Aurora looked down at her trembling hands. Get a grip on yourself, Aurora. She walked over to the large window and looked out at the lake. Sam should have been back hours ago. He’s in danger. I can feel it.
Think, Aurora. You can’t help Sam if you panic. Find something to do and wait for either Uncle Charlie or Sam to call you.
She wandered into the bedroom and looked around. “I need something to keep busy,” she said. Aurora dug in her tote bag for her cross-stitching, picked up the tape recorder from her bag, re-wound it, and settled back to cross-stitch and review what she’d dictated earlier in the day. King stretched out at her feet.
She stopped the tape occasionally to jot new ideas and changes onto a yellow legal pad. She heard a vaguely familiar voice on the tape just as she reached to shut off the recorder. Who was that? And how did it get on the recorder? Oh yeah, I accidentally left the recorder running this morning.
Aurora quickly pressed “rewind,” then “stop,” then “play.”
She heard a female voice exclaim, “I found it! The tape was right there in the VCR. I don’t know how we missed it when Jimmy Ray and Clyde searched the room earlier. But then we were looking for pictures and the necklace; we didn’t know nothing ‘bout a tape.” Pause. “Yeah, it’s the one you’re looking for.” The voice stopped for a few seconds, then continued. “How do I know it’s the right tape? Dammit, contrary to what you’ve always believed, I’m sure as hell not stupid. I watched it.”
Aurora picked up the recorder and kissed it. If she had purchased the cheap recorder she’d originally planned to buy, the tape would have run out before the voice could be recorded. At Sam’s insistence, she bought a more expensive model, a voice-activated one. Who are Jimmy Ray and Clyde? And the voice on the tape, she knew she’d heard it before. But where?
She played the tape again, but the identity of the voice continued to elude her. Over and over she listened to the tape, then dialed Uncle Charlie. Pictures. What pictures? She slammed down the receiver, just missing Uncle Charlie’s “Hello.”
The voice mentioned pictures. And the necklace. At first Aurora had been so intent on placing the voice that she hadn’t paid attention to the words.
She ran to the kitchen and pulled open the junk drawer. She saw the necklace still in the back of the drawer where she’d left it. Relieved, she quickly searched all the places in the house where pictures were stored, even flipped through photograph albums. There are no pictures here that would interest anyone except family and close friends. Besides, most of the albums were dumped on the floor the day Sam surprised the intruders.
Questions she couldn’t answer bombarded her. Were Sam’s attackers looking for pictures and the diamond and ruby necklace? If so, they didn’t find the necklace. But did they find the pictures? Or were his attackers random burglars who panicked when Sam surprised them? Whose voice is on the recorder, where have I heard it before, and how did the voice get in my house? Who was the voice talking to on the phone? Who are Jimmy Ray and Clyde? And most important, where are Sam and Little Guy?
Aurora nearly tripped over her mother’s needlepoint footstool in her haste to answer the telephone when it rang. Please let it be Sam.
“Hi, Aurora. This is Jill Hathaway.”
“Oh, hey.” She slumped down in the chair.
“Are you okay, Aurora? Your voice sounds funny, not like you.”
“I thought you might be Sam. I’m worried about him. He left the house with Little Guy around nine o’clock for a short walk and hasn’t returned. Hasn’t called, either. No one I’ve talked to knows where he is. I can’t shake the feeling something’s wrong. Have either you or Robert seen him today?”
“I haven’t. Hold on a sec and I’ll ask Robert.” Aurora held her breath as she waited.
“Sorry, Robert hasn’t seen him, either. Sam probably stopped at a neighbor’s house and forgot to call. You know how men are. Every male from age nine on believes he’s invincible and figures the woman in his life knows this. At least that’s what my grandmother always told me.”
Jill glanced at the clock beside the telephone, snapped her suitcase shut, and motioned to Robert that she was ready to leave.
“Aurora, I called to ask you a favor and to tell you I’m flying back to Washington, leaving in just a few minutes. Robert and I wondered if you would keep Russell a while longer. I won’t be here, and Robert’s too distraught right now to be a good caretaker, wouldn’t do as good a job taking care of Russell as you and Sam will do. Could you keep him for a few more days?”
“We’d be happy to keep Russell for as long as you wish, but right now I don’t even know where he is.”
“I’m sure Sam and Russell will come marching home any minute now. I must go, Aurora. Robert’s hired a private plane at the Smith Mountain Lake Airport to fly me back to D.C. Robert will drive me to the airport. He can’t go with me to Washington; the local police strongly advised him to stay here a while longer. Something about making himself available in case more questions surface. It was nice meeting you. I wouldn’t worry about your husband if I were you; I’m sure he will turn up soon. Goodbye.”
Aurora stared at the telephone receiver still in her hand. Was Jill’s voice the one on the tape? She wished she’d paid closer attention.