Hostage Midwife

by Intrigue Romance

  Jared took him through the French doors into the enclosed porch where Nick had gone with Julia to find some privacy. His brother left the door ajar. “Fill me in, Nick. Was it murder or suicide?”

  “I don’t know how it was done or why, but he didn’t kill himself.”

  “The police don’t agree with you. The only tangible piece of evidence is that Samuel was left-handed.”

  “The police didn’t know him. Samuel wasn’t depressed, and he would never leave a note that said he was sorry. The man never apologized for anything in his life.”

  “You’re right about that.” Jared pulled one of the chairs out from the table but didn’t sit. “Samuel’s weird decisions have cost us a boatload of money.”

  “That’s according to Marian’s accounting system,” Nick said. “Samuel had vision. Projects that look like losers are going to pay off in the long run. I went over the terms of his will with Rod yesterday, and it’s all in order.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “It’s not important.” Nick hated that they were talking about money. Their uncle had died. They should be supporting each other, dealing with the pain.

  “I’ll decide if it’s important or not.” His tone was sharp. “What kind of problem did you expect with the will?”

  “I talked to Arthur Starkey. He thought he was going to inherit big, but he was wrong.”

  “Thank God for that. If our uncle had given all his money to Arthur, I would have believed that he’d gone off the rails and killed himself.”

  Nick glanced at the French doors, wondering if Julia could overhear what they were saying. “I’m going to take off soon. There’s a lead I want to follow up on.”

  “Is this about the million-dollar loan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn it, Nick.” Jared rolled his eyes like a teenager. When they were together, they tended to revert to their younger selves. “You’ve got to give up on this. Samuel was crazy to borrow money from Barry Radcliff. And you’re crazy to follow up on it. Leave it to the courts to decide.”

  “What if the courts decide we have to pay with the Valiant gold? That’s what Radcliff wants. According to his document, which is signed by our uncle, he could be collecting the gold next week.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Jared said. “We’ll fight it. We’ll negotiate our way out of the problem.”

  “What about doing the right thing? Samuel made a deal with Radcliff, fair and square. We should honor his intention.”

  “Don’t pretend that you’re taking the high road.” Jared jabbed a finger at his chest. “You’re irresponsible. If you were involved with the day-to-day business, you’d understand.”

  Nick had come here expecting a fight and had gotten one. Anger twisted in his gut. Nobody got to him the way Jared did. He could handle arguments with Marian or Rod or even Julia; he could even put up with insults from Arthur. But Jared made his blood boil.

  He needed to get out of here before he did something stupid. He pivoted. “I’ll keep you informed.”

  “You do that,” Jared said. “Tell me all about your wild-goose chase. I could use a laugh.”

  When he stalked through the house, Kelly had her purse in hand and immediately fell into step beside him. It was as though she’d been waiting for him.

  He was in his SUV and driving away before he was in control enough to speak. “Did you hear any of that?”

  “I heard all of it,” she said. “You were yelling at each other.”

  Nick hadn’t been aware of raising his voice. He was losing it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Friday, 2:15 p.m.

  The chopper ride into the mountains did a lot to improve Nick’s mood. His attitude toward flight was jaded; he used the helicopter charter service often to get to job sites and check out new properties. But he enjoyed this trip because Kelly was having so much fun, pressing her nose against the window, pointing, grinning and sighting a family of elk from the air.

  When they landed at an unmanned airfield near Hearthstone, a fully gassed SUV stood ready and waiting. He tossed their bags in the back, got behind the steering wheel and set their course on the navigational system. The Valiant gold mine didn’t have an address, so he had to use county routes that would bring them close.

  “I could get used to this,” she said. “Flying from place to place, having everything ready and waiting when you arrive. I can’t believe you arranged all this with one phone call.”

  “I’m a frequent traveler,” he said. “Working in the mountains means I cover a lot of territory. It’s efficient to take a chopper.”

  “If I need to get back to Valiant in a hurry, how long will it take the pilot to respond?”

  “I’ve got him on speed dial. I guarantee you won’t be late for a birth.” He drove away from the airfield onto a main road. “We’re going to the mine first. There’s not a lot of daylight left and I don’t want to be climbing around in the dark.”

  “How long has it been since the mine was operational?”

  “The last time a Spencer took gold out of this hole in the ground was around World War II. That was in my grandpa’s day. He was the last of the real gold miners in the family, and he never believed that the mine was played out. He thought the next big strike was just a few feet deeper or in a different direction.”

  “He sounds like a gambler.”

  “I guess he was. He liked to dream.”

  “That’s the Spencer heritage,” she said. “You’re a dreamer, and so was your uncle.”

  But the dreamers weren’t calling the shots. Spencer Enterprises had taken a different direction when they diversified into property sales and construction—a safer way to earn a buck than prospecting for gold. His father had marched them down that path and Jared continued his tradition.

  Even though he’d cooled off, Nick couldn’t understand his brother’s endless focus on profit. Jared had devoted less than five minutes to mourning Samuel before he started talking about the bottom line and irresponsible spending.

  “This is beautiful,” she said. “I love the mountains.”

  “Enough to stay in Colorado?”

  “Oh, I’m staying. My scumbag ex-husband isn’t going to chase me away again. But I’m not sure whether I want to stay in Valiant and work with Serena. I could join an established clinic in Denver. Or I could even start my own midwife practice in the mountains.”

  “Maybe in Breckenridge,” he said as he turned off the main road into a rocky canyon.

  “That’s your backyard,” she said. “Do you know if there are other midwives in your area?”

  “I couldn’t say.”

  It seemed odd to think of birthing babies as a business venture, but that was exactly what it was. Midwives weren’t entrepreneurs, but they were self-employed businesswomen and had to take the competition into consideration.

  The unspoken question about Breckenridge was whether she wanted to be near him on a regular basis. After last night, he knew that he wanted to be with her...for a while. He couldn’t say how long. When they first met, Nick had been looking for a distraction, not a mate. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for a commitment.

  The squiggly line on the navigational system pointed toward a road that wasn’t there. “I’m not sure if we’re going in the right direction. I haven’t been up here in years.”

  Kelly leaned toward the windshield and squinted into the distance. “It looks like there’s a turn about twenty yards farther.”

  He took her suggestion. After they’d gone about a mile on the one-lane gravel road, he began to recognize the surroundings. On his right was a towering granite wall. On the left, the terrain was less rugged. A narrow creek rippled at the side of the road.

  Though it was chilly, he put down his window and inhaled the mountain air. Even if they didn’t find a clue, he was glad they’d come here. The mountains fulfilled a primal need in his soul. Having Kelly with him made it even better.

  After an
other few miles, he turned off the GPS navigation. His memory was a better guide. After a few more turns, he parked at the base of a hill. “We have to walk from here.”

  “No problem. I wore my hiking boots.” She bounded out of the SUV and came toward him, hopping from one foot to the other. “I forgot how comfortable these are. I hardly ever wore them when I was in Texas. Different place, different shoes.”

  He crossed the creek and found the well-worn path that led to the mine. “This used to have a narrow track for ore carts. You can still see some of the weathered planks they used for ties.”

  She hiked beside him, and they gradually ascended the rugged hillside. “How did they get the ore carts back to the top? Going downhill was easy. But back up?”

  “The ore was emptied out at the bottom, so the carts weren’t as heavy. I think they used mules.”

  The closer they got to the mine, the more of the wooden ties were in place. All the metal tracks were gone.

  “Great view,” she said.

  He had to agree. A thick forest of conifers, pines and evergreens were spread across rolling hills and jagged rock formations. In the far distance, he could see snow-capped peaks.

  They circled a huge boulder and were at the boarded-up entrance to the mine shaft. There was nothing to indicate that this was the famous Valiant mine, one of the richest strikes in the Rocky Mountains. The posted signs said: Danger. No Trespassing. Keep Out.

  “I’ve only been inside once,” he said. “My dad pulled open some of the boards and we climbed through the hole. I couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, and I thought the mine was really cool. My dad turned off the flashlight, and we were in total darkness. You couldn’t see your hand when it was right in front of your face.”

  “Bringing a flashlight would have been smart,” she said.

  “Why? We’re not going inside.”

  “Somebody else has.”

  Behind one of the heavy weathered boards that blocked the entrance was a piece of plywood that looked new. The nails that held it in place were still shiny. When he pulled on the old board, the whole piece came away, creating an opening that was wide enough to slip through.

  The discovery gave him hope. They might actually find a useful clue. “My uncle must have been here.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, but if we retrace his path we’ve got to find something.”

  She took out her cell phone and turned on the light function. “This isn’t real bright, but it’s better than nothing.”

  He loved that she was adventurous enough to follow him into a deserted mine shaft. “Not afraid of the dark?”

  “The dark doesn’t bother me, but I have to warn you that I hate bats. If we run into any of those ugly little beasts, prepare to hear me scream.”

  Using his own cell phone for light, he wedged his body through the narrow opening into a space that was about twelve feet wide. The walls were rough-hewn rock, and the ceiling was just high enough for him to stand upright without stooping.

  The glow from their cell phones barely penetrated the thick, heavy darkness. He had the same eager, excited feeling he’d had when he was a kid. This was incredibly cool.

  “What are we looking for?” she asked. Her voice was calm, but he noticed that she’d latched on to his jacket and attached herself like Velcro to his side.

  “I’m trying to think like my uncle.” He stooped and ran the light from his cell across the stone floor, looking for footprints. “Why would he come here? He had to be looking for something.”

  “Buried treasure,” she said.

  “Not likely.”

  “Why not? Buried treasure fits with your family history.”

  “The Spencers were prospectors,” he said, “not pirates.”

  “Think about it. The gold that was mined out of here is like treasure.”

  “Are you making a point?” he asked.

  “I actually think I am,” she said. “There’s only one reason to come to a gold mine, and that’s gold.”

  He followed her logic. “Samuel came here because he was considering opening the mining operations again, and he needed information.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “I know that you take ore samples for testing to assayers. I don’t know much about it.”

  “There are plenty of experts,” she said. “The School of Mines is right outside Denver.”

  They went deeper into the mine, finding where it narrowed into a corridor. Nick stopped. Beyond this point, the footing got dangerous. Long ago, his father had warned him about mine shafts, holes in the floor that went straight down. “Without the right equipment, we shouldn’t go any deeper.”

  “Good.” She pressed up against him. “I don’t want you to think I’m scared, but I’m kind of creeped out. It’s so dark. I feel like I’m inside a shadow.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her close. Without her support and encouragement, he might have given up on following the trail that had led to this point. He might never have known what his uncle was doing. “Thanks for sticking with me.”

  She held up her cell so he could see her smile. “Like glue.”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  Coming into the fresh mountain air after being in the mine felt like a rebirth. After replacing the boards that blocked the entrance, they headed back to the SUV. Daylight was scarce in the canyon, and shadows had already darkened the western wall.

  Driving back toward the tiny town nearest the mine, he tried to think like his uncle. For the past six quarters, Spencer Enterprises had been in financial trouble. Marian had been vetoing Samuel’s ideas for new construction projects. “He was trying to help, thinking outside the box.”

  “The price of gold keeps going up and up,” she said. “Opening the mine might be profitable.”

  “And he borrowed the money from Radcliff to test out his theory before presenting it. A million sounds excessive. It wouldn’t take that much to run some tests and talk to the experts.”

  His theory had a lot of holes, but it was the best he could come up with. He continued, “Even if Samuel was making plans for opening the mine, it doesn’t explain why he was so secretive about it. He’s always relied on Julia for research and information. Why wouldn’t he tell her?”

  “That seems like a troubled relationship,” she said.

  “It’s just their way.” Samuel and Julia had been together for so long, he couldn’t imagine them being separated. “The two of them like to bicker.”

  “I don’t know them the way you do, but I know what it’s like when a woman falls out of love. The light goes out in her eyes. Her voice turns cold when she says his name.”

  “Is that what you see in Julia?”

  Kelly nodded. “Whenever she talks about Samuel, she sounds angry. It’s almost like he betrayed her.”

  “Maybe he did. Arthur didn’t get what he wanted in the will. Julia might have been expecting more.” She’d been with Samuel for more than thirty years. If he pulled the rug out from under her and cut her inheritance, she’d be mad. “She deserved more.”

  “A better question,” Kelly said, “is why didn’t your uncle tell you?”

  She was right. Nick was the logical person for Samuel to confide in. Why hadn’t his uncle come to him? He could tell himself that they were both too busy, but it was a lousy excuse. If Samuel had wanted to talk, a drive to Breckenridge wasn’t too far to deter him. All it would have taken was an invitation from him to have Nick meet him in Valiant or at the gold mine.

  His high hopes for a solution slipped down a few notches. He didn’t want to think they were on the wrong path, but it was possible. If only there was something tangible...a sign.

  He drove to the edge of the town that consisted of a tavern, a tiny grocery store with an attached gas pump, a motel and a couple of houses. If you blinked, you might drive by without noticing the town existed.

  “I’m surprised there’s a motel,” she
said. “This doesn’t look like a place that gets many visitors.”

  He guided the SUV into the motel parking lot where there were no other vehicles. The log building was shaped like a long shoebox with six numbered doors in a row. The sidewalk in front had been recently swept, but the more important upkeep—like painting the eaves and repairing a section of roof that looked damaged—hadn’t been done. “This place has been here for a long time. Maybe even before World War II when there were miners who needed rooms.”

  Outside the office, there was a wooden carved sign with the name of the motel. Nick repeated the word to himself. “Hearthstone, hearthstone.”

  “Heart of stone,” she said.

  Samuel’s last words had significance after all. Heart of stone. He’d been telling them to come here.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Friday, 4:52 p.m.

  As soon as Kelly walked through the door, the plump woman in the motel office greeted her with a huge, friendly smile and introduced herself as Dora. She turned down the volume on the television that was across from her easy chair and went behind a small desk. “Do you have reservations?”

  It seemed unlikely that anyone had reserved a room at the Hearthstone Motel in the past few decades, but Kelly was polite. “We’re here on the spur of the minute. Do you have a room?”

  “I’ll put you at the very end so you can have some privacy. You picked a good weekend to visit. The weather is supposed to be grand.”

  Nick slid a hundred-dollar bill across her desk. “In addition to the room, we’re looking for some information. Can you help us?”

  The hundred quickly disappeared into Dora’s ample cleavage. “I’d be happy to help you out.”

  “My uncle stayed with you a couple of times in the last few months. He’s an older man, tall and skinny. His name is Samuel Spencer.”

  “Oh, my, yes, I remember. There’s all kinds of stuff about him on the television. The police don’t know if he killed himself or was murdered. A terrible thing.”