Ask a Shadow to Dance (28 page)

Chapter Seventeen

David focused on Westmoreland. “This isn’t going to work. We’ll fight you. The priest will testify to the truth.”

“Fight all you want. That old priest is dead. Died just after the ceremony, God rest his soul. While you’re trying to prove me wrong, Lisa will have to live without dear Papa and precious Aunt Portia. By the time you concede defeat, I won’t be responsible for the shape they’ll be in. You will. Poor Jacob. We had to drag him to the carriage. Auntie Portia could hardly walk.”

Lisette closed her eyes. David knew this was killing her.

“Listen to me carefully.” Andrew took his time, enjoying the torture he was inflicting. “You’re going to board the
Cajun Star
this afternoon at half past five. It’s leaving the dock precisely at six o’clock, according to the chief purser, and won’t wait for anyone. If you try to leave the boat before it sails, I promise you’ll not see Jacob or Portia Morgan again.”

It was all David could do not to slam his fist into that smug expression. He reached for Lisette’s hand. Her fingers were curled into a tight fist. He managed to loosen them enough to hold her hand. He had to shake Andrew’s confidence.

“Just because we get on that riverboat doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to make this scheme work.”

“Oh, I think you’re wrong.” He shook the article at David. “This says you’re wrong.”

“That says nothing. We don’t have to stay on that boat after it leaves Memphis.”

“How are you going to get off? Hand everyone a life board and hope they can hold on long enough in that cold water to be rescued? I doubt Jacob will be up to this little plan. Dear Aunt Portia certainly won’t. But I suppose you can try.”

David looked at Lisette. “No lifeboats?”

She seemed puzzled, shook her head. Clearly, there weren’t lifeboats on a riverboat. David had assumed every boat carried lifeboats.
A twenty-first century assumption. The bastard was right. There was no way Jacob or Portia could survive clutching a life
board
, immersed in the river.

“All right,” David told him. “We’ll be on the boat at five-thirty. How do we know you’ll bring Jacob and Portia Morgan to the boat and that they’ll be in good health and unharmed?”

“You don’t. But you have no choice in the matter. You’ll have to trust me.” He laughed raucously, crumpled the article in his fist, then slung it into the fireplace where it burst into flames, curled and blackened.

David felt Lisette trembling. He had to get Andrew out of this house so they could devise some sort of plan to counter his offensive against them. If David could find Jacob and Portia before five-thirty and release them, he’d have Andrew arrested for kidnapping and extortion.

“I want to see Jacob and Portia. Let me examine them.”

At first he shook his head and laughed, as though David were crazy to expect such privilege, but then he sobered and contemplated. David held his
breath. Could he actually be considering it?

“Please, Andrew. Let David see them. You don’t want to be responsible for their deaths. You’re a liar, a cheat, and a man who abuses women, but surely you aren’t a murderer as well.”

Silently, David praised her courage.

Lisette took a shuddering breath.

Andrew’s lip curled in a cruel smile. “All right. I’ll let the good doctor take at look at them. But only him. You, dearest Lisa, are not to leave this house for any reason. If you do, I’ll know, and you’ll never see them again.”

“I promise. Thank you, Andrew.”

“Get my medical bag. Upstairs.”

She ran to fetch the bag and brought it back to the parlor in less than a minute.

David kissed her, trying not to let her see his doubt. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them.” She nodded, trembling like a leaf in the wind. David went to the front door. “Let’s go, Westmoreland.”

“Of course.
You’re anxious, I can see. Remember, Lisa, not one step outside this house.” He pointed across the street. A heavy-set man stood there, watching the front door.

“Stay here, Lisette. Lock the doors.” David strode down the walk to Westmoreland’s carriage, praying the Morgans weren’t already dead or injured beyond recovery. If Andrew actually took David to see them, he’d be the most astonished person in Memphis. He had to be on the alert every moment. Maybe Andrew would slip up and tell him where they were before it was too late to help them.

The driver took them to the Peabody Hotel.

It was the last place in Memphis David needed to be, but if Jacob and Portia were there he would have to chance it, and stay well away from the fountain. He glanced at his watch: 2:45. Andrew had been smart to wait so late to pull this stunt. David only hoped he’d have a bit of luck in finding the Morgans quickly so he could get them out and away, back home with Lisette. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish such a feat.

Inside, he followed Andrew around the edge of the lobby toward the staircase, being careful not to step on even the perimeters of the carpeting in the fountain area. He felt nothing strange, no tingling sensations, no light-headedness, nothing to indicate he was about to be zapped back into 2009 without warning. He couldn’t remember feeling any of these things before but had to be alert to anything out of the ordinary.

Andrew stopped at the staircase with a blank expression on his face, as though thoroughly bored. David couldn’t believe he could be so nonchalant after kidnapping two people. He left the staircase and wandered over by the fountain. David glanced around, expecting to see men closing in. But criminals were seldom as clever or as organized as they were in movies or novels. This was Andrew. From what David had learned about Andrew, he was probably smart enough to dream up a scheme like this but more than likely too lazy to attend to details. David would have to outsmart him at his own game.

Andrew left the fountain, still grinning, walking back toward the staircase.

“Quit stalling. Are they upstairs?”

“Did you think I had the resources to stash them here, at the most expensive hotel in Memphis? I’m surprised at you, Doctor. We’re here because it’s time for you to go back where you came from.”

David sensed movement, hesitated a fraction of a second too long. Two men grabbed him from behind. One of them clubbed him in the head. David struggled through the pain to stay conscious. He managed to see enough to gain his bearings. They were dragging him toward the fountain.

He struggled harder, yelling for someone in the lobby to help. The hoodlums twisted his arms behind him so tightly he couldn’t get any leverage or traction toward regaining his feet. Not one person stepped forward to help.

Andrew was laughing, pointing at the fountain, shouting orders to the men who held David.

If only he could break free, but these men were huge. He knew from their grip on his arms he could never overpower them. His knees were against the marble.

“Back you go, Doctor!” Andrew’s fist caught David’s jaw,
then he pushed hard against David’s chest.

David landed with a splash in the cold water. Andrew’s laughter echoed through the lobby. People seemed to be everywhere, rushing to see what was happening, yet no one willing to get involved. Gamblers, hotel guests, personnel from the front desk, ran toward him.

A uniformed man from the front desk hauled David up from where he sat, completely drenched. One of the Peabody ducks pecked at his heels while another flapped crazily toward the bar, panicked. Two girls in Daisy Dukes and tank tops laughed and pointed.

It took a lot of talking to convince the manager he wasn’t jumping into the fountain as part of a publicity stunt or something just as hare-brained. Two policemen arrived, hauled David off to the station, questioned him, then gave him a citation for disturbing the peace and suggested he go home and change into more suitable clothing. Jacob’s suit was shrinking so rapidly, David felt as though his body was in a vice. Within a few minutes, the trouser legs had risen above his calves and the sleeves of the coat to just below the elbows. If he hadn’t been so angry, he would’ve felt ridiculous.

The clock at the station said it was four o’clock. He had only two hours left and no way to tell Lisette what had happened.

David called Joe at home, then at his office, where he was catching up on work he’d missed this past week chauffeuring David around, and told him to come fast. Joe tried to ask about a letter he’d received earlier today, but David put him off, promising to explain everything later.

The thought had occurred to David that Andrew was now free to kidnap Lisette as well. David had played right into Andrew’s hands. He’d underestimated him with disastrous results.

Joe got there ten minutes later.

“Hey, Bro! I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. And certainly not at the police station.” He came toward David with his arms wide, ready to hug, but David waved him away.

“There’s no time for that now. I have to get home and into some different clothes.”

Joe took a look at the shrinking suit and stifled a grin. “You do look pretty strange, all right.”

“Where’s your car?”

“Right outside. You’re going to get the seat all wet. Maybe we can get a plastic bag or something for you to sit on.”

“There isn’t time. I’ll pay to have the upholstery cleaned. We have to go right now.
Back to the Peabody.”

He held up both hands in mock fear. “Whoa! You convinced me. I assume you’re going to tell me what’s been happening on the way to your place?” He dug in his pocket. “And I can’t wait to hear about this little jewel.” The yellowed envelope in his hand had to be the letter David had given to Rogers.

Incredible. The fact it had survived didn’t surprise David. Joe’s receiving it an hour after David gave it to Rogers would require some thought when there was time.

“I didn’t expect to get back so soon.”

“Uh, David, about what you wrote—”

“Later, okay?” Sometimes, Joe’s tendency to talk more than listen could be a real pain in the butt!

David stood by the fountain for fifteen minutes but nothing happened. The lobby was full of people. He couldn’t just tell them all to clear out so he could be alone! He finally gave up. There had to be another way for him to get back to 1885.

On the way to Midtown, David told Joe everything that had happened. The car hadn’t even rolled to a stop in David’s driveway when he opened the door and got out. He had to use the extra key, buried under a rock in the backyard, to get in. He went straight to the shower. By the time he got out, it was five o’clock.

He put on a suit and tie since the dance on the
Memphis Queen III
would undoubtedly be formal. Joe was in the kitchen, helping himself to a beer when David came into the living room.

“Tell me again what happened, David, in detail this time. To tell you the truth, I didn’t understand half what you told me on the way. Where is Lisette?”

“Being kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Andrew Westmoreland tricked me into the Peabody, then dumped me into the fountain, and here I am. Lisette doesn’t know. I left her at home, alone. Stupid, I know, but necessary under the circumstances. Westmoreland kidnapped her father and aunt this morning. He’s putting them on the
Cajun Star
at six. He wants all three of them to disappear with the boat. Got it now?”

“Wait a minute. Westmoreland knows the boat is going to disappear? How did that happen?”

“He found the newspaper article about the dance tonight. Do me a favor; find the number for the Memphis Queen Riverboat Line for me. I have to call Jim and make sure he’ll let me go on that cruise. Bob is coming, isn’t he?”

“Last time I checked, he was.” Joe flipped through the telephone book, found the number, dialed,
then handed David the receiver. He got the after-hours recording, listened, then dialed Jim’s extension number.

“This is Jim.”

“Jim! David Stewart. Can you handle one more on that cruise tonight?”

“Sure.”

“You’re going to ride the boat tonight, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“When do you plan to cast off?”

“Six sharp.
We’ll be back about midnight. This is a long one. We usually do three hours. But, since that missing boat left at six—”

“I may have three more passengers for you, but they won’t be boarding at six.”

There was a long pause. “They’ll be boarding after we leave Memphis?”

“Yep.”

Another pause. “You can tell me about it later. I gotta go. Captain Dale is yelling about something and I have half a dozen little fires to put out before we go.”

“Thanks. I’ll fill you in once we’re on board. We’re on our way.”

Joe and David left the house about two minutes later.

They drove to Riverside Drive,
then turned onto the cobblestones. There were already two dozen cars on the bumpy, sharply slanted parking area and people streaming through the canopied walkway onto the dock. They drove slow and easy, even though Jim had told David a car had never slipped into the river off the cobblestones. He had no desire to be the first to accomplish that little trick.