Scarlet Nights

by Jude Deveraux

  Ariel was in the costume of a rich medieval woman. A piece of white silk was attached to her little velvet cap and extended down across her neck.

  Reaching out, Sara gave a strong yank and pulled it off.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m catching a criminal,” Sara said and looked through the curtain. Mrs. Myers was getting up. In another minute she’d be outside. Sara threw back the curtain, made a running leap, and landed on the woman, knocking her to the ground.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Ariel asked from behind her.

  Sara was lying full on top of the woman and she was working hard to shove the cloth from Ariel’s headdress into Mitzi’s mouth before she could cry out. “She’s a thief and probably a murderer,” Sara said as she wrestled with her. “And if Mike is missing, then she’s—Ow!” The woman had tried to bite her. Sara straddled her, holding her down. “If Mike isn’t here, his disappearance has to do with her son.”

  Ariel was watching Sara sitting on top of what seemed to be an old woman, but from the strength of the struggle, she wasn’t that old. “Is Anders her son?” Ariel asked, her eyes wide in shock.

  “Yes! The man that you knew was bed hopping with half the town, but you didn’t even warn me about, is her son. And they’re both wanted by everyone, police, FBI, Secret Service. They are major criminals.”

  Ariel didn’t look as though she could comprehend all she was hearing. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told you about Greg.”

  Sara was sitting on the woman, who was bucking and trying to reach Sara with her hands and nails. “Are you going to stand there and watch or could you possibly help me? I need something to tie her up with.”

  Hanging in the corner was a long rope of red and purple with a big tassel on the end. Ariel snatched it down, and with it came about two yards of braid. As Ariel tied the woman’s hands behind her, she said, “Did you know there’s a camera up there?”

  “This whole tent is supposed to be set up with surveillance cameras, but no one seems to be watching them. Tell me what you know about Mike.”

  “He’s here on a case, isn’t he? Colin told me—”

  “I don’t want to hear what your big-mouthed brother blabbed. What happened to Mike?”

  “He finished showing off with Anna and—Did you see him lift that kid over his head? She went stiff as a board and Mike—”

  Mrs. Myers was bucking hard under Sara. “I’ve been too busy catching murderers to see my own husband do anything!” Sara said in frustration.

  Ariel halted in tying. “Husband? If he’s here on a case, did he marry you to protect you from Anders?”

  “Get that look off your face! Mike is mine, and I’m keeping him.” Under her, Mrs. Myers had gone dead still.

  “I think you’ve killed her,” Ariel said.

  “No, she’s just upset that I didn’t marry her son. Aren’t you, Mitzi?”

  The woman on the ground made some unpleasant sounds through the muffling of the cloth in her mouth.

  “We have to get her out of here without anyone seeing her.” Sara was pulling the pillow out from under her robe. There was no more need for the disguise.

  “I’ll go get Colin and—”

  “No!” Sara said. “You can’t tell anyone. Your brother will want to put her in jail.”

  “Of course he will. What else should be done with her?”

  “If Mike isn’t here, then it means he’s been taken. His life could be in danger, and I’m going to trade this horrible old woman for him.”

  Mitzi Vandlo turned her head to look up at Sara.

  “Oh,” Ariel said, her eyebrows raised high.

  “Yeah, oh. Go out there and tell that girl that Mrs. Myers has been taken ill and I have to help her to … I don’t know. Make something up. Then go out the back and tell Mr. Lang to come in here, and—”

  “Brewster Lang? I thought you were afraid of him.”

  “I don’t want to know how you know that. Get him in here and tell him he has to be a fortune-teller.”

  “Brewster Lang tell fortunes? Are you crazy?”

  “Ariel, this is no time for your negativity.”

  For a moment Ariel just looked at Sara sitting on top of the old woman. Sara’s veil was hanging by one edge, and with the bright colors of the costume, she didn’t look like the sweet, never-did-anything-wrong girl that Ariel had disliked all her life.

  “Okay,” Ariel said at last, and she took only half a minute to tell the high school girl in the front that there would be a delay. It took her just two minutes to find Mr. Lang, and when they came in, Ariel had her hand firmly on his shoulder.

  Mr. Lang stopped trying to twist away from Ariel’s tight grip when he was confronted with the extraordinary sight of Sara sitting on top of old Mrs. Myers. His small eyes lit up, and his tiny grin appeared. For the first time, he looked at Sara with respect and he tapped his nose. He’d seen the woman in the photo Mike had shown him.

  “Yes, I think she had about four inches of it cut off,” Sara said, and at that comment Mitzi tried to throw back her leg so her heel would hit Sara. But she wasn’t fast enough for Mr. Lang as he kicked out and struck the woman’s ankle. Sara heard her groan. “Help me get her up. I’m going to put this costume on her and cover her mouth with the veil.”

  “Someone has to tell me what’s going on,” Ariel said.

  “Stole my paintings is what she did,” Mr. Lang mumbled as he looked at the woman tied up on the rug.

  Both Sara and Ariel turned to look at him.

  “What are you talking about?” Sara asked as she began to remove the big robe and was glad she’d left her smaller costume on under it.

  When Mr. Lang hesitated, Ariel said, “I’ll set my brothers on you if you don’t tell us what you’ve done.”

  “Nothing. All I did was find them when I was a boy. That man that lived there, the college professor, he never saw them. I made sure of that. I nailed the room shut.”

  “What room?” Ariel asked.

  “Is there a secret room in Merlin’s Farm?” Sara asked softly, and when Mr. Lang didn’t reply, she said, “By the fireplace. That’s why that fireplace is off center. It conceals a hidden door. Did Mike figure it out?”

  Mr. Lang’s old face nearly melted. “He took them? I saw him looking, but I didn’t think he’d know. He’s a smart boy. I’m glad he’s mine.”

  “You’re related to Mike?” Ariel asked, her eyes wide. “How did that happen?”

  “Never mind that now,” Sara said. “Ariel, help me get her dressed in this. Mr. Lang, I want you to stay here and tell fortunes.”

  “I can’t—”

  “I can’t wrestle people, but I’m doing it!” Sara snapped. “If you want my husband to continue letting you live at Merlin’s Farm, then you have to help out. You understand me?”

  Mr. Lang nodded.

  “Wow, Sara, when did you grow a set?”

  “Ariel, shut up and help me.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ariel said as they pulled the flailing Mrs. Myers upright.

  “What car do you have here?” Sara asked.

  “None,” Ariel answered. “My whole family came in a van.”

  “Must have been the size of a freight train,” Sara muttered, and Mr. Lang gave his funny little laugh.

  “Better than those toys you and Jocelyn like.” She held Mitzi’s head while Sara tied the veil over the bottom half of her face.

  “You know,” Sara said as she looked at the woman, “you do look better with half of your face covered. Is it true that your old husband was so horrified at the sight of you on your wedding night that he couldn’t do it?”

  Mitzi’s eyes shot fire at Sara.

  “She hates you,” Ariel said. “Truly and deeply hates you.”

  “It’s mutual.”

  Ariel took one arm and Sara the other, but when they tried to move her, the woman dug her feet into the carpet thrown over the ground. But they man
aged to haul her into the back room of the tent where the curtains hid them.

  “Great. Now what do we do?” Ariel asked.

  “I don’t know, but we have to get her out of here and cause as little attention as possible.”

  “And how do you propose we do that?” Ariel asked.

  “I, uh …” Sara had no answer. Again, she looked up at the roofline. Why wasn’t anyone watching them and coming to help?!

  Ariel dropped her arm from around the woman. “I suggest that I go get a car and bring it here.”

  “Great idea,” Sara said. They put Mitzi on the floor, then Ariel ran outside. Sara turned to Mr. Lang. “Did you destroy those traps like Mike told you to?” When his eyes shifted to one side, she knew that he hadn’t. “Not even one of them?” Mr. Lang looked down at his feet. “Good!” Sara said. “Now go in there and start telling fortunes.”

  He seemed about to protest but didn’t. With a resigned look on his face, he went through to the front.

  For several long minutes Sara stood over Mitzi and worried about all the things that could go wrong. What if Sara’s father returned and came to the tent? How would she explain what she was doing? On the other hand, her father loved helping people, so he might want to be part of it. But she didn’t want to involve him in whatever was going to happen. And, of course, there was every member of her church, plus all her relatives. How would she explain this to them?

  Mitzi was sitting on a little rug that had been tossed on the ground, and she was glaring hard at Sara, as though she could forcibly put thoughts in her head.

  Sara glared back. “You’d better hope nothing’s wrong with Mike or I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.” Sara thought of taking the gag out of the woman’s mouth and asking her questions, but she’d probably yell and people would come running. There was no way in the world that Sara would be able to explain what she was doing.

  On the other side of the curtain she heard Mr. Lang’s low voice and thought that she should have made an effort to dress him in a costume. But then, Mr. Lang was so odd-looking on his own, he didn’t need any embellishment.

  She peeped through the curtain and saw Carol Garrison sitting there, her eyes wide. No one in Edilean had been this close to the secretive old man since … Well, maybe not since 1941.

  Sara didn’t know Mrs. Garrison and was glad she didn’t have to try to make up a fortune for her—but it was obvious that the snooping Mr. Lang knew all about her. He told her that her eldest daughter was sneaking out her bedroom window to meet a boy whose family had just moved here from Atlanta and that they smoked cigarettes together. Her younger daughter had stolen three dollars from her mother’s purse, and her son liked to sing when he was alone and she should get him lessons. As for her husband, he really was working late at night because he wanted to buy a boat, which he’d already made a deposit on.

  Mrs. Garrison sat there in silence, eyes wide, mouth open.

  “That’s it,” Mr. Lang growled. “Go away. Send in the next one.”

  “What have I done?” Sara whispered aloud as she closed the curtain and looked back at Mitzi Vandlo. Again, her mind filled with the treachery of this woman. “I hope they put you away forever for what you did to Brian. He was a very sweet young man and he had a great future ahead of him.”

  The woman’s eyes seemed to laugh, and Sara had an almost irresistible urge to hit her. Instead, she looked away. Where was Ariel? What was taking her so long? By now she could have borrowed her family’s van or even taken the prize car. She could have—

  She broke off because the back of the tent suddenly parted and in came about three feet of the back of a black car she recognized. It was Mike’s precious BMW. He was safe! Sara nearly tripped over the bound-and-gagged woman as she ran outside to the driver’s side. Mike’s windows were so dark that she didn’t realize Ariel was driving until she flung open the door and got out.

  “Where’s Mike?” Sara’s voice held fear.

  “I’ve already told you all I know about him,” Ariel said as she went into the tent, which now had part of a car inside it.

  Sara followed her.

  “I thought we’d put her in the trunk,” Ariel said. “That okay with you?”

  “Yes, but how did you get Mike’s car? Why did you get his car?

  “Was I supposed to steal somebody’s Camry? Or maybe a Kia?” She grabbed one side of Mrs. Myers. “Get her other arm.” She glared at the woman. “You hurt me in any way and I’ll make you sorry.”

  Sara was still looking at Ariel, waiting for an answer.

  “My dad’s a dealer. I called Sue at the office, gave her the VIN number, and she popped the car open.”

  “And she was able to start it that way too?”

  “No, I did that. A few wires and …” Ariel shrugged.

  They were struggling with Mitzi, as she’d gone slack in their arms and she was quite heavy. It took all their strength to get her into the trunk and slam the lid.

  “I’m driving,” Ariel said.

  When they were in the car and pulling out of the fairgrounds, Sara said, “Ariel, you’re going to make some man a great husband.”

  Ariel didn’t take offense. “The minute I find a man half as good as my brothers, I’m taking him. Can I assume we’re going to Merlin’s Farm?”

  “I guess so, as whatever was in the secret room—paintings?—is what Stefan was after.” Sara knew there was only one piece of art that someone had left her the rights to in a will, the CAY watercolor. Surely, that childish little picture couldn’t be worth a lot of money.

  Ariel was maneuvering Mike’s car through the people of the fair, heading toward the road. When they reached the end of the grounds, a young man ran to move the barrier to let them through.

  “Ah, the perks of being a Frazier,” Sara said.

  “If you start trying to make me believe you’re jealous I’ll stop right here. You nearly broke Lanny’s heart in high school.”

  “I did what?” Sara put her hand on the dashboard to steady herself as Ariel was going much too fast. The old road followed K Creek, so it curved sharply.

  “Nothing. You want to tell me what this is all about? What’s so important that some detective married you to get it?” Ariel went around a thirty-mile-per-hour curve at sixty, then had to cut hard to the left to keep from ramming into a tree.

  “Ariel! You’re going to get us killed!”

  “This car handles better than anything I’ve ever driven. I’m going to have Dad look at it. You know, don’t you, that Mike has bulletproof glass in all the windows? I wonder what he’s got stored in that false bottom in the trunk?”

  At that, Ariel and Sara looked at each other with wide eyes. They didn’t know what Mike had in the trunk, but they could guess. Weapons. And they had put Mitzi Vandlo in there with them. While it was true that she was tied up, if she got loose…

  “Great,” Sara said. “You had to get Mike’s car, and now one of the most wanted criminals in the U.S. is locked away with a bunch of firearms. Good job, Ariel. Really smart.”

  “If you didn’t want my help you shouldn’t have asked me.” They were at the entrance to the drive of Merlin’s Farm, and when Ariel started to turn in, Sara halted her.

  “Mr. Lang has set traps all over this place, and Mike told me about some of them. I want you to park the car in the orchard. If Mitzi does get out, she’ll have to make her way through traps that were set to catch her son.”

  Ariel followed Sara’s directions and drove on the grass, snaking the car through the hedges, and stopped in the old orchard. “So now what?” she asked as she turned off the engine.

  “I don’t know. You have any ideas?”

  “First of all, we should call Colin.”

  Sara looked at the clock on the dashboard. “Your whole family is at the games right now and they won’t answer their phones.”

  “Then I guess it’s just you and me.”

  As they got out of the car, Sara glanced toward the tru
nk. “You think we should … check on her?”

  “And be greeted by gunfire? I don’t think so.” Ariel was looking around the orchard with half its trees missing. “This place gives me the creeps. I’ve always thought it was haunted.”

  “Mike and I are going to fix it up. Ariel, buck up your courage and let’s go. And stay close to me or you may find yourself hit by an arrow.”

  The two women in their medieval dresses looked at home among the old buildings. Even though it was daylight, the women ran across the open lawn in a crouch and made their way toward the farmhouse. It wasn’t until they got near the side entrance that they saw Greg’s car.

  Sara couldn’t contain the fear that ran through her. Since she’d met him, Greg had had power over her. And even though the last two weeks had changed her life drastically, she still worried that he could rule her.

  But she couldn’t think about that now. Sara figured that if Greg—and she hoped Mike—were in the house they’d be in the big living room where the uneven fireplace would make a secret room possible.

  Sara led them to the side of the house. Unfortunately, she could see in the window only if she stood on tiptoes. Stretching up, she peered inside, and what she saw made her heart pound. There were four men in the room. Greg/Stefan stood by the fireplace. Next to him was a man holding a gun that was aimed at Mike and the fourth man, both of whom were in the middle of the room. Mr. Lang’s sparse furniture had been moved to the far edges so the floor was clear and a makeshift fighting ring had been created.

  Mike and the other man were wearing only their trousers, no shirts, and their feet were bare. They were circling each other, but from the look of the blood on their faces, the fight had been going on for a long time.

  The men were equally matched in size and weight, their bodies coated in muscle, with wide shoulders and tiny waists, and their back muscles flared out like the wings on a bat.

  The other man struck out at Mike with his fist as though he were bareknuckle boxing, and Sara was glad to see Mike duck and dodge the blow. Then, in a flash, Mike bent and grabbed the man’s leg and pulled hard. The man kept his balance for a few moments, but Mike butted his head into the man’s stomach and he went down, with Mike on top of him.