Haunting Ellie (42 page)

“He’s not my cousin,” Jon stated, realizing how good the words sounded.

“What do you mean, he’s not your cousin?” Libby asked.

Jon just smiled. “I’ll explain later.” He wove his fingers through Elizabeth’s and they walked together down the road. He had more strength now. He didn’t know why, he just did. Maybe anger had washed away the pain.

He was just a few yards from the truck when he saw Matt’s white-toothed smile. “Well, I see you made it out of there.”

Jon raised a fist, but Elizabeth grabbed hold of his arm and held him back.

Slowly, Jon lowered his hand and pulled the ledger from under his belt. “Is this what you were trying to destroy?” Jon asked.

Matt
chuckled, but the laughter wasn’t in his eyes. He looked scared to death, haunted by a future he’d spend in prison.

“How did you know
we had the ledger?” Elizabeth asked. “We left everything just as we found it.”

“The moose head tilts to the right. Tonight it tilted to the left.” Matt
laughed again. “Next time you break into someone’s place, you’ve got to be more careful.”

“Is he giving you trouble?”

Elizabeth turned at the sound. Blue-eyed, flame-haired, much-too-beautiful-to-be-real Francesca walked up to them. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing camouflage, yet she looked like she’d just stepped off the cover of
Vogue.
Heavens! She was absolutely beautiful, even dressed like a man, but Elizabeth couldn’t work up the energy to despise her any longer.

“Sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” Francesca said. “I had to find another vehicle when Matt took off with the truck we went out in. I thought he might be up to something and I couldn’t risk letting him get away. Had to leave my partner behind to deal with all the others, which I don’t usually like doing.”

Jon frowned. “Partner?”

Francesca
nodded. “It’s not something I announce to the world. It’s usually a way of throwing the people we’re after off track. It worked like a charm this time around, especially with Matt. It appears he’s going to have a few attempted murder charges to fight in addition to arson, not to mention poaching. And we got three of his friends at the same time. One’s a senator.”

Elizabeth clutched Jon’s arm. “My brother was out there, too,” she said to Francesca. “He probably doesn’t deserve any special favors, but...”

“What kind of favors were you hoping for?”

Elizabeth and Jon jerked around at the sound of
her brother’s voice. He had a blue bruise on his jaw and a grin on his face.

“I’d like you to meet my partner,” Francesca said, as Eric stopped at her side.

“Partner?”
Jon could sense the rage welling up inside Elizabeth. He felt her muscles tense. “You could have told me,” she hollered at her brother. “I’ve been worried sick that you were going to get arrested and thrown in jail for the rest of your miserable life.”

Eric laughed. “Sorry, Elizabeth. It was all part of the plan.”

“Was making Jon suspect me part of the plan, too?”

Eric looked at Francesca and shrugged.

“That was my idea, Elizabeth,” Francesca said. “We couldn’t let Matt suspect anything.”

“What about hitting me in the cafe?” Jon asked, looking directly at Eric.

“All part of the plan.” Eric grinned as he slapped Jon on the back. “No hard feelings, I hope?”

Jon shook his head and grinned as he watched Eric massage his jaw. “Maybe you’ll think twice
next time you decide to pick on someone bigger than you.”

“I rarely run into anyone bigger than me
,” Eric said. “You were a definite surprise. So, how’s your chin?”

Jon rubbed a thumb over the spot where Eric’s fist had connected with his face. “Can’t feel a thing. What about your knuckles?”

“Never slammed them into steel before, but that swing sure made Matt a believer in my sincerity.”

“Then I guess it was all worth it,” Jon said, glancing at Matt, who was still handcuffed to the truck. He slowly pulled the ledger out from under his belt and handed it over to Eric. “You might be able to forgo some of your undercover operations once you take a look at the information in here.”

Eric flipped open the ledger and ran a finger down one column and smiled. “Looks like entertaining reading.” A moment later, Eric and Francesca were thumbing through the pages, completely forgetting Jon and Elizabeth existed.

Jon drew Elizabeth close, and for the first time
since they’d walked out of the bank, looked at the gray steel container she clutched in her fingers. “Is that what you stubbed your toe on?”

Her anger from a few moments before seemed to subside. ‘Yes, and it’s getting heavy.
”

Jon took it out of her hands, shoved his thumb under the latch until it loosened, and popped open the lid.
He spent a few moments looking through the contents. “Interesting.” He smiled down at Elizabeth. “Seems we have some property deeds here from the late 1800s.”

Thunder and tarnation! I might get a little more revenge before I’m through!

Jon laughed at Alex’s words, then turned to Matt, who’d been uncommonly quiet during the exchange of the past few minutes. “Let’s see now,” he said. “You’re going to prison for poaching, arson, attempted murder, and God knows what else. That should put you out of commission for a few years. And when you come back, you’re going to find out you have nothing much to come back to.” Jon patted the box. “Inside here is all I need to make you leave Sapphire permanently.”

“W
hat are you talking about?” For once Matt’s cocky smile was wiped from his face.

“I don’t want to spoil your surprise by telling you too soon. I’ll have my lawyer talk to yours. Until then...”

Jon looked at Elizabeth. “I know you don’t like this vengeful streak running through me, and I know you don’t like me using my fists, but I swear I’ll give up fighting for good if you’ll just give me one more opportunity.”

She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not crazy about the idea, but do
what you feel is right.” In spite of what he knew she was thinking, she flashed him the prettiest smile he’d seen in his entire life.

Jon
raised a fist and drove it toward Matt’s face. He jerked to a stop just half an inch from Matt’s nose. “You know what, Matt? You’re not good enough to have your face reshaped by my hands.”

Hell! You could at least kick dirt on him, or something,
Alex mumbled.
But I suppose I would have done the same thing, too, even if he is a lily-livered buzzard.

“Picture him behind bars for most of his life,” Jon suggested to Alex, as he turned away from Matt. “It’s not nearly what he deserves, but I’m afraid that’s about the best our justice system will dish out.”

Jon wrapped his arm once more around Elizabeth’s waist. “I’m proud of you,” she said, kissing him softly.

“I would have hit him if he hadn’t been handcuffed, but that would have put me at his level. I
’m better than that.”

Jon
hitched Elizabeth a little closer to his side. “Ready to go home, Ellie?”

“Home?”
She turned toward the burning embers of the old hotel. “For the second time in a year, I don’t have a home to go to.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong, Ellie
.” Jon kissed her tenderly. “You have a home. With me.”

“What do we do now?” Jon sat in a chair in Amanda’s bedroom, elbows balanced on his knees, and twiddled his thumbs.

“I haven’t a clue
.” Elizabeth prowled around the room, the same thing she’d done for the past hour, hoping, she’d told Jon, that some clue might magically pop out of the woodwork. “Alexander’s gotten his revenge, and we can prove his innocence. You’ll recover all the property. It seems something should just happen. You know—poof and Alex and Amanda should be together again, headed for the pearly gates.”

Jon stopped twiddling and rested his head in his hands.

“Are you in pain again?” Elizabeth asked.

“Just tired,” he answered, afraid to tell her his true thoughts and concerns. The pain had dissipated somewhat, but he seemed to have less control over his thoughts. His imagination was conjuring all sorts of things foreign to him, like the streets of Sapphire teeming with horses and buggies, men carrying pistols and women in long dresses. He remembered the taste of sarsaparilla, the scent of bay rum, and the lemon verbena that Mrs. Lee at the dry
goods store used to wear. One
vision almost filled his mind entirely—a pretty woman with golden curls and a pink-and-white-striped parasol just stepping off a train.

Jon put his head in his hands as too many visions that weren’t his own flitted through his mind. Visions that frightened and worried him.

Rising from the chair, he strolled across the room and wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, pulling her close, wanting to remember her softness, her scent. He lowered his mouth and covered hers, needing to know her taste, the touch of her lips, the feel of his heart when it beat out of control, and the erotic emotions that coursed through him when her breasts pressed against his chest.

He needed his own memories, not Alexander’s.

He thought of the love he had for Elizabeth, the hunger to be near her for ever and ever. Suddenly that passion that overwhelmed him when he thought of Elizabeth and held her in his arms pushed aside all those other remembrances, things only Alex should know.

He eased away from Elizabeth, looking into her amber eyes. “I love you,” he whispered, and the pain began to flow back again. He struggled to breathe and Elizabeth looked frightened. Tears fell from her eyes.

“What’s happening?” she cried.

“I think Alex is taking over my mind and body
, not that he wants to, it’s just happening. All my thoughts are jumbled. One moment I’m thinking of you; the next, all I can think of is Amanda.”

Jon tore his fingers from Elizabeth’s arms and pressed his palms to his temple, trying to still the
ache bouncing around in his head. Somehow he had to stop the torture. He had to get Alex out. Now.

If only Amanda were here, he thought. If only...

He stumbled toward the vanity. “I think I know how to help Alex,” he said. “My grandfather told me he’d talked to Amanda long after she died. He was lonely and he sensed her near. I believed him because I’d talked to Alex.”

“You think she’s here somewhere?
” Elizabeth asked.

“She has to be.”

Like a madman, Jon sorted through the photos of Amanda, the locket, her ribbons, her letter. He touched everything Alex had taken from the hotel, and then he began to talk to Alex, who’d been quiet far too long.

Jon lifted one of the photos of Amanda and held it to his heart.
“Talk to me, Alex. Amanda was awfully pretty, wasn’t she?”

Alex remained silent.

“Talk to me, Alex. Please.”

Jon sensed Alex taking a deep breath; he felt his sorrow.
She was the prettiest thing I ever saw.

Alex had to remember more. He had to call out for Amanda.

Jon lifted the locket and popped open the front. “Remember the night you gave her this?” Jon asked, looking at the inscription and the photo inside.

It was the last time I kissed her. I’ve always remembered that moment.

“One hundred years is a long time to remember a kiss,” Jon said.

I would never forget anything that reminded me of Amanda.

“Do you think she remembered it, too?”

A lilting voice filled the room.
I remembered.

The
curtains at the window rustled, even though the window was shut tight and no one in the room was moving.

Did you hear that? It’s Amanda.

“I heard her, Alex.”

Elizabeth slipped her hand into Jon’s. Her fingers felt cold against the burning heat of his skin. The
pain soared, taking away all his strength and energy.

“Talk to her,
Alex,”
Jon said.