m just trying to do my job, and having you in that room is going to make it a lot more pleasant.”

  Suzanne raised her brows at the clever compliment. He’d certainly learned how to handle her mother. He opened the door and gestured for them to exit the room ahead of him. Bobbett pursed her lips.

  “I’ll do it for you. But I’ll expect a reward for my sacrifice.”

  “Later,” he winked.

  Suzanne had a pretty good idea what that reward was going to be. What was his company’s policy? Do what you had to do to keep the female clients happy, even if it meant sleeping with them?

  Maybe he wasn’t so different from Thad after all.

  The first thing Suzanne noticed when she entered her father’s room was that he seemed to be much less agitated. She walked over to his bed and took hold of his hand, careful to avoid the dressings.

  “Hi, Dad. How are you doing? Can you talk to me? Muriel and I sure would like that.”

  Muriel held Wendell’s other hand.

  “Yes please, Wendell. Come back to us. We both love you.”

  He opened his eyes and looked at Suzanne. His eyelids fluttered while he struggled to focus on her. His lips began to move. She smiled in encouragement and leaned closer.

  “Do you want to say something to me?” she asked, hoping with all her might that his first words wouldn’t be to call her a traitor.

  “Unicorns can’t fly,” he whispered in a croaking voice.

  At first it seemed as though this would be another one of his senseless babbling remarks until a long ago memory gradually worked its way into Suzanne’s head.

  “But Pegasus can,” she whispered back and watched his mouth lift in a brief smile.

  Her heart raced with elation. Surely he must have forgiven her if he was willing to give her this vital clue. Everyone looked at her, clearly baffled. Bobbett exhaled a loud, impatient breath.

  “What a stupid thing to say, but you two always had your silly sayings.” She reached over and tugged at David’s hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here. He’s still not making any sense.”

  “No, wait.” He looked at Suzanne. “Did what your father say mean something to you?”

  “I’m wondering the same thing. Do you know what he’s talking about?” Muriel asked.

  “Yes. Unless I’m mistaken, I believe he just told me where he hid the phones.”

  She stared at Suzanne. “Unicorns? Pegasus? I’m afraid I still don’t get it.”

  “That makes two of us,” David chimed in.

  Wendell’s eyes were closed again. Suzanne wasn’t sure if he had fallen back to sleep, but she continued to hold his hand letting him feel the contact. She brushed a wave of hair off his forehead.

  “I went through a period when I was growing up where I had a real thing for unicorns. I . . .”

  Bobbett rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll say. I remember you having posters of them plastered all over your bedroom walls. I wanted to be a ballerina at that age, which I might add was certainly a lot more normal than your obsession with things from fairy tales.”

  “This isn’t about you,” David said in a surprisingly stern voice. He nodded at Suzanne again. “Please continue. What were you saying about unicorns?”

  Suzanne looked from one to the other momentarily shocked that he’d actually snubbed her mother in order to listen to her. She could see his rebuke didn’t sit well with Bobbett, who now stood glaring at him. Suzanne
knew her mother wasn’t accustomed to having a man use that scolding tone with her. She rushed to answer him hoping to stop what could become an unpleasant backlash.

  “I collected anything I could that had to do with unicorns besides the posters my mother just mentioned. My dad knew this, and sometimes would buy something to add to my assortment. One time while I was staying with my godmother, Dad came to pick me up there. I was playing with one of my small stuffed unicorns pretending it could fly.”

  “Oh, I get it now,” Muriel said, brightening.

  “He told you unicorns can’t fly. Right?”

  “Yes, and then he brought his arm from behind his back and handed me a beautiful stuffed Pegasus. It was white with golden wings and hooves. My godmother suggested I leave it at her house because it was too large to pack in my little suitcase and might get dirty if I tried carrying it.”

  “That’s a sweet story, but what does it have to do with the phones your dad was carrying?”

  “I was about to ask the same thing,” David confessed nodding toward Muriel.

  “I haven’t thought of it in years, but as far as I know the Pegasus is still at my godmother’s house, which I assume means it was there when you and my father visited.”

  Muriel shook her head. “I never saw anything like that.”

  “Nanadoo knows how important that toy was to me, so she wouldn’t have gotten rid of it without asking me first. She probably packed it away someplace and my dad must have found it.”

  David scratched his jaw.

  “I think I may be getting the drift of where you’re headed with this. Am I correct in assuming you’re of the opinion your father may have hid the phones inside this Pegasus?”

  “That’s exactly what I think. It has plenty of room and enough stuffing to protect them.”

  “Okay. I say it’s worth a look. We’ll go to your godmother’s house. It’s on Catalina Island, right?”

  No need to ask how he knew that. He probably had access to the same information on her that Thad used. She immediately forced all thoughts of Thad out of her head when she felt her throat tighten.