Losing Ladd (12 page)

“
Have you thought about
other things you’d like to do or see while you’re here?” Annie
asked.

“
Well, I’ve heard about
panning for gold,” she said, her eyes glittering with curiosity.
“Is there really such a thing?”

Annie laughed. Rich, genuine, the
sound eased Cal’s mind. “We do. We have gold and rubies,
too.”

“
Rubies?”

Annie nodded. “You can find them in
the rivers, or we can visit one of the nearby mines.”

“
Is that like Ruby Falls?”
Emily glanced between them. “I saw signs for it on our drive
here.”

“
No, sweetheart,” Cal
answered. “Ruby Falls was actually named after the wife of the man
who discovered it. His name was Leo Lambert and he was a local cave
enthusiast in the area who discovered the falls while he was
drilling a hole for an elevator.” Relaxed by talk of history, the
common thread to people and events today, Cal went on. “The falls
are one of the top tourist destinations in Tennessee. Located deep
in Lookout Mountain, you have to walk for an hour through
underground caves to see them but once you get there, you’ll never
forget them.”

“
Wow...”

“
Did you tell her about
the bonfire?” Annie prompted.

“
Sure did.” Leaning
forward, he set elbows to knees and explained, “Every Sunday the
hotel hosts a bonfire for guests. We play music, tell
stories…”

“
Kinda like a campfire?”
Emily asked.

“
Pretty much. But we gave
it a fancy name and call it Serenity Scape.”

“
Sounds awesome! Can we go
this weekend?”

“
You bet,” he replied,
warmed by her interest. The three settled in for a discussion of
things to do and see while Emily was in Tennessee.

“
It’s getting late,” Cal
announced an hour later. “I bet you’re tired after your long
flight.”

“
Not really. It’s only
seven o’clock my time.”

Cal grinned. Kids would be kids. No
matter the hour, it was never too late in their mind.

“
Why don’t you take a
shower and get ready for bed?” he suggested. “You don’t have to go
to sleep.”

Annie rose from the sofa. “I’ll show
you where your room will be.”

“
Okay.”

Annie took Emily upstairs and returned
a few minutes later.

Sweeping around the base of the
banister, she sighed in a heavy stream. “She’s precious,
Cal.”

“
She’s a sweet one,” he
agreed. Taking Annie in his arms, he wanted to hear about her at
the moment. “What’s up, Annie? You seemed a little off when we
arrived. Is everything okay? You don’t mind having Emily here, do
you?”

“
Oh, Cal, of course not.
I’m thrilled she’s staying with us, and I hope we can keep her the
entire two weeks before she has to go back to school.”

Relieved, the knot in his chest
loosened. He wanted Annie to like Emily. He wanted Emily to like
Annie. It would mean more time together with his daughter, and next
to the woman he held in his arms, there was nothing he wanted more.
“Then what is it? Something was eating at you when I drove up.”
Annie pressed her lips into a line and the tension returned to her
gaze. “What?” Cal pressed. “What’s got you so worked
up?”

“
Jeremiah.”

“
Jeremiah
?”

“
He was here,” she
said.

The revelation ricocheted in his
skull. Images of him ripped through his mind’s eye. Bits and pieces
of Annie’s story about Jeremiah escorting her and Lacy from the
forest at gunpoint exploded in his heart. If Jeremiah Ladd had the
nerve to think he could force two women against their will in a
sick attempt at revenge and then come here and invade his home and
family’s privacy, he had another thought coming. Cal ground his
emotion into a ball of fury, and cinched it tight. Jeremiah would
not set foot in his home again. If he did, he’d be stepping over
Cal’s dead body.

Chapter Ten

Cal strode down the hall from the spa
on his way to the hotel lobby, the scent of eucalyptus persisting
in his senses as he savored the vision of his daughter eagerly
hopping up into a big leather chair for her pedicure. After her
tour through the salon, she’d declared her favorite part were the
spring-fed, open-air showers, particularly the disappearing
ceiling. Cal chuckled, warmed by her thrill. Malcolm’s creative
genius strikes again! Cal would have loved to have shown her more
of the property like the strange labyrinth formations in the
forest, the swimming hole just past the riverside café, but there
would be time enough for that later.

Right now he had to man
the front desk until Malcolm’s noon return. He and Nick had a
meeting with Troy’s legal team this morning which could not be
rescheduled. Thankful for their support of his son-in-law, Cal
agreed to handle administrative duties for the morning, the most
important of which was signing payroll checks. It wasn’t a huge
inconvenience, not with Annie and Emily tucked away in the spa next
door. Cal was only glad he didn’t have to leave the two at home
alone. Jeremiah’s surprise visit yesterday was a bad sign. It meant
the man had no fear. When Annie had threatened to call the police,
he laughed. The arrogance grated on Cal. Somehow Jeremiah had known
Cal was on his way out of town.
Knew
it
.

Well, if the man thought he had free
roam in this town and could taunt whomever he wanted, he was wrong.
The visit with Annie yesterday would be Jeremiah’s one and only.
Cal was going to make sure of it. At the moment he had business to
attend. Closing his mind to thoughts of Jeremiah, Cal shifted into
manager mode. Walking behind the front desk, he slowed, surveying
the hotel lobby in a swift evaluation. The fountain was gurgling
softly in the early morning calm, wood floors were satisfactorily
polished to a subtle shine, the windows were clear and clean,
appearing almost non-existent as he took in the lush green
mountainside.

“
Good morning, Mr.
Foster.”

Smiling at the front desk clerk, he
replied, “Good morning, Patti.” Eight-thirty in the morning, there
was only one clerk on duty. The second wouldn’t arrive until ten.
Slowing, he asked, “How does the schedule look for the
day?”

“
Six check-ins and one
departure.”

Cal nodded. Fairly normal for a
forty-room hotel. Fridays were a popular day for arrivals, though
Saturday was their heaviest. Headed to his office, he considered
occupancy rates for the month, scheduled activities, generating a
quick mental profit and loss statement... They were completely
booked through Christmas, and Cal couldn’t be more pleased.
Business was good.

“
Mr. Foster?”

Cal paused and turned.
“Yes?”

Patti approached hesitantly. Glancing
around the vacant lobby, she asked, “Did Mr. Ward tell you about
the gift shop?”

“
The gift shop?” She
nodded but didn’t elaborate. “No, he didn’t. Is there a
problem?”

“
It was robbed last
night.”

“
Robbed?”

“
Yes, sir. A man came in
and stole all the gold pendants.”

Disbelief swirled through him as
questions rose fast and furious. “What man? When?”

“
We don’t know who he
was,” she replied. “It happened around five-thirty, just before
closing time.”

Cal cursed inwardly. “Did Malcolm
report the crime to the police?”

“
Yes, sir. They’re
scheduled to come by this morning and get a statement. I wanted to
be sure you knew.”

“
What time?”

“
Nine.”

Cal checked his watch and mentally
cleared his agenda. “Okay. Thanks, Patti. Let me know when they get
here. Until then, let’s stay on high alert.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Jeremiah Ladd strolled into the
dumpster of a house, the interior saturated with the scent of old
cigarette smoke. The boys were laid out across the couch, the
typical bored expressions pasted on their faces. Well maybe this
would spark their mood. “My pal says those pendants you snagged are
worth a good twenty grand or more. Not bad for a ten-minute
heist.”

Seated on opposite ends of a soiled
couch, his two cohorts exchanged a look of satisfaction. “So
where’s my money?” Rob asked.

Of course that would be his first
question, missing sight of the big picture, Jeremiah thought,
pausing in mid-room. But then again, the brothers weren’t the
sharpest tools in the shed. Never had been. They were thieves, not
rocket scientists. Jeremiah was the brains of this trio, which
meant he had to do everything, including the thinking. “You’ll get
your money and then some. Twenty grand is squat when you look at
the hole they carved out of the ground.” According to his friend at
the pawn shop, the gold Delaney scored from the site had to be five
times that much, a hundred times. “The rest has to be in a safe
somewhere and it’s our job to find it.”

The men looked at him
expectantly. “I didn't see no office when I was there.” The younger
brother scratched his head, his dark brown hair a greasy mess of
nasty strands. Even his beard looked knotted and nappy. The two
would not have been Jeremiah’s first choice for partners in crime,
but after two dozen phone calls, these boys had been his only hope.
Clem Sweeney had been useful the first time around, cluing Jeremiah
into the gold’s existence. But he’d caught on quick and was of no
use to him anymore, not once he realized Jeremiah wasn’t interested
in sharing the loot. The guys he used to run with during high
school were of no use. They couldn’t break into a piggy bank, let
alone a real one. That’s where these two fit in. It took some
effort, but he’d managed to locate them south of Bryson City,
living in a trailer with two biker babes. The duo had been more
than willing to help. All it took was a few words.
Gold
.
On Ladd Springs
.

Grabbing a cold beer from the
refrigerator, Jeremiah returned to the living area and popped it
open. “The office is behind the front desk. And I’ll guarantee you
there’s a safe inside.”

“
How we gonna get in there
without anyone seeing us? They'll know we ain't guests if they see
us behind the counter.”

Jeremiah stared at him, his palm iced
by the cold beer can. Moron. The man was a complete and utter
moron. “Diversion,” Jeremiah said bluntly. “Diversion
101.”

“
Diversion?” the younger
asked with a blank stare.

Glancing sideways, his brother tossed
him a look of disgust. “Distract them so you can get in while
they’re busy doing something else.”

“
Oh... But how we gonna do
that?”

Both men looked to Jeremiah. Pleasure
unwound his mouth into a grin. “I know how to get everyone’s
attention.”

Travis sat in his parked truck, his
lungs pressed tighter than the pages in a legal journal. After
discovering Jeremiah Ladd’s marker had been paid from a bank in
Tennessee—a local bank—Travis decided to follow the man and find
out who his source might be. It had to be someone from Jeremiahs’
old crowd. If the money came from here, it had to be someone he
knew from the old days. Couldn’t have been Clem Sweeney. Despite
the two hooking up during Jeremiah’s last visit to town, Clem was
still in jail and broke as a bone-dry whiskey barrel. Clem might
have been the one responsible for leading Jeremiah to the gold on
Ladd Springs, but he couldn’t help him steal the precious metal.
Couldn’t help him pay his debt either. No, it had to be someone
else.

Glancing around the desolate streets,
the run-down housing and litter-ridden streets, Travis wondered who
around here could have helped Jeremiah pay his way free. This area
was poorer than poor, but this is where Jeremiah had come. Travis
had followed him from a local motel near Fran’s Diner. He had no
problem learning where Jeremiah was staying. A few blind calls
inquiring to speak with Mr. Ladd turned up the right motel when the
clerk offered to connect him with his room. Focusing on the lean-to
of a house, Travis wondered who might be inside with Jeremiah. As
he sat, the humidity built within the confines of his truck cab.
Not a cloud in the sky, it was sunny and warm. Swiping the back of
his hand against his forehead, he hoped Jeremiah wouldn’t stay
inside all day.

The front door of the place swung open
and Travis instinctively ducked, his heart shooting beats into his
ribs. Jeremiah knew what he looked like, and Travis couldn’t risk
being seen while he was spying on the guy. There was no doubt in
his mind that Jeremiah would not take it well. Over the rim of his
dashboard, he chanced a peek. Two men walked out behind Jeremiah.
Two dark-haired men with facial hair, medium build. By the looks of
them they were definitely locals. One hung at the top of the steps
while the other trailed Jeremiah to his truck. The two had words
before Jeremiah climbed in and drove off. As Travis watched,
something struck him as oddly familiar. Were they workers in town?
Had they helped with the construction of the hotel?