September Wind (38 page)

              She would’ve preferred not, but she could see that he wasn’t easily discouraged. She nodded, thinking that Peter might’ve left by now anyway, or maybe he’d gone for another walk.

             
“
There’s a fantastic pond out back,” she said when they reached the patio off the ballroom.

             
“
Mm. Sounds like you know your way around.” He took her hand and squeezed as they followed the path to the back yard. She wondered what she would do with him once they arrived at the pond. Her goal was to keep searching for Peter.

             
Fortunately, the pond turned out to be a popular place, although she had to crook her neck each time she wanted to see who was coming up the walk.

             
“
Is anything wrong?” he asked, seeming impatient all of a sudden.

             
She pulled herself straight. “No, not really. Well, besides needing to uhm…” she leaned closer, “to use the john. You know… the drink?” She raised her glass, and then downed the rest of the champagne.

             
He waited for her to finish, and then slipped an arm around her shoulder. She tried to figure out what exactly compelled him to do that, considering she just told him her bladder was about to burst.

             
Curious about a group of people heading their way, she peered around a couple standing next to them. Well, she knew where Donald was. She pulled back and handed Mr. Casanova her glass. “Got to run,” she said, and then was off through the trees.

             
Back in the ballroom, the lights were dim. The band played a ballad as she circled the room looking for Peter. She was ready to give up when she saw him with a woman off in the corner. She rushed over and pulled him aside.

             
“
Peter, I have to talk to you.”

             
“
Wow, look at you. All you need is a pair of glass slippers and you could be Cinderella.” He looked down at her shoes. “Mm… I guess those... mesh slippers, are they? Well, they’ll do just fine.”

             
She could tell that he’d had a drink or two. “Listen Peter, you’ve got to get out of here.”

             
She was about to explain when two men appeared on either side of him. They locked arms around each of his elbows. One of them whispered in his ear, and then he was ushered out of the room. She followed at a safe distance as they took him upstairs.

Her heart pounded as she crept past Maria’s bedroom and into the forbidden area. When she rounded the corner, they were approaching the door to Donald’s suite. The larger of the two men had Peter’s arms wrenched up against his back.

              She ducked behind one of the plants that lined the walls, and leaned for a better view… a little too far. The man holding Peter turned as her knees buckled. She grabbed a branch and held her breath as he cocked his head. All of a sudden, Peter slammed his right shoulder into the man. There was a click, the door flew open, and Peter was whisked inside, the door swiftly closing behind the men.

Emily rushed over to see if she could hear what was going on inside. She was about to go for help, from where she didn’t know, when she heard arguing, scuffling, and then two shots.

              She bolted up the hallway to her room, and once inside, fell back against the door, pushing it closed. In shock, and trembling so she could barely stand, she braced herself for support, taking gulps of air, knowing she was alone on this, and had no choice but to will herself to be calm.

             
When her breathing was steady enough, though still shaky and weak, she opened the door a little and looked out. There was no one about, so she stepped into the hallway and went to look down onto the first floor. Three men hurried up the corridor toward the front entrance. Donald came from the ballroom, gazed after them, and then turned and headed upstairs.

             
She dashed back to her room and lay across the bed. No one else came up. She imaged they were using Donald’s side entrance to carry down the body. Tears filled her eyes. She’d spent less than two hours with Peter, but it was long enough to know that he was probably a very decent man. Whatever the case, she didn’t think he deserved this fate. Maybe it was her fault for not going to the police sooner. Of course, now more than ever, she was certain that she could have gone to the wrong person and put even more people in danger.

             
For hours, she lay shivering, tossing and turning, unable to think clear enough to make a decision. There was no one in the house she could go to. Her boss made it just about impossible to trust anyway. There was no way she would go crying to Maria.

             
At least there was George over the hill, a thought that finally was enough to let her mind drift into slumber.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Just before daybreak, Emily made her way down to the barn, saddled Star, and headed for the Trutman farm.

              When George answered her knock and saw the look on her face, he stepped outside and closed the door.

             
“
What happened?”

             
“
A couple of Donald’s men killed a friend of mine. At least I think he was a friend.”

             
“
Okay, that’s it,” George said, marching down the steps. “Now it’s time we go to the police.”

             
“
I know, I know what you’re saying,” she said, hurrying down after him, “but what if we end up talking to one of Schillings’ buddies? We could fall into a trap.”

“Then we’ll go straight to the police chief.”

              “
But how do we know who’s safe? Remember? He has friends... everywhere you look.”

             
“
Listen Emily, you watched a man being murdered.”

             
“
Yes, I know. I mean, I heard the shots.”

             
“
And you’re positive they killed him.”

             
“
If he wasn’t dead at the time, I know they would’ve finished him off. So, yes I’m certain he’s dead.”

             
George turned back across the yard. “Let’s go.”

             
“
But... you can’t go over now?” Emily said running to catch up with him.

             
“
Not to the house. We’re going to his logging company.”

             
“
Oh,” she said, feeling a spark of excitement.

             
George was saddling his horse when his father showed up. “Where to so early?” he asked. He was a large man, looking much different from how he’d been described.

             
“
Oh, hi, Pa. Well… I’ll tell you all about it when we get back. Say, this is my new pal, Emily. She’s the replacement nanny over yonder. Emily, this is Pa. His friends call him Chatty.” George mounted his horse. “We’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

             
Chatty watched them make their way across the yard. “Take it easy, son.”

             
Once they reached the water, they headed north.               “See, Emily. This stream used to be a nice sized creek. But the geezer made himself a private lake and ruined our swimming hole for a dam that no one’s allowed to go near.”

             
“
I know. I took Nathan down to the water and found that out the hard way.”

             
“
You actually took him to the forbidden area?”

             
“
I did. Of course, Donald blew his stack.”

             
George laughed. “What a little stinker Nathan is for not telling you.”

             
“
I don’t blame him. When I was younger, not much felt better than a swim in the creek.”

             
“
You know, I went to see Schillings and asked if we could swim in the lake he’d created. He refused, said it was too dangerous with the logging going on. Ha! With the setup he’s got, that’s hard to believe. Oh, and then he informed me that Pa okayed the dam for a bit of money. Turns out he owed some back taxes.”

             
They crossed the stream as they neared the dam, dismounted, tied the horses to a fence post, and then climbed over and headed through the trees to the mill.

“
It looks the same as when I came over after Sylvia left,” George said when they arrived. “I don’t know, I just think there’s something funny here. One of my uncles works in a sawmill up in Oregon, and this is nothing like what I saw when I was there.”

             
They walked around the building, tried two doors, and looked for windows to climb through. As they checked out the second story for a way in, a helicopter came out of nowhere, swooping in over the redwoods.

“Holy smoke!” George said, grabbing Emily by the shoulders. He threw her to the ground, falling beside her, hollering for her to follow as he slithered toward the forest.

              When they were safely in the brush, he reached over and picked some weeds out of her hair. “Sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

             
“
No...  Except for maybe a broken ankle.”

             
He laughed, swatting more weeds from her hair.

             
The helicopter landed, its engine died and four men got out and started carrying boxes into the building.

             
George nudged her. “I’ve heard these helicopters come in for over a year. They’ll stop then start up again. It seems lately there’re coming more often. This one makes three days in a row now, I think.”

“I’ve heard them too. Even saw one come in when Nathan and I went down to the water.”

              “
Hm... well, you know what I think? I think its drugs.”

             
“
Drugs? Really?” She didn’t know much about drugs, but she knew enough.

             
“
I’ll bet anything that’s what it is.”

             
When the men had unloaded the last of the boxes, they locked the door and one of them left in the helicopter. The other three climbed in a pickup that had been sitting next to the building and set off upstream, and then over the bridge.

             
“
There’s got to be a way in,” George said as Emily followed him across the yard.

             
After two unsuccessful trips around the building, they decided to break a window on the second floor around back. George picked up a nail and stuffed it into a shirt pocket. Next, they found a piece of lumber that would be long enough. They stabilized it against the window ledge, and then George pointed to a small rock. “Grab that for me, will you, and then hold onto the board.” She handed the rock over, and he dropped it in with the nail.

             
“
Well, here goes.”

             
Emily placed a knee on the board and held on as he made his way up. Halfway there, the dogs began to bark in the distance. She gripped tighter. “George. I – I’ve seen them before, and they’re like two grizzlies.” She looked over her shoulder. “Please hurry.”

             
When he reached the top, he used the nail to chisel out a circle in the windowpane. He used the rock to knock out a piece of glass, and then he reached through the opening, turned the handle, and opened the window.

             
By now, the dogs were just beyond the building. George slipped inside, then turned back, and held onto the board while Emily made her way up. She reached the window as the two animals rounded the corner. One of the dogs leaped onto the piece of lumber and began to claw its way up as she flung herself inside. George pushed the piece of lumber off the ledge and closed the window.

             
Emily looked up at George in disbelief, her pulse racing, and her face burning with excitement. He helped her to her feet, and they moved to the railing and looked down onto the first floor. There were a number of machines, cut and stacked lumber, a large bin of sawdust, and some other evidence of a working sawmill.

“We’d better hurry,” Emily said, glancing back toward the window, “those dogs have an owner.”

She followed George across the hallway to the first door, where he tried the knob.

             
“
Shoot, it’s locked.”

             
They hurried to the next room that looked like an office, although the furnishings were sparse, with only a desk, and a filing cabinet, but no boxes. They rushed out into the hallway and back to the locked room.

             
“
This has to be it,” George said, looking around for a way to break in.

             
He pulled the nail from his pocket and jammed it into the keyhole, wiggling it then jamming it again. “If I didn’t know better, he might’ve even fooled me with this setup. Damn. It’s not going to work.” He pulled out the nail and shoved it back onto his pocket.

             
“
Listen,” Emily hissed. “I think I hear something.”

             
They stood quietly, and in the distance came the sound of vehicles approaching. She ran to the front window and looked out. “It’s him in one of those Model T’s. And there’s the truck right behind him.” She whipped around, frantically looking for a way out. “George, what do we do?”

             
Outside, there were sounds of slamming vehicle doors.

             
George bent over the railing. “We’ve got no choice,” he said, already halfway over. A moment later there was a swish and then another as the two landed into the bin of sawdust. They stifled coughs and sneezes as they struggled through the dust and took cover beneath the steps.

             
A minute later, the door burst open.

             
“
This is the best load we’ve ever had,” one of the men said. “The best cocaine money can buy.”

             
The dogs began barking again, and it sounded as if they were heading back up along the lake.

             
“
Auh, boy, here they come. Probably sniffed it out,” someone said, half-joking.

             
“
Not unless you got some in your pocket.”

             
Emily and George gawked at one another. She pointed a finger at him and then back to herself several times, until he grabbed her hand and placed it on her lap. She watched a layer of sweat form above his lips and lifted the other hand to wipe it away.

             
“
Harold,” Donald grumbled, “get those damn mutts into the cab.”

The dogs arrived and Harold persuaded the animals into the truck as the other men stepped inside and closed the door.

“So,” came Donald’s voice again as the men climbed the stairs, “if this stuff’s as pure as you say it is, there’s a market out there that won’t end any time soon. With the next election coming up, I need as much money as I can get my hands on. Ha, and then boys, after I get into office, nothing’s going to stop me.”

             
The men laughed as shadows flashed through the cracks in the wood where the two crouched below. Halfway up, they stopped so that a band of light fell across Emily’s face. She held her breath as Donald reached into his pocket and pull out a piece of paper.

             
“
Before we leave for Miami,” he said, “here’s an address of a guy that’s looking for only the highest quality cocaine.” He handed the paper to the man behind him and they continued up the steps and down the hallway.

             
A few minutes later, one of the men began stacking boxes at the head of the stairs. As he left for another load, Emily’s nostrils began to tingle, and her mouth puckered as she gasped for air. “I...go...nnuh...snee...heez,” she whispered.

             
Her spasms continued as the doorknob turned and Harold walked in.

             
“
Up here,” someone hollered from the head of the stairs.

Harold headed up the steps as tears streamed down Emily’s
              face, and then the sneeze broke just as he reached the open hallway above.

             
“
Hey, you getting into the stuff already?” one of the men said as they lifted boxes and started back down.

             
“
I was about to ask you the same thing. You got a cold or something?”

             
The other man sniffed. “Mm, oh, maybe a little.” The rest of the men left the room upstairs and rumbled along the hallway and down the steps. Finally, the door closed behind the last of them.

Emily and George waited for the vehicles to drive out of the yard, and then scrambled from the bin.

              “
Oh, dear,” George croaked, pointing up to the second floor. “The broken window. It’s sitting there like the sun.”

             
Emily shivered. “Come on, we’d better get out of here.”

             
“
Okay, but you’re coming home with me.”

             
“
No I can’t, the children. I can’t just desert them. I’m serious about this, George. Remember? His friends, the police? Just trust me. Everything’ll be okay. I mean, what’s so different from last week, or a month back?”