And The Bride Vanishes

by Jacqueline Diamond

  Janet fiddled with the dial. A commercial came on, followed by an announcer’s voice. “This just in. A wire service is reporting that the government of Litvonia has been investigating local resident Yuri Capek, who was critically injured last night in a shootout with police.”

  “The light,” Mina said.

  “Oh!” Janet stepped on the gas. There was a moment of static on the radio, and then they heard, “…the former head of the Litvonian secret police known as Il Capo. Authorities say he fled with embezzled funds and may have taken top-secret documents containing information about international spy networks.”

  The news report continued with a quote from Captain Merkel, in which he said the police department had no knowledge of any foreign country investigating Mr. Capek.

  Janet switched off the radio. “Mrs. Barash, we’ll drop you at the hospital. Wick, I’m sorry I doubted you. You were right about Uncle Yuri, which means you’re probably right about Harvey, too.”

  With a visible effort, Mina straightened in her seat. “I have worked too hard to go to bed now like an old woman! I need to rest awhile and then we will make plans. We will go to that trailer of yours, Wick.”

  “You’re sure?” he said.

  “I would rather die than leave my friends at such a time.”

  He gave Janet the directions to the canyon.

  “Be sure to watch behind us,” Mina said. “Someone could be following.”

  Janet checked the rearview mirror. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “Unfortunately, you probably won’t, even if he is there,” Mina said. “This killer, Harvey or whoever, is obviously very clever.”

  More than ever, Wick wished he didn’t have to hunker down like a criminal. As he gave directions to the canyon without being able to see, he imagined a whole fleet of vehicles, dark and light, foreign and domestic, pulling out of alleys and driveways to follow them.

  “YOUR MOTHER AND I have been trying to understand,” John Ryan said as he escorted Linda from the courthouse. “We think Wick must have brainwashed you.”

  Her father’s accusation made her hackles rise, but since her parents had just put up their house as collateral for her hundred-thousand-dollar bail, Linda struggled to be reasonable. “I told you, someone tried to kill him.”

  “The police think Wick’s behind this whole thing.” Her suit collar buttoned up despite the warmth of the day, Melissa Ryan marched down the steps beside her daughter.

  “Mom, someone chased us through town,” Linda said. “I didn’t imagine that.”

  “An accomplice, maybe,” her father growled.

  She forced herself to remember that they had been through agony this past week. Her parents loved her very much, but they didn’t trust her judgment. Certainly not where Wick was concerned.

  It would be easy to doubt him, Linda supposed, with so much evidence against him. But he was no murderer. She knew that as surely as she knew that she herself hadn’t killed anyone.

  “Well, thank goodness we’ve got you back,” her father said. Despite police objections, the judge had set bail, citing Linda’s pregnancy and the fact that she had been a kidnap victim rather than a willing accomplice.

  “I called Dr. Blakemore, and he said he’ll see you immediately.” Her mother bustled Linda into the car. She decided not to argue the point. Although she hadn’t had any further contractions, she did need to make sure no problems were developing.

  They dropped her father at his insurance office, then proceeded to the medical building. It was adjacent to the hospital, and Linda wondered how Yuri Capek was doing. By now, Janet was probably at his bedside. If he responded to anyone, it would be her.

  Although the waiting room was filled, the nurse called Linda almost at once. Dr. Blakemore, an owlish man with a squiggle of hair overhanging his forehead, gave her a thorough exam.

  “Your cervix is slightly effaced, which means it’s started to thin, but I don’t see any immediate danger,” he said. “I’m going to recommend that you take it easy, and notify me at once if you experience any further contractions.”

  “Can’t you hook her up to a monitor?” Melissa asked. “Isn’t there some kind of medication you could give her?”

  “Any medicine I give her might also affect the baby, so I’d rather avoid that,” the doctor said. “Your daughter’s been under a great deal of stress, and some women become even more stressed when they’re attached to a monitor. Just try to relax, Linda, and let’s see how things go. We’ll make another appointment for next week.”

  Melissa wore a dissatisfied expression as they went down the elevator. “He should have put you in the hospital. That would be the best thing.”

  Linda knew her mother was speaking out of love. If only Melissa could understand that Linda’s heart and mind were focused on Wick and the danger he ran, and that the best thing her parents could do was to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  At this point, any police officer who spotted him might overreact and shoot. A killer might be closing in on him. Or…

  As they emerged from the medical building into the heat of midday, she forced herself to face the other fear tormenting her thoughts. There was no longer a reason for Wick to stay around. He would be safer somewhere else, perhaps anywhere else.

  Once he heard on the radio that she had been released on bail into the care of her parents, he could absolve himself of further responsibility. His instinct to go it alone, held in check first by Sarah’s insistence on probing the mystery and then by his sense of responsibility for Linda, was likely to take over.

  There was a strong chance she would never see her husband again. At the prospect, a dark void opened inside her. She needed him, and the baby needed him. Couldn’t he see that whatever the risk, it was worth taking so that they might be together?

  Across the lot, Linda noticed two squad cars parked near the hospital. Uniformed officers were pacing the rows, looking inside each car. “I wonder what’s going on.”

  “I should think you’d want as little as possible to do with the police,” Melissa snapped. “Remember, you’re under doctor’s orders to rest.”

  “They’re looking for someone. I just thought we could ask…”

  She stopped when she saw Harvey Merkel stride out of the hospital. Spotting them, he gestured sharply at Linda to come over.

  “Oh, really!” Melissa said.

  “If you need to get to work, Mom, I’m sure the police will take me home,” Linda told her.

  “We do have a lot of paperwork piled up, but you’re my first responsibility.” Her mother marched beside her along the sidewalk.

  Harvey loped to meet them, his forehead creased with worry. “Did Janet say anything to you at the station?”

  “About what?”

  “About where she was going after work.”

  “She said she was coming here.” Janet would have finished her shift four hours ago, Linda realized in dismay. Even if she’d gone home to change clothes, surely she would have arrived by now.

  “Did she say she was getting a ride with someone?” he pressed.

  Linda shook her head. “We only spoke for a moment. Why, Harvey? What’s happened?”

  “She’s gone.” The words choked out of him. “Her car’s still at the station and she hasn’t been home.”

  “She has to be somewhere.” Linda felt stupid the moment she said those words. Of course Janet was somewhere. But where?

  If the police were checking cars, they must be looking for her body. Linda refused to consider the possibility that her friend was dead. It made no sense. Janet hadn’t done anything.

  “There’s more,” Harvey said. “We were canvassing her street and discovered that a neighbor, Mina Barash, is missing, too. Her house looks as if someone tore it apart.”

  The killer knew where Mina lived. Was it possible he’d come back? “You can’t think this has anything to do with Wick.”

  The captain drew out a sheet of paper. “Ever see this before?�
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  She stared at it in confusion. It was a photocopy of the coded list of names she and Mina had taken from Granville Lyme’s safe. “Yes. I mean, not that copy, but the original.”

  “Who had it?”

  The prowler Mina heard outside her house. The killer. “Just tell me where you found it.”

  “It was under the front seat of a car parked in front of Mrs. Barash’s house,” Harvey said. “A car registered to Sarah Walters. Mrs. Farley, your husband’s fingerprints are all over the car and Mrs. Barash’s living room. Tell me who had this paper last.”

  “I don’t know,” Linda said honestly. “It came from Granville Lyme’s safe. I think it’s a list of overseas clients. He was bringing people into the country illegally, so I guess that’s why he kept it in code.”

  “I don’t believe you’re telling me everything you know,” Harvey said.

  “You have to tell him what you know!” Melissa’s voice grew shrill. “You can’t go on protecting Wick. Linda, if you keep silent and someone else dies, it will be your fault!”

  A cellular phone buzzed in Harvey’s pocket and he spoke into it. He listened for a frozen moment, then said, “Put out an APB,” and hung up.

  “Not another victim,” Melissa said. “Oh, please, not Janet.”

  “No,” Harvey said. “But she and Mrs. Barash were spotted in the front seat of a car in the mall parking garage. Mr. Farley was in the back seat. We believe he’s holding them hostage.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ahead of them, a television van stopped in front of the hospital. A man in a suit jumped out, followed by a camerawoman in torn jeans.

  “Oh, no,” Melissa said. “Why can’t they leave us alone?” Her voice quivered.

  “Mom, I think you should go to work,” Linda said.

  “First I’m taking you home.”

  “I’m sorry, but if she won’t come with me of her own free will, I’m going to ask the D.A. to let us lock her up as a material witness,” Harvey said.

  “You can’t do that! She’s out on bail!”

  “Yes, I can,” he said.

  “It’s okay. I’ll cooperate.” Linda had no desire to go home now. She didn’t know whether she could help, but things were developing so fast that her input might be crucial. She just hoped she didn’t say the wrong thing and make matters worse for Wick.

  Her brain kept trying to make sense of the new developments. The discovery that Janet was with Wick came as a relief. That meant the killer hadn’t gotten her. But what were the three of them doing, and how had he and Mina persuaded Janet to cooperate?

  It was easy to imagine how his fingerprints could be in Mina’s house. If the older woman had found it torn apart, she would have called him, and perhaps asked him to help straighten up. And of course his fingerprints were in the old car; it was the one he and Linda had driven all week. But how had the list gotten there?

  Melissa paused indecisively. “You won’t run off again, will you, Linda?”

  “I would never do that to you and Dad.”

  Her mother nodded. “All right. Take care of her, Harvey.” Clutching her purse as if it were an anchor, she made her way back to her car.

  “Let’s go inside. I know a quiet place where we can talk.” Harvey took her arm as they turned toward the hospital entrance. “Don’t say anything to the press.”

  “I won’t.” Linda gritted her teeth as the reporter spotted them and the camera turned their way.

  At least, she told herself with a wry twist of humor, her parents had brought her a tailored maternity dress to wear to court. Her mother had insisted that she apply makeup and brush her hair, as well.

  All set for my first television appearance.

  Another van pulled up, this one bearing a Los Angeles station’s logo. A sleekly dressed woman emerged, with two people behind her.

  “No comment,” Harvey said as the reporters reached them, and pulled Linda into the hospital. A uniformed officer prevented the news crews from entering.

  “Why would a Los Angeles station send a team all the way out here?” Linda supposed the week’s events might merit some coverage, but compared to the frequent homicides in that metropolis, this shouldn’t be a big story.

  “I’ll fill you in.” Harvey guided her through corridor after corridor, paying no attention to the rainbow of directional lines painted on the floor. He certainly seemed to know his way around, she reflected as he pushed open an unmarked door near the back of the building.

  Inside lay a small lounge. There was no one else here.

  Without waiting for an invitation, Linda sat on one of the plastic couches. The baby was growing noticeably heavier, and she hadn’t gotten much rest last night. She didn’t feel sleepy, but there was a deep weariness in her muscles.

  “Coffee?” Harvey indicated a vending machine.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “Now, why is this story attracting a news team from L.A.?”

  He regarded her warily. “You’re a homicide suspect. I’m only talking to you because Janet’s life is in danger and you might know something that could help.”

  “So answer my question.”

  “You’ll be hearing this on the news, anyway.” He paced slowly across the room. “We’ve learned that Yuri Capek entered this country illegally. In the process of checking him out, we also learned that the Litvonian authorities are looking for him.”

  Mina’s guess had been right, Linda thought. “He’s II Capo?”

  Harvey swiveled. “What do you know about that?”

  “Just rumors. That he was the head of the Litvonian secret police.”

  “Where did you hear these rumors?”

  She didn’t see any point in keeping it a secret now that the police knew Mina was involved. “From Mrs. Barash. She’s Litvonian. I ran into her and she recognized me.”

  “She’s been helping you?”

  “Just giving a little advice.” Linda didn’t want to make trouble for her friend. “That’s why I’m sure Wick wouldn’t hurt her. Someone else must have torn up her house, and she called him to help.”

  “Called him where? Where’s he staying?”

  Harvey hadn’t brought her in here to brief her, but to pump her. She ought to insist on a lawyer. In fact, she ought to march out of here right now, Linda thought.

  But something in his manner warned that she shouldn’t risk angering him. Maybe it was just concern for Janet, but there was a fierceness about him that made her uneasy.

  “I’m sure he isn’t staying there any longer.” Praying that she was right, she gave him the address of the vacationing couple’s house.

  Harvey’s cellular phone rang. He spoke into it briefly, then hung up. “Our computer consultant deciphered the list we found in Wick’s car.”

  “Well?” She could feel the pulse throbbing in her throat. “What is it?”

  “Names and addresses, all overseas,” Harvey said. “The ones we can identify are real-estate brokers and offshore bankers.”

  Avery had been right. These were nothing more than Granville’s confidential business sources. “This isn’t what the killer is looking for, is it?” she said.

  He grunted a confirmation. “Again, the news media already have this, so I can tell you that the Litvonian authorities believe Mr. Capek fled with a dossier of secret agents.”

  “He’s blackmailing the Litvonian government?” Linda asked.

  “It wasn’t a file on Litvonian agents. As head of the secret police, he had access to information about other countries. Russia, the United States, France, Britain, Japan. He knew about their spy networks, their agents and their double agents. That, we believe, is what’s in the dossier.”

  The magnitude of what Yuri had been hiding took her breath away. “There must be a lot of people who’d be willing to pay for that information,” she said. “Or kill for it.”

  “Yes.” There was a calculating look in Harvey’s eyes as he observed her reaction. Suddenly, Linda became aware of how i
solated they were, despite being in the middle of a hospital. The walls must be thick, because she couldn’t hear any noises. And to her right lay an emergency exit, a direct route outside. She could disappear with no one the wiser.

  She needed to keep him talking. “I should think this would interest the CIA and the FBI.”

  “It does,” he said. “But they just found out about it this morning.”

  So Sarah’s goal had been achieved. Outside forces would be investigating. But it might be too late for Linda, and maybe for Wick, as well.

  She gave a low groan. “My labor! It’s starting again. Please call…”

  “You pulled that one last night,” Harvey said. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

  She considered continuing the charade, but there seemed no point. “You’re right. I’m faking.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to see my lawyer.”

  Anger flashed across his face. “This isn’t a game, damn it. I want to know everything you know, and I want to know it now!”

  In a split second, she took in the fact that he was standing near the exterior door. Without giving herself time to think, Linda bolted for the corridor.

  She would never have believed she could move so fast, and she had surprise on her side. She managed to wrench the door open and make it partway outside before Harvey caught up with her.

  His hand clamped over her elbow. Linda tried to scream but all that came out was a croak.

  Then, mercifully, she saw someone coming around a bend in the hall. Not a nurse, but a tall, capable woman in a calf-length flowered dress. Felice Capek.

  “Linda!” said Janet’s mother. “Harvey! I’ve been looking for you. Yuri is awake.”

  THERE WERE NO private rooms in intensive care, only alcoves visible from the nurses’ station. As soon as they entered the unit, Linda could see Armand Capek sitting beside his uncle’s bed, while nearby a uniformed policeman surveyed the room.

  The officer nodded to Harvey, and maintained his position. Linda felt a wave of gratitude for the patrolman’s presence.

  Had she misunderstood Harvey’s intentions? For a few minutes, she could have sworn he meant to harm her. But his anger could spring from concern over Janet’s safety.