The Ride of Her Life (43 page)

Still, deep inside, the tiny bud of truth bloomed.

She let him go because she trusted him.

“I wish he would have taken me with him.” Mark downed the last of his coffee.

“Nick was right. If you get caught breaking into Claude Hart’s home, your law career will be over.” Marguerite carried the empty cups to the counter. “At least he stayed long enough for Lilly to describe the layout of the home. He’s not going in totally blind.”

Mark stood and walked to the door. “But I need to do something. I’m going to Mr. Hart’s office to see if I can find any train tickets. At least then we’ll know the time frame of his plans.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Marguerite asked. “Lilly, what do you think?”

She turned toward him. “Take me with you.”

Mark lowered his hand from the knob. “But Nick said you’re supposed to stay here.”

“Mark, you owe me.”

With a sigh, he nodded. “You’re right. I do.”

Coal dust filled Nick’s nostrils. The chunks of coal shifted beneath his body with every step. Thank goodness the Harts had a large coal-shoot door. As it was, he barely cleared the shaft. He made it to the door and cracked it open.

The basement, used mostly for cold storage, remained devoid of any staff. He stepped from the room and dusted off his clothes. Tracking through the house would hardly keep his efforts hidden.

Nick found the staircase and began his ascent. On the first floor, he heard the banging of pots. It made sense for this to be the servants’ staircase. A swinging door barred anyone from inside the stairwell. He continued climbing. Lilly had said the nursery was on the second floor in the west wing. Levi couldn’t be far now.

At the top of the second set of stairs, he paused to listen. Lilly said the household staff usually took care of the bedrooms first thing in the morning and then moved to the main floor. If they hadn’t finished here, he’d have to find somewhere to hide.

Hearing nothing, he slipped into the narrow servants’ hallway. He followed it until it opened to the much brighter and wider regular hall. In front of him, he could see the expanse of stairs leading down to the main floor with a formal dining room and a parlor flanking it.

Giggling on the main floor below halted him. He pressed his body against the wall, his heart beating like the wings of a bat. The sound of the maids’ chatter died off. Keeping one hand on the ivy-patterned wallpaper, he again started for the nursery. The thick Oriental rug muffled his steps.

A board creaked. He stopped. Listened. Moved on.

Lilly said the nursery was the fourth room on the right. With another prayer on his lips, Nick counted the oak-paneled doors as he passed them. He laid his hand on the ornate brass door handle of the fourth door and pressed his ear to the solid surface.

Crying. His heart grabbed, and everything in him told him to burst into the room and scoop Levi into his arms. But what if Levi wasn’t alone?

The room adjacent to the nursery on the left had been Lilly’s. She said a pocket door joined the two rooms. Since no one was likely to be in her old room, Nick abandoned the nursery door and eased the next door open.

He glanced around the enormous bedchamber. Dusty blue wallpaper loaded with white chrysanthemums seemed to fit Lilly. A four-poster mahogany bed stood sentry in the center. A massive wardrobe lined one wall with a door to a water closet beyond. He pictured Lilly sitting in the rocking chair holding a sleeping baby Levi. The table by the window, he imagined, had been a sanctuary for the young couple to enjoy occasional meals together.

He felt like a voyeur peeking into Lilly’s private world. He shook his head. To go from all this to a tent, and none of it ever hers. No wonder she wanted a home.

His gaze fell on the pocket door she’d told him about. Easing it open ever so slightly, Nick surveyed the nursery. For a playroom, few toys lined the shelves. He’d expected hobby horses and trains and instead saw a single basket of blocks, a few cast-iron horses and carts, and a top. Where were the balls and bats? Where were the books?

But what he did see excited him.

Levi sat drawing at a child-sized table—alone.

After pushing the pocket door into the wall far enough for him to slip through, Nick stepped into the room. Levi spun around. He started to squeal, but Nick held a finger to his lips. Levi ran across the room and launched himself into Nick’s waiting arms.

The boy squeezed Nick’s neck so hard he could barely breathe. When Levi finished hugging, he delivered a plethora of slobbery kisses to Nick’s cheeks.

“Are you okay, Chipmunk?” Nick whispered, brushing the hair from Levi’s forehead. Levi pulled back, and Nick grinned at the coal-dust-speckled boy. What a sight the two of them made.

Tears glistened in Levi’s eyes. “I want my mama.”

“I know, and I’ll take you to her as soon as I can.”

“That mean man made me come here. I told Grandfather I need to go home, but he said we’re going on a big trip tomorrow.” Levi scowled. “I don’t want to go on a trip. I want to go home.”

“Home? To your new house? The diner?”

Levi shook his head. “Wherever you and Mama are.”

When he heard voices in the hallway, Nick held up his hand to signal Levi to be quiet. Setting Levi down behind him, Nick strained to hear if those outside were entering or merely passing.

A voice he recognized echoed in the corridor. Nick’s pulse drummed.

They’d been betrayed.

Telling Lilly no was the hardest thing Mark had done in a long time.

He did owe her, but letting her get in trouble or get hurt wasn’t any way to pay her back. Besides, the last thing Mark needed was to give Nick Perrin another reason for punching him. Already he’d seen Nick’s struggle to keep from dealing with him in a very concrete manner.

Lilly finally backed down from her demands after Marguerite reminded her that Levi could still be at the park and not at the Hart estate, and Mark left, promising he’d telephone the lake with word as soon as he heard anything.

“Miss Fallwell, good morning.” Mark tipped his hat in greeting to Mr. Hart’s stenographer.

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Hart’s not been in today.”

“That’s okay. I’m supposed to collect some papers from his desk to deliver. Mind if I go on in?”

Miss Fallwell worried her lower lip between her teeth. “He doesn’t usually let anyone in, but given as you work here, I guess it would be okay.”

“’Course it’s okay, beautiful.” He flashed his best college grin, and the full-faced, bespectacled, middle-aged woman turned as crimson as the draperies.

Inside Claude Hart’s office, Mark went directly to the rolltop desk and slid the louvered door up. He scanned the many drawers and the desktop for train tickets. Seeing none on the surface, he began to go through the tiny drawers, starting in the right corner.

Miss Fallwell rapped on the doorjamb. “Mr. Westing, did you find what you were looking for? I could come in and help you search for them.”

“No, no. Don’t trouble yourself on my account.”

“It wouldn’t be any trouble.” Her singsong voice made her wishes clear.

“I’ve found the papers, Miss Fallwell, and I’m merely reading through them to make sure they’re in order.”

“Oh, all right,” she said, the disappointment in her voice clear.

Mark rifled through the central pigeonholes on the desk. Nothing. He stopped. Something was off. He went back to the three stacked center drawers and pulled them all out. They were shorter than the other drawers.

He studied the wood panel behind them. One board seemed a bit different. He leaned close and examined it. With the three drawers extended, it allowed for him to slide the one panel over. Would it move?

Pressing his fingers to it, he found it slid easily, revealing a hiding space. He reached inside and removed a set of folded papers.

Mark opened the documents and gave a low whistle. Wait till he showed these to Lilly and Nick.

Hiding would serve no purpose now.

Nick crouched in front of Levi and took his hands. “Any second, I think your grandfather and some other men may be coming in here. It may look like I’m in some trouble for coming to get you, but no matter what happens, I don’t want you to be afraid. I’ll come back and get you as soon as I get things straightened out. And, Levi, I promise you’ll be back with your mama by tonight.”

Levi put his arms around Nick’s neck. “Please don’t go. Please.”

The door opened, but Nick didn’t release Levi. Instead, he held him tighter and whispered, “Remember, I love you, and I will be back.”

Nick let go of Levi and turned toward the doorway, where Claude Hart stood like a judge ready to deliver a death sentence. Behind him stood three other men.

“Percy, why?”

“Mr. Black forced me to tell him where you’d gone. He said he’d tell the sheriff what I’d done.”

“Which was?”

Percy dropped his gaze to the floor.

“It was you? You cut the chain on the coaster? Why would you do that?”

“I—”

Claude Hart cut him off. “Enough idle talk. Officer Morris, please arrest this man. I will be pressing charges.”

Nick met Claude’s gaze. “You know this boy belongs with his mother.”

The officer looked from Claude to Nick to Levi. “Sir, what’s he talking about?”

“Nothing of consequence.”

“I’m taking Levi home.” Nick scooped the boy into his arms.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to make demands, Mr. Perrin. Breaking and entering is a serious crime.”

“So is kidnapping.”

“Give me the child.” Claude held out his arms.

“No!” Levi cried. “Please don’t let them take me, Mr. Nick.”

Rivers of tears rolled down Levi’s cheeks, and Nick’s heart splintered.

“Officer, as you can see from the child’s address, this man is not a relative,” Claude said. “I’m his grandfather, and the boy is under my protection. Do your duty. Arrest this man and get him out of my house.” He pointed to Percy. “And take him as well. He confessed to sabotaging the roller coaster at Lake Manawa. I’m sure the sheriff there will be happy to deal with him.”

“Please, Grandfather, don’t make Mr. Nick go away.” Levi clung to Nick’s neck, his breath hot against Nick’s skin.

Nick smoothed Levi’s hair, trying to soothe the boy’s sobs shaking his six-year-old frame. “Hey, Chipmunk, remember what I said earlier. Now you have to be brave for a little while longer for your mama—and for me.”

“Sir.” The officer’s tone said the time had come.

Pressing a final kiss to Levi’s sandy hair, Nick pried Levi’s arms away from his neck and handed him to Claude Hart. Hot tears burned the back of his eyes.

The officer rattled a set of handcuffs.

Nick swallowed hard. “Please, not in front of the boy.”

“Sorry. That’s the way it has to be.”

Slowly Nick placed his arms behind his back and felt the cold metal rings clink around each wrist. But it was the dejected look on Levi’s face that tore his heart to pieces. How was he going to get out of this and get Levi back to Lilly?

41

From the outside, Council Bluff’s three-story Squirrel Cage Jail looked more like a gothic brick church than a prison. Lilly adjusted her hat pin, then allowed Mark to lift her from the carriage to the ground.