Almost Lost

“She’s got to be there. Well, let us see if the queen agrees, or if one of her consorts has managed to spirit her away into hiding.”

He flipped the card over and Dylan let out an audible groan.

It was the jack of diamonds.

“Dammit,” he said.

“The jack. Always ready to cover for his queen. Loyal to the end. But our queen of hearts, the emblem of love, still eludes us.”

“So where’s the queen?”

“Where indeed?”

Cassie had noticed, while he shuffled the cards around, that there was one he hadn’t touched at all—the one on the far left. That had been the ace of spades.

“I think she’s there,” she guessed, pointing to the card.

“Ah, so here we have a clever lady, pointing to the one card she knows it couldn’t possibly be. But you know what? Miracles happen.”

With a flourish, he uncovered the card—and there was the queen.

Laughter and applause rang through the square and Cassie felt a surge of delight as Dylan and Madison high-fived her.

“What a pity you didn’t put money on it, my lady. You would have been richer now, but that’s the way it goes. Who needs money, when love has chosen you?”

Cassie felt her cheeks redden. If only, she hoped.

“As a memento, you may have the card itself.”

He dropped it into a paper bag and sealed it with a sticker before handing it to Cassie, who put it in the side pocket of her purse.

“I wonder what would have happened if I’d chosen that card,” Dylan remarked as they walked away.

“I’m sure it would have been the jack of diamonds,” Cassie said. “That’s how he makes his money, by switching the cards when people bet.”

“His hands were so fast,” Dylan said, shaking his head.

“They must be naturally good and then train for years on top,” Cassie guessed.

“I suppose they would have to,” Dylan agreed, as they reached the bus stop.

“It’s also misdirection, but I’m not sure how that applies when there are four cards so close together. But it must work somehow.”

“OK, let’s practice. Try and misdirect me, Cassie,” Madison asked.

“I will, but the bus is coming. Let’s get on it first.”

Madison turned to look and while her attention was distracted, Cassie snatched the toffee apple out of her jacket pocket.

“Hey! What did you do? I felt something. And there’s no bus.” Madison turned back, saw Dylan burst out laughing, paused for a moment as she replayed what had happened, and started giggling herself.

“You got me!”

“It’s not always that easy. I was just lucky.”

“The bus is coming, Madison,” Dylan said.

“I’m not looking. You can’t trick me twice.” Still snorting with laughter she folded her arms.

“Then you’ll get left behind,” Dylan told her as the sleek single-decker country bus pulled up at the stop.

During the short ride home they all did their best to misdirect each other. By the time they reached their stop, Cassie’s stomach felt sore from laughing and she was warm with happiness that the day had been a success.

As they unlocked the front door, her cell phone buzzed. It was a message from Ryan, telling her he’d be bringing pizzas home, and were there any toppings she didn’t like?

She typed back, “I’m easy, thanks,” and then realized the connotations as she was about to press Send.

Her face felt hot as she erased the words and replaced them with, “Any toppings are good. Thank you.”

A minute later her phone buzzed again and she grabbed it, eager for Ryan’s next message.

This text wasn’t from him. It was from Renee, one of her old school friends from back home.

“Hey, Cassie, someone was looking for you this morning. A woman, calling from France. She was trying to find you but she wouldn’t say more. Can I give her your number?”

Cassie reread the message and suddenly the village didn’t feel remote or safe anymore.

With her ex-employer’s trial upcoming in Paris, and the defense team searching for more witnesses, she was terrified that the net was closing.

CHAPTER SEVEN

As she helped the children with their evening routine of bath time and pajamas, Cassie couldn’t get the disturbing message out of her mind. She tried to convince herself that Pierre Dubois’s legal team could have called her directly, without needing to track down an old school friend, but the fact remained that someone was looking for her.

She urgently needed to find out who that person was.

After she’d tidied the bathroom, she messaged Renee back.

“Do you have a number for the lady? Did she give you her name?”

Leaving her phone behind, she headed through to the kitchen and helped Madison set the table with all the extras that accompanied pizza—salt and pepper, crushed garlic, Tabasco sauce, and mayonnaise.

“Dylan likes the mayo,” she explained. “I think it’s yuck.”

“I do, too,” Cassie confessed, and her heart leaped as she heard the front door open.

Madison rushed out of the kitchen, with Cassie close behind.

“Pizza delivery!” Ryan called, handing Madison the pile of boxes. “It’s good to be indoors. It was getting icy out there, and dark, too.”