§ § § -- March 18, 1996
They shook hands with each of Wayne Blanchard's tour members and wished them a good trip home, then faced Wayne and Denise, who were holding hands. "We had a very long talk last night," Denise said with a smile.
"Really?" said Roarke. "And what conclusion did you reach?"
"Well, for one thing, this fantasy finally made me realize that tornado-chasing isn't for amateurs like me," Wayne confessed. "I thought I knew it all till this weekend. But when we saw that monster bearing down on us, my mind went totally blank. Joachim Albarran knew what to do and kept a cool head, and he probably saved our lives."
Denise's smile became a grin. "Well, if you hadn't had the presence of mind to force that insane Brit to get in the ditch with the rest of us, we might've lost the guy. So give yourself some credit, hon. Besides, you got some terrific tornado footage and did some really insightful observation, so I figure the tornado eggheads in Norman should be able to make a little use of it. And if not, then heck…the local TV stations'll eat it up." They all laughed. "Thanks, Mr. Roarke and Leslie, and goodbye."
"Goodbye, Ms. Young," Roarke replied. They also bid Wayne farewell, shook hands all around, and waved the couple onto the plane.
"Speaking of Mr. Lightwood-Wynton," Roarke said then, regarding his daughter, "I'd like to hear your explanation of that remark you made to him in the elevator."
"Oh," said Leslie and sighed. "I suppose you might as well know. You remember that the Claude Duncan place on Grady and Maureen's property had been deserted for a while by then, and that he had a special interest in it. It turns out that Duncan was friends with the silent-movie director Niles Cameron, who happened to be Simon's great-grandfather. Simon ultimately broke into the chateau looking for a print of Cameron's first film with Duncan and Becky Lee—the only print known to exist—claiming it belonged to his family. He'd sneaked out there without my knowing it. My friends and I went over there to get him out, and caught him in one of the rooms, searching through boxes by flashlight. I thought it was only fair to scare purgatory out of him the way he had me, so I said 'Surprise!' at him, right out loud. He must have jumped three feet." She grinned at the memory. "So that's why I told him not to let anybody sneak up on him in the dark."
"No wonder you never told me," Roarke said, rolling his eyes. "Obviously it ended well, but you should have come clean after Simon and his mother left here."
Leslie shrugged. "What's done is done, Father…can't we leave it at that?"
Roarke laughed and relented. "All right. By the way…" Another twinkle glinted from his eye. "There's a special advance screening this afternoon for a new film that will be out in a few months, and I had thought to attend. Would you like to accompany me?"
"What's the movie?" Leslie asked curiously.
"It's called Twister, and tells a story about tornado chasers," Roarke said.
Leslie cleared her throat loudly and shook her head. "Thanks, Father, but I think I'll pass on that one," she said, watching with relief as a jeep approached to pick them up.
"Very well," Roarke said with an innocent shrug, but when she climbed into the jeep ahead of him, he simply couldn't control a mischievous grin.