Framed For Love Page 16

  “I guess, but I don’t think so. They were taking such good care of them. They’ve wrapped each painting with about ten layers of foam, including one of those inner liners that absorbs moisture. There was also a huge packing crate full of bubble-wrap and packing peanuts. It looks to me like they were getting ready to pack them up and ship them somewhere very far away.”

  “Laranda said we were going to another country next week,” Jared said. “She gave us a hint in the language, but I didn’t get it. It wasn’t Spanish, I know, but it sounded familiar.”

  Cassi bit her lip. “It must be Portuguese. Some of the addresses were in Portugal. My brother’s neighbor recognized the language, even though she couldn’t translate it.”

  “Now that you mention it, that’s probably right. She did say port-something.” Jared rubbed the stubble on his chin, trying to remember.

  “Wherever we’re going, we’re probably going to deliver more fake art,” Trent said. “So why the real paintings? If they are real.”

  “That’s what we’ve got to find out,” Cassi stood and reached for her cleaning bucket.

  Jared shook his head. “I think you should just leave. Get out of here as fast as you can, and call Carl or Robert.”

  “I’m not leaving you.” Cassi stuck out her chin, and he knew there would be no changing her mind. “I don’t even know where we are, and I don’t speak a bit of French. How far would I get? Besides, maybe one of the addresses on those papers tells the location of this house. Once the FBI gets them, they’ll send someone to search for us.”

  “Why would Laranda be so careless?” Trent asked.

  Jared rolled his eyes. “Well, she’s obviously crazy to have given you that envelope in the first place.”

  “She sent the envelope?” Cassi asked, arching one brow. “I can’t believe it. My brother was right. He suggested as much.”

  “She wants revenge,” Jared said. “I think she knew if it came directly to me, I would suspect her. But coming as it did through Trent, who works for the exporting/importing company she used to transfer some of the items, made it more likely I’d investigate. Not that I got a chance.”

  Cassi ran a hand through her short curls. “I bet you anything she expected Big Tommy’s guys to pick you and the envelope up very quickly, so it didn’t matter what she left in as long as it got your attention.”

  “She did cut out any mention of her gallery,” Trent said. “But matched up with my records, it was pretty clear that she was involved. In fact, that’s the only reason I called Jared in the first place.”

  “But was it enough to convict her?” Jared asked. “I don’t know. I think she knows what she’s doing. The fact that she used your company at all is a good indication that she’s been planning this for a long time.”

  “You said she brought you over on a private jet,” Cassi said. “Why not ship the paintings that way?”

  Trent shook his head. “Too expensive. Can you imagine the cost of fuel? Not to mention the headache of obtaining permission and getting through Customs. No, it’s much better to use a company that specializes in importing and uses commercial planes. It also draws much less attention to what’s going on.”

  “I can see that,” Cassi said, glancing toward the door. “Well, maybe I can find out when we are leaving and send a message to Carl. I think if the authorities can catch up to us here, there will definitely be enough to convict her. Anyway, I’d better get going. I’m sure I’ll have to clean up the dishes in the drawing room. I just hope they don’t notice they suddenly have an extra employee. I’m not exactly low-profile with the deaf thing. But it was all I could come up with at the moment.”

  Trent moved away from the door. “They’ll probably continue to overlook you. People are uncomfortable with disabilities. Just be sure you don’t react to sudden noises. That would give you away. So far, you’ve been doing great. I was completely convinced.”

  “No acting surprised at sudden noises. Got it.” Cassi placed a hand on his arm. “I bet you’ve been missing Renae. We’ll get through this. We will.”

  Jared thought she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself. He arose and stood beside her, once again pulling her close. “Be careful, Cassi,” he whispered in her ear. “You are my life. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” She kissed him swiftly, her lips soft and inviting. “I’ll come back when I can, and we’ll compare notes.”

  Jared reluctantly let her go.

  She knocked on the door, and after a few moments it opened. Jared watched her leave, noticing how small she looked in comparison to the guards. Maybe it would be better to keep her here, to confess her true identity. But then Laranda would know of her presence, and Jared didn’t want to find out how she would react. In his mind, there was no other explanation for Laranda’s behavior except that she was insane—and that meant there was no predicting what she would do.

  Jared settled down to wait, reliving the feel of Cassi in his arms. More than anything he wished they were getting married, pledging their love.

  We’ll get there yet, he promised silently.

  Now to stay alive. Perhaps it was time to play Laranda’s own game.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CARL FELT RELIEVED ONCE HE was on the plane to New York. He was relatively sure the men who had been following him and Cassi hadn’t returned. Of course, their disappearance didn’t eliminate the possibility of another pair of eyes. That was how he would do it, if he was responsible for tailing someone. The hair rose on the back of his neck. Subtly, he moved his head back and forth, studying each of the passengers around him. No, none of these had the right-colored aura. They were mostly white, tinged with gray. The aura of a small child burned the most brightly.

  The array of colors he saw in the airplane reminded him of when he had awakened in the hospital after his surfing accident. He hadn’t been able to feel his legs, and for days he’d ranted and cursed God. He refused any consolation; if he couldn’t ride the waves, he didn’t want to live at all. It took him two months before he emerged enough from the apathy to realize that the colors surrounding the doctors, nurses, and other patients in the hospital didn’t stem from damaged eyesight. Instead of being grateful, he had cursed the newfound talent when it had shown him the naked truth about his so-called “friends” in the surfing world.

  With dogged determination and a heavy load of bitterness, he’d turned his back on that life and made another for himself in the world of art. He had become widely respected in several countries and extremely well-paid. But it had taken him twenty-four years, Jared’s persistence, and Cassi’s blunt comments for him to comprehend that seeing auras was a gift from God in compensation for what he had lost. Once he understood, he was grateful.

  Now, if given the choice to walk and surf the waves again or to date art and see auras, he believed with his whole heart that he wouldn’t make the trade. His disability had forced him to make something of his life.

  Carl closed his eyes and relaxed, but he couldn’t sleep. He pulled the papers Cassi had copied for him out of the manila envelope. A credit card belonging to Cassi’s brother fell onto his lap. Surprised, Carl checked inside the envelope, where he found another credit card and a phone card.

  Oh, no. When he had given Cassi back her manila envelope in the bathroom, he had somehow given her the wrong one. I’ll have to find a way to contact her as soon as I get back. He knew she had a few hundred dollars in French money that would have to get her by until he could send more. Placing the cards in the pocket of his shirt, he settled down to examine the papers.

  In New York, he went through customs easily. But on his way to the ticket desk to see how long it would be until there was an available flight to San Diego, two casually outfitted men appeared in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. One grabbed the suitcase from his lap, and the other took the manila envelope.

  Forgetting the hundreds of dollars he had spent on equipment in the suitcase, Carl lunged for the enve
lope, grabbing hold of the end. The man pulled it away, laughing as Carl fell from his chair. He raised his foot and brought it down in the direction of Carl’s face, but Carl saw the blow coming and rolled out of the way.

  “Hey! Knock it off!” A couple of teenage boys came into Carl’s view.

  “Be careful!” he heard a woman’s voice shout. “This is New York. You might get hurt!”

  One of the boys backed off, but the taller one waved his arms. “Hey, security guard! Over here! These guys are stealing—” The rest of the words were lost as the men who had jumped Carl slammed into the boy as they ran from the scene. An airport security guard raced after them.

  “Are you okay, mister?” The tall boy came to his feet.

  “Yeah, I’m all right,” Carl said. “Thanks to you.”

  The boy smiled. “It made me mad, them picking on you.”

  “Me too.” Carl heaved himself to a sitting position. “That was a brave thing you did. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.”

  A woman appeared on the scene. She hugged the tall boy, who looked embarrassed. “I was so scared,” she said.

  The boy shrugged. “I couldn’t just watch it happen, Mom.”

  “I know you couldn’t.” She glanced behind Carl. “Oh, the ticket lady is calling me. I’ll be right back.”

  “Do you need some help?” the other boy asked. “I mean, getting back in your chair?”

  This was always the hardest thing for Carl, to accept help from complete strangers. “I can do it,” he said, “if you’ll hold my chair.” Actually, with the motor in gear his chair wouldn’t move, and he was perfectly capable of pulling himself from the ground into his chair—he had practiced for long, grueling hours—but living with Maria for the past three months had taught him to allow others to help. The shorter boy held the chair, while the tall boy watched with keen interest. Carl put his hands on the chair and dragged his body until it rested partly on the seat. Then he leaned his head forward and balanced on his lower stomach. Moving his hands to the armrest, he pulled the rest of his body up and rocked the upper part sideways until the unfeeling half turned enough for him to sit down. Finally, he straightened his legs with his hands and put his feet on the footrests.

  “Wow. I bet I couldn’t do that,” the tall boy said.

  The fastest Carl had ever done it was in six seconds, but, shaken as he was, he was sure this time he had taken ten. “You could if you had to.”

  He talked to the boys a few minutes more, until the security guard came back with his suitcase, accompanied by three other officers. “I’m sorry,” the guard said. “They got away. We did get back your suitcase, though. Was there anything else they took?”

  “No.” Carl knew it was no use telling them about the envelope.

  The security men questioned the boys and wrote down the attackers’ descriptions, but Carl knew his assailants would never be found. The men were part of a much bigger story. They weren’t the same who had followed them in France, but like those in France, they had seemed to be waiting for him. How had they known he had the envelope? How had they found him?

  The boys’ mother joined the group, and Carl asked if he could have their address. “I work with art,” he said, “and I’d like to send the boys a little thank-you for their help.”

  Carl refused to file a formal complaint and excused himself from the group. Now, more than ever, he needed to get to L.A. and find someone to help Cassi. The only comfort he had was in knowing that her brother Robert had another copy of the papers. With them, he would find Jared and whoever was responsible for this mess.

  He had just left the ticket counter when two suited men appeared on either side of him. Carl steeled himself for another attack. One of the men reached for something inside his pocket. A gun? A silencer? Carl could do nothing but think of Maria as he waited for the pain to begin.

  * * *

  LARANDA CALLED FOR JARED AFTER eleven o’clock that evening, Paris time—without Trent. Jared wasn’t tired, but he was angry and more than a little scared. A knot of fear had formed in his stomach, almost paralyzing his thought processes. He was overjoyed to have had a few moments with Cassi, but if Laranda knew of her presence, it would be one more point of leverage against him. Losing Cassi was what Jared feared most. He admitted to himself that he would do anything to save her.

  Anything?

  Yes. Gradually, the knot of fear lessened until he was able to plan what he would say to Laranda.

  She met him in the drawing room again. This time she wasn’t in her wheelchair, but sitting on the sofa, which was richly upholstered in an off-white material. He glanced around to hide his surprise and found that everything in the room was either off-white or cream, trimmed with gold, except the serving platter and coffee pot, which glistened silver. Even the frames on the paintings were burnished gold. He hadn’t noticed these details earlier.

  “It’s a beautiful room,” Laranda said. “I believe it’s my favorite.” Her voice took on a wry note. “Of course, I haven’t been to see the second floor.” She rested a slender hand on her leg. “Sitting here, it almost seems like it never happened. Except the feeling, of course.” She turned her fingernails inward, clamping down on her leg. “There’s no feeling.”

  This was a side of Laranda that Jared hadn’t more than glimpsed before. He walked to the sofa and sat beside her, glancing across the spacious room to the door where a guard waited, his eyes averted but obviously attentive to any outcry from Laranda.

  “Cause and effect, Laranda.” Jared had sat in the middle of the couch, making sure there was ample space between them, but close enough to talk without fear of listening ears. “You can choose how you act, but you can’t choose the consequences.”

  Her beautiful eyes narrowed, and she stared at him for several moments without replying. “Religion again, Jared?” she asked finally.

  He shrugged. “Well, God set up the universe, but it’s not just a religious law.”

  “So if I hadn’t been bad, then I wouldn’t be paralyzed.”

  “You wouldn’t have been shot.”

  “Would I have had you?”

  The question took him by surprise. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Who can say? We’ve known each other for so many years.”

  Laranda put her hand on his leg. He gently took it and set it back on her lap. “Not attracted to me now that I am paralyzed, are you?” she asked bitterly.

  “It has nothing to do with your body.” He turned slightly to face her. “Don’t you see, Laranda? It’s what’s in here that counts. He thumped his chest. It’s the inner beauty. Friendship, compassion, love. And trust. That’s what makes a relationship.”

  “You are the only man who has ever refused me,” she said, almost musing. “You should have just given in.”

  “Is that why I’m here? To give in?”

  When she didn’t reply, he continued. “You can threaten and force, but that doesn’t win a person’s soul.”

  “I don’t need to win it. To control it would be enough.”

  “Would it?”

  Her eyes met his in a long, searching moment. “What if I said I would let you go? You and your friend. Would you then find some love in your heart for me?”

  Jared wanted to lie but felt compelled to speak the truth. “If you said you’d let me go, I wouldn’t believe you.”

  Her eyes turned venomous, but he wasn’t through. “As for love, I will always remember our past friendship with love, even though you’ve done more than enough to destroy that feeling.”

  “That’s not enough for me.”

  “You can stop this. Start over. It’s not too late.”

  Her back stiffened, and she averted her eyes. “Yes, it is. It’s too late for both of us.” She waited a heartbeat before adding, “Pour me some coffee, would you, Jared?”

  Jared served her, knowing there was nothing more to say. Not only was she convinced it was too late to abandon her new life, but she reveled in the illusion of f
reedom it gave her.

  “Forgery is a dangerous business,” he said to test Cassi’s theory.

  Laranda’s head whipped around, and her gaze met his.

  At least he had her full attention. “I don’t see how you will prevent it from being discovered,” he added.

  “When it is, I will be far gone, and much, much richer.”

  So Cassi was right about the forgeries, at least. “And the originals?” he pressed. “What have you done with them?” He was asking on the assumption that she or someone in Big Tommy’s organization had purchased or even stolen the originals.

  She smiled. “Ah, yes. That’s the best part of my plan. And very secret. But since you figured out this much, I might as well let you in on the rest.” Her gaze flickered to the guard as though to assure herself he was out of earshot. “The paintings I’ll keep to sell through a third party after the forgeries come to light. They will then command a much higher rate.”

  “Which you will share with Big Tommy. Or rather, of which he will give you a small percentage.”

  She leaned toward him, so close he could smell her scent, mixed with the aroma of her expensive perfume. For a moment, he was transported back in time. He saw her in the back room of her gallery as he showed her a painting he’d found at an auction—a genuine Chagall that would net them thousands in profit. That had been early in their relationship as employee and employer, before he had begun to suspect the color of her soul.

  Jared backed off imperceptibly, pulling his mind back to the present.

  “I will not be second to Big Tommy for long,” she was saying, her voice intense. “He doesn’t have the intelligence to beat me. I have the originals, I own the painter, and I’m running this show. Each day I grow stronger and gain more support. Everyone—Big Tommy included—will soon know his true size.”

  She laughed and drew away, leaving Jared’s mind reeling. This was not at all how he had understood Laranda’s role. He had stupidly believed her when she’d claimed to be a simple employee. Today had been full of revelations. Not only had she manipulated his kidnapping, but this entire forgery scheme was her plan. Of course, he thought. That’s why Big Tommy is dealing with her at all. She had something to offer him. It was also why Laranda hadn’t been killed in the fire Cassi had told him about. Big Tommy must have stepped in to save her. Now Laranda would repay her benefactor with a double cross. She wanted to best Big Tommy himself,