Dashing Through the Snow (25 page)

“Yeah -- ” Smith looked over Lily’s shoulder.
“You think this is our guy?”

Lily turned to see a man of medium height
with dark hair and glasses wearing a white lab coat standing about
three feet away from them. He stood in the entrance to the
restaurant looking around. “Only one way to find out,” Lily
murmured. She waved at the man to get his attention. “Hi. Are you
Mr. Ramirez?”

The man nodded and walked over to their
table. “Yes, I’m Alvin Ramirez.” He held out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Lily Carstairs and this is Smith
Cameron.” They each shook his hand. “Please have a seat, Mr.
Ramirez. Can we get you anything?” Lily asked after he was
seated.

“No, I don’t have much time.” Taking a snowy
white folded handkerchief, he wiped sweat from his brow.

“Are you all right?” Smith asked.

“Yes, just fine,” the other man said
hurriedly. “Just an upset stomach, but thank you for asking. Now, I
understand from my boss that you have questions about the
Golddigger’s Folly. You question whether or not it is safely within
the museum?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Lily said. “You see, we
believe it could have been stolen --”

“Impossible. We have very tight security and
I have seen it with my own eyes just this morning.”

“You have?” Lily asked and leaned closer to
him. “Are you sure?”

Still wiping sweat from his brow, Mr. Ramirez
straightened in his chair. “What are you implying?”

Surprised, Lily pulled back. “Nothing. I was
just wondering if you could have been mistaken.”

“One does not mistake the Golddigger’s Folly
for anything else. It is a rare gem.”

“We’re glad it’s safe,” Smith responded
before Lily could say anything. “Would it be possible for us to see
it?”

“Certainly not.” The other man looked
shocked. “Why?”

“It’s just that my friend here has a weakness
for gems, and she’s never had the opportunity to see that one.”

“Yes. I’ve seen all the other famous ones:
the Hope Diamond, the --”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow it. It will be
on exhibit in January with our other rare gems. You’ll just have to
wait until then to see it.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Lily said excitedly. “I
heard about that. When does the exhibit open?”

“The pre-show will take place on the sixth
and it will open to the public officially on the seventh.”

“Great. I’ll be here. You must be excited
about it -- a brand new show for the first time in how many
years?”

Mr. Ramirez sniffed. “I don’t know. I’ve been
here for a year and a half and there hasn’t been a new show in all
that time. As for this new show coming up in January, we’d be
better off without it. It’s all just a lot of nonsense.”

Smith frowned. “I would think a new show
would be a good thing since it would invigorate ticket sales. Why
is that bad?”

“I’ve said enough already. Is there anything
else you need?”

“You’re being very cooperative, Mr. Ramirez,
thank you,” Lily said.

He looked away from her. “I’m only doing as I
was told. If it were up to me I wouldn’t be here wasting my time.
I’ve got more important matters to attend to.” He began to push his
chair back.

“Well, as long as you’re here,” Smith said
and put a staying hand on the other man’s wrist. “Look at this
picture my partner has and tell us if you know this man.”

“Partner?” Mr. Ramirez said in surprise as
his shocked gaze jerked from Lily to Smith and back again. “What
are you? The police?”

“No, we’re private investigators and we’re
looking for our client.” Lily pulled out the picture and laid it
flat on the table. “This is Charles Landry. Do you know him?”

Ramirez glanced at it briefly and stood
abruptly. “I’ve got to go.” Before they could stop him, Ramirez
rushed from the restaurant.

“Guess that’s a yes,” Smith murmured.

“Shouldn’t we go after him?” Lily asked.

“For what? He’s clearly not going to talk to
us and we haven’t got the authority to make him.”

“I’m headed back to the Hall of Gems,” Lily
said as they left the restaurant. “Where will you be?”

“Sitting in one of those comfy-looking chairs
I saw in all of those little conversational areas they set up on
the ground floor. I’m going to get myself a newspaper and read.
I’ll meet you at the entrance in an hour. Right?”

“Right,” Lily agreed and met him halfway when
he bent his head to kiss her.

***

“Don’t turn around. Understand?”

The eerily soft male voice hissed out low,
slithering so insidiously into the atmosphere that Lily immediately
felt surrounded by menace. The voice had come from directly behind
her, sending a chilling shiver down her spine and making the hair
on the back of her neck stand on end. Like an animal of prey
suddenly aware of nearby danger, without conscious thought, she
went preternaturally still, her eyes the only things moving as they
jerked from side to side trying to assess the danger, but much too
late to warn her…to save her. The enemy was already much too
close.

She realized that she was alone in a corner
of the darkened room and her brain seized with fear. She’d been so
absorbed in studying the topaz that she hadn’t even heard the
stranger come up behind her. He pressed something hard into the
middle of her back and she cried out.

“Quiet,” he commanded. “Now, I asked if you
understand. Answer me with a single nod, nothing more.”

She shivered again, but managed a jerky nod.
She thought that there might be someone on her left side, but was
too afraid to turn her head to try to figure out if that person was
with the man who stood behind her seemingly blocking out the rest
of the world. He was standing so close and covered her back so
completely, that she sensed nothing but him.

“Pay attention, little girl,” the voice
demanded and she felt hard steel press into her back again.

Lily felt a tear roll down her cheek,
followed by mucus streaming from her nose. Humiliated as well as
terrified, she closed her eyes as a whimper escaped her throat.
“What -- ah!” Lily’s voice was cut off when first her hand was
snatched behind her back and squeezed until the bones of her
fingers were grinding against one another and then her neck was
grabbed and squeezed.

“You haven’t been given permission to speak,
little girl,” Lily heard the pleasure in his tone from the pain he
was causing her and shut her eyes. “I talk, you listen. Got it?”
Before Lily could nod, she felt the pressure on her hand again.
“Got it?”

Biting her lip so hard that she tasted blood,
Lily nodded hurriedly and tried not to cry out at the excruciating
pain to her hand, but the pain only increased. She heard and felt
the crack and the white hot pain that followed shook her in its
tight grip. She knew what he’d done -- God, she
knew!
Her
vision grayed and she stared out at the world with sightless eyes
for a moment as the obscene pain screamed through her body and she
tried to comprehend a hurt that was completely beyond her
comprehension. Her stomach threatened to lose its contents and as
the room closed in on her, she swayed against her attacker. As if
in a tunnel she heard him speak as he gave her a vicious shake.

“Stand up. Where’s your backbone? That was
nothing compared to what I want to do to you. Do you understand?
This is what you’re going to do. You’re going to forget about
Charles Landry, the Golddigger’s Folly and anything else you might
have heard since you spoke with Mrs. Landry. If you don’t, the next
time I see you will be the last time you see anyone. Share the news
with your boyfriend or partner or whatever the hell he is, and tell
him the same applies to him. Got that? Nod if you understand
me.”

Still feeling sick, but trying her best not
to pass out, Lily nodded weakly.

Her attacker continued, “I’m going to leave
and I want you to stay just as you are for however long it takes
you to count to one hundred.”

He released her and Lily swayed, and trying
to stiffen her buckling knees, had to lean against the glass. For a
long moment after they left, and she now knew there were two of
them after hearing them leave, Lily was incapable of anything but
deep concentration as she tried to will strength into her weak
limbs.

A woman approached her and asked hesitantly,
“Are you okay, Miss?”

It was the catalyst that Lily needed and
bursting into tears, she tried to nod, but ended up dropping her
head, shuddering from the relief that overtook her. When her brain
thawed from the fear, she had only one thought. “Smith!” His name
first came out as a panicked whisper, so she tried again.

“Smith!” Uncaring that heads were turning to
stare at her, she ran sloppily from the room.

She yelled his name as she ran through the
Hall of Jades, and past startled faces. Yelled it as she ran down
the U-shaped staircase and into the great hall, past the gigantic
elephants and halfway to the T-rex. And she kept yelling it until
she saw his blessed face which was full of panic as he ran towards
her. “Oh, thank God !” she said with relief as she ran into his
arms and fell against him.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” Smith
asked urgently as he held her tight. “Tell me.”

“He said…said…said he would…” Lily still felt
weak and as the enormity of what just happened hit her, she burst
into another round of tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

Smith tensed against her and she heard the
alarm in his voice. “What?” He tried to pull back far enough to see
her face, but she burrowed into him. “God, please, Lily, tell me
what’s going on.” He bent and picked her up, cradling her against
his chest as he walked to a cushioned bench and placed her on it,
before sitting next to her. “You’re scaring me, Lily. Tell me what
happened.”

“He cornered me in the Hall of Gems and
threatened me and he wouldn’t let me leave. I-I-I couldn’t move,
Smith, and he said he’d kill us. I didn’t know what to do. I was so
scared,” she moaned and knew hysteria was rising again, but she
couldn’t prevent it. “I just want to go home, home to
Sheffield-Chatham, please, Smith. I want to go home,” she
wailed.

“Is everything all right, here?”

“No,” Smith said to the security guard who’d
addressed them. “She’s terrified. She was attacked a few minutes
ago in the Hall of Gems.” He tightened his grip on Lily when she
sobbed and pressed closer. “It’s all right, sweetheart, we’ll leave
soon, but first let’s talk to the security guard.”

Impatiently, the security guard interrupted.
“Attacked? What exactly do you mean?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out if you’ll
just give me a few minutes,” Smith said. “I want to know as much as
you do who did this.”

Lily tightened her hold. “Don’t leave, Smith.
He said he’d hurt you, too.”

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetness,” he said.
“It would do no good anyway. Whoever it was is probably long gone.
Now tell us what happened.”

Feeling calmer now and with her head resting
on his chest, Lily began to explain.

“Let me see your hand,” Smith demanded. He
studied her slender hand, which had already begun to show bruising
and swelling. “Can you move your fingers?”

Lily shook her head and a whimper escaped
before she could stop it. “I don’t want to try. I felt it break,
Smith. My finger,” she said with confusion and pain coloring her
voice, “he broke my finger.”

Smith kissed her forehead as she began to cry
again. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. Which one?”

“My ring finger.”

He took her purse and began to look through
it. “I know you’ve got some aspirin at least.” He found the bottle
and shook out four. “Here,” he said and gave her the last of his
water. “Let’s get you to the hospital now,” he said after she’d
swallowed the pills and thanked him.

“I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through,
ma’am, but we have to file a police report and it would be helpful
if they could interview you,” the security guard said. “Also,
perhaps if you looked at footage from our security cameras, you
would recognize the men who accosted you. I’m thinking we might
have caught them on camera.”

Lily shook her head, and tried to ignore the
awful throbbing mass of pain that her finger had become. “I promise
you, I never even saw them. He told me not to turn around and I was
so terrified that I didn’t move a muscle. He could be standing
right in front of me and I wouldn’t know him.”

“Maybe we should come back later and look at
them, Lil,” Smith said. “You won’t recognize the men, but their
behavior might give them away. That coupled with timing could give
us an idea of who they are and if you should see them again, you’ll
know who they are and you won’t be taken by surprise.”

Lily was nodding before he finished.
“Okay.”

Smith tried to help her rise. “Let’s just get
you taken care of and then we’ll come back. Careful, sweetheart,”
he crooned worriedly as she began to stand.

Lily studied Smith’s face and frowned. Not
because she saw the worry and fear for her, but because she saw
reckless anger and she knew what that meant. The last time she’d
seen that look in his eyes, he’d destroyed another boy’s face. That
had been on account of her, too. She blew out a breath, wondering
how she was going to contain the anger this time.

“I think I should do it now,” she said, “look
at the footage, I mean.” She sighed when he vehemently shook his
head and got his familiar stubborn look. “I can take the pain for a
little while longer, I promise.”

“We could splint her finger and give her an
icepack in the meantime,” the security guard offered, “just until
you can get her to the hospital. I can get you more water if you’d
like.”

“Water would be lovely, thanks,” Lily said,
glad the guard would be leaving for a few minutes. She’d need every
second of those minutes. “Those pills did go down a little
dryly.”