Scarlet Nights (41 page)

“Certainly,” Sara said as she went through the curtain at the back of the tent. She stuck her head outside. “Mr. Lang!” she hissed. “I need you.” The man didn’t appear. Sara stepped inside and looked through the curtain to see Mrs. Myers just sitting there, giving Sara time to leave.

She looked up at the seam where the fabric walls joined the tent. There was a line of braid along the ridge, and she figured that the camera lenses were hidden in it. She raised her fist and turned around, then made another swirl and used both arms to gesture that someone was to come and help her.

She glanced back into the main part of the tent and Mrs. Myers was still sitting there, her glasses on the end of her nose. She’d picked up the deck that Sara had been using and was going over them. Sara drew in her breath. In the next second she was going to see Greg’s face and she was going to know what was going on.

“Where’s Mike?”

Startled, Sara turned around to see Ariel standing in the back opening of the tent.

“Mike?” Sara asked.

“Yeah, the guy you hang on to like he’s about to drown. He’s disappeared. I saw him walking around with some stranger, a really
gorgeous guy. The way that man moved made me … But anyway, now we can’t find Mike, and the next battles are about to start. Think he’s afraid of a rematch with my brothers?”

Sara peeped through the curtain again, and Mrs. Myers was dropping three decks of cards into her bag. Since it looked like no one was going to show up to save her, Sara knew she had to act instantly or Mitzi Vandlo was going to get away. If she escaped, everything that had been set up to catch the woman would come to nothing.

Ariel was in the costume of a rich medieval woman. A piece of white silk was attached to her little velvet cap and extended down across her neck.

Reaching out, Sara gave a strong yank and pulled it off.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m catching a criminal,” Sara said and looked through the curtain. Mrs. Myers was getting up. In another minute she’d be outside. Sara threw back the curtain, made a running leap, and landed on the woman, knocking her to the ground.

“Have you lost your mind?” Ariel asked from behind her.

Sara was lying full on top of the woman and she was working hard to shove the cloth from Ariel’s headdress into Mitzi’s mouth before she could cry out. “She’s a thief and probably a murderer,” Sara said as she wrestled with her. “And if Mike is missing, then she’s—Ow!” The woman had tried to bite her. Sara straddled her, holding her down. “If Mike isn’t here, his disappearance has to do with her son.”

Ariel was watching Sara sitting on top of what seemed to be an old woman, but from the strength of the struggle, she wasn’t that old. “Is Anders her son?” Ariel asked, her eyes wide in shock.

“Yes! The man that you knew was bed hopping with half the town, but you didn’t even warn me about, is her son. And they’re
both wanted by everyone, police, FBI, Secret Service. They are major criminals.”

Ariel didn’t look as though she could comprehend all she was hearing. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told you about Greg.”

Sara was sitting on the woman, who was bucking and trying to reach Sara with her hands and nails. “Are you going to stand there and watch or could you possibly help me? I need something to tie her up with.”

Hanging in the corner was a long rope of red and purple with a big tassel on the end. Ariel snatched it down, and with it came about two yards of braid. As Ariel tied the woman’s hands behind her, she said, “Did you know there’s a camera up there?”

“This whole tent is supposed to be set up with surveillance cameras, but no one seems to be watching them. Tell me what you know about Mike.”

“He’s here on a case, isn’t he? Colin told me—”

“I don’t want to hear what your big-mouthed brother blabbed. What happened to Mike?”

“He finished showing off with Anna and—Did you see him lift that kid over his head? She went stiff as a board and Mike—”

Mrs. Myers was bucking hard under Sara. “I’ve been too busy catching murderers to see my own husband do anything!” Sara said in frustration.

Ariel halted in tying. “Husband? If he’s here on a case, did he
marry
you to protect you from Anders?”

“Get that look off your face! Mike is mine, and I’m keeping him.” Under her, Mrs. Myers had gone dead still.

“I think you’ve killed her,” Ariel said.

“No, she’s just upset that I didn’t marry her son. Aren’t you, Mitzi?”

The woman on the ground made some unpleasant sounds through the muffling of the cloth in her mouth.

“We have to get her out of here without anyone seeing her.” Sara was pulling the pillow out from under her robe. There was no more need for the disguise.

“I’ll go get Colin and—”

“No!” Sara said. “You can’t tell anyone. Your brother will want to put her in jail.”

“Of course he will. What else should be done with her?”

“If Mike isn’t here, then it means he’s been taken. His life could be in danger, and I’m going to trade this horrible old woman for him.”

Mitzi Vandlo turned her head to look up at Sara.

“Oh,” Ariel said, her eyebrows raised high.

“Yeah, oh. Go out there and tell that girl that Mrs. Myers has been taken ill and I have to help her to … I don’t know. Make something up. Then go out the back and tell Mr. Lang to come in here, and—”

“Brewster Lang? I thought you were afraid of him.”

“I don’t want to know how you know that. Get him in here and tell him he has to be a fortune-teller.”

“Brewster Lang tell fortunes? Are you crazy?”

“Ariel, this is no time for your negativity.”

For a moment Ariel just looked at Sara sitting on top of the old woman. Sara’s veil was hanging by one edge, and with the bright colors of the costume, she didn’t look like the sweet, never-did-anything-wrong girl that Ariel had disliked all her life.

“Okay,” Ariel said at last, and she took only half a minute to tell the high school girl in the front that there would be a delay. It took her just two minutes to find Mr. Lang, and when they came in, Ariel had her hand firmly on his shoulder.

Mr. Lang stopped trying to twist away from Ariel’s tight grip when he was confronted with the extraordinary sight of Sara sitting on top
of old Mrs. Myers. His small eyes lit up, and his tiny grin appeared. For the first time, he looked at Sara with respect and he tapped his nose. He’d seen the woman in the photo Mike had shown him.

“Yes, I think she had about four inches of it cut off,” Sara said, and at that comment Mitzi tried to throw back her leg so her heel would hit Sara. But she wasn’t fast enough for Mr. Lang as he kicked out and struck the woman’s ankle. Sara heard her groan. “Help me get her up. I’m going to put this costume on her and cover her mouth with the veil.”

“Someone has to tell me what’s going on,” Ariel said.

“Stole my paintings is what she did,” Mr. Lang mumbled as he looked at the woman tied up on the rug.

Both Sara and Ariel turned to look at him.

“What are you talking about?” Sara asked as she began to remove the big robe and was glad she’d left her smaller costume on under it.

When Mr. Lang hesitated, Ariel said, “I’ll set my brothers on you if you don’t tell us what you’ve done.”

“Nothing. All I did was find them when I was a boy. That man that lived there, the college professor, he never saw them. I made sure of that. I nailed the room shut.”

“What room?” Ariel asked.

“Is there a secret room in Merlin’s Farm?” Sara asked softly, and when Mr. Lang didn’t reply, she said, “By the fireplace. That’s why that fireplace is off center. It conceals a hidden door. Did Mike figure it out?”

Mr. Lang’s old face nearly melted. “
He
took them? I saw him looking, but I didn’t think he’d know. He’s a smart boy. I’m glad he’s mine.”

“You’re related to Mike?” Ariel asked, her eyes wide. “How did that happen?”

“Never mind that now,” Sara said. “Ariel, help me get her dressed in this. Mr. Lang, I want you to stay here and tell fortunes.”

“I can’t—”

“I can’t wrestle people, but I’m doing it!” Sara snapped. “If you want my husband to continue letting you live at Merlin’s Farm, then you have to help out. You understand me?”

Mr. Lang nodded.

“Wow, Sara, when did you grow a set?”

“Ariel, shut up and help me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ariel said as they pulled the flailing Mrs. Myers upright.

“What car do you have here?” Sara asked.

“None,” Ariel answered. “My whole family came in a van.”

“Must have been the size of a freight train,” Sara muttered, and Mr. Lang gave his funny little laugh.

“Better than those toys you and Jocelyn like.” She held Mitzi’s head while Sara tied the veil over the bottom half of her face.

“You know,” Sara said as she looked at the woman, “you do look better with half of your face covered. Is it true that your old husband was so horrified at the sight of you on your wedding night that he couldn’t do it?”

Mitzi’s eyes shot fire at Sara.

“She hates you,” Ariel said. “Truly and deeply hates you.”

“It’s mutual.”

Ariel took one arm and Sara the other, but when they tried to move her, the woman dug her feet into the carpet thrown over the ground. But they managed to haul her into the back room of the tent where the curtains hid them.

“Great. Now what do we do?” Ariel asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get her out of here and cause as little attention as possible.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Ariel asked.

“I, uh …” Sara had no answer. Again, she looked up at the roofline. Why wasn’t anyone watching them and coming to help?!

Ariel dropped her arm from around the woman. “I suggest that I go get a car and bring it here.”

“Great idea,” Sara said. They put Mitzi on the floor, then Ariel ran outside. Sara turned to Mr. Lang. “Did you destroy those traps like Mike told you to?” When his eyes shifted to one side, she knew that he hadn’t. “Not even one of them?” Mr. Lang looked down at his feet. “Good!” Sara said. “Now go in there and start telling fortunes.”

He seemed about to protest but didn’t. With a resigned look on his face, he went through to the front.

For several long minutes Sara stood over Mitzi and worried about all the things that could go wrong. What if Sara’s father returned and came to the tent? How would she explain what she was doing? On the other hand, her father loved helping people, so he might want to be part of it. But she didn’t want to involve him in whatever was going to happen. And, of course, there was every member of her church, plus all her relatives. How would she explain this to them?

Mitzi was sitting on a little rug that had been tossed on the ground, and she was glaring hard at Sara, as though she could forcibly put thoughts in her head.

Sara glared back. “You’d better hope nothing’s wrong with Mike or I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.” Sara thought of taking the gag out of the woman’s mouth and asking her questions, but she’d probably yell and people would come running. There was no way in the world that Sara would be able to explain what she was doing.

On the other side of the curtain she heard Mr. Lang’s low voice
and thought that she should have made an effort to dress him in a costume. But then, Mr. Lang was so odd-looking on his own, he didn’t need any embellishment.

She peeped through the curtain and saw Carol Garrison sitting there, her eyes wide. No one in Edilean had been this close to the secretive old man since … Well, maybe not since 1941.

Sara didn’t know Mrs. Garrison and was glad she didn’t have to try to make up a fortune for her—but it was obvious that the snooping Mr. Lang knew all about her. He told her that her eldest daughter was sneaking out her bedroom window to meet a boy whose family had just moved here from Atlanta and that they smoked cigarettes together. Her younger daughter had stolen three dollars from her mother’s purse, and her son liked to sing when he was alone and she should get him lessons. As for her husband, he really was working late at night because he wanted to buy a boat, which he’d already made a deposit on.

Mrs. Garrison sat there in silence, eyes wide, mouth open.

“That’s it,” Mr. Lang growled. “Go away. Send in the next one.”

“What have I done?” Sara whispered aloud as she closed the curtain and looked back at Mitzi Vandlo. Again, her mind filled with the treachery of this woman. “I hope they put you away forever for what you did to Brian. He was a very sweet young man and he had a great future ahead of him.”

The woman’s eyes seemed to laugh, and Sara had an almost irresistible urge to hit her. Instead, she looked away. Where was Ariel? What was taking her so long? By now she could have borrowed her family’s van or even taken the prize car. She could have—

She broke off because the back of the tent suddenly parted and in came about three feet of the back of a black car she recognized. It was Mike’s precious BMW. He was safe! Sara nearly tripped over the bound-and-gagged woman as she ran outside to the driver’s side.
Mike’s windows were so dark that she didn’t realize Ariel was driving until she flung open the door and got out.

“Where’s Mike?” Sara’s voice held fear.

“I’ve already told you all I know about him,” Ariel said as she went into the tent, which now had part of a car inside it.

Sara followed her.

“I thought we’d put her in the trunk,” Ariel said. “That okay with you?”

“Yes, but how did you get Mike’s car?
Why
did you get his car?

“Was I supposed to steal somebody’s Camry? Or maybe a Kia?” She grabbed one side of Mrs. Myers. “Get her other arm.” She glared at the woman. “You hurt me in any way and I’ll make you sorry.”

Sara was still looking at Ariel, waiting for an answer.

“My dad’s a dealer. I called Sue at the office, gave her the VIN number, and she popped the car open.”

“And she was able to start it that way too?”

“No, I did that. A few wires and …” Ariel shrugged.

They were struggling with Mitzi, as she’d gone slack in their arms and she was quite heavy. It took all their strength to get her into the trunk and slam the lid.