Nightmare in Morocco (22 page)

"Did you see something there at the house to make you think I was married?
Maybe some of Aysha's clothes."

"Who is Aysha?"

He laughed a little
.
"So that's it!
Aysha is my sister
.
She has a boy named Thomas."

"I saw a picture of you, a beautiful woman, and a boy who looks exactly like you."

"She is not my wife, Noa
.
I swear it!
I never dreamed you would think otherwise."

Noa studied his dark, serious eyes, the lips compressed in anxious concern
.
Did she dare accept so simple an
explanation
?
How much she wanted to believe him!
Hope battled with reason, only to be defeated by one final bit of information
.
"Ali Balsam said you were in his shop last month buying a gift
for your wife."

"The necklace was for Aysha's birthday
.
We're very close. I always bring her and Thomas presents when I go through Fez."
The smile deepened. "When I told Ali the sapphires were for a beautiful woman, he must have jumped to his own conclusions."

Did she dare trust him?
Looking into his eyes right now, she could easily let herself be convinced!

"Believe me, Noa."
Taber's hand closed over hers
.
"I have no wives hidden away
.
Not even a girlfriend!"

He wasn't married!
Noa felt a sense of joy, of relief.

"My sister was raised by our mother, so she is of the Moslem faith
.
But my father, who raised me, was Protestant through and through
.
If I marry, it will be to one woman, and for life."

The way he was looking at her, as if she might be that woman, made Noa's heart burst with happiness
.
She glanced at the Coke in Taber's hand, and was suddenly reminded of Greg, still waiting for her on the beach
.

Guiltily, she looked again toward the ocean
.
Greg still had not moved from his beach towel near the water's edge
.
But Cathy was hurrying up the beach toward them
.
A scowl darkened her face that bore warnings of trouble.

Noa drew her hand away from Taber's. "I think Cathy wants to talk to me," she said, rising
.

"Just a minute."
Taber returned with a Coke
.
"Don't forget to take this to your boyfriend," he said, pressing the drink into her hand with a smile.

Noa started toward Cathy
.
"Were you looking for me?" Cathy stopped a few feet from her, but craned her neck to see around Noa
.
"Who were you with?"

Noa glanced back in the direction Cathy looked, but Taber was out of sight
.
She answered with a question of her own
.
"What do you want?"
 

"Do I ever get anything I want from you?"

"What's wrong with you now?"

Cathy's frown deepened
.
"How long are we going to go on like this?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean with you treating me like a peasant!"

Noa said nothing.

"I'm Mike's daughter!
Remember?"
Her voice filled with
anguish
.
"I don't know why he left me out!
Why did he leave everything to you when I'm his daughter?"

Noa had learned from experience that trying to reason with her was impossible
.
Again she remained silent.

"Are you going to divide Mike's money with me or not?"

"Not in the near future
.
That wouldn't be Mike's wishes."

"When I'm eighteen?"

"Probably not even then
.
I expect you to go on to college
.
The money is a decision we will make later."
 

 
"That's not fair!
I'll not get any of it!
I'll just never get away from you!"

"You shouldn't want to
.
I'm Mike's sister and your friend."

Cathy looked around again
.
Sunlight caused the flecks of yellow to make her seem very wild or very frightened
.
"You act worse than I do
flirting with everyone all the time!"
Her voice rose, seemed less angry than hysterical. "Something is going to happen to you, Noa!
If you're not careful
and you're not!"
Cathy
concerned about her?
Surely this was some kind of joke, a ploy on Cathy's part to gain another of her selfish ends.

Noa started to answer, but was startled into silence by the real fear she read in Cathy's eyes
.
Was the girl trying to warn her about something
about someone?
Beads of sweat mixed with the moisture from the cans of Coke's she held
.
Automatically Noa's gaze shifted from her niece to the path Taber had taken.

"What are you trying to tell me?"
She turned back to address the empty space where Cathy had stood
.
Cathy was running away
.
The movements of her strong body were swift
.
She was already passing by the group of girls who called to her from the water.

Despite the warm sunlight, Noa shivered a little inside
.
For an instant she wondered if Cathy's words to her had been intended as a warning
or a threat
.

* * *

Once in her room, Noa pinned up her damp hair and changed into a white cotton dress
.
Feeling a strong urge to talk to someone she knew really cared about her, she put through a call to the hospital at Fez where Wendell Carlson was still staying.

A sense of shock filled her as the desk clerk replied in broken English, "Mr. Carlson is no longer here."

"Has he been released so soon?"

"He checked himself out a few hours ago."

"How may I reach him?"

"He left no messages for anyone."

Dismayed, puzzled, Noa hung up the phone
.
Surely Wendell wouldn't leave the hospital without contacting anyone
.
So many people depended upon him
.
In all the years she had known him, he had never failed to leave a forwarding number
.
What did this mean?

Without direction from her conscious mind, this question merged with a series of events:
the attack on Wendell in the medina when he should have been on his way to the bank, Johnny's unexpected appearance at Ali's shop, Taber's finding her
or following her
.
A feeling that the whole thing was a conspiracy smothered her
.
At this very moment, Ali Balsam was no doubt selling Belda's ring on the black market.

What if Carlson Rand Tours was a front for black market activities?

But Wendell just couldn't be involved
she had known and trusted him for too many years to believe that!
If Carlson Rand Tours were implicated, it would be because of Thomas Rand and the fact that his dealings were being continued by his son, Taber, and whoever Taber had engaged to work for him!

* * *

The phone rang shrilly
.
Taber's voice sounded, crisp somewhat worried
.
"Noa, you're going to have to handle the city tour alone
.
Something has come up that can't wait
.
I'm not going to be able to make it."

Her voice answered cautiously
.
"Is there something I can help you with?"

"You can help me most by taking care of the tour."
He paused
.
"There's nothing to worry about
.
Johnny knows Casablanca like the back of his hand
.
A local guide will be waiting for you at the Royal Palace
.
Don't forget, the tour today doesn`t include lunch
.
You can stop near the ocean where there's
a choice of small cafes."

"I'll get along all right."
After a short pause, Noa added, "Taber, has Wendell Carlson contacted you?"

"Wendell?
No."

"I called the hospital a few hours ago
.
Wendell is no longer there."

"That's odd
.
The doctor told me he wouldn't be released for several more days."

"He wasn't released
.
He just left
.
Early this morning
.
I'm worried about him." "There's nothing to worry about
.
I'm sure Carlson can take care of himself."

"He's never done anything like this before
.
He likes knowing people can reach him."

A thoughtful silence followed
.
"I'll see what I can find out
.
I'll meet you for dinner right after the tour
.
Why don't you come right down to the dining room?
I'll reserve a private table away from the group so we can talk."

Heartened by the promise, Noa hung up and glanced at her watch
.
She must hurry or she would be late meeting with the group.

On the way down she paused to tap at Cathy's door
.
"Cathy
.
Time for the tour."

Cathy opened the door a crack
.
"I'm not going," she said
.
"I don't feel good
.
My shoulders and back really hurts."
She moaned a little
.
"Too much African sun!"

Noa, who always tanned easily, hadn't thought of the possibility of fair skinned Cathy getting sunburn
.
"I hope you don't blister," she said, feeling a little guilty that she hadn't warned her to take precautions
.
"Maybe I should take a look at your shoulders."

The loose, striped kaftan Cathy had thrown on over her swimsuit reminded Noa of one she had seen Taber wear several times
.
Of course, they all looked alike to her
.

"I put some lotion on," Cathy said hurriedly
.
"I'll be fine."

The kaftan swirled about Cathy's bare feet as she firmly closed the door.

Chapter Eleven

Always punctual, the entire group with the exception of Cathy and Taber were waiting in the lobby. "Where's Taber?" Moulay Aziz asked, missing him first.

As Noa explained that he was not going along with them, she saw Marie scan the group the way teachers do when mentally calling roll
.
"Your niece isn't joining us either?" she asked with raised brow.

Noa, with a tightness in her throat, explained about the sunburn
.
Was Marie thinking what she had been thinking?
That Taber's absence and Cathy's had some connection?

"I hope we're not going to another medina today," Milton complained
.
He had grown increasingly difficult since his argument with the police in Fez
.
He resented not only the loss of the precious ring, but the fact that the authorities had actually dared to consider him a suspect.

"Another day, another medina," Belda chirped, trying to placate him with one of Taber's jokes.

"Isn't there anything else in Morocco to see?"

"As a matter of fact, we have something entirely different planned for today
.
No medina
.
We're going to drive out along the seacoast, drive by the site where the historic conference of Allied leaders took place during World War 11, and make a stop at the Royal Palace."

"That'll be interesting, won't it, Milton?" Belda said, giving him a nudge.

"Are we going to stop at Rick's Cafe?" Greg asked with a smile.

"As I mentioned before, the movie Casablanca wasn't
actually
filmed here
.
If there is a Rick's Cafe, I'm afraid it's a phony."