Unveiled Treasures (20 page)

“Not so fast,” Jake said, pulling her in front of him again. “You must protect your king. This rogue,” he motioned towards Todd with the knife, “will surely strike me dead. But he would never think to harm a lady. Especially one he has grown fond of. I will accompany you on your journey.”

Rachel knew now he had lost it completely. He was talking as if he really thought he was a king. She decided to play along; at this point, she had nothing left to lose.

“Of course, my Lord, this way.” She started walking towards the door. Jake stopped her again.

“My good man, would you be so kind as to lead the way? I like to keep my enemies where I can see them. I would not want you sneaking up on me from behind.”

Todd backed out of the kitchen and through the living room until his back hit the door. Opening what was left of it, he backed out onto the patio.

“Where did you hide it, darling?”

“It’s over there.” She pointed to the stone retaining wall.

“Very clever of you, my dear. Let us go retrieve it.”

Todd backed up to the retaining wall as well. He was frustrated. He couldn’t get a clean shot because the son of a bitch was keeping Rachel between them at all times.

“You won’t get away with this, Jake,” Todd said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, on the contrary, Officer, I am and I will.” Jake grabbed Rachel’s hair and pulled her head back for another brutal kiss. He kept his eyes on Todd while he ran his tongue around the lobe of Rachel’s ear. Squeezing her bared breast painfully, he asked, “Do you like to watch, Officer?”

Mike made his move. He crept over the wall and snuck up behind Jake. Pointing his gun at the back of Jake’s head, he said, “Drop the weapon and let her go.”

Jake let go of Rachel but he didn’t drop his weapon. “But of course, my good man, there is no need to be uncivilized.” He spun around and screamed as he lunged at Mike with the knife. Rachel dove over the wall as gun shots rang out around her. Jake fell to the ground without a sound. The knife clattered harmlessly from his hand.

“Get an ambulance up here, now!” Todd ordered. Mike ran in the cabin to get the phone.

Jake lay on the patio, blood pooling around him on the stone surface. “It was for you, Rachel, always for you,” she heard as he faded into unconsciousness.

Rachel began to shake violently. She was so cold. Her eyes were huge and glassy. Her pale skin was clammy to the touch, she felt nauseated and faint.

“You’re in shock. Come on, baby, I need to get you inside.” Todd wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her into the house. He sat her down on the couch, ran into the bedroom to grab a blanket and saw her braid on the floor. Unbridled fury coursed through him as images of what had happened flashed in his mind. He brought the blanket out and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her eyes were blank, expressionless; she looked miles away.

“Rachel, come on, baby, come back to me.” Her hands were like ice. He looked into her eyes searching for a response or reaction. She blinked and shook her head as if clearing the fog.

“Oh my God, Brutus!” she screamed. Jumping to her feet, she ran down the hallway to the empty bedroom. She threw open the door and sobbed when she saw him on the floor. “Brutus! That son of a bitch killed my dog.” Sobbing hysterically, she fell to the floor beside him. Cradling his head in her lap, she stroked his fur.

Todd followed her into the room. Quiet tears streamed down her face, falling on the motionless dog’s fur. “Rachel,” Todd said quietly, “I’m so sorry.”

“He’s gone,” she said softly. Sobbing again, she put her head down across his body. “He’s still warm. I swear I can still hear his heartbeat.” She sat up and placed her head against his chest. She could hear and feel a faint heartbeat and very shallow breathing. “Oh my God, Todd. He’s alive! Call a vet! Hurry!” Tears continued to stream down her face as she prayed for her dog’s life.

The paramedics cleaned and field dressed Rachel’s wounds. They informed her she needed to go to the hospital for stitches. She refused to leave until she knew the status of Brutus’ condition. The vet wouldn’t let her stay in the room while he examined the dog. Todd found her pacing up and down the hallway outside the bedroom door. “We found Ed Templeton handcuffed, bound and gagged in the trunk of Jake’s rental car.”

“Did he tell you what he did with the
Irish Star
?”

“He said he hid it in a chest on the top shelf in your garage. We can’t find anything out there that fits that description.”

“That’s because it’s not in the garage.” She turned to look at him. “I moved it into the office.” She passed the door to the bedroom where Brutus was, wishing the vet would let her in. Walking into the office, she picked up the small chest and placed it on the desk. “It was my mother’s sewing chest. I brought it in here a few days ago. Ed didn’t find it when he came back the other night because he’d locked Brutus in this room.”

She opened the chest. “I looked in it. I didn’t see a multi-million dollar necklace. I think I would have noticed.”

Todd took the chest from her, and started to systematically empty it. Removing a piece of fabric, he set it on the desk with a ‘thunk’ noise. He carefully unfolded the cloth swatch; nestled in the calico print fabric was
The Irish Star.
Todd held it up by the chain and whistled.

Rachel drew in an audible breath. “Oh my goodness, it’s incredible.”

Todd held it in his hand. The brilliant green stone and surrounding diamonds flashed and twinkled in the afternoon sunlight. He handed it over to Rachel. She carefully held it in the palm of her hand and studied the multi-faceted stone. “Just think of how many lives have been touched, changed and ended for this,” she said. “It was originally created for love, coveted for greed and power, and cherished for family honor.” She handed the necklace back to Todd and walked out of the room.

Rachel was preparing to knock on the door when it opened in her face. The vet smiled at her. “Come in, Ms. Hardy, he’s beginning to come around.”

Rachel rushed in the room and dropped to the floor beside Brutus. He opened his eyes and thumped his tail weakly. She hugged him as she wept tears of joy. “He’ll be wobbly for a little while but should be fine in a few hours. Someone gave him a hefty tranquilizer. I understand you’ve been waiting to go to the hospital because of him. I can assure you, he is going to be fine. You, on the other hand, are risking infection, loss of blood and terrible scarring. You really need to have that cut on your back looked after.”

“What? Oh yes, I will. Thank you, Doctor,” she said, jumping up to kiss his cheek.

Todd was watching from the doorway. “He’s right. Come with me.”

“I don’t want to leave Brutus. I’m fine really. It’s just a scratch.” Todd dragged her outside to the paramedics van. Her protests landed on deaf ears. He looked at her sharply. “Either they take you to the hospital and stitch you up now or I drive you, your choice.” Rachel pouted while a paramedic closed the door of the van behind her.

Jessica came running up behind the ambulance. “I heard sirens.” Breathing heavily, she panted to catch her breath. “I saw the lights and then the ambulance. Todd, what’s going on?”

“Rachel is going to the hospital to get some stitches in her back from a knife wound. She had her hair chopped off with a kitchen knife, had same knife held to her throat for what seemed like an eternity to me and her dog was drugged. Oh yeah, and we found this,” he said as he produced the necklace from his pocket. The gems glinted and sparkled in the sunlight as it dangled from his hand.

Jessica’s eyes went wide and she blanched as she tried to absorb everything Todd had said. “Whoa, back up, rewind and run that by me one more time. But this time, in slow motion. Who stabbed her?
Why
would someone want to stab her? And what do you mean Brutus was drugged?” Jessica demanded.

“Jessica, I need you to do me a huge favor. I need you to stay here with Brutus. I had to force her into that ambulance. If she knows he’s being taken care of, she’ll let the doctors treat her. I promise to tell you everything, only later.”

“Absolutely, go on, get out of here. You need to be there, too,” Jessica said, pushing him towards his SUV.

“I want to personally read that son of a bitch his rights,” he said to her as he started to leave.

“Don’t worry about us. I’ll take good care of him. Just go take care of Rachel. Then you guys can tell me the whole story.”

Todd arrived a few minutes behind Rachel’s ambulance and found her waiting in the emergency room. “Has anyone been in to see you yet?” he asked.

“Yes, a couple of nurses came in and cleaned my wounds again. The one on my neck won’t need stitches but the one on my back will need a lot from what they’re telling me. Todd, he hacked my hair off with a kitchen knife.” Tearing up, she ran her fingers through what remained of her hair. Todd produced her braid from behind his back and handed it to her. Wiping her tears away, she looked at him and tried to smile. “I was thinking about cutting it off anyway. Guess I don’t have a choice now, do I?”

“I still think you are the most beautiful woman in the world. What you did today took great courage. And although I appreciate the gesture, I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me ever again. Is that understood?”

Weakly, she nodded. “I was afraid he was going to kill you. I couldn’t let him do that. I…”

The two nurses and doctor came in the room before Rachel had a chance to finish her statement. “Sheriff Bradley, I’m Dr. Reynolds, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the room for a short time so we can treat Ms. Hardy’s wounds. You are more than welcome to come back in let’s say, about twenty minutes.”

“I’m going to go and check on the others. I’ll be back soon.” His eyes caressed her before he walked out of the room.

The younger of the two nurses spoke to Rachel. “You need to hang on to that one. If he looked at me the way he just looked at you, I’d never let that man out of the bedroom.”

Rachel blushed and smiled. She still held her braid in her hands.

The older nurse spoke up. “Honey, have you ever heard of
Locks of Love?
They make real hair wigs for cancer patients who’ve lost their hair during radiation treatment and chemotherapy. If you would like to donate that braid, you could help make something good come out of all of this pain.”

“That’s a great idea. How do I?” Rachel started to ask.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll take care of it for you. My sister works upstairs in the children’s ward. She’ll know what to do with it.”

Dr. Reynolds sat down on the stool behind Rachel. “Now, I’m going to warn you, this will sting.”

* * * *

Todd found out Ed Templeton was suffering from dehydration, but was going to make a full recovery from the injection of cocaine. Jake Vanderhuff was awake, in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery as well. Todd stopped in Ed’s room first. Ed was more than willing to make a full confession. He explained to Todd how he had been contacted by Jake a.k.a. Mr. Vee. He continued to reveal how much money he had been paid and how much more he was to receive after delivery of
The Irish Star.
He explained in great detail what Jake told him about his aunt, how he found the picture of Mrs. Riley, and how crazy he became when he thought Ed had lost the necklace.

“I thought he was going to kill me, Sheriff,” Ed said from his hospital bed.

“I have news for you, Ed. He was planning to. He said something about taking you up to Slide Rock.”

Ed’s pale complexion went ashen. “That was where we were supposed to meet and I was to make the drop.”

“Well you won’t need to worry about him anymore, Ed. Worry about yourself, admitting you have a problem and seeking help is a big step in the right direction. But the stark reality is, you still have to stand and face the music for your part in this.”

Todd left Ed’s room and went down the hall to Jake’s, stopping first to check in with the armed officer on watch. “Mr. Vanderhuff, I’m Sheriff Todd Bradley. I’d like to speak with you for a moment. If you would prefer to have your lawyer present, I can come back in the morning.”

“I need no lawyer, Sheriff. How barbaric and uncivilized of you to treat me this way. What is the purpose of handcuffing me to the bed? I insist on being released this moment. Do you know who I am? Great and royal blood courses through my veins. I refuse to be treated like some common miscreant. I will not be outsmarted by some mere peasant woman. She will have to be punished for turning against me. I will reclaim what rightfully belongs to me.” He sneered. “She does belong to me, you know. Whatever games she played with you were just that. She was lonely and you were nothing more than a mere dalliance. I will have what is mine. Rachel and the Star, they belong to me.” His eyes rolled wildly as he began to laugh, an evil and calculated laugh.

He tried to fight it, but felt it take hold anyway. The green-eyed monster of jealousy swooped down and perched on Todd’s shoulder. Refusing to be baited into an argument by Jake’s taunts, Todd looked him in the eyes and in a very calm tone said, “Very well then, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

Chapter 13