Cast An Evil Eye Read Free

decided to retire early.

CHAPTER III  
    A nightmare woke Cammie at two o’clock in the morning. Unable to sleep any more, she rose quietly, not wanting to waken Jeremy, and slipped out of the room down to the kitchen.
    Hildy was already there, sitting and staring out the window, as though she half expected Gregory Wilcox, Jr. and Countess Lilli to come flying in over the Atlantic Ocean in his private plane and taxi in on the landing pad outside the Chateau, just as he used to. She looked up as Cammie entered the room, and managed a wry smile. “You couldn’t sleep, either?” she asked.
    Cammie shook her head. “I had a terrible dream. Francois—I mean, Gregory,” she corrected herself—“he kidnapped me again. I can’t seem to get those awful pictures out of my mind.” She shuddered as the memories washed over her like a tornado uprooting what confidence she had been able to salvage from the nightmarish horror of years ago. “The fear and panic—they’re all back. How did I ever live through it? It was the most awful experience of my life.”
    Hildy reached out her hand and pulled Cammie down into the chair beside her. “I know, dear. I felt the same way when his father kidnapped Roger and me and left us stranded in the Alps. But we’re here now, safe and sound. We have a wonderful life. That’s the thing to concentrate on. We’re probably borrowing trouble, anyway. Chances are we’ll never see Lilli or Gregory, Jr. again.” But she didn’t look at all convinced.
    Cammie glanced at her mother. “I hope you’re right, but it’s scary just knowing they’re out there free as birds, and here we are shaking in our boots. How could it happen? It’s not fair.”
    The door to the kitchen opened, and Courtney stood there rubbing her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep. I heard voices. What are you two up to?”
    Cammie pulled out a chair and motioned to her. “Come and join us, sweetie,” she greeted her. “We couldn’t sleep, either. I can’t believe that Gregory and his mother are free. How could they release them from prison after what they did?”
    Courtney was all sympathy. “It must have been awful for you—both of you. I can’t imagine being kidnapped like that and left to die.” She turned to Cammie. “Mom—was this Gregory person really going to kill you?”
    “Oh, yes. He bragged about it. He planned to put the blame on Andre. He even set a bomb outside the door where he had me locked up. He didn’t know I had already escaped. But he found me out on the balcony. Zack flew over in a helicopter and saw me struggling with Gregory. Your father lowered a rope ladder to me and I grabbed it just as the bomb went off. He pulled me up into the helicopter. Then Gregory told the police that we set the bomb to kill him, twisting it around to make us look like the culprits. It was a terrible mess till your Great Grampa Fran came to our rescue.”
    Courtney looked pensive. “Isn’t it strange that you both had the same experience—both kidnapped. It’s almost as though it runs in the family. Being kidnapped, I mean. Déjà vu!”
    Hildy was horrified. “Don’t say that, Courtney!”
    “I’m sorry, Grandy Hildy. I was half joking.”
    “It’s nothing to joke about, dear. Even if it’s only half a joke.”
    “I was just trying to put a light touch on it,” Courtney explained. “You know—inject some humor into the situation.” She shivered. “But it isn’t funny, is it? I hope I never have to go through anything like that. I don’t think I could survive. I wonder how you did.”
    Hildy rose and walked over to check the coffee pot which she had plugged in. “Well, dear,” she said, “I guess you just do what you have to do to get through it. You pray a lot, and you keep believing that somehow you’ll get out of it alive.”
    “I think you were both very brave,” Courtney told them. “I’m sure glad you’re my mother and grandmother. I couldn’t have made a better choice.”
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