Blue Willow (66 page)

“Where is Hopewell?” Little Sis asked, her voice small and strained.

“He was gonna take me to the sheriff. Held a gun on me. Didn’t have the guts to use it.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I beat the shit out of him.”

Little Sis moaned. Lily saw the distant glow of the lamps at the estate’s gatehouse, a faint light around a bend in the road. Joe saw it, too, and leaned back. “Now, you listen to me good, Lily When we get to the gate, you better damned sure make certain we get past the guard without him suspectin’ nothing.”

It was the bleakest moment, a flash of resistance so overwhelming that Lily stomped on the brake. “No.”

She heard the ugly, muffled click of the pistol’s hammer. “I’ll do it,” Joe said softly. “Don’t push me.”

“Tell me why we’re going to Blue Willow.”

“If you don’t shut up and go on, I’ll kill both of you and still find a way to get in. At least this way, you give your man a chance to see me coming. Maybe he can even make things right—talk his way out of trouble. The other way, I just slip up in the woods and wait for him to step outside, and I put a bullet in him.”

Lily pressed the gas pedal again. The truck crept along. She was screaming inside, working on the cold numbness of battle, alert and ready, and she forced herself to think rather than feel.

Little Sis blurted, “Your quarrel’s not with Artemas! It’s with his brother, James! It was James who got your hopes up!”

Lily bit her tongue. Could she protect Artemas by turning Joe’s revenge toward James? James had brought this terrible situation down on them. James should be the one to pay, not Artemas. And finally, she knew she had no choice. She would save Artemas any way she could.

“Yes, it was James,” she agreed. “Artemas’s brother is the
one
you want to confront. He’s the
son
of a bitch who schemed without any consideration for you
or
me. He held out all sorts of fantastic promises to you, when he
knew
the whole thing would fall apart as soon as the truth came out. He didn’t care if you got caught in the middle. It doesn’t matter to him that your dreams and hopes are ruined because of your father’s change of heart. There’s no point in you hating Artemas. It’s James you want. But James isn’t even here. He’s … in New York. He left for New York tonight.”

Little Sis gasped at the lie but added dully, “That’s right. You should go to New York and find that bastard.”

“Ladies, ladies,” Joe said, giving the word a filthy lilt. “Colebrooks are thick with each other. Hurt one, you hurt ’em all. And I’m gonna make ’em all hurt.”

They were at the gate. Lily looked at the neat little stone house and tall iron willows with despair. Joe said softly, “You get us in, or there’ll be blood everywhere.”

“I’ll have to give the guard the names of my guests. It’s
a rule. He’ll be suspicious if I argue.” That was another lie. She had the same privileges as Artemas or his family members. The guard would never question her. But he would, as a matter of routine, call the house and alert Mr. Upton to open the front doors. And Mr. Upton would relay her arrival to Artemas.

“You think of something safe to tell him,” Joe warned.

She rolled down her window as the guard walked out. Lupa bounded out with him and leaped up, planting her paws on the truck’s door, her tail wagging wildly. The guard raised his brows at Lily’s unfamiliar vehicle but said politely, “Hello, Mrs. Porter.” Seeing Little Sis, he brightened and said, “Why, and hello to you, Sissy. I’ve been reading that book on psychokinesis you sold me, but I still can’t bend any spoons by looking at them.”

“Mind over matter is a capricious thing,” Little Sis replied grimly. “It takes faith.”

He laughed. “At least I can open these gates for you.” He fumbled with the remote control on his belt.

Lily stifled a flash of panic. If she blurted out information he hadn’t requested, Joe would immediately suspect her motives. Lupa whined and scratched the truck’s door, accustomed to being invited wherever Lily went. Lily’s breath rattled in her throat. “Lupa! Stop clawing the finish off Mr. Halfman’s truck.”

Halfman
. The name of the specter from her family’s past, mysterious, a harbinger of doom. It came to her as if the evil had always been waiting at the edge of her mind to destroy her dreams, as it had destroyed Elspeth MacKenzie’s future with the immigrant English china artisan she had loved so dearly, the man whose name and legacy had finally come full circle in Artemas. Halfman had returned.

“Mr. Halfman, I’m sorry about this damned dog,” Lily continued. She put an arm out and shoved Lupa down. Lupa’s tail drooped. Lily glared at the guard. “I thought I told you to keep her inside the gatehouse. If she gets run over, I’ll have your job. I’ve warned you before. You never listen.”

He blinked in astonishment, because she’d never spoken to him with anything less than courtesy or asked him to keep Lupa before. “Ma’am?”

“Now she’s put scratches in Mr. Halfman’s door. Just open the damned gates and get her out of the way.”

He grabbed Lupa’s ruff and backed off. The gates slid open with slow grace. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Porter!” He glanced at Joe. “I apologize, Mr. Halfman.”

Lily scowled at him. “You’ll be even sorrier after I tell Mr. Colebrook how incompetent you are.”

“Mrs. Porter, you’re mistaken. I’m sorry!”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it.” She gunned the engine and drove up the paved lane into the woods. Her pulse hammered in her throat.
Please, God, let him be so upset he tells Mr. Upton every detail And let Mr. Upton tell Artemas
.

The estate’s forest closed in around them.

Artemas kept the sleek black phone to his ear and paced in front of the doors to the loggia. “Could you try again, operator?”

“Sir, the line is out of order or the phone has been left off the receiver. I can’t get through.”

He told himself it meant nothing, but not being able to call Maude’s house stirred a sense of foreboding he couldn’t shake. James must be there by now, talking with Lily. Artemas couldn’t ignore the protective instincts of a lifetime. Tonight, burdened with so much evidence that those instincts had failed him with Elizabeth, Julia, and James, he was more determined than ever.

He wouldn’t risk failing Lily too. He’d go to Maude’s, check on the situation, but discreetly attempt to appear casual about it. Lily wouldn’t be fooled, but she’d understand.

Frowning, he thanked the operator and cut the connection, then strode out of the gallery. He went to the entrance hall, intent on telling Mr. Upton to have a car brought around to the front.

“Artemas?” He turned at the soft sound of Alise’s voice. She came down the grand staircase, floating, it seemed, in
a pale silk robe that reflected just a hint of color from the Tiffany skylight at the dome of the entrance hall. It was a lovely sight, as if she were moving through a rainbow, and her gentleness only made him angrier at James.

She halted at the landing, looking puzzled. “I woke from my nap and called downstairs to find James. Mr. LaMieux said he’s gone into town.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew. He’s gone to see Lily, at her aunt’s house.”

The barely concealed tension in his voice alerted her. Alise raised a hand to her throat. Her eyes darkened with distress. “Is everything all right?”

“I assume he told you what he’d been planning to do to Lily.”

She shut her eyes, then looked at Artemas with a sheen of tears in them. “Yes. When he called me in London yesterday.” She stepped forward quickly, holding her hands out in supplication. “I know how horrible it must have sounded to you. But he’s changed so much. If you could have lived with him, with his confusion and pain, the way I have for nearly two years, and then heard the difference in his voice yesterday, and then today, today, after I arrived, when we”—she hesitated, her reluctance to disclose James’s private moments apparent in her eyes—“oh, Artemas, he’s very different from before.”

Artemas couldn’t bring himself to tell her that his fury and disappointment seemed endless right now. “He’s gone to apologize to Lily. His scheming may have ruined her business relationship with Mr. Estes permanently—and worse, her chances of recovering her family property someday. A great deal will depend on how Lily feels about that.”

“I understand, but please, give him a chance.”

“I’ve told him he’s not welcome here at the estate for now. He’ll be leaving for Atlanta tonight.”

“Oh, Artemas,
no!
”

“You’re a much-loved part of this family, and you’ve done nothing wrong. You may stay if you wish.”

“I’d never do that, without James.” She clutched the ornate
wooden balustrade with both hands and gave him a beseeching look. “All these years—ever since I was a little girl who tagged along after James—I’ve always seen how strong the bond was between you. I won’t believe it’s broken.”

Artemas looked at her wearily. “Right now, I honestly don’t know if it will ever be the same.”

Crying, she turned and went back upstairs. Artemas watched in grim, miserable silence. The swift opening of a small door off the entrance hall drew his attention.

“Oh, marvelous, sir. I was afraid LaMieux would never locate you.” Mr. Upton strode out of the anteroom that served as his office. Looking agitated, the butler said, “Sir, I’ve just had a very strange call from Louis, at the front gate.”

Artemas regarded him with dull interest. “What?”

“Mrs. Porter came through a few minutes ago. She said some very bizarre things to Louis. Sir, Mrs. Porter has always been the most courteous person, even last spring. That’s why Louis is so puzzled.”

Artemas’s first thought was that her conversation with James had gone terribly wrong, and she was upset. But she would never take it out on a member of the estate’s staff. “What did she say?”

“She accused Louis of not caring for her dog properly. She called him incompetent.”

“What had he done?”

“Nothing, sir. And she made it sound as if he’d treated the dog carelessly before. But he’s never kept the dog for her before.”

Bewildered, Artemas scowled and went to the massive front doors, sliding the bolt and wrenching one of the ornate handles. He’d wait for her on the front steps. “I’ll take care of this. Call Louis back and tell him not to worry. I’m sure she didn’t mean to insult him.”

Artemas pulled one door back. Cold, snow-scented air curled around him. The outside lamps cast ethereal light on the apron of stone landing and the shallow, wide steps that led down to the cobblestoned courtyard. Beyond the
white expanse of the front lawn the entrance drive curved into the forest. He searched the dark wall of trees and listened for sounds of her approach.

Mr. Upton followed him anxiously. “There’s something else, sir.”

Artemas pivoted and stared at him. “Yes?”

“She wasn’t driving her own vehicle. Louis said it was an old pickup truck belonging to one of her passengers.”

“Passengers? Who? Did he know them?”

“One of them, sir. Her aunt’s sister. The lady everyone calls, uhm, Little Sis.”

“And the other one? The owner of the truck?”

“A, uhm, Mr.
Hoffman
, I believe Louis said. She was very upset because Louis allowed the dog to jump up on the door of the gentleman’s vehicle. Though Mr. Hoffman seemed unconcerned. Frankly, sir, Louis was a little concerned about Mr. Hoffman’s appearance. I hope you don’t think this is forward of me to mention it, sir, but, well, Louis isn’t one to comment on a guest’s appearance unless it worries him.”

“How did Louis describe him?”

Mr. Upton shifted uncomfortably. “Louis said, and I quote, If I were in a Seven-Eleven late at night, and that guy walked in, I’d get my ass out of there before I got robbed.’ ”

Artemas went very still. But reason argued with vigilance. This Hoffman was probably some local man Lily had known since grade school, someone like Timor Parks’s hulking but benign sons. The Parks boys’ appearance might send customers hurrying out of a convenience store too.

“
Hoffman
?” Artemas repeated, musing over it. “I’ve never heard that name.” He shook his head in dismissal and went down the steps. The first, faint rumble of an engine came to him, from beyond the distant wall of trees. “No need for you to stand out here in the cold too,” he called to Mr. Upton. “I’ll usher them into the house.”

Mr. Upton gave a slight bow and turned back to the open door. But then he halted, tapped his forehead and
said, “Ah! Excuse me, sir. It wasn’t a Mr. Hoffman. She said his name was
Halfman
. Mr. Halfman.”

Lily shivered with hope when she saw the house. There was no one on the steps. The looming walls and windows on either side of the entrance were in deep shadow extending out to the barren areas where the gardens had been in the old days, then merging with the darkness of the woods.

Only the steps and the wide stone landing were bathed in light, creating an eerie sense that a bright stage had been set. Her worst fear had been that she’d find Artemas waiting for her there, unsuspecting. Had her warning gotten through? Had he interpreted it accurately? Or was this a false reprieve? Perhaps Elizabeth, Michael, and Cass had returned. It was possible that he and the family were involved in another round of intense conversations about their childhood, and he couldn’t break away.

She feared that dapper little Mr. Upton would swing one of the doors open at any second and come out to greet her. She slowed the truck to a crawl. Little Sis sat rigidly, mashed tight to Lily’s side, and Lily felt her tremors. Joe was staring at the house, his eyes half-shut, his face contorted with preparation and disgust. “You’re gonna get me into the house,” he told Lily “The three of us are gonna walk up to the door, and I’ll be back of ol’ Sissy here, and you better say all the right things again, Lily.”

Lily stopped at the base of the steps and cut the engine. The silence ticked in her nerves like a time bomb. She braced her hands on the steering wheel and was very still. The dilemma was tearing her apart. She could not escort this evil into the center of Artemas’s family. She thought of Elizabeth, Michael, Cass, even James. And of Little Sis. But always, first and last, of Artemas.