Mystery Bride Part 21

WILL WOKE TO THE SOUND of a boat. It grew nearer, the soft putt-putt putt-putt of a large motor. He reached across the bed, realizing groggily that the warmth had gone out of the night. Samantha was no longer beside him. The bed was empty! of a large motor. He reached across the bed, realizing groggily that the warmth had gone out of the night. Samantha was no longer beside him. The bed was empty!

He sat up with a start. Moonlight splattered across the bare floor, silver shards of light. He jumped up and rushed barefoot and naked into the adjoining room of the cottage, suddenly afraid.

"Samantha?" he called softly.

No answer.

She wasn't in the bathroom or the small kitchen. He glanced toward the front window, not surprised to see the boat he'd heard. It was large-a speedboat dark against the night. He caught his breath. A figure stood silhouetted against the moonlit water. Samantha! She seemed to be waiting on the dock for the approaching boat.

He rushed back into the bedroom and pulled on his still damp jeans and boots. He could hear the boat motor s.h.i.+ft into an idle. He ran out of the cottage calling her name. She looked back for an instant, then a hand grabbed her from the boat and pulled her inside. The boat reversed in a growl of engine and a splash of waves.

He reached the dock and almost leaped into the water just as he had from the ferry. But the boat was now too far away. It would have been futile.

The driver slammed the speedboat into gear, and in a thunder of power roared off across the moonlit waves.

Will swore and looked around, spotting a small fis.h.i.+ng boat with a 40-horsepower outboard on it at a neighboring dock. The motor started on the second pull, and he aimed the bow of the boat after the disappearing speedboat. The other boat was larger and faster, but he could make out its running lights in the distance. With a little luck- The wind and waves lashed out at him instantly, sending a shower of spray over the top of the boat and soaking him as he gunned the motor, making him wish he'd grabbed more clothing. He found a slicker in the bottom of the boat, and, although wet, the coat at least provided some protection from the wind.

The small fis.h.i.+ng boat skipped along on top of the chop as he followed the retreating speedboat. Why would Samantha leave his bed? She was too smart to go off alone in the dark with some stranger in a boat. What had happened? What would make her do something so dangerous?

Zack. He'd be the only reason. Dear G.o.d. He'd be the only reason. Dear G.o.d.

The dark water of the bay moved restlessly. Out here, the wind ripped at the tops of the waves, sending a shower of icy water into the air. Cold and numb, Will kept the bow plowing after the speedboat.

He could barely make out the lights in the distance when he saw that the boat had turned inward and was now headed for sh.o.r.e along a rocky outcropping in what looked like an old industrial area.

He slowed the fis.h.i.+ng boat, letting it wallow in the waves as he watched the driver get out of the boat, pulling Samantha with him. The driver hadn't expected to be followed. He didn't even give a backward glance as he dragged Samantha toward what looked like an abandoned building. Will eased the fis.h.i.+ng boat toward the sh.o.r.e.

"WHERE ARE YOU taking me?" Samantha demanded, balking at the sight of the deserted building in front of her. Something held her back, a fear that Ralph had tricked her. She wished for Will-and quickly took the wish back. It helped knowing he was back at the cottage, safe. Why in G.o.d's name would Zack be here?

The structure had been built to resemble a lighthouse and according to the sign it had once been the Lighthouse Restaurant. A condemned warrant had been stapled over some of the letters of the wooden sign.

"Zack is in there?"

"Waiting for you," Ralph said, grabbing hold of her arm.

She studied the man for a moment, then the building. They both gave her a chill. Ralph was large, and more muscle than brain. That rea.s.sured her some; she knew this wasn't his doing. Someone else was calling the shots. Ca.s.sie? Belatedly she thought of another blond. Bebe. And Eric. What was it about them that bothered her other than the fact that Eric was a liar? And Bebe was a ditz? Maybe too much much of a ditz? of a ditz?

Shaking Ralph's hand from her arm, she moved toward the dark shadow of the dilapidated building, a thousand questions whirling like fog in her head. Finally she would know who wanted the game bad enough to kill.

It was dark as she stepped inside the building. Cold and wetness permeated the walls, along with the smell of dead, rotting things. She moved slowly, aware of the man behind her, afraid of the isolation of the place he'd brought her. More afraid of what she'd find once she got deep inside.

"Nice that you could join us-" the woman's voice came from the darkness. "Ralph, wait outside."

Sam squinted, not surprised to see a head of blond hair in the darkness. Ca.s.sie. Hadn't she known Ca.s.sie was neck deep in all this?

Her eyes adjusted slowly. Only a single dim light shone at the back of the building. It cast odd shadows through the empty sh.e.l.l of the lower floor.

Ca.s.sie was sitting on a wooden crate. She didn't appear to be armed. Nor did she move as Sam stepped deeper into the mammoth room. Odd.

"Where is Zack?" Sam demanded as she approached her.

Ca.s.sie still didn't move. Nor did she answer. Sam felt cold creep up her spine. As she neared, she saw that Ca.s.sie's eyes were open, large and full of fear-and drugs.

"Don't worry, Zack's here."

Sam jumped at the sound of the voice behind her. It was the same female voice she'd heard when she'd entered the building-one she'd mistaken for Ca.s.sie's in the hollowed-out, abandoned restaurant.

She spun around. Sam's heart stuck in her throat. For one startled moment she thought there were two Ca.s.sies, as a blond woman with a gun emerged from the shadows.

Mercedes smiled. The color and cut of her blond wig were identical to Ca.s.sie's. She shoved Zack out of the shadows. The boy stumbled and almost fell, then saw Sam and ran to her. He had a thick piece of tape over his mouth and his hands were bound in front of him.

Sam caught him and hurriedly freed his hands, then eased the tape from his mouth. She pulled the boy into her arms. He hugged her tightly, his heart thumping like a sparrow's. Small almost inaudible sobs tore from his lips.

"Ca.s.sie needs a doctor," she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice as she faced Mercedes. "You've given her too much of whatever it was you used on her."

Mercedes laughed and pulled off the blond wig, exposing the brilliant red of her dyed hair. "Nice try. But it's too late for you to worry about Ca.s.sie. Or me." She seemed to notice Samantha searching the corners of darkness in the building. "If you're looking for Lucas, I hate to be the one to tell you, but he's been swimming with the fishes since Friday."

She hadn't been looking for Lucas. But she had been looking for a man-certain Mercedes had one. Certain he would be the man who'd helped Mercedes put her in a bag and carry her to a waiting van.

While the redhead kept the small-caliber gun trained on Sam, she pulled a small recorder from her pocket and depressed a b.u.t.ton. Lucas's voice filled the empty building.

"Stop it," Sam snapped, although Zack didn't seem to react.

Mercedes clicked it off, throwing the large empty building into cold silence again. "Modern technology, Samantha. I would think in your profession you'd be familiar with it. Lucas used his own voice in a lot of his first computer games. With just a little editing..." She smiled. "You don't look well. Don't tell me you still care," Mercedes said tauntingly. "Surely after everything he did to you, you aren't still in love with him?"

Until Will, Sam had wondered if she'd even known what love was or had merely been in love with the idea of a husband and marriage and children. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, hugging Zack to her.

Mercedes shot her a look. "You have to be kidding. Money and power. Is there anything else?" she asked with a laugh.

Apparently not. But at least Mercedes had answered one question. This wasn't about a computer game. Not even a bestselling one. "There is just one thing I don't understand, why give me your piece of the game?"

"To keep you from suspecting me. Except, I hate to bust your bubble, but it wasn't the real CD. Worked though, didn't it?" Mercedes asked with a satisfied smile. "I should have been an actress."

"You must have fooled Lucas," she said. "At least for a while."

"Shut up," Mercedes snarled. "At least he married me."

Sam took the hit, bull's-eye. "Was anything you told me about Lucas true?"

"Everything I told you was true. Except that I didn't want the game." She smiled. "I lied about that. So sue me."

Sam wished she had her purse and the .357 inside it, but Mercedes had that. She stuffed her hands into her pockets, her hand closed around the cell phone. She hit redial.

"What good will your piece do, Mercedes, without the others?" Sam had a bad feeling that Eric no longer had his piece of the game any more than Buzz did. "Or did you kill Eric the way you did Buzz?" Answer the phone, Charley. Hear what's going on.

"Eric was much more reasonable than Buzz," the redhead said with a smile. "He understands the value of money."

"What about Bebe?" Sam asked.

"Bebe?" Mercedes looked confused. She didn't know about Bebe?

Sam felt her heart kick up a beat. "You know, Mercedes, you could have picked a little nicer place. An abandoned Lighthouse Restaurant? This really isn't your style. Where the h.e.l.l are we anyway? Down island?"

Mercedes frowned, holding perfectly still, then her eyes widened. "Ralph! You searched her before you brought her in, right?"

Ralph stuck his head in the door, looking confused. "Her pockets weren't big enough for a gun."

Mercedes swore and aimed her weapon at Sam's head. "Take your hands out of your pockets slowly."

Sam had no choice. She removed her hands from her pockets. "Hey, settle down. I was just cold." She pretended to s.h.i.+ver.

Mercedes swore again. "Ralph! Check her pockets."

Time was up. If Charley hadn't gotten the message- "Just a cell phone," Ralph said, pulling the compact phone out of her pocket.

"Just a cell phone," Mercedes mimicked before she grabbed the phone and listened for a moment, then punched it off. "You'd better hope that was one wasted call," she said to Sam, her gaze hard as her heart and twice as cold. "Get out of here Ralph before I shoot you."

Sam held her breath as Mercedes. .h.i.t redial. What would Mercedes do if she heard Charley answer the phone? But he didn't answer. The line seemed to ring and ring. He wasn't home. No doubt he hadn't been home when Sam had tried to call either.

Defeated, she watched Mercedes smile, turn off the phone and hurl it into a dark corner of the building. Something scampered in the phone's wake.

"Nice try, P.I.," Mercedes said in a bad imitation of Bogart, "but I really don't need you anymore. I got the pieces of the game on my own." She waved the gun at Samantha. "Get out of the way, kid."

WILL PULLED THE FIs.h.i.+NG BOAT up onto the beach, then stole through the darkness to the large lighthouse building at the end of a long spit of land. It stood in an older industrial area, remote and decaying. He moved through the shadows of rotting buildings until he could see Ralph standing guard outside. A light flickered through the cracks in the walls. An SUV was parked outside, empty.

He moved closer, keeping an eye out for anything he could use as a weapon. He knew Samantha didn't have her gun. It had been in her purse, the purse that Ca.s.sie had taken from her on the ferry. But if he knew Sam, she was anything but defenseless. He hoped.

He picked up a rock and a piece of wood the size of a club, then got as close to the lighthouse as he could before heaving the rock into the darkness off to his right.

Ralph jerked around, fumbling to pull a pistol from his jacket. Will was on him quickly, hoping he could keep Ralph from warning whoever was inside the building of his presence.

The wood cracked, sounding loud as it hit Ralph's thick skull. The man barely flinched. For a moment, Will thought he was going to have to hit the guy again. But Ralph's knees buckled, and he dropped like a demolished building.

Will nudged him with a boot toe, but Ralph seemed to be out cold. At least for a while. Hurriedly, Will moved along the side of the building, avoiding gaps in the lumber where light leaked through, just in case someone was watching from inside. He could hear voices but they were too faint for him to make out who was talking.

He reached the door. It stood ajar. He stopped to peer through the opening. He could see Samantha and Zack, could hear Zack crying, "No! No!"

He heard another voice. Someone was holding a gun on Samantha and Zack.

"No! Don't hurt her!" Zack cried.

Will grabbed the edge of the door, and would have gone busting in like the cavalry with only a piece of rotting wood and no plan- But he didn't get the chance. The barrel of a gun poked into his back and a low voice warned him not to make a move.

Chapter Fifteen.

"Well, look who's here," Mercedes said almost cheerfully as she looked past Samantha and Zack to the doorway.

Her sudden mood swing scared Sam almost as much as the gun in the woman's manicured hand. She turned and her heart stopped at the sight of Will standing in the doorway. No! her mind screamed.

He smiled at her, a smile that could have melted frozen pizza. Behind him Bobby Walker looked less friendly out of his tennis attire. And that definitely wasn't a racket he clutched in his hand. Sam felt her heart sink.

"Will doesn't have anything to do with this," she said, turning to Mercedes, who was obviously running this show.

"He does now," Mercedes said, motioning for Will to move closer to Sam and Zack. Now she had them in her sights and Bobby was behind them, armed with yet another weapon.

Sam realized that if she hadn't been so convinced Ca.s.sie was behind all of this, she'd have seen it sooner. Mercedes and Bobby. She'd broken all her rules on this case, starting with the worst of all, getting too personally involved.

She'd screwed up and now they were in terrible trouble. What chance did they have against Mercedes and Bobby with both of them armed? And where was Ralph?

"Let me guess," Sam said, stalling for time as she tried to come up with a plan. "You married Lucas because you'd heard about what he was working on. I'll bet it was your idea to bring in the 'investor.' Lucas must have gotten wise to you, though, and divorced you. But why send you a piece of the game then?"

Mercedes smiled. "Actually, I let Lucas think it was his idea, the marriage, the investor and the divorce. We just weren't compatible, you know, but he owed me. I'd gotten him an investor so he didn't have to live on the street until he finished the d.a.m.n game. game."

"But, of course, it isn't just a game," Sam said.

Mercedes narrowed her gaze. "You are so right, gumshoe. It's far from a game."

"The problem is," Sam said, hoping she was right about this, "you don't have all five pieces." Sam could see Zack's backpack lying near Mercedes's feet but Zack still had the CD player, the headphones around his neck.

"The last piece will turn up," Mercedes said confidently. "I had hoped you'd find it for me. But whoever has it will eventually come for the kid. I'll be waiting."

Sam felt her heart drop. Mercedes's plan actually could work. It was just a matter of time before the redhead had all the pieces. Sam wondered, though, if Bobby had heard his girlfriend's slip? "Did you hear that, Bobby? She said, 'I'll be waiting.' How long do you think you'll last once she doesn't need you anymore?"

"Save it," Mercedes snapped. "Bobby loves me. He knows I wouldn't harm a hair on his head." She shot a look at Bobby. "Don't listen to her, lover."

"What about Zack?" Will asked.

Mercedes sent the boy a withering look. "Children have accidents all the time. It really is quite horrid. I'm amazed so many live through childhood."

Sam's blood turned to ice.

"Now, just a minute," Bobby cried. "You said no one would get hurt. If you hadn't had to kill Lucas then that stupid wrestler-"