Undeceived

by Cox, Karen M.

  Elizabeth grinned, even though she was alone in the room. “Gotta go.”

  “You bet. Keep me posted.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Be careful.”

  Chapter 6

  Liz stared out the window, swaying with the rhythm of the train’s clickety-clack over the rails. Back when she first joined the agency and told her mom she wanted to see the world, adventures like this were exactly what she envisioned. The bucolic splendor of the Hungarian countryside was charming, reminding her in some ways of the rural parts of Virginia she traveled between McLean and her mother’s home in West Virginia. There were mountains in the background, farmland all around, and forests of oak and beech in the hills to the north.

  “Badacsonytördemic-Szigliget,” the conductor announced. Elizabeth leaned over and saw a blue sign confirming her stop. She stood as the train lurched forward and nearly lost her balance, smiling apologetically to the older couple sitting beside her. The passenger car began to empty, and she wondered how she would find the villa where Johanna Bodnar had been moved on Darby’s request.

  She stepped off the train and lifted her face toward the warm spring sunshine. A cool breeze ruffled her hair. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning her attention to the mission at hand.

  She immediately headed for the train station, a run-down wooden building that resembled a fast-food drive-in with its ticket windows and wooden handrails designed to keep the passengers in some semblance of lines. She approached one of the uniformed men standing near the building and spoke in near perfect Hungarian.

  “Excuse me, sir. Is there a map?”

  He glared at her and jerked his head toward the ticket window, indicating either that he didn’t know or it was beneath him to say so.

  “Erzsebet!”

  Liz turned at the sound of a woman calling her Hungarian name and saw Cara Hurst, the US ambassador’s wife, about twenty yards away, waving her hand like a beauty queen. Darby Kent stood beside her, hands in his pockets and his typical scowl in place. With a world-weary sigh, Liz joined them.

  “Darling!” Mrs. Hurst greeted her in German. “How was your trip? It must have been very trying. You look a mess. Doesn’t she look a mess, Mr. Kent?”

  Liz looked down at her wrinkled skirt and fought the urge to step away as she felt Cara’s hand try to smooth down her wind-blown hair. She glanced up at Darby and saw him slip into Ogling Admirer mode in a fraction of a second. He smiled, and damned if it didn’t make her heart speed up. Liz hated him for that.

  “I think she looks lovely. Welcome to Szigliget, Liz.” He took her bag and her elbow as he led her away. “The car is this way.” He kept a proprietary arm around her, opening the back car door when Cara slid into the front seat. Liz smiled, imagining the elegant ambassador’s wife calling, “Shotgun!” so she could sit beside him.

  “Is Johanna at this Alsómező house you mentioned?”

  “Yes,” Darby replied. “They brought her in yesterday.”

  “Poor, dear thing,” Cara intoned without any real sympathy. “Such a pretty girl. So pitiful.”

  “Someone will have to escort her to the States when she’s well enough to travel.”

  Elizabeth was silent then, absorbing that piece of information. After a minute or two, she found herself taking in the picturesque village with its red-roofed buildings and the wide brick on the gateposts and some of the houses. A church stood proudly on a knoll at the edge of town; its steeple reaching toward the heavens as if to point the way to God.

  They turned by the church and drove a couple more blocks to a golden-colored house with ivory trim, Baroque style, with a black iron fence around it. The two-story structure had an understated elegance: an orderly garden in the front, a small porch with rocking chairs, and drapes drawn to hide the rooms of the house from prying eyes. A wooden plaque carved into a rowan tree adorned the brick post next to the street.

  “And here we are—Alsómező, the ambassador’s little vacation house.” Cara Bingley Hurst opened the gate and stepped through without waiting for the rest of the party.

  Darby reached to open Liz’s car door, only to see she’d already done it herself. Glancing up and down the street, he took her elbow and steered her away from the car. “I’ll get your bags.”

  He led her up the stairs to her room, setting the suitcase and medical bag inside the door and staring at her, hands in his pockets.

  She indicated the door with a nod of her head. “Guess I should see to my patient.”

  “Of course.” He bent over for the medical bag. “Follow me.” He knocked gently on the door across the hall and called out, “Miss Bodnar? I’ve brought your nurse.”

  “I’m not a nurse, Darby,” she hissed.

  “You are to her. She won’t know the difference anyway.”

  Liz rolled her eyes. He opened the door and held it so she could enter. “Johanna, this is Erzsebet. She’ll be taking care of you while you’re here.”

  The young woman lying on the bed forced a tired smile, followed by a cough. She tried to push herself into a sitting position.

  Liz stepped forward, pulling a chair up to Johanna’s bedside. She offered her hand. “It’s good to meet you,” she said in Hungarian.

  “Thank you for coming,” Johanna replied.

  Liz assessed the young woman’s appearance. She was beautiful in a frail, china-doll way: light brown hair, sad blue-green eyes the color of the ocean, and skin so pale as to look almost translucent.

  Darby quietly slipped from the room as Liz adjusted the covers around Johanna and reached into the medical bag he had left her. “Let’s see.” She took out a stethoscope. “That’s quite a cough you’ve got there.”

  “Where did Mr. Kent find you? Your Hungarian is very good.” A tiny smile crept around her lips. “And his is not.”

  Liz laughed.

  Johanna’s smile grew. “So how did the two of you ever begin a conversation?”

  “I work as a translator. I’m not actually a nurse, but I took some medical training back at home, so I guess I was the best choice he knew.”

  “Where is your home?”

  Liz knew better than to give her too much information, but telling her something vaguely correct would prevent having to remember a lie later on. “Washington, DC.”

  “The US?” Johanna perked up. “Tell me about it. I will go there. At least I think I will go. When Papa and Mr. Kent find a doctor.”

  Liz put the stethoscope to her back under her gown. “Deep breaths.”

  Johanna took two before she coughed again. Liz reached for a glass of water and handed it to her. “Here.”

  “Thank you.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “So, tell me all about Washington.”

  Liz spent the next several minutes telling stories about life in the US capital—the food, the housing, and all the things to see there—while Johanna sat enthralled, a dreamy smile playing upon her lips.

  “So at one end, we have the Washington monument—for our first president, George Washington—and at the other is the Lincoln memorial. That one is for Abraham Lincoln, who was president during our Civil War…” Liz noticed Johanna had slipped into an uneasy slumber, her breathing shallow but no longer labored. Quietly, so as not to disturb her, Liz placed her stethoscope back in the medical bag and slipped across the hall to her own room to clean up and get ready for dinner.

  ***

  In the evening, Liz returned downstairs to find a miniature dinner party in progress. Cara had her arm linked with Darby Kent’s and was laughing and speaking with the other guests in rapid German. When Liz entered, Darby’s eyes immediately sought her out. Extricating himself from the ambassador’s wife, he joined her, picking up a glass of wine en route. He sidled up next to her, leaning close to her ear to murmur, �
�Some of Cara’s guests are suspected police informants. We’ll have to keep to the script. So suit up, Liz Hertford, you’re my paramour for the evening.”

  “You might want to keep Cara Hurst at arm’s length then.”

  “I only have eyes for you, Liz darling.” He gave her a shadow of a smile and leaned over to kiss her temple. “How’s Johanna?”

  “Still sleeping. I gave her some of her meds, listened to her lungs. There’s definitely some rattle in there.”

  “What do you think is wrong?”

  “I don’t know—for the umpteenth time, I’m no doctor—but if I had to hazard a guess, either she’s never gotten rid of the first infection, or something’s keeping her from fighting it off. Autoimmune disorder, maybe? I know we could get her better care in Budapest.”

  “My colleague is…” He nodded at the man passing by them on the way to the sideboard. “…reluctant to admit her to the state-run hospital,” he whispered in her ear. “He fears discovery and the possibility she will be used as leverage. Now, giggle for me.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “It’s cute when you do that ‘I’m so offended’ bit, but you should probably act a little more receptive by now. So, giggle, my dear, and show our guests that you like me.”

  Elizabeth pinched his arm as she complied and whispered back to him. “Will we be watched the whole time we’re here?”

  “Yes and no. There may be a state police presence on and off for the next couple of days. Cara leaving the day after tomorrow should draw most of them off.”

  “Speaking of…”

  Cara called across the room. “Liz darling. Come meet our guests.” She turned back to the local couple she’d engaged in conversation. “She’s simply marvelous—you wouldn’t believe it. Public university, yet her Hungarian is almost flawless. My husband says he just can’t do without her, and here Darby has spirited her away from her duties for a frolic in the countryside.”

  Liz narrowed her eyes so that only Darby could see her expression. He shrugged slightly. Resigned, she started across the room, but halted when she saw a handsome man, who was not the ambassador, enter and kiss Cara’s cheek. There was a quick embrace and Cara whispered something in his ear, which caused him to turn around and spear Liz with a curious look. His face broke into an open, friendly smile, beckoning her forward, and he held out his hand as she approached the group.

  “You must be Liz.” He took her hand in both of his.

  “I am.”

  “It is wonderful to meet you!”

  “I’m glad. And you are…?”

  Cara made the introduction. “This is my brother, Charles Bingley. A bit of a shiftless sort, but we love him anyway.”

  Charles let out a good-natured laugh. “Aw, Cara. I’m not really lazy. I’m writing the ‘Great American Novel.’”

  “You’re writing the ‘Great American Novel’—in Hungary?” Liz asked with a smile.

  “In Hungary, Austria, Timbuktu—wherever my feet and my brother-in-law’s free room and board take me. The world is my home.” He spread his arms wide and winked at Liz. “Think I’ll go clean up, okay, Cara?”

  Cara had started another conversation and waved him away impatiently. After he left, Liz, realizing he might not know which room she herself was in and not wanting him to stumble on their secret guest, followed. She stopped when she heard hushed voices. Charles had apparently found Johanna Bodnar.

  Liz panicked. No one was supposed to know Johanna was at Alsómező. She turned around sharply to ask Darby how they should handle it and bumped straight into him.

  “Oof.” He put his hands at her elbows to steady her.

  “Cara’s brother just found Johanna.”

  “I know.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? She’s in hiding.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Fine?” Liz’s voice ramped up.

  “Well, it’s not ideal for a variety of reasons, but…”

  Charles stuck his head out the door and beckoned them inside.

  “Don’t worry, Liz. I know better than to talk out of school when my brother-in-law, the US ambassador, has a houseguest hidden upstairs. Johanna’s secret is safe with me. We’ve been having a nice little chat.” He reached over and patted her hand, a genuine smile on his face. She blushed and looked down at the coverlet.

  Darby frowned.

  “If there’s anything I can do to help—medicine I can bring, people I can contact—let me know.” Charles stood, and the two men exchanged a look. Liz felt a rising panic again. Would Darby betray his asset—and his asset’s daughter? And was Charles Bingley what he seemed—the ambassador’s carefree brother-in-law? Or was he something else entirely?

  Chapter 7

  “Lean forward,” Liz said, while Johanna obediently covered her eyes with her hands and put her head over the kitchen sink. Liz rinsed the color from her patient’s newly cut hair—part of Johanna’s disguise for the upcoming journey. The last few days, Johanna had slept a lot, but she was starting to look better. There was a slight pinkness in her cheeks and a brightness in her eyes. The cough was better too.

  “I practice English now, okay?”

  “Okay,” Liz answered.

  “It was so good of Ambassador Hurst to allow me recuperate in his home, and his wife here to welcome me. And I enjoy getting to know you better, Erzsebet. How smart Mr. Kent is to bring you! You make my stay much more comfortable.”

  “I’m not sure if it’s my nursing or the fresh fruit and vegetables Charles Bingley keeps foisting on you.”

  Johanna smiled. “He is kind, yes?”

  “I think he might be infatuated with you.”

  “What does that mean—infatuated?” Johanna had some rudimentary knowledge of English, but they both knew she’d need more when she got to the West.

  “Infatuated—um, intrigued…”

  “Oh.” Johanna blushed, something she did frequently when Charles Bingley was mentioned. Reverting back to her native tongue, she said, “Oh, I…no. He is…kind to me.”

  “He looks pretty infatuated to me.” She brought Johanna’s head up and towel-dried her hair. “Just comb the tangles out and we’ll let it dry. I wish we had hair conditioner.”

  Johanna looked at her with a confused expression.

  “Oh, um…to put on after the shampoo to help with tangles.”

  “Ah, yes. That is not used much here.” Johanna reached for a comb. “It is quiet in the house today.”

  “I kind of like it. And I’m sure Cara Hurst was glad to go back to Budapest.”

  “Truly? I thought she seemed sad to leave.”

  “Perhaps she’s only sad because she didn’t want to leave Darby’s bed.” Liz glanced up at Johanna’s furrowed brow. “I’ll bet she wished you and me and every other female who entered the house miles away from him.” Liz collected the towels they’d used into a pile. “I saw her leaving his room, the night before she left for Budapest.”

  Johanna’s eyes went wide.

  “Mm-hmm.” Liz tried to act nonchalant, but the little episode she witnessed had disturbed her. “I was in the bathroom right before dawn. I heard voices coming from his room—hers, sounding distressed—his was stern, angry. When I was in the hall, I saw her. She left the room in a rush, but then she stood outside the closed door with her forehead resting against it. I was baffled. She’s always so haughty, but she seemed—I don’t know—dejected maybe? I almost felt sorry for her.”

  “Poor Cara.”

  “Then she turned and saw me watching her. Put that smug expression right back on her face and stalked off. She’s probably thinking I’ll tell her husband. Like I care if she throws herself at Darby Kent.” Liz shrugged one shoulder. “No sk
in off my nose,” she muttered.

  “Maybe I cannot blame her. Mr. Kent is a handsome man.” An impish smile crossed Johanna’s face, making Liz laugh out loud. Now that Johanna was feeling better, little sparks of mischief sometimes escaped her. She had a sharp wit softened by kindness, and Liz had grown quite fond of her.

  “Are you ready to try a walk by the lake today?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Let’s don your hat and spectacles then,” she said, handing Johanna the rest of her disguise: a floppy hat and sunglasses brought from Liz’s apartment in Budapest.

  Darby Kent met them in the vestibule. “Where are you two going?” he demanded, causing Liz to prickle with annoyance.

  “For a walk. Johanna needs some air and sunshine. Don’t worry, Mom, she’s in disguise, and we’re just walking down to the lake and back.”

  “I’ll escort you.”

  “Completely unnecessary.”

  “Nevertheless, I’m coming with you.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  They started off toward the lake and met Charles Bingley about halfway there.

  “Good morning, ladies. Darby.”

  “Charles.” Darby looked back and forth between Johanna and Bingley, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

  “We’re taking some fresh air. Care to join us?” Liz turned her back deliberately on Darby and gave Charles an inviting smile.

  “We need to get off the street,” Darby interjected. “It’s too conspicuous.”

  “Yes, definitely.” Charles looked from Johanna to answer Liz’s question. “Louis has a sailboat at the private dock. We should go sailing.”

  Liz looked back at Darby. “I don’t know. The motion might make Johanna…”

  “Yes, we go to sail! I have not sailed in long time.” Johanna’s eyes were bright. “I want to go.”

  “I don’t know if sailing is any less conspicuous than strolling down the street in front of everyone.” Darby folded his arms, his eyes taking in the terrain around them.

  “It’s got to be better than standing around in this stupid manner,” Charles chimed in.