The Ride of Her Life (44 page)

“Have you been in there?”

Mark took her elbow. “Not as a prisoner, but yes. There are three floors of revolving pie-shaped cells inside a large cage. The jailer can rotate the cells so only one cell on each floor has access to a door at any time. A regular marvel of ingenuity.”

“But it sounds like something for an animal.”

“It’s not so bad. There are some windows for sunlight, and they feed them pretty well.” Mark raised his eyebrows. “But it is nearly impossible to escape.”

“Will they let me see Nick?”

“I’m going in as his lawyer, and you’re with me, so it should be fine.”

“But you aren’t an attorney yet.”

“That’s okay. I don’t think there will be a trial.” Mark patted his coat pocket. “I think Mr. Hart will be willing to negotiate a release.”

Lilly climbed the stairs and preceded Mark inside. Mark told her to wait while he spoke to the jailer. She surveyed the entry and wished she could see more of the jail, but from her vantage point, she could only see the kitchen on the left and the offices on the right.

A few minutes later, the jailer joined them. He gave her a critical once-over. “I’m not sure this is a fit place for a lady. I won’t be responsible for how the men act toward you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“So be it. He’s here on the first floor. Follow me.”

They followed the jailer down a hall. Lilly glanced upward at the “cage” holding the cells. The brick, the sparse windows, and the cold metal bars made her shiver. The unmistakable stench of unwashed bodies caused her stomach to turn. How was Nick handling this horrid place?

The jailer went to the wall and connected a crank to a large gear. As he turned the crank, the cells turned on their axes with a groan. Metal grated against metal with an eerie screech. Lilly could see each of the prisoners housed in the small, pie-shaped cells as they passed by. Several made ungentlemanly comments to her in the process. Finally Nick’s cell appeared. She started toward it, but Mark grabbed her arm.

“Can you let him out so we can talk?” Mark asked the jailer, nodding toward Lilly. “She shouldn’t be subjected to seeing him here.”

“Sorry. That’s against the rules.”

Mark released her. “Go ahead. I’ll give you some time alone first.”

Lilly’s heels clinked against the metal floor, and she wrapped her fingers around the thick metal slats.

Clothes blackened and face smudged, Nick met her, covering her hands with his own. “He has Levi. I found him, but I got caught before we could get out.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s upset, but he’s fine. I told him to be brave.”

“Why is Percy here?” She glanced at the boy sitting behind Nick.

“It’s a long story.” Nick cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I failed you.”

“How can you say that? You said you’d do anything for Levi and me, but I never dreamed it could come to this.” Her eyes filled with tears.

“Hey, none of that.” He laughed, but it sounded hollow and sad. “I’ll get out of this, and I’ll make sure you get Levi back. Then I think you and I need to have a nice long talk.”

“Nick, I still don’t know how we can make it work. Levi needs a home. He needs security now more than ever. Think about what this has done to him, and you have a job that takes you all over the country.” She dropped her gaze to the chipped paint on the metal floor.

He tipped her chin up until her eyes met his. “I have a job. It’s not my life. There are other things I could do.”

“But—”

He pressed his fingers to her lips. “Not here. Not now.” He glanced over her shoulder. “Mark.”

The younger man strode over. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. Levi has to be your priority, not me. How can we get him out of that house?”

“Lilly, has anyone been a witness to the problems you’ve been having with Claude Hart?” Mark asked.

“He spoke to Mr. Thorton and threatened his diner if I didn’t let him see Levi, and Marguerite and Emily were there when Claude and Evangeline dragged the sheriff in to accuse me of being an unfit mother.”

“The sheriff? I take it he didn’t find any of their allegations true.”

“Heavens no! He wasn’t a bit happy with them and told them to leave me alone.”

“Perfect.”

“And I can testify.” Percy joined them at the cell door. “Mr. Black paid me to sabotage the roller coaster. He was careful not to use Mr. Hart’s name, but I think he’d turn on Mr. Hart before he’d take the blame himself.”

“Good.” Mark cupped Lilly’s elbow.

“Mark, what do you plan to do?” Nick asked.

The soon-to-be attorney turned to Lilly. “You and I, Lilly, are going to make a little deal with the devil.”

An hour later, Lilly and Mark found the sheriff at Lake Manawa’s jail. Thankfully he’d gotten the message that Levi had been found, but he was furious to learn why the morning’s search had been unnecessary. He readily agreed to come to the city to help them straighten out the whole affair.

Once they reached the police department, they followed the sheriff inside.

“Sheriff Walter Boone, what can I do for you?” The police captain set down his papers and leaned forward at his desk.

Sheriff Boone held a chair for Lilly, then took a seat himself. “Andrew, I’m here about a missing little boy.”

“My men will be glad to help you find him.”

“Actually, he’s been found. He’s at the home of Claude Hart.”

The captain picked up the sheet of paper on top of his pile and passed it to the sheriff. “We arrested a man for breaking and entering there today. Any connection?”

“The man you arrested was trying to get the boy back. Hart had arranged for the boy, his grandson, to be taken from his mother.”

The police captain turned toward Lilly. “Is that you?”

She pressed her hand to her wildly beating heart. “Yes, sir.”

“And who are you?” He studied Mark.

“Mark Westing. I’m a friend of the family, and I work for Claude Hart.”

“You another lawyer?” The captain’s eyebrows rose.

“Not yet, sir.” Mark shifted. “Sir, we’d like to ask you to release Nick Perrin.”

“Based on what? He still broke the law.”

The sheriff nodded. “You’re right, he did, but so did Mr. Hart. I’m thinking I might be able to look the other way concerning the kidnapping if you can get Mr. Hart to agree not to press charges against Nick Perrin.”

“You can’t charge Claude Hart with kidnapping. He’s a powerful man. No judge in this city would find him guilty if the child was his own grandson. Besides, you said he arranged to have the child taken. Who did the actual kidnapping?”

“Clifford Black. But he’s either at the Hart residence or long gone.” The sheriff rubbed his peppery beard. “You’re right, though, about Hart and the judges of this town, but the kidnapping happened at Lake Manawa, my jurisdiction. I have no problem arresting the arrogant man and keeping him in my jail as long as I possibly can.”

The police captain turned to Lilly. “Are you agreeable to not pressing charges?”

“I only want my son returned and Nick released.”

“Then maybe this will work. We’ll go talk to Mr. Hart first thing in the morning.”

“No!” The word burst from Lilly’s lips. “We’ll talk to him now.”

“We?” The police captain looked from Lilly to the sheriff.

The sheriff smiled. “Andrew, the lady’s been through enough today. First she couldn’t find her son, and we all feared he was lost or drowned. Then she found out he’d been kidnapped, and now the man she loves is in jail. I don’t know about you, but I think we shouldn’t put her through any more. What do you say? Shall we reunite a child and his mother?”

“What if Hart won’t go along with the exchange?”

Mark patted his coat pocket again. “I can guarantee you, he will.”

The captain turned toward the officer sitting nearby. “In that case, Officer Rainer, fetch Mr. Perrin from the jail and bring him to the Hart residence. I’m sure he’d like to be there when we get the boy.”

“But I need to go with you.” Lilly met the captain’s gaze. “Please.”

The captain sighed, then stood. “I hope I don’t regret this.”

When Nick got back to the boardinghouse, he planned to take the longest bath in history. He might even take two.

Thankfully the officer who’d come didn’t insist on handcuffing him, but he’d been tight-lipped about where Nick was being taken. At least the time in the cell had allowed him to speak with Percy about why he’d sabotaged the coaster. How he’d missed Percy’s growing resentment, he’d never know. Percy admitted he first got angry when Nick sent him to work in the kitchen and he got sprayed by the skunk. It only grew worse when Nick yelled at him for letting Levi ride on the coaster.

When Clifford Black had approached Percy and offered him money to do a little roller coaster damage, he’d agreed—partly because of the money, but mostly because he was angry with Nick. He figured the lift chain would break before it ever hauled a car up the hill. When Nick got in the car, Percy was too afraid to say anything. In the cell, Percy’s guilt over Nick’s almost being hurt seemed to be tearing the boy apart.

After the officer came to get Nick, Percy looked like a lost little boy, and it had been hard to leave the young man. Not that the officer gave Nick another option. Nick assured Percy they’d get him out somehow. He prayed he’d be able to keep that promise.

The officer pulled his horse and police wagon to a stop in front of the Hart estate. The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting an orange haze on Lilly, who stood on the Harts’ veranda. But where was Levi? Why hadn’t her son been returned to her?

The officer tilted his head in her direction. “The captain said you can stay with her.”

Not waiting a second, Nick hopped down and ran up the walk. Lilly looked tired and worn, but she wasn’t distraught. Did he see a peace about her?

“Nick, thank God you’re here.”

He crossed the veranda and pulled her into his arms. She melted into his embrace, and he stroked her hair. “Are you okay?”

She pulled back and forced a tremulous smile. “I’ve had better days, but I trust God to make this work.”

“You do?”

“Don’t act so surprised. I’ve had a lot of time to think today.” She brushed a tendril of hair from her face. “Do you know what I prayed yesterday? In my mother’s Bible, I read some words she’d written in the margin. ‘Faith entrusts oneself and one’s children to God in the midst of danger.’ I prayed I’d never have to do that. But God had other plans.”

“And?”

“I put the two people I love most in the world in God’s hands.”

He smiled. “So you’ve mastered the storms?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I only know who’s in the boat with me. But one thing I’ve learned in all this is that faith means putting your trust in God over and over and over, every day.” She sighed and filled him in on all that had transpired while he’d been in the jail.

Nick brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Let’s go inside and get Levi.”

“But—”

“Hey.” He grinned, pulling her behind him. “Trust me.”

No one stopped them from entering. With her hand nestled inside Nick’s, Lilly led him toward the formal parlor, where she heard voices. They paused at the door.

“And I believe,” Mark said, “since you hid this from Lilly for several years, not pressing charges against Nick should be the least you could do for her.”