Nightmare in Morocco (13 page)

"One thing you don't want to do is trust the hotel
.
I don't know the man who runs it, but I've heard rumors I don't like."

"I won't be able to get into any banks today, unless I make special contacts..."

"I wouldn't do that, either
.
Noa, just keep the jewel with
you until you get to Fez
.
I'll meet you there and take charge of it."

"What about tonight?
What if someone tries again?
Whoever did this will assume Belda still has the ring
.
I won't be able to protect her."

"Tell her to make sure someone is with her at all times
.
And you, Noa, bunk with Cathy
.
You'll be safe enough
.
Tomorrow
you'll be traveling in a group."

"It's very risky
.
I could just give the jewel to Taber
.
He seems more capable of protecting it."

Wendell hesitated. "You mustn't do that, Noa
.
Just don't let the ring out of your sight!"

"But Taber..."

A longer stillness followed
.
"I've just found out some things about him."

"Is it something I should know?"

"There's only one thing for you to know right now: don't under any circumstance trust Taber Rand!"

Chapter Six

As soon as Noa hung up the phone, she went in search of Johnny Ramos
.
She found him drinking in the hotel bar
.
"Why didn't you return for us this afternoon?" Noa demanded.

"What?
Didn't anyone pick you up?" Johnny looked up from his beer, the large eyes widening in slow surprise
.
"I got a message from the desk telling me not to go
.
They said someone else was coming to get you."

"Who was the message from?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders
.
Though his stomach was slightly paunchy, thick muscles strained the outline of the blue shirt
.
Noa could imagine him tugging at the pillar of stone, forcing it down upon them on the trail
.
"I don't know
.
I figured it was from the old lady's husband."

"I'm going to check your story out." Noa said firmly.

With a grand gesture which showed neither fear nor malice, Johnny swept his hand toward the hotel desk
.
"Be my guest."

The clerk at the desk confirmed Johnny's story by producing a scribbled note written in Arabic. "Saad must have taken the message
.
One moment."
He called the young Arab over.

"Yes, I remember
.
Someone called the desk with the message
.
I wrote it down
.
It says tell Johnny not to pick up Mrs. Ward and Miss Rand
.
A car is already on the way
.
Yes, it was a man who called."
He shook his head, "No, they didn't leave a name."

Without a name, there was no way Noa could pursue the matter further
.
Noa checked her watch, and found that it was time to dress for dinner.

* * *

When Noa opened her door, she saw Taber coming from the room directly across the hall, dressed carefully in a white linen jacket and blue trousers
.
She noticed how his dark hair glistened as if he had just stepped out of the shower. "It looks like we're neighbors tonight," he said.

Taber's gaze fell to her throat
.
Noa's heart began to pound so hard that she could feel the weight of Belda's expensive ring against her chest
.
"The Hand of Fatimah," Taber teased
.
"You didn't wear it."

"It just didn't match my mood," Noa replied
.
She had to struggle to keep her hands from instinctively flying up to check the silver chain so carefully hidden beneath her blouse.

"What?
Not in the mood for good luck?
You look lovely all the same," Taber complimented
.
"Are you going down to dinner now?"
She was aware of his sharp profile, his lean, sinewy strength as they walked side by side, Taber's arm casually tucked into hers, as if the two of them belonged together
.
The feeling of warmth and security was spoiled only by Wendell Carlson's warning, which kept ringing in Noa's ears
.
What had he found out about Taber?
Why had he warned her not to trust him?

Moulay Aziz, in dark, woven
d
jellaba
, waited in the hallway for the elevator
.
He followed Taber and Noa inside, then pressed the button.

Noa felt nervous and uncomfortable as the elevator closed its automatic doors
.
The stress of concealing the ring made her feel like everyone was staring
.
Moulay, too, seemed to be watching her out of the corner of his eye, as if he somehow secretly knew she had Belda's jewel.

The hooded
djellaba
reminded Noa of the robed man Greg had seen in the hotel gift shop before his wallet was stolen, the furtive figure
that
had attacked Belda in the medina, the vague, hazy glimpse of the form she had seen at the top of the path
before the stone had crashed down
.
Although she reminded herself that his manner of dress was common for the area, she still remembered the feverish hue of his eyes that day on the bus when he had stared at Belda's jewel
.
She was glad when the elevator reached the first floor.

Because Belda stood alone in the lobby, Noa told Taber to go on into the dining room and save her a place.

"I talked to Johnny before I went up to my room," she told Belda. "He said that he received a message from the desk that someone else had arranged to pick us up."

"Who could it have been?"

"I don't know," Noa replied
.
"But I believe our being left out there was directly connected to that falling stone." "Oh, Noa, surely you're reading more into this than there really is. The desk is always mixing up messages
.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that what happened out there this afternoon was some freak accident."
The look in Belda's eyes belied the fact that Belda didn't believe a word of what she was saying
.
It was only a way of brushing aside the whole matter and getting on with her vacation.

Belda's attitude added excessive weight to Noa's burden
.
"I told you not to be alone for even a minute."

"I'm safe enough."
Belda glanced at her ringless finger. "Now."

"No, you're not!
We don't even know that the attacks have been made because of the jewel!
Someone may have another motive for wanting to kill you!"

 
"Kill me?"
Belda's words became so loud and startled that several people turned to look at them.

"The only one I even know on this tour is Marie Landos!"
She paused to draw in her breath
.
"You're surely not talking about Milton
.
Why he's the gentlest, dearest man in the world!"

"I only want you to be careful!"

Milton stepped out of the elevator, striding toward them with a playful smile
.
"Don't want to hear your nagging tonight
.
I'm going to eat all I want to!"
He rubbed his prominent stomach
.
"I feel as if I hadn't eaten in weeks!"

For the first time since she had met them, Noa noticed that Belda had no rejoinder.

Most of the group was already seated at the long table that had been reserved for them
.
Taber had saved her the seat beside him, and Belda and Milton seated themselves across the table by Marie Landos, who laughed in a forced, artificial way at something Belda said to her
.
Moulay sat at the far end talking to Greg, and Johnny Ramos had taken a table by himself. Since Noa's talk with him he had barely spoken to anyone
.

Automatically, Noa searched for Cathy and found her
among Marie
Landos' group of girls
.
As usual, Cathy wasn't hard to spot
.
The other girls were dressed in long skirts and demure blouses; Cathy wore faded blue jeans, torn out at the knees, red tank top, and denim jacket so battered and ripped that it looked as if some maniac had gouged it with a knife.

To Noa's surprise, Cathy rose and changed places with one of the girls so she could be seated next to Taber.

"And here I thought we were supposed to dress for dinner!" Taber joked.

"Stressed denim is in," Cathy retorted
.
"The latest thing from New York."

"I've seen beggars with
fewer
holes in their clothes."

To Noa's surprise Cathy did not respond with one of her angry, sullen looks, but instead laughed and looked flattered.

"Trust me
.
It's ultimately cool."

"I expect it would be,
especially
on a rainy day."

Out of the corner of her eye, Noa saw Johnny sneak a look at Cathy
.
She wondered if Cathy was actually attracted to Taber, or if she was flirting with him for Johnny's benefit
.
Taber, however, did not seem to mind the attention
.

The waiter brought drinks, salad, then the main course.

"Fish again tonight!" grumbled Milton Ward, crinkling his nose
.

"Moroccans love seafood," Belda said. "They must know a hundred different ways to cook it
.
After we eat, I'm going right down to the gift shop and buy myself some cookbooks."

"Don't let her do it, Noa
.
I'll guarantee you her cooking is worse than my painting!"

Belda waved a fork at him
.
"No one's going to believe that."

Belda, her unruly hair tamed into a mass of wiry curls, looked cheerful now, as if she had fully recovered from Noa's warning and the
arduous
trek home from the ruins
.
"You'll never believe what happened to our driver this afternoon
.
Some practical joker gave him a message not to pick Noa and me up, so we had to walk for miles, then ride back to town on two old donkeys!
Can't you just see us!
My backside is still sore!"

"Cute!" Cathy laughed loudly
.
"I wonder who did
it.
"Noa glanced from Cathy to Milton Ward
.
On the surface he seemed to know no more about the incident than Belda had just revealed
.
She studied his rugged face, the mane of shaggy white hair, and thought about what Belda had told her about him
.
She gathered the Ward money was Belda's money
.
He, an unsuccessful painter, must have been glad to meet an older, very wealthy woman to support him.

 
How well did Belda really know her husband of only a year?
Noa found herself studying the heavy, hairy arms, the husky shoulders
.
He would not lack the strength necessary to pry loose the column for the purpose of killing his wife
.
Was it possible that he had planned the robbery attempts in order to set the stage for Belda's murder?

She began to listen to them, the fondness, the banter that never seemed to lag, and she felt a little ashamed of her suspicions.

"You're very quiet tonight," Taber said.

"I'm a little tired."

Noa made the same remark again, after dinner, when she declined Taber's suggestion that they stroll downtown
.
Instead Noa searched for Belda and found her, true to her promise, in the hotel gift shop
.
But she was not picking out cookbooks
.
She was helping Moulay Aziz choose between an array of bracelets, rings and necklaces
.

Belda motioned Noa over. "We need help!"

Noa approached the glass counter.

"And we think we have problems!
Poor Moulay here has to bring home gifts to please two women!"