Carolina Mist (38 page)

“Do you love me that much? To give up everything else?”

“There is nothing else, Abby. Just you. I hadn’t realized just how much was missing from my life until you came back into it. I can’t let you go a second time. I need you too much.” He paused before adding, “You do need me, too, don’t you, Ab?”

“Yes, I need you.”

“And you love me, too, don’t you?”

“Yes, I love you. I’ve never loved anyone else.”

“Then what’s stopping you from saying, ‘Why, yes, Alex, I will marry you. And, thank you, a June wedding in the rose arbor would be absolutely perfect.’ ”

“Yes, Alex, I will marry you,” she recited softly. “And, thank you, a June wedding in the rose arbor would be
…”
Her words disappeared into his mouth which descended upon hers like a hungry hawk.

Her hands, which had moments earlier tugged gently on the points of his shirt collar, now held the sides of his face to
hers, and she half laughed, half cried as he set her up on the wet counter where the just-rinsed dishes were stacked.

“And I trust that first thing Monday, you will call the headhunter in Dallas and tell her you’ve had a better offer right here in Primrose.” He kissed her throat and behind her left ear.

“The best offer I ever had,” she agreed, sniffing back the tears that had begun to roll down her cheeks in furious streams.

“Ab, we will be so happy, you’ll see,” he vowed, holding her chin in his hand.

A shrill scream from the morning room broke the spell.

The couple cuddling in the kitchen making their wedding plans exchanged a look of alarm. Abby jumped down from the counter and followed Alex down the short hall to the morning room.

“Over against the wall with the others.” The young blond woman waved the pistol, gesturing for Abby and Alex to join the group in front of the fireplace wall.

The paneled wainscot stood open to the tunnel, a gaping dark blemish on the newly painted wall.

“What in the name of God?” Alex exhaled, stopping dead in his tracks inside the mo
rn
ing-room door.

“I’m sorry, Alexander,” Belle said shakily. “I’m afraid it’s my fault. The guests wanted to see the secret passage, and when I pushed in the cornerstone, the wall opened, and out she came.”

“I’m not kidding. Mr. Kane. I said move,” she said coolly.

“Cerise?” Abby peered closely at the young woman.

“Who is Cerise?” Alex asked.

“Tillman’s secretary.”

“Who is Tillman?” Bob Conroy asked.

“Aunt Leila’s attorney.”

“Who is Aunt Leila?” asked Elaine.

“Shut up, all of you!” Cerise yelled. “This is not a ‘Moonlighting’ rerun.”

“All right, Cerise. What do you want?” Abby decided calm and direct was the way to go.

“I want the pearls.”

“What pearls?” Abby frowned. “Aunt Leila sold her pearls to pay for new kitchen appliances.”

“Not those pearls, stupid.” Cerise rolled her eyes. “The Tears of the Maiden.”

“Who’s the maiden?” Alex asked.

“Cerise, that was a kids’ book.” Abby sighed, ignoring Alex in her efforts to get Cerise to leave before someone got hurt. “Thomas made it up. Those pearls do not exist.”

“Oh, but they do,” the woman replied, and, sticking her left hand into the pocket of her tan jacket, she withdrew a luminescent orb the size of a fat man’s thumb.

The only sound in the room was that of the entire gathering sucking in its collective breath.

“Where did you get that?” Abby asked, as wide-eyed and dazzled as all the others.

“In a little hidden compartment in Thomas Cassidy’s desk,” she told them with a perverse sort of pride. “And now I want the rest of them.”

“Cerise, this is silly.” Abby shook her head. “No one knows where those pearls are, if, in fact, there are more.”

“I do,” Belle said evenly.

Seven heads swiveled to gaze upon the old woman.

“You do?” Abby gasped.

“Of course, I do.” Belle straightened up importantly.

“Belle, if you knew where those pearls were, why didn’t you tell me?” Abby asked, dumbfounded.

“Because I was afraid that if you had that much money, it wouldn’t have mattered how much you could get for this house. You’d just have sold everything off right away and taken the money and left.” The old woman’s chin rose slightly. “And where would that have left
me,
I ask you? In a smelly old nursing home someplace,
that’s
where!”

“Then why didn’t
you
take the pearls and sell them? You would have had enough money to hire someone to live in with you.”

“Because they weren’t mine.” Belle was indignant at the very thought.

“Okay, enough of this nonsense.” Cerise waved the gun. “Where are the pearls?”

“They’re
…
” Belle began.

“Don’t, Belle,” a voice spoke from the opening in the wall.

Drew Cassidy emerged from the tunnel, draped in cobwebs. “Cerise, what are you doing?”

“I am doing what I thought I could get you to do,” Cerise fairly spat at him, “before you went stupid on me.”

“Is that a real gun?” Drew asked.

“Of course, it’s a real gun.” Cerise popped her gum.

“Give it to me.” He motioned to her calmly.

“Not on your life.” She shook her head.

“Cerise, this is foolish.” Drew tried to reason with her.

“You have the nerve to call me foolish?” Cerise’s overly shadowed eyes widened. “I’ll tell you what’s foolish. Foolish is walking away from a fortune. You could have found it, Drew. She”—Cerise waved the gun in Abby’s direction— “never would have known. It was the damned birthday party that did it, wasn’t it? You weren’t the same after that. One bloody birthday cake, and the whole scam’s off? I don’t think so.”

“Is that true, Drew?” Abby asked quietly. “Was it all a scam?”

“Well, I hate to admit it, but at the very beginning, before I met you, I was intrigued by Cerise’s plan.” He was having trouble meeting her gaze.

“Which was?”

“To find whatever it was that Thomas had found on his trips, and to steal it,” he said simply. “I’m sorry, Abby. I thought I had talked her out of it.”

“Where did you meet up with
her?
”
Alex frowned, nodding in the direction of the woman with the gun.

“It’s a long story.” Drew sighed.

“One we don’t have time to listen to,” Cerise snapped impatiently. “Mrs. Matthews, go get the pearls, and bring them back here. You have one minute
. If you’re not back, I’ll…
” She looked about the room wildly looking for a
likely “or else.”
“…
I’ll shoot
him.
”
She waved the gun at Alex.

“A minute is not a very generous amount of time”— Belle shook a finger at Cerise—“for a woman of my age.”

“Just do it.” Cerise was clearly becoming nervous and agitated. Abby hoped the stress wouldn’t make her trigger finger twitch.

“I do not know how to apologize to you for this.” A distressed Abby turned to her paying guests. Oddly, they appeared to be relaxed and smiling. “Nothing like t
his ever happens around here…”

Bob Conroy held up a hand to cut her off. “Well,
we’
re
certainly frightened, but we’ll do as she says.” He winked.

Abby stared at Bob as if he was crazed.

“Alexander, you’ll have to help me to take this apart,” Belle muttered from the doorway. In her hand, she held the framed picture of Leila that had stood on Thomas’s desk.

“Give me that,” Cerise lunged toward Belle for the frame.

In a heartbeat, a swirling mass of dark fur dashed out and sank its teeth into Cerise’s ankle.

“Ow!” she shrieked, looking down for a split second. Drew stepped behind her and grabbed her wrist, knocking the small pistol to the floor.

“Oh,” Bob said gallantly as he picked it up, “allow me.”

“Alex, give Colin a call.” Drew led Cerise to a chair and plunked her down.

“I already did that,” Belle announced, “when I went into the study.”

“Good thinking, Gran.” Alex kissed the top of the old woman’s head and led her to a chair. “Are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m okay, Alexander.” Belle sniffed. “What do you take me for?”

“Gran, all the excitement
…
”

“Pooh.” She dismissed him as if insulted by the suggestion, while at the same time grateful to give her quaking her legs a rest as she turned her attention to her little dog. She patted her lap, and the dog climbed aboard as if taking the place of honor at an awards banquet. “Alexander, get Meri a Milk Bone. She deserves a reward for saving the day.”

Abby turned toward the Turners and the Conroys, holding out her hands helplessly. What do you say after the guests in your establishment have been held at gunpoint for twenty minutes?

“Well, what do you think, Elaine?” Bob said. “Wasn’t that one of the better performances we’ve seen lately?”

“Performance?” Abby repeated dumbly.

“We go to these types of things all the time. Solve-the-murder dinners. Mystery weekends. Alex didn’t mention that you folks would have something, but hey, that only added to the fun,” Bob assured her.

“I’ll say.” Sue Turner laughed. “But, to tell you the truth, I can’t remember seeing anyone make the entrance
she
did. Just for a split second, one might have thought it was real.”

“The timing was too perfect. Gave it away.” Jeff Turner turned to Abby and whispered, “Just a little advice? Next time, she shouldn’t come out of the wall so quickly.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” Abby nodded.

“So, what time’s breakfast?” Bob paused in the doorway.

“Ah
…
eight-thirty,” Abby replied, trying to decide which had surprised her more, Cerise’s appearance with the gun or the realization that her guests thought it was the evening’s entertainment.

“Perfect.” He saluted her as he ushered his wife and the Turners into the hallway.

“By the way.” Jeff stuck his head back through the doorway. “What was the signal for the dog?”

“What?” Abby turned to him, still in a bit of a daze.

“I didn’t see anyone signal the dog. Pretty clever, whatever it was.” He smiled brightly.

“Thanks.”

“And, hey.” Bob laughed. “The police officer is a nice touch. Adds authenticity. But you’re too late.” He patted Colin on the back as they passed in the hallway. “It’s all over, and we already figured it out.”

“Glad to hear it.” Colin nodded thoughtfully, then asked Abby, “What the hell was that all about?”

“You wouldn’t believe it.” She shook her head and slumped onto the love seat.

“Cerise, Cerise, Cerise.” Colin gently helped the woman to her feet and folded her arms behind her back. “What have you gotten yourself into this time?”

“I’m not going to say a damned thing until I see my lawyer.”

“You want to give ole Horace a call? I bet he’ll be hellbent when he finds out you got yourself into another little scrape, now, won’t he?” Colin guided her toward his partner, who was waiting in the hallway. “Yep, I’ll bet ole Uncle Horace is going to have exactly what my wife would call an all-out hissy.”

“Cerise,” Drew called to her, and she flashed him a black look. “Make sure you give Colin the ring you took from Susannah’s suitcase.”

Cerise stuck her tongue out at him as she went through the doorway.

“How did you know about that?” Abby asked. “You left before we even knew the house had been broken into.”

“Cerise called me and asked me to meet her for dinner the next night. She was wearing it,” Drew said.

“How did she know about the tunnel? And how did she know about the ring?” Colin took out a small book and began to make notes.

“Cerise said when she was in high school, the kids used to sneak in and smoke cigarettes, drink beer, whatever.” He sighed. “And I don’t think she knew about the ring. I think she went through Sunny’s things looking for whatever she could find.”

“I think now would be a nice time for you to explain how you got involved with her.” Abby sat on the edge of her chair and folded her arms across her chest, clearly waiting.

“I came to Primrose after I read your aunt’s obituary in the newspaper,” Drew began. “The widow of the adventurer Thomas Cassidy had died, leaving several grand-nieces and -nephews. I figured I could just get in line with the rest of the heirs. When I got to Primrose and started asking some questions about the
estate, I was
directed to Mr. Tillman. I went to his office, but
he wasn’t
in.”

“But Cerise was.”

“Yeah, she sure was.” He sighed. “She told me there was only one heir and that
she
was on her way down from up north to claim the estate. I am embarrassed to say it took very little for Cerise to talk me into getting into the house to look around and see if we could find any of the old treasures. We both went in a few times through the tunnel, but we never did find much of value. Nothing that wouldn’t be missed, anyway.”