“Leave!”
“Okay, okay, don’t get your dick all bent up,” he snarled, holding his hands out as if to calm me down. “Tomorrow at three. I guess you know better than to stand me up.”
I stood and hurried to meet Ford at the base of the escalator, but could feel Linc’s eyes burning a hole in my back. I hated this. It meant that Linc knew what Ford looked like. The danger was like electricity in the air. I ushered Ford in the opposite direction with some excuse about looking at jewelry for Auggie. By the time I sneaked a look behind me, Linc had disappeared.
I was beside myself and even Ford noticed. He asked me some question and I had no idea how I answered. What was I going to do? What were my options? Somehow, I managed to find the car and Ford and I drove back to the farm. He disappeared to wrap his gifts and Auggie dragged me by the hand into my study.
“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately upon shutting the door.
“Never mind, just trust me.”
“No. We are a couple, you and I, and we’re well past that childish behavior. You’re obviously shaken and you’re going to tell me what’s wrong. Now!”
“Sit down.” She grew alarmed and stared at my face as she felt for a chair nearby and sat. I sat at my desk, my hand on the letter opener, turning it over and over, wishing it were a dagger.
“Ford was upstairs in the mall, doing some personal shopping and I was having coffee on the lower floor. A man approached me. Someone we both know, but you would never expect to see again.”
She was perplexed and not silly enough to begin naming names. “Who?”
“Our brother.”
She froze, holding her breath and then began to laugh. “Oh, very funny, Worth. No, really, who was it?”
I didn’t say a word and she realized I wasn’t joking.
“Linc!” she breathed the word out like it was covered with acid. “But how?”
I stabbed the letter opener into the cover of a nearby book and stood to look out the window at the snow that had begun to fall. “He set it up. He used Jessie to make things look legitimate, but it was some other poor slob in the car with her. Linc doesn’t have any fingerprints on record. All he did was plant a driver’s license on the guy and that was what they went by.”
“Oh, my God! Did he see Ford?” she cried out.
I nodded and her face fell into her hands. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her. “Auggie, we’ll get through this, together. I swear we will. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do, but this is the last time that demon will rise from the dead, I swear.”
“Father?” I heard Ford looking for me and called back.
“We’ll be out in a minute.” I didn’t want him to overhear our conversation and yet this had to be discussed.
“Worth, this is serious danger. The man is supposed to be dead. Yet no one knows but you and now me, that he isn’t. There’s no way to track him; no way to make him accountable. Even if you went to the police, they’d laugh at you. You have no proof.”
“Don’t you think I know all that?” I shouted and then was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, honey. I’m just torn up inside and that was frustration talking.”
“Worth, you and I cannot afford to be bickering. I get that you’re upset, we both are. But creatures like that get their strength from breaking people down. We can’t let him do that to us. We can’t!”
“I know, I know. You’ve got to let me think about this. This is way outside my league.”
“What did he say he wanted?”
“Something about getting his rightful inheritance — the same thing he always wanted. But now there’s no syndicate looking for him. They think he’s dead.”
“Who can we call? Who would know? Bill?”
“Auggie, I don’t know! Let me think. You go out and see what Ford wants. Help him put the packages under the tree and then get him to baking cookies or reading a book or something. I need to make some calls and I don’t want him overhearing me. Act calm, as though nothing is wrong. Can you do that?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure for how long. Come out as soon as you can, will you?”
I nodded.
Auggie opened the study door and I turned toward the window again. I heard her high, hysterical scream and then a thump. I ran to my door and saw Auggie, unconscious on the floor of the foyer. The front door was standing open. I stepped around her long enough to see two sets of prints. One set belonged to a small person — obviously Ford. The other set was a pair of large men’s boots. I didn’t need to imagine who they belonged to. I ran out into the front yard, screaming Ford’s name but the snowy night was silent. There were only footprints leading to the drive and then tracks away from the house. Linc had taken Ford!
I flew to Auggie and picked her up, taking her to the living room sofa as I pulled out my cell phone and called Bill. “Get here, NOW!” I screamed into the phone. I disconnected and called Walter. “You have to come immediately. It’s an emergency. Bring Mother.” My next call was to Brandon Knotts. “We’re in trouble. Auggie needs you now! The estate.” I made one more call. “Earl, Worth here. I need your help. Come to the estate, will you?”
I found a dish cloth and wet it with cold water and wiped Auggie’s face. Her eyes flew open and the terror took only a second to light her eyes. She screamed and began to jump up to run out the door. I held her in place. I had to protect her. “Auggie, listen to me. You must listen to me. He won’t hurt Ford. Ford is his only means of getting what he wants. He’s only of any good if he’s alive and healthy. He won’t hurt him. Now… I’ve made some calls and there are people on the way. I can’t call the police; not until we’ve determined that’s our only route. I want you to promise me you’ll sit right here and not move. I have to go out to the front of the estate and fend off everyone from driving in. I want pure tracks, only Linc’s vehicle and the footsteps outside the door. I have to stop them before they come, do you understand?”
Her eyes were filled with terror. It reminded me of the way Carlos had looked just before I pulled the trigger. I wanted to take the fear from her, but it was eating me at the same time. “Auggie, please, darling, stay here and don’t move. I will be right back and bring help with me.”