All That Glitters (17 page)

She was trembling as Zack led her toward the nearest chair. “Hildy, what is it?”

Hildy’s eyes filled with tears. Jay sat down beside her and gently wiped her eyes with his hankie.

Zack stooped down in front of her, and sat on his haunches as he spoke to her. “Did Andre say something to you before he passed out?”

Hildy nodded.

“What did he say?” Jay asked her.

Hildy’s voice was so soft they had to strain to hear her. “He—he said Cammie’s name, and then—” she swallowed hard before continuing, almost afraid to say it out loud—“he said Francois’ name, too.”

“Is that all?” Zack asked.

“Yes. He was trying to tell me something. Then he lost consciousness before I could ask him what it was.”

Zack stood up and looked in the direction of Andre’s room. His fists clenched with frustration. “I wonder how much longer he’ll be unconscious? I’ve got to talk to him. I have a gut feeling we don’t have much time. I’ll be right back,” he told them as he disappeared down the hall to find a doctor. He returned five minutes later looking helpless.

Peter, who had been sitting quietly with Jenny, approached him. “What did the doctor say, Zack?”

“He said
Andre’s vital signs were improving, but I must be patient,”
Zack replied. “They still don’t expect him to be fully
conscious and alert for at least another fifteen to twenty
hours. I really don’t think we should leave this area
till we’ve had a chance to talk with him. He
may have some idea where Francois took Cammie. The doctor
said everything necessary is being done for him. Our presence
won’t mean anything to him until he’s fully conscious. He
suggested that we go to the inn right near the
hospital and stay there for the night. I think we
should take his advice. By tomorrow they’ll know more about
his condition.”

“What if he doesn’t come out of it?” Hildy sobbed. “We may never know what he was going to say!”

Zack took her hand in his as he tried to reassure her. “The doctor promised to call us immediately if his condition got worse.”

Hildy hesitated, but Jay insisted that they do as the doctor suggested. It was almost dinner time and, according to the doctor, there was a good restaurant right there at the inn.

No one ate much that evening, but they did manage to get a good night’s sleep. Early the next morning they rose and met in the restaurant for breakfast before returning to the hospital. They had heard nothing further from the doctor, so they weren’t too surprised when they reached the hospital and were told that Andre was fully conscious and coherent.

“When can I talk to him?” Zack asked the doctor.

“He is still not out of the woods and can’t stand much excitement,” the doctor replied. “It wouldn’t hurt him to know you’re all here, and that you care. I think he needs that right now. But only one at a time, s’il vous plait.”

They looked at each other. Then Hildy spoke up. “Zack, you’re the one Andre confided in. I think he’d talk more freely with you.”

When Zack entered Andre’s room, he was delighted to see that the color had returned to his face and he looked almost normal.

“Ah, Monsieur Zack!” Andre greeted him. “How do you happen to be here?”

Zack was surprised. “You don’t remember what happened?”

Andre winced. “I remember hearing what sounded like a shot, and then a sharp pain. I ran and—that’s all.”

“You don’t recall staggering out of the woods and falling in front of a limousine?”

Andre shook his head. “No. You drove me to the hospital?”

“No. I called the paramedics. They brought you here. Somebody shot you.”

Andre’s eyes widened. “Thank God you were there!” he exclaimed. “I could have died.”

“You almost did,” Zack agreed. “You had two bullets in you, but they got them out. You’re going to be fine.” He hesitated, not wanting to say anything that might excite him, but it was difficult not to overwhelm him with a barrage of questions.

Andre broke the silence. “I suppose you’re wondering how I happened to be in Biarritz,” he said. He winced and lay back on the pillows.

“Take it slow,” Zack cautioned him. “You’ve been through a lot. You mustn’t strain yourself.”

“No, Monsieur Zack, I must continue. We don’t have much time. There is something I must tell you. It is most important.” His voice was weakening.

Zack sat forward in his chair, anxious to hear every word.

“I was concerned for Mademoiselle Cameron,” Andre said. “I read in the paper about her upcoming marriage, and I felt I had to come to Biarritz. I don’t know how I thought I could help her, but I had to try.”

He paused for a moment.

“Go on,” Zack encouraged him.

Andre nodded. “I hope when I tell
you what happened that you won’t think ill of me,”
he continued. “But this has to be said, and I’ll
feel better when it’s all out in the open. Many
years ago I was butler to Countess Lilli Claude. This
was before she married Count Francois Dubonnet I. She was
crazy in love with a man by the name of
Gregory Wilcox. She had an affair with him and became
pregnant, but when she told Monsieur Wilcox, he never came
back to her. When she read in the newspapers that
he had been killed, she blamed Madame Hilary Stuart, and
swore to get even with her. Young Gregory, now known
as Francois, was five years old when the Countess married
the elder Count Francois.” Andre stopped for a moment to
catch his breath. His voice was getting weaker. “She insisted
that she bring me along to continue as her butler
and to take care of her son. The Count was
most agreeable to this. As it turned out, it’s a
good thing that he was.”

“Why is that?” Zack asked him.

“It will become very clear when I finish telling you what happened,” Andre replied. “We were at a place called the Chateau de Boulanger. One day she came to me and—” Andre suddenly became quite agitated and began to shake. He tried to sit up.

Zack reached out and took his hand in an effort to calm him. “Andre, the doctor warned me that you mustn’t get excited. We’d better postpone this until later.”

“No! No! We can’t wait!” With a great effort he tried to sit up, but fell back against the pillows, exhausted.

Zack didn’t waste any time ringing for the doctor. He hoped he hadn’t pushed Andre too far.

The doctor told the nurse to give Andre a sedative, and suggested that Zack come back later after Andre had rested. Andre objected, but soon felt the effects of the medication, and drifted off to sleep.

Zack left and joined the others, who were waiting anxiously.

Hildy rushed over as he entered the reception area. “Zack, did he tell you anything?”

“He started to,” Zack told her, “but he wasn’t able to finish. Something he was trying to tell me upset him. The doctor gave him a sedative and he’s sleeping.”

“You don’t know what it was that upset him?” Jay asked.

“I have no idea,” Zack said. “He started to tell me about having been a butler many years ago to Countess Lilli when she was having an affair with Gregory Wilcox, and how she blamed Hildy for his death. He said Lilli swore to get even. After Greg was killed she married the Count, and moved to Amboise.”

“Nothing else?” Jay asked. “Did you ask him why Fran married Lilli so soon after his first wife was killed?”

“I was about to when he got upset, and I had to summon the doctor.”

“That was all?” Hildy asked.

Zack frowned, trying to remember word for word what Andre had said. “He mentioned the Chateau de Boulanger. He started to tell me about Lilli coming to him one day, and asking him to do something for her. That’s when he got upset.”

“Do you think it was what she asked him to do that upset him?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I called the doctor right away. That’s when he had the nurse give him a shot, and asked me to come back later after he got some rest.”

“What do you suppose Lilli asked him to do?” Jenny asked.

“Let’s wait until I can talk to him again,” Zack said. “The important thing right now is to find some way to rescue Cammie. I only hope we’re not too late. Maybe he can tell us something that will give us a clue as to where she is.”

The doctor appeared in the doorway. “He’s sleeping,” he told them. “Please come back later. I’m sure he’ll be able to talk to you then.” He smiled as he turned to Zack. “He’s doing much better, thanks to you. I think seeing you at his bedside did him a world of good.”

They decided to go back to the motel and have some lunch while they were waiting for Andre to wake up. Now that he was on his way to a recovery their appetites returned, and they ate heartily. For the first time in the past few weeks they dared to hope.

CHAPTER XXIV
 

The day after Francois made Cammie a prisoner in her room, Jeremy returned to the Chateau de Boulanger. He had arrived too late the day before to do a thorough search of the Chateau and its grounds. As the approaching dusk had obscured his view, he had decided to go back to the inn where he was staying, about three miles from the Chateau, and get a good night’s sleep before returning today to get a fresh start.

Something
was prodding his memory, but he wasn’t able to zero
in on anything definite yet. Since visiting hours were from
ten in the morning until two in the afternoon, he
decided to wait till the tourist crowd was gone.

As he drove along, an impelling sense of excitement almost overwhelmed him. Last night he dreamed again about a special tree on the grounds, but this time his dream included what had eluded his memory before.

Yes! he thought. Approximately one hundred feet from the stables was a tree with a huge trunk about twelve feet in diameter, hollowed out in the middle with concrete steps inside leading down to a footbridge! His heart pounded as he remembered playing there when he was a boy. He also recalled a very kind man who played with him—the same man whose name he couldn’t remember.

Who was he? He didn’t think it was his father. He searched the deep recesses of his memory, but it evaded him. Never mind. It will come to me. Many other things have already.

It was a beautiful day. The late afternoon sun shone brightly, birds were singing, and the River Loire, running parallel to the road, seemed to sparkle with joy.

Then he thought of Cammie, and was surprised that anxiety suddenly overtook him, like a dark, ominous cloud overshadowing the joy he felt, just as he sensed he was on the threshold of discovering who he was. He tried to shake it off, as he parked his car down below, and climbed the steep, quarter-mile driveway.

As soon as he reached the top, instead of going to the right in the direction of the Chateau, he headed left toward the stables. Sure enough, there was the tree he had seen in his dream!

Flush with the outside of the tree trunk was a narrow panel camouflaged with tree bark to look like part of the tree. Anyone who didn’t know about it would never dream it was there, but Jeremy remembered.

He reached forward and pushed it, and wasn’t a bit surprised when it sprung open, revealing the concrete steps he had seen in his dream. I’ll bet this was used to hide in during war time, he thought. It could easily hold a dozen men!

He entered the tree trunk and descended the eight steps. As he reached the bottom something caught his eye. To his left was a door to a closet. A vivid memory flashed through his mind. I used to hide in there when I was playing with this same kind man whose name I can’t remember. Who was he? He was still pondering this as he stepped out of the bottom of the tree trunk, and walked over to the footbridge. He stood there surveying the grounds.

* * *

Upstairs, on the fifth floor of the Chateau, Cammie stood at the window looking out. No one knows where I am—or that I’m a prisoner, she thought with despair—or that Francois intends to kill me. They think I’m on my honeymoon. Some honeymoon! “I’ve got to get out of here,” she muttered, trying not to panic.

Francois never loved me, she thought bitterly. We’re not even married. How could I have been so taken in by him?

As she stood there looking out, her eyes turned in the direction of the stables. She could see the footbridge that spanned the deep gorge, and led to the brook, and the River Loire. Oh, she thought, if I could just get down there, I could escape! But how would I get down to the footbridge? If I jumped I might break a leg!

As she continued to look, she saw a man standing on the footbridge. There must be a way, she thought.

Then she spied the tree with the huge trunk. Maybe I could swing down from one of the branches like Tarzan, she mused. Visualizing this struck her funny, and she snickered. The snicker quickly turned into a sob, as she struggled for control. Stay calm, she admonished herself. Panic never solved anything.

She pulled herself together and looked back, but the man on the footbridge had disappeared. But as she continued staring, much to her amazement, she saw him emerge from the tree on the upper level!

She blinked and looked again, to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. He was still there looking toward the stables, and this gave her the first faint glimmer of hope she had felt since Francois had made her a prisoner.

The tree must be hollow! Oh, she thought longingly, if I could just get down there, I could hide in the tree trunk, and escape across the bridge.

* * *

As Jeremy stood there deep in thought, he came to with a start when someone spoke to him.

“What are you doing here?” a gruff voice asked him. The man spoke in French. “You’re trespassing on private property. The Chateau closes to tourists at four o’clock. You’ll have to return tomorrow. We open at ten in the morning.” He was most unfriendly, bordering on rudeness.