Read Online The Forty Column Castle by Marjorie Thelen - Free Book Online
Authors: Marjorie Thelen
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road long enough to give me a quick once over. “You are cold.”
Goose bumps stood out on my flesh.
“It doesn’t have to do with the temperature,” I said.
Zach kept his eyes on the road that climbed into the mountains.
“I’m not a thief,” I said.
“I’d like to believe that,” he said, his face unreadable. “But understand that the
conditions of your aunt’s stay on this island are suspicious. You’re implicated in
the crime by being her niece and coming to help her.”
“What’s my motive?”
“Money, power, excitement, notoriety. Pick any one of those. People do strange things.”
“Have you run a background check on me?”
I grabbed the hand strap above my door window as we lurched over a pothole in the
road.
“Yep.”
“And?”
“Clean.”
“So at my age, having my own successful business with an impressive income, with a
cushy loft at a nice address in Boston, I turn to antiquities smuggling? C’mon.” I
shook my head in disgust. I could have worked myself up into a good raging anger,
if I hadn’t been so scared.
“Maybe for you it’s the excitement.”
I snorted real unladylike, but who cared? “I have all the excitement I can handle.
I don’t need to create international excitement, particularly one that has a prison
term attached to it.”
He was studying the road behind us in the mirror and eased up on the gas, slowing
down as the road got rougher. “I think we lost them.”
I wasn’t sure that was a blessing.
He glanced at me. “What if I told you I know where your aunt is and who sprang her
from jail? Would you be willing to cooperate?”
My eyes widened at the turn of the conversation. “You can’t be serious.”
“Would you cooperate?” He enunciated each word.
I exploded. “I’m telling you I don’t know a thing about smuggling nor does my aunt
so there’s nothing to cooperate.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.”
We drove on in silence, and the knots in my stomach turned into waves of nausea. I
felt dizzy, and it wasn’t the increase in altitude. I had to get away. I peered over
the side of the car into the chasm we drove along. Rocks and dry brush peppered the
canyon. The area around us looked like the desert country of New Mexico. I considered
jumping from the car but where would that leave me? Dead, probably, or badly broken
and bruised, if I were lucky. My aunt would still be at the mercy of unknown assailants.
She must be terrified, simply terrified. She was the type that screamed at mice and
cockroaches. She’d probably have a heart attack. Then where would we be?
Zach tapped the master lock on the door, and the door locks clicked. “Don’t even think
about it,” he said.
“It wouldn’t work. I’m not much good to my aunt dead.”
“Smart girl.”
I studied his profile. He said he knew where my aunt was and who had taken her. I
could pretend that I knew something and try to negotiate a deal, buy some time.
“What kind of cooperation do you want?” I decided to play along and hope that I wasn’t
digging myself in deeper than I already was.
“Names, places, plans, contacts. Can you supply me with that?” He hadn’t missed a
beat in his response like he knew all along I was a thief and would fess up to save
my skin.
“And if I could?”
“You would get off easier than the rest of your operation. I could try for reduced
jail time for you and your aunt.”
There was that word jail again that made my stomach sick and my head hurt. I couldn’t
believe I was having this conversation. Then again I couldn’t believe where I was,
what I was doing, and who I was doing it with.
I watched Zach, but he kept his eyes on the road, head straight, neck rigid, maybe
refusing to think about the fact that there was a red-blooded woman sitting on the
seat next to him, and he was talking to her about going to jail. The same woman he
had promised to help.
The liar. I wanted to slap
Goose bumps stood out on my flesh.
“It doesn’t have to do with the temperature,” I said.
Zach kept his eyes on the road that climbed into the mountains.
“I’m not a thief,” I said.
“I’d like to believe that,” he said, his face unreadable. “But understand that the
conditions of your aunt’s stay on this island are suspicious. You’re implicated in
the crime by being her niece and coming to help her.”
“What’s my motive?”
“Money, power, excitement, notoriety. Pick any one of those. People do strange things.”
“Have you run a background check on me?”
I grabbed the hand strap above my door window as we lurched over a pothole in the
road.
“Yep.”
“And?”
“Clean.”
“So at my age, having my own successful business with an impressive income, with a
cushy loft at a nice address in Boston, I turn to antiquities smuggling? C’mon.” I
shook my head in disgust. I could have worked myself up into a good raging anger,
if I hadn’t been so scared.
“Maybe for you it’s the excitement.”
I snorted real unladylike, but who cared? “I have all the excitement I can handle.
I don’t need to create international excitement, particularly one that has a prison
term attached to it.”
He was studying the road behind us in the mirror and eased up on the gas, slowing
down as the road got rougher. “I think we lost them.”
I wasn’t sure that was a blessing.
He glanced at me. “What if I told you I know where your aunt is and who sprang her
from jail? Would you be willing to cooperate?”
My eyes widened at the turn of the conversation. “You can’t be serious.”
“Would you cooperate?” He enunciated each word.
I exploded. “I’m telling you I don’t know a thing about smuggling nor does my aunt
so there’s nothing to cooperate.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.”
We drove on in silence, and the knots in my stomach turned into waves of nausea. I
felt dizzy, and it wasn’t the increase in altitude. I had to get away. I peered over
the side of the car into the chasm we drove along. Rocks and dry brush peppered the
canyon. The area around us looked like the desert country of New Mexico. I considered
jumping from the car but where would that leave me? Dead, probably, or badly broken
and bruised, if I were lucky. My aunt would still be at the mercy of unknown assailants.
She must be terrified, simply terrified. She was the type that screamed at mice and
cockroaches. She’d probably have a heart attack. Then where would we be?
Zach tapped the master lock on the door, and the door locks clicked. “Don’t even think
about it,” he said.
“It wouldn’t work. I’m not much good to my aunt dead.”
“Smart girl.”
I studied his profile. He said he knew where my aunt was and who had taken her. I
could pretend that I knew something and try to negotiate a deal, buy some time.
“What kind of cooperation do you want?” I decided to play along and hope that I wasn’t
digging myself in deeper than I already was.
“Names, places, plans, contacts. Can you supply me with that?” He hadn’t missed a
beat in his response like he knew all along I was a thief and would fess up to save
my skin.
“And if I could?”
“You would get off easier than the rest of your operation. I could try for reduced
jail time for you and your aunt.”
There was that word jail again that made my stomach sick and my head hurt. I couldn’t
believe I was having this conversation. Then again I couldn’t believe where I was,
what I was doing, and who I was doing it with.
I watched Zach, but he kept his eyes on the road, head straight, neck rigid, maybe
refusing to think about the fact that there was a red-blooded woman sitting on the
seat next to him, and he was talking to her about going to jail. The same woman he
had promised to help.
The liar. I wanted to slap
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