And The Bride Vanishes

by Jacqueline Diamond

  He emerged into a narrow space behind an oversize keg. This gap too was half-filled with webs. Underfoot, bug skeletons crunched against a concrete surface.

  By his watch, the time was a little past ten. The guests must be leaving. Would Yuri go directly to bed?

  Neither Mina nor Linda had believed there were motion detectors inside the house, citing the pet cats. No doubt Yuri would activate both the exterior sensors and an alarm system in the doors and windows, but neither would detect Wick at this point.

  He eased from behind the keg. With its concrete walls, the cellar felt cool and damp despite the dry climate.

  Freestanding wine racks testified to the estate’s former incarnation as a winery. Only a few contained bottles.

  As he prowled the room, Wick found hidden spaces behind many of the racks. The cellar was large, although so low-ceilinged in places that it became nearly impassible. An effort had been made to keep the main area clean, but the far reaches looked as if no one had gone through there in years.

  One could hide all sorts of things down here, he reflected. It was a good bet that Yuri wouldn’t leave anything important at the mercy of insects and mold, however, so he kept his eyes peeled for a glint of metal that might indicate a security box or safe.

  As he searched, Wick couldn’t help considering the unlikelihood of finding anything incriminating. What would Yuri have done, stored a military uniform and a batch of medals declaring himself the right-hand man to a ruthless tyrant? Or perhaps hung on to photographs of himself with Samarkov and a couple of the secret police’s hapless victims, for sentimental purposes?

  He reached the foot of the wooden steps that led to the first floor. Faint light outlined the door, which might mean that people were still about. Or simply that Yuri left his house illuminated all night.

  Wick decided to risk making a call to Mina. From her position, she could see the front of the house.

  She answered the phone instantly and, with no preamble, said, “The caterer and Janet left twenty minutes ago. Harvey and the Capeks are going now.”

  “I’ll hang loose.” He folded away the phone.

  As he waited, Wick debated where to search next. Yuri’s bedroom would be an obvious choice, but he didn’t dare go anywhere near it. Besides, if Yuri were hiding something, wouldn’t he stash it where no one would think to look?

  Half an hour later, Mina reported that everyone had gone, including the housekeeper, who had apparently stayed late to clean up. Upstairs, a light had gone on briefly, and then off again.

  Yuri must be in bed. Asleep? Or restless and awake?

  Wick waited a while longer, hoping that Linda wouldn’t worry too much. Finally, with his nerves stretched taut, he rotated the knob and slid the door ajar.

  Chapter Thirteen

  From the doorway, Wick could see clearly into the adjacent hall, thanks to low-wattage rods that ran along the baseboards. The hacienda’s open design also allowed him to see through an arch into the entryway and a large front room.

  The white wicker furniture and colorful cushions reflected Janet’s taste more than Yuri’s, he thought. The air smelled of spicy Eastern European dishes, making Wick’s stomach rumble. He realized he’d been too tense to eat much at dinner.

  Nothing stirred, beyond the electric hum of the air conditioner. That didn’t guarantee that Yuri was asleep, but given the man’s feeble condition, he wasn’t likely to wander downstairs.

  Linda had sketched the layout of the house, and Wick pulled her drawing from his pocket. In the wing to his left, the downstairs encompassed a dining room, breakfast nook, laundry and kitchen. To his right lay a den, an office and an exercise room. The upstairs could be reached by a main staircase in the entryway or by an elevator located near the kitchen.

  The kitchen or laundry might provide hiding places, but with a housekeeper and other staff members bustling about, he doubted Yuri would stash anything there. The office seemed too obvious, a place that any ordinary burglar would rifle.

  Wick decided to try the gym. It was situated near the back of the house and he wouldn’t have to walk through any large spaces to get there. Furthermore, Yuri worked out there each morning to strengthen his arthritiscramped limbs, which meant he had plenty of opportunity to hide things, unobserved by his staff.

  Wick padded across the tile floor on smooth, rubbersoled shoes. Mina had brought these for him yesterday, saying the tread on his jogging shoes could leave a distinctive mark.

  He was going to have to watch more detective movies. On his own, he would never have thought of a detail like that.

  The gym turned out to be a spare bedroom cramped with a treadmill, a stationary bicycle, a bodybuilding machine and a whirlpool spa. As he stepped into the room, Wick’s foot brushed something soft, and he pulled back sharply.

  A hiss pierced the air, and something furry brushed his ankle as it fled. Wick released a low breath. If he’d put his full weight on the cat, it would have shrieked to high heaven.

  Forcing himself to move carefully, he searched the gym, cursing his own clumsiness as he probed for hidden compartments in the equipment. Once, he nearly flipped a switch by accident, but quick reflexes enabled him to jerk his hand away in time. That was all he needed, to crank one of the machines into noisy life.

  If there was anything here, Wick couldn’t find it. He was debating whether to head for the office next, when a floorboard creaked overhead.

  He froze. Then, in the stillness, Wick heard something that sent his pulse slamming into overdrive. It was the thin, scratchy sound of a voice in conversation.

  His first thought was that Yuri had company. Then, hearing no response, he realized the man was talking on the telephone.

  A vent must connect this room with the one above it, Wick realized. Straining to hear, he caught a few phrases—“keep this quiet,” and “personal favor” and “please come.”

  Yuri was summoning someone to the house. It couldn’t be Janet; she was working the night shift as a police dispatcher. The man’s furtive tone made Wick doubt he was summoning his nephew or his housekeeper, either.

  He wished he knew how long it would take the person to get here. Even more, he wished he knew whether it was worth his while to hang around and spy, or whether he should get out as soon as possible.

  He thought about phoning Mina, but if he could hear Yuri’s voice, then Yuri could hear his. Wiping a film of sweat from his hands onto his jeans, Wick retreated to the cellar stairs. Leaving the door open a crack, he maintained a sliver of a view into the entryway.

  Ten minutes later, a car pulled into the driveway. At the same time, light footsteps came down the stairs, just out of sight.

  There was something wrong here. Yuri was so crippled he had to walk with a cane, and the elevator had been installed for his use.

  Yet he didn’t sound the least bit hesitant as he—if it were he—descended. Remembering the equipment in the gym, Wick realized the man must be faking his disability to put others off their guard. He wasn’t merely stretching arthritic limbs, he was building muscles.

  Was the new arrival an accomplice who would be aware of the deception? Or was he—or she—the very person that Yuri wanted to deceive?

  The doorbell buzzed. As the old man crossed from the stairs to answer it, Wick saw that he had one hand thrust into his bathrobe pocket, as if checking to make sure something was in place.

  Wick couldn’t quite see the front door, and he waited impatiently as Yuri opened it. He heard the murmur of male voices, then had to duck back as the old man started toward the hall. Damn! He wanted to see the visitor, but he couldn’t risk getting spotted.

  “I thought I heard a prowler, but maybe it was my cats thumping around.” Wick’s throat clenched as Yuri walked right by him, less than three feet away. “It sounded like it was in the kitchen. Thank you for coming. I would not have liked to call 911 and worry Janet for nothing.”

  Had Yuri heard him moving around in the gym? Wick wondered. But
a moment ago, the man had strolled across the front room without a glance at his surroundings. It was obvious he didn’t really believe anyone was lurking here.

  He must be setting someone up. And that someone was about to follow Yuri into the hall.

  LINDA WONDERED if she should venture through the tunnel to check on Wick. She’d been sitting here for more than two hours. While she knew that wasn’t long, considering the circumstances, she couldn’t suppress a growing sense of dread.

  The climbing and jumping she’d done earlier had made her abdominal muscles ache. At first, Linda thought that was what she was feeling now, and then she recognized the compression in her midsection as a labor pain.

  Not again. Dear Lord, not now!

  Trying not to yield to fear, she watched the seconds turn into minutes on her watch. Three of them passed, and then another contraction seized her.

  Tears stung her eyes. She prayed for it to stop, and at last it did.

  Another three minutes passed. Then three more, then five.

  Linda sagged against the rough wall of the icehouse. Another reprieve, but how much longer could she go on making unreasonable demands on her body?

  Unless tonight provided the clue they sought, it was hard to escape the conclusion that, for the baby’s sake, she should turn herself in. But that would mean separating herself from Wick, and probably losing him.

  Even though he would understand her motives, at a deeper level it might reinforce his belief that she belonged more to her family and friends than to him. With a painful twist in her heart, Linda wondered if she had been fighting a losing battle these past days. Would her husband still belong to her if they were parted again?

  Wrapping her arms around herself, she hunkered down to wait a little longer.

  JUDGING BY his open-collared shirt and sports jacket, Harvey Merkel was off duty. The holstered gun visible whenever he took a stride formed an odd contrast to his casual attire.

  “Didn’t you turn the security system on?” Harvey asked as he passed right by Wick.

  “Yes, after you left,” came Yuri’s voice. “But someone could have sneaked in before that and hidden here.”

  Wick dared to push the door a bit wider, so he could follow the men’s path down the corridor. Neither appeared to notice.

  “Mr. Capek, I think you should give serious consideration to hiring someone…”

  Yuri turned suddenly, gun in hand. “Touch your weapon and you will die.”

  “What?” The captain regarded him in confusion.

  A sickening thought flashed through Wick’s mind, that Yuri had positioned himself to look as if he had emerged from the elevator and confronted an intruder. Was it possible he had set up his visitor to be killed?

  “Do you take me for a fool?” Yuri growled. “I checked you out.”

  “What are you talking about?” The policeman’s right hand flexed instinctively, but he kept it away from his gun. Wick doubted even a crack shot could get the weapon unholstered in time. Besides, Harvey probably still didn’t quite grasp his peril.

  “You were in army intelligence,” Yuri snapped.

  “That’s right, before I joined the LAPD.” Harvey’s eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation. “It’s no secret. So what?”

  “You know about the dossier.”

  “What dossier?”

  “I am getting tired of stupid questions.” Yuri lifted his gun into firing position. His hand was steady. He bore little resemblance to the decrepit figure who had been helped down Granville Lyme’s front steps a few nights earlier.

  Yuri could easily have scaled Sarah’s apartment building, Wick realized. But then, so could Harvey.

  “What’s going on here?” The policeman braced himself but kept his tone level. “Is this about the murders? Or about someone from Litvonia coming to get you?”

  “You came to Inland after I did,” Yuri said. “You romanced my great-niece. Then you went after the man you thought was my partner, but you were wrong. Granville Lyme knew nothing of the dossier. It was only a matter of time before you came after me. But I have turned the hunter into the hunted.”

  Harvey stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t expect to get away with shooting me in cold blood.”

  “A senile old man might mistake you for an intruder,” Yuri said. “Everyone knows how paranoid I am.”

  Without a blink of warning, he fired.

  LINDA HAD HEARD the car drive up, but she didn’t know whether Wick had, and she knew Mina wouldn’t dare call him. At this point, entering the tunnel might simply hinder his escape, so she decided to check the situation from the outside.

  Pulling on her ski mask, she hauled herself up through the hatch. By the time she cleared it, her stomach muscles hurt so badly she had to rest. The two contractions, on top of her earlier exertions, were taking their toll on her strength.

  When she could move, she crawled along the slope, keeping to bushes and depressions to avoid the full glare of the floodlights. At last she could see the car in the driveway. It was Harvey’s; she recognized the model and the dented bumper where Janet had backed into a high curb last spring.

  If Yuri had caught Wick, he would have summoned a patrol unit. Harvey must have returned to get something he’d left earlier in the evening.

  She lay behind a bush, feeling the baby wiggle as her abdomen pressed the ground. This kid was getting quite a workout tonight, she thought, allowing herself a ghost of a smile.

  Then she heard the shot. Linda’s body went hot and she couldn’t breathe. Not Wick. Please, not Wick.

  Two more shots stung the air. She struggled to her feet and ran down the slope, unable to think of anything except her husband lying in a pool of blood.

  HARVEY JERKED ASIDE and the bullet grazed his left arm. If he hadn’t anticipated the shot, Wick thought, it would have gone through the heart.

  At the same time, Wick wrenched off his shoe and flung it at Yuri. The old man flinched, sending the second shot wild.

  That was all the time Harvey needed to grasp his revolver and fire. The bullet hit Yuri with such force that he spun around, staggered and collapsed, his gun skittering away.

  The revolver swung to face the doorway. “Come out with your hands up,” the captain said.

  Wick pulled off the mask before emerging. “I’m not armed, Harvey.”

  “Don’t make any sudden moves.” With his left hand, the policeman reached back as if to fetch handcuffs, stopped, reached toward his shirt pocket as if for a cellular phone and then stopped again. “Damn.” Apparently he didn’t have either. “Lie on the floor, facedown.”

  “Why?”

  “I said, lie down!”

  In the split second while Wick considered whether to obey, two things happened. Linda pelted through the front door, and, outside, firecrackers went off. As promised, Mina was providing her distraction.

  “Run!” Wick yelled, and flung himself down the cellar stairs.

  His eyes had grown accustomed to the house lights, and he found himself disoriented in the dark. Furiously, he banged against a couple of wine racks before he located the keg and dodged behind it.

  Why didn’t he hear Harvey coming after him? Where was Linda?

  He couldn’t afford to stop. Tormented with worry at every step, Wick lunged along the tunnel and crossed the icehouse, then hauled himself up through the trapdoor. With one shoe off, rocks and burs cut into his sock-clad foot as he raced up the slope.

  His mind kept replaying images of his wife bursting through the front door. He hadn’t been able to read her expression because of the mask, but her eyes had been wide and startled. She must have heard the shots and come to help.

  He’d expected her to flee out the front door while Harvey was busy pursuing him into the cellar. She was supposed to be the one to escape, not him. What had gone wrong?

  If Yuri had been right, Harvey was the killer, and now he had his hands on Linda. Wick couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it, but he could
n’t dismiss the possibility, either.

  At the top of the rise, he dropped low and looked back. What he saw chilled him.

  A police cruiser was rolling toward the house. He doubted Harvey could have summoned it this quickly. The patrolman must have been in the area and heard the firecrackers or the gunshots, or both.

  If Linda hadn’t escaped by now, she wouldn’t have a chance. On the other hand, if Harvey had intended to kill her to cover his tracks, the new arrival might save her life.

  SEEING WICK standing unhurt sent relief surging through Linda, but it yielded quickly to confusion. Why was Yuri lying crumpled on the floor and Harvey wielding his revolver?

  Then Wick leaped into the cellar and Harvey started after him, shouting and aiming his gun. She had to act fast to prevent a tragedy.

  With a cry, Linda clutched her abdomen and doubled over. She didn’t really have a cramp, but Harvey had no way of knowing that.

  “Linda?” He turned from his pursuit.

  “Yes.” With a moan, she pulled off the mask. “I think I’m in labor.”

  As he wavered in the hallway, another of Mina’s firecrackers went off outside. “What the hell is that?”

  “Probably just kids.” She groaned again and then, in case that wasn’t enough, gestured at Yuri. “Shouldn’t you call the paramedics?”

  He nodded shortly but didn’t move. “Put your hands up, please.”

  “What?”

  “Put your hands up, Linda.”

  She stared at Harvey, really seeing him for the first time that night. When he was with Janet, he’d seemed solid and even-tempered. She had always accepted his self-possessed wariness as a sign of his law-enforcement training.

  But she didn’t really know him. In particular, she didn’t know why he had shot Yuri, or why, judging from the trickle of blood along Harvey’s arm and the gun lying on the floor, Yuri had apparently tried to kill him.

  Headlights glared through the small window of the entryway. Keeping his revolver trained on her, Harvey strode close enough to see out. “How timely.” Motioning her aside, he opened the door.