Cast An Evil Eye (21 page)

“Get in!” Greg ordered as he boarded the plane and headed in the direction of the cockpit. “Hurry! We don’t have all night!”

Manny stood in back of them, still holding the gun. He followed them into the plane and led them to the seats. “Sit down!” he demanded. He strapped all five of them into the seat belts.

Greg started the engine as Manny joined him in the cockpit. He maneuvered the plane around the others that were parked there. They soon reached the runway, ready for liftoff. The plane headed for the French Alps.

Soon the plane was flying over the white tipped mountains. The sun was just setting, and the tops of the mountains looked as though they’d been iced with the fine touch of an artist’s paint brush. Almost unreal. Almost as unreal as what Hildy wished this whole situation was. This has to be a nightmare! she thought. I’ll wake up any minute and find it’s all untrue. But the drone of the plane’s engine told her this was just wishful thinking. She was living the nightmare all over again, and it was very real.

It seemed forever, yet all too soon, when they reached their destination. Greg landed the plane on the mesa outside the lodge and turned off the engine. Together he and Manny undid the seat belts on their five hostages.

They pulled them up roughly out of their seats and pushed them toward the door of the plane. Greg yanked off their gags. “Out of the plane!” he commanded.

“How can we keep our balance with our hands tied behind our backs?” Jay asked Greg.

“Untie their hands!” Greg ordered Manny. “They’re no threat to us out here in the wilderness.”

Once their hands were untied they exited the plane one by one.

“Don’t try anything funny!” Manny told them. “I’ve still got the gun aimed at you. One false move and you’re all dead.”

Hildy glared at Greg. “Why don’t you two take off those stupid masks?” she snorted. “We know who you are.”

Greg didn’t answer. Instead, he walked to the lodge door and opened it. “Inside!” he ordered.

As Hildy walked in she looked around. Nothing had changed. It was just the same as when she was held prisoner there years ago by Greg, Sr. All the fears and memories washed over her—memories she thought were gone forever. But here they were again!

There were some easy chairs and a sofa in the room. “Sit down,” Greg ordered. “We wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable while you die, now would we?” His voice was fraught with deep sarcasm.

They pushed their hostages into the chairs, and Manny tied them up, while Greg took his turn holding the gun.

Cammie spoke up for the first time since they were taken captive. “Greg—why are you doing this? You’ve got what you want. You know you’ll go back to prison if you’re caught!”

Greg laughed. “Oh, Cammie—still the same little naive Cammie!” he taunted. “You don’t get it, do you? You know too much. We won’t get caught. No one will know you’re here. You’ll never be able to interfere with our plans.”

Manny began to fidget nervously. “We’d better get going,” he warned Greg.

Greg walked to the door to join Manny, when Jeremy stopped him. “I’m curious,” he said. “What did you promise Manny if he helped you?”

Greg’s eyes were cold as steel as he answered Jeremy’s question. “He’ll be my private aide with a huge salary. He’ll be set for life and live in a castle.”

“What happened to Gabe?” Cammie asked. “I thought no one could take his place.”

“Gabe died in prison. He never would have died if you hadn’t put him there!”

“He wouldn’t have been there if he hadn’t broken the law!” Jeremy retorted.

Cammie snorted as she addressed Manny. “You’re the naive one! What makes you think you can trust Greg? He’s the biggest liar I’ve ever met! Watch your back or you might find a knife in it!”

“You shut up!” Greg yelled. “I don’t have to listen to this!”

He turned to Manny. “Gag them again!”

After making sure they were safely tied up and gagged again, Greg and Manny walked out the door. Their trudging footsteps could be heard as they plodded through the snow. The loud sound of the engine became muffled and faded to just a hum, then silence, as the plane lifted off the mesa and disappeared in the distance.

Gregory Wilcox, Jr. and Manny were on their way back to Paris, leaving their hostages stranded in the remote lodge where they were sure no one would find them.

CHAPTER XXXI
 

A
t seven-thirty the next morning Zack and Renee walked into the lobby of La Grande Veue Hotel to meet their friends for breakfast.

They headed straight for the restaurant.

They weren’t there.

Zack walked over to the courtesy phone and called Hildy’s and Jay’s room.

No answer.

He dialed Cammie’s and Jeremy’s room.

No answer.

No answer in Glen’s room, either.

He walked back to Renee who was waiting in the lobby. An anxious frown puckered his forehead and his heart pounded with an ominous sense of doom. “There’s no answer in any of their rooms,” he told her.

They sat near the elevators and watched. Ten minutes went by. The elevators came down and went up. People got off and got on. No sign of Hildy, Jay, Cammie, Jeremy, or Glen.

Zack went over to the courtesy phone and tried their rooms again.

No answer.

More anxious by the moment, Zack approached the desk. “Pardon, Monsieur,—” He was so deeply disturbed that for a moment he forgot what French he knew, and he struggled.

The clerk smiled. “How can I help you, Sir?”

“Oh.” Zack had forgotten for a moment that the clerks in the large hotels all spoke English. “I was just wondering if you had seen either Lord and Lady Stuart or Count and Countess Dubonnet this morning,” he continued. “Or Glen Macdonald. We were supposed to meet the five of them here for breakfast, but they don’t answer their phones. And they’re not in the dining room.”

“I will have the maid check their rooms,” the clerk told him.

“Sit down in the lobby, si’l vous plait. I will call you as soon as I have heard from the maid.”

Zack sat down and fidgeted. The uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach persisted. He couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was because of what happened so many years ago when Hildy was kidnapped by Gregory Wilcox, Sr. Or when they were trying desperately to rescue Cammie from Gregory, Jr. It was the same deep feeling of anxiety. For once he hoped his intuition was wrong.

Renee noticed Zack’s edginess. “What is it, Zack?”

“I don’t know. I have an awful feeling—”

“—in the pit of your stomach.” She finished the sentence for him. “I have the same feeling. I’ve tried to shake it, but I can’t. Something is terribly wrong.”

They looked at the clerk who was talking on the phone at the desk, and rushed over just as he motioned to them.

They each took a deep breath, preparing for what they both knew he was going to say.

“I am sorry, Monsieur, but the maid tells me that the beds in all three rooms haven’t been slept in. Are you sure they were staying here last night? They’re registered, but—”

Zack held up his hand. He had heard enough. “Merci, Monsieur.”

He and Renee turned away and sat down again in the lobby to think. After a few moments, Zack turned to her. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered. “This is what happened forty-one years ago. Hildy took a walk to clear her head. She never returned to the hotel.” He rose suddenly and spoke with determination. “I’m going to look on the pathway by the Seine. I don’t know why this is coming to me, but maybe—just maybe they went there last night for a walk.”

“I’m coming with you!” Renee stated. “If something has happened to them I should know!”

They left the hotel and hailed a cab. It took only five minutes to arrive at the Seine. Zack paid the driver, and together he and Renee sped down the walkway by the River. The usual casual strollers were out for their morning exercise.

The air was crisp, though still slightly damp with morning dew. As they walked along they saw nothing that looked unusual, but their intuition kept urging them on.

Finally they reached the lonely area where Zack, years ago, had found Hildy’s and Roger’s blood on the leaves and Greg’s chloroform soaked handkerchief with his initials. This time there was no blood or initialed handkerchief, but suddenly Renee took a sharp breath, and Zack knew she had found something.

In the sunlight behind some leaves on the bushes something shiny sparkled up at her. She reached down and picked up the piece of jewelry that Hildy had worn last night—a necklace she had admired. Now she realized why it had made such an impression on her—why it had stamped itself so indelibly on her brain. “This is a valuable clue!” she exclaimed. She held it up so Zack could see it.

As Zack looked further he found a watch that Hildy had given Jay. He turned it over. Jay’s initials were on it!

“Oh, no!” he muttered. “The lodge! History is repeating itself! No! It can’t be! The same lodge—” He looked at Renee. “No! This is too much of a coincidence!”

Renee was silent for a moment. “Is it?” she asked. “Zack—I think they left these as a clue! Hildy told me this necklace was a gift from Jay on their first wedding anniversary.”

“And Hildy gave Jay this watch—”

“—on their first anniversary!” Renee finished his sentence. “Hildy and Jay left the necklace and watch to alert us! It makes sense! They wouldn’t leave these here unless they were hoping we’d find them. Does Gregory, Jr. have access to the lodge?”

“Greg died without a will! Everything would have gone to his son! He must have rented a plane and flown them to the lodge!” He grabbed Renee’s hand and pulled her along the path. “Come on!” he said. “We’re going to charter a plane and fly there!”

They reached the place where they had left the cab only minutes ago. They stopped at the hotel just long enough for Zack to pick up some Danish pastries and two thermos bottles of hot coffee. They hadn’t eaten since last night. He bought plenty of pastries for the others. He knew when he found them in the lodge that they’d be famished.

Renee waited in the cab.

Zack was back in less than five minutes and handed a pastry to Renee. “Here. Eat this. We need to keep up our strength.” He addressed the driver. “Please take us to the nearest airplane hangar where they rent planes.”

They arrived in about twenty minutes. Zack filled out the necessary papers and in less than ten minutes he had rented the plane.

“Do you have some warm jackets that I could rent?” Zack asked the clerk. “One is for a lady. I’m flying the plane to the Alps near the Swiss border.”

The man behind the counter stared at Zack. “Didn’t you rent a plane from me once before?”

Zack was stunned. “That was over forty years ago! You have some memory!”

The man smiled. “You had a gendarme with you. Did everything turn out all right?”

Zack’s voice was grim. “It did then,” he replied, “but I’m afraid we have a similar situation.”

The man hesitated, thinking. “How long do you expect to be gone?” he asked.

“No more than six hours,” Zack told him.

“I’ll tell you what. My wife and I sometimes fly to the Alps. It will be cold there—maybe even snowing. We have some parkas and boots that we wear. I’ll lend them to you.”

The man went to a closet and took down two parkas and two pairs of hip boots. “Wear them in good health,” he said as he handed them to Zack.

“Merci, Monsieur. We’ll return them in perfect condition.”

“I’m sure you will. Have a safe trip. I hope everything turns out all right.”

Zack took the warm clothing and went outside. “Here,” he said, handing Renee a jacket and some boots. “You’ll need these when we get there. It will be cold.” He helped her into the plane, and they were on their way.

The autumn air was crisp and dry, and the temperature was in the high sixties when they took off. But soon they flew into dark, stormy clouds. It was snowing. Zack switched on the windshield wipers.

Renee sat beside Zack in the copilot’s seat to act as lookout. After all these years Zack remembered the reading on the compass and told Renee what to watch for.

Renee fed him a Danish and poured him a cup of coffee while he piloted the plane.

They had been flying for about two hours through a raging snow storm. Neither one of them could see any ground.

Suddenly the clouds cleared and Renee looked at the compass. “We’re here,” she announced calmly.

Zack looked out the window and saw the mesa where he had landed before. Very carefully he brought the plane down in front of the lodge and turned off the engine. Before deplaning they donned the parkas and boots to prepare for the cold and snow.

Zack reached in back and grabbed the portable ladder and they climbed out of the plane. Together they trudged through the snow up to the lodge. The snow was deep and they were grateful for the warm jackets and boots. They struggled up to the front door and knocked.

No answer.

Zack pushed the door open and walked in. What they saw was no surprise to either one of them.

Hildy, Jay, Jeremy, Cammie, and Glen were all propped up—two in chairs, and three on the sofa, tied up and gagged.

Renee rushed over to Hildy, then to Cammie, and untied them.

Zack swore under his breath as he did the same for Jay, Jeremy, and Glen.

“Gregory flew you here?” Renee asked them.

“He and Manny!” Jeremy confirmed.

“They took us at gunpoint.” Cammie didn’t try to hide her disgust. “Gregory is up to his old tricks!”

Hildy threw her arms around Zack. “I knew you’d find us!”

Zack handed Jay his watch, and Renee fastened Hildy’s necklace around her neck.

“I think you should know,” Jeremy told him. “Greg forced me to sign a document, giving up my title and ordering the authorities to reinstate him as Count Francois II.”

“My God!” Zack exclaimed. “They’ll kill Courtney as soon as they get back to Paris! Why did you do that?”

“I had no choice. He threatened to shoot Cammie and Hildy if I didn’t.”

“Bastard!” Zack had all he could do to stay calm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said in an urgent tone. “We have to get back to Paris ASAP and try to save Courtney. There are Danish pastries and coffee on the plane. You must be starved. I’ll go first and warm up the engines while Renee brings my jacket and boots back to you, Jay. You can carry Hildy out to the plane. Then Renee can return with the jacket and boots for Jeremy, and he can carry Cammie. As soon as Renee brings the jacket and boots to Glen, we’ll be on our way.”