Eugenia dropped her fork. “For heaven’s sake, why?”
“Because the accident in the mountains could have been staged. Marla remembers a man standing in the middle of the road, trying to make her swerve, and the night she started throwing up, she could have been poisoned. She thinks there might have been an intruder in her room.”
“My Lord, is this true?” Eugenia asked, her mouth dropping open.
“Yes.” Marla nodded.
“But you never said anything . . .”
“I couldn’t remember the accident originally and I told Alex and Nick about the intruder, but I thought that I was dreaming, having a nightmare.”
“This is horrid. We have gates and a security system and . . .” Eugenia reached for her wineglass. “Certainly no one could ever break in.”
“It’s possible,” Alex allowed, though he frowned as he lit his cigarette and clicked his lighter shut. “But I hate to think so.”
“Well, we have to do something. In over one hundred years no one has ever broken into this house!” Eugenia’s spine stiffened at the affront. “Not once.”
“It might not have happened the other night,” Alex said guardedly to his wife. “You said yourself that you thought it all might be part of your confusion. That you might have been dreaming.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
Nick was having none of it. He kicked back his chair. “There’s a chance she was given something that made her throw up.”
“No . . . how . . . who would do such a thing?” Eugenia demanded.
“Someone who got into this house,” Nick insisted, leveling his gaze at his mother and realizing just how much she was aging. “I think we should have the carpet torn up where Marla vomited and have the fibers tested, see if there are any traces of drugs.”
“But we cleaned the carpet, it was shampooed,” Eugenia said.
Alex inhaled on his cigarette. Smoke drifted from his nostrils. “What good would that do? Either someone broke in or not. We’ll increase security, hire a bodyguard,” he sent Marla a pained expression, “if that’s okay with you, of course. You didn’t take too kindly to me hiring the nurse without asking you first.”
“I think a bodyguard is a little drastic,” Marla said quickly. She already felt housebound, trapped in this elegant cage. She wanted more freedom, more time to find out who she was. Someone watching over her would only stifle her every move. “I’m not going to live my life in fear. I’ll just be more careful.”
She caught the gleam in Nick’s eyes, but looked away, afraid her gaze would reflect the emotions that raged in her chest. She was falling in love with a man who was her brother-in-law, a man she couldn’t have.
“And I need new ID, credit cards, a checkbook. I stopped in to see Rory today and the nurse wouldn’t let me pass because I can’t prove who I am.”
“As soon as you’re well enough—” Alex began.
“I am well enough, damn it!” She slammed her fist on the table. “Stop treating me like a China doll or an imbecile or both!”
“Okay, okay. Relax. Of course you need everything from a passport to a gold card from Neiman Marcus,” Alex snapped. “I’ll put it at the top of my priority list.”
“No, I’ll put it at the top of mine. I can handle it, Alex.”
“Please, no more squabbling,” Eugenia said, flustered. “This is all so unbelievable. To think that anyone would break in and try to harm someone in the family—”
“Believe it. Something’s rotten here,” Nick insisted, “and it’s more than the company’s damned finances.”
Alex’s face was grim. He took a final drag on his cigarette and squashed the butt into a crystal ashtray. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my family safe. I’ll call a security company tomorrow and have cameras and a better alarm system installed. I’ll talk to Paterno, see if he can have a cruiser come up this street more often. I don’t want Cissy going out alone—Lars can take her and pick her up when she goes to school or to her riding lessons and someone is to be with James every minute. Every minute.” His face was ashen and a very real fear tightened his features. “No one’s going to threaten my family.”
“Amen.” Eugenia said.
“I think I need a drink.” Alex pushed away from the table and left the room. “Mother?”
“Maybe I will have a brandy. This is so . . . so disturbing . . . oh, Lord, my keys!” She swallowed hard and paled. “My keys are missing. Do you think the intruder took them?”
“No,” Marla said quickly, her heart a drum. “I saw them that night. You let yourself into Alex’s office.”