The Ugly Duckling (34 page)

“I think we’d better go inside,” Kabler said.

Richard stepped aside, his eyes never leaving Nell. “He told me you’d had surgery, but—I can’t believe it.… You’re stunning.”

She almost laughed hysterically. Was the change in her appearance all he could think about?

Kabler nudged her gently over the doorstep. “We should get off this porch. The first rule in a witness protection program is not to attract attention.”

Nadine forced a smile. “You might as well come into the parlor.” She led them from the foyer through an arched doorway into a room that looked as if it had been plucked from an Edith Wharton novel, all huge ferns and palms and dark, carved wood. She gestured to the tapestry-cushioned couch. “Sit down, Nell.”

She was perfectly at home, as beautiful and confident as Nell remembered her. “Why, Nadine?”

“I love him. When he called me, I came,” Nadine said simply. “I didn’t want it to happen. I liked you. No one wanted to hurt you.”

She moistened her dry lips. “How long?”

“We’ve been lovers for over two years.”

Two years. He had been sleeping with Nadine for years and she had never suspected. He had been so clever. Or maybe she had just been stupid.

“Why did you bring her here, Kabler?” Richard asked. “You said she’d never know. You said no one would know.”

“I had to prove a point. She was moving toward deep trouble. I thought she’d had trouble enough.”

“What about me?” Richard asked. “What if she tells someone?”

“I seriously doubt if she’d confide in the people who killed her daughter, don’t you?”

Richard flushed. “No, I guess not,” he muttered. “But you shouldn’t have brought her.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” Nell said hoarsely. “Tell me, Kabler.”

“The attack on Medas was aimed at your husband,” Kabler said. “He’s been laundering money through his bank for Gardeaux for some time. When the Kavinski opportunity came along, he told Gardeaux he wanted out. Not very bright. No one gets out until Gardeaux wants them out. Gardeaux needed him, so he decided he would send him a warning.”

“What warning?”

“The death of his wife. You were the initial target.”

“They were going to kill me to punish
him
.”

“It’s not an uncommon practice in their circle.”

“And Jill?” she asked jerkily. “Were they going to kill Jill too?”

“We don’t know. We don’t think so. It could be that Maritz took it upon himself. He’s not too stable.”

Not too stable. He kept coming. The bogeyman.

“If I was the target, then why was Richard shot?” Then the answer occurred to her. “But he wasn’t shot, was he? You faked it.”

Kabler nodded. “A few hours before the party we
found out that the information we’d received targeting you was authentic.” He paused. “But there was an addendum also targeting Calder. It seems Gardeaux had discovered why Calder was so comfortable about giving up the fat percentages from the money laundering. He was skimming funds and funneling them into a Swiss bank account. I didn’t have time to do much more than send a few men to the island.”

“Then why weren’t you there to save Jill?” she asked fiercely. “Why weren’t you
there
?”

Richard smiled mockingly. “Yes, tell her. Let her know where your priorities were.” He turned to Nell. “That’s why you’re here. That’s why he seems so worried about you. They had orders to contact me first, to offer me a deal. My neck and a new life if I agreed to testify against Gardeaux when the time came.”

“I thought we had time,” Kabler said to Nell. “I thought you’d be downstairs in the ballroom with everybody else. I’d assigned a man to cover you.”

“But getting Gardeaux was your number-one priority,” Richard pointed out. “You even had a plan in place. You’d sent a doctor with the team, pretending to be one of the guests. I was to have a heart attack and be whisked off the island.” Richard’s lips twisted. “But you miscalculated, didn’t you?”

“We got you out,” Kabler answered.

“And sent me to this Podunk of a town. I wanted to go to New York.”

“It wasn’t safe.”

“You promised me a new face. That would have made it safe.”

“All in good time.”

“It’s been almost six months, dammit.”

“Shut up, Calder.” Kabler turned back to Nell. “Have you heard enough?”

Too much. Lies. Ugliness. Betrayal.

She turned to leave.

“Nell.” Richard’s hand closed on her arm, stopping her. “I know this has upset you, but it’s important that no one know I’m here.”

He was smiling at her, that charming, boyish smile that had smoothed his way through life.

“Let me go.”

“I loved Jill too,” he said gently. “You know I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt her or you.”

“Let me go.”

“Not before you promise to keep silent. You know I’m right. Just—”

“For God’s sake, let the poor woman leave, Richard,” Nadine said.

“Be quiet, Nadine,” he said without looking away from Nell. “This is between the two of us. It’s not my fault Jill is dead. I was downstairs. I wasn’t there to protect her like you were, Nell.”

She stiffened, staring at him in disbelief. He was trying to use guilt to manipulate her. Why not? she thought bitterly. He had done it all through their marriage. “You son of a bitch.”

He flushed, but his hand tightened on her arm. “I just wanted to get ahead. I was moving too slow. I took good care of you and Jill.”

“Let me go,” she said through her teeth.

“You know I—”

She punched him in the stomach, and when he bent over in pain, she gave him a chop to the neck. He dropped to the floor and she pounced on top of him. He had started it all, the chain that had led to Jill’s death. One well-placed blow and he would be dead. She raised her arm. One blow and—

“No.” Kabler was lifting her off Richard. “You don’t want to do this.”

She struggled wildly. “The hell I don’t.”

“Well, I can’t let you. I need my witness.” Kabler grimaced. “Though I can’t say I blame you.”

He was holding her firmly, but Nicholas had taught her ways of getting out of most holds. But to do it would mean hurting Kabler, and he didn’t deserve to be hurt. Not when he had been trying to help her. She drew a deep breath. “You can let me go. I won’t hurt him … now.”

Kabler instantly released her.

Richard sat up dazedly, gingerly touching his abdomen. “What the hell has happened to you, Nell?”

“
You
happened to me. You and Maritz and—” She turned on her heel. “If you want him in one piece, you’d better get me away from him, Kabler.”

“It’s not what I want, it’s what I have to have. If I had my choice, I’d run a bus over him.” He took her arm and tried to lead her away.

She shook him off and looked back at Richard. “I want to know only one more thing. Why did you marry me?”

He smiled maliciously. “Why do you think? That I’d marry a plain little nobody who’d been stupid enough to get herself knocked up? Your father gave me a fat check and a glowing letter of introduction to Martin Brenden.”

He thought he’d found a way to hurt her. He didn’t realize that his words cut the last fragile tie between them, freeing her.

“You didn’t have to tell her that,” Nadine said even as she carefully helped him to his feet. “You can be a real bastard sometimes, Richard.”

Kabler gently guided Nell out of the room. “I’m sorry I had to put you through this,” he said as he held the front door open for her. “I didn’t see any other way to prove Tanek was lying to you on all fronts.”

“He knew about this?”

“Nigel Simpson gave him the information.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Reardon was in Athens, talking to the doctor we had on Medas who certified Calder was dead. He’s been snooping, trying to find out where we’d stashed Calder.”

“Nicholas knew he was alive and he didn’t tell me?”

“I told you, when you get into that circle, they’re all the same.” He looked back at the house as they walked toward the car. “You were pretty impressive back there. Tanek’s work?”

She barely heard the question. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“My guess is that he had plans for you that didn’t include you being distracted by such a minor thing as a live husband.”

He was talking about Nicholas using her for bait again. For the first time, she wondered if he was right. Nicholas was very clever. Could he have manipulated her and made her think she was the one in control? She didn’t think she could be that stupid, but—

Later. She was too shocked and angry to think clearly now.

“Can I trust you to keep quiet about this?” Kabler asked. “I’ve put my job on the line by bringing you here. You won’t be dropping any anonymous notes to Gardeaux about Calder’s whereabouts?”

“What makes you think Gardeaux knows he’s alive?”

“Reardon isn’t the only one who’s been asking questions, and Simpson didn’t get his information from us.”

She felt another flare of sheer rage. “I promise I’ll not communicate with Gardeaux.” She added coldly, “I don’t promise I won’t kill that bastard myself.”

“I was afraid of that.” He sighed. “That means I’ll have to move Calder to another—”

“Are you ready to leave now?”

She whirled to see Nicholas walking toward her down the street.

“You wanted proof he knew about Calder. Here he is,” Kabler murmured. “You’re too late, Tanek. I don’t think she’s going to go with you.”

“You did know,” she whispered. She hadn’t realized until that moment how desperately she had wanted to believe he hadn’t lied to her about this too. “You knew everything and you didn’t tell me.”

“I would have told you eventually.”

“When? Next year? Five years?”

“When it was safe.” He turned to Kabler. “You had to bring her here, didn’t you? You knew Calder was still targeted and you brought her to him. She shouldn’t be anywhere near him.”

“He’s well hidden here in Bakersfield. It’s you she shouldn’t be near. She knows that now. You can’t use—”

Nell was knocked to the ground with the force of a giant fist!

Nicholas had been knocked to the ground too, but was now on top of her, protecting her from flying debris.

Debris from where? she wondered in bewilderment. What had happened?

Then over Nicholas’s shoulder she saw the house.

What was left of the house. No windows. No porch. The south wall was blown away and the entire ruin was on fire. Licking, roaring flames.

“What happened?” she asked blankly.

“A bomb.” Kabler was on his knees, his face cut and bleeding. His hands clenched into fists as he gazed in helpless fury at the house. “Dammit, they
got
him.”

He was talking about Richard. Richard had been in that house. Richard was dead. Nadine was dead.

She had just been talking to them and now they were dead.

She was vaguely aware that Nicholas was standing up, pulling her to her feet. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Kabler was getting to his feet slowly, painfully, staring at the ruin. “Damn them. Damn them to hell.”

Nicholas grasped her arm and was pulling her down the street toward his car.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kabler asked, whirling toward them.

“Away from here. Or do you want them to get her too?”

“Maybe it wasn’t Gardeaux. You showed up very conveniently. Maybe it was you.”

“You’d like to think so. Then you wouldn’t be blamed for leading them to Calder.” He met Kabler’s eyes. “But you don’t think it was me. You know you made a mistake when you brought her here. She was probably watched from the time she showed up at Lieber’s house. They followed you here and set the bomb up next to the gas main while you were in there talking to Calder.”

“They couldn’t have followed us here. I’ve ordered that all DEA flight plans are sealed.”

“They wanted Calder. Offer anyone enough money and seals can be broken. You know that as well as I do.”

Kabler opened his lips to protest and then closed them. “Yes, I know that,” he said. He suddenly looked old, beaten.

“Now, are you going to let me take her out of the battle zone before they kill her too?”

Kabler didn’t speak for a minute and then nodded
jerkily. “Get out of here.” He turned to Nell. “I have to do damage control, but I’ll catch up with you later. If you’re smart, you’ll remember what you saw here tonight and not let him use you.” He glanced back at the burning house. “Or you’ll be as dead as Calder.”

“I’ve kept her alive for five months.” Nicholas half pulled, half nudged her toward his car.

People were coming out of the neighboring houses, she noticed numbly. A siren wailed in the distance.

Nicholas opened the passenger door. “Get in.”

She hesitated, looking back at Kabler.

He was no longer staring at the house. He was bending over the open door of his car, talking rapidly into the car phone.

Damage control, he had said.

What could be controlled in that inferno? Richard and Nadine were both dead.

She got into the car and Nicholas slammed the door shut.

“Are you okay?” Nicholas asked quietly as he maneuvered the car through the residential street.

She didn’t answer directly. “Will Kabler get into trouble for this?”

“Maybe. He made a big mistake. But he wields a lot of power in the agency. They’re not going to jettison him.”

“It’s not his fault. He couldn’t know we’d be followed.”

“I don’t want to talk about Kabler. I don’t give a damn about him. How are you?”

“Fine.” Her hands tightly clutched the leather strap of her shoulder bag. She had to hold on to something, anything. Everything seemed to be sliding away from her. “Where’s Jamie? Did he come with you?”

“He’s waiting at the airport. That’s where we’re heading.”

“I’m not getting on any plane with you.”

“Christ, do you think I’m going to kidnap you?”

“I don’t know what you’ll do.”

“I just want to get you out of this town.”

“How do I know that? How do I know anything you say is true?”

He muttered a curse and suddenly pulled over to the curb beneath a streetlight and shut off the engine. “All right. Let’s talk.”