Catherine's Cross (38 page)

Jenks looked up from her desk as the children came in to the classroom. She greeted them as they entered. Some of the children had just finished breakfast in the cafeteria, and they were involved in conversations in pairs or in small groups.

Jenks looked down at her roll and noticed a familiar name—Amanda Stevens. No sooner had she read the name than she glanced up to see the happy face of her summer reading friend.

“Our teacher told us you were going to be here today. I was so excited when I found out.”

“Thank you, Amanda. I'm glad to be here.”

“Miss Jenkins, I've got something to show you.”

She removed from her backpack a letter and opened it on the teacher's desk.

“What's this?”

“Do you remember when we sailed our boats from my Grammie's dock back during the summer?”

“Yes, I do.”

“This is a letter from the boy who found my boat and read my poem. His name is Charles Cain and he lives near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. He found my boat in the ocean two weeks after we sailed them.”

“Amanda, that's wonderful!”

“Yes, ma'am. We're pen pals now, and we write to each other. One day I'd like to go to Cape Hatteras and see what it looks like. Charles said that the Wright Brothers flew their first airplane from Kill Devil Hills. That's near his home.”

“Yes, that's true. I'm so excited that someone found your bottle boat. Now you know ‘where go the boats!'”

“He wrote me that Kill Devil Hills got its name from when there were ship wreckers. These bad people would hang lanterns around the necks of nags and walk them up and down the beach. It was dark, so the ships thought the nags were other ships floating in between them and land, so it looked like they had lots of space to sail in. Then they sailed right into the reefs. Nags are the same as mules, that's what they called them then.”

“So that's how Nags Head, North Carolina, got its name?”

“I think so. I got a book from the library about it. When the ships got wrecked on the rocks, the bad people would go out and steal the cargo. They stole the rum and hid it in the sand dunes. Charles said that the English called rum Kill Devil so that's why the hiding place is named Kill Devil Hills.”

“Wow, you've learned some very interesting history from your pen pal.”

Amanda beamed with a tremendous grin and folded the letter, returning it to her backpack.

“What did you write about to Charles?”

“I wrote him about how we came to launch the boats, and I told him about you.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes, ma'am, I told him how you picked me up from my Grammie's so I didn't miss my reading, and how you took the time to work with me.”

Jenks took Amanda's hand in hers. “I enjoyed every minute of it.”

The bell rang indicating the beginning of the school day, and Amanda took her seat in the front row.

As Jenks began their lessons, two boys were talking in the rear of the room. Amanda turned and looked at them. Placing her fingers to her lips, she said emphatically, “You get quiet back there!”

The boys looked in her direction and then became silent as they gave Jenks their full attention. Jenks looked at Amanda; she knew she had a loyal ally in this little girl.

After school, Jenks checked on Gigi's house. There were three real estate agents' cards on the kitchen table. She concluded that the showings had not generated any interest since Agnes had not called her about an offer.

When she reached the Walker's property, Jenks could hear the sound of the piano before she came inside. Entering through the back door off the kitchen, she glanced into the living room and saw that Seth was the pianist. She came up behind him as he continued to play. Before she reached him, he turned around and winked at her.

“How did you know I was behind you?”

“You're too noisy. You'd never make it as an Indian.”

She bent over him and kissed him on the forehead. “You were playing so beautifully, I thought you were Dr. Walker.”

“They're not here. They decided to visit Savannah this weekend.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, they have a favorite hotel in the downtown they like to stay in . . . the Mansion on Forsyth.”

“Interesting.”

“The staff is crazy about the Walkers, and they always invite Dr. Walker to play the piano in the Bösendorfer Lounge.”

“Bösendorfer?”

“It's a magnificent piano made in Austria.”

“I see,” Jenks said as she massaged the back of Seth's neck. She could feel the swollen area where Frank Hiller had slammed the steel pole into the back of his head. “How are you feeling this afternoon?”

“No headaches—third day in a row without any pain.”

“I'm so glad.”

“How was your day in school?”

“You wouldn't believe it, but Amanda Stevens was in my class.”

Seth looked at her with slight confusion. “Jenks, I'm sorry, but who is Amanda Stevens?”

She realized that Seth was still having memory issues and she reminded him, “Amanda is the little girl I helped with her reading this past summer.”

“Oh yes, I remember now.”

Jenks sat down on the piano bench beside Seth and asked him to continue to play. She watched his strong hands on the piano keyboard and listened to him perform several compositions.

“I see you haven't forgotten how to play the piano.”

He faced her on the bench and their eyes met and locked on each other's. “We haven't been intimate since we were both hurt,” Jenks said.

“Uh-oh, your eyes are turning green—they're almost catlike. What have you got in mind?”

She ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair and then kissed him on the lips. He put his arms around her, returning the kiss, only with more power.

“I want you so badly,” she murmured with deep desire.

“I think carrying you into the bedroom is out of the question right now.”

“You don't have to carry me. I can walk,” she said, standing up from the piano bench. She helped him up by the elbow and handed him his walking cane.

As she led him to his bedroom, she whispered in a calm voice, “I'll be gentle.”

Opening the door, he said, “You promise?”

“Yes, sir.”

Once inside his bedroom, Jenks pulled Seth's shirt out of his pants and unbuttoned it. Her hands roamed his chest, massaging his muscles. She placed her tongue on one of his nipples and caressed it vigorously. He gasped for breath and she took his hand, pulling him down onto his bed. Her hands went to his pants and unzipped his blue jeans, continuing to touch him passionately.

“What's gotten into you?” he asked, gasping for air.

“I'm crazy about you,” she responded with breathless desire.

A low moan escaped his lips and he whispered, “Just keep proving it . . . just keep proving it.”

That evening after dinner, Jenks sat down on the living room couch and motioned for Seth to put his head in her lap. She bent over and kissed him on the forehead while rubbing his temples. Kissing him again, she massaged his head and ran her fingers through his curls. “I don't want you to cut your hair in a military style anymore.”

“Why is that?”

“I think you look sexy with the waves in your hair, and I like running my fingers through it.”

“I see.”

Jenks turned on the television that had been put in the living room for Seth to watch while he rested on the couch. Searching through the channels, she commented, “I thought I saw in the paper that
Casablanca
was on tonight.” She picked up the Life and Style section of the newspaper and read through the listings for the evening's television programs.

“Here it is—on Turner Classic Movies.” She used the remote control device and changed the channel. The movie had already begun, and the scene was set in Rick's Café Américain.

As Jenks started to put the newspaper down, her eye was caught by the photograph of a beautiful blonde. The caption read: “Italian Countess Maria Gavriella in New York to participate in a fund raiser benefiting refugees in war-torn Sudan.”

Jenks stared at the photo and gasped. She tried to catch her breath. Seth sat up on an elbow and asked, “What's wrong?”

“Look at the necklace she's wearing in this photo!”

She handed the newspaper to Seth and his eyes grew large as he studied the photograph. He stared at Jenks. “It couldn't be.”

“I think it is,” Jenks responded, still in shock.

The Countess Maria Gavriella was wearing a gold cross with red stones that was virtually identical to the Petersburg Cross.

“My God—how can we find out about the cross she's wearing?”

“The New York State Police. Jenks, give me your cell phone. I'm going to call Captain Barrett.”

Seth found out the next day from the New York police that the countess and her husband were staying at the Plaza Hotel. When questioned about the cross by the state police, the countess stated that she and her husband had recently purchased the crucifix and a gold-beaded necklace from a dealer of rare antiquities in St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. The dealer's name: Frederick Augustin.

Within several days, the countess was shown a copy of the video with Gigi holding the cross beside her face. In conversations with the police, the countess stated that Augustin had authenticated the cross from a series of portraits on display in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, that showed Catherine the Great wearing the same crucifix. The initials of the jeweler were displayed on the back of the cross,
AGK
, for Aleksi Gregori Kartashkin. Augustin further authenticated the piece by showing them Kartashkin's unique method of beginning each letter with a double curl at the base, the defining validation of the artist's work.

The New York State Police, armed with a subpoena, were planning to take possession of the Petersburg Cross, but after their second visit to the countess, she and her husband took the first flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Rome, Italy. After their departure, a Park Avenue attorney by the name of Richard Scarborough contacted the New York State Police and said that he would be the countess's legal counsel in the matter. He explained that the countess was attempting to rectify the matter with Frederick Augustin and since a large sum of money was at stake, she asked for patience in the matter. In an e-mail correspondence to the New York State Police, Scarborough included Augustin's address and phone number in St. Thomas.

When Seth told Jenks of the countess's departure back to Italy, she was livid. “The woman knows that my sister died over the discovery of the Petersburg Cross, but she runs like a coward back home.”

“The fact that they paid Augustin over two million dollars for the piece may have something to do with her behavior. I doubt she wants to give it up.”

“The cross is of secondary importance to me. I'm going to pay Mr. Augustin a visit. I want to know where Frank Hiller went.”