Part 16 (1/2)
”If we drag this out any longer Andy will make a move on Blake Aeros.p.a.ce.”
Her cousin had been demanding the top job there ever since Vienna took over and he had almost enough support from senior staff to force the issue. But she knew how that scenario would play out. He would be running his own empire, nominally reporting to her but in reality cutting her out of the loop. Before long she would become irrelevant, a mere figurehead, and he would have the real power because Blake Aeros.p.a.ce was the fastest growing part of the parent corporation.
”I think we should go to the banks,” Darryl said. ”Tell them to pull the rug out and we'll deal directly with them.”
”That's our last resort. We can play this out for a few more days.”
”Why does it sound like you have a plan you're not discussing with me?”
Vienna smiled. ”Think of it this way: plausible deniability is always a good thing.”
”Don't break any laws.” Darryl offered his customary warning. ”And if you do, don't leave any bodies.”
”Duly noted. Keep in touch.”
Vienna dropped the cell phone onto the pa.s.senger seat and settled into her usual driving tempo, changing down as the road began to climb into the Hudson Highlands. The terrain was more rugged now, but the winding route was so familiar she didn't have to pay attention to landmarks or signage. When she drove to Penwraithe she always took the time to think through work challenges and come up with fresh ideas. Lately, all she'd been able to focus on was the Cavender problem. She should never have let it come to this.
As the miles vanished and the traffic thinned, she contemplated her next move. What if she went to Mason and agreed to the one-week affair? If Mason honored her end of the seedy bargain and handed over both the corporation and Laudes Absalom, did it really matter how the victory came about? Vienna could survive a dose of wounded pride and it wouldn't be the only s.e.xual fling she'd ever had. There'd been a few since college. Short-lived, mutually satisfying liaisons. No one got hurt.
She thought about her rat-fink cousins. Her father had dealt with the same problems when he first took over the company. There were cousins who'd formed factions and issued ultimatums. Vienna wondered how he had neutralized them. It crossed her mind that her father had a strong motivation to fight off threats and safeguard his legacy. He had her. Maybe she would be equally ruthless if she had a child's future to think about.
An image of a baby sprang to mind, cradled to her breast, looking up at her with Mason's dark eyes. Disconcerted, Vienna almost missed making the turn onto Route 7. She slowed down and started the wipers as plops of rain bounced erratically off her winds.h.i.+eld. The weather was changing as it often seemed to when she crossed the state line. Clouds suddenly obscured the sickle moon and wind rushed in through her open window, making her face feel tight and damp.
Snow wouldn't come to the Berks.h.i.+res until Thanksgiving but she could feel its promise weighing on the night air. Before long, a dense white frosting would smother the sylvan beauty of these hills, draping the trees in petticoats of ice and silencing the earth. The birds would stop singing. The green, honeyed scent of sunlight and gra.s.s would succ.u.mb to a metallic wet pine aroma, and the tracks of small animals would carve winding patterns across the white expanses. Vienna loved the sparkle and crunch of new snow. She loved getting up early on winter mornings and watching the sun wipe clean the leaden monochrome of night.
A huge moth crashed into the gla.s.s right in front of her, making her start. She turned her wipers on high for a few seconds and slowed down until the smeared remains no longer obscured her vision. Her eyes were heavy and her mind kept floating. It was crazy, of course, to have set off so late, but she'd found her way to Stockbridge and would soon be home. The streets were deserted, the windows dark in all the familiar stores and buildings. She started up Pine Street, drove past Naumkeag, and wove a path alongside the thin luminous white ribbon that divided the asphalt. Gnarled tree trunks reared up as she braked and made the turn toward for home. She would be there soon, pa.s.sing the black iron gates of Laudes Absalom, then the long belt of trees before Penwraithe appeared, lit up on the rise ahead.
Vienna heaved a sigh of relief as the road narrowed and undulated, twisting through the valley. She swerved in tiny increments to avoid imaginary objects and shadows, but the black trees on either side seemed to encroach, creating a sense that she was driving blindly into a tunnel, going too fast, the countryside a blur. The rain was heavier. She turned the wipers up again. Their slow, regular pulse was hypnotic.
”Concentrate,” she ordered herself sharply.
It was the last thing she said before a pair of eyes glowed in front of her and she hit the brakes and swung hard on the wheel to avoid a pale figure. There was no way she could stop the car before it smashed into the shape. She braced herself but the impact never came. Her tires. .h.i.t gravel, her cheekbone crunched against the window, and her headlights bounced off trees. A latticework of branches filled the winds.h.i.+eld. She wrenched on the wheel and felt the back of the car spin out. Dragging on the wheel, she hit the gas and careened alongside a row of squat tree trunks, then fishtailed back onto the road.
She drove a few yards, her heart deafening her, then braked and pulled over, immediately killing the engine. For a few seconds, she stared into nothing, then she let her head fall forward, crying in shock and relief.
”Vienna?”
Vienna jerked up off the steering wheel. Her neck felt stiff and her head ached.
A face filled the window, pale and wild-eyed. ”Unlock the door,” Mason demanded.
Dazed, Vienna groped for the handle.
She barely had time to release the catch when the door was yanked open and Mason reached in, grabbing her shoulders. ”Are you all right?”
”I must have fallen asleep.”
”Why are you parked out here?” Mason shone a flashlight into the car. ”Your face. What happened?”
Vienna lifted her fingers to her cheek and winced. ”I saw something. I swerved to avoid it and...”
”A person?”
”Maybe a deer. Or a dog. I don't know. I was tired. It's a three-hour drive.”
Mason studied her quizzically. ”I thought you weren't coming.”
Vienna had no answer. She looked away, trying to unscramble her muddled emotions. The shallow breathing wasn't helping. She felt light-headed. ”You were wrong.”
Mason helped her out of the car. ”Come on, I'll drive.”
”I'm perfectly capable of driving myself.”
”So I see.”
Irritated, Vienna said, ”This could have happened to anyone.”
”And it could have been a lot worse.” Mason steered her firmly around to the pa.s.senger side. She sounded angry. ”You should have waited until tomorrow. You could have been seriously hurt. What then? What if I hadn't found you?”
Vienna could feel herself f.a.gging, close to bursting into tears. ”Mason, I don't want to quarrel with you. Just go, okay? I can get home by myself.”
”What makes you think I'd allow that?” Mason opened the door, ordered her Doberman to get in the backseat, and pushed Vienna into the car. As she fastened the seat belt, she said, ”After I've taken a look at your face we'll decide whether you need to go to the hospital.”
”It's just a bruise.” Vienna probed the tender area and winced again. The lump on the side of her face was huge. She would probably have a black eye tomorrow. Very s.e.xy. She licked a smear of blood off her fingers. ”I'm perfectly fine.”
Mason settled behind the wheel and started the car. As she pulled out onto the road, she muttered, ”I wish you'd phoned me before you came out here in the middle of the night. I could have saved you the trip.”
”Don't worry, I still got your message. Darryl called as I was leaving the city.”
”And you came anyway?” Mason's face was in shadow and her tone was fat.
Unable to interpret her expression, Vienna said, ”I wanted to see you.”
”Why?” The black gates creaked open as they approached Laudes Absalom and Mason tucked a remote control back into her coat pocket. ”Were you hoping the police would find some reason to arrest me?”
Vienna stared out at the motionless woods, knowing she was too weary to win a fight. ”Let's not have that discussion now. Truce?”
”Sure. It'll keep.”
”Anyway.” Vienna forced a lighter note. ”While we're on the subject of late-night excursions, what are you doing wandering around at three in the morning?”
”Ralph woke me.” Mason reached back to pat the watchful Doberman. ”He must have heard the car.”
Vienna doubted it. Laudes Absalom was set back too far from the road. She stared up at the building taking melancholy shape in the headlights. Except for the lamps on either side of the front entrance, the house was entirely in darkness, its ruined wing a grim outcrop, the windows as vacant as the eyes of a corpse. The sight was so bleak, Vienna wouldn't have been surprised to hear a wolf howl, perhaps one of the taxidermied creatures from the great hall. In a grim fancy she imagined it quickening suddenly on its wooden stand and leaping down, thirsting for revenge on its killers.
Mason parked the car in a long garage behind the north wing and they followed the Doberman though a series of pa.s.sages and up a narrow staircase that had probably been built for servants. A door at the top opened onto the broad gallery that ran the length of the great hall. Feeble moonlight struggled in through the high leaded panes along the front of the house but failed to defeat the gloom. Only the ponderous tick of a clock and the sound of their footsteps carved life into the uncompromising silence.
Mason hit a switch on the wall and a chandelier flickered into life, casting a yellowish l.u.s.ter over all that lay beneath. Vienna's gaze fell on a portrait. A stunning, willowy blonde in an elaborate gilt frame. She wore a ball gown and carried a few drooping lilies. Her expression was one of wayward frankness, her pose a dare. From the uneven look of the canvas, she'd tempted some disorderly brushstrokes from the artist who thought he could paint her. Vienna recognized the diamonds around her neck. A bra.s.s plaque beneath the painting read: Nancy Cavender .