California Schemin' - Kate George [64]
“You kidnapped my boss. What did you expect me to do?”
“Your boss is a filthy murderer. He killed his wife for money and power. What does that make you?”
The gun wavered from my head. Moose looked down. “Wallace wants you back, so I have to bring you back. It’s as simple as that.”
“What do you mean, it’s as simple as that?” Beau was hopping mad. “You’d kill an innocent woman because your boss asked you to? On orders? You’re just a couple of thugs dressed up with nice girls and dogs.” Beau spat on the floor at his feet. “You going to kill us in front of them?” He motioned to Wendy and Paris who were still standing a ways up the road, horrified. “I doubt it.” Beau knocked the gun away from my head, and Moose pointed it at him.
“Will you two stop it?” I unlocked the car and got out. Moose looked from me to Beau, unsure of who to follow, but Hammie stepped up and took me by the arm. He beckoned the girls to follow us.
“We’re going up to the cabin.”
Hambecker and I took the lead with Moose trailing Beau and the girls, who were bringing up the rear. Hambecker had a lock grip on my arm, and my hand was starting to feel numb, but I’d be damned if I’d ask him to loosen it. I’d show him I was tougher than I looked.
We hadn’t walked more than a quarter of a mile when a white jeep came bombing down the road. A spark of hope rose in my chest, then fell again. It was Wallace’s goon from the cabin. He made a three-point turn and stopped. Hambecker—I refused to think of him as Hammie ever again—shoved Beau and me into the middle of the back seat, while he and Moose perched on the outside, hanging onto the doorframe. Paris and Wendy squeezed into the front passenger seat, the dogs tucked in their laps. I took a last look at the limos wedged sideways in the road and said a small prayer that no innocent people would get hurt.
Beau’s eyes were shut on the trip back up the hill. I wanted to ask him if his leg was hurting, but I knew he wouldn’t admit to it in front of Moose and Hambecker. I really needed to remember Moose’s real name. He’d shown his true colors, and in my estimation he’d lost all right to a nickname. These two were as slimy as Wallace.
There was no one in sight as we pulled up in front of the mini ski lodge. The girls jumped out, and the dogs hopped out of their arms and ran tree to tree, sniffing. Nothing like girls with dogs to make everything seem normal. I looked away. Beau’s crutches had been left behind. I couldn’t remember if he’d had them when he had gotten out of the limo, but regardless, they were gone. He leaned on my shoulder as we mounted the steps to the deck and in through the door that led to the living room. We were led through a hall and down a flight of stairs into a huge stone room.
It was furnished like a studio apartment. There were a couple of couches arranged to take advantage of the view of the hillside. A small kitchen area was built into one side of the room, and a canopy bed took up a great deal of space toward the back, behind where the staircase came down. Across from the kitchen a drafting table held designs and blueprints. This must be where Beau had been working.
I walked over to the drawing table and flipped through the pictures. Beau had transformed the room we were standing in. The windows encompassed the entire wall. The stone wall across from the kitchen would be broken up by a gigantic fireplace and hearth. A knee wall would separate the sleeping area from the rest of the room, and I could see from the floor plan that there was a bathroom hiding under the stairs.
“Is this bathroom part of the original building?” I asked.
“What? Oh, yeah. Feel free, if you need to use it, but remember, it’s a guy bathroom, okay. I don’t want to hear about how disgusting it is.”
I went into the room with trepidation, but it turned out not to be so bad. The shower wasn’t black with dirt, and the