White Mountain (24 page)

“Yours is a most remarkable faith,” he said.

She smiled.
 
“My God is a most remarkable god.”
 
Then she patted Leonard’s hand.
 
“My husband has already picked out a name it it’s a boy.”

David chuckled.
 
“That’s what I call planning ahead.”

Maria nodded.
 
“It will be after his grandfather, you see.
 
Tell him Leonardo.”

Leonardo gave David an apologetic look as he answered.

“It’s true.
 
I have always said I would name our first son after my grandfather.
 
His mother was English, his father Sicilian.
 
He spent his whole life in Italy but considered himself too old to emigrate when my family left for America.”

“So what was you grandfather’s name?” David asked.

Leonardo shrugged.
 
“Bartholomew Silvia.
 
The family called him Barto.
 
An odd combination of names, I grant you, but I loved him dearly.”

David nodded cordially, but his mind was racing.

“Someone will be seeing you this afternoon?”

“Yes, and it will be none too soon, right, Leonardo?”

“That is true,” he said, then picked up their suitcases before leading her toward the elevator.

David glanced at John and Rufus, who were watching him intently.
 
He looked back at the woman, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as the pair began to cross the lobby.
 
Suddenly he called out.
 
“Maria!”

She stopped beside the stairwell, then turned, unaware that the light from the mullioned panes above the entry had formed a halo above her head.

“Yes, Doctor?”

When David saw that, he took it as their own blessing to proceed.

“What is the doctor’s name who you’re going to see?”

“A Doctor Bennett, I believe.”

“Yes, yes, Aaron Bennett.
 
A fine doctor with a very high rate of successes, but how would you feel about seeing me, instead?”

Maria beamed.
 
“I would like it very much…to consult with a doctor we have already met.
 
And one of the founders of the clinic!
 
It is more than we expected.”

David nodded.
 
“Then it’s agreed.
 
I’ll call the clinic myself and notify them of the change.
 
As for now, you two get settled in your room.
 
Get some rest.
 
Have a good lunch.
 
We’ll see you at three.”

“Thank you, Doctor Schultz.
 
Thank you very much.”

“No, Mrs. Silvia, I suspect it is we who should thank you.”

His cryptic comment was as surprising to Isabella as his offer had been.
 
It had been more than five years since any of the three founders had taken regular patients.
 
She wondered what was so special about this particular woman that would make him come out of retirement.
 
But when she looked at the aging trio, they seemed blithely unaware of her curiosity.

They had started up the stairs when David stopped and turned.

“Isabella, I think you should take the day off.”

“What on earth for?
 
I never take a day off.”

“That’s exactly why you should do it,” he said.
 
“And while you’re at it, get your hair done.
 
Have a manicure.
 
Get a massage from that…that…what’s her name at the beauty shop.”

“Lola Bryan, and I’m not going to do something so frivolous for no reason.”

Jack Dolan came out of the dining room just as David started to answer.
 
He gave the man a studied look and then turned to Isabella.

“You’ve go a reason, and you know it.”

Irked by their interference into what she considered a personal issue, she stubbornly refused to comment s they walked up the stairs and then out of sight.
 
When she turned back to the desk, Jack Dolan was there.
 
The sight of him standing there did things to her heart that were better left unsaid.
 
Torn between the urge to hit him or kiss him, she took a deep breath instead.

“How may I help you?” she asked.

The frigid tone of her voice cut all the way to Jack’s conscience, but he wasn’t going to play the blame game right now.

“Are there any hiking trails around her?”

His question took her by surprise.
 
Her answer gave away what she’d been thinking.

“Didn’t get enough sightseeing yesterday?”

The moment she asked it, she could have cut out her tongue.
 
She rolled her eyes, then took a deep breath.

“Excuse me while I rewind my mouth.”

A muscle twitched at the corner of Jack’s lips, but he managed to stay a smile.
 
Something told him it wouldn’t be wise to laugh right now.

“Yes, there are a couple.”
 
She reached beneath the counter and then handed him a map.
 
“They’re easily identified by the red lines.
 
I assume you’ve had backpacking experience?”
 
Then she added, “I ask only because we have had the occasional hiker get lost up in the mountains, and I wouldn’t want it to happen again.”

Jack too the map.
 
“Yes, I know what I’m doing.”
Well, good, because I certainly don’t.
 
“That’s fine then,” Isabella said.
 
“Be sure to pack enough water.
 
You aren’t planning to stay out overnight, are you?”

Jack shook his head.
 
“No.
 
Just a day trek.”

“Then dress warmly and enjoy your hike.”

Jack sighed.
 
God, he hated the way he felt

Isabella?”

The look in her eyes would have fried eggs on a cold sidewalk.

“What?”

“Yesterday I—“

“There’s nothing to explain.
 
Your message was sent and received.”

He sighed.
 
“It isn’t what you think.”
”Nothing ever is.”

“Damn it, that’s not what I meant.”

She leaned forward, lowering her voice so that their conversation was not overheard.

“I do not intend to speak of this again, Mr. Dolan.
 
Do you understand?”

He leaned forward, too, his voice full of misplace anger.

“I hear you, but it don’t mean I’m paying attention.
 
Do
you
 
understand?”

Isabella glared.

Jack stared back.

The phone rang.
 
Isabella turned to answer it.
 
When she looked around, Jack was staring out the window.
 
The moment she hung up, he pointed.

“Who’s that man?”

She leaned across the desk to see where he was pointing.

“Oh…that’s the gardener.
 
Why do you ask?”

“He looks familiar.”

“You’ve probably seen him out mowing.”

“No.”

She shrugged.
 
“I don’t see how you can be so sure.”

Jack turned.
 
Fixing with a cold, intent stare.

“I don’t forget faces.”

“That’s good to know,” she snapped.
 
“So when you’re gone, I will rest easy knowing mine won’t be forgotten.”

Jack glared, alternating between the urge to shake her or kiss her senseless.
 
The knowledge that there was a killer in their midst—one who was most likely a Soviet spy, to boot—was making him antsy.
 
And the fact that he couldn’t come right out and confront these people about Frank Walton’s deception was making his job even more difficult.
 
What made him feel even worse was the possibility that Isabella was involved in the lie, and if she was, she could also be in danger.
 
However, his frustration with her was secondary to the warning that had gone off in his head when he’d seen the man outside.

“What’s his name?” Jack asked.

“What’s whose name?”

“The gardener.”

“Victor Ross, and he’s a good worker who minds his own business, which is what I suggest you do.”

Having said that, Isabella flounced into the office and slammed the door.
 
Seconds later, Delia emerged through the same door, a little wild-eyed and nervous as she quickly too up a position at check-in desk.

“Good morning, Mr. Dolan.
 
Is there something I can help you with?”

“I doubt it,” Jack muttered, and headed for the door.

Despite Isabella’s assurance, he still wanted a closer look at the gardener, but when he got outside, the man was no longer in sight.

Frustrated with women and the world in general, he went back into the hotel, then hesitated as he stared at the closed door to the office.
 
After a moment of indecision, he headed to his room.
 
There would be time to talk to Isabella later, because he was almost positive that he’d seen that man before, or someone who looked an awful lot like him.
 
If he could just remember where.
 
Maybe it would come to him later.

The hiking trails that he’d asked Isabella about were not for sightseeing.
 
He was convinced that the man who’d killed Frank Walton was somewhere in the area.
 
But, because of the clinic, there was a constant influx of strangers, so isolating one particular individual was proving difficult, if not impossible.
 
And there was always the possibility that the killer was hiding somewhere in the mountains, biding his time.
 
Jack’s idea was to hike some of the area surrounding the hotel.
 
He couldn’t cover all of it alone, but he could eliminate some of the most obvious possibilities.

Isabella stared at the papers on her desk for all of two minutes before she picked up the phone, punching in the numbers with angry jabs.
 
The moment her call was answered, she knew that what she was going to do amounted to nothing more than running away.
 
But facing her life as it was today was more than she could handle.

“Marcy, this is Isabella Abbott.
 
Do you have time to cut and style my hair today?
 
You do?
 
Great.
 
Oh, one other thing.
 
Is Lola working today?
 
Good.
 
Is it possible that I might get a massage before you do my hair?
 
Fantastic!
 
I’ll see you at eleven.”

She hung up the phone, then took a deep breath and exited the office.

“Delia, I’m going to Braden.
 
I won’t be back until sometime this afternoon.”

“Okey-dokey,” Delia said.

Isabella smiled grimly as she strode down the hall toward the family suite.
 
Okey-dokey indeed.
 
She needed to take a feather from Delia’s happy cap.
 
Lighten up a bit.
 
The world was still going to revolve even if her own personal life was wobbling, so to hell with Jack Dolan.

The uncles had gathered in David’s room in preparation for the beginning of their last project.
 
While they were waiting for John to arrive, they were having coffee and watching the news.

“Did you hear that?” Rufus asked, as he pointed to the television screen.
 
“Some man in Florida was wrestling and alligator and got his nose bitten off.
 
What must he have been thinking to do such a thing to begin with?”

Jasper chuckled.
 
“Not the best donor for the gene pool, is he?”

The others laughed.
 
Moments later, the news anchor switched from local to world news.
 
Suddenly David raised his voice above the din.

“Listen!” he cried, then picked up the remote and turned up the volume.

“On a stranger note…a theft was discovered this morning in a remote Italian village.
 
Some of the bones of a long-dead monk known only as St. Bartholomew have been stolen.
 
Sainthood was ordained by the Pope some eighty years ago after people began praying to the monk’s remains and claiming to have bee healed.

“The discovery was made after a cleaning woman bumped the container in which the bones were being displayed and a piece of the glass fell off.
 
It’s not know how many were taken, only that some are missing.

“Least week the bodies of three local men who were reported to have made their livings in less that honest ways were found dead in a farmer’s field.
 
It was thought at the time that they had fought among themselves and killed each other, but now, with the discovery of this most recent theft, there is talk that there might be a connection between the two incidents.