And that was nowhere near the worst of it, Rex reminded himself. He glanced at the road sign and saw that he was south of Jacksonville; and he'd been gone about thirty minutes. He was making good time.
John Vinto.
He scowled thinking of the name. His fingers tightened fiercely around the steering wheel, and the world was covered in a sudden shade of red. He'd like to take his hands and wind them around the guy's neck and squeeze and squeeze....
"You won't touch her again, Vinto--I swear it!" he muttered aloud. Samson turned around, panting and whining, trying to get his big haunches into the little bucket seat. He licked Rex's hand.
"I sound like a lunatic, huh?" Rex asked the dog. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, reminded himself that he'd never met the guy; he'd never even seen him, except on the covers of the gossip rags. Still, the guy had problems. Anyone who behaved the way he had with Alexi had problems. Were those problems severe enough for him to be playing a game of nerves with her now?
He glanced at the sign he was passing. St. Augustine was just ahead. Rex drove on by the main road, heading south. At last he came to the turnoff he wanted and slowed considerably, watching for the small lettering that would warn him he was coming closer and closer to the Pines.
He pulled beneath an arcade. A handsomely uniformed young man came to take the car, greeting Rex by name. Rex returned the salute, asking how Mr. Brandywine had been doing.
"Spry as an old fox, if you ask me!" the valet told Rex. "You just watch, Mr. Morrow--he'll outlive the lot of us!" Rex laughed and asked the valet if he'd mind giving Samson a run, then entered the elegant lobby of the Pines home. It didn't appear in the least like a nursing home-- more like a very elegant hotel. Rex went to the front desk and asked for Gene, and the pretty young receptionist called his room. A moment later she told him that Mr. Brandy-wine was delighted to hear that he was there. "Go on up, Mr. Morrow. You know the way."
Gene's place was on the eighteenth floor. He had one of the most glorious views of the beaches and the Atlantic that Rex had ever seen. The balcony was a site of contemporary beauty, with a built-in wet bar and steel mesh chairs. Rex found Gene there.
"Rex! Glad to see you, boy. Didn't know you were coming!"
Rex embraced Gene Brandywine. He was a head taller and pounds heavier than the slim, elderly man, but Gene would have expected no less. With real pleasure he patted Rex on the back, then stood away, looking him over.
"I've missed you, Rex." He winked, taking a seat after he'd made them both a Scotch and water. "But I've been hoping that you've still been keeping an eye on that ornery great-granddaughter of mine."
Rex lowered his head, sipping quietly at his drink. "Uh...yeah, I've been keeping an eye on her."
"A good eye, I take it?"
Something about his tone of voice caused Rex to raise his head. Gene hadn't lost a hair on his old head, Rex thought affectionately. It was whiter than snow, but it was all there. And his face was crinkled like used tissue at Christmas, but he was still one hell of a good-looking old man, with his sharp, bright, all-seeing, all-knowing blue eyes.
"Why, you old coot!" Rex charged him. "Seems to me you planned it that way, didn't you?"
Gene waved a hand in the air. “Planned? Now, how can any man do that, boy? You tell me. I kind of hoped that the two of you might hit it off. You didn't know what a good woman was anymore, Morrow. And she needed real bad to know that there was still some strength and character... and tenderness...in the world. You're going to marry her, I take it?"
Rex choked on his Scotch, coughing to clear his throat as Gene patted him on the back.
"Gene...we've only known each other a few weeks."
"Don't take much, boy. Why, I knew my Molly just a day before I knew she was the one and only woman in the world for me. We Brandywines are like that. We know real quick where the heart lies."
Rex straightened, twirling his glass idly in his hands. "Gene, I'm out here because I'm kind of worried about her. A couple of strange things have happened."
"Strange?"
"Nothing serious. Alexi has thought that she's heard footsteps now and then. And we were watched one night at a restaurant. Then tonight..."
"Tonight what? Don't do this to me, Rex. Spit it all out, boy!"
"John Vinto called her. He said he wanted to see her."
"And?"
"And I snatched the phone out of her hand. I talked to him myself. I said that he should leave her alone, and that if he didn't he'd have to deal with me."
Gene didn't say anything for a long time. He studied the ice floating in his glass. "Good!" he said at last.
Rex watched him, perplexed. "Gene?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that this guy could be really dangerous?"
Gene inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I don't know. I wanted her down here badly when this stuff first hit. I don't know exactly what happened--" He paused, giving Rex a shrewd assessment. "Her mother didn't even know, but I'm willing to bet you're in on more than we were. Still, I know Alexi pretty good. She's always been kind of my favorite-- an old man's prerogative. I know he hurt her. I know he scared her, and I was glad in a way that she stood up to him to finish off that campaign. But I never did like Vinto. Smart, handsome, slick--and cruel. There's not a hell of a lot that I would put past the man."
Rex looked down at his hands. His knuckles were taut and white. He forced himself to loosen his grip on the glass.
He stood and set it down on an elegant little coffee table. "I'm going to get back to her, Gene."
"You do that, Rex. I think you should."
"When are you coming out for a visit?"
"Soon. Real soon. I was trying to give Alexi a chance to finish something she wanted to get done."
"The window seat in the kitchen," Rex said. "The carpenters were there today. It's all finished up."
"Then I'll be by soon," Gene promised. He shook Rex's hand. "Thanks for coming out. And thanks for being there. I love that girl. I'd be the cavalier for her myself, but I'm just a bit old for the job." He shook his head. "Strange things, huh? You make sure that you stay right with her."
Rex nodded. He hesitated at the doorway. "Gene, you don't think there's any other reason that strange things could be happening out there, do you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Rex considered, then shrugged. "I don't know. I've been there years myself--and I've never had anything happen before."
"Pierre isn't haunting the place, if that's what you mean," Gene assured him. Rex thought his eyes looked a little rheumy as he reminisced. "Eugenia always said he was the most gallant gentleman she ever did know. She outlived him for fifty years, and never did look at another man. No, Pierre Brandywine just isn't the type to be haunting his own great-great-great-granddaughter."
Rex smiled. "I didn't really think that Pierre could be haunting the house. I was just wondering..."
"There's nothing strange about that house. I lived there for years and years!" Gene insisted.
"I was thinking about Pierre's 'treasure.'"
"Confederate bills. Worthless."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Rex offered Gene his hand. They shook, old friends.
"See you soon."
"It's a promise," Gene agreed. Rex stepped out. "It's a good thing I know you're living with her!" Gene called to Rex. "This is an old heart, you know! Not real good with surprises."
Rex paused, then smiled slowly and waved.
Downstairs he picked up his car, thanked the valet, whistled for Samson--and, as he headed back northward, felt ten times lighter in spirit. So Gene had planned it all, that old fox.
Whatever "it" was. All Rex knew was that he wasn't going to give it all up quite so easily. Not only that, but she needed him, and he sure as hell intended to be there for her.
He drove even faster going back. It should have taken at least two hours, but he made it in less than an hour and a half, whistling as he drove onto the peninsula and approached the house.