Iced (27 page)

Eben even made Bessie laugh when he told her about some of the jobs he had pulled off.

“Since I never had any real parents, I guess no one ever steered me in the right direction.”

“You never hurt anybody, did you?” Bessie asked.

“I never killed a fly. And I’m sure that anything I took was insured. If it wasn’t, the people I took it from never missed it. Sometimes I think that I did it because I was mad. Everyone thought I was dumb. No one ever told me I was smart or cute. I wanted to get back at them. I feel real comfortable with you. You sound like you came from a nice family.”

“I did. My mother and father were wonderful. That’s where I was luckier than you. You see, I never usually tell anybody because I loved my parents just as much as if I’d been born to them.”

“What do you mean?” Eben asked.

“I was adopted.”

“You were?!” Eben was just about to ask Bessie if she’d ever tried to find out where she came from when all thoughts in that direction left his mind. The faint sound of a car roaring up to the door made them both jump. They knew Willeen and Judd were back.

“So what the heck are you so nervous about?” Willeen snapped. “We got the painting.”

“Yeah, we got it and I’m telling ya, I don’t feel good. We’ve got to get out of here fast.”

Willeen bit her lip. Every instinct told her that Judd was right. When she’d come up from throwing the master switch in the inn, she’d heard the door of the ladies’ room open. Despite all the chaos and confusion after Judd fired the tear gas, she was sure someone had been trying to follow her out. She was sure it was Regan Reilly. When she glanced back at Judd, she’d noticed her get up and leave her table. Then, as they were pulling away, someone in the parking spot next to them had been trying to maneuver his station wagon to get around a parked car. With what was happening inside, who except her and Judd would have left the hotel without trying to help other people? Was it possible the Coyote had been in the next car? The thought sent cold chills through Willeen. She did not need Judd’s urging to strip off her evening gown and jump into the ski sweater, slacks and boots that were laid out in the kitchen. Judd changed with her. An instant later their evening wear was in a suitcase and tossed in the car.

The bottle of chloroform and pads were on the kitchen table. They looked at each other.

“Now we get them out of here,” Judd said.

Willeen picked up the bottle of chloroform and cotton pads and put them in her shoulder bag. With businesslike authority she trained the gun on Eben and Bessie as Judd released their leg shackles and herded them into Eben’s car. Kendra Wood’s paintings were already there. When the wreckage of the car was discovered, enough pieces of them should be intact to establish Eben as the art thief.

Outside, the air had turned bitterly cold. The sky was heavy and overcast. Not a single star was visible. Suddenly it began to snow.

When Bessie and Eben were seated, their hands firmly handcuffed behind them, Judd nodded to Willeen. She opened the bottle of chloroform, soaked the cotton pads, got in the front seat of the car and in one quick gesture held the soaking pads to their faces. They both tried to pull away. Swearing, Judd jumped into the car, dropped his gun on the front seat, and kneeling beside Willeen, he leaned back and grabbed Eben’s face in a viselike grip. After that Bessie could no longer escape the pad that Willeen forced under her nostrils. They both slumped down unconscious, sliding toward the floor. Judd got out of the car and in the back door. Bending over them, he released their handcuffs.

“Get in our car and make sure you don’t lose me,” he snapped at Willeen. “We’ll get rid of them at Observation Point.”

Eben was coming to as Judd drove the car to Observation Point. Groggily he tried to raise his head as he felt the car stop and a rush of cold air. Where were they? What was going on? Then he realized his hands were free. A moment later he felt movement as the car was slammed from behind. What was going on?

Through the headlights Regan could see a figure leap from the car that was stopped at the very edge of the observation area. Through the heavy snow she saw him run to the car that was parked behind it. An instant later he rammed the back of the car he had just gotten out of. With horror she saw the fence separate and the front wheels go over the edge. In the seat next to her Tripp was grinning.

Judd saw the approaching headlights as he leaped from Eben’s car and into his own. They had been followed! He jammed on the accelerator, sending Eben’s car flying forward, then backed up and started down the road to find it blocked by the station wagon. It was deliberately blocking the narrow path back down.

“You can’t make it around him!” Willeen screamed.

“Watch me!” he snarled. His front wheels began to slip as he drove around the back of Tripp’s wagon.

“You’re going to kill us!” Willeen screamed. “Look at that drop!”

Frantically he reversed. The car spun out and slammed into the side of the mountain, its headlights shining back on Eben’s car. Willeen’s head banged into the glass. Judd’s head hit the steering wheel. Dazed and bleeding, he heard the back door open.

“Don’t turn around,” a voice warned. “Don’t reach for a gun. Once again I owe you my thanks.”

Regan saw the gun in Tripp’s hand in the same moment she realized that someone was in the back of the car whose front wheels were dangling over the edge of the mountain. Acting instinctively, she threw open the door of the car, crouched down and ran toward the vehicle. She yanked open the back door and couldn’t believe her eyes. She came face to face with a dazed Eben.

“Eben,” she gasped, grabbing his hand and pulling his weight toward her.

“Bessie’s here too,” he said weakly.

“Get out, get out; I’ll get her,” Regan said, yanking him sideways. He fell to the ground. His weight had been stabilizing the car. The front end dipped dangerously.

“Get Bessie out of there,” Eben moaned as he tried to struggle to his feet.

Regan tried to pull Bessie’s arms but she was a dead weight. She felt the car begin to slip. As fast as she could, she got in the back of the car in a crouching position, put her arms around Bessie’s back, and lifted her inert body. It took several tries but finally she had her head and shoulders hanging out the door of the car.

She could see Eben struggling to get to his feet and reaching toward them. He pulled Bessie’s limp body forward, clear of the car, coming to rest on the ground beside him. Without their combined weight the car slid forward. As it pitched forward, Regan leaped out. It snapped through the remaining barrier and plunged over the side. Regan’s right arm and leg were hanging over the side of the mountain. She was sliding downward, frantically trying to find something to grab on to when she felt a solid hand grasp her wrist.

“No skiing tonight, Regan,” Eben said as he pulled her onto safe ground.

In the distance, Regan could hear the wail of approaching sirens. Then familiar voices were calling out to them.

It had not worked the way Tripp had expected. His cover was blown, but in fifteen minutes it wouldn’t matter. The Beasley painting was in back of the car. He had taken the keys to Judd’s car. Regan Reilly was still struggling to get that woman out of the car when he drove away. By the time anyone found them, his contingency plan would be in operation. The other car, locked in a barn with clothes, identification and adisguise, was only fifteen minutes away.

But as he rounded the curb he could see a caravan of vehicles approaching. Four of them had flashing domes. As he sped past them in the opposite direction, one of the police cars did a U-turn, and he knew he couldn’t outrun it and his luck had finally run out.

“Regan!” Nora screamed. Everyone was running toward them.

“I’m okay,” she yelled.

Winkle couldn’t believe it. His car had led the chase. His car with the portable telephone that he’d decided to splurge on, which had summoned the police. They had all witnessed the vehicle going over the cliff. When Angus stopped his car, they had all jumped out and gone running up the hill. The Reillys’ daughter, Regan, was on the ground with two other people.

The whole group was standing over them. A man with a short beard was shaking his head. The woman on the ground was stirring. Regan stood up. “Look who I found. I knew they were together. I want you all to meet the missing Eben Bean and Bessie Armbuckle.”

Winkle felt as though he’d been electrocuted. “Eben Bean and Bessie Armbuckle!” he shouted. “You’re the reason I’m here tonight!” He turned to Geraldine, who was being protected from the cold by Angus. “Mama,” he shouted. “May I introduce you to your missing twins?”

Geraldine looked at him dumbfounded. Then she looked down at Eben, who resembled Pop-Pop with his white beard. Bessie’s loose hair hung around her face the way hers did when she didn’t wear it up. She bent over and started to cry. For the first time in her life she was allowed to wrap her arms around her babies.

Fifty-six years after the birth, huddled in the swirling snow on a cold mountaintop in Aspen, Geraldine couldn’t feel anything but the warmth of their bodies. She didn’t think she would ever let go.

62

B
ACK AT THE restaurant, the aftermath of the teargas attack and the theft of the Beasley had turned into a celebration. The place was still a shambles, and Louis’s attack of nerves had almost killed him, but when Geraldine came walking through the door with Eben on one side, Bessie on the other, and Angus close at her heels, Louis wanted to cry. So he did. To think that Eben was Geraldine’s son!

Most of the guests had left amid the hysteria. But the media hadn’t. News crews and reporters were still swarming about. When the caravan from Observation Point got back, Louis had called upon his staff, minus Tripp, to prepare plates of scrambled eggs, muffins, pots of coffee, and, of course, to bring out the champagne. I’m not ruined after all, he thought. I might need to buy a lot of new dishes but I don’t have to close the doors and go hide.

Geraldine sat at the head of a large banquet table, holding hands with her twins. Her eyes were constantly welling with tears, at which point she’d briefly let go of their hands, reach in her pocket for her soggy handkerchief, give a quick dab, and then grab their hands again, this time even tighter.

“Don’t cry, Mama,” Eben said.

“I can’t help it, baby,” Geraldine said with a sniffle. “I never dreamed that I would live to see this happen. To think that I didn’t know until I read Pop-Pop’s diary that there were not one, but two of you out there. In those days they used to knock you out when you had a baby. Pop-Pop never wanted me to know that I had twins. He thought I’d feel twice as bad. He was such a good man. He was the one I turned to when I found out I was pregnant. My parents agreed to let him take me away so I could have my baby . . . babies . . .”—Geraldine dabbed her eyes again— “without being disgraced.”

“Who was our daddy?” Eben asked softly.

Geraldine’s spine straightened. “The biggest varmint and snake to pass through these parts, that’s who your daddy was. His grandpa is in that painting with Pop-Pop. They’d been partners and then broke up. Pop-Pop became successful and his partner didn’t, so the family left town. Years later the grandson came back and wooed me. My judgment wasn’t too good and I ended up pregnant after the big barn dance. The minute he heard, he hit the dusty trails. Pop-Pop thought it was revenge. But at least I now have you . . .” Geraldine turned to Bessie. “I’m so happy you had a good family who took you in.”

Bessie looked at her. “I did. But this is special. Even though I had a wonderful woman who I think of as my mother, may she rest in peace, I would still like to call you Mama.”

Geraldine reached for her handkerchief once again. She wiped her eyes and yelled to Louis, “Bring me a cup of that herbal tea of yours. I think I need it.”

Louis smiled. “Coming right up!”

“Nora! Luke!” Kendra and Sam came running over as the whole group filtered back into the restaurant. “We didn’t know what happened!”

“A little joyriding,” Luke said, his arm around Nora.

“I’m telling you, Kendra, this happens every time we go somewhere.” Nora smiled and shook her head.

“We knew you wanted to get your caretaker back, so we thought we’d help.” The lines around Luke’s eyes creased as he smiled.

Sam pointed over to the table where Geraldine, Eben, Bessie and Angus were all together, engrossed in conversation. “I don’t know about that. Something tells me he might have better things to do now....”

“Mama,” Eben said, “do you think we could build a Jacuzzi up at the house?”

“Anything you want,” Geraldine assured him.

“I’ll help,” Angus cried. “I’m a great fixer-upper.”

Bessie hit him on the shoulder. “You can be our new daddy.”

Angus smiled at Geraldine. “Never say never.”

Stewart greeted Regan at the door. “Are you okay?” he asked with real concern.

“Yes,” she said, looking up at him. He’d loosened the tie of his tuxedo and for the first time since she’d met him he looked rumpled. And worried.

“Your dress is wet from the snow,” he said and took off his jacket, putting it around her shoulders.

“What happened to Kit? And Derwood?” she asked.

“They’re around here somewhere.”

“Stewart, let’s walk to the back. I’d like to take a look at that ballroom.”

“Sure.”

They headed through the restaurant and paused at the french doors that led into what was now a disaster area. Tables were overturned, dishes were smashed, the podium was on its side on the stage. Only the portrait of Pop-Pop, still upright on its easel, was in place as he stared out at the wreckage before him. The camera crews had asked Louis not to clean up before they got some good shots of the room. He’d been more than happy to oblige.

“You’d never know from looking at this place that everything turned out all right,” Regan said, holding Stewart’s jacket closed around her. “Willeen and Judd and Tripp are all behind bars right now. I just can’t believe I never suspected a thing about Tripp. He seemed like such a nice kid. Obviously my instincts weren’t so sharp about him.”