Tightrope (Burning Cove #3)(65)

“The tour group is enjoying the tea and cookies,” she said, “but I’m sure there are a few extra in the kitchen. I’ll bring them out to you.”

“Thanks.” Matthias nodded at Vincent. “Hello, Hyde. I’m surprised to see you here this afternoon. Thought you’d be having drinks with one of your Hollywood friends at the Burning Cove Hotel.”

“An actor doesn’t have friends,” Vincent said. “He has rivals and competitors.”

Matthias nodded amiably. “I know what you mean.”

“Yes, I imagine you do,” Vincent said. He looked amused. “The situation is no doubt much the same in your profession.”

“Hard to know who to trust these days,” Matthias agreed.

“Mr. Hyde was kind enough to sign autographs for everyone in the tour group,” Amalie said. “His fans were very excited.”

Matthias raised his brows. “I see. Looks like your cursed mansion tour idea is working out well for both you and Hyde.”

“One takes publicity where one can find it,” Vincent said.





Chapter 44


“You don’t have a plan,” Amalie declared. “What you’ve got is a crazy, dangerous scheme. So many things could go wrong. You and Luther Pell are out of your minds. You’ll both get killed.”

She and Matthias were in the front seat of the Packard. The sleek car was parked in the otherwise empty lot above a secluded beach. The top was down, the evening was balmy, and there was a nearly full moon. It was a setting that would have been perfect for a romantic movie, she thought, maybe one featuring Cary Grant. But Matthias had just described a scene from a film that sounded as if it had been written for Cagney, or maybe Edward G. Robinson, one that involved a ruthless and desperate gangster armed with a lot of guns.

“Just to be clear,” Matthias said, “Luther and me getting killed isn’t part of the plan.”

“Wow. I’m really happy to hear that, of course. Tell me, what makes you think that Smith will fall for this scheme you and Luther have concocted?”

“There is every reason to believe that Smith is a desperate man.”

“You don’t know that.” Amalie spread her hands apart. “You don’t even know who he is.”

“We don’t know his identity, but we know a lot about him,” Matthias said. “It’s a little like understanding how a cipher machine is wired. Once you figure it out, you’ve got a shot at deciphering a message that is encrypted by the device.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Amalie asked quietly.

“If we’re wrong, Smith won’t take the bait,” Matthias said. “He’ll disappear again.”

Amalie contemplated the moonlit ocean. “You think he’ll take the bait, don’t you?”

“If Luther is right about him, he won’t be able to resist,” Matthias said.

“Desperate men are very dangerous. Also unpredictable.”

“I feel like a walk on the beach. How about you?”

She did not want to let him out of her sight, not until she knew he was safe, and maybe not then, either. The more she thought about it the more certain she was that she wanted him close for as long as she could hold on to him.

“A walk sounds good,” she said.

He got out from behind the wheel, went to the back of the car, and opened the trunk. When he came around to her side of the vehicle to open her door, she saw that he had a blanket tucked under one arm.

“I thought we were going to walk,” she said, indicating the blanket.

“This is just in case we find ourselves exhausted by the hike.”

“Must be the engineer in you,” she said, slipping out of the seat.

His fingers closed firmly around her hand. “We are trained to plan ahead for all possible eventualities.”

They walked across the sand to the water’s edge. There they turned and made their way toward the rocky outcropping at the far end of the beach. The soft breeze stirred Amalie’s hair and played with the hem of her trousers. She did not want to talk about the past. The present, with its dangerous scheme to draw Smith out of hiding, had already been discussed. That left the most uncertain topic of all—the future.

“When this situation involving the missing cipher machine is over, will you continue to do consulting work for Luther Pell’s company?” she asked.

“My parents, especially my mother, are pushing me to go home to Seattle and join the family firm.”

“You really don’t want to do that, do you?”

“The thing about my consulting work is that when I’m in the field I am my own boss. I make my own decisions. All Luther cares about is results. If I take the position at my family’s firm, it will be different. I won’t be able to use my talent the way I do now.”

“So you’ll continue taking assignments from Luther?”

“I like the kind of work I do for Luther but I’m tired of being on the road all the time. I’ve spent the past few years living out of suitcases and sleeping in hotel rooms. Some of those hotels were very nice but none of them feels like a home.”

“I spent most of my life on the road, too. I bunked in train cars, not in nice hotels, but it was fine. It was a life that allowed me to fly. I had friends and a family. It wasn’t until I bought the villa and turned it into an inn that I finally discovered what it was like to have a real home. Somewhere along the way I’ve come to realize that even if I could fly again I wouldn’t go back to the circus life. Burning Cove is where I want to be.”