Aries Rising (18 page)

“I guess it doesn’t matter now. Might as well tell you.” He sighed. “She was going to fake her own kidnapping tonight.”

“What are you talking about? Why would she do that?”

“To revive her career, of course. She told me at the last
minute. That was her plan.”

My mind buzzed. “And you let her go through with it?”

“I didn’t know it until just a few minutes ago. As soon as she told me, I said she had to stop it. We got into an argument, and that’s when whoever it was hit me from behind. Someone really has taken her.”

“We’ve got to find her,” I said.

He rubbed his head again and winced. “Where do you think she is?”

“I’m starting with the ballroom,” I told him. “If she isn’t there, maybe I can find someone who saw her.”

“I’ll go with you.” He stopped. “I owe you. I don’t know what you did with that astro stuff, but you’re the one who made her realize that she still loves me.”

“She always has,” I said. “I hope you two work it out.”

I rushed into the ballroom. Not far from me, Madonna/Arianna stood by one of the champagne bars. When she saw me, she started to leave the room, but I followed her all the way to the exit.

“Leave me alone,” she said. “Get out of here.” It wasn’t Arianna’s voice.

I reached out and ripped off her mask. It wasn’t Arianna who looked back at me, either. It was Stacy, pale skin tinged pink.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“Nothing,” she said. “Arianna and I switched costumes for fun. That’s all.”

I was starting to realize that nothing these two did was for fun.

“You switched so that people would think she’s still at the party, didn’t you? Where is she really?”

“How would I know?” Her cheeks were scarlet now. “I can’t find her anywhere, and I just hope nothing happened to her.”

“Something did happen to her,” I said. “Someone knocked Josh out and took her.”

“Are you sure? Why?”

“Yes, I’m sure, but I don’t know,” I said. “Josh told me she was trying to fake a kidnapping.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why would she do that?”

“For publicity? Public sympathy? Maybe to get back some of the respect she’s lost. We need to call the police,” I said. “Where’s Henry Jaffa?”

I spotted him, the velvet raven still on his shoulder, in a conversation with a chubby Sweeney Todd in his top hat, long coat, and red cummerbund. Mrs. Lovett stood between them. She wore a black-and-white dress. Her silver-blond wig was a cascade of curls. Then I realized it was Bobby and Mary Elizabeth, the magazine’s art and fashion directors. I didn’t want to run up to them like a hysterical kid, but that was the way I felt right now. Jaffa would know what to do. I crossed the room and headed toward him.

“Could I speak with you for a moment?” I asked him.

He took one look at me and said, “What’s wrong?”

“Arianna’s been kidnapped,” I whispered.

“Kidnapped? How? Tell me what happened.”

“I will,” I said, “but first we need to call the police, and we need to search the building.”

As frightened as I was, I knew that I had been right all along about what I had predicted. I had also been right about the signs who were in the greatest danger—Gemini Stacy and Aquarius me.

Jaffa went to call the police, and the party continued, the costumed guests unaware of what was taking place. Stacy stood frozen clutching a glass of red wine. She had removed her Madonna mask, and her lips were a thin, tight line.

I approached her, and she turned away toward the windows and the reflected lights of the city.

“You and Arianna planned this together,” I said. “Didn’t you?”

“That’s ridiculous, and so are you.”

“Come on, Stacy. She wouldn’t do this alone, and not just because she’s a Gemini. She needed your help. Now the police are coming. You’d better turn this around, if you can.”

“There’s nothing to turn around.” Her lip trembled. “You can’t prove that I had anything to do with it.”

“Josh can,” I lied. “And he will. Arianna told him what you were planning.”

“She wouldn’t do that. No one’s going to believe him.”

She struggled to maintain her composure, but I saw the fear in her eyes. Aries Moon. That need to be in charge, to do it her way, whatever the consequences. It was what I had first noticed about her. But I had mistakenly thought her Moon was in Leo.

“Why’d you do it?” I asked. “Was it all about publicity you hoped to get for the magazine?”

“You have no idea of the pressure on me,” she said. “
CRUSH
had to be a success from the start, and it will be now. You and Josh can say whatever you want. I’ll just deny it.”

“Who else knows what you were planning?”

“No one.”

Such a Gemini. And such a rotten liar.

“Tell me the truth. Arianna shared it with Josh. What about you? Who’d you tell?”

Her face was stark white, her blush like pink blotches on her cheeks. “He wouldn’t.”

Cory. I knew she had told him. The guilt was all over her. I realized I was still holding the stupid Sherlock magnifying glass and shoved it back into my pocket.

“When was the last time you saw him?” I asked her.

“I’m not sure. I think he was going into the catering room. How could he have gotten her out of the building?”

“I intend to find out.”

I hurried toward the catering room, with Stacy following right behind me. The service elevator was stopped at the floor below us, the floor that had been closed off tonight.

“I don’t think he took her out of the building,” I said.

“He wouldn’t be crazy enough to stay here.”

“On a closed-off floor? I’m not so sure. I’m going down there. Tell Henry Jaffa where I am.”

“Don’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

My days of taking orders from Stacy were over. I headed for the stairs, head spinning.

What if I was right? What if Cory had actually kidnapped Arianna? His interest in Stacy must have been as much of a
sham as his interest in me. The only difference was that Stacy had been clueless enough to believe him, confide in him, and probably to fall for him.

It would be too risky for him to leave the building with Arianna. And the service elevator was stopped at the eleventh floor. He had to be hiding out on the floor beneath the noisy activities of the party. That’s probably why Chili and I had gotten stuck in the service elevator that Friday with Alex Keen. Cory must have shut it down while he was setting up what he planned to do. What would happen to Arianna? I had to find her before any more time escaped.

I ran down the stairs to the next floor. When I got there, I looked both ways down the coral carpet. Nothing. The floor was like a tomb. I wanted to run back the way I had come, but I knew Arianna had to be here. Held by a Scorpio who must not have been able to get over her or the way she had deserted him and their group.

“Arianna,” I shouted. “Where are you?”

Nothing.

“Arianna, I know you’re here. Cory, you’d better let her go. Jaffa’s already called the police.”

“Help.” No mistaking Arianna’s voice.

I followed the hall to my right, and then I saw an open door. Arianna screamed. I ran to the door. The King and Queen of Hearts struggled inside the room. Cory and Arianna.

“Let her go!” I shouted.

“What are you doing here?” Cory shoved Arianna on the bed, grabbed me and slammed the door. I struggled against
him, but he was stronger than I was.

“Run,” I yelled to Arianna. “Get help.”

She dashed for the door, but he grabbed her with his free arm. Now he had both of us. Arianna began to sob.

“Fight him,” I told her. “Don’t give up.”

He yanked me tighter under his arm, and I felt as if I were being cut in half.

“You aren’t getting away, so just calm down, both of you,” he said. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“You did this because you think she destroyed your life,” I told him. “Because she wanted to be a star on her own. You don’t really love her, either. You’re just pissed because you know you have more talent than Josh and Arianna put together.”

“You’re right about that. After what she put me through, I deserve every dime I’ll get from this.”

“The police will be here any minute,” I said. “If you ever want to take back your musical career, you had better get out right now.”

“Everyone will assume that we left the building. They won’t think to look here.”

“Yes, they will. Stacy’s going to tell Henry Jaffa.”

“Stacy?” He laughed. “She isn’t going to tell anyone anything.”

“Of course she is,” I said. “She has nothing to lose now.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” He grinned. The door behind us opened. Stacy walked inside without her mask, still wearing Arianna’s Madonna costume.

“I see you found them.” She gave me a smile that was so scary I had to look away.

“Stacy,” Arianna gasped. “You bitch.”

“Watch your mouth. All you mean to me now is ransom money.”

“But it was your idea for us to do this.”

“It was a good idea, too. The best idea I could come up with.” She walked up to us and took a proprietary stand beside Cory. “Until he came along.”

It was the worst example of Gemini backstabbing I had ever witnessed. She had planned with Arianna to fake her own kidnapping, and instead, had decided to partner with Cory and kidnap Arianna for real. It could work, too. They would get enough from Arianna’s family to disappear for good. I needed to get in touch with Jaffa. I stopped struggling against Cory, inched my hand into my pocket, and pressed Jaffa’s number into my phone. Thank goodness, Cory didn’t have Ms. Bodmer’s built-in cell detector.

“That’s better,” he said, and let go of Arianna and me. “Don’t even think about running for the door.”

“You cut the phone line in the hotel elevator,” I said. “Didn’t you, Stacy?”

“I was making sure we could hold it at the eleventh floor. Trying to figure out how long it would take to get in and out.” She looked up at Cory. “We need to get moving, hon.”

“What happens when she gets tired of you?” I asked, speaking up for the sake of the phone.

“We’ll have so much money that it won’t matter.”

“What about your career?”

“That’s over, thanks to Arianna. You two are such good friends that you can have a nice little evening in front of the television. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to tie you up now.”

“Don’t do it,” I said. “You’re a Scorpio, Cory. You know what that means about dwelling in the past. You’ve got to get unstuck and focus on your career. You know this whole kidnapping thing was Stacy’s idea. You can still back out.”

“Why would he want to?” she snapped. “If his career were going anywhere, it already would have happened.”

“Not when he’s trapped by his resentment and emotions.”

“Spare me the astrology,” she said. “Come on, Cory. We need to finish this and get out of here.”

I yanked my phone out of my pocket and shouted, “Mr. Jaffa, hurry. We’re on the eleventh floor. Stacy is down here with Arianna and me. She’s the one behind Arianna’s kidnapping. She . . .”

Stacy knocked the phone out of my hand to the floor. “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

“Calling Jaffa.” I turned to Cory. “You can still have the career. Telling the truth about Stacy could get you the right kind of publicity. Don’t give up everything for her because, believe me, she won’t give up anything for you.”

“Anybody here?” a male voice called from down the hall.

“Help us!” Arianna screamed.

Cory shoved her toward me and ran out the door. Her body hit me hard, and we both fell. I was still trying to help her to her feet when the others found us.

“They’re lying,” Stacy shouted, and took off in the direction Cory had gone.

I knew she would not get far.

Henry Jaffa appeared in the doorway. He stepped inside and reached out his arm to steady me. I leaned against the velvet bird on his shoulder and felt tears in my eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, and the kindness in his voice broke my heart.

I cried that night, sitting on the edge of the bed in that cried that night, sitting on the edge of the bed in that room where Arianna and I would have been held captive. For the first time since Jeremy left, and my parents had sat me down for the divorce talk, I just let go and bawled out every sorrow. Arianna cried too.

The police had left, and we were waiting for her mother to arrive to take her home. Someone had given her a jacket that she had put on over the Queen of Hearts costume. She looked like a little kid playing dress-up.

“I’m so ashamed,” she said. Tears streaked her face. “How did I get so low that I would even consider doing something as crazy as that?”

“Stacy can be pretty persuasive,” I said and wiped my eyes. “She’s the bad Twin. You’re the good one.”