Suspicious (On the Run) (17 page)

Zoe was so shocked that it took her a moment to respond. For a nanosecond, she thought it was Jack—he had said he’d find her—but she instantly realized it wasn’t him. The size of the man—somehow she knew it was a man—was wrong, and a faint smell of bubble gum mixed with cigarette odor had engulfed her before a gloved hand closed over her mouth. The thoughts raced through her mind in seconds, but he took advantage of her momentary hesitation. By the time she struggled, she had been lifted off her feet and pulled back around the corner to the portion of the balcony that ran along the back of the gästehaus.

She kicked out, but her feet only thrashed against air. She twisted and writhed, but the hand remained firmly braced over her mouth. She clawed at the hand, her fingernails scraping across the fabric of the glove. That wasn’t going to work—the fabric was too slick. He continued to move backward, and they quickly passed two rooms. The lights glowing from within the rooms flickered over them, and then they plunged into the darkness between the rooms again.

Zoe stopped kicking and went limp, a dead weight. She let her legs collapse and fold beneath her like a marionette dropped in a heap. He hadn’t expected that. He sucked in air as her shift in weight pulled him forward. Before he could regain his balance, she gathered herself and threw out her leg in a backward stomp. Her instep connected with his foot in a jarring impact that she felt all the way up her hip.

He yelped and grunted. She focused all the adrenaline zinging around her body into tearing herself away from him.

Suddenly his hand fell away, and cool air hit her back.

She whipped around. Jack had his hands under the guy’s shoulders as he lowered him to the ground. Her attacker was out cold, his head lolling against his shoulder. Breathing hard, she leaned against the wooden balcony and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.

As Jack checked the guy’s pulse, he looked up at her over the prone form. “You okay?” he asked in a whisper, his glance straying to the rooms beyond them where the lights glowed.

“Other than scared out of my mind, yeah, I guess so.” Zoe heard the quiver in her voice even as she matched Jack’s quiet tones. “How did you get up here?”

He jerked his head behind him. “Ladder. I found this place from your text and saw the footprints on the terrace. When I saw where they ended, I figured you were up here, even if I couldn’t see you—I know how much you love to climb.” Zoe couldn’t see his face very well in the darkness, but she could hear the smile in his voice. Instead of being annoyed, his teasing calmed her, brought her back to their normal world of light banter.

Jack continued, “I was about to follow you up that way, when I saw someone poking around on the other side of the building.” Jack stood up, still looking at the guy sprawled across the balcony. “By the time I got around there, he’d found a ladder in a shed attached to the building and propped it up against the balcony. Once he was up, I came up behind him. He was so focused on you, he didn’t hear me. Come on, we should get out of here. As fights go, that was fairly quiet, but we don’t want to linger.”

“No, we don’t,” Zoe said, thinking of the last glimpse she had of McKinley as he came toward the door to the balcony. Was he out on the balcony now? She looked over her shoulder, but the stretch of the balcony that ran along the back of the building was deserted. Either McKinley had discounted the noise, or he had gone directly from Amy’s room to his own and shut the door. She certainly wasn’t going back by the lighted rooms to check to see if he was tucked away in his room.

She reached for Jack’s hand and stepped over the guy, then paused. “Wait. I saw him, earlier tonight, on this street.” The dark, thick-rimmed glasses were askew, tilted at an odd angle over his beaked nose. “He was putting a snowboard on a car rack as I walked by when I was following McKinley. Why would he attack me?”

“No idea.” Jack patted the guy’s coat pockets, extracted a wallet. “Felix Wenzel.” The man stirred. Jack tossed the wallet on his chest. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to hit him with the wrench again. This way,” Jack said, continuing to the end of the balcony where a ladder was propped against the dead-end section of the balcony.

“That sounds like something out of Clue,” Zoe said, a giddy feeling creeping over her. “Mr. Wenzel, on the balcony, with the wrench.”

“Technically, it would be Mr. Andrews with the wrench, since I did the hitting,” Jack said. “I’ll go first and brace it for you to come down. It’s not all that steady.”

Zoe blew out a breath. No need to get all panicky now that everything was over, she lectured herself, but her hands and legs continued to tremble.

Jack’s dark figure reached the ground, and he softly called for her to start. She boosted herself up on the railing and twisted around. It was an aged wooden ladder—it seemed everything was made of wood in this heavily forested part of the world. The worn grain of the timber felt silky against her palms as her feet connected with the ladder. It creaked and lazily swayed an inch to the side.

She gripped the balcony railing. Jack had climbed this? With his dislike of heights? He really did love her.

The dark form on the balcony groaned and brought a hand to his head. Zoe swallowed and transferred her grip to the ladder. The old wood creaked and shifted as she flew down it, moving so quickly that Jack barely had time to step back before she reached the ground. “He’s coming to,” she said.

“Okay. Let me just take care of this.” Now that they were actually on the snowy ground, which reflected the little light there was, Zoe could see that Jack had removed a silver adjustable wrench about twenty inches long from his pocket. He used the hem of his coat to rub it clean of fingerprints then dropped it on the ground outside the shed. He grabbed the ladder and pulled it away from the building. It teetered in the air for a second. A hand appeared at the edge of the balcony, grasping for the ladder.

“I was trying to be quiet, but it doesn’t matter now,” Jack said, letting the ladder fall away from the building. It landed against a tree, snapping a branch with a loud crack that echoed along the street.

A masculine voice came from above, shouting in German then called, “Halt! Stop!”

Zoe turned toward the street, but Jack grabbed her hand. “No, this way. There’s cover.” He pulled her toward the forest. They ran across the parking area and plunged into the fragrant stand of pines, pausing only a few seconds for their vision to adjust to the deeper darkness.

“There’s a road, farther up the hill,” Zoe said. “It probably goes back to the town.”

Jack nodded, and they set out at a quick pace, picking their way through the trees, their knees dropping down through the snow. It was easy to figure out which way to go—up. As they worked their way up the incline, some patches of snow were deeper than others, and it wasn’t long before Zoe’s jeans were caked up to her knees with snow. After the first few seconds of a frantic, high-stepping sprint, they slowed. The dark figure didn’t pursue them; probably because exterior lights came on and several people came out to investigate the fallen ladder.

“Amy’s there. She’s in one room. McKinley is next door. He went to her room, and I was able to get some pictures on the camera phone of them together.”

“Ah,” Jack said. “That explains your impromptu climbing. I think you’ve invented a new sport, urban mountaineering.”

They reached the road, a strip of gray that cut through the trees. They turned in the direction of town, and Zoe told Jack about the conversation she overheard.

“How does that guy on the balcony fit in?” Jack asked. “If we hadn’t seen his identification, I’d think it might have been Terrance.”

“They didn’t mention a Felix at all,” she said slowly. “Do you suppose the ID was fake, and it was Terrance? Or maybe Terrance is a nickname?”

“Odd sort of nickname,” Jack said.

“Yeah. And the way they talked about Terrance…it didn’t seem like he was here with them.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’s here, and they don’t know it. But if it was Terrance on the balcony, why attack me? Shouldn’t he go after McKinley? He’s the one who wanted to cut out Terrance.”

Jack dipped his head in acknowledgement of Zoe’s point. “In short, he’s an unknown variable, and I don’t like that. We’ve already got too many of those.”

“I guess we’ll just have to keep an eye out for him. See if he shows up again.”

“Not the way I like to operate, but I suppose it’s the only option we have. So neither one of them actually mentioned the Flawless Set?” Jack asked as they trudged along.

Zoe hadn’t thought she could get any colder, but the wet fabric on her legs added a whole new dimension to her misery. She burrowed her hands into her pockets and picked up the pace. “Come on. If we don’t get back to the hostel soon, I’m going to turn into an ice sculpture. No, they didn’t use the word ‘Flawless,’ but what else could they be talking about? McKinley mentioned recutting stones, so they were definitely talking about gemstones.”

“Tomorrow at noon,” Jack said. “That doesn’t give us much time.” The road emerged from the trees and dropped down to a street with several widely spaced houses.

“I know. And Idalp. That complicates things even more.”

They crossed the river and were back in the village where the nightlife was still going strong. They passed the foggy windows of a packed bar where strains of oompah music spilled out into the night along with a few revelers. “What’s Idalp?” Jack asked.

“It’s up the mountain, sort of the hub where most of the gondolas meet, a jumping off point to catch other lifts to the rest of the mountain. I read about it when I was looking for information about the ski tournament. You can even ski over to Switzerland.”

“Great. I thought you were going to say it was a restaurant or store.”

“Afraid not. It’s more like the Grand Central Station of this ski area.”

“Looks like we’re renting skis. Do you ski?”

“Of course. It’s been a while, but I’m sure it’s like riding a bike. You never forget, right?”

She returned from her mildly warm shower to find Harrington seated on one of the lower bunks, his phone pressed to his ear while Jack leaned against the wall, still in his wet jeans.

“Your turn,” Zoe said. Harrington covered his other ear.

Zoe hung her wet clothes over the wall radiator while watching Harrington out of the corner of her eye.

Harrington bobbed his head as he spoke into the phone. “I see. Yes, I’ll wait. It is urgent. Very…um,
importante
.”

Jack whispered in her ear. “I brought him up to speed.”

“Who is he—” she broke off as Harrington’s voice rang out.

“Ah, good of you to speak to me, Colonel.”

Zoe swiveled to Jack. “He’s calling
Alessi
?” she hissed. “After all we’ve gone through to make sure the police don’t find us, he’s gone and called them?”

“It’s our only play, Zoe.”

Harrington waved his hand at them in a cutting motion, indicating they should stop talking. Zoe fell back against the wall and rubbed her forehead.

Harrington said, “Yes, I understand you’d like to speak to me personally. I’d like that as well. I have a few things to share that I think you’ll find of interest. I realize that you think I’m responsible for the theft, but I assure you I’m not. I’m ready to prove my innocence to you.” Harrington paused. “How will I do that?” He glanced up at them, and Zoe could have sworn there was a twinkle of mischievousness in his eye. “Why, by helping you capture the true thieves. Yes, plural. Thieves. No, I’m afraid it is not Mr. and Mrs. Andrews. Sorry to disappoint.”

After another pause, Harrington said, “While I understand how much you’d like me to turn myself in at the nearest police station and give them all the details, I think it would be more effective to show you the thieves in action. A handoff of the jewels from the thief who stole them to the person who is offering to sell them back to me. Is it possible that either you or a representative could meet me tomorrow on the mountain above Ischgl?”

Harrington raised his eyebrows. “You’re that close, are you? Excellent,” he said faintly. He listened then said, “Fine. Meet me at noon on the restaurant terrace at Idalp.” Harrington ended the call. Zoe saw a slight tremble in his hand as he tossed the phone on the bunk.

Jack picked up the phone and removed the battery.

“How close?” Zoe asked, suddenly aware of the thin lace that only half covered the black square of the window.

“Garmisch.”

“Do you think that could have been Alessi in your hotel room?” Zoe asked.

“Probably.”

“Well, if he’s in Garmisch, he can be here in a few hours. You have to stay here, in this room,” Zoe said to Harrington. “In fact, we should all stay here. If he catches sight of one of us…”

“Harrington has to stay here. Unfortunately, you and I,” Jack said with a look at Zoe, “will have to go back out.”

***

After a long night that had been short on sleep, Zoe and Jack left the hostel before sunrise and used some of Harrington’s cash to convince a ski rental shop to open early for them. They collected ski gear and snagged a parking spot on the street outside the gästehaus, where they watched for McKinley and Amy to leave for the mountain. Jack didn’t want to let either McKinley or Amy out of their sight, and Zoe agreed it was the safest thing to do. The downside was it meant they had to separate because McKinley was an early bird. Suited up in a red jacket, black pants, and red ski boots, he departed for the slopes at seven-thirty.

Jack dropped a quick, cold kiss on her lips. “I’ll see you up there.”

“Right.” Zoe matched his confident, almost breezy tone. If he could mask his worry, so could she. A few years ago, she would have looked at Jack and thought he had nothing more taxing on his mind than deciding which ski run he would take down the mountain, but now she knew that despite his easy stride and calm face, he was tense and alert.

How he managed to stay so alert and focused while looking relaxed was a true skill, Zoe decided. And how he managed to do it with only a catnap, she had no idea. After Jack exchanged his snow-soaked clothes for dry clothes the night before, he had returned to the gästehaus to make sure McKinley and Amy were in for the night. They hadn’t stirred from their rooms, Jack reported when he returned to the hostel at three a.m. and dropped into his bunk.

Zoe watched him stride off in McKinley’s wake, expecting Amy to follow shortly, but Amy wasn’t in any hurry to get up the mountain. Zoe sat in relative warmth, having to start the car and run the heater only occasionally because her rented ski pants and coat insulated her from the frigid morning air. Jack checked in a few times when he could. Cell phone service on the mountain was spotty. He reported that McKinley was burning up the ski runs, but Jack was keeping up with him at a discreet distance.

With the clock inching toward eleven, Zoe seriously began considering a repeat of her balcony-climbing trick, just to make sure Amy hadn’t given her the slip. She discarded that idea and was running through possible scenarios that would allow her to inquire about Amy at the gästehaus without giving herself away when Harrington called. He said he was about to leave for the gondola and sounded calm and resolved. He wasn’t surprised that Amy wasn’t eager to get to the slopes. “She never mentioned skiing or any physical activity, come to think of it,” Harrington said. “Not the athletic type, I’d say.”

As he finished his sentence, Amy emerged from the gästehaus with skis balanced on her shoulder. She minced down the steps awkwardly in ski boots. Since Amy was walking, Zoe left the car and followed on foot, toting her skis and poles.

Zoe kept back, drawing close only when Amy entered the nearest lift house and bought a ticket. Zoe got close enough to see which kind of ticket she bought, a single pass up and down the mountain, then bought one for herself and hurried to catch up with Amy, who’d returned to the street that wound along the river.

Zoe checked the time then whipped out her phone and called the number Jack had programmed in for Harrington’s phone. The three of them had agreed that Harrington would wait until the last minute before leaving the hostel so that he would be out of sight as long as possible, but now he was positioned to cross paths with Amy.

“Are you in line?” Zoe asked the moment he answered.

“Yes.”

“Amy’s heading for the lift house where you are,” Zoe said between white puffs of breath. The road rose sharply, and she felt the altitude.

“I can’t change now. The lines are quite long,” Harrington said. “I’ll keep my head down.”

Amy paused, maybe catching her breath or maybe for a look around. Zoe wasn’t sure, so she dropped back a bit, afraid Amy would spot her, but after a few seconds, Amy plodded on. As they neared the second lift house, Zoe lost sight of her. She scanned the mass of people milling around the lower level where the restrooms and lockers were located, expecting to see Amy’s lime green jacket moving in and out of the crowd, but she didn’t.

Zoe hurried closer, scanning the area around the base of the building as well as the open-air staircase that folded back on itself, rising to the upper level where the lift house was located as well as the tunnel with moving walkways that transported skiers into downtown Ischgl.

Zoe twisted around, her heartbeat pulsing in her ears. How could Amy be there one moment and gone the next? Zoe raced to the stairs and climbed them as fast as she could, her skis and poles thrashing around her as she sped upward. Zoe emerged into the open area between the lift lines and the entrance to the tunnel and, as if transported there by magic, there Amy was in line for the lift. Zoe blew out a puff of foggy air. She must have lost her on the stairs. Zoe fell into step behind her, pulling her hat lower over her eyebrows. She was determined to stay close to her this time.

***

Gemma exchanged a glance with Alessi. They were in position on opposite sides of the terrace, and she couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for Alessi. Did Throckmorton know how much Alessi hated the cold? Was that why he’d set the meeting at an outdoor restaurant? Today, Alessi had added a second scarf and, although she wasn’t sure, it looked like he had on another fleece jacket under his coat.

Since Throckmorton had set the meeting on the mountain, she’d rented a ski jacket and pants that morning as well as skis as soon as the shops opened. She and Alessi had connected with local law enforcement last night and divided the surveillance. The local Austrian team took Amy Beck while she and Alessi headed up the ski lift for the meeting with Throckmorton.

Gemma didn’t like splitting the duties, but she couldn’t be in both places at once, and she had to stay with Alessi to be there when Throckmorton turned himself in.
If
he turned himself in. She couldn’t quite believe he would willingly walk into their waiting handcuffs. But then why else would he call Alessi?

Gemma pushed the mental questions away and focused on looking for Throckmorton in the crowd. Speculation didn’t matter now. It was almost time. She blew out a breath, fighting down the energy buzz she had every time before an op. There was nothing to do but stay alert and see how it played out.

***

Zoe pressed her phone to her ear as she waited in line for the gondola, her skis balanced on her shoulder. “I don’t like it.” Her heart rate was back to normal after the scare of losing Amy. She figured Jack had enough to worry about. She wouldn’t bother him with that detail.

“Skiing?” Jack’s voice came over the line faintly and garbled with static as if he were on another continent instead of merely a couple of thousand feet above her on the mountain.

“No, everything else. If it doesn’t go as planned…” Zoe momentarily closed her eyes and tried to push away the image of Harrington and themselves in handcuffs. “Things could go bad.” She focused on Harrington, who was far ahead of her in line. Unlike the ride up the Zugspitze where there had been plenty of people simply going up for the view and the unique experience of ascending to Germany’s highest peak, everyone here was decked out in ski suits, helmets, goggles, thick gloves, and carried either skis and poles or a snowboard.

Everyone except Harrington.

“We should have gotten him a ski jacket when we rented our stuff,” Zoe said. Harrington’s black trench coat contrasted sharply with the bright ski suits and jackets that everyone else wore. “He looks like an undertaker at a clown convention.”

Jack laughed. “As long as he makes it up the mountain. I think we’re okay.”

“He’s next in line for the gondola.” Zoe scanned the line of people waiting to go up the mountain then shifted her gaze to the people milling around the large board displaying which portions of the ski area were open.

Clouds had moved in overnight, blocking out the brilliant blue sky of the previous day. The gondola cables stretched up the mountain and disappeared into thick fog. A few snowflakes drifted down.

She didn’t see anyone who looked like a cop, but she assumed they would be undercover. “It doesn’t
look
like anyone is following him, and Amy and I are so far back that I don’t think she’s spotted him.” Zoe’s gaze had been bobbing between Harrington at the front of the line and Amy’s lime-green hood. With about a dozen people separating them, she and Amy brought up the rear of the gondola line.

“No one should be onto Harrington since we kept him shuttered in the hostel last night after he made the call.”

“Yeah, well, we didn’t have any choice after the call, did we?” Zoe did little side-to-side steps to keep her circulation going. Her nose and cheeks were already tingling.

“Zoe, it was Harrington’s choice, not mine. And you know it’s the only play we have.”

Zoe pulled her hat lower over her ears and sighed. “I still don’t like it.”

Jack asked, “How is Amy behaving?”

“She’s alone and hasn’t stopped to talk to anyone. She’s all decked out and ready to ski, but she seems stressed.” Her look of stony concentration was quite a contrast to the people around her who were in a relaxed holiday mood.

The line moved, and Zoe inched forward in that stiff-legged, slightly bent gait that ski boots forced her to take. Her toes were pinched together, but she barely noticed the pain. Harrington stepped into the small gondola. He was with a family, a mom and dad with two kids, who were swinging their poles around in a rather dangerous imitation of a sword fight. Zoe relaxed. “Okay, his gondola cleared the platform. He’s in with a family with a couple of little kids.”

“Phase one, complete,” Jack said.

“The only danger will be if one of those kids puts his eye out with their ski pole,” Zoe said.

Jack groaned. “Looks like McKinley’s going out again. Probably trying to get in one more run before he has to meet Amy. I’m going to need a major rubdown. My legs are already killing me. Got to go.”

Zoe tucked the phone into her pocket. The line moved and Amy slipped into a gondola. When her turn came, Zoe watched the people ahead of her and imitated them, stowing her skis on the outer rack of the gondola, then slipping inside. With a loud snap, the doors automatically closed before the gondola reached the end of the platform. It was a much smaller gondola than the one they had ridden in Germany. This one could hold about six people. Zoe took a seat on one of the padded seats, which was warm to the touch. Heated seats in the gondola—fancy.

The other occupants were three snowboarders who were occupied with earbuds and music players and didn’t pay any attention to her. The snowboarders might be bored with the view, but Zoe wasn’t so jaded that she could look away from the spectacular scenery of towering snow-covered evergreens interspersed with rocky outcroppings.

She caught a glimpse of a narrow waterfall cascading over icy black rocks. The gondola moved almost vertically up the steep mountain, whisking them up at a speed that made her ears pop. They entered the low-hanging cloud, and moisture beaded on the windows, turning the view into a hazy, white blur. It only took a few minutes to reach the top, and then there was the scramble to exit and grab her gear from the gondola, which didn’t stop. It moved in a continuous circuit, slowly travelling from the side of the building where arriving passengers hopped off to the other side of the building where people ready to go down the mountain could step on. Zoe snatched her skis from the rack then joined the stream of people exiting the lift house.