Текст книги "Dead Giveaway"

Автор книги: Joanne Fluke

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

“Thanks, Vanessa.” Ellen couldn’t help but smile. Vanessa didn’t have a tactful bone in her body, but she was honestly trying to be nice.

“I need a list of your damage, Ellen.” Clayton turned in his chair to face her. “We’ll have to file a group claim.”

Ellen nodded. “Will our homeowners’ insurance cover it?”

“That depends entirely on the proximate cause of the damage. I reviewed our policy and I’m gratified to report that we elected the earthquake option. Even though an avalanche is subsumed under acts of God, we can claim vis-à-vis the exceptions provision.” Clayton held up his hand as Ellen opened her mouth to ask a question. “On the other hand, if Vanessa’s theory has any probative weight, we have an action for damages against the Nevada test site.”

Ellen gave Rachael an expectant look. Since Rachael was also a lawyer, she was often called upon to assume the duties of translator.

“Clayton’s trying to tell us that we’re covered one way or the other. Oh, look!” Rachael pointed toward the springboard. “Jayne’s going to do one of her dives.”

Everyone watched as Jayne bounced on the springboard and executed a perfect one and a half gainer into the deep end of the pool. Alan whistled. “I wish I could dive like that!”

“And I wish I could look like that in a swimsuit.” Laureen’s voice was envious.

“Jayne’s really a water-rat.” Moira watched as Jayne came up for a breath of air and then disappeared beneath the water again. “She was swimming when she was nine months old. Her mother took her to Crystal Scarborough classes. You know, the woman who taught babies to . . . what’s the matter, Jayne?”

Jayne’s eyes were wide with fright as she came up in the shallow end of the pool and scrambled out of the water. Moira handed her a towel and helped her to a chair. “Are you all right?”

Jayne was shaking so hard, she couldn’t speak. All she could do was point at the pool.

“I’ll get her a hot cup of coffee.” Ellen jumped to her feet and hurried to the coffeepot.

“Tell us what happened, Jayne.” Laureen looked worried. “Was it a cramp?”

Jayne shook her head and gulped several times. “There’s a . . . a hand down there!”

“A what?”

“A hand! It’s down there behind that crack!”

“Try to calm down, Jayne.” Laureen looked worried. Jayne wasn’t an excitable person and she was clearly hysterical. “Alan’ll go down and take a look.”

Marc pushed back his chair. “I’ll go, too. It’s probably something that fell in during the avalanche.”

Moira hurried to get one of the heavy terry-cloth robes they kept by the sauna and wrapped it around Jayne’s shoulders. “It’s all right, Jayne. They’ll check it out. What made you think it was a hand?”

“I saw it!” Jayne insisted. “I dived down to look at the crack and there was something shiny behind it. So I grabbed it and . . . and it came loose.”

“The hand came loose?” Clayton frowned as he tried to make some sense out of Jayne’s words.

“No! The ring it was wearing came loose. I . . . I got so scared I dropped it.”

Vanessa giggled. “You can’t fool me, Jayne. I watch Vampira all the time and I saw the one where the skeleton comes up out of the pool.”

Ellen came back with a steaming cup of coffee and set it down in front of Jayne. “Drink this, Jayne. You’re still shaking.”

Vanessa turned to Ellen and winked. “It’s all an act. Jayne’s trying to make us think that someone lost a hand in our pool. And Alan and Marc fell for it.”

“It’s no act!” Jayne shook her head. “There really is a hand down there . . . or something that looks like a hand.”

Vanessa examined Jayne’s pale face for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. I believe you. You never could have pulled it off. After all, you’re not an actress like me.”

Laureen opened her mouth and then closed it again. They’d all seen the video of Vanessa’s film debut. Supposedly terrified, her character had jumped from a sinking speedboat into a lake, wearing a white silk bikini that turned almost transparent when wet. Her acting had consisted of two piercing screams, which were later dubbed. Laureen figured that they’d cast the bikini and then looked around for someone to fill it, but this wasn’t the time to critique Vanessa’s acting ability.

Alan surfaced with a splash and climbed out of the pool. “There’s something stuck in the plaster, but the crack’s too narrow to see very much. Marc went back down for the ring.”

“Got it!” Marc hauled himself out of the pool and brought the ring to the table.

“My grandfather had one of these.” Laureen picked it up. “It’s made from a horseshoe nail and he told me it was a good luck charm.”

Alan gave a short laugh. “Well, it wasn’t very lucky for the guy who lost his hand in the cement.”

“Gunite, not cement,” Marc corrected. “And we’re not sure it’s a hand.”

Vanessa looked exasperated. “Of course it’s a hand. What else wears a ring?”

“She’s got a point,” Hal conceded. “The question is, how did it get there? And who does it belong to?”

Jayne laughed shrilly. “It’s a soap opera. All we have to do is tune in tomorrow to get the exciting answers to these and other questions.”

“Easy, Jayne.” Laureen patted her on the shoulder. “Maybe it’s a fake hand, like the skeletons kids buy at Halloween. This could be some kind of dumb practical . . . Alan!”

“What did I do?” Alan flinched as Laureen glared at him.

“We all know who’s the biggest practical joker in this group!”

“No way, Laureen. Whoopee cushions and dribble glasses are as far as I go.”

Marc looked thoughtful. “It could have been somebody on my crew. Planting a fake skeleton in the liner is right up their alley. Maybe we ought to dig it out and . . .”

“That wouldn’t be advisable,” Clayton interrupted. “The police should handle something like this. After all, we don’t want to disturb a possible crime scene.”

Marc considered it for a moment. “You’re right, Clay. I’ll go call them on the shortwave.”

“I think it’s a real live hand.” Vanessa’s eyes were gleaming with excitement. “And I bet I know who it belongs to.”

Hal turned to stare at his wife. “It’s not live, Vanessa, not anymore. But I’ll bite anyway. Who does it belong to?”

“Johnny Day!”

There was complete silence and Vanessa scowled. “Why are you all staring at me like that? It could be Johnny’s. Maybe Johnny didn’t go back to Italy at all. Maybe somebody killed him and stashed him in our pool. And all the time we’ve been diving off the board and playing in the water, we’ve been only inches from discovering poor Johnny’s body!”

Hal was the first to recover. “And here we have another example of my charming bride’s superlative logical abilities. Now listen carefully, Vanessa, and try to follow. The pool was built before anyone moved in. Is that right?”

Vanessa nodded.

“And that makes the pool over four years old. Do you agree?”

Vanessa nodded again.

“Now, here comes the tricky part. Since the hand was stuck in the liner, it had to get put there before the pool was finished. Got that?”

“Of course. I’m not stupid, Hal!”

“And that means the hand’s been down there for over four years. Is that right?”

“Well . . . yes, but . . .”

“Now we know that Johnny left only five weeks ago and I think we can assume he took both his hands.”

Vanessa pondered the whole thing for a moment and then she shrugged. “Okay, then. But I still think something funny could’ve happened to Johnny. He promised to keep in touch and he hasn’t called once since he left.”

“That’s true,” Jayne agreed. “He asked me to pack up his stuff, but he never called to tell me where to ship it. Has anybody heard from him?”

“I certainly haven’t.” Clayton scowled. “As his legal counsel, I naturally hold his full power-of-attorney, and speaking strictly in camera, I’ve been forced to assume the entire responsibility for his portfolio.”

Everyone turned to Rachael and she laughed. “Clay’s upset because he’s had to wing it alone with all of Johnny’s stocks and bonds.”

“I know Marc hasn’t heard from him either,” Alan confided. “Johnny hasn’t even called to find out if his condo sold and that’s a million-plus property.”

“But Johnny’s got a lot on his mind right now.” Laureen pointed out. “After all, his father just died and I’m sure he trusts us to take care of everything on this end while he sorts out things with his family.”

The elevator doors opened and Marc got out carrying the shortwave radio in both hands. The case was smashed in on top and loose wires dangled down in back.

“My God! What happened?” Hal gasped at the broken radio.

“That jolt we took must have loosened the shelves in Jack’s office. Either that, or we had some kind of aftershock. I found it under a pile of rubble.”

“I think we’re in big trouble.”

There was a frown on Hal’s face as he pried open the case and Vanessa stared up at him anxiously. “You can make it work again can’t you, honey?”

Hal gave a bitter laugh. “I’d have a better chance of fixing a busted balloon.”

SIX

“How much farther?” Grace leaned close to Paul and shouted into his ear. The roar of the big snowmobile’s engine made communication difficult.

“Five or six miles.”

Paul’s words were whipped away by the wind and Grace huddled as close as she could. “What did you say?”

Paul turned his head and shouted. “Five or six miles! Do you wish to rest?”

“No! I’ll turn into a solid block of ice if you stop.” Grace huddled down a little in the seat. They’d both dressed in winter parkas and ski masks, but it was less than thirty degrees outside and the wind chill brought that down to below zero.

“Drink the brandy, Grace. It will warm you.”

The snowmobile had come equipped with a plastic flask that fit in a holder on the dashboard. Grace reached for it and took a swallow. Flame’s boyfriend’s landlady’s cousin had told them that the man who’d designed the holder and flask had made millions.

Paul swerved to avoid a pine tree. His fingers felt frozen even though he’d worn his choppers. The fur-lined leather mittens had been a gift from his relatives in Norway and he’d never had occasion to wear them before. Tonight he yearned for the whole outfit, including the fur-lined leather cap with the earflaps and the heavy woolen pants his ancestors had worn. Grace had given him a pair of warm-up leggings from her dance wardrobe, but they weren’t designed for temperatures like this.

With great difficulty, Paul managed to pull up his sleeve to glance at his watch in the dim light from the dashboard. It was almost nine. They’d left Vegas at seven-thirty and it had only taken them twenty minutes to drive to the wall of snow in the road. Unloading the snowmobile had taken another five minutes, which meant they’d been out in this bitter cold for over an hour. They’d been forced to make several detours, and right now they were roughly paralleling the access road. Paul figured they should be able to see the lights of the building in a half hour or so. If they didn’t run into more obstacles. If the snowmobile kept on running. And if he didn’t smash into a snow-covered bump that was really a big rock.

They rode without speaking for what seemed like hours, with only the roar of the Arctic Cat’s powerful engine to break the silence. Their headlight’s narrow beam probed the frozen darkness and it reminded Paul of a bright yellow ribbon unwinding from an infinite spool. The moon was just rising over the tops of the trees and the snow seemed to glow with an icy blue light while the huge pines cast long purple shadows over its surface. If managing the snowmobile hadn’t taken all his concentration, Paul might have enjoyed the sight.

“You all right?” Paul shouted back to Grace.

Grace leaned forward so her lips were close to his ear and called back, “I’m as all right as I’m going to get. We’re almost there, aren’t we?”

“Yes, Grace. We are almost there.” Paul tried to sound confident, even though he wasn’t sure exactly where they were. The blanket of snow covered what landmarks the avalanche hadn’t covered, but there was no sense in alarming Grace. They’d get there. He headed toward the peak of the mountain like a sailor taking his bearing from the polestar.

Grace tucked her head down and let Paul’s body shield her from the full force of the wind. Even though the night was calm, the motion of the snowmobile created a blast of icy air past her face. She didn’t want to look at the scenery. She just wanted to get to the building before she froze to death.

While Paul had inspected the snowmobile and received last-minute instructions from the owner, Grace had called every hospital in Vegas to find out if Moira or Jayne had been admitted. Neither name had been listed, but that hadn’t changed their plans. They both had other reasons for making this long, cold trip.

Grace felt a little warmer as she thought of Vanessa. That damned woman made her blood boil. Perhaps it was a game to see how many men she could topple, but it was creating havoc in more than one household. Vanessa seemed to have one simple guideline: if a man was ambulatory and he belonged to someone else, she wanted to try him. And now she was snowbound without fresh victims. Would Vanessa turn to Moira when she ran out of men? Grace was betting on it.

As Grace sighed, her breath came out in a frozen cloud that was whisked away by the freezing wind. Moira was particularly vulnerable right now. She was forty-nine years old and gravity was taking its inevitable toll. She constantly complained about sagging and wrinkles and she couldn’t help but feel flattered that such a gorgeous young girl was interested in her. Naturally Grace was jealous, but that wasn’t the primary reason she was braving the elements to get up the mountain. She wanted to stop the woman she loved from making a fool of herself and getting badly hurt in the process.

Paul shouted something unintelligible and Grace leaned closer. “What was that?”

“The ridge!” Paul pointed off to the right. “We’re almost there!”

They were climbing the steep ridge in switchbacks and Paul knew it was studded with boulders. But even though most of his concentration was required for negotiating the difficult terrain, he couldn’t help but wonder what Jayne’s reaction would be when they arrived. He hoped that the song he’d taken as an invitation wasn’t just a song after all.

Walker had been skiing for over an hour before he reached the crest of Devil’s Slope. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and adjust the bindings on his cross-country skis. From his high vantage point, he could see the lights of the building glimmering in the darkness, but he knew it was still miles away. Distances in the mountains were always deceiving, as he’d discovered on his first backpacking trip in Colorado. He’d set out one morning to hike to a mountain ridge that looked no more than an hour away. When he’d stopped by a stream to rest after four hours, the ridge still appeared an hour away. It had taken him the whole day to reach it.

With a sigh, Walker dug his poles into the crusty snow and pushed off again. There were two more ravines to negotiate and it was better to go slowly than risk snapping his ankle on the uneven terrain. Since no one knew he was coming, any serious injury meant he’d lie out here for days without being discovered.

Even though Walker had been anxious to start, he’d taken the time to find out that Jack was the injured party, hospitalized with a compound fracture and in stable condition. He was sorry that Jack was injured. He liked Jack. But at least it wasn’t Ellen.

Walker began to ski cautiously down the ravine. He knew his descent would be even more dangerous in the dark, but he couldn’t afford to wait until morning. He imagined what Ellen would say when she saw him lugging a backpack filled with dye. She’d probably tell him he was crazy. She certainly hadn’t needed supplies badly enough for him to hitch a ride on the KLV traffic helicopter and ski down from the ranger’s landing pad on the far side of the mountain, but it was a convenient excuse. The image of the loyal employee who slogged through the ice and the snow to deliver the goods made Walker chuckle. He’d never expected all this when Jack had called him in.

The moon was bright overhead and Walker took a brief moment to enjoy the sight. There was no doubt in his mind that Ellen would be glad to see him. He’d finally gained her trust and it hadn’t been easy. Ellen was very cautious around men, and he suspected it was because she believed she was ugly. True, she was taller than average and a little on the thin side, but she was unusually graceful. And when she smiled, she was lovely.

There was a sound in the brush and Walker crouched, the gun materializing in his hand almost like magic. It vanished almost as quickly when he saw it was only a deer crashing through a thicket. Combat training. Even though there was no enemy hiding in these Nevada mountains, his quick reflexes had saved him more than once.

A sound broke the stillness of the night, the high-pitched whine of a motor from a distant ravine somewhere below him. Walker listened, his body poised. A snowmobile. Three miles away, maybe four. The sound bounced off the sheer walls of rock and made it difficult to locate with any accuracy.

Walker dug his poles into the snow and set off again. There was no use hurrying. The snowmobile would arrive long before he did. He just hoped it was someone who belonged at Deer Creek Condos. He’d have enough trouble dealing with the regular residents without adding a couple of curious visitors to the mix.

At Clayton’s insistence, they’d covered the pool with the solar blanket, but Marc drew the line at declaring the whole penthouse off-limits. “Come on, Clay. We don’t even know if those bones are real or not.”

“This is still a probable crime site and we have a civic responsibility to keep it intact for the police.”

Moira looked exasperated. “Fu . . . fudge! Those bones are old and we’ve been tramping around up there for the past four years. Isn’t it a little too late to keep it intact?”

“It’s like locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen,” Jayne jumped in. “Talk some sense into him, Rachael.”

Rachael put her hand on Clayton’s arm. “I think we’ve done our bit by covering the pool, dear. After all, that’s where the alleged bones are.”

“I don’t agree. That cover is removable. If someone enters the water, the evidence could be dislodged.”

“Yuck!” Vanessa made a face. “I’m not going near that pool until they clean it. I’ll tell you what, Clay. If it’d make you feel any better, we can all take an oath to stay out of the pool, scout’s honor. I used to be a Girl Scout.”

Laureen couldn’t resist. “And now she’s a Boy Scout. She scouts out every boy she sees.”

“Cut it out, you two and take a look out that window! Somebody’s coming up the ridge!” Alan pointed at a bright light cutting through the trees.

Marc rushed over to look. “A snowmobile. It could be someone from the ranger station.”

“That’s not likely.” Clayton joined them at the window. “We told the paramedics that we were all right and didn’t need supplies.”

Jayne came over to look. “It’s got to be someone from town. The ranger would be coming down from the other side. I bet it’s Grace.”

Moira laughed. “Not a chance! You know how Grace hates the cold.”

“Well, that thing’s not driving itself.” Vanessa came up to peer out the window. “Maybe it’s my fitness instructor. I had a workout session scheduled for tonight.”

Jayne’s eyes widened. “Lordy, Vanessa! Your fitness instructor wouldn’t drive all the way up here on a snowmobile, would he?”

“He might.” Vanessa preened a bit. “He’s dedicated to keeping my body in perfect shape. It’s almost a religion to him. And he knows that there’s no way I’d let myself get fat and dumpy like some of the women in this building.”

Hal reached out to grab his wife’s arm. “That’s enough, Vanessa. If I were you, I’d shut up.”

“You want her to shut up?” Laureen snorted. “The only way to shut her up is to stuff something in her mouth. And I don’t mean food!”

Jayne pulled Laureen over to the window. “Easy, Laureen. Don’t let her push your buttons.”

“I can’t help it, Jayne. Every time that little bitch makes a crack about my weight, I want to kill her!”

“Don’t say that, Laureen. You know darn well you’d never do anything like that.”

“Maybe not, but I’m certainly tempted.” Laureen sighed. “Vanessa’s causing problems for all of us, and I don’t understand why Hal doesn’t divorce her. He knows what’s going on.”

“I don’t understand it, either, but it’s not our problem. Come on, Laureen, honey. Let’s make sure we’ve got plenty of coffee. Whoever’s on that thing’s going to need some warming up.”

Clayton headed toward the elevator. “I’m going down to see who’s on that snowmobile, and I’m going to ask them to inform the police. We might be hindering an important investigation. Shall I invite them up here to thaw out?”

“Of course,” Marc assured him. “But I wouldn’t mention the bones, not to strangers.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve got a perfect buyer all lined up for Johnny’s unit and he’s a nervous Nellie. Even if the bones turn out to be a fake, it might queer the deal.”

Clayton looked thoughtful and then he nodded. “That does put an entirely different aspect on the situation. It’s really no one’s business except ours . . . and the police, of course.”

Jayne turned back to the window and gave a wry smile as the elevator doors closed behind Clayton. His self-righteous tone had changed the moment he thought it would cost him money. She guessed she really couldn’t blame him. Clayton had drawn up the corporation bylaws and knew they had only thirty days left to find an acceptable buyer for Johnny’s unit. If they failed, they’d have to divide the cost and buy it themselves. Of course, they’d eventually sell it and get their money back, but that might take a while.

The snowmobile approached the windows, and Jayne peered out into the darkness. She could tell that there were two people on the machine and her heart beat a little faster as she noticed that both of them were wearing ski masks.

Jayne sighed and turned from the window, reminding herself that Paul wasn’t interested in her any longer. It was probably a couple of hardy reporters, braving the wind and the snow to get a firsthand account of the avalanche. Or perhaps Vanessa was right and one of them was her fitness instructor. Jayne had met him once and while he had a perfect body, he seemed short enough on brains to head up here on that snowmobile.