Mystery Bride Part 17

Just as Ca.s.sie had said, there was a note included. It read, In case something should happen to me, and you receive this package, take the CD to the police and tell them it is one of five pieces. They will understand why the game is so important once they put the pieces together. For your own safety, do not keep this piece of the game.

Cryptic as a computer game.

"I can't imagine why he'd send anything to me," Mercedes was saying.

Sam couldn't, either.

"Just get it out of here," the redhead said. "I'm sick to death of Lucas's games."

Sam got up, feeling it was time to go. Will was already on his feet.

"Any idea who got the other pieces?" he asked.

Mercedes swung her gaze over to him. She seemed to soften. Or maybe it was just Sam's imagination.

"No, nor do I care."

"Ca.s.sie seems to think the game might be worth millions," Samantha said, throwing out a little bait.

Mercedes snorted. "Greed is such an ugly trait. Ca.s.sie has already tried to buy my piece from me."

It definitely was time to go. "Thanks for your help. If you hear anything-"

"I won't," Mercedes said, not bothering to get up. "Lucas knows better than to call me."

"I suppose you're right."

Will opened the door for them, and Sam hurried out, thankful for the warmth of the rainy day outside. She practically raced down the steps, running from Mercedes's uncaring coldness, running from the image the woman had painted of Lucas. Was it possible he was an uninterested father, a man who married only for money and a compulsive gambler in over his head?

She could forgive him for a lot. Even for betraying her love five years ago to make a deal with the devil. But how could he betray a boy he'd raised as his own son? How could he put Zack in danger?

Chapter Twelve.

Will didn't know what to say as he followed Samantha to the pickup. She was obviously upset. He knew that having him here didn't help matters. It was one thing to be jilted; it was another to learn that the jilter had done it for money. If that were true.

"Mercedes might have a reason to lie," he said, an understatement if ever there was one.

"Too bad it had a ring of truth to it, huh?" she said as she climbed into the truck and looked out at Elliott Bay.

The dark gray water didn't do much to pick up the mood. Nor could Will think of anything to say to make Sam feel better. All he could do as he started the pickup was d.a.m.n Lucas...o...b..ien, wherever he was. It didn't seem enough, under the circ.u.mstances.

"I feel like a fool," Samantha said in a small voice after they'd driven a few miles.

He laughed. "We've all been there." He glanced over at her.

She returned his smile with a tentative one of her own. "What a jerk."

"He couldn't have been all bad," Will heard himself say. "Look at Zack. He's a good kid. He needs a little guidance, but he'll be okay."

Her smile broadened. "He is a great kid, isn't he?" She sobered. "If Lucas isn't Zack's natural father, then who is? Not only could Ca.s.sie come forward and try to take Zack, but so could his father."

He nodded, having already thought of that when they were in the Ice Tomb with Princess Mercedes. "It seems pretty obvious why Ca.s.sie wants Zack after all this time. If the father suddenly appears-"

"Lucas's stupid game," Samantha said, looking down at the box resting in her lap. "d.a.m.n Lucas."

He seconded that emotion as he drove back toward the city, wondering what to do next. They seemed to have run out of leads, and were running out of time, as well. The more they learned, the deeper in trouble Zack seemed to be. Will tried not to think about Zack waiting for them back at Charley's, or the bike he'd promised the boy. He couldn't bear the thought of turning the kid over to the authorities. He had a suspicion that the moment they did, Ca.s.sie would suddenly materialize. Or Zack's father would show up with proof of paternity.

"Five pieces of the game," Samantha said. "Ca.s.sie and Mercedes each got one. That leaves three."

A memory came to him like a lightbulb going on in his head as he glanced at the small white box in her lap. "How was that package sent?"

She glanced down. "It looks like it came by Special Delivery."

"Remember the postman we pa.s.sed in the hallway at Whiz Kidz? The box he dropped when we startled him at the elevator?"

She sat up a little. "I remember. You picked it up and handed it to him."

Will nodded. "It could have been the twin to the one you're holding."

"Tell me it was addressed to Bradley Guess."

"No," he said, suddenly deflated. "It was addressed to someone named Arnold something."

"Arnold Zingler?"

"Yeah," he said, and looked over at her. "I take it you know him?"

"Guess! He changed his name to Bradley Guess when he and Lucas started Whiz Kidz. In college everyone called him Buzz. So he got a copy of the game? How about that? Three down, two to go."

She sounded a little more upbeat. He wished he felt the same way.

He pulled up to a stop sign and rubbed the back of his neck. Why did he feel as if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop?

SAM FELT A SURGE of new hope. Lucas had sent a copy of the game to his partner. Not under his new name, but under the one Lucas had known him by back in college. Did that have any significance? She thought it might. Especially if Lucas suspected Buzz might be Zack's father.

She recalled how Buzz hadn't enquired about Zack, and felt cold inside. What had he said as she was leaving? Something like, "It's too bad about the boy." "It's too bad about the boy." Now those words seemed to take on added meaning. Now those words seemed to take on added meaning.

She stared out at the rainy day, all the more determined to protect Zack, no matter what. She pulled out her cell phone to call Charley and see how Zack was doing, and remembered that she'd turned it off while she was in Mercedes's condo.

She had a message. Ca.s.sie? Ca.s.sie? Until that moment, she hadn't realized that she'd been waiting for Ca.s.sie to call again. Sam knew Ca.s.sie would be looking for Lucas and the game pieces. So Sam was sure she'd be hearing from her former roommate. Only this time, Sam was looking forward to the confrontation. It had been coming for five years. Until that moment, she hadn't realized that she'd been waiting for Ca.s.sie to call again. Sam knew Ca.s.sie would be looking for Lucas and the game pieces. So Sam was sure she'd be hearing from her former roommate. Only this time, Sam was looking forward to the confrontation. It had been coming for five years.

But the message was from Charley, and it was urgent.

"Charley called," she told Will as she hurriedly dialed the number, her fingers shaking.

Charley answered on the first ring, and she knew by the tone of his voice that something was terribly wrong.

"Is Zack-"

"Zack's fine," he said quickly. "They just pulled a car from the Sound, Sam. There was a body inside, pretty decomposed."

She held her breath, knowing what he was going to say.

"They have a positive ID. It's Lucas...o...b..ien. The car is registered to him and the identification found on the body is his, as well. He'd been shot twice at close range with a .38."

Just like Al.

"The coroner thinks the body has been in the water since Friday."

The day Zack was kidnapped. The day Lucas disappeared. He's been dead this whole time.

She closed her eyes, squeezing the phone tightly. She couldn't have seen him on the ferry, after all. "Did you tell Zack?"

"No, I figured you'd want to do that."

"We'll be right there."

ONE LOOK AT HER and Will's heart took off at a sprint. "Has something happened to Zack?"

"It's Lucas."

He listened as she related what Charley had told her.

"I'm sorry, Sam," he said, feeling at a loss as to how to help her.

"Amazing how people pa.s.s through our lives, some of them barely making a ripple, and others-"

She shook her head again and he reached for her, knowing exactly what she meant. Samantha Murphy was one of those people who'd made more than a ripple in his life. And for a man who liked smooth waters- He pulled over and drew her to him. She buried her face in his shoulder, and he cradled her in his arms and d.a.m.ned Lucas...o...b..ien's soul.

"We need to tell Zack," she said into his s.h.i.+rt.

He nodded, and she sat up, straightening and drying her eyes. He got the pickup going again and headed for the ferry, sick at heart for Zack. And Samantha.

CHARLEY MET HER at the door and hugged her tightly. "You all right?"

She nodded. He seemed to study her, and she knew he was wondering how she could still care for a guy like Lucas...o...b..ien. She couldn't have explained her feelings to him any more than she could to herself. She'd loved a man she thought was Lucas, and that man had died for her long before his body was pulled from the Sound.

She'd cried less for that loss than for Zack's. He'd lost his father. Even if Lucas hadn't been his biological father. Even if Lucas hadn't been a great father. Zack had lost the only father he'd known.

"Where is he?" she asked.

Charley motioned toward the family room at the end of the hall. She could hear laughter and the sound of some sort of toy. As she neared, she saw that they played with a large racetrack. Tiny cars careered along the track, some flying off occasionally to a roar of laughter.

"Zack-?"

She felt Will's large, warm hand on her back. It sent a surge of something strong and powerful through her, something she didn't dare put a name to.

"Will and I need to talk to you a moment."

Zack frowned and instantly looked anxious. At least he'd had a few short hours to play and be a five-year-old without the weight of the world on his small shoulders.

"What is it?" he asked in a tiny voice.

"Come on, kids," Charley said. "I need your help." His children groaned and complained as Charley herded them out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Zack looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with worry.

"I have some bad news," she said, kneeling to take his thin shoulders in her hands. "Your dad-"

"He isn't coming back, is he?" Zack said, and looked up at Will.

"No, son," Will said. "He isn't."

The boy swallowed, tears pooling in his eyes as he nodded. "I didn't think so."

She drew him into her arms and hugged his small, frail body tightly. "I'm so sorry, Zack." His body felt stiff in her arms, as if he might break if she hugged him too hard. She pulled back to look into his face. Pain darkened his eyes; his lower lip quivered. He was trying so hard not to cry. Trying so hard to be that tough-guy. Her heart broke just looking at him.

"Oh, Zack-"

She shot Will a pleading look.

Oh, h.e.l.l. He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. She stood and moved back.

Will pulled up a chair, sick at heart at the sight of the little boy standing in the middle of the room. He sat down and motioned for Zack to join him, realizing he was in way over his head here. What did he know about kids-let alone handling something like this? But he saw himself in Zack, in the way the child was trying so hard to be strong.

"You all right?"

Zack nodded and moved toward him slowly.

"I lost my father when I was a kid, too," he said conversationally.