A Dark and Twisting Path Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE WRITER’S APPRENTICE MYSTERIES

  “What’s not to love? Writing that flows beautifully, suspense that builds slowly and almost unbearably, and a setting that is perfectly beautiful and mysterious, yet also menacing.”

  —Miranda James, New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries

  “A traditional mystery reader’s dream. A Dark and Stormy Murder has it all: plenty of action, a dash of romance, and lots of heart.”

  —Julie Hyzy, New York Times bestselling author of the White House Chef Mysteries

  “An engaging cozy with a touch of Gothic, A Dark and Stormy Murder is a not-to-be-missed page-turner. Bring on book two in this charming series!”

  —Terrie Farley Moran, Agatha Award–winning author of the Read ’Em and Eat Mysteries

  “Death in Dark Blue is the second wonderfully exciting novel in [the] Writer’s Apprentice Mystery series . . . the writing is excellent, the mystery is well planned and executed, and the characters have careers that pique the imagination and invite the reader to come back and stay for another visit.”

  —Open Book Society

  “I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and living vicariously through Lena. She lives out every reader or aspiring writer’s dream.”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Julia Buckley

  Writer’s Apprentice Mysteries

  A DARK AND STORMY MURDER

  DEATH IN DARK BLUE

  A DARK AND TWISTING PATH

  Undercover Dish Mysteries

  THE BIG CHILI

  CHEDDAR OFF DEAD

  PUDDING UP WITH MURDER

  BERKLEY PRIME CRIME

  Published by Berkley

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2018 by Julia Buckley

  Excerpt from Death Waits in the Dark © 2018 by Julia Buckley

  Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

  BERKLEY is a registered trademark and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the B colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Ebook ISBN: 9780698406117

  First Edition: August 2018

  Cover design by Alana Colucci

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  For Victoria Holt

  Acknowledgments

  I am grateful to the many people who made this series possible, especially Kim Lionetti and Michelle Vega, and to my public library, where I spent many hours of my childhood poring over book-flap descriptions to find the most alluring tales. Thanks to booksellers everywhere for maintaining a noble and important profession. And a final thank-you to the readers of this series who have told me that this story holds something compelling for them. We must keep telling and reading stories if our world is to retain its imagination—a crucial component of humanity.

  Bestselling Books by Camilla Graham

  The Lost Child (1972)

  Castle of Disquiet (1973)

  Snow in Eden (1974)

  Winds of Treachery (1975)

  They Came from Calais (1976)

  In Spite of Thunder (1978)

  Whispers of The Wicked (1979)

  Twilight in Daventry (1980)

  Stars, Hide Your Fires (1981)

  The Torches Burn Bright (1982)

  For the Love of Jane (1983)

  River of Silence (1985)

  A Fine Deceit (1987)

  Fall of a Sparrow (1988)

  Absent Thee From Felicity (1989)

  The Thorny Path (1990)

  Betraying Eve (1991)

  On London Bridge (1992)

  The Silver Birch (1994)

  The Tide Rises (1995)

  What Dreams May Come (1996)

  The Villainous Smile (1998)

  Gone by Midnight (1999)

  Sapphire Sea (2000)

  Beautiful Mankind (2001)

  Frost and Fire (2002)

  Savage Storm (2003)

  The Pen and the Sword (2005)

  The Tenth Muse (2006)

  Death at Seaside (2008)

  Mist of Time (2009)

  He Kindly Stopped for Me (2010)

  (a four year hiatus)

  Bereft (2015)

  The Salzburg Train (2016)

  Death on the Danube (2017)

  Death at Delphi (in progress)

  Contents

  Praise for the Writer’s Apprentice Mysteries

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Julia Buckley

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Bestselling Books by Camilla Graham

  Authorities Join Forces to Search for Missing Child

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Special Excerpt from Death Waits in the Dark

  About the Author

  AUTHORITIES JOIN FORCES TO SEARCH FOR MISSING CHILD

  Jake Elliott, Associated Press

  NEW YORK—Authorities in Greece have joined forces with American agencies to aid in the search for Athena Lazos, the infant who was stolen from her mother, Victoria West, in early February. West had previously made headlines when she disappeared from her New York home more than a year ago. Her ex-husband, Sam West, had been a suspect in her disappearance, and for a full year the New York police and DA had waged a public war against Mr. West, painting him as a murderer before any body was found.

  Sam West, who had relocated to Blue Lake, Indiana, was about to face trial for his ex-wife’s murder when evidence came to light that Victoria West was still alive. Days later Victoria West was found, safe, on a yacht belonging to billionaire business tycoon Nikon Leandros Lazos, the father of Athena Lazos. Nikon Lazos is the prime suspect in the disappearance of his daughter, and authorities fear he will use his vast wealth to prevent anyone from finding little Athena, whose mother has made several distraught appeals for her return.

  Despite an initial romantic relationship between Lazos and Victoria West, the latter has claimed that he held her against her will for many months, preventing her from contacting anyone in the outside
world and confining her on the yacht, which served as their home. Mrs. West has made very few public statements about her time with Lazos, but in a recent interview with the New York Times, she admitted that “Nikon Lazos has a powerful charisma that is difficult to resist, and if he enlists the aid of others to help him conceal the whereabouts of my daughter, I am quite certain he will be able to persuade those people that he is the injured party. Have no doubt, though, that he is cruel and manipulative, and that once I understood I was essentially his prisoner, I was able to see him more clearly and to realize I did not want my daughter to grow up with him. I am grateful to the people who worked so hard to find me, and I hope that they will work even harder to find and rescue my innocent child.”

  As of yet, neither the police in Blue Lake—where Athena was abducted—nor the CIA, nor Interpol has indicated that they have any leads in Athena’s disappearance. While they did locate the getaway car in an Indiana field, the driver, Leonard Wilson, was not with the vehicle, and it is believed that he and the child were picked up by another car. Blue Lake police detective Douglas Heller suggested that Lazos will make a mistake and police will find him soon. “Lazos should know that we are on this. We are confident that we will reunite Victoria West with her daughter,” he said in a recent press conference. Heller is credited with finding Mrs. West, although he suggests that two Blue Lake women—neither of whom are members of law enforcement—were instrumental in the recovery.

  As has been previously reported, Victoria West herself has offered a reward of a hundred thousand dollars to anyone who has information that leads to the discovery of Baby Athena.

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  Delia had come to Greece to face her demons, whatever form they might take. She was frightened, yet also relieved, that the showdown was at hand, and that, one way or another, she would find resolution.

  —From Death at Delphi, a work in progress

  VICTORIA WEST, TRAGIC and beautiful, spoke into the camera. Her expression revealed her pain, as it had on every news broadcast on every channel for the last two months. It also conveyed her determination. In a firm yet vulnerable voice, she said, “I know that my daughter is in this country, and I know that people are being paid handsomely to keep her hidden. The authorities have assured me that Nikon, or whoever acted on his behalf, did not leave the United States with my Athena. I appeal to everyone watching to please help me find my daughter and bring her home.” She paused, and I had the sense that the whole world hung on her words. “I am not the only one who has been affected by Nikon Lazos’s selfish actions. My husband, Sam, suffered terribly, accused of taking my life. My friend Taylor died in her quest to find me. These are terrible, irreparable losses, and I do not wish to add my baby girl to the roster of things that cannot be reclaimed.” She dabbed at her eyes, and her parents rushed forward to put their arms around her. Her lawyers, too, wore faces of the utmost concern.

  My friend Allison put down her slice of pizza and turned to me. “Lena, I know she’s been through a great deal, but she’s so melodramatic. And Sam isn’t her husband. He’s your man.”

  This is why Allison is my best friend. I would never have dared to say that Victoria West hadn’t gone through terrible things, nor would I have ventured to criticize her frequent press conferences. Of course she wanted her child back, as we all did. I worried about the baby that Nikon Lazos had stolen in broad daylight, and like everyone I was shocked that the police and the government agencies had been unable to locate the child. She had been taken at the end of February, and tomorrow would be the first of May. Yet, like Allison, I couldn’t help but feel that Victoria had almost come to enjoy her time in front of the camera, as she had come to depend, once again, on the company and support of her ex-husband, Sam West.

  Victoria stepped away from the podium, and one of her lawyers began taking questions from the crowd assembled in New York. She had flown out for the event, which had been combined with the DA’s public—and extremely belated—apology to Sam West. Sam had declined to attend, and I supported his choice. Why should he take part in the pageant that Camilla now called “The Victoria West Show”?

  Allison sniffed and turned the television off with her remote control. Immediately the peace of her large and sunny living room comforted me and soothed my frayed nerves. It was Monday, her day off, and she was letting me decompress at her house. “Thank you for saying that about Victoria. I have to admit I am getting a little tired of sharing Sam with her. He’s trying to be noble, offering support because her therapist says she needs to feel the permanence of her former relationships. I get that. But to rent a house in Blue Lake? And it’s walking distance from Sam’s place. Camilla made such a face when I told her.”

  “Camilla’s right,” Allison said. “I mean, you won him fair and square. She and her lawyers can wait things out in Indianapolis if she’s so convinced that Nikon is in Indiana.”

  “That’s only one theory, of course. That he’s hiding in plain sight. To me that seems like paranoia. The man had a yacht—although that’s been seized temporarily. But he has so much money he could have bought another one, under someone else’s name, like he did last time, and he and his daughter could be in Kamchatka by now.”

  “Kamchatka,” Allison said appreciatively. Then, brightening, she said, “We should play Risk! Wouldn’t that be fun? With Sam and John? And maybe Doug and Belinda, if they’re still a thing.”

  “I don’t know. I should visit Belinda at the library and put out some feelers. I haven’t seen her since Camilla and I returned from our tour.”

  “Yeah, tell me more about that. Was England beautiful?”

  A rush of happy memories flooded through me. “So amazing! The scenery, the landscapes of those little towns—just wonderful. Well, you saw the pictures on Facebook.”

  “Yes. Gorgeous!”

  “I saw the village where Camilla grew up. There’s a pub there with all her book covers framed on the wall. God, I took so many pictures, Allie! I could have stayed there forever.”

  “Did you get to make speeches and stuff?”

  “Camilla always spoke first, and then when she was finished she would introduce me and talk about working with me, and then people would ask me questions. I felt very important, but that was all due to Camilla’s generosity. You know how she is.”

  “It sounds amazing.”

  “And at the end of our tour we were right on the sea, and we visited her mother in her little cottage. She was delightful. So much like Camilla, but her own distinct person. She made us tea and called Camilla “pet,” and I was in love with her instantly.”

  Allison put another slice of pizza on my plate and handed it to me where I sat lazily on her couch. I took it absently and said, “We met one of her sisters, too. Philippa. She was nice, although a bit distant. Camilla said she’s always been like that, and singularly unimpressed with any of Camilla’s books. Philippa is a barrister. We had lunch in London.”

  Allison clapped gleefully. “Listen to what you just said! Oh, Lee, this is the life you always daydreamed about. You’re living it. A published book, and a house with Camilla, and a dreamy, mysterious boyfriend.”

  “Whom I haven’t seen since I came back. He told me he’d be gone when we returned and he was sorry about it. He and his lawyer were following a lead about the baby. It’s déjà vu, Allie. First he was following leads about Victoria, now they’re about poor Athena. Although why that’s Sam’s job I cannot even imagine.”

  Allison shrugged. “You said he promised to use his resources on her behalf.”

  “Sam is supportive and kind, which are both things I love about him, but this has gone on long enough. He needs to delegate these jobs and get on with his life.”

  “With you,” Allison said brightly.

  “Yes. With me.” I sounded smug, and I suppose I felt it, too.

  The phone rang, and Allison sprang up to get it. She came back a momen
t later. “That was John. He’ll be home by four. Can you stay for dinner?”

  I sighed. “I love your house, and I would actually like to stay for the whole week, but I still have unpacking to do, and I want to make sure Camilla isn’t doing too much too soon. Adam is more worried about that than I am, actually. That man is protective, and he can barely stand to be away from her.”

  “That’s sweet. He must have missed her. You guys seemed to have been gone forever.”

  “It was so great. But I missed Blue Lake, and you and John, and Doug, and Bick’s Hardware, and Schuler’s ice cream . . .”

  “And Sam.”

  “And Sam.” I still missed Sam. I had texted him several times, asking when he would be back. He had responded briefly but passionately, telling me I could never leave again, which I thought was a bit hypocritical, and yet was satisfying to my lover’s ears.

  “Anyway,” I said, getting up and stretching, my eyes on the alluring woods in her backyard—the reward of a corner lot that merged with a small forest preserve. “I have to go. We’ll get together soon, I’m sure.” I gave Allison a hug, and she walked me to the door, which stood open to admit the warm breeze.

  Outside, we paused on her porch and inhaled the spring air. Allison bent to get her mail, then frowned. “Oh boy. There’s no mail in here, and it’s usually delivered by now. I hope our mailman isn’t getting revenge.”

  “Why would your mailman want revenge?” I said, almost laughing.

  “Because yesterday we got a magazine that was mangled. I can’t even tell John about us not getting mail today, because he already got into a fight with Eddie about that magazine.” She was distressed, but she also looked sort of proud of her husband.

  “Even in paradise there are problems,” I said, admiring her lovely neighborhood, green and fragrant and full of nature sounds.

  She brightened. “Do you hear those birds, Lena? Blue Lake has gifts for me in every season, but those birds singing might be the best of all. So many different calls, and John and I are starting to learn them. You hear that one? It’s a blue jay. John says that he yells “thief,” but I think it’s a lonelier word. Maybe he’s saying ‘speak.’” She looked up at the leaves, smiling. “He’s beautiful, but I only see him once in a while. He likes to stay in the tops of the trees.”