Black Opal (18 page)

Sabina was incapable of speech at this extraordinary turn of events.

Thankfully Bella jumped in and filled the awkward silence. “Are you going back to Atlanta?”

His expression turned steely, his eyes flat and cold.

Sabina suppressed a shiver. She didn’t doubt Johnny Morelly was capable of murder.

“I’m going after Victoria Price.”

“Be careful. Victoria Price is dangerous,” Sabina said, finding her voice.
More so than you can possibly imagine.

“I mean no disrespect but she’s a woman. How dangerous can she be?”

Sabina’s jaw dropped. How could any man make such a statement in these enlightened times? She bit on her lips until they formed a thin tight line to keep from telling him just how much damage any woman could do, let alone one who had the power of the gods on her arm. Her stomach knotted. The thought of Victoria wearing her amulet made her nauseous.

She cleared her throat. “She’s Victor Price’s daughter and possibly more dangerous than he is.”

“Victor Price is dead and so will his daughter be if she’s harmed my nephew.”

“How do you intend to find her?” Bella asked. Her head had been moving back and forth watching the other two like a spectator at a tennis match.

“I have a large network of acquaintances and many favors to call in. Do you have a picture of this woman?”

“If you have paper and pencil, I can draw you one,” Bella responded.

In three quick strides, he walked to the desk and picked up a tooled leather portfolio and a pencil.

Bella opened the leather folio. Her pencil poised, she asked, “Will you call me as soon as you find Victoria or Adam?”

He smiled. “Ah, a favor for a favor. This I understand. Yes, I will call you.”

The pencil scratched across the paper as Bella drew with quick, sharp strokes.

Faces began to emerge. A young Goth, a blonde, a woman with black hair piled high on her head, an old woman and an old man.

Looking over her shoulder, Johnny’s brows shot up.

“She’s a master of disguise,” Sabina explained, her eyes lingering on the picture of the woman who had been wrapped around Adam like a snake. She shivered. Was he all right? Even if he’d gone with Victoria willingly that didn’t mean she’d let him live.

“No matter her disguise, she won’t be able to hide from me.”

Bella ripped out the sheet and handed it to him.

“Thank you. Again, stay as long as you like.” He headed for the door and stopped in the entryway. “I will find my nephew.” Johnny opened the door and paused, looking her over. He stared at the rip in her muslin shirt and the dirty streaks on it as if noticing for the first time the state of her clothes. “You look to be about my daughter’s size. Help yourself to her wardrobe. She’s got enough clothes, she’ll never miss them.” He turned and walked out.

As she stared at the door, Bella wrapped an arm around her. “I’d take him up on the offer, shug. Your clothes are good for nothing but the rag bag.

“Now, do you want to tell me what happened, sweetie? Why you were buried under a pile of rocks when you had the amulet. At least, I assume you had the amulet.” Bella wrinkled her brow, trying to puzzle it out.

“We were standing too far apart. I couldn’t save us both.” Even though in the moment she saw the rocks coming straight at Adam and realized she was in love with him, it had been hard to embrace death. She had done it and gladly but still it had been difficult.

“So you sacrificed yourself to save Adam.” It was a statement not a question.

“You would have done the same.” Sabina rubbed her arm where her amulet normally resided. She felt exposed without it. “We have to get the amulet back.”

“And so we will. But if Maureen runs true to form, she’ll need at least twenty-four hours’ undisturbed sleep.” She looked Sabina up and down critically. “And she’ll need to have at least one more go at you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sure you are, sugar but we’re all going to need our strength for what’s coming.”

Sabina glanced down at the remote laying on the mahogany inlaid coffee table. She bent over and picked it up, pointed at the flat screen TV on the far wall and punched the button. “I’ve been out of touch with the world for several days. I think I’ll watch the news.”

“Good idea.” Bella filled their wineglasses, kicked off her shoes and placed her pedicured feet on the coffee table. “Sit, shug. Room’s a tad bit cold isn’t it?”

Sabina had been unsure whether it was the room or her heart that felt chilled. “Yes.” Sabina sank down on the couch. Truth be told she didn’t even know if she had the energy to crawl back to the elevator and go upstairs to bed.

She leaned her head back on the couch. The large sofa molded around her body. Pointing the remote at the TV she channel surfed. Five clicks and Sabina found the twenty-four hour news channel. She sipped her wine then sat it on the table.

Her eyelids drooped, as she watched the plasma flat screen, growing sleepier and sleepier. A sudden jab in her ribs by a well-placed elbow brought her upright, blinking. “What?”

“Listen to this, shug.” Bella grabbed the remote from Sabina and turned up the sound.

A pretty anchorwoman droned, “Just in. A few hours ago a security officer at one of the biggest banks in Charleston, South Carolina made his rounds and discovered the forty metric ton vault door wide open. The sound and vibration detectors did not go off. The timed lock had disintegrated. The security camera melted down. All the paper money had been taken along with bearer bonds and jewels from the safety deposit boxes.” The lovely blonde looked properly solemn as she moved on to the next story.

The hair on the nape of Sabina’s neck stood straight up and goose bumps roughened her skin. She looked at Bella and saw the same consternation reflected on her lovely features. “It’s begun,” Sabina whispered.

Bella reached over and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Sabina clasped it back uncertain who was comforting whom. But as she held on to Bella’s hand creativity surged through her.

Sabina narrowed her eyes as she stared at the TV then turned and looked at her friend as an idea popped in her head.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, shug?” Bella asked her beautiful blue eyes sparkling with suppressed excitement.

Sabina smiled at her friend, knowing her own eyes were glowing. “If it involves setting a trap for Victoria and using you and Maureen as bait, yes.”

Bella nodded, a smile of excitement on her face. “We put out the word that you were killed in that landslide. That Maureen and I are in deep mourning at a dear friend’s cabin in the mountains. Victoria won’t be able to resist coming after us.” She tapped her finger against her lip. “Do we say the dear friend is Johnny Morelly or would that make it too easy for her? Not to mention ruining our reputations forever.” She gave a delicate shudder.

As she bent over to pick up her wine, she looked at her hands. “Damn, I’ve chipped my nails and at least one of them is broken. When this is over, let’s spend the day at the spa.”

Sabina smiled her head against the couch. “Sounds wonderful. Should we start calling the television stations?”

She looked at Bella and Bella wiggled her eyebrows. They both said at the same time, “Johnny.”

“That man has more connections than the president,” Bella declared.

Sabina nodded absently, her mind on something else. “It’s almost uncanny the link we have isn’t it.”

“Definitely woo-woo,” Bella agreed, sipping her wine.

Sabina yawned so widely her jaws popped.

“Why don’t you go to bed, shug. I’ll call Johnny and I better call Hank,” she sighed. “I love the man but he’s not real big on letting me handle things on my own.”

Sabina smiled and touched her friend’s hand. “Only when he thinks you’re in danger, Bella. That man would walk on water for you. Or at least try. You’re very lucky.” Sabina fought back envy. No one deserved the love they’d found more than Bella and Hank.

Sabina pushed herself off the couch and staggered to the elevator. As she pressed the button, Bella said quietly, “She’ll come for us. Her ego is too monumental to let her do anything else.”

Not turning around, Sabina stared at the hardwood, honey-colored floor and forced herself to ask, “Do you think Adam’s with her? That he’s alive?”

“Yes, shug, on both accounts. That man of yours has the cunning of a cat. Even with the amulet, Adam Morelly can hold his own and then some against Victoria Price.”

“I think so too.” Sabina felt lightheaded with relief at having her hopes confirmed. “And he’s not my man,” she added belatedly, straightening from where she’d sagged against the wall.

“No but he will be. I’d bet my most expensive painting on it.”

* * * * *

“You are proving a great disappointment to me,” Victoria told the man chained to the damp cellar wall, his shirt torn open. Her hips undulating, she walked toward him. Running her tongue across her lips, she moved a red lacquered fingernail in a circle around each of his nipples then down to his bellybutton, her sharp-edged nail breaking the skin whereever it touched.

Chapter Twelve

Morning light crept through the dark green brocade curtains. Songbirds trilled in a happy chorus outside the window.

Sabina woke to a spurt of healing surging through her veins. Aches and pains coursed through her blood and built like a tidal wave under Maureen’s hand then erupted through it leaving her free of pain.

Maureen lay beside her, gasping softly as the soreness entered her.

“Maureen, that’s enough. I swear I’m fine.” Sabina removed Maureen’s hand and rolled over to look at her friend. Maureen’s apricot-colored skin had a tinge of gray to it and her lovely green eyes were still sunk deep in her face.

She grasped Maureen’s hands, leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you for saving my life, my dear friend. Sleep now.”

Maureen’s eyes closed and her ragged breath turned deep and even as exhaustion dragged her back under.

Sabina felt nearly normal, which meant Maureen must feel like hell. She swung her legs over the bed and headed for the bathroom. Hopping in the shower, she sighed with pleasure. Not even the beauty amulet could remove the grime that had accumulated on her body from the rock fall.

Her palms flat against the cool marble, she leaned against the shower stall and let the water wash over her in ecstatic hot spurts. She stood like that ’til the water turned tepid than lathered herself from her head to her toes. Finally, she stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her and meandered down the hall looking for Johnny’s daughter’s room.

She found it. The second door on the right held a treasure trove of outfits. Sabina threw on a long-sleeved ivory tee shirt and a pair of jeans that she had to roll the cuffs up on then padded into the hall.

Her hand on the mahogany rail, she looked over the catwalk and saw Bella fixing breakfast. Moving her nose up and down in a feline gesture, she sniffed. The smell of eggs and coffee assailed her. Her stomach growled loudly reminding her of just how long it had been since she’d eaten.

She took the stairs two at a time. Bella looked up and saw her. “Good morning, shug. You’re looking wonderful!”

As Sabina walked into the kitchen, she glanced at the rooster-shaped clock. “Bella, it’s only six thirty. What are you doing up?”

Bella gave a huge yawn as she moved her spatula through the bright yellow liquid in the skillet. “I figure from now on one of us needs to be awake at all times and on guard. I’ll catch a few hours’ sleep after breakfast. How’s Maureen?”

“She looks terrible.”

“She’ll be better after she’s slept.”

Sabina peered over her shoulder. “What’s the white stuff in the saucepan?”

“I made grits.”

Sabina peered at them uncertainly. “I’m not familiar with grits.”

“You’re in for a treat, sugar.” Bella grinned.

Sabina nodded noncommittally then walked to the cabinet, plucked out a mug and poured herself a cup of fresh coffee from the coffeepot sitting on the counter. She sipped then buried her nose in it and closed her eyes. “Um. Life is good,” she said then thought of Adam and sat the coffee cup down abruptly. The hot liquid sloshed over the sides and onto her hands.

She wiped the liquid off the back of her hand with her fingertips, biting down on her lip.
Are you alive? Are you safe? I’ll find you. I swear I’ll find you.
She fisted her hands, her nails biting deep into the fleshy part of her palms.

Bella pushed a loaf of bread at her. “Make us some toast.”

Sabina forced open a rigid hand to take it. Mechanically, she popped bread into the toaster.

“Adam will be okay, shug,” Bella said, echoing her thoughts. “He’s tough and smart. He’ll hold out ’til we find him.”

“Do you think she’ll hurt him?” Sabina whispered twisting the bread wrapper with sharp hard turns.

“If she does, she’ll have us to answer to won’t she?” Bella scooped the eggs onto tan plates flecked with brown then poured the grits into small brown bowls.

Sabina smiled gratefully. “Yup, she’s about to tangle with twenty-first century Wonder Women.”

The toast popped out of the toaster. Sabina grabbed it, buttered it and plopped it on the plates and carried the plates to the table. Bella followed with the coffee then went back for the grits.

“I called Johnny last night,” Bella said.

“And?” Sabina pulled out a wooden chair from the butcher block table and sat down.

“He said to keep an eye on the news.” She winked at Sabina as she slid into her chair. A small television sat on the counter. “Can you reach the remote, sugar?”

Sabina looked at the distance from the counter, got up, grabbed the remote and sat back down and pushed the power button.

The broadcaster, a perky brunette sprang into vivid color. “Dead body found beneath the rubble…”

They looked at each other, horrified.

“You don’t suppose…”Sabina began.

“She’s probably talking about some other rubble,” Bella interjected, her coffee cup posed at her lips.

“Johnny Morelly, a close friend of the family.”

Sabina put her head in her hands and groaned.

The anchorwoman continued, “Identified the body by a bracelet that he himself had given the singer.”

Sabina rubbed the growing pressure between her eyes with her middle finger.

“Look there, shug.” Bella pointed with her coffee cup to the screen.

Sabina looked up and saw Johnny’s swarthy face fill the screen his expression solemn. “She was soon to become a member of my family. Sabina Comti was about to announce her engagement to my nephew, Adam Morelly.

“My nephew has disappeared, no doubt devastated by the news. I don’t want this to turn out to be another Romeo and Juliet enactment, so if anyone knows of the whereabouts of my nephew Adam Morelly, please contact me.

“Her two friends, Bella Tremaine-McHenry and Maureen Wolfe are in deep mourning in my cabin in North Carolina. Please give them the privacy they deserve.”

The camera zoomed back on to the news anchor. “That was Johnny Morelly talking about Sabina Comti. A tragic end to one so young and beautiful, who had so much to live for.”

The two women looked at each other. Bella bit down on her lips as if trying to contain a nervous giggle.

“My family will just die,” Sabina groaned.

“No dear you’re the one that died.” This time she did bust out laughing.

“My family!” Sabina’s eyes widened and she jumped up, knocking the chair backward in her haste. “I must call them. They’ll think I’m dead.”

“You can’t.” Bella sat down her cup, sobered. “I know this is hard on you and horrible for them but you can’t. Word mustn’t trickle back to Victoria. You’re our ace in the hole.”

Their glances locked.

Protest welled up in Sabina’s throat and fought to escape her lips. She read sympathy in Bella’s eyes along with raw determination. Sabina sank back in her chair. Throwing her head back, her eyes closed, she took a deep gulp of air then straightened her shoulders and looked at Bella knowing all animation had left her face. “You’re right.”

Bella reached over and grasped her hand, her warmth and the slight charge of the beauty-creativity amulet tingling through Sabina’s blood. “It won’t be for long. I promise you.”

Sabina shook off the depressing thought of her family’s pain. “You don’t suppose he killed a woman do you?” she asked, her thoughts returning to the body in the grave.

“I prefer to think he borrowed a corpse from a mortuary,” Bella said firmly. “If it was a closed casket, I doubt the mortician is going to admit to losing a cadaver.”

Sabina took a deep breath. “Yes, of course.”

“Eat your breakfast, shug,” Bella urged, scooping up scrambled eggs and popping them in her mouth.

Sabina nodded and took a small bite of her rapidly cooling eggs, no longer hungry. She fixed her eyes on the newscaster who was talking about the latest recall of toys made in China.

Bella yawned.

Turning her attention to her friend, she studied Bella critically. “You need to get some rest, Bella. You looked a little haggard.”

Bella’s brilliant eyes widened. She touched her amulet, ramping up the glamour, set her napkin on the table and stood up. “Fine,” she said flouncing out of the kitchen.

Sabina grinned then turned back to the television.

“Another mysterious bank robbery has occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina, the second in the South, in twenty-four hours. It was just discovered moments ago. This time the night guard was killed.”

Sabina’s breath went out in a whoosh as if she’d been hit in the pit of her stomach. A guard killed, an innocent individual just trying to do his or her job. Had Victoria deprived children of a parent? Her hand tightened around her coffee cup. She and the sisterhood would stop Victoria. They had to. And they would find Adam.

A hard knot tightened in her chest. The knot had been there since she woke up and found Adam gone. She no longer thought he’d gone of his own free will. She closed her eyes and focused on Adam, trying to reach him with her mind.

She concentrated harder, centering.

Her breath caught in her throat. She could barely breathe. Black waves of despair washed over her, desolation nearly drowning her.
He thinks I’m dead.

She opened her eyes, blinked panting, amazed she’d been able to reach him. They didn’t have amulets to link them but maybe they had love. Once again, she closed her eyes, projecting.
I’m alive. I will find you.
She put every ounce of her being into her thoughts and sent them spiraling into space.

For a moment the blackness she felt lightened to gray then blinked out like a candle blown by a gust of wind. What did it mean? She stared at her plate of cold scrambled eggs.

A rush of determination coursed through her. She had to get Adam back but to do that she had to find Victoria. She longed to rush out of the house and go flying to the rescue but fly where?

Victoria would come to them. She wouldn’t be able to resist coming after Bella and Maureen. She hated the three of them with every breath in her body and in particular Bella and Maureen. Sabina, she thought no more of than a bug to step on and pluck the power amulet from. But Bella had brought her particular humiliation and Maureen had escaped her clutches.

Oh yes, Victoria would come and when she did, they would be ready for her. Cold steely calm stole over her. Sabina wasn’t a violent person, she didn’t believe in it. But in this case she was willing to make an exception. She got up and shoved her chair back from her table. Surely Johnny Morelly had a gun around here somewhere.

* * * * *

She watched the news with unholy glee. Sabina Comti was dead. Now nothing stood between her and Adam Morelly, except a few chains. She giggled, saliva bubbling and running down from the corner of her mouth.

So Bella Tremaine-McHenry and Maureen Sinclair were in mourning. How appropriate. It would be the work of a minute to find out where they were. And when she did, she’d take the other two amulets. They couldn’t stand against the power amulet. Then she would have three of the five. She walked to the window and looked up at the sky. “Are you proud of me, Daddy?”