Nightmare in Morocco by Vickie Britton, Loretta Jackson
Authors: Vickie Britton, Loretta Jackson
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could relinquish to Wendell Carlson the dreadful responsibility of the emerald.
* * *
As soon as the tour bus arrived in Fez, Noa asked the clerk at the main desk to page her the minute Wendell Carlson arrived, but it was almost two o'clock before she got the call.
She found Marie Landos and Wendell Carlson in the lounge . Taber, beside their table, stood very straight, as if he were angry.
As Noa approached, Wendell Carlson, with his gallant, old world manners, rose, extended his hand to her, and said warmly, "Noa! How good it is to see you! Sorry I was detained."
His large eyes, often widening with a sarcasm he seldom voiced, shifted to Taber . "Rand has been trying to explain to me why he didn't fire Johnny Ramos."
"He's been employed by us for a long time," Taber answered, assuming all responsibility . "It seemed the best thing to do."
"The best thing to do? Break Carlson Rand policy?" Wendell's eyes grew larger . They made his question sound mocking and humorous, yet Noa detected a glint in them she had never before noticed . Marie Landos evidently had lost no time in telling Wendell everything she knew about the Johnny Ramos incident . She met Noa's gaze, unabashed, and finished her drink.
"It was my decision," Noa said quickly.
Wendell Carlson looked from one to the other again, a smile touching thin lips . "Are we playing, `Who Takes the Blame?
Who has to face the ruthless Wendell Carlson with the facts?'"
"The decision was right," Taber said . He checked his watch, addressing Noa before he walked away. "Our tour starts in ten minutes."
"We'll see you later, Marie," Wendell said . The thin, immaculate owner of the tour company guided Noa through the lobby and they stopped just outside the doorway where they could talk in private . The streets were crammed with traffic whose noise made Wendell's voice barely audible. "Besides information about Taber Rand, I've found out some interesting things about our Mr. Aziz . We don't have time to talk now, but what do you say we meet right after your tour, about four thirty?"
"Fine." Noa, with stiff, clumsy fingers, removed the ring from the chain around her neck and pressed it into his hand . He placed it immediately into the zippered compartment of his wallet.
How glad she was to hand the jewel over to him . How good it was to see him! "So very much has happened!"
"I know what you've been through, Dear."
Noa couldn't stop herself from talking rapidly, telling him snatches about all that had happened to her about the funeral and Cathy, about robberies, about the column and her brush with death. Wendell looked somewhat startled, as if so much information overwhelmed him.
Noa ended by breathlessly asking, "What will you do with the ring?"
"I'm taking it right to the bank with instructions to have it transferred back to Tangier . Mrs. Ward can pick it up there at the end of the tour . And I had better get started."
"Can't you call the bank from the hotel?"
Wendell shook his head . "I'll take it down myself . It'll be perfectly safe with me."
Chapter Seven
After turning over Belda Ward's invaluable ring to Wendell Carlson, Noa expected to feel a sense of relief and freedom . Instead, she experienced an increasing uneasiness . Unconsciously she brought a hand to the chain where the Hand of Fatimah still hung tucked under her cool, cotton blouse . She felt lost without the heavy jewel secure against her chest.
As the group headed through the main gateway to the medina, Noa remembered with great accuracy the three ornate arches which resembled giant keyholes . She passed through the huge, center archway with dread, assailed by the memory of harsh voices crying out to her from the past, of dirty, grasping hands.
Those hawkers long ago had perhaps intended no harm, had even been trying to help a terrified child, but to that child, then, the voices and hands had represented horror and death; her only hope, flight .
Just inside the walls, Noa held up her hand
* * *
As soon as the tour bus arrived in Fez, Noa asked the clerk at the main desk to page her the minute Wendell Carlson arrived, but it was almost two o'clock before she got the call.
She found Marie Landos and Wendell Carlson in the lounge . Taber, beside their table, stood very straight, as if he were angry.
As Noa approached, Wendell Carlson, with his gallant, old world manners, rose, extended his hand to her, and said warmly, "Noa! How good it is to see you! Sorry I was detained."
His large eyes, often widening with a sarcasm he seldom voiced, shifted to Taber . "Rand has been trying to explain to me why he didn't fire Johnny Ramos."
"He's been employed by us for a long time," Taber answered, assuming all responsibility . "It seemed the best thing to do."
"The best thing to do? Break Carlson Rand policy?" Wendell's eyes grew larger . They made his question sound mocking and humorous, yet Noa detected a glint in them she had never before noticed . Marie Landos evidently had lost no time in telling Wendell everything she knew about the Johnny Ramos incident . She met Noa's gaze, unabashed, and finished her drink.
"It was my decision," Noa said quickly.
Wendell Carlson looked from one to the other again, a smile touching thin lips . "Are we playing, `Who Takes the Blame?
Who has to face the ruthless Wendell Carlson with the facts?'"
"The decision was right," Taber said . He checked his watch, addressing Noa before he walked away. "Our tour starts in ten minutes."
"We'll see you later, Marie," Wendell said . The thin, immaculate owner of the tour company guided Noa through the lobby and they stopped just outside the doorway where they could talk in private . The streets were crammed with traffic whose noise made Wendell's voice barely audible. "Besides information about Taber Rand, I've found out some interesting things about our Mr. Aziz . We don't have time to talk now, but what do you say we meet right after your tour, about four thirty?"
"Fine." Noa, with stiff, clumsy fingers, removed the ring from the chain around her neck and pressed it into his hand . He placed it immediately into the zippered compartment of his wallet.
How glad she was to hand the jewel over to him . How good it was to see him! "So very much has happened!"
"I know what you've been through, Dear."
Noa couldn't stop herself from talking rapidly, telling him snatches about all that had happened to her about the funeral and Cathy, about robberies, about the column and her brush with death. Wendell looked somewhat startled, as if so much information overwhelmed him.
Noa ended by breathlessly asking, "What will you do with the ring?"
"I'm taking it right to the bank with instructions to have it transferred back to Tangier . Mrs. Ward can pick it up there at the end of the tour . And I had better get started."
"Can't you call the bank from the hotel?"
Wendell shook his head . "I'll take it down myself . It'll be perfectly safe with me."
Chapter Seven
After turning over Belda Ward's invaluable ring to Wendell Carlson, Noa expected to feel a sense of relief and freedom . Instead, she experienced an increasing uneasiness . Unconsciously she brought a hand to the chain where the Hand of Fatimah still hung tucked under her cool, cotton blouse . She felt lost without the heavy jewel secure against her chest.
As the group headed through the main gateway to the medina, Noa remembered with great accuracy the three ornate arches which resembled giant keyholes . She passed through the huge, center archway with dread, assailed by the memory of harsh voices crying out to her from the past, of dirty, grasping hands.
Those hawkers long ago had perhaps intended no harm, had even been trying to help a terrified child, but to that child, then, the voices and hands had represented horror and death; her only hope, flight .
Just inside the walls, Noa held up her hand
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