The Secret Heiress (40 page)

That problem seemed solved, Adrian judged. “I’ve got to make a quick phone call,” he said. “Then I want to talk to you about this. Okay?”

Frans nodded slightly.

Adrian went out to the terrace, where he could watch Frans while he took out his cell phone. He pressed the speed-dial button for Sugar’s cell phone. She knew Frans better than anyone here, with the exception of Nikoletta, so he thought he should consult with her about what to do.

Sugar answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

“It’s Adrian. I’m upstairs in Niki’s apartment. Frans tried to commit suicide, and I’m trying to figure out what the hell to do with him. Tonight of all nights.”

“How?” Sugar said. “What did he do?”

“I saw him out on the terrace walking on the parapet.”

“Jesus!” Sugar exclaimed. “Is he okay now?”

“He’s spread out on a couch in the living room. I gave him a couple of drinks to try to help calm him down. I thought you might be able to talk to him.”

“Of course,” Sugar said. “Keep him occupied, and I’ll be up in a jiffy.”

“Thanks, Sugar,” Adrian said.

“No problem,” she responded, thinking that an ideal opportunity had just presented itself. She was surprised that Adrian didn’t realize it himself, but reminded herself he had his hands full with Frans.

Adrian flipped his phone shut and went back into the living room. Frans still lay on the couch, his face turned toward the back of it. He could hear him quietly breathing. Adrian sat sipping his scotch, waiting for Sugar.
I’ll let him rest,
he thought.
At least for the time being. But we’re going to have to get him out of here soon.
Frans couldn’t be around when they carried out their plan.

 

H. Richard Pipe stood on one of the mezzanines surveying the throng of people in the lobby.
Sitting ducks, all of them,
he thought.
For all their celebrity, their money, and power, I could blast any of them away in an instant. All of their silks and satins, their fancy jewels and hairdos, and their superior attitudes—they’ve got no protection from me.
He didn’t think he’d ever seen so many of the powerful—and the polluting—assembled in one place before. He discreetly felt the revolver in its shoulder harness beneath his Brooks Brothers suit. He was getting anxious, but opportunities had been nonexistent so far. She’d come down to the party late, then had been constantly surrounded by a sea of sycophants.
Really sickening,
he thought,
the way they suck up to the bitch.

He couldn’t be more than thirty feet away from her, but there was no way he could safely get a shot in now. Not unless he was asking for immediate capture and life behind bars. He didn’t want it to go down that way. He was sure the right opportunity would arise. She would eventually have to go to the head, where he could get her by herself or with only a few other chicks around. Or she’d be positioned somewhere near an exit, so he could make a quick getaway. It would happen tonight. He was sure of it. One quick pop would do it. Nikoletta Papadaki’s polluted brains would decorate the new PPHL headquarters, just like her toxic waste that seeped into the ground all over the planet.

 

Sugar had to restrain her excitement. If everything worked out as she hoped it would, their problems were over. First, she decided, she would tell Nikoletta what had happened. She scanned the lobby and mezzanines, and Nikoletta wasn’t difficult to spot. A group of rich young Greek scions was gathered in a clump around her.

When Sugar reached the crowd that surrounded Nikoletta, she stretched a hand into the air and waggled it to catch Nikoletta’s eye. When she did, Nikoletta immediately snaked her way past her friends to Sugar.

“What’s so important?” she asked, knowing that Sugar wouldn’t be interrupting her otherwise.

Her hand to Nikoletta’s ear, Sugar told her in a hushed voice, “I think you’d better get up to your apartment right away. Frans tried to commit suicide.”

“What!”

Sugar nodded. “Yes. Adrian is with him now, but I think it would be helpful if you got up there.”

“The selfish bastard!” Nikoletta said. “On a night that’s so important to me! First he ruins my dress, and now this! I’ll give him a piece of my mind.”

No one attempts suicide unless they’re in extreme distress,
Sugar thought,
but for Niki it’s an inconvenience.
“I think he’s in pretty bad shape, Niki,” Sugar said, “so you might want to go easy on him.”

Nikoletta pouted her lips. “I’ll go see about him,” she said, “but I’ll have to hurry back down to the party. Maybe you should come up and . . . oh, I don’t know . . . call the doctor or something.”

“I’ll be there in just a few minutes,” Sugar said.

“Hurry,” Nikoletta said, then started toward the elevators.

 

H. Richard Pipe saw her rushing down the stairs off the mezzanine, and he went after her with a purposeful stride—not too slow, not too fast—that wouldn’t attract much attention. When he got downstairs, he saw that she was making a dash for the back of the lobby.

Probably has to take a leak,
he thought.
I got her now. Or maybe she’s going upstairs to her apartment.

He didn’t dare get too much closer, or she might get on to him. Get suspicious. As he watched, she turned a corner into a small corridor. It led to another elevator bank. He passed by the corridor slowly and saw her enter a code. An elevator door opened immediately and she stepped inside.

She’s dead meat now!
he thought merrily.
Private elevators with security codes. A small corridor where nobody goes but the handful of people who know the codes. When she comes back downstairs, I can pick her off.

He could hardly restrain his excitement. He stationed himself across from the small corridor, just out of the range of vision of anyone exiting the car that led to her penthouse. He wouldn’t have to wait long because she wouldn’t be gone long.

She’s a party animal,
he thought.
Can’t get enough. Especially when she’s the star. She’ll be back in a flash, and that’s when I’ll get her.

 

From the mezzanine, Sugar searched the crowd for Angelo and Ariadne and Matt, then spotted them toward the back of the lobby. Yves had joined them by now. She quickly worked her way through the crowd.

“Come with me now,” she said, taking Angelo’s arm.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

She leaned in close and told them all.

“Oh, how horrible,” Ariadne said.

“Yes, it is,” Sugar agreed, “but it gives us the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.”

“Where are we going?” Angelo asked.

“Back there to the freight elevators,” Sugar replied.

“But why?”

“Don’t you see?” Sugar said. “We’re going up to Nikoletta’s penthouse. It’s the perfect opportunity.”

They reached the freight elevator that led up to the penthouse. Sugar pressed in the security code that opened it, and everyone got on. On the way up, Sugar could see that Ariadne looked distressed. She reached over and squeezed her hand. “Sweetheart, everything is going to be all right.”

The elevator reached the penthouse and opened onto a service area behind the kitchen.

“Now, all of you wait here,” she said. “No one is going to call for the elevator because only a handful of us has the code. I’ll be back in a few minutes. After I get rid of Nikoletta’s bodyguards, if any of them came up with her.”

“We’re going to make the switch now?” Ariadne asked in alarm.

“Yes,” Sugar replied. “I’m gratified that at least you have the sense to realize what’s going on. All of you just stay here until I come and get you.”

“But what about—?”

Sugar briefly told them what she planned to do. “Now, no more questions. I’ll be back in a minute.” She hurried out of the elevator, through the service area, and disappeared.

 

Sugar reached the entrance foyer that serviced the regular elevator without being seen. In the living room she found Frans still spread out on the couch. Adrian was sitting in a chair talking to Nikoletta, who was perched next to Frans.

Great,
she thought when she saw that the bodyguards hadn’t come upstairs with Nikoletta.

“How’s he feeling?” she asked Adrian in a soft voice. He and Nikoletta looked up at her.

“He’s been very quiet,” Adrian said.

“So quiet he’s hardly said a word to me,” Nikoletta added.

“He needs absolute peace and rest now,” Sugar said.

“I think you’re right,” Adrian said.

Sugar whispered to Nikoletta, “I think we should try to get Frans into one of the bedrooms and make him comfortable. What do you think?” She knew that Nikoletta would agree with her if she thought the idea had been hers to begin with.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Nikoletta said in a hushed reply. “I was going to ask a few special friends up after the party. If he’s upstairs, he won’t be in the way.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Adrian said. “Plus, he’s resting well enough, and there would be a lot of publicity if we called a doctor now.”

Nikoletta nodded, then patted Frans on the shoulder. “Frans? Will you get up and go to a bedroom? I’ve got to get back to the party, and then friends are going to be coming up here.”

He didn’t respond, but shifted his shoulder where she had patted it.

Sugar went over to him and leaned down. “Frans, sweetheart. It’s Sugar. Let’s go to bed. Okay? You need rest, and there’s going to be a party here. Come on, sweetheart.” She took one of his hands in hers.

Frans groaned, but began sliding his legs off the couch.

Nikoletta quickly stood up, clearing the way.

“You’re going to be fine, Frans, sweetheart,” Sugar said. “It’s not far. Then you can sleep all you want to.”

Adrian took one of Frans’s hands, and Sugar took the other. Together they helped him to his feet and led him toward the spiral staircase that led upstairs. Nikoletta followed closely behind them. When they finally reached the guest room, Sugar quickly threw back the cover, and they helped him onto the bed. She drew the cover back over him, tucking him in.

“Sleep as long as you want, Frans,” she said. “We’ll be checking on you, so everything will be all right.”

Flipping off the light switch, she closed the door to the room as they left, then went back downstairs to the living room.

“I’ll be right back,” Sugar said. “I’ve got to go to the powder room, darling.”

“Hurry,” Nikoletta said. “I need to get back downstairs to the party.”

“In a jiffy.” Sugar gave Adrian a significant look, and he nodded slightly, as if he understood. Sugar rushed to the service area, where the freight elevator was located.

“Come on,” she said. “Hurry. I’ve got Niki alone in the living room and nobody else is around but Adrian.”

The others stepped off the elevator and followed Sugar back to the living room. Ariadne lagged a bit behind the others. A lump the size of a walnut had lodged in her throat. The switch they had planned for weeks was going to be made now.

She had to become her twin sister.

N
ikoletta poured herself a glass of champagne and lit a cigarette while waiting for Sugar. “What’s taking her so long?” she asked Adrian. “Who knows?” Adrian said casually. “She’s probably powdering her nose, putting on more lipstick. Whatever.”

Nikoletta began pacing back and forth in front of the windows that looked out over the terrace. Looking out at the parapet, she wondered what to do about Frans. She was not in love with him—of that she was certain—but he was the sexiest-looking man she’d ever seen. Major arm candy, and that counted for a lot. Still . . .

She heard footsteps on the marble floor, a lot of them, approaching the living room.
Who the hell?
she wondered.
The bodyguards?
She and Sugar and Adrian had been alone. In the entrance hall Sugar appeared, along with Yves and Angelo, followed by some couple she didn’t know. Adrian stood up to greet them.

“Well, well, well,” Nikoletta said, “I finally have the pleasure of getting to see some more of my lovely board members. Here to pay your respects, I assume.” Her voice was sarcastic. “And who are these people with you?” She gazed at Ariadne and Matt with curiosity.

“We have a little surprise for you,” Angelo said, as Yves sat down.

“Oh, I doubt that you could surprise me, Angelo,” Nikoletta replied airily. She stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray.

As they had rehearsed, Ariadne reached up and loosened a couple of pins that helped hold her wig in place, and Angelo slipped it off. Ariadne then took off her sunglasses and slipped out of the red satin cape that enveloped her. Nikoletta’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed to slits, but she couldn’t take her eyes away from Ariadne.

She quickly recovered her composure. “I see you’ve brought the impostor with you,” she said haughtily. “Don’t think that I don’t know about her.”