Warning at Eagle's Watch (16 page)

There was a bounce in the girl's walk as she made her way to the almost hidden garage that was nestled amid the boulders in back of the house. Her VW looked forlorn and forgotten.

"If it even starts after all these weeks, it'll be a miracle. Come on, little car," she said as she put her key in the ignition. "We've been through a lot together." The car answered her with a rather shaky rumble from the engine. At least it had started, if a little hesitantly.

She put it into gear.

Driving down the lane to the highway gave her a strange sensation of exhilaration. It was a wonderful feeling to be behind the wheel of her VW again, its familiarity making the problems of the present evaporate quickly. She felt almost as if the events of the last few weeks had never happened, that she had never received the letter from Miss Matilda that had so abruptly changed her life. She had almost paid that debt now. Priscilla Scott would soon be back to her normal, strong self. Hillary could soon make plans to leave the world of Eagle's Watch behind her.

She was filled with mixed emotions. Here in her happy little car, riding pleasantly into town on a simple errand, she enjoyed the gusts of cool, moist air that drifted in the open window. The misgivings and suspicions that she had built up seemed silly and dramatic.

The writing on her mirror had been a harmless prank, one that its performer had been embarrassed to own up to. The push from the cliff, most probably a combination of raw nerves and an overactive imagination. The figure in the tower had probably been one of the servants, guilty only of shirking on the job.

Her mind felt as if it were ceasing to spin for the first time in ages. She was trying to convince herself there was no danger. There was no reason for the nagging feeling of apprehension that had irked her so. In her carefree state of mind, she chided herself for allowing overactiveness of her imagination to color her rational thinking so dramatically. The little car started its descent down the long, twisting road that wound its way to town. There were no other cars on the road. After the day's gusty storm, she had the stretch to herself. She downshifted to maneuver each turn on the steep hill, keeping the car in steady control.

But suddenly, in an unpredictable flash, everything changed. She neared the tightest curve on the road and applied her foot to the brake pedal to slow the car, but her foot went right to the floor. She stomped it again and again, her mind not willing to accept the fact that the brake was not responding. The trickiest part of the curve was fast approaching, and the car wasn't slowing. She could feel her pulse hammering in her ear.

Would she make the turn? She jammed the car into the lowest gear, gritting her teeth and holding the wheel determinedly with white, strained fingers. Her speed lessened and she turned the vehicle with all of her strength. The pavement was slick and wet from the day's storm. Fallen dampened leaves were scattered treacherously before her.

She felt the tires begin to skid beneath her feet. She spun the wheel instinctively to regain control. It made no difference. The car went into a spin. Beads of perspiration appeared on her frightened brow. Her eyes were filled with fear as she thought of the steepness of the rocky, tree-filled hill that she was on. She felt she was a goner.

Thud! The rear of the car connected with a large-trunked tree. The car came to a sudden stop, though her brain still sped on. She rested her face on the wheel before her and attempted to pull her shaky self together. She was safe.

With rubbery legs, she pulled herself out of her little car and went to survey the damage. It began to rain once again as she hugged her borrowed mackintosh close to her. She looked with dismay at the battered car. It seemed to be totally wrecked. The rear had been bashed in by one tree, and the front by another.

But a wave of thanks rolled over her as she looked beyond the car to the rocky expanse below. Only luck had prevented something much worse than a battered car. If she had been moving any faster, if she hadn't been alert to the driving conditions any number of details could have meant her death. Another accident? The case and contentment she had felt in the car were gone. The fear was back. Too many narrow escapes to be dismissed with a shrug!

The sound of a nearing car reached her ears. She stepped into the curving road to warn the coming driver of the wrecked mangle of metal that lay ahead.

It was Kent. His car had barely jerked to a stop before he had flung open the door and pulled himself from behind the wheel.

"Hillary!" he called as he surveyed the situation in a flash. His voice had a raspiness that she had never before heard. He crossed the short distance to where she stood with long strides, and in a split second she felt his big, strong arms encircle her. He did not speak.

In that small space of time, the world righted itself for Hillary. She closed her eyes, feeling the warm nearness of him, and the rain around her seemed to disappear.

He moved his big hands to her shoulders. His eyes stared deeply into hers, and she could read the concern, the worry in them.

"What on earth happened?" he demanded.

"I guess my little car just gave out, finally. The brakes didn't work."

He left her there, midsentence, and before she knew it, she found him half underneath the wreck of a car. She could hear him grunt as he tinkered around.

When he withdrew, his face was gray and long. "I'm afraid that this accident was helped along by a human hand. The brake cable looks as if it has been partially cut through. Using the brakes on that steep hill would be sure to be too much of a strain on it in that condition."

They stood silent in the rain as that fact, and all that it meant, sank in. "Then it was no accident..."

He stared back at her.

"And that night on the cliff..." A shudder traveled the length of her spine. There was no doubt about it. Someone was trying to do away with her.

"Who knew you were taking the car out?" Kent asked abruptly.

"Why, everyone, I guess. Scotty had been in bed with a cold and I was going to town to fill a prescription that Dr. Newburg made up for her."

"The doctor was there?"

"Yes, but she's not really that ill. He says there's nothing to worry about. We're just taking precautions."

"Well, as far as I can see, you'll have to take some precautions about yourself, Hillary Holt. And the first step is to call the police and get you away from here until we find the lunatic who's running around pulling these stunts."

Away! Her heart landed with a thump. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment, danger or not, was to go away from Kent, from Scotty, to leave Eagle's Watch. Not yet.

She remembered the comforting feeling of his arms around her. Surely she would be safe when he was around. She couldn't run away.

"I'm not leaving," she said quietly, watching his eyes carefully to see his reaction. "I have to stay here and take care of Scotty. That's what I came here to do."

"I don't think that dedication to a position requires a sacrifice of your life, Hillary. It's only common sense to go away."

"And never find out the reason for the things that have been happening? I'm not the type to run away."

She saw him wince as soon as her words were out, and she knew she had struck a nerve. Was Kent running away from something, was that part of the burden he carried? She remembered being told there had been a girl.

"Then stay, Hillary, if you're sure that's what you should do. But you've got to be careful and we've got to call the police."

"The police," she said thoughtfully. "I'm so afraid of what all this will do to Scotty. She's bound to think that it's her fault about this will business."

"Do you think that's why you're being attacked? Because you're going to inherit under the will?" His eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

"But I'm not going to inherit under the will," she cried automatically in self-defense. "They only think that I am. But there can't be any other reason, can there?"

"I don't know, Hillary. Only you can answer that one. You've been rather secretive about the circumstances that brought you here."

His words made her temper flare. "I'm not the only one in that category, Kent Harris." How could he make her so happy and then so angry in so short a span of time?

But he answered her blazing eyes with a laugh.

"You certainly are full of spunk, young lady. I'm sorry for my lack of tact. I'm just trying to get at the bottom of this." He reached out and touched her shoulder. "But let me explain a little about myself to you. I'm sorry, Hillary, if I've seemed strange and unreachable since we've known each other. I was moved by you from the first moment that we met that day in the castle. But I've tried to steel myself against any kind of personal involvement." His eyes began to darken.

"It's all right, Kent." She wanted desperately to take the pain out of his eyes.

"No it's not all right. I have to explain. I want to explain. There was a girl, a girl who was very special to me. We were engaged. But it's over. And I'm trying to get my life back together again. But there are answers that I have to find out for myself before I can open a new chapter in my life."

"Are you going to settle here and work with Dr. Newburg?"

"No. At least I don't think so!" His eyes looked distant again.

"But there's some things we have to settle first. Beginning with your safety." He led her to his car.

"We'll have a tow truck take care of the wreckage. I'm afraid there's not much left to salvage."

"Kent, can't we please wait a few more days before we contact the police? I would so much rather figure out this puzzle ourselves than upset Scotty needlessly. And I just don't see what the police could really do in this situation."

He looked at her for a long minute. "Tell me honestly, Hillary, do you have any idea who is responsible for this?"

She shook her head.

"Then you had better take it easy until we find the answers. No car rides, please, and stay off the cliffs. I'm not at all sure we should take this risk."

She quieted him with a smile. "I'll be careful." They rode in silence the rest of the way to Eagle's Watch.

The next two hours were ones of horrendous confusion. Their arrival at Eagle's Watch, with the news of the "accident" sent the house into a turmoil. The tow truck from a local garage reported that there had not been much worth saving from the wreckage, and so Hillary authorized them to haul it away to a junkyard. Belinda and Herman Highfield bustled about in tones of regret and concern, tones that made her bristle because she knew they were not at all founded on real concern.

"I don't want you to breathe even a word that this was not an accident, Kent," she had told him with level eyes as they had arrived at Eagle's Watch. "Scotty would suffer, and it would just put the culprit on guard. I'm going to find out who's behind it."

Kent had grabbed her arm. "I admire your spunk, Hillary, but not your brains. Don't you dare leave yourself open to any more risk or danger. I'll leave you here for now, because I can't really see any alternative, and I'll leave the police out of it, against my better judgment. Meanwhile, I'll do the scouting to find out what this is all about. But you just take care of yourself."

His hand brushed her hair, and she felt as though she was on fire. The memory of the feeling of his arms around her when he had discovered her by the car wreckage made her feel tingly all over.

He stared deeply into her green eyes, his face holding a look of longing, when he left her at the door of the castle to finish the medical rounds that he had been involved with when he had first come upon her. It had been a hasty farewell with promises to keep in touch.

Something was on his mind, she knew, something that was holding his emotions back still. But their relationship had taken a personal turn. The big, husky man that she had come to care for so deeply shared some of the same feeling, she was certain, locked inside of him. And she would find the key to open the door, to make the longing look on his face a reality.

"You should be more careful when you drive, Nurse Holt," was Arnold Weaver's comment. "I've never felt those little foreign cars were safe to drive." He spoke with his usual superior air. "They're a menace on the road. I'd never drive one, that's for certain."

"You'd never drive one because you can't afford to own one," chided Mitchell. "You'd get behind the wheel quick enough if it was free." The two exchanged disgusted looks.

"I hope Hillary isn't pulling these stunts to get attention," said Belinda in her slightly too-loud voice, speaking as though Hillary was not even in the room, despite the fact that she stood only a few feet from her side. "Some girls will do anything for a little attention."

Herman nodded in blind agreement. Herman always agreed with Belinda.

They were an unlikable group, for sure, thought Hillary, but this time she kept herself from reacting to their unmasked barbs. She left the room without an answer and went to tell Scotty the story of the wreck, a slightly altered version, before the hints of it reached her patient's always alert ears.

Chapter 14