Zero Visibility (22 page)

Leather Jacket stared at the ground. His voice filled with defeat. “Yes, if he doesn’t hear from us, he knows it didn’t work.”

“Nathan, we need to get to my aunt’s house. I mailed the books to my aunt right after the package arrived. If Lorelei has my phone, she knows where my aunt lives. Even if they don’t know that the books are there, they might be waiting there to ambush me once they figure out these guys’ plan didn’t work.” Merci stepped toward thieves. “That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

Both of them nodded.

“Please.” Merci grabbed Nathan’s coat, her voice filled with desperation. “Aunt Celeste is in danger.”

NINETEEN

“N
athan, we’re ten miles from town.” Merci couldn’t hide the sense of terror that had invaded every cell of her body. “We have to go and make sure Aunt Celeste is okay.”

“Couldn’t you wait five minutes?” said Daniel. “I called the police in Grotto Falls when I saw the wreck. They’re on their way.”

“We have to go now,” Merci pleaded.

Nathan looked at his brother.

“I can watch these two until the police get here. You can take my car since yours is wrecked.” Daniel tossed Nathan the keys.

Nathan patted his brother’s shoulder. “Thanks…for saving my life.”

“I’d do it again tomorrow if you asked me.”

The walls seemed to have melted between the two brothers.

Merci and Nathan scrambled up the hill past the wrecked car to where Daniel’s car was parked beside the thieves’ car. Once Nathan had started the engine, he handed Merci his phone. “Phone the police in Grotto Falls. Maybe they can meet us at your aunt’s house.”

Merci nodded. Her stomach twisted into a tight knot as she dialed.

Please, God, don’t let them hurt my aunt.

The lights of the city came into view, and the landscape changed from mountains to rolling hills. Merci phoned the local police, explained the situation and gave them her aunt’s address. When she tried her aunt’s number, there was no answer.

She pulled the phone away from her ear. “Sometimes she doesn’t hear the phone if she is in the back part of the house.”

As they came closer to the city limits, they passed a gas station and a hotel. Hardly any snow had fallen at this lower elevation. Merci directed Nathan through the streets until they arrived at a white house with a stone walkway and chain-link fence. The windows of the house were dark.

A sense of apprehension skittered over Merci’s nerves. “Where are the police?”

“Maybe they’re still on their way.”

“They should have gotten here before us,” she said in a trembling voice.

Nathan knocked on the door.

“She wouldn’t have gone to sleep. She’s expecting me, and she would have left the living room light on.” Merci checked the door. It was locked.

“Let’s look around.” Nathan took Merci’s hand and led her around the side of the house.

“I think we need to call the police again.” Merci looked at the cell phone panel.

A hoarse whisper from behind her caused her to freeze. “The two of you better be really still.” Hawthorne stepped forward and placed a gun on Nathan’s temple. “Don’t try anything heroic.”

Hawthorne’s voice would haunt her dreams. If she lived to dream again. A sense of terror spread through her. “Don’t hurt him.”

Hawthorne raised an eyebrow. “I won’t if you tell me what I need to know. Now, why don’t all of us go inside? The back door is unlocked. Merci, you go first and if you try anything, your boyfriend dies. Are we clear on that?”

Lorelei must have told Hawthorne her name. How else would he have learned it? As she eased open the back door, she prayed that her aunt was still alive. Hawthorne was the type to get someone else to do his dirty work. Was he capable of killing?

Merci stepped through the door first. She gave Nathan a backward glance.

“It’s okay,” Nathan reassured.

Hawthorne pressed the gun harder against Nathan’s temple. “I meant what I said.”

Merci shuddered. The fire in Hawthorne’s eyes told her he had no problem with killing.

Merci stepped inside and reached for a light switch. Their footsteps seemed to echo in the hallway. Maybe Aunt Celeste had run out for a last-minute errand to the grocery store. Was it too much to hope that this animal hadn’t had the chance to do harm to her aunt?

“To the kitchen,” said Hawthorne.

She reached out and switched on the light in the kitchen. Merci gasped. Aunt Celeste was tied up in a kitchen chair. Tears streamed down the older woman’s face. Merci fell to floor and hugged her aunt.

“I’m so sorry this had to happen.” Merci stroked her aunt’s hair and wiped the tears away.

Celeste nodded but was unable to respond because of the gag in her mouth.

Hawthorne shouted toward the dark living room where the curtains were drawn. “Lori, get me two more chairs and some rope.”

Shadows covered Lorelei as she moved around the dining room and then came into the lighted kitchen carrying two chairs. Lorelei’s face was drawn. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks. She kept her gaze on the floor.

Hawthorne took the gun away from Nathan’s temple and ordered him to sit down in the chair. He looked at Merci. “You, too.”

Nathan’s gaze moved around the room as though he were trying to come up with a strategy for escape. Hawthorne kept the gun on Nathan while Lorelei tied his hands behind his back and to the chair.

“Put your hands behind your back,” Lorelei whispered to Merci.

Lorelei tugged on Merci’s hands as she wrapped the rope around them. Merci bent down and angled her head so she could talk to Lorelei. “Why, why did you do this?”

“Shut up.” Hawthorne waved the gun at Merci.

Lorelei tugged harder on the restraints, causing the rope to dig into Merci’s wrists. Merci winced.

Lorelei stood up. “All done.”

“Good girl.” Hawthorne leaned toward Lorelei and kissed her. “It won’t be long now, Babe. We’ll be rolling in dough.”

Hawthorne narrowed his eyes at Merci as he loomed over her. “Now all you have to do is tell me where you put that Spanish language book. We’ll go get it, and you’ll be free to go.”

Merci knew he was lying. Once he had the book in his hand, she would be of no use to him. He’d probably kill Nathan and her aunt even sooner. “What book are you talking about?”

“It’s a nineteenth-century book about fruit trees written in Spanish with illustrations. The
Un libro de arboles
disappeared sixty years ago. It was suspected that it was stolen. How it ended up in some European street market is anyone’s guess. The bookseller obviously didn’t know what he had.”

He leaned over her. “So where is it?”

Merci shook her head. “I’m still not sure what you are talking about.” She had to stall long enough for them to come up with a plan, or for the local police to show up. Certainly, her call wouldn’t have been ignored…unless Hawthorne had found a way to throw the police off or to harm them.

Hawthorne leaned close enough for her to feel his hot breath on her cheek. “That day you were in the Student Union. I stopped to ask you where the cafeteria was. You had just opened a package with a European post mark.”

“Oh, yes, now I remember, the one my father sent.”

Aunt Celeste’s eyes grew wide, and her gaze turned toward the dark living room. The books were there stacked on the table by the couch. All Hawthorne had to do was turn on the lights, glance in that direction and he would see them. And then they would all be dead.

Hawthorne held Merci in his stone-cold gaze. “Yes, where is it?” He cocked his head to one side. “Don’t tell me you got smart and put it in a security deposit box.”

“I…umm… Let me think. There was so much in that package. I’m trying to think what I did with all of it.”

Hawthorne’s features tightened, indicating impatience. “Tell me what you did with it.”

Lights flashed across the curtains.

Lorelei ran to the window and pulled back the edge of a curtain. “It’s a cop. He’s driving by real slow. Jonathan, I think he’s going to stop here.”

Hawthorne’s gaze darted around the room and then he untied Celeste. “Now you listen to me, old lady. You’re going to tell this guy that everything is fine here and that your niece has already gone to sleep.”

Lorelei came back into the kitchen, put a gag in Merci’s mouth and turned off the lights. There was no chance of the policeman seeing them when he stood at the door. Maybe she could knock the chair over and make a loud noise.

Hawthorne pushed Celeste to her feet. “And if you try anything. I’ll shoot you and then your precious niece.”

There was a knock on the door. A dog barked somewhere in the neighborhood. Celeste trudged toward the door. Hawthorne turned on the lights and crouched by the door where Celeste could see him but the police officer wouldn’t be able to. He kept the gun pointed at her.

With the lights on, the books were clearly visible. Merci held her breath. All Hawthorne had to do was pivot ninety degrees, and he would see the books.

Her aunt opened the door. The older woman gripped the edge of the door with trembling hands, but her voice was steady. “Hello Officer, what brings you out so late?”

Merci could hear the policeman but not see him. “We got a call earlier that you might be in some danger.”

“In danger?”

In the kitchen, Lorelei touched Merci’s wrist and whispered in her ear. “I did it because he promised me the moon and said I’d be rich. I thought I loved him.” The ropes around Merci’s wrist loosened. “But it has gone too far.”

The conversation continued at the door. “A Merci Carson called in a while ago concerned that you might have had a break-in.”

Celeste hesitated for a moment before answering. “I don’t know what Merci was so worried about. Everything is fine here. She arrived a little bit ago and went straight to bed. She must have forgotten to call you and say everything was just fine.”

“Good to hear. Sorry I was so slow in getting over here. I was on my way out to an accident just outside of town when the call came in. We’ve only got two officers on duty tonight. Well, you have a good night, ma’am.”

Celeste closed the door. Hawthorne jumped to his feet and shoved the gun in Celeste’s back. Hawthorne’s face grew red with anger. “Now, Merci, I suggest you tell me where that book is or I’ll put a bullet in your aunt and then in your boyfriend.”

Merci’s thoughts moved at light speed. Hawthorne might keep her alive long enough to get the book, but as soon as she told him, even if it was a lie, he’d shoot the other two. She saw murder in his eyes. Her throat had gone dry. “Why do you want it so bad?”

“That book is unaccounted for because it disappeared for sixty years. I’m in the antiquities and rare books trade. I could say I found the book at a bookseller’s stall just like your father did, no one will ask any questions, and I would be a couple million richer.”

She flexed her hands while he talked. If she made a run for it, would he chase her or simply shoot Nathan and Celeste? Lorelei continued to stand back in the shadows by the hallway. Merci focused on the doorknob shining in the dark living room. It wasn’t that far to the door. She could cry out for help. Maybe Hawthorne would run rather than risk exposure.

In an instant, she jumped out of the chair and bolted toward the living room. She took long strides. She heard a scream of indignation behind her. A gun was fired and then she felt fingers clawing her back.

She reached out for the doorknob, her hand inches from it. Just as she turned it, a heavy weight fell on her back, knocking her to the ground. Her stomach hit the floor with a hard thud. Hawthorne was on top of her. She screamed and struggled to get away. His hand went over her mouth.

And then, he stood up and backed away.

Merci turned over and struggled to her feet. Hawthorne had seen the stack of books and was walking toward it. He still held the gun. Her heart rate soared as her mind raced. Now there was no reason for any of them to be kept alive.

Nathan burst out of his chair and tackled Hawthorne just as he picked up the book. Lorelei must have cut him free, too. The two men wrestled. The gun skittered across the floor, and Merci picked it up.

“Stop right there, Hawthorne.” Both her voice and her hands were shaking.

While Hawthorne’s attention was drawn to Merci, Nathan subdued Hawthorne and held his hands behind his back.

Outside, Merci saw flashing lights. The policeman had come back. He must have suspected something was up.

“Here, take the gun, Nathan,” she said.

Merci ran to her aunt who was huddled in a corner. There was no sign of Lorelei.

“That girl left out the back door after she cut Nathan free,” said Aunt Celeste.

Outside a car pulled up. Merci ran to the door and opened it. The police officer who had come by earlier came up the walkway. A moment later, a highway patrol car pulled to the curb, and Daniel got out along with the officer.

Once Hawthorne was in cuffs and secured in the police car, Nathan walked over to Merci where she stood on the sidewalk. “You were right about Lorelei. There was something redemptive in her.”

“I imagine the police will catch her. She’ll go to jail. I’m going to try to at least visit her. We can’t give up on people.” Merci turned toward him and looked into his brown eyes. Then she looked over at Daniel who was making a statement to the local police officer.

“I agree.” He placed his hand in hers. “That was enough excitement for the day, huh?”

“Enough excitement for a lifetime.”

Aunt Celeste came up beside them and wrapped an arm around Merci. “I think we could all use a quiet morning after all that drama. How about I make us all some breakfast?”

“I’ll see if Daniel wants to stay,” said Nathan.

As Nathan walked toward his brother and slung an arm around him, the genuine warmth she saw between them touched her deeply.

The four of them made their way back up the stairs. Nathan’s hand slid easily into hers as they stepped inside.

TWENTY

D
aniel and Aunt Celeste’s laughter floated out from the kitchen as they prepared breakfast together. The aroma of bacon sizzling and cinnamon filled the living room where Merci and Nathan snuggled on the couch.