by Cara Summers
Twenty minutes later, they’d examined the other gifts Michael had given her and lined them up along the cramped floor space.
“Nothing.” Naomi met Dane’s eyes. “Every one of the things he gave me is exactly what it seems. What do we do next?”
One by one he loaded the mementos back into the bag. “We thought we’d figured it out. So now we have to back off and try to come at it from a different perspective.” He took her hand and together they managed to make it to their feet. “First, we’re going to let Sheriff Kirby know that Davenport is on the island and he’s been in the hotel. Then we’re going to find a place where we can talk that’s a bit more accommodating than a secret room that was built to hold a hatbox and not much else. And we’re going to get a second opinion on the Michael gifts. Maybe we missed something.”
THE MORE ACCOMMODATING PLACE turned out to be Avery Cooper’s suite of rooms above his office. She’d led Dane to the lobby first to find Avery. The stares they’d received from several of the guests gave her some clue as to how they must look, and the moment her friend had seen them, he’d hurried them into his office and then up the stairs to his suite.
Once Avery had gotten the Reader’s Digest version of their earlier encounter with Michael Davenport, he’d taken over. By the time Nate Kirby had arrived, she and Dane had showered and changed into the fresh clothes that Avery had instructed the staff to gather from their respective rooms.
Sipping a glass of wine, Naomi leaned back against the counter in Avery’s kitchen while he refilled a tray with sandwiches he’d ordered up from the kitchen. Through the door to the living room, she could see Dane and Nate using the tools Avery had also provided to disassemble the Michael gifts. The two men were currently working on a snow globe. When they’d begun, Avery had invited her to help him replenish their food, but so far, she hadn’t had to do anything but watch.
She hadn’t been of much use to Nate or Dane, either. So she’d reverted to her old habit of scribbling down notes and ideas. Once he’d noticed her using a paper napkin, Avery had provided her with a yellow legal pad.
Setting the sandwiches on the counter, Avery moved closer and pitched his voice low. “They both got the Bob the Builder gene. I didn’t.”
She flicked him a look. “Neither did I. And I like the genes you got.”
He grinned at her and picked up his wine. “Me, too. Now, tell me about Dane MacFarland.”
She looked at Dane, who was attacking the snow globe with a screwdriver while Nate supervised. And her heart took a little lurch. “He’s not a priest.”
“Yeah, I got that about three minutes after you got here tonight. I have to tell you I liked the priest persona, but the tough investigator thing has a lot going for it, too. And you’re still interested in him.”
It wasn’t a question, so she didn’t bother to deny it or even hedge. Instead, she set her glass down, paced away. “Yes, but…”
“But what?”
Turning back to face him, she raised her hands and then dropped them. “It’s complicated.”
Moving to her, Avery placed his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t make it more complicated than it is, sugar. You’re still hot for him. And it’s mutual. Trust me. I can tell by the way you look at each other.”
“The problem is I feel more than heat. Not that there isn’t plenty of that. There is. But I think I might be falling in love with him.”
The words, the fact that she’d spoken them aloud had fear snaking up her spine.
There was a beat of silence before Avery squeezed her shoulders and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Well. Lucky for you, he’s not a priest then, so he’s available.”
“I don’t even know him. We talked at the beach and he told me some stuff about his background.”
“I sincerely hope you did more than just talk.”
Though she couldn’t prevent her lips from twitching, she managed to say, “This isn’t funny.”
Avery drew her close for a hug. “Tell me.”
She tipped her face back and met his eyes. “It’s all happened so fast. I don’t know how much of what he’s told me is the truth and how much is something he made up to go with his cover story. I don’t know anything about him.”
She glanced past her friend’s shoulder to see Dane upending the contents of the snow globe into a bowl. Her heart took another lurch. How in the world had it come to this?
“He came here, lied to me, because he has a score to settle with Michael. I should hate him, but I don’t. I want him more than I’ve wanted any other man. More than I’ve wanted anything except for my sisters to have a good life. But his primary goal is to get his man.”
“So? You want to get that swine, too, don’t you?”
She stared at him. “Of course. I also want to get the money back to the people he swindled.”
“You know, Naomi. I’m one of those cockeyed optimists who believe that you can have your cake and eat it, too. First get his man, Michael Davenport, and then you go after your man.” Grabbing the tray of sandwiches, Avery sailed past her. “Get a few more beers, will you?”
Naomi found herself staring at Avery’s back for three full beats before she snatched up her legal pad, the beers and her wine. Her head was still spinning a bit as she took her place on the sofa that sprawled in a U around the coffee table. Nate had just finished loading the remains of Michael’s gifts into her tote.
“There isn’t anything in this pile of junk that’s worth jack shit,” he said.
“I agree,” Dane said. “But I still believe that Davenport passed her something important that night at the Four Seasons. Otherwise, why bother to meet her there at all.” He turned to her then. “What have you got in your notes, Naomi?”
Surprised, Naomi glanced down at the legal pad Avery had given her. “Scribbles mostly.”
“I don’t think so,” Dane said. “The way you described it, your process is to jot down things when you want to make sure you remember something important.”
That was true enough. She glanced at her notes. “I did most of this after you had me run through the sequence of events of that final evening for Nate. But it’s just a time line. Thomas Fairchild spoke with me one last time as I left. Four or five blocks from the office, Michael had his cab pull over and pick me up. We went to the Four Seasons, Michael excused himself. And I thought of something to do with the case I was working on with Thomas, so I wrote it down. Michael came back with the key chain and started transferring my keys. I went to the ladies room, and when I came back Thomas and Leo were at our table chatting with Michael. Then Michael handed me his parting gift, paid the tab and he had the cab take me home.”
“He didn’t escort you in person to your apartment?” Dane asked. “I don’t think I asked about that before.”
“No. He had the doorman at the hotel hail a cab, but he didn’t go with me. I assumed he took the next one.”
“Was that like him—to just send you home?”
Naomi shook her head. “But he’d just told me he had to go away.”
Nate looked at Dane. “He avoided her office and her apartment—places that he suspected or knew were already under surveillance.”
“But he takes her to a public place where both of them could be seen,” Dane said. “And in fact they were seen by Thomas Fairchild and Leo King.”
Nate turned to Naomi. “Interesting that your two bosses, Davenport and you all happened to be at the Four Seasons the night when Davenport was singing you his swan song.”
“And the same group is here at Haworth House right now,” Avery pointed out.
Dane and Nate exchanged a look. “I don’t much like coincidences,” Nate said.
“I’m with you there,” Dane replied.
Naomi stared at them. “You can’t believe that Thomas and Leo are involved in this.”
“It would explain why Davenport didn’t try to snatch your purse in town this morning. Someone else beat him to it.”
Naomi ope
ned her mouth again, but whatever else she would have said was cut off by the shrill sound of an alarm.
Avery moved first, but the two men were on his heels as he pushed open the balcony doors. Even bringing up the rear, Naomi caught the tang of smoke in the air.
Avery whirled on them. “I hate to break up the party, but there’s a fire in the hotel. I have to marshal the staff, get the hotel cleared.”
With a glance at Dane, Nate said, “I’ll go with you, Avery.”
“Rooms on this side of the hotel evacuate to the gardens,” Avery called over his shoulder. “Rooms on the other go out to the driveway.”
When Dane’s fingers closed around her arm, Naomi said, “I have to help. This is my hotel, my home.”
“This could be a trap.”
“You think Michael set a fire?”
“If I were Davenport, this is exactly what I’d do. I’d create a huge distraction. He hasn’t gotten from you what he needs, and accomplishing that isn’t proving to be the cakewalk he probably planned on taking. He’s furious with you. And he believes in getting even.”
“I still have to do what I can for the guests. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same.” Out of habit, she grabbed her tote off the coffee table as she started toward the door.
“Okay. All right. I’ll come with you. Any problems, you do what I say.”
14
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER, Naomi stood with Dane at the far end of the garden. The darkened maze loomed to their left, and behind them, the sea crashed against the terraced rocks that bordered the hotel at the back. Guests had gathered in scattered groups along the lighted paths, waiting to return to their rooms.
“I’m so proud of Avery and the staff,” she murmured.
“Avery’s a good man,” Dane commented.
They’d worked like a well-oiled machine, keeping the guests calm and moving as they’d evacuated the hotel. The fire engines from the village had arrived within the first fifteen minutes with a flourish of sirens and flashing lights. Right now staff members and firemen were checking the hotel room by room to find the source of the fire.
A few minutes ago, Nate had found them to let them know that much. Then she and Dane had wandered along the paths updating the guests. Since then a degree of normalcy had returned. Conversations picked up among the clusters of people. The smell of smoke had dissipated, replaced by the scent of hyacinths and roses. Hattie’s tower pierced a lighter colored sky where stars pinwheeled brightly.
Naomi was about to will some of her tension away when she felt a prickling along the back of her neck. She glanced around quickly.
“What?” Dane asked.
“Just a feeling,” she murmured. “I get it when someone’s watching me.”
Dane scanned the groups of guests and she followed the path of his gaze with her own. Everyone’s attention seemed to be totally focused on the hotel. And except for the hedges of the maze, there was nowhere to hide.
She jumped when the bullhorn sounded, then relaxed as a voice announced, “All clear. You can reenter the hotel. All clear.”
“Naomi?”
Hearing her name, she turned to see Leo King approaching.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “When I didn’t see you at the front of the hotel, I circled back here.”
“I’m fine.” She smiled at Leo. “What about Thomas?”
“He’s fine, probably moving back into the hotel right now. I told him I needed to check on you.”
She felt Dane’s hand tighten slightly on her arm, and she shot him a sideways glance.
“I’m Leo King.” Leo extended his hand.
“Dane MacFarland.” Dane released her arm to shake Leo’s hand. At the moment of contact, his body jerked and Naomi gasped as he dropped to the ground.
Before she could get a sound past the fear in her throat, before she could even drop to her knees, a hand gripped her arm and she felt something hard jab into her side.
“He’s all right,” Leo said in a very soft voice. “I just stunned him. But this gun—” he jabbed her again “—has a silencer and it could prove lethal to both of you. Do you want me to shoot one of your guests to prove that I’m serious?”
“No.” Naomi made herself focus. Dane was all right. For now. She and Leo were facing each other, the rocky terraces and the sea to their right. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see people moving back toward the hotel. The farther away they got, the better. How long before Dane came around? How long before Nate or Avery came to check on her? And put themselves in mortal danger.
“Leo, what are you doing? What do you want?”
He jabbed her again. “I want what’s mine.” The voice was Leo’s voice, quiet, patient. But there was a look in his eyes Naomi had never seen before.
“I want that hundred million that Davenport is trying to cheat me out of. He never should have given it to you. I’m the one who warned him that the jig was up. I had informants at the FBI who told me they were planning on an arrest the next morning. He told me to come to the Four Seasons so that he could pass the money to me. He’d converted it all into a few rare stamps. I was going to take them and hold on to them until the coast was clear. Then he would get a buyer and we’d split the profits.”
Naomi stared at him. As he’d spoken, the tone of his voice had gradually changed to match the fury in his eyes. “You were working with Davenport?”
“No.” Leo spit out the word. “He was working for me. I gave him the clients, I sold him on the idea of romancing you so that the firm would have a scapegoat when our clients’ money disappeared. I thought of everything. Everything. And then he gave the money to you—right there at the Four Seasons. Right in front of me.”
“What did he give me, Leo?” The hundred-million-dollar question, she thought a bit giddily.
“He gave you the stamps. I was there, using Thomas and a client as cover, so that Michael could unobtrusively pass the stamps to me. But he never did. Instead, after you came back from the ladies’ room, he paid the bill and took you away. By the time I was able to follow him, he was gone.”
Stamps. Naomi’s mind was racing. No wonder they hadn’t found anything in the key chain. Where in the world had Michael stashed the stamps?
“I don’t know what you want, Leo.”
“I want your tote. They have to be in there. But you’re never away from it. If it isn’t on your shoulder, it’s right at your feet. I couldn’t find a way to search it before I had to fire you.”
“Is that why you hired someone to steal my purse this morning?”
Ignoring the question, Leo continued, “You didn’t have it with you when we had drinks in the courtyard. That gave me a bad moment or two. I was going to make you take me to it. But I’ll just relieve you of it now.”
The gun didn’t move as Leo grabbed the straps and pulled the bag from her shoulder. Then in horror she watched as his body jerked, then crumpled the same way Dane’s had.
Except it wasn’t a stunner in the hand of the man now facing her. It was a large pistol with a silencer attached to it.
“If you scream, if you so much as move, you’ll end up beside him on the ground,” Michael said.
For a moment, there was a roaring in her ears. The instant she recognized it as panic, she shoved it away.
“Now pick up the tote and hand it to me.”
As her mind raced, she let her body follow his orders, leaning down to take the straps from Leo’s hand, then straightening. She didn’t let herself look at the man who’d just been shot. She kept her eyes on Michael’s.
“Good girl,” he said with a smile as he took the tote and slung it over his shoulder.
Go, she thought. You’ve got what you want. Now, just go.
“You’ve caused me a great deal of difficulty,” he said in the same tone of voice that he might have used to make some comment on the weather. “Your friend there, too.”
She felt it then—just the slightest pressure against her shoe. Dane.
He’d moved his foot. Later, she wondered if she would even have noticed if it weren’t that all her senses were so aware of him. He was awake, and that made the whole situation worse. If Dane moved…
“I thought of ways to make you suffer, and my one regret will always be that I ran out of time. But if I shoot him first?” He glanced at her and smiled. “Yes, I think that will do it.”
“Wait.” She moved then, a step to the side so that her foot connected solidly with Dane’s knee. And then, praying that Dane was listening, she spoke to both men. “Before you do anything rash, you should know that your rare stamps aren’t in that tote.”
She counted one beat of silence before Michael said, “You’re lying.”
“You know I’m not.” She drew in a deep breath and prayed that she was right. “You can already sense that the weight isn’t right.” If she could just distract him long enough for…what? If Dane made a move, Michael would shoot him. She was going to have to handle this herself. “Empty the tote. See for yourself.”
As he tipped out the contents, Michael kept his gun hand steady on her. At least it wasn’t pointed at Dane. A quick glance at the ground was all he needed.
“Where are they?”
They. It was just that one simple word that told Naomi just where Michael Davenport had hidden the rare stamps. Finally. And with the knowledge came the outline of a plan. She just had to persuade Michael to go along with it. Panic threatened again, but she ignored it. She’d found a way to convince a priest to make love with her. She was going to get Michael Davenport up to that tower room. The odds of taking him down were much better there.
Pressing her foot again into Dane’s knee, she prayed that he was reading her signals. “I can take you to the notebooks, but there’s a price.”
“No. I’m done with demands. Tell me where they are and I’ll only kill him. I’ll let you go.”