Once again, I measured the distance to the ledge and gauged the risk. I’d had to climb some pretty steep hills when I was hiking in the Hollywood Hills. This wouldn’t be too much different.
Yeah, right, said a little voice in my head. I frowned, finding it interesting that my saner voice was piping up again now that Sloan Campbell wasn’t around. But my inner Alice hadn’t deserted me. I could make it down there, she was assuring me. I just shouldn’t look down.
Without another thought, I turned, swung my legs over the edge of the cliff and felt for the first crevice with my foot. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just kept my eyes straight ahead, reminded myself that I was doing this for my long-lost twin, and climbed slowly down. Once I was on the ledge, it was a bit trickier. To minimize the problem if I had a dizzy spell, I dropped to my hands and knees.
It was then that I saw a larger crevice formed where the ledge met the cliff wall. It was large enough that I could have fit right into it. Instead, I crawled to the far end of the ledge where I’d seen the shiny object. It was a gold locket, and I thought I recognized it. I’d seen Elizabeth McKenzie wearing it in her portrait—and in the photo that Pepper had given me of Cameron.
Fear crept into me and settled in a cold, hard ball in my stomach as two scenarios played themselves out in my mind like little film clips. In one, the locket was ripped off as Cameron struggled with her attacker. In the next, she was standing at the edge of the cliff, fingering the locket as she tried to figure out what to do, and she’d torn the locket away herself when she’d been pushed. In both images, I could picture Cameron falling and striking the rocks below.
A wave of dizziness struck me with such force that my stomach pitched, and I nearly lost the little picnic lunch that I’d just enjoyed. I flattened myself on the ledge and ordered myself to breathe. I gripped the locket tightly in my hand as if by doing so I could hold on to my sister, and gradually the images faded.
The instant the dizziness eased, I knew that I had to get off the ledge. And I couldn’t afford to think about it. After tucking the locket into my pocket, I inched my way back to where I’d landed. Then I drew in a deep breath and, using the crevices in the cliff wall for support, I rose to my feet and began the climb upward.
It wasn’t as easy as the trip down. The wind seemed to have picked up a bit. I thought that I could hear someone calling my name. One handhold, one foothold at a time, I told myself. It was one thing not to look down, but it was another much harder thing not to picture the distance to the rock ledge in my mind. My heart was beating fast when my hand finally clamped down on the rocks that bordered the cliff.
I felt one swift wave of relief followed by a spurt of pure panic when the rock beneath my left foot crumbled. As I dug the fingers of both hands into the cliff, I pictured rocks plummeting through the air and smacking into the foamy sea below. All the weight of my body was on my weak ankle. A wave of dizziness hit me, and for a moment I felt myself teeter. I was going to fall.
A hand grabbed my wrist. A second later another hand joined the first and I felt myself being hauled upward. The moment that my feet were on solid ground, Sloan’s hands gripped my shoulders and he gave me a hard shake.
I opened my eyes to see fear in his.
“Are you all right? What happened? Did you fall?”
“No. I climbed down because I saw something.”
He gave me another shake and fury joined the fear in his eyes.
“I found something.” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the locket. “It was on the ledge. It’s hers, isn’t it?”
Sloan took the locket. “Yes. She wore this every day.”
“Someone pushed her. It must have torn off in the struggle. I—”
I couldn’t go on. There was something in my throat that stopped me. A sob. I didn’t realize it, but I must have been crying because Sloan pulled me abruptly against his chest and just held me close. I might have been able to pull myself together if he hadn’t done that. I’d been so certain that Cameron was alive—I still wanted to believe that she was. I wanted to be able to get to know her, to love her. And then I thought of Sloan and I held on to him even tighter and wept for both our loss.
IT WAS MORE THAN AN HOUR later before we got back to the ranch. The troopers had found some tire tracks and they’d remained at the scene to make plaster casts.
Sloan was angry with me. On the ride back to the hacienda, he barely said a word to me. At least Gus hadn’t overheard my outburst about Cameron. He’d still been inspecting the damage to the plane when Sloan had realized I was missing and the older man had stayed with the troopers.
Once I’d recovered from my weep-a-thon, I’d tried to convince myself that the two scenes I’d pictured so vividly in my mind could be worst-case scenarios. Finding the locket on the cliff didn’t necessarily mean that Cameron had fallen over. There could be other explanations.
Along with my inner Alice, I also had an inner Little Mary Sunshine. I didn’t want to give up on Cameron yet.
But it wasn’t looking good.
Now that I’d gotten a bit of a grip on myself, I was willing to concede that Sloan might have a reason to be upset with me. I’d taken a risk climbing down to the ledge. But I’d found Cameron’s locket. That had to count for something. We now had proof that Cameron had been to the cliff, and that something had happened to make her drop it.
When Gus finally pulled his truck to a stop at the stables, Sloan told me to go up to the main house. He’d be up as soon as he and Gus made arrangements for the plane. Then they disappeared into Sloan’s office. I didn’t much like being dismissed as if I were a disobedient child. Still, I started to do just what he’d said—partly because I’d been raised to be a “good girl.” One of the reasons I was growing to like Cameron was because I sensed that she had a little more of the “bad girl” in her than I did.
Then there was the fact that the day had been an eventful one. I’d had mind-blowing sex, nearly lost my life in a plane crash, faced my biggest fear by climbing down to that ledge, and then indulged in a crying jag.
Okay, so it was only twenty feet to the cliff. I’d still done it. And I’d found Cameron’s locket. Going up to the hacienda would give me some time to figure out what it meant.
Or I could battle Hannibal over who the bed really belonged to and take a nap.
Both of those options disappeared the instant I saw Marcie, Austin and Hal coming out of one of the stable doors.
“There you are,” Marcie called. “I told Austin you hadn’t forgotten we were going riding.”
Truth be told, I had. Completely. I tried to glance at my watch unobtrusively, and found that it was a little after three. Time flies when you’re being shot down out of the sky.
“We had your horse saddled for you,” Marcie added.
I thought of the promise I’d made to Sloan that I wouldn’t go off with any one of them alone. But this was a group. Surely, there was safety in numbers. Besides, time was of the essence, and if I went with them, I might be able to find out more about Cameron’s disappearance.
Hal and Austin each led a saddled horse, and Marcie was leading two. Doc Carter and Beatrice brought up the rear of the little parade, sans horses.
“You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” Marcie asked.
I hesitated for one more instant. But when the horse neighed softly and pushed her nose into my shoulder, I was immediately won over. Hadn’t I been longing for a ride ever since I’d first stood on that bluff and seen the horses?
“Of course, I haven’t changed my mind.” I smiled at Marcie and took the reins she held out to me. Then I turned to Beatrice and Doc Carter. “Will you be joining us?”
Doc Carter chuckled. “Not today. Austin and Marcie wanted us to see the horses that the Radcliffs are turning over to us. You young ones go off and enjoy yourselves.” He took my hand and patted it. “Perhaps we can get together when you get back.”
“Sure.”
“See you then.”
Hal and Austin were already seated by the time I put my foot in the stirrup and mounted my horse. She was a beauty and as I leaned over to pat her neck, I asked Marcie, “What’s her name?”
“Oh, sorry. I keep forgetting about the amnesia. Her name is Lace Ribbons. You call her Lacey.”
I patted her neck. “You’re a beauty, Lacey.” And she was. She was black as pitch with not a brown hair on her. And she had a dainty air about her. I thought of Saturn and felt that they might make a perfect match.
“You’ve had her since she was a two-year-old. You never ride any other mount,” Marcie said.
Austin and Hal were leading the way out of the stable yard, and we fell in behind them.
“Why don’t I ride any other horse?” I asked.
Marcie glanced at me. “I never thought much about it. But you confessed to me once that you’d been thrown off a horse as a child, and you’d been careful about your mounts ever since. Lace Ribbons has perfect manners.”
I didn’t doubt that she did. But I was thinking of Saturn.
I saw that Austin and Hal were leading us toward the area of the ranch behind the hacienda and its gardens. I searched the map I’d made in my mind on the bluff the day before and recalled that a stream, bordered by woods, wound its way through this part of the property.