Frame Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 5) (27 page)

He stood up, walked to the railing of the deck, and looked out over the water. Then he said, as much to the gray incoming tide as to Nina:

“I’m going after her.”

She stood, too, and joined him at the deck.

“You’re what?”

Again, the hint of a smile.

“I’m going after her.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m still in possession of several priceless paintings. They are well hidden. Even Red Claw does not know their location, of that I’m certain. So, I intend simply to go to Eggenburg…”

“To what?”

“Schloss Eggenburg, the estate of Franz Beckmeier, the ‘collector’ I’ve been telling you about. I believe that by tomorrow, the palace will have been overrun by Red Claw’s men. I’m going to go there. And I’m simply going to beg for her life.”

“You think he will listen to you?”

“No. But she’s not like me, nor my other operatives. They were people of the world. Callous people, who, as myself, felt above the law. Carol is a simple girl. She has an elderly father waiting for her on a farm in rural Georgia. Maybe, by offering to give up the paintings, tell where they are––maybe that and…well ‘turning myself in’ as it were…maybe I can persuade the man to show some mercy.”

“How are you going?”

“I have flights arranged. This is an easy thing to do for someone in my business. I’ll leave this evening from New Orleans and be in Austria tomorrow. Perhaps it will be in time.”

“I see.”

Nina turned, went back to the table, and sat down.

“I’m going with you,” she said, quietly.

He stared at her.

“That’s stupid.”

It was her turn to shrug:

“Thinking that I had ‘viscous luminosity’ is stupid. Going to get Carol is not.”

He continued to stare, incredulously.

Finally, he took a step toward her and said:

“And when the horrible Red Claw, the Jewish Revenge, the man who’s supposed to be seven feet tall and have a true claw instead of a hand—when this man looks at you and says: ‘Why should I let you go?’ What are you going to say?”

“I’m going to say that I don’t much care if he lets me go. I’ve had a good life, and it’s coming to an end anyway—and that maybe it’s time now to be with Frank.”

Michael sat down.

Then he asked, quietly:

“And when this creature asks, ‘Why should I let the young girl Carol Walker go, what are you going to say then?”

Nina merely looked at him:

“I’m going to say: ‘because I’m begging you to—and I’m her mother.’”

An hour later, Nina found herself in front of Jackson Bennett’s law office, listening to the buzz on the door lock that told her that her approach had been noted.

Jackson, she knew, had been sitting by the window, watching for her.

She pushed the door open and stepped into the narrow stairwell.

He appeared at the top of the steps, gesturing for to come up:

His voice rattled the walls.

“We still don’t know anything! I’m in contact with Moon all the time—he’s gotten permission to use some extra people from the force in Hattiesburg. Cops are all over the county, trying to get some leads.”

She walked on up, saying nothing.

“Nina, everybody in town is stunned that this thing could have happened. The hospital especially. They were all so worried that some killer might get in, they didn’t think to worry about Carol getting out.”

They entered the office.

It did what it always did: gave her a sense of melancholy, because she could visualize Frank sitting behind the desk.

But it also reassured her.

It was a kind of legal womb.

When she’d been here, with Frank, she’d always known things would be ok.

But now?

Despite Jackson’s massive, comforting presence, were things going to be ok?

What kind of insane thing was she planning to do?

“I’m going to put another call in to Moon now.
 
Maybe we can…”

“Jackson, wait.”

She took the letter out of her purse and handed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“A letter from Carol.”

“From Carol? How the hell is that possible?”

“I don’t know. It was on the table by the bed in the hospital. You need to read it.”

He did, quickly.

Then he looked up:

“This is crazy.”

“I know.”

“You believe she really wrote this?”

“Yes. I recognize her handwriting. She’s written several things to me over the last weeks—notes, memos, things that she’s done at Elementals while I wasn’t there, or errands that needed to be done. No, she wrote this all right.”

“But––where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

This was a lie, of course.

But in another way, it was the truth, too. She did not know where Carol was at the moment.

She only knew where Carol was going.

And where she herself was going.

“Nina, what is this woman thinking?”

“I don’t know that, either.”

Jackson leaned forward on the desk:

“She just shot someone! It was clearly in self-defense, but still…she can’t just walk out of town and disappear.”

“That’s just what she’s done.”

“How? She has no car!”

“Maybe she took a bus. Maybe she’s hitchhiking. I just don’t know.”

“And you have no idea where she’s headed?”

Nina shrugged.

“She could be going home.”

“And where is that?”

“Georgia. She grew up on a farm north of Athens. Maybe she’s gone back there.”

“Where exactly is this farm? What town is it near, exactly?”

“I don’t know, Jackson. I just don’t know.”

“Great. So all we have to do is find all the people in Georgia named ‘Walker,’ and ask them if their daughter is home, because she has to testify in a shooting.”

“Yes, that’s all we have to do. That and search Chicago, because for all we know she may have headed there.”

“Oh, for God’s sake…”

Now it was Nina’s turn to learn forward, saying as she did so:

“Jackson, I know you have to go on looking for Carol.”

“Of course, we have to go on looking for her! Somebody tried to kill her! Whoever it was, may try again. For that matter, somebody tried to kill you, tried to blow up Elementals! I still don’t like it one bit that you even went back to your place! For all we know…”

“All you know, Jackson, is not very much.”

And for a time, the room was silent.

Jackson sat back in his chair.

Finally he said softly, his voice rumbling like a throaty volcano:

“And you know more?”

She shook her head:

“I know little Carol is a woman of the world. She doesn’t say a lot. And she’s not too impressive to look at, not too formidable. But she’s not dumb.”

Jackson placed his palms down on the desk and stared at them for a time.

Then he looked up and said:

“That description could fit another woman I know.”

Nina merely nodded.

“Yes. Maybe.”

Another pause, then:

“Nina, what the hell is going on?”

To which Nina replied:

“Jackson, I may have to go away for a few days.”

His eyes narrowed:

“Go away?”

“Yes.”

“To where?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“Why not?”

She stood up, walked to the window, and looked out over downtown Bay St. Lucy. She whispered into the window glass:

“You have to trust me on this.”

“You know where Carol is, don’t you?”

“Not at this time.”

“Listen, Nina, for God’s sakes…”

Then she returned to her chair, sat, and looked at Jackson.

“I think I’ll be back in a few days.”

“You think we’re going to let you go flying off…”

“You don’t,” she interrupted, “have any choice.”

“The hell we don’t! I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself caught up in, but…”

“You don’t have any choice. Now. If you want to arrest me, do it.”

“If we have to arrest you, then…”

“Then I’ll get out of jail immediately. Because I haven’t done anything. And you know it.”

“All right. Then I’ll have Moon arrest you as a material witness.”

“To what?”

“To…to…”

She smiled.

“You forget. I’m a lawyer’s wife. I’m no more a ‘material witness’ to anything than Furl is. Besides, that whole phrase only has meaning on Perry Mason shows.”

He could not help smiling.

“But that reminds me, Jackson. I don’t know, exactly, how long I’ll be gone. If you would take care of Furl…”

He nodded.

“You know I will.”

“During the Aquatica mess you even took him over to your place for a while.”

“Sure. The girls love him.”

“And if––well, I don’t get back soon…”

“Nina, what the hell are you talking about? Where are you going?”

She forced herself to smile.

“I’m going on a trip, Jackson. Frank and I never had the time to take one. And Carol and I have been planning one for the entire fall. Ever since she came here to stay with me. Well, now I’m going.”

He looked at her for a time, then said:

“You’re going to try to do something dangerous. And you’re going to try to do it alone.”