Warning at Eagle's Watch (21 page)

"No, Hillary, since you came, she's been a different woman. She's busy with life again. She loves you. She identifies with you. No, it's easy to see what was happening."

"But I don't want the money. She knows that."

"No matter. And you'd change your tune once you had your hands on it. So you've got to go, young lady, you've got to go before Priscilla dies. Once you're out of the way, she'll return to normal and do what she always planned to do, giving it all to her relatives, as unworthy as they may be, and a nice healthy chunk for me."

"She's reading it tonight. When they find my body, they'll know you did it, and why. You can't get away with it."

He smiled a slow sick smile. "When she hears that you just drove off instead of getting me, left without a trace, she'll be disappointed enough to write a new will. No one will be the wiser, and your friend Kent will be sure that history is repeating itself, that another woman walked out on him. And they'll never find out, they'll never find out."

She was weaving in and out of the tables in the lab now, and he was close behind.

"I'm so sorry, Hillary. You're a great nurse, you know. It will be a loss to the profession. But my research will mean so much more. It's just a question of priorities."

She didn't know whether to sob or to scream. Her head felt light and she had the sense that the room was moving in slow motion. She couldn't make her feet react fast enough. But she mustn't let him catch up with her. Mustn't let him near with the needle. Her hand reached out and tried the door handle as she sped by, but it was locked.

"Help," she cried out, her pulse hammering, her green eyes wide with fear and anguish. This couldn't be happening to her. Not to Hillary Holt.

Dr. Newburg! She should have realized it, realized that his devotion to his work was far too deep to be healthy, that lately he'd hidden even more often behind these lab doors. What a wonderful brain, gone to waste.

And Kent would never know. Her heart lurched as she thought of him. Would she never get the chance to hold him, to either rejoice in his report of total recuperation, or to comfort him and stand by him with her love if the news were bad? Let me out, her mind screamed.

She tripped on an electric cord that crossed the aisle and stumbled into one of the tables. She felt the doctor's warm hand enclose her wrist. I'm younger, she thought wildly. I'm stronger, I can get away. She jerked and pulled herself, but couldn't release herself from his vise-like grip.

She looked into his dark eyes, too close now, and thought. This is it, this is it!

Chapter 18

There was a brief pounding on the door before it burst open and the doorway was filled by a very large frame, a man Hillary couldn't believe she was seeing.

Kent? He bounded across the room with great strides and knocked the hypodermic needle violently from Dr. Newburg's hand. The old man lost his grip on her, and she plummeted to the floor, her heart beginning to beat normally again.

"Hillary!" Kent cried.

"Why?" screamed Dr. Newburg. "Why did she ever have to come here?" Then a terrible cry came from his lips—a cry of agony and Hillary felt a wave of pity for him. His aged body ran through the door.

"Where's he going?" she cried. "He's mad, you know. He'll do something drastic."

"He won't do anything, Hillary. Everything will be all right now."

She vaguely became aware of the sound of sirens in the background.

"The police were right behind me. The house was surrounded. They'll take care of him. He needs a doctor. It's such a pity. Such a waste."

The tears were running freely down her face now, tears of relief, tears of emotion, tears of love. She was all right, she was safe, and Kent was here by her side. She leaned against his broad body and buried her face in his jacket. Outside, the storm still roared, the lightning still flared, but she finally felt safe and warm.

"I don't care," she said before he could talk. "I don't care whether you are a surgeon, or a country doctor, or even a bum. And I'm not going to listen to any more talk about not being able to be involved. You are involved. I love you, Kent Harris, and even if you should decide that you don't want me around, you will have quite a feat ahead of you to get rid of me!"

She looked up at his dark eyes and saw the love pouring from them. "Thank you," he said, and she could tell there was a lump in his throat as large as the one in hers.

"I love you too, Hillary." His hand lifted her chin up and he smiled into her eyes. "But in case you care to know, young lady, my surgical career hasn't been curtailed. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health. My position as a surgeon is waiting for me, and you, my dear," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead, "will be by my side."

They were two happy people as they stood together, in the brightly lit room, a room that had only moments before been a place of horror and panic. Her heart was soaring. She wished the moment could last for all eternity. But the rest of the world had to be faced.

The bustle outside the small house was tremendous. The police cars with their flashing lights and squawking radios were just beginning to disperse through the rain and Kent and Hillary climbed into his car and headed for Eagle's Watch.

"We must be so careful," warned Hillary, a frown creeping onto her brow. "How will we ever explain all this without upsetting Scotty?"

Kent threw back his head and laughed. "Hillary, that was our first mistake in this whole thing. I swear I think Priscilla Scott is stronger than most of us less than half her age. While we've been writhing about, worrying about her weak constitution, she's been seething about being left out of the whole thing!

"It seems she lifted the telephone receiver, Hillary, while you were making your call to Dr. Newburg, today, and heard your whole explanation of everything that has happened. And without batting an eye, I might add. Then she went to your room to give you one more chance to open up to her, and instead you told her you were leaving Eagle's Watch."

"Of course, she knew why, and so she arranged to get the family together with the lawyer, in order to put an end to all the speculation. Your Miss Scott is one of a kind!"

They were pulling up to the front of the castle and were surprised to see a large black limousine parked right before the door. Hand in hand, the two went in.

The house was in an uproar. As they shut the door behind them, shaking the rain off their raincoats, Scotty herself rushed toward them from the living room, throwing her arms around Hillary's neck with a grateful sob.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all right." Then she pulled herself away and looked sternly at Hillary. "Hillary Holt, I swear you must be some kind of a fool to have kept such goings on from me."

Hillary looked at her with a twinkle in her eye. "I hear you just happened to lift the telephone receiver at the right time this afternoon. Where on earth are your manners?"

The bright eyes twinkled back at her, and the white head bobbed with laughter. "Oh, you heard about that, did you? I thought I was so clever calling this meeting tonight. And to think of what nearly happened because of it. I want to hear every word of it, every word. But first"—she took Hillary firmly by the arm, and Hillary was pleased to feel the strength in the long, wrinkled fingers—"I have someone I'd like you to meet."

She guided her into the living room, with Kent close behind. Every member of the family was there, in addition to the Raymonds, Annie the cook, Daisy, and the lawyer. And in the center of the room, a tiny old woman rose to greet her, standing barely five feet high, her dress regal in its high-necked old-fashioned way, her white hair piled high atop her head, much as Scotty's.

No one had to tell Hillary who it was. Her throat closed with emotion.

"Miss Matilda!" she gasped and rushed forward to take the old woman's hands.

The woman's laugh filled the room, a twinkling happy sound as she grasped her great-niece's hands for the first time.

"My Hillary. My dear little Hillary." The two stood and gazed fondly at each other, green eyes studying green eyes, while the rest of the room stood silently around them.

"I must say, my dear, you are the spitting image of your mother, Mary. It does my old heart good to see you standing before me. I've been waiting for this minute for a great many years."

"You have?" Hillary was dumbfounded. "But you never wrote, you never visited."

"I'm a strange old woman, Hillary, as I'm sure you've realized. I was in no position to give you a home, the kind of home a young girl needs, living alone in my eccentric way. I had a rather horrible upbringing by my maidenly aunts, and I had a great fear of doing the same to you. So I lived my life and hoped that you had the character to live yours. I was right. You are Mary's daughter, through and through. I hope you'll forgive me. I must say from all that I've heard, you've turned out rather well."

Hillary smiled at the little woman and squeezed the hands that held hers. She couldn't find the words to express the happiness that she felt in finally getting to know her only living relative.

Hillary and Kent told the story of the incidents that had happened since her arrival at Eagle's Watch, and climaxed their account with the telling of the night's adventures.

"I knew it this afternoon, Hillary, as soon as I overheard quite by accident, my dear—your conversation with him. He's very old, you know, and has always been fanatical about that research. I've been worrying about him lately, not even knowing all of this was going on. But I knew it had to be him. None of the others." Scotty waved a hand around the room. "None of them could have done it. They are either too kind-hearted, or too gutless." She looked slyly at Arnold and Belinda and Herman sitting together on the sofa. Then she gazed at Mitchell, who sat in a chair. "I'll leave you all to your own devices to decide which category you fall into!

"Anyway, you can imagine my horror to hear that you had gone off in search of a doctor, when Kent arrived here without having seen you. I knew you had gone to see Dr. Newburg then, and Kent and I lamented together. I must say, he wasted no time in getting over there."

"I spoke to a psychiatrist at the hospital I was treated at today," said Kent. "A man who had known and worked with Dr. Newburg for years. When he said that it wouldn't surprise him at all if he went off the deep end, I couldn't get here fast enough."

He put an arm around Hillary's shoulders and the two little old women beamed.

"It's about time," Scotty scolded him good-naturedly, shaking a pointed finger at him. "And now, let us do what I called you all together to do."

"But you don't have to now, Scotty," reminded Hillary. "You can do whatever you want to do."

"My dear, I always do just what I want to do. And what I want to do right now is to get this over with." She motioned to Mr. Browning. "The will, please."

He handed her a long white envelope, which she opened carefully. She pulled out a folded piece of paper.

Chapter 19

A deafening silence filled the room, as every occupant sat, eyes glued to Scotty, who stood before them all, immensely enjoying the tension she was creating.

She unfolded the papers and held them up as if to read them, but instead she did a very peculiar thing.

In one hand she held a shiny silver cigarette lighter, and with a mirthful giggle, she flicked the flint and it sprang into flame, igniting the will. She dropped it quickly into a huge nearby ashtray, smiling as the corners curled and burned, the flame enveloping the whole thing until it left nothing but ashes.

No one spoke.

Then Scotty brushed her hands together and looked out at her amazed audience.

"Now," she said, "I have something to say to all of you. All my life I have hated the pettiness and airs that money has given people. And just lately, in this household, I've seen the havoc it can bring even within a family."

Her eyes glared accusingly at her relatives. "I've been aware of the tensions, the rudeness, the suspicions that have surrounded all of us, and finally the greed that led to the ruin of a dear friend of mine." Her eyes glistened with tears at the thought of Dr. Newburg.