Chapter Three
Out of the sight of witnesses, Kendall slammed the door of her condo behind her with an unsuppressed sob. Her ramrod straight back slumped and her knees buckled. She crumpled to the floor, her head bowed, her face creased in pain, her arms wrapped tightly around herself in a vain effort to contain the inexpressible ache that radiated from within her chest, where her heart was still somehow beating despite the mortal blows it had taken tonight.
"Bianca," she whispered. "You can't be gone. You can't. Erica wouldn't let anything happen to you! Erica…oh, mother…mother," she sobbed.
Was this to be her just punishment, then, for taking such a long, long time to let herself love and appreciate her mother and sister, and making all their lives so miserable before she did? That almost as soon as they'd all put the past behind them and become a real family at last, a family whose love and acceptance of Kendall was all she'd ever really wanted and had finally allowed herself to deserve, Bianca and Erica were taken from her?
Even Jackson, annoying and self-righteous as he often was, was still Kendall's closest thing to a father figure. The prospect of losing him too made him finally seem beloved. And Ethan…simple young Ethan Ramsey when he came to Pine Valley, now known to be Ethan Cambias. Just like the battle she'd fought to be recognized as Erica's child, Ethan's struggle to be recognized by his long lost father had succeeded…but the result was far different.
There'd been no happy ending for Ethan and his father, who'd been forcibly revealed as the revolting Zachery Slater, AKA Alexander Cambias, Jr., younger when he unwittingly fathered Ethan than Ethan was now.
Against Zach's wishes and all his dire warnings of spiritual destruction, Ethan had taken the reins of the Cambias family business empire. Almost immediately, Zach's prediction had begun to come true. Kendall had seen Ethan sacrifice his principles for the sake of wealth and power. His behavior was now verging on sacrificing his and Kendall's relationship as well….
Kendall hugged herself tighter and tried to reorient her thoughts.
It was all Zach's fault, Zach, who continued to lurk like a specter in the distance, riling his son up and making things worse to the point Kendall hated the sight of him. She needed to reserve all her wrath for Zach; it was disloyal to even think negatively of Ethan right now. No matter what, Ethan was the man she l…well, still cared about.
He had made love to her just this morning before embarking on a business trip together with Bianca—with whom he shared the helm at Cambias Industries—Cambias chief counsel Jack, and Erica, whose company, New Beginnings, Cambias had formed a joint venture with to construct and manage an exclusive health spa and ski resort for the superrich in the mountains of southwestern Colorado. They had taken off in the company jet from Pine Valley Municipal Airpark, flown by Cambias' long-time pilot. In these days of strict airport security whose gaps still left travelers feeling unsafe, what a false sense of security it had given Kendall to wave goodbye to a plane on which everyone onboard was family, lover, or trusted employee.
Idiot, she moaned internally. Unlike an airline aircraft, the Cambias private plane was neither rigorously guarded twenty-four hours a day in its private hangar nor rigorously inspected on a strict schedule when it wasn't in use. Oh, Ethan, the jet was a sitting duck.
And Zach was a sneak thief, and god only knew how many more sneak thieves just like himself he kept off the streets at his sleazy casino. They would do anything they had to to keep feeding the gambling addictions that he encouraged. So if Zach lacked the technical expertise himself necessary to sabotage a plane to bring it down mid-flight, Kendall was positive he could easily bribe or bully someone to do it for him. What better way for Zach to get rid of Ethan and Bianca in one fell swoop—a way in which his own filthy fingerprints would never show—and reclaim the company for himself? No one had ever really believed Zach had changed his entire identify to avoid the taint of Cambias, least of all Kendall. He'd just bided his time until it was easy pickings.
Had Zach's hideous patience, and his own naïve lack of vigilance, sealed Ethan's fate? All their fates?
I can't afford to fall apart now, Kendall told herself sternly. Not until this is over. Zach wasn't as clever as he thought…so what else is new! Because there's still a Cambias heir. Miranda wasn't on that plane. Zach knew that much, but that was all he knew, no thanks to that interfering Keystone Kop Derek Frye. But cops didn't make that much money; Derek was probably on Zach's payroll, too, or else hoped to be. Her baby niece's fate rested entirely on Kendall's slim shoulders. They would never fail her, Kendall resolved.
The resolution gave her the strength to climb back to her feet and flex her cramped muscles. "You thought it was the end, but this is only the beginning, Zach Slater," she said aloud. As if in response to the sound, the telephone rang. Kendall jumped, swore, then went to answer it, her heart in her throat. "Hello?" she said in a low voice.
"Kendall? Kendall, honey, is that you?"
"Myrtle! Oh, Myrtle." Kendall felt herself begin to crumple again at the sound of her grandmother's oldest friend's warm voice. "Listen, something's happened. I—I was about to call you."
"I know, honey, I know. Derek Frye just stopped by…." Myrtle's words trailed off for several seconds. Kendall heard her blowing her nose, and then she came back on the line. "I'm sorry, Kendall, I'm a little emotional right now, and that's not going to get us anywhere."
"For god's sake, Myrtle!" Kendall cried. "Let it out! That's all we can do right now!"
"No, it isn't, honey. We can't let ourselves fall apart yet."
"That's what I was just telling myself. But you know what, Myrtle? That's bullshit!" Kendall said fiercely. "We can cry, rant, rave, throw things, or break into a million pieces, and it won't change anything. So we might as well go off if we need to."
"Oh, Kendall, that's not good, honey. We don't even know anything yet. The flight is late, that's all they know. We can't lose hope yet, honey."
"You don't need to be strong for me, Myrtle. I'll cope, I promise."
There was a beat of silence at Myrtle's end. "Kendall, there's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"
"What do you mean?"
"Honey, you're not a quitter. I thought you'd be chartering a flight and hiring investigators to go look for them by now."
"Well, that's a thought. If Derek's any example of the kind of detectives the government's going to put on this case, I could hire the Three Stooges and get better results, but…." It was Kendall's turn to lose it, but she hastily swallowed her tears. "You see, Myrtle, I know exactly what happened, so there's just no use."
Myrtle sounded stunned. "Why, Kendall, darlin'! Even Derek can't tell us that yet! How could you know?"
"It's a long story, but like I said, Derek's an idiot. First of all, how is Miranda?"
"I just checked on the wee little lamb. She's sleeping like an angel, bless her little heart. Who would have thought, when darlin' Bianca dropped her off this morning…." There was another loud honk at Myrtle's end of the line.
Don't start, Myrtle, please don't start, Kendall thought desperately. I won't be able to bear it.
"Sorry, honey, I'm okay now. Look, why don't you come over here, and stay with me for a little while? You know I have plenty of room for you and Miranda both. You really shouldn't be all by yourself while we're waiting for—for news, darlin'."
Kendall paused. "That's a good idea, Myrtle. And there may be…reporters hanging around here. I don't want to see them and I don't want to expose Miranda to them either. I'll throw some things together and come. Do you have enough supplies for Miranda for another night?"
"Bianca brought a full box of Pampers with her, and I swear she left a whole case of baby food and formula in the kitchen too. There's just one more thing, darlin'. Have you talked to Greenlee yet?"
"Greenlee? Oh my god, no. I didn't even think of her. Do you think she's heard by now?"
"Derek told me he was going to see her and Ryan when he left me. It'll be hard on her to hear her father's missing along with your mother."
"She'll be devastated when she hears Jack was on the plane." Kendall bit down on her lip. "Myrtle, I really need to see Miranda, but I want to make sure Greenlee's okay, too—."
"You can't be in two places at once, darlin', and you're reeling yourself. Tell you what. I'll call Greenlee while you're on your way over. I'll tell her you and Miranda are both with me, and I'll invite her and Ryan to join us. We can all wait for news together. Miranda's her cousin, you know."
"Do that, Myrtle." Having Ryan and Greenlee with us gives Miranda another level of protection, Kendall realized silently. "Okay, I'm on my way."
Swinging into action, she threw random items of clothing and underwear into her overnight bag. It felt good to have something to do, even something as mindless as packing a few things, and to have a goal, and then at the end of it…to not feel so all alone.
She could already feel Myrtle's comforting arms closing around her…Miranda nestling sleepily in her arms. It would help to see Greenlee, too. No matter how frequently the two of them sparred, Greenlee was as precious to her as her own sister Bianca. And even though it had been tough to accept Greenlee's marriage to her former lover Ryan Lavery, Kendall had gotten past it and now considered him a close friend as well, even if they didn't always see eye to eye either.
They might be all that was left of her family. She needed contact with them all right now, more than she'd ever needed anything in her life.
The respectable Myrtle, unfortunately, seemed to have a soft spot for Zach Slater, a soft spot Kendall believed could only be explained by Myrtle's rather surprising ancient past as a carnival worker, or carny, as Myrtle called it in her unvarnished way. Myrtle claimed that working with down-on-their-luck roustabouts, clowns, and side show performers had taught her to look way below the surface of a person, and she prided herself on being able to see some good in even the lowest form of human life…even Zach Slater.
Kendall knew she would have to be both tactful and convincing in order to get Myrtle to concede that despite the authorities' refusal to put him away, Zach was both responsible for the loss of their loved ones, and a danger to Miranda. But so much depended on it that this was one argument Kendall had no intention of losing.