Whistler's Angel (9 page)

Aubrey tried to stonewall, claimed the ledger was a forgery. The visitor advised Aubrey to rethink that point of view. She said that Harry Whistler had expected the denial. There was ample corroboration, she said, in the form of several sworn affidavits.

“She?” Whistler asked.

“A very capable she. Not that her gender is relevant.”

“And what affidavits? Affidavits sworn by whom?”

A shrug, a slight smile. “Let him wonder.”

“I…take it that there are no affidavits.”

“If not, they’d be easy to come by and he knows it. There’s always
somebody who’ll flip or sell out at the mention of a possible indictment.”

“Or the threat of a possible accident.”

“Whatever.”

“So, where was it left?”

“They behave. We’ll behave. And you walk away from this, Adam.”

Whistler was doubtful that they’d leave it at that. They’d fret for a while.
They’d try to cover their tracks. But sooner or later they’d look for a way to try
to regain an advantage.

“They must know that I’ve been spending some time in Cherry Creek.”

“Sure they do. And they’d naturally wonder whether what you’ve been doing is turning whoever’s on their payroll out there. They would wonder whether that’s where those affidavits came from. They’ll look into that and they’ll satisfy themselves their people out there had never heard of you before. They’ll see that your only interest in Cherry Creek is a girl who happens to live there. They’ll check her out. It should go no further. But of course you’ll be watched while you’re visiting.”

“They’ll tap the Gellers’ phone.”

“Sure they will. Wouldn’t you?”

“They’ll also be reading those emails you swap. They’ll know that you’re friendly with Kate.”

“Adam, they read what I want them to read. Their content is innocent, and they serve as a reminder that I’m not as far way as I seem. They also suggest
that you have more on your mind than causing trouble for them.”

Whistler still wasn’t sure. This all seemed too easy. And it wasn’t like his father to leave so much to chance. Ordinarily, his father would probably have urged him to come over to Europe for a year or two. Stay away from Cherry Creek. Forget about Claudia. Or stay in touch, if he feels that he must. Better yet, bring Claudia to Europe.

He would also have made sure that Aubrey and Poole were left with no doubt that he was serious. He would have had the twins visit each of their homes late at night when they were in bed with their wives. They’d wake up to a gun muzzle stuck in their mouths. A twin would say, “
Hush. Don’t wake up the nice lady. Harry Whistler asked me to drop by
.” They would be asked to blink to show that they understood. The twin would say, “
For now, all I want is to give you food for thought about how easy I could make you not a problem. Blink again so I know you started thinking
.” He’d get his blink and probably a squeal.
“That’s good. Go back to sleep. I’ll let myself out. Your alarm system sucks, I should
mention
.”

Maybe they’d done that. Or maybe these faceless “associates” had. But Whistler didn’t think so. As far as he could tell from his father’s account, it was simply a semi-polite office visit that laid out the terms of their parting of ways.

His father heard the silence. “What’s bothering you, Adam?”

“
Me walking away with them not even singed. You might have been a little too generous.”

“Perhaps. But this thing’s a done deal.”

“If you say so.”

“Adam, let it go. Forget about those turkeys. There will always be hypocrites; there will always be thieves. What we’re short of is people like the Gellers.”

And of course that was it. His father was being less thorough than usual because he was still playing cupid. Add to that, he’d grown fond of Katie Geller
himself. Initially, the idea behind all those faxes was to give the potential young lovebirds a nudge. They’d ended up nudging themselves in the process. His father’s original intention had been clear right from that first day in Aspen. His hope was that the closer his son got to Claudia, the less he would care about things he couldn’t change and find something more useful to do.

He said, “Adam, go. Get on with your life. Give Katie a kiss for me, okay?”

If indeed the plan was to get him refocused, that part of it was working fairly well. He found himself losing interest in Aubrey. He found himself being gentled by a woman who was so much better than any of those people that his heart did not have room for much else.

Still, one could not have called it a whirlwind romance. They had kissed; they’d held hands, but that was all.

She had already asked him, “Is something wrong, Adam?”

“Wrong? No, what could be wrong?”

“Well, you’ve never...I don’t know. Never mind. It’s okay.”

“No, go ahead. If something’s bothering you...”

“Nothing is. It’s okay. Never mind.”

Whistler never claimed to know much about women, but he knew
that “never mind” never meant “never mind.” Whatever it meant, he thought he’d probably find out before this latest visit was over. She said, “Let’s go someplace quiet. Just us.”

She said that she’d like to drive up into the mountains. They’d park and they’d walk a trail that she knew that offered some fabulous views. He took that to mean no interruptions.

She hadn’t said much while on the way up. Perhaps she was saving it for one of the views. He began to worry that she’d heard something somewhere and wasn’t sure whether to confront him with it. They parked and started up the trail that she’d mentioned. Still nothing, but she seemed quite distracted.

Her distraction, and his own, almost got them both eaten. They had rounded a blind spot on the trail they were following and came upon a cougar and two cubs. The mother mountain lion had just caught a rabbit. She hadn’t killed it; the rabbit was still kicking. She was probably teaching the cubs how to hunt. Occupied by that task, she hadn’t heard their approach, or perhaps the scent of fresh blood had masked their own. The startled cougar snarled and braced for a charge, but seemed torn between going after these intruders and staying to protect her cubs and her lunch.

Whistler, on instinct, went into a crouch, first pulling Claudia behind him. He looked for a rock, a stick, any weapon, but there were none within reach. All
he could think of was to slip off his jacket, maybe use it to blind the big cat if she charged.

He heard Claudia hiss, “Stop that and stand still.”

She was at his side, one hand on his shoulder, the other on the jacket that he had removed to keep him raising or flapping it.

“Don’t crouch,” she said. “Stand up straight so you look big. Now back away slowly and stare, stare her down. Don’t look at the cubs. Only her.”

Her voice, more than calm, had a cooing sound. She could almost have been singing a lullaby.

“Now turn, really slowly, and we’ll walk down the trail.”

“Turn our backs?”

“Do it, Adam. She just wants us to leave.”

Whistler had no intention of turning his back, but he did start down the trail at her side. The cougar, in response, began to ease off as well. The mother cat’s snarls and threatening feints settled down into something like muttering. She hissed at her cubs. The hiss was telling them to leave. The cubs hesitated, then scampered away. The mother grabbed the rabbit and followed.

Claudia was silent for several minutes as they made their way back down the mountain. Whistler was watching her, admiring her, while keeping one eye on the trail behind them lest the cat reconsider its menu.

When Claudia spoke, she said, “You weren’t afraid.”

“Oh, yeah? Tell that to my pulse.”

She stopped and put a hand to his chest to feel its beat. “That’s not even seventy to the minute,” she said, “and we’re hiking eight thousand feet up.”

He thought that all she was trying to say was that she thought he’d been fairly brave. He said, “Back there? You’re the one who took over. All I did was what I was told.”

Another odd silence. She was walking very slowly. “Adam, will you answer a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you carry a gun?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“When you moved in front of me, you reached one hand behind you. You were reaching for the small of your back.”

“I was not.”

“In movies I’ve seen, that’s where men carry guns. You’re not carrying one now, but you reached for it.”

“No, I didn’t.”

She reached behind his waist and felt for his belt at the spot where she’d seen his hand go. “Your belt is worn down there. No, the leather is flattened. What would do that, a clamp on a holster?”

“Claudia…it’s just an old belt.”

“I’d like us to go camping. Just you and me.”

“Why camping all of a sudden?”

“I want us to go camping so that we can be alone. Two days, just us, no one else within miles. You can kick back and take all the time you need to tell me who Adam Whistler is.”

“I already have. There’s not much more to tell.”

“The silences, Adam. All those long thoughtful pauses. Those times when I knew that you wanted to say something, but you couldn’t quite bring yourself to say it.”

“There’s no...wife or anything. If that’s what you think.”

“My mom got that much from your dad.”

“There’s no one. It’s true.”

“I also saw the look between you and your dad when mom asked if there were brothers or sisters.”

“There are none.”

“You say
are
. Were there ever?”

Whistler took a long breath and let it out slowly. He picked up a rock and he threw it before answering.

“Claudia...not all evasions are sinister. I did have a sister. She died very young. It is not the sort of thing one would chat about at dinner. It remains a hurtful subject for both me and my father. I am asking you to leave it alone.”