Charming Lily

by Fern Michaels

  “You have every right to be scared, Lily. So am I. I think both of us are selling Matt short. I think he’s going to be just fine. We could alert the rangers. Or don’t they have rangers? At least the authorities.”

  “Let’s talk to Dennis about it first. I don’t want to cause Matt or his company any problems later on.”

  Lily’s heart melted as Gracie got up, Matt’s shoe tightly clamped between her teeth, and walked out the door. Such devotion. Lily hugged the other worn, smelly sneaker to her chest.

  Human devotion, animal devotion. It was called love, pure and simple.

  Matt woke and knew it was daylight because the forest wasn’t as dark as it had been when he lay down hours ago to go to sleep. He wasn’t cold, but he was hungry and had no idea what time it was. The moment he stood up, every single bone in his body protested. He did his best to hobble about as he struggled to get his bearings. He looked for a tree to climb, but they were all too high, with no low branches, nothing to get a foothold on. There was no way he could possibly get his bearings if he didn’t know north from south or east from west. Maybe his best bet would be to go back the way he’d come, to the building where he had been held captive, but he’d run blindly because of the bats. How had his captors gotten to the house? By car or on foot? People with brains didn’t build a brick building in the middle of nowhere without an access road. How had he gotten to the building? Was he driven? Did he walk? Did they carry him? He simply couldn’t remember.

  He made the decision to go back. He looked around for the path he’d taken to get to where he was. Anything he might have trampled had sprung upright thanks to the heavy morning dew. He felt a wave of panic start to overtake him. Common sense told him panic would get him nowhere. What would Lily do? Notch the trees, mark the path anyway she could. He longed for bread crumbs but knew if he had a fistful of them he would eat every single one. He wished there was a way to sit down to a golden yellow omelette with crisp bacon piled high on the side. At least four slices of thick Texas toast with warm, soft butter and a whole pot of strong, dark coffee. Maybe some jam for his toast, the kind his mother used to make from wild strawberries, the little red ones that were sweeter than sugar balls. He loved eating jam out of the jar when he finished breakfast. His sweet for the day. When he finally got his ass out of there that was the first thing he was going to eat. For the moment he would chew on a stick and pray to God it wasn’t poisonous. Stick. He needed a stick to carry. “I will get out of this,” he muttered. “I swear to God, I am going to get out of this.”

  Once or twice during the long morning he called out and didn’t know why. Maybe to hear his own voice. There was never a response.

  His blisters now had blisters; before long they would get infected. He knew it was way past lunchtime. He thought about food again. The second thing he would order to eat would be a thick ham sandwich with two slices of Swiss cheese with lots of mustard on good, fresh rye bread. Two bottles of Corona beer to wash it down and then a big, as in really big, slice of homemade apple pie, the kind with raisins and nuts in it. Two scoops of ice cream and a huge mug of coffee. He groaned as he chewed on his stick.

  He continued to trudge along until he saw a bright shaft of light. His step quickened, and one of the Wellingtons slipped off his foot. In his life he’d never felt such exquisite relief. He took a moment to revel in the feeling. He saw the building then. The same building he’d been in yesterday. He’d managed to get back to the building. He hobbled over to the fallen log he’d sat on the day before. He pulled off the other boot and almost cried with relief.

  What the hell was he supposed to do? Maybe if he went back inside the building and up to the second floor he could open one of the dormer windows and somehow get on the roof. If he could get to the roof, maybe he would be able to see over the top of the tree line to a road or a direction in which to go forward. He thought about the bats. Would they attack him?

  He clenched his teeth, wishing there was someone close enough to kill.

  “This is Dennis Wagner, Meredith. I need to speak to Marcus. If he isn’t there, tell me how I can reach him. Don’t tell me you don’t know if you want to keep your job. I called over a dozen times, and he hasn’t responded. Nor has he answered his pager. Now where the hell is he?” He listened to Marcus’s secretary’s jittery voice and frowned.

  “Marcus went to Maine? Now I’ve heard everything. Did he say when he would be back? He didn’t say, he left you a note? Did he take his cell phone or pager? You don’t know? Give me his home phone number, Meredith. I’ll call Betsy. She isn’t home either, she’s at the Golden Door? Yes, give me that number. With both Marcus and me away, who’s dealing with the media? Lou Sims. Okay, put me through to Lou. Yes, I have Mrs. Collins’s number. Thank you, Meredith. If Marcus calls in, tell him to call me immediately.”

  Dennis chewed on the end of a pencil as he waited for Lou Sims to come on the line. “Everything okay, Lou? Good. How are you doing with the media? Yeah, yeah, they are a pain in the ass. Just keep saying ‘no comment’ until you’re blue in the face. Sooner or later they’ll let up. Do you know why Marcus went to Maine? What’s wrong with his kids? As long as it isn’t serious. Anything going on I should know about? You have my number, call me if anything happens. Otherwise, it’s business as usual. I’m not doing much, just hanging out here till Matt gets back. Nah, don’t believe that crap. Matt’s a stand-up guy, he wouldn’t leave his fiancée standing at the altar. I don’t give a shit what Marcus Collins said. Who are you going to believe, Lou, Marcus or me?” He listened, and said, “So Marcus plays racquetball with Eric Savarone, so what? I play chess with some of our competitors once in a while. Hell, I think Matt had lunch not too long ago with Bill Gates. Don’t get your jockeys in a wad over this unless you have something more concrete to go on. Ask Marcus when he gets back. Okay, call me if you hit any snags.”

  Lily and Sadie both started to babble the moment Dennis clicked off his cell phone. Lily held out Matt’s shoe as she pointed to Gracie, who was lying on the floor, Matt’s other shoe between her paws. “We broke into that house. We’re criminals, Dennis. We could go to jail.” Dennis waved away the words as though they were of no importance.

  “Dennis, tell me again why we aren’t calling the police and the park rangers? We’re just three people, they have hundreds that could be out there searching for Matt. We’re playing with his life here. These visions or whatever it is I’m experiencing aren’t really helping us. He could die out there, Dennis.”

  “It all has to do with the company, Lily. Matt and I talked about this so many times I know the drill by heart. He absolutely refused to have security guards, said he wasn’t going to live his life like that. We talked about possible kidnappings and such and he said under no circumstances were we ever to pay ransom if something like that happened. You never call in the authorities unless you have no other choice. He meant it, too. The man’s my boss and my friend. As much as I want to call the police, I always pull back because our other option is us. You’ve got his shoes, so we know he’s alive. Okay, we think he’s alive. You did a B&E and found his shoes and clothes. In your vision he had on boots and other clothes. He’s alive, I know it. He’s always trusted me to do what we agreed upon. I can’t switch up now. Maybe if things get dicey and there’s no other choice, then I’ll do it. Until I’m satisfied in my own mind, it’s the three of us. Now, draw me a picture of the building. Instead of going to the historical society in the morning, run down to the police station, give them some kind of story, and ask if they can recognize the building. I think Sadie should be the one to do it. The less visible you and I are, the better it will be. Do you agree?”

  Lily nodded as she reached for a pencil and a sheet of paper from the fax machine. Sadie shrugged back into her jacket and waited patiently.

  “I’ll stop at one of those twenty-four-hour convenience stores to get what we need. We have enough gear for Dennis, don’t we?” Lily nodded.

  “I’m goi
ng to pack up our gear. Sadie and I agreed to leave early in the morning. Probably four-thirty or five. We can stow our stuff in the Rover tonight just in case someone is hanging around outside when we’re ready to leave. Are you definitely coming with us?”

  “I’m with you for whatever good I’ll be. If you remember, I didn’t do so well the time the company went out with you. Where are we going?”

  “That depends on the information Sadie brings back. I can’t sit here any longer doing nothing. The more days that go by, the worse it will get for Matt. He just isn’t an outdoor person. That’s not a bad thing. I’m not a computer person, and I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.”

  “I wish we knew more about the people that own that store. That’s a really fishy deal there. It kind of smacks you in the face if you know what I mean. I know it’s late, but can you think of anyone we can call to ask questions about the owners of the store?”

  “Only Mr. Sonner. He pretty much told me everything he knew when I saw him outside the store. He didn’t seem to have any problem believing the store was closed for a death in the family. The only thing the least bit out of the ordinary was the comment he made about the store paying three salaries since they didn’t do that much business. This is the only lead we have, so we have to run with it.”

  “Marcus isn’t around,” Dennis blurted.

  Lily withdrew from the hall closet to stare at Dennis. “What does that mean?”

  “He hasn’t answered any of my calls. His secretary said he went to Maine where his kids are on a school ski trip. His wife is at a spa in California. I suppose it’s logical for Marcus to be the one to go to Maine since he was the closest parent. Marcus prides himself on being the kind of executive that returns phone calls, chats, and does all that professional bullshit to get ahead. So, it’s unlike him not to respond to his pager. I think he sleeps with the damn thing because he doesn’t want to miss anything. I was thinking about calling Betsy when you gals walked in. I have a bad feeling where Marcus is concerned.”

  Lily yanked at the sleeping bags. She unrolled them and then rerolled them, trying to make them smaller and not as bulky. “I don’t suppose you have any long underwear, do you?” Dennis shook his head. “What do you think Betsy will tell you?”

  “Probably nothing. Still, it won’t hurt to call.”

  “No, it won’t hurt to call. Guess you’re going to have to wear our underwear. Sadie’s might fit you, but they’ll be short in the leg so you’ll have to pull your socks up high. Your feet are the first thing to get cold, then your rear end. Since you don’t have hiking boots, you’ll have to double up on your socks. It gets real cold early in the morning and again at night. You know about hypothermia, right?” Dennis nodded.

  “How long do you think we’ll be out there, Lily?”

  “As long as it takes. Call Betsy. See what she has to say. Maybe it will make you feel better.”

  “That’s a lot of stuff you have there,” Dennis muttered, eyeing the mound of camping gear.

  “What you pack for one day is the same as what you pack for thirty days. The same thing,” Lily said.

  His eyes on the mounting pile of gear, Dennis dialed from the pad where he’d written the number to the Golden Door. When the connection was complete, he asked to be put through to Betsy Collins. He was almost surprised when she answered on the first ring.

  “Dennis Wagner, Betsy. I was wondering if you could tell me where Marcus is or give me the telephone number where your children are.”

  “Let me be sure I have this right, Dennis. You’re calling me here in California to ask me where my husband is? Why?”

  “I haven’t been able to get in touch with Marcus. He’s not returning phone calls, and he isn’t responding to the pager. He left a note saying he was going to Maine, something about the girls. I’m assuming something happened. Will you give me the number?”

  “I’d give it to you if I had it, but I don’t. It’s somewhere near Bangor. It’s one of those winter resorts that has all kinds of sports, ice skating, skiing, snowmobiling, and things like that. The number should be in the directory. It can’t be anything urgent or my housekeeper would have called me. I am the girls’ mother. Is that all, Dennis?”

  “I guess so. If you hear from Marcus tell him I’m trying to reach him.”

  “All right. Good-bye, Dennis.”

  “Bitch!” Dennis seethed. “She doesn’t know anything. She didn’t even know anything was wrong with her kids. What kind of mother is that? Those kids of hers don’t know what real parents are like. Every time they have more than one day off they get sent off somewhere. When Matt and I were kids on vacation either his mother or my mother would take us somewhere. They had as much fun as we did. This is a whole new world to me. I don’t much like it,” Dennis mumbled.

  “Everyone isn’t like Marcus and Betsy, Dennis. They got caught up in this yuppie, me, me, me thing. It’s all about them and no one else. They’re selfish and greedy, and one day they’re going to look back and wonder how it all went wrong. You aren’t like that, neither is Matt or Sadie. Me either for that matter.”

  “Guess you’re right. It’s too late to call that ski place now, don’t you think?”

  “You could try. The worst thing that can happen is you get a recording telling you to call back in the morning.”

  Lily checked off her list, first-aid kit, topographical map, compass, GPS. Later when she knew exactly where they were going, she would plot in the whole area. Freeze-dried food, power bars, iodine tablets in case they ran out of water, hypothermal blanket, stove, flashlight, extra batteries, sleeping bag, one spare change of clothes, handheld communication radios, toothpaste, and other necessities. Gun. Bullets. The total couldn’t exceed one-third of her body weight. She knew to the ounce that her backpack, fully loaded, would be three pounds shy of the allowed weight.

  Her pile neatly stacked, Lily started on Sadie’s. She half listened to Dennis as she heard the frustration in his voice turn to anger.

  “What do you mean he hasn’t showed up? You called him and he left the office to drive up there. At least I think he drove. What exactly is wrong with the girls and did you get in touch with the mother? No I’m not a relative and I respect your client’s privacy. I’m Mr. Collins’s boss, and I need to speak with him. You don’t want to be the one responsible for the man losing his job, do you? Yes, I would like to leave a message and yes, ma‘am, I know it’s late. I wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important. Just tell Marcus to call Dennis Wagner as soon as he arrives. Would it help if I promised to send you a brand-new computer if you tell me what’s wrong with the girls? I can have it shipped to you tomorrow if you give me your name and address. Yes, ma’am, it is a bribe, and I’ll never deny it.” Dennis scribbled furiously. “Now, what’s wrong with the girls that Mr. Collins had to rush up there? Lice? Head lice? Both girls? Oh, the whole group. I thought the girls were running high fevers. Never mind. What is it you expect him to do? Yes, yes, I see, he has to be notified so there can be no comeback if the girls are allergic to the stuff you use. Lice, huh? Thank you. No, I won’t forget, and no, I won’t tell anyone you broke the rules. Be sure to give Mr. Collins the message.”

  “Lice?” Lily said. “That was his emergency? I can’t picture Marcus dropping everything and rushing to Maine to agree to a treatment for head lice. Couldn’t he give it over the phone?”

  “Go figure.” Dennis grimaced. “I’m not a parent, so I don’t know how things like that work. I guess he was worried. The whole group came down with the lice.” His eyes widened in alarm as he watched his pile of gear mount until it equaled Lily’s and Sadie’s piles.

  Both dogs lifted their heads, then lowered them when Sadie burst into the apartment. “I got it! I really do! I know where the building is. The police didn’t recognize it at all. They were young so they’re excused. You know, before their time, that kind of thing. But, listen to this. One of the cops had just arrested this old codger for disturbing t
he peace. He was drunk as a skunk. He heard me talking to the officer on duty and chirped up and said he knew where the building was. And wait till you hear this. An old crony of his owned the building and they used to go hunting and stayed in the lodge. He said they used to take their boys with them and go hunting. He said some of the best duck blinds in the state are right there. The man’s name was . . . Calumet Laroux,” Sadie said, as though she was announcing an Academy Award winner for the best actor of the year.

  Lily leaned back on her haunches, her hand wrapped around the Wish Keeper. When nothing happened she sucked in her breath, at the same time turning away from Sadie and Dennis so they wouldn’t see what was happening. She rubbed at the pendant, gave it a twist and then closed her hand into a tight fist. She stared down at her backpack. Maybe she’d used up all the trinket’s energy or whatever it was that transfused itself to her person. Maybe Matt was dead, and that’s why it was no longer working. Maybe she was ready for the boys with the white jackets. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

  I’m coming, Matt. I’ll find you. I promise. Just do the best you can until I get there. I’ll do the rest.

  Chapter Nine

  Matt was hungry enough to chew on a doorknob. He looked down at the knob in his hand and had to wonder how many hands had touched it. On second thought, maybe he wasn’t that hungry after all. What he was, was pissed-off mad. At himself, at his circumstances, and at the three dudes responsible for his misery.