Moonlight Masquerade Read online

  She was still on her stomach when it suddenly sounded as though hail was coming down. She got to her feet, pulled the jacket close around her, and yet again waited to be discovered.

  Instead, the three men began running across the room.

  “What is it?” asked one of the first men.

  Sophie put her ear back to the door and heard shuffling, as though some things were being moved around.

  “Nuts!” the new man said. “Someone is throwing nuts down the chimney.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “Squirrels!” the new man said. “Or kids playing Halloween pranks. How did I get hooked up with idiots like you two? Turn off the lights and follow me outside. I’ll give them a thrill they won’t soon forget.”

  “Reede!” Sophie whispered as she heard the men running, then the door slammed shut. Instantly, she left the closet. The house was pitch-dark, and she had to rely on memory to find the door. It took only a few more seconds to get outside, and she was glad that the rain had stopped.

  As she ran toward the shed, she didn’t look back to see where the men were or if they saw her. When she reached the back of the little building, the mare looked up placidly, unperturbed. Better yet, undiscovered.

  The first thing Sophie saw was the saddle on the fence. Great, she thought. Bareback.

  Her childhood hadn’t included riding lessons with a saddle, much less trying to outride criminals while hanging on to a horse’s mane.

  “Good girl,” she said softly as she walked toward the animal. “We’re going to go get Reede and get out of here. Please don’t do any of that rearing that you do with him. Pretty please?”

  The mare was docile as Sophie climbed up the railing and managed to throw her leg over. But when she got on, she realized that the reins were hanging to the ground. As she slid off, the big jacket she’d thrown over her top got caught on the wood. She flung it off, picked up the reins, took a breath to get her courage up, then remounted the horse.

  Her experience in riding was what she’d seen on TV, so she clicked and used her heels to urge the horse forward. Maddeningly slowly, it left the comfort of the stall to step into the cool night air.

  There wasn’t much light but Sophie could tell where the men were by their cursing. They were to her left, so she went right, urging the horse around the far end of the house. For all she knew there were trees and shrubs blocking the away.

  “I’m going to kill those things!” she heard one of the men shout. They were so focused on the roof that they didn’t hear or see the horse slowly walking through the mud.

  But Reede did. By the time Sophie got to the far end of the house, Reede was crouched down on the edge of the roof and waiting for her.

  “What took you so long?” he asked.

  “They asked me to tea,” she shot back.

  In the next minute he leaped. Her eyes widened as he jumped from the low edge of the roof and landed behind her on the horse. She managed to hold the animal steady until Reede was situated.

  When she heard him grunt in pain, she turned to look at him. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine, although I don’t think I’ll ever be able to father any children.”

  “Maybe you’ll just have to work harder at it,” Sophie said.

  Reede grunted a laugh, reached around her to take the reins, then urged the horse forward. They rode slowly and in silence for a while until they reached deep woods.

  “I couldn’t get back,” Reede said, his voice serious, apologetic. “I never would have—”

  “I heard them say that they’re planning to rob the McTern party,” Sophie said. Against her back, she felt Reede’s body tighten.

  “Tell me everything they said.”

  She did. As quickly as she could get the words out, she told Reede all that she’d heard.

  “And you didn’t see this man?”

  “Only his shoes,” Sophie said and told how she’d stretched out on the floor and looked under the door.

  Reede kissed her neck. “Smart as well as beautiful. I’m going to take you to Sara’s house. Her husband, Mike, is a former detective and I want you to tell him everything you can remember. I’m going to go get Colin, the sheriff.”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to find the bomb in time?”

  “We’ll have a lot of people searching.”

  The idea of people looking for a bomb scared her. “When it gets close to the time, the people have to get out. They have to! They’ll understand that, won’t they?”

  “Yes,” he said, smiling at her. “We’ll make sure everyone is safe. It’s my guess that Mike will bring in some undercover people for tonight. As for you, I want you to stay home. You’re not to go to the party. I want you to—”

  “I know his voice,” she said softly. “I didn’t see the man’s face, but I saw his shoes, and I heard his voice. I’m the only one who can identify him.”

  “But—” Reede began. “You can’t—” He didn’t seem to know what else to say as he urged the horse forward. When they reached the road, they broke into a gallop, and they thundered across the asphalt, then turned into a lane and finally reached what looked to be a very old house. It had been renovated, but the air of age still clung to it.

  Reede didn’t immediately get down, but held her for a moment, his front to her back. “You look good without the mask,” he said. “You’re even prettier without it—and I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “What do you look like under the mask?”

  “If I take it off my whole body splits in half. Sophie . . . ”

  “Yes?”

  “You did well tonight. I’ve never seen anyone more courageous than you were. Walking across that tight-rope of a beam, then leaping onto the ladder was wonderful. And I’m sorry I left you alone in that closet. I couldn’t figure out a way to get back to you that wouldn’t endanger you. I—”

  “It’s all right,” she said, taking pity on him. “If I hadn’t been in there I wouldn’t have heard their plan.”

  “That’s true,” he said. “On the other hand you wouldn’t now be facing a bunch of lunatics with guns. I wish I’d shown myself and scared them off.”

  Turning, she put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “You did what was right,” she said. “If you’d jumped out at those men, they would have shot you.”

  “But then the whole town wouldn’t be in jeopardy.”

  So this is how a true hero thinks, Sophie thought. He puts other people before himself.

  They locked eyes for a moment and they would have kissed except that the door to the house opened and out stepped a man. He was slim but he had a way of moving that made a person notice him. “You two gonna stay out here all night?” the man asked in a raspy voice. Reede got off the horse and held up his arms to Sophie, and she easily slipped into them. “This is Mike. Sophie.” They nodded at each other. “Can I borrow your car? I need to go see Colin and arrange a search party.”

  Immediately, Mike became alert. “Who’s missing?”

  “No one, but a bomb has been placed. Sophie knows everything and she’ll tell you.”

  As Mike opened the door wider to let her in, he tossed his car keys to Reede. Sophie started to go into the house, but Reede held her hand and pulled her back. “You’ll be careful tonight, won’t you?” he said.

  “You saw that I’m a scaredy-cat.”

  “I saw that someone only has to tell you that you can’t do something and you tighten up that pretty little mouth of yours and do it. Just don’t do that tonight, okay? Stay with me, and as soon as you identify this guy, you’re out of there. All right?”

  “Yes,” she said softly, looking up at him. The rain had stopped but the sun wasn’t out. It was gray and hazy. Reede gave her cheek a quick kiss, held her hand for a moment, then he was gone.

  Sophie was doing her best to pretend to be calm, but she wasn’t succeeding. Sara Newland was being very nice to her, as was everyone else she was introd