“Nice to meet you, Sky,” Edward said with a forced smile as he shook the man’s hand.
“Where are your boys? You mentioned you were taking Evan to Danielle’s with you,” Carol Ann asked.
“They’re at a friend’s house.”
“Carol Ann was just telling me all about your harrowing experience. How is your friend who got hurt?” Sky asked as he sat back down at the table.
“Would you like some ice cream with us?” Carol Ann asked before Ed could answer her brother’s question. She opened her freezer and pulled out a gallon of ice cream.
“No, thank you, I’m not hungry.” Ed took a seat at the kitchen table.
“So how is your friend?” Sky asked again.
“He seems to be doing well.” Ed forced a smile.
“Carol Ann was telling me he plans to stay at Marlow House for a while.”
“That’s the plan.” Edward watched Carol Ann walk to the table, carrying two bowls of ice cream.
“Are you sure you don’t want one?” she asked as she set a bowl in front of her brother.
“No, thanks.”
Carol Ann sat down with her ice cream.
“Marlow House is a bed and breakfast, isn’t it?” Sky asked.
“Yes,” Carol answered the question.
“Do they have any guests staying there?” Sky asked.
Edward frowned. “Guests? Why do you ask?”
Sky shrugged. “After all they went through, I was wondering if they’re open for business.”
“They haven’t been open for a while,” Carol Ann said between bites of ice cream. “Danielle had some work done on the property; that’s why we went on the trip—before the B and B reopened for business.”
“Yes, I remember you saying that. But I was just wondering, now that she’s back, is she taking guests?”
“They had some reservations, but they were all cancelled when our plane was believed to have gone down,” Ed explained.
“So…the only people at Marlow House are your friend who got hurt and the woman who owns the place…what’s her name? Danielle?”
“Yes, Danielle,” Carol Ann told her brother. “But Lily also lives at Marlow House. Lily was one of the people who was with us, and her boyfriend. He lives across the street from Marlow House.”
Sky smiled at his sister and then focused his attention on his bowl of ice cream. Edward sat silently and watched the two eat while wondering what he might say to the FBI agents to turn their attention to Sky—and to Carol Ann. Again, Ed felt ill.
When Sky finished his ice cream, he dropped the spoon in the bowl; it made a clinking sound. He looked up at Edward, his smile wide. “You know, my little sister here was really worried about her friend. She told me how she tried to help him, how she just wanted to get him to a doctor. I told her she did the best she could, and look—he made it. I don’t think he’d be where he is now without her.”
Edward’s gaze fixed on Sky. “You’re right. Chris has a lot to thank Carol Ann for.”
“She has been talking about him all night. Andy told me how you were going over to see him tonight, and how she wished she could have gone with you.”
Edward glanced over at Carol Ann. He knew her well enough to realize she hadn’t a clue where her brother was going with this. But the moment she noticed Edward looking her way, she broke into an awkward smile.
“You know, my little sister means a lot to me,” Sky said.
“Yes…she told me how close you are.”
“One thing I learned in the military, when you go through battle with someone—and what you all went through is like battle—it forges a special bond. Carol Ann is very dear to me, and I’d like to meet these other people who were with my sister when you all went through that ordeal. It doesn’t seem right that I don’t know them. Hell, it doesn’t seem right I just met you for the first time tonight, since you’ve been dating for months.”
“But you have to go home tonight. Maybe next—” Carol Ann began, only to be cut off by her brother.
Sky grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it, looking her in the eyes. “It’s still pretty early. I think we should go over there now so I can meet your friends before I head back home, and then you can see your friend Chris—see for yourself he’s alright. I know you’ll sleep better tonight if you did.”
“You want to go to Marlow House…tonight?” Carol Ann fairly squeaked.
“I think that would be nice.” Edward spoke up. “But I need to call Danielle first and make sure they’re still up. It’s possible they’ve already gone to bed. They had a long day.”
“You do that.” Sky smiled.
Edward stood up. “I’ll go out into the hallway and make the call. I also need to check on my boys and tell them I’ll be a while.”
After Edward stepped out of the kitchen, Carol Ann jerked her hand from Sky. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
“I just want to check out Marlow House. Get a feel for the place.”
“You’re not going to do anything tonight, are you?”
Sky smiled at his sister. “Of course not.”
WHEN EDWARD, Carol Ann, and Sky arrived at Marlow House, Danielle greeted them at the front door and took them to the parlor, where Chris was sitting on the sofa. What they didn’t see was Walt, who was leaning against the fireplace, keeping an eye on the new arrivals.
“Am I going to meet Lily?” Sky asked after he was introduced to Chris.
“Lily won’t be back tonight,” Danielle told him. “She’s staying over at Ian’s.”
Sky glanced around the room. He spied the laptop sitting on the desk. “So it’s just you two in this big old house?”
“Pretty much,” Danielle said with a smile, her eyes fixed on Carol Ann’s brother.
“I know Sky would love a tour of your house,” Carol Ann told her. “If it isn’t too much trouble. I’ve told him all about it. He loves old houses.”
“Yes, I do.” Sky strolled leisurely around the room, absently running his fingertips over the woodwork while looking around. He paused at the desk and looked down at the computer. “Oh, I see you have a MacBook. Do you like it?”
“Yes, I do. I haven’t had it long. My other laptop died,” Danielle explained.
Sky looked from the computer to Danielle. “Do you offer your guests Wi-Fi?”
“Why yes…we do.” Danielle continued to study Sky.
“Do you get very good Internet here? It’s pretty iffy where I live.”
“Actually, ours is very good,” Danielle told him.
“I’m really glad to hear that,” Sky said just before he pulled a gun out of his coat pocket.
Carol Ann gasped. “What are you doing?”
“I want the two of you to sit on the couch with your friend, now!” Sky told Danielle and Edward as he waved the pistol in the direction of the sofa. The two did as they were told.
“Sky, what are you doing?” Carol Ann frantically asked.
“Shut up, Andy. Clay screwed this up the first time, and now I’m going to screw him. It’ll be more for us.”
“You’re the pilot, aren’t you?” MacDonald asked. “The one who hijacked the plane.”
“You’ve a smart boyfriend, Andy. He catches on quick. But not quick enough. I told you he wouldn’t recognize me when he saw me, and he didn’t.”
“My god, Sky, but they know who we are now! What have you done?”
“I’m getting us fifty million bucks. That’s what I’ve done. If Chris here cooperates…” Sky waved the gun at Chris. “Then we tie them up and you and I will be out of the country and with our money.”
Carol Ann began to cry. She looked helplessly from her brother to Edward.
“Don’t lie to your sister,” Edward said calmly. “You don’t intend to tie us up after you get what you want. You plan to kill us.”
“No.” Carol Ann shook her head in denial. “Do what Sky says and he’s not going to hurt you. He promised me. And Sky never breaks his promi
ses.”
Edward’s eyes searched Carol Ann for answers. “Why? Why did you do this?”
No longer crying, Carol Ann shrugged. “I like you, Ed, I like you a lot. But I’m tired of sick people and dealing with bedpans. And you’ll always be just a cop, and I don’t really like kids that much. And fifty million dollars is so much money. Chris won’t even miss it. No one’s going to get hurt; you just have to do what he says. This is our chance.”
“Your brother plans to kill us, he’ll have to,” Edward said with a sigh.
“No. He has a plan. We’ll be far away before anyone finds you and lets you go.”
“You think so? My boys are with friends—I already mentioned that—and they expect me to pick them up soon. When I don’t show up, one of my officers will show up here. No way will you be able to get away that fast, and your brother knows it.”
“Shut up!” Pointing the pistol at Edward, Sky’s hand trembled. He then pointed it at Chris. “You do exactly as I say or I’ll kill you and your friends.”
“Okay, I will. But can I ask you one question?” Chris asked.
Sky smiled. “Go ahead.”
“How exactly am I supposed to get you the money?”
Sky began to laugh. “Carol Ann, go out to my truck and get me my laptop out of the cab.” Still holding the gun on his hostages, he used his free hand to dig his truck keys out of his pocket. He tossed them to his sister. She caught the keys, yet instead of rushing outside, she seemed frozen to the spot.
“I’m assuming you expect me to log into my bank account and then give you my password.”
Sky grinned. “Something like that.”
“But even if I do that, even I can’t transfer the kind of money you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” He looked over at his sister and snapped, “Andy, what are you waiting for? Get my laptop, now!”
Chris stood up and said, “Okay, Walt, now.”
In the next instant the gun was out of Sky’s hand—it twirled in midair, making Sky look like a cowboy spinning his gun—yet in this case the gun was spinning on its own. When it stopped, the barrel was pointing at Sky, and in the next moment it flew backwards, the handle landing firmly in the chief’s hand.
FORTY-ONE
Officially, the gathering was a celebration of Marie Nichols’s birthday. The native Frederickport resident had reached the impressive age of ninety-one. Like royalty attending court, Marie sat in a rocker on Marlow House’s side porch and watched as Lily turned the crank of the old-fashioned ice cream maker. Other guests fluttered around the birthday girl, giving her special attention.
A chapter had closed, and the beginning of something new was on the horizon. What that actually meant for those attending the barbecue differed according to whom one asked. To Marie, it meant the passing of another year. For Marlow House, it meant the bed and breakfast was once again open for business. All its guest rooms had been occupied for two straight weekends.
For Joanne Johnson, it meant rain wouldn’t necessarily prevent barbecuing in the side yard at Marlow House. On impulse Danielle had decided to end the debate over the pros and cons of an outdoor kitchen when she had one installed the previous week. It included an awning, which kept out the rain. However, on this sunny day, there were no rain clouds overhead.
For Evan and Eddy MacDonald, it meant the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation and a promise of a visit to Disneyland.
For Chris Johnson, aka Chris Glandon, it meant introducing his new puppy to his friends, a pit bull named Hunny, whom he had adopted from the local shelter the day before. While Chris understood that even with his kidnappers locked up, he needed to take steps to protect himself in the future, he couldn’t bring himself to hire a bodyguard. His compromise was to install a security system at his house and adopt a dog. By the way Hunny aggressively attacked the MacDonald boys, pouncing on the pair as they rolled around on the side lawn at Marlow House as she energetically swiped their faces with wet puppy kisses, Chris suspected the pit bull he had adopted might not live up to the ferociousness of the breed.
For Danielle it meant being a millionaire again. Not only had her cousin’s estate finished going through probate, she was now the official owner of the gold coins that had been found in Ian’s house. She wasn’t sure what she intended to do with them, so like the Missing Thorndike, they now resided in a safe deposit box at the local bank.
For Edward MacDonald, who sat alone on a bench at the far end of the yard, watching the activity, it was a time of reflection.
“Beer?” Danielle asked, holding out a cold bottle of beer to the chief. She held a second bottle in her other hand.
Ed looked up and smiled, accepting the offer. He hadn’t noticed her approach. “Thanks.”
“What are you doing sitting over here all alone?” Danielle asked as she sat on the bench next to him.
“Just watching everyone.” He took a sip of the beer. Dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt, Ed had let his hair grow out longer than he normally wore it. Danielle wondered if it was a conscious choice, or if he simply hadn’t mustered the energy to go to the barber.
“Are you okay, Chief? I’m worried about you.” She sipped her beer.
“Oh, I’m okay.” He leaned back on the bench.
“Have you met Carmen?” Lifting the hand holding her bottle of beer, she pointed it toward a dark-haired woman standing next to Lily at the ice cream maker. “She’s staying for two weeks. You should meet her. She’s a teacher in Portland. I think you’d like her.”
MacDonald chuckled and took a sip of his beer. “Playing matchmaker, Danielle?”
She shrugged. “I just hate to see you like this.”
“It’s only been a month. I’m not ready to jump back into dating. I need to think about the boys.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Danielle asked, “Have you heard anything about Carol Ann?”
“I talked to Agent Wilson this morning. Looks like she’s cutting some deal with the prosecutor for a lesser sentence.”
“Have you talked to her?” Danielle asked.
MacDonald shook his head. “No. And I don’t intend to. I’m just grateful the feds are handling this.”
“There is still the trial. I’m not looking forward to that,” Danielle said with a sigh.
“Me either.” MacDonald took a swig of the beer. “You want to hear something funny Wilson told me this morning?”
“Sure, what? Funny is always good.”
“You know that program Sky wrote—that brilliant piece of software that would allow him to hack into the bank and steal money?”
“Yeah? What about it?”
“Turns out, it wouldn’t have worked anyway.” The chief let out a harsh laugh and took another swig of beer.
“Are you serious?”
“Yep.” He chuckled.
“Didn’t they test it out first?”
MacDonald shook his head and chuckled again. “According to what Carol Ann told them, once they used the program, the bank could identify whatever vulnerability Sky intended to exploit and then fix it. Which is why they didn’t want to use it to extort money from you or the others. They were after the big money, since they believed they only had one chance to use it.”
“So it never worked anyway?”
“It might have, had they tried six months ago. But apparently that particular hole had already been filled. I guess Sky has been working on this for about a year, that’s when he first developed the program. But over the last six months he spent more time looking for the ideal mark and failed to realize his brilliant hacking scheme was already obsolete.”
“I can’t help but feel sorry for Carol Ann. I don’t think she wanted to hurt anyone, but her brother had such control over her. He was all the family she has. I know what if feels like to be without family.”
“Don’t feel sorry for Carol Ann,” he said gruffly, taking another s
ip of beer. “The minute she realized who Chris was, she went to her brother. This wasn’t just Sky’s great plan. It was Carol Ann’s idea to land the plane in Seligman and take us to Havasu. She had been Mrs. Shafer’s nurse and knew all about the Arizona properties.”
“Wow,” Danielle said in awe. Leaning back on the bench, she shook her head. “And all this time, I’ve been thinking she was another victim in all this.”
“Hardly.”
FROM A WINDOW on the second floor, Walt Marlow looked down at the side yard. The only time he had seen more people there—since his death—was eleven months earlier, at Danielle’s July 4th Open House.
He had watched Danielle approach the chief, who sat off from the group. Walt could imagine what MacDonald might be thinking. He understood being betrayed by the woman you loved. Walt suspected the chief would eventually come to understand he had never been in love with Carol Ann, as he never really knew who she was. Just as Walt came to realize he never really knew his own wife. In some ways, that would help to soften the hurt—yet not immediately.
Walt turned his attention to Chris, who was now sitting on the lawn with the chief’s boys, playing with the puppy. As it had turned out, Chris had only stayed at Marlow House two nights before he moved back to his own house. One reason, reservations were beginning to pour in for Marlow House, and with the kidnappers captured, Chris felt it was time to go home. Chris also had foundation work that needed to be attended to, which meant he had little time to hang around Marlow House and be an annoyance.
The previous evening, Chris had introduced him to Hunny. Walt found her to be a sweet little girl, yet if Chris seriously expected to turn her into a watchdog, she would need to get over some of her fears. Walt failed to mention said fears to Chris, as Hunny asked Walt not to share them with her human, as she wanted to give a good impression. The last thing the pup wanted was to be returned to the pound. Things that terrified her included water, loud noises, other dogs—and cats. Her initial meeting with Max and Sadie had gone without incident—yet that was only because Walt played referee. Only Walt understood how truly terrified Hunny was of the pair—especially of Max.
The Ghost Who Stayed Home Page 26