Echoes of Titanic (54 page)

“I don't know, but she said it had something to do with both companies, like B & T and Strahan Realty Trust were going to be aligning somehow. Merging, maybe? Are the two companies planning to merge?”

“Over my dead body,” she replied. Then she thanked him for his help and said she had to go but would be in touch later.

After she hung up, she took a moment to shoot a quick text off to Cole:

She was halfway across the reception area when he responded, so she paused again to read his text.

Kelsey typed,
Will do
, and then she slid the phone into her pocket. Going to Walter's door, she gave it a light rap before pushing it open.

As expected, he was already there, sitting behind his desk, though the room around him was a disaster, with papers strewn everywhere and the furniture turned on its sides.

Something was horribly wrong. Looking again at Walter, she saw that he wasn't just sitting there; he was
taped
there. Numerous bands of duct tape were encircling his chest and upper arms, affixing him firmly to the chair. Each wrist was taped to an arm rest, and his feet were bound together at the ankles and to the metal base of the chair.

Worse, he looked as though he'd been in a boxing match. His eyes were dark and swollen and his nose looked broken, with blood trickling from his nostrils and down across the strip of duct tape that covered his mouth.

Their eyes met. Kelsey froze, unable to move or speak or even breathe.

Who did this to you?
She could hear the words screaming silently in her mind.

But she already knew. Lou had done this to him.

It had been Lou all along.

Before she could speak, something caught Walter's attention behind her. His eyes widened in terror. Sucking in a deep breath, Kelsey forced herself to turn around. Lou was standing there, just a few feet away, holding a black metal rod with one hand and smacking it lightly against the palm of the other. Staring at the rod, Kelsey saw that it was a tire iron. A big, black, heavy tire iron.

“How could you?” she managed to utter, her mind racing to think of some escape.

“It's not like I enjoyed it,” he replied defensively. “Well, okay, maybe a little, but only because it's Walter. I sure don't want to have to do that to you.
Believe it or not, I really am fond of you, Kels. You've always been like the daughter I never had.”

Kelsey shook her head side to side. “You're an animal.”

“Not really,” he replied, taking a step forward, his voice oddly calm. “I just felt sure Walter knew where those bonds were. Turns out I was wrong. That leaves you. Give them to me and I'll go away quietly. Nobody else needs to get hurt.”

“And if I can't?”

Lou shook his head sadly. “Hold out on me, kiddo, and I'm afraid I'll have to do to you what I did to him. Those bonds are all I have left. And as much as it pains me to hurt you, trust me when I say I'll do whatever it takes to get them in my hands.”

April 14, 1912

J
OCELYN

J
ocelyn smiled warmly at Tad, grateful he had been willing to miss out on the fun for her sake. Apparently,
Titanic
had struck an iceberg. Soon after it happened, another passenger told them that some of the young men were having a great time playing with the ice that had fallen onto the ship's open deck. Tad had wanted to go up and join them, but Jocelyn asked him to stay with her. He'd agreed, remaining at her side and keeping her warm as they watched all the goings-on together.

It was just like him to value her wishes over his own personal desires.

Suddenly, Jocelyn felt someone grab her arm and give it a jerk. She turned, stunned to see Adele standing there in her coat and a life vest, her face screwed up in a dark scowl. Adele's grip tightened, and she pulled again, this time wrenching Jocelyn from Tad's side.

“You're coming with me,” she snarled. “Back to the stateroom. Your father wants us to meet him there
now.
” Not letting go, she pulled her cousin toward the door.

Stunned, Jocelyn turned to Tad for help, but he was holding himself back, still standing at the rail and glaring angrily at Adele. Then his features softened as he shifted his gaze to Jocelyn.

“It's okay,” he called out to her. “You go ahead. I'll wait for you right here. Just come back as soon as you can.”

“I will!”

“And don't forget to bring me what we talked about when you come back.”

She gave him a nod even as her mind was racing.
That thing we talked about? Oh, he must mean the bonds
.

Jocelyn asked Adele to let go of her arm, promising she wouldn't try to break away. Reluctantly, Adele released her, and the two of them wove together among the other passengers as they made their way to the stairs and began to descend.

“Please don't be angry with me,” Jocelyn pleaded as they reached the next deck and continued on. “I know I should have told you I was meeting with Tad, but I didn't want to upset you when you already seemed to be having such a bad day.”

Adele did not reply, so Jocelyn continued.

“Remember, just this morning I asked you what was going on with the two of you, and you said you weren't interested in him that way.”

Still she did not respond, though at least they were making progress against the crowds. Perhaps Adele was waiting until they were in the cabin before she spoke her mind.

“Otherwise, I never would have agreed to see him,” Jocelyn tried one more time. “We were going to tell you eventually.”

Adele remained silent all the way back to the stateroom. When they finally got there and stepped inside, Adele spoke, just as Jocelyn had expected.

“You cannot possibly be interested in Tad,” Adele said fiercely. “He's not good enough for you!”

Jocelyn blinked, trying to understand what was really going on.

“I'm sorry if the sight of us together made you feel jealous, Adele, but—”

“Jealous? I'm not jealous!”

Before she could speak further, there was a knock at the door. Jocelyn opened it to see her father standing there, his face pale and lined.

“What's wrong, Da?” she asked, fearing that he, too, had learned of her relationship with Tad and had come to try and talk her out of it.

“Sit down, both of you,” he said in a low voice, moving inside and lowering himself to the chair. “Quickly now.”

Adele responded by sitting on the sofa, but Jocelyn moved to the lower bunk and sat there instead, not even taking the time to remove her coat.

“This situation is bad,” he told them solemnly, “much worse than many of the other passengers realize.”

Jocelyn swallowed hard. What was he talking about?

“Listen to me very carefully,” he said, looking from one to the other. “This ship is sinking, and it's sinking fast. It'll be under the waves in less than two hours. We must get the two of you to a lifeboat. The crew has already started uncovering them and readying them for launch.”

A lifeboat? Sinking?

Jocelyn's heart began pounding furiously in her chest. How stupid could she have been, how blinded by love that she hadn't grasped the seriousness of the situation? The amount of people surging up on deck after the impact had seemed odd, especially as most of them had been wearing life vests, but she'd merely attributed all of that to curiosity and not any real danger.

Swallowing hard, she realized she had to get back to Tad as quickly as possible, to warn him and make sure he got into a lifeboat as well.

“Before we go, I need to give you the bonds to hold onto, Adele.” Rowan pulled an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and handed it over to her. “Is there somewhere safe you can hide them on your person?”

“I can keep them in my bag,” she replied, suddenly looking as frightened as Jocelyn felt.

“We need to do better than that. These are
bearer
bonds, which means that anyone who gets hold of them can cash them in.”

“Oh!” She clutched the bonds tightly in her hand.

As she tried to think of a safe place to hide them, Rowan grabbed the cabin's other life vest, told Jocelyn to stand, and helped her put it on over her coat. He placed the belt around her and pulled it tight, and suddenly she felt like a small child again, being dressed and cared for by her loving father.

“There is something else I need to tell you both,” he said, his eyes growing watery. “The purser shared this with me, and it is a serious problem.”

Jocelyn had rarely seen her father cry. With her heart feeling as though it would break, she reached out and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

“There aren't nearly enough lifeboats necessary to save everyone on board,” he continued. “Not all of us will make it off the ship. Right now, they are calling for women and children only to board the lifeboats.”

Jocelyn gasped. “What about you, Da?”

“I will do my best,” he replied, but before she could protest he continued. “You must understand that we don't have much time and have to think clearly. It's pandemonium up there, and I'm sure it's grown worse while we have been down here. We may get separated. If that happens, promise me you'll continue on toward the boat deck and get yourselves on a lifeboat. Promise me.”

“We promise,” they said in unison.

“Stay together, and no matter what happens, get on a lifeboat.”

Adele nodded. “But what about you, Uncle Rowan?”

“I will do everything within my power to get off this ship alive. But whether I manage to do that or not, I need to know the two of you are safe. Do you understand?”

Both girls threw themselves in his arms, crying as well.

“No matter what, always remember that I love you,” he said, hugging them in return and giving them each a kiss. “Now grab your coats, hats, hand muffs, and whatever else you have to keep you warm up there. We have to go
now.
”

They did as he said and were still wiping away their tears as the three of them moved into the hall. As they quickly walked toward the stairwell, Jocelyn was shocked by how much emptier their deck was now than it had been before. Were they already too late?

As her father had said, the higher they went on the ship, the greater the pandemonium they encountered. The upper corridors were full of people pushing and shoving, all trying to get to the same place, the deck where the lifeboats awaited.

Jocelyn could hardly breathe from the crush of the people. It felt like an eternity to her, climbing the steps, trying to hold tightly to Adele's hand, trying not to get knocked down and trampled by the crowd. The process was made harder by the listing of the ship. Halfway there, she realized that they were no longer upright but tilted somehow.

Titanic
really was sinking.

When they finally reached the open air of the boat deck, it was hard to know what to do. Her father moved them into what seemed to be a queue of women and children moving toward the boats. He told them to stay there and get into the first boat they could reach.

“I'm going to look further ahead and see if I can get some more information,” he said. “I'll be back.”

Once he had given them each another hug and disappeared into the crowd, Jocelyn felt a greater panic begin to overwhelm her. Turning to Adele, she grabbed her hands tightly and spoke.

“I know I promised Father I'd get on a lifeboat,” she said, “and I will. But I have to go get Tad first. He's waiting for me on the promenade deck, but he needs to be up here, where there's still a chance of rescue.”

She moved out of line, but Adele tightened the grip of her hands and held her firm.

“No! Jocelyn, I won't let you risk your life for his!”

She tried to pull free but Adele was stronger—and even more intense. Eyes blazing, Adele suddenly began to make all sorts of absurd claims against Tad. He was a liar. He was only using her to advance himself in her father's company. He made lewd suggestions. He pressed his body to hers and touched and kissed her against her objections.

It was insane. Absurd.

“Stop!” Jocelyn shouted. “You're lying. Tad already told me what happened last night.”

“He did?”

“Yes. You professed your love to him and he spurned it.”