Land Sakes (17 page)

Dora turned the key in the ignition, revved up the motor, and backed the truck out.

16

I tried to slip into the suite without waking Mrs. Winchester, but she roused up anyway. “Esmeralda?”

“Yes, it's me.”

She was wearing a patch over her bad eye, and her glass eye was probably in that little pouch on the bedside table. “Did you see your friend?” she asked.

“Oh yes. That's why I'm so late—we've been talking.”

Mrs. Winchester got up to go to the bathroom, and I went in my room to put away my pocketbook. I knew I must tell her about that man, because whatever this devilment was, it was aimed at her. I didn't look forward to telling her, because there was no telling how she would take it.

When she came back to bed, I said, “Mrs. Winchester, something happened tonight you need to hear about.” I pulled up the chaise lounge, slipped off my shoes, and started telling her the story.

She sat straight up in bed, wide awake and tuned in
to every word. At first she acted silly, like it was just some kind of a lark, excitement, you know. I had to set her straight. “Mrs. Winchester, that man is not your run-of-the-mill mugger. He was
not
acting alone. Unless I miss my guess, that car he got out of was full of hoods just like him. They could easy be the mafia or a gang of them convicts the courts let loose from pens all over the country. He had to have connections; how else would he know my name and all?” I was hoping she would say we could call the cops, but she didn't. “They been following us for who knows how long, and there's no reason to think they won't keep right on. In fact, it comes to me now that he said, ‘It ain't hard to track a Rolls.' They're after us, and I tell you, they mean business.”

“Do you think they're after my jewelry?”

“Could be. Or they may be out to kidnap you for ransom.”

“They'd be wasting their time kidnapping me. Philip would never pay a ransom for me.”

“Oh, Mrs. Winchester, you must be wrong about that. Would paying a ransom put so much as a dent in that pile of money he's sitting on?”

“Oh, he wouldn't miss the money, but if I were killed he stands to gain a lot. Esmeralda, everything I own would go to him with no strings attached, and even more important than that, he would be free to marry that mistress of his. It's a wonder he hasn't hired a hit man to kill me before now.”

“You don't mean that,” I said to comfort her. Of course, I wasn't sure it was out of the question that he would do such a thing. From what she had told me, I wouldn't
put anything past that man. “Don't you think we should call the police?”

“Yes. Call Percival. Ask him to come up here. We'll have him call the police and the FBI.”

I woke Percival out of a sound sleep. When I asked him to come to the suite, he mumbled, “Jump, frog, jump.”

“What did you say?”

“I'll be there,” he said and hung up.

I put down the phone and sat there for a few minutes.
What if this is a plot by Philip Winchester to have her killed
? Just the thought made me shiver.

“Mrs. Winchester, maybe you need a bodyguard.”

“No, Esmeralda. Ever since I was a child and had to put up with bodyguards, I promised myself I would never put up with another one as long as I lived. Desi and Lucy are all the bodyguards I need.” She started getting up.

Mrs. Winchester had more confidence in those dogs than I did, but there was nothing I could say. I handed her the pouch, and she went in the bathroom to put in her eye.

Percival was not long in getting to the suite. “Esmeralda, tell Percival what you told me,” Mrs. Winchester said.

I did. The more I told him, the more fidgety he got. He wanted to know what the man looked like, was he a foreigner, did he have a gun—all the like of that. Land sakes, it had been dark. I couldn't remember what the man looked like, except that he was big, nor if he had a gun—at least I didn't see a gun.

Percival was shaking in his boots. “What do you think we should do?”

“Call the police—the FBI,” I said.

Mrs. Winchester laughed. “I can't wait to see this in the papers!”

Percival protested. “Oh no, we can't do that!”

“Why not?” I asked.

“I have my orders.”

“Orders? What kind of orders?”

He ignored me and spoke to Mrs. Winchester. “Madam, I suggest that you call the company for a jet to take you back to Newport or to Florida.”

“Percival, I don't fly!”

“But, madam, this is an emergency.”

“I'm going on this cruise to Alaska, and that's that!”

“Then fly to Vancouver.”

“Must I repeat? I do not fly.”

I was surprised to see Percival roll his eyes and throw up his hands; he was at his wit's end.

“Now wait, Percival,” I said. “There must be a way we can throw these people off our track.”

All out of sorts, he rubbed his forehead, trying to think of something. “Well, there is Sun Valley north of here. The Win
chus
ters have a lodge there.”

“Did you hear that, Mrs. Winchester? Could we go to your lodge in Sun Valley?”

“Is that what you want to do? I could call my secretary, and she could have the Sun Valley staff get things ready... Percival, how long would it take us to get there?”

“Eight hours or more. And, madam, we should leave right away.”

She hesitated, giving the idea a second thought. “Esmeralda, I don't want to put you in danger. If these people are following us, I guess we should try to throw them off the track.”

“Yes, we should, if we can.”

She picked up the phone, dialed a couple numbers, and no doubt got somebody out of bed to answer. “Connie,” she said, “I have had a change in plans. Is anyone staying at the Sun Valley lodge?... Good. Call ahead and tell the staff I am coming. There will be three in my party. But Connie, they are not to tell anyone,
anyone
, do you hear? No one is to know that we are coming. If we do not arrive by dinnertime, tell them to notify the police. And Connie, whatever you do, you must not tell anyone there in Newport or down in Florida—not anyone—that we will be at the lodge.”

I was surprised that Mrs. Winchester could be so all together, especially that early in the morning.

Next, she turned to Percival. “When you go for the dogs, make sure you do not reveal anything about our departure. Bring the Rolls around, and we'll have our luggage curbside. If we can, we'll avoid a bellman.”

Percival understood, put his cap back on, and left.

Mrs. Winchester went to her room to dress, and I gave her the amber necklace before I secured the apron and put it on. I packed my clothes and then went in Mrs. Winchester's room to pack her things.

“The lodge is Philip's party place during ski and hunting seasons,” she told me. “He keeps his animal trophies there, and I daresay many more trophies of another kind were made there.”

If that was a joke she would be giggling; she wasn't even smiling. I didn't know what to say so I just kept on working.

“I'm only a bird in a gilded cage, Esmeralda.”

“Don't have to be.”

She didn't say anything.

After I finished packing her things, I got out the map Percival had marked for me and tried to find Sun Valley. According to the map, the interstate would take us to Twin Falls and a state road that led north to Sun Valley. The lodge was out of the way for us; I only hoped it was far enough out of the way to escape the lowlifes chasing us.

Mrs. Winchester wanted to look at the map. “Ketchum is not far from Sun Valley. That's where Ernest Hemingway shot himself. Perhaps we can go there one day.”

I couldn't believe that at a time like this she'd be thinking about dead people. I folded the map and stuffed it in my pocketbook. “I take it we're going to carry down the bags?”

She nodded. “There's a luggage cart in the hallway. Here, I'll help.”

She wasn't much help, but we got my two and her ten bags on the elevator and down to the lobby without being seen. The desk clerk was reading a newspaper, and when she looked up, Mrs. Winchester told her, “Miss, we are checking out now, but you are not to record the time of our departure or anything about our leaving. Do you understand?”

The mystified clerk nodded. “I'll take care of it, Mrs. Win
chus
ter.”

We had to wait for the car. It was beginning to rain, and fog was rising from the dampness of the ground. It felt creepy standing around waiting, glancing about to make sure nobody saw us. In a few minutes, the Rolls whipped in the drive and stopped before us. A nervous Nozzle Nose apologized. “There was some delay in checking out Desi and Lucy.” The Afghans were perched in their places, ready to ride.

We drove out of Salt Lake at 3:00 in the morning. Percival kept looking in his side-view mirror. Once satisfied that no one was following us, he stepped on the gas. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were in for a very long day, but so far, so good.

17

The rain never let up—broad sheets of it swept over us, keeping so much water on the windshield the wipers could not handle it. Made me nervous hearing the tires swishing on the wet pavement and Percival not letting up on the gas.

As I thought back over all that had happened, I got to wondering if maybe Percival was in on whatever this was—this devilment. At the time I didn't think much of it, but later it seemed funny that he didn't want to call the police. And what did he mean when he said he had
orders
? If he was in on this, what better place to take us than to a lodge out in the woods where there's no police nearby or anything else to keep thugs from robbing us or holding us hostage or who knows what. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I sat there debating whether or not to tell Mrs. Winchester what I was thinking.

Before daybreak, we stopped for breakfast. We had just come off the interstate, and Percival drove the car onto
a back road and stopped. There were woods all around, and I got thinking this might be the very place where we'd get jumped. Percival got out, pulled up the collar to his slicker, and headed back toward the restaurant for takeout. I was getting nervous.