Charming Lily Read online

  Warm air rushed from the Rover’s heater. “We’re going home, guys. It’s too wet and cold to romp in the garden. Tomorrow is another day,” she said breathlessly. She could hardly wait to tell Sadie and Dennis her news.

  The dogs bounded ahead of Lily to the apartment door that opened as though on command by Sadie. “I heard your truck door slam. Distinctive sound. Plus the dogs of course. Ah, Lily, Dennis has sort of . . . kind of ... taken over the living room with all his ... stuff. There are wires and cords everywhere. I have no clue what he’s doing or how or why. It’s Greek to me. You and I are sadly lacking where computers are concerned. I think we need to think of him as Tarzan and we’re two Janes. Remember how dumb Jane was when she first met Tarzan? That’s us. That’s not to say we can’t learn, at some point. He’s almost hooked up and ready to boot up. Don’t ask me what that means.”

  Lily stared at her friend. She’s really pretty, she thought. More so now that she’s interested in Dennis. Sadie glowed, and there was a sparkle in her eyes that hadn’t been there before Dennis came into the picture.

  “Let’s go into the kitchen. I have something to tell you. I don’t feel much like going out to lunch, do you? I got soaked before. I don’t feel like getting wet all over again.”

  “I went grocery shopping while Dennis was doing whatever it is he’s doing. We have all kinds of food. I can make up a salad and grilled cheese if that’s okay.”

  “That’s more than okay. That’s wonderful. Look at this, Sadie. Tell me what you think it is.”

  “It looks like that junky necklace I found in the closet and gave to you. The one you’re wearing. By the way, why are you still wearing it?”

  “Because for some reason I can’t make myself take it off. Every time I have one of those spells, I’m holding it in my hand. Now, I’m going to tell you what Mr. Sonner’s father said about the Wish Keeper.” As she talked she watched Sadie’s eyes widen until they almost popped from her head.

  “What does it mean, Lily?”

  “You’re the one who said your mother stopped coming here, and you didn’t know why. Is it possible she was next in line to be a Wish Keeper? Maybe it’s more than we know. Maybe your mother didn’t want the responsibility. Maybe she’s the one who tossed the necklace into the back of the closet. You said you hated it here. Maybe you heard things or saw things when you were little along with maybe things your mother said to you. It’s possible you forgot them, and it’s possible I’m just talking to hear myself talk. I would like to know if anything happens when you put it around your neck. Grasp it in your hand and see if anything happens. You have to be the one to take it off my neck.”

  “You’re spooking me, Lily. What if nothing happens?”

  “Then nothing happens. It’s probably all hocus-pocus anyway. Come on now, take it off my neck and put it around your neck. Okay, now grasp it in your hand and wait.”

  “Abracadabra! Holy Moley! Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble,” Sadie chanted. In spite of herself, Lily burst into laughter.

  “Nothing’s happening. I’m sorry, Lily. I was hoping it would work for us. It’s just a junky necklace. Toss it out.” Sadie laid the necklace in the middle of the table. Both girls stared at it with unblinking intensity.

  “You would have been next in line to ... to ... carry on, Sadie. But then if your mother didn’t do it, maybe the ... what’s the word, it all skipped a generation or something. Maybe whoever lives in the house is the one to be the Wish Keeper. You gave it to me, then all these weird things started happening. Remember me telling you this morning that I felt like I knew a lot of secrets? I don’t feel like that now. I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. Why don’t we just put it away somewhere and forget about it.”

  “That’s a very good idea. Do you want to test your theory one more time first? Grab it and see if anything happens. Then when nothing happens, you can stop worrying about a brain tumor or having a stroke. You won’t have to go to a shrink either,” Sadie said, her voice cracking with anxiety.

  Lily reached out to pick up the amulet and then pulled her arm back.

  “Maybe you’re supposed to make a wish. I bet that’s it, Lily. Wish for Matt to come back. Do it!”

  Lily’s arm snaked out a second time. Before she could change her mind she picked up the pendant and chain and closed her hand into a tight fist. Her eyes wide with fear, she waited for something to happen. She closed her eyes and made her wish. “Nothing.”

  “Then I guess it’s just a bunch of tomfoolery,” Sadie said.

  “Guess so. Maybe it’s different when you actually wear it. Maybe it has to be part of your person. I think we’re both a couple of morons for even thinking this trinket could mean anything.” The words were no sooner out of her mouth when her body jerked forward, and her vision blurred. Her hands reached out to claw at the air around her. She heard Sadie scream for Dennis, felt the pendant slip from her hand to land at her feet. But it was Matt’s voice that snapped her to attention. ‘If you take my clothes, I’ll freeze to death. If you leave me here to die, that will make all of you murderers. You son of a bitch! Take your fucking hands off me!’

  Dennis reached for Lily’s hands and held her steady. Lily heard the pendant slide across the tile floor. No one made a move to pick it up.

  “I think we should sweep it up with the broom and a dustpan and dump it outside in the Dumpster,” Sadie said as she backed away from the spot where the necklace landed.

  “We can’t do that, Sadie. I have to put it back on. It’s how I see Matt. What else do we have to go on? It’s not as though it’s hurting me. I think we proved there’s nothing wrong with me health-wise. It’s paranormal or otherworldly, extrasensory something or other. I wish I knew more about stuff like that.” Lily walked over to where the pendant lay, bent down, picked it up, and slipped it around her neck. She shrugged.

  “While I’m making lunch, tell Dennis about your trip to Natchez Under-the-Hill,” Sadie said. “Let’s hear what he has to say. By the way, are you all plugged in?”

  “I’m good to go right after lunch. Nasty day out there. Cold, too,” Dennis said, his eyes on the pendant hanging around Lily’s neck.

  Lily carefully recited the morning’s events. “Gracie kept whimpering and sniffing at the door of the electronics store. I looked in, and it’s the same room I saw during one of those spells. At first I thought it had something to do with Matt, but you said you didn’t have a room like that. This store looks like a Radio Shack. Later, if you want, we can go take a look. I have no idea what it means. But, if it means nothing, why would it be a vision? So far everything I’ve seen has to do with Matt. I think we need to make a plan and actively start to search for him.”

  “Where? I’m all for anything that gets this show on the road, but where do we start?”

  “That store. It’s better than nothing,” Lily said, craning her neck to stare into the living room at the computers and printers Dennis had lined up. “What do you hope to learn with all that stuff?” she asked, pointing to the living room.

  “I won’t know till I check things out. I’m going to phone the office now. Call me when lunch is ready.” Lily nodded.

  Sadie turned to stare at Lily. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

  “I guess so,” Lily said absentmindedly.

  “How do you suppose he’d be in bed?” Sadie whispered.

  Lily’s head jerked upward. “Don’t you think the question should be, how do you think he’d be in bed?”

  “I bet he’d be spectacular!” Sadie said dreamily, tears dripping down her cheeks from the onion she was peeling.

  “Spectacular is good. But you can’t go to bed with Dennis. You just met him.”

  “I’m not talking about now. Maybe . . . sometime. I get all warm and fuzzy when I’m close to him. Isn’t that strange, Lily?”

  “Rub your hands under water with a stainless-steel spoon or spatula and the onion smell will go away. You can do that if you cut up garl
ic, too. I saw that on Martha Stewart,” Lily said, eyeing the cucumber in Sadie’s hands. “Rub some garlic on the sides of the bowl.” Seeing Sadie’s surprised look, she said, “I watched the show a few times when I was in my nesting mode. I even watched the Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay shows. You’re making that salad all wrong. You’re supposed to rip the lettuce, not slice it and you score the cucumbers and radishes. Carrots should not be in chunks, they should be thinly sliced or shredded. People don’t like to chomp on carrots. Green peppers should be added sparingly because they’re gassy.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Sadie said smartly. “I’ll gladly turn this over to you if you want to do it yourself.”

  “No thank you” Lily said sweetly as she leaned farther back in her chair so she could hear Dennis talking on the phone. She brought her finger to her lips to warn Sadie to be quiet.

  “Well where the hell is he, Meredith? You’re his private secretary. You’re supposed to know where your boss is at all times. Page him. Now!”

  “Ooohhh, I love it when a man growls,” Sadie whispered. Lily rolled her eyes.

  “What do you mean he’s not answering the page? It’s almost noon. When he does show up, ask him how he’d like to move to Oregon in the morning instead of in April,” Dennis snapped irritably. “He has my number.”

  “Well Marcus isn’t in the office. That’s so unheard of it’s suspicious. He never goes out to lunch for fear he’ll miss something. He’s always in by the crack of dawn. I have to assume nothing in the way of a ransom note has come in. He’d call me if that happened. At least I think he would. Do you get a news station here at noon?”

  Lily shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t watch television during the day. Try CNN. Channel 31. Why?”

  “Just a bad feeling I have.”

  Dennis fiddled with the remote until he had the channel he wanted. He waited patiently for the weather report to finish. The top-of-the-hour news would be on in seconds. Lily gasped when she saw her picture spread across the screen. Sadie dropped the red pepper she’d been slicing as all three of them peered at the screen.

  “Goddammit! I knew he was going to do something like this. I would strangle the son of a bitch if he walked through the door right now. Now there’s going to be a feeding frenzy. We need to talk fast and come up with a plan. The newshounds will be on your trail any minute now. Matt has always been news, but the wedding and all will make this a major event. I think, and this is just my opinion, you should make a statement the instant they track you down. Say you both agreed to call off the wedding. As to Matt’s whereabouts, you know nothing. You both agreed to some time apart. It was an eleventh-hour decision on both your parts. Too much is hanging on the company. This is Marcus’s way of pushing for the announcement and the huge bonus that follows it. The bastard isn’t answering the page because he knows we’re an hour behind New York. He’s like Gary Cooper, he likes to do things like this at high noon to get everyone’s attention. Too many people are asleep or getting ready for work for an early-morning news flash. Six o’clock is when people are going home. Noon is when you get the biggest audience. He actually paid for someone to do a survey on that. I’ll fix his ass. Watch this.”

  Lily blinked.

  Sadie picked up the red pepper and washed it off.

  Both girls listened intently as Dennis worked his cell phone. “Personnel,” he barked. He identified himself, rattled off his I.D. number, and said, “Terminate the trash collector and reinstate the old company if they still want the job. If they don’t want it, take bids and find a new company. Do it now. Call their office and do not allow them in the building today. The workers all have pagers and cell phones. No, I’m not just talking about the New York office, they have cousins or uncles or someone who collects trash in Oregon, too. Get rid of all of them. Call me back and fax me their response at this number.

  “It’s a small, nit-picking issue, but it will make Marcus get off his duff. He’ll call me just to tell me what he thinks about it. At least it’s one way of getting his attention, short of going to New York. Would you like me to make some coffee?”

  “Yes, by all means. I think I was supposed to do that, but Sadie and I got to talking. You seem at home in the kitchen, Dennis. How’d that happen?”

  “My sister. When we were younger and our parents were working, it was her job to start dinner. On her busy days the job fell to me. It was either learn or starve. You should taste my Chicken Kiev. I love the smell of perking coffee.”

  Sadie beamed.

  Lily smiled. She continued to smile as Dennis managed to rub shoulders with Sadie standing at the counter near the sink. He snitched a slice of cucumber. Sadie swatted him playfully. The smile on Lily’s face dissolved. Matt always used to snitch pieces of vegetables from the salad bowl. She’d swat him just the way Sadie did. Oh, Matt, where are you? Am I ever going to see you again?

  She fought the urge to touch the pendant hanging around her neck.

  Chapter Seven

  Matt was jerked to wakefulness with a hard jab to his shoulder. It took him a minute to realize someone had covered him with a blanket at some point during the night. How considerate of them. What the hell kind of crooks were these guys? He rolled over onto his back but said nothing. He knew they were untying his leg. That had to mean they were on the move again. Then again, maybe not. It was light outside, he could see thin slivers of light creeping under the door. So far everything had been done under the cloak of darkness. Why, he didn’t know, since he’d seen their faces clearly at the ATM machine.

  “Up and at ’em, big guy. Let’s go. You get three minutes to take a leak, then you trot right back inside. Any funny business and you’ll regret it. Take his shirt and shoes. That’ll get him back inside in a hurry.”

  The light hurt his eyes. Shit, now he was going to get a headache. He could feel it hammering away at the base of his head. He did his best to check out his surroundings as he unzipped his pants. Lily always said stay alert, pay attention to details. Trees, pine mostly. Ground almost frozen. Damn, it was hard to pee and jiggle from one foot to the other. “If I ever get out of this, you guys are going to pay for this,” he muttered.

  “Let’s go, Mr. Starr. We don’t have all day.”

  Any other time, he would have given the voice an argument. Not now, though. He was freezing. He jogged forward and into the brick building. Deserted. Inches of dust and cobwebs. No furniture. The three men were sitting on thick stumps of wood they must have carried in from a woodpile. A laptop was set up on a fourth stump. Obviously the fifth stump was for him. He walked over and sat down. Someone tossed him his shirt and shoes. He put them on gratefully and hugged his arms to his chest. He looked across at the man opposite him, who was flexing his fingers over a computer keyboard. He knew what was coming.

  “Let’s have it, Mr. Starr.”

  There was no point in pretending he didn’t know what they were talking about. He rattled off an account number.”

  “To the best of your knowledge, how much is in this account?”

  “Around $67,000.”

  “Close enough. It’s gone. Next.”

  Matt mumbled a second account number.

  “How much?”

  “I think it’s $121,000.”

  “Close enough. Next.”

  “There’s only one more—$4,500. I don’t know what you expected, but in my opinion this is not worth a kidnapping.”

  “Let’s do the million-dollar one. Spit it out, Mr. Starr.”

  Matt sucked in his breath. He repeated the number of Lily’s account she’d made him memorize.

  “Were you joshing us about that million dollars, Mr. Starr? There’s only $501 in the account.”

  Matt’s eyes popped open. “You must have entered the wrong number. Do it again.”

  “Oh, it was in there, but it’s gone now. It was wired out early this morning to another account. I can’t access it. This isn’t going to get you any brownie points, Mr. Starr.”

&n
bsp; “You can’t hold me responsible for what she does. She’s probably pissed to the teeth that I left her standing at the altar, and she’s probably in the south of France lying on some beach with some tanned hunk. And it’s all your fault, you son of a bitch!”

  “I don’t much care for profanity, Mr. Starr. You could be right. So, let’s move along here and hit your brokerage account.”

  Matt licked at his dry lips. He longed for a cup of strong black coffee. Good-bye twenty-two million dollars. He realized in that one moment he would give up everything he owned to be free of these men. He said the number slowly and distinctly. Please, he prayed, don’t let them figure out there is more than one brokerage account.

  “That’s a nice round sum, Mr. Starr. Next.”

  “There is no next. Everything else is tied up through the company. You need a six-man approval to hit any of those accounts. If you don’t believe me, I’ll give you Dennis Wagner’s number, and he’ll verify it. Don’t be greedy, gentlemen.”

  “If you’re lying to us, we’ll just pay Miss Harper a visit and take it out in trade. Now, is there anything you forgot to tell us?”

  “No, there isn’t,” Matt said.

  “How is it that Mr. Bill Gates made billions and you have a measly few million? Tell me that.”

  “Bill Gates is number one. I’m only number five. Big difference. Now that you transferred all my money, how about giving me a few bucks for some coffee and let me go.”

  One of the men dug around in his pocket and withdrew a five-dollar bill. He wadded it up and tossed it to Matt. “Okay, boys, strip him down and we’re outta here.”

  “What do you mean, strip me down. If you take my clothes, I’ll freeze to death. If you leave me here to die, that will make all of you murderes. You son of a bitch! Take your fucking hands off me!”

  “We’re leaving you food and coffee. You can build a fire in the fireplace. Be sure to open the draft. This place has been abandoned for a long time. You won’t freeze if you stay put. When we get to where we’re going, we’ll call the authorities and have them pick you up. It might take a day or so. If you choose to ignore my advice, then you will be killing yourself. To show you how considerate we are of your welfare, we carried in enough wood to last you two full days. Nice doing business with you.”