Текст книги "Copper Beach"
Автор книги: Jayne Krentz
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
44
“WELL, OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT I WOULDN’T do something dumb like open the door and make a perfect target out of myself,” Abby said. She patted Newton’s head. “I watch TV like everyone else. You don’t charge into an unknown situation. But Newton is a lot shorter than me. I knew that no one would be expecting a dog to be the first one through the door.”
Newton licked her hand. She fed him another treat, his fourth or fifth, Sam thought. He had lost count.
Sam raised his glass. “Here’s to Newton.”
“To Newton,” Willow said.
“To Newton,” Elias repeated.
The four of them were sitting in the living room of the big house. A fire burned brightly on the wide stone hearth. The Coppersmith employees and their families had returned to their island lodgings, preparing to leave in the morning. The county sheriff and a deputy had come and gone, taking Gerald Frye’s body with them.
Everyone seemed to think that Frye had died of a heart attack. There was, Sam thought, nothing to indicate otherwise. He looked at his ring and thought about the raw power he had pulled from the small Phoenix crystal. So much energy from just a tiny stone.
“Not to take away anything from Newton’s act of derring–do,” Abby said, “but it’s obvious that Sam had the situation under control before Newton and I arrived.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.” Sam swallowed some of his whiskey and set the glass down on the arm of his chair. He gazed into the flames. “In a weird way, I think it was knowing that you were coming down the hall and that you would open the door that gave me the juice I needed to break through the trance.”
“You would have escaped from the dreamstate with or without me,” Abby said, with conviction.
Willow smiled. “You have a lot of confidence in my son.”
Abby raised her glass. “Another professional.”
Elias studied her with keen interest. “How did you know?”
“Know what?” Abby asked.
“That Sam was in danger?”
Abby rubbed Newton’s ears. “I just knew. And there was a huge sense of urgency about the knowing. I knew he had set a trap in the lab, so that was the logical place to go first.” She glared at Sam. “I thought you had set up cameras to photograph the killer when he went after the prism.”
Willow frowned. “Yes, that was the plan.”
“I changed the plan,” Sam said. He took his attention off the flames and looked at Abby. “Did you know that Frye was in the lab with me?”
“I wasn’t certain, but I had a feeling he might be there, because Jenny O’Connell was alone. Frye had been with her most of the day, but suddenly she was on her own. When I realized the door was unlocked, I flattened myself against the wall, just like they do on the cop shows, and sent Newton in.” She smiled, not bothering to conceal her pride. “And it worked great. Except that you had already taken out Frye, so in the end, it was something of a nonevent.”
“Trust me, it was not a nonevent from my perspective,” Sam said. He drank some more whiskey. He was still riding a post-burn buzz, but he was going to crash soon.
Elias scowled at him. “Why didn’t you tell us that you suspected Frye was the one who would walk into your trap?”
“He didn’t tell you because he didn’t want to get it wrong,” Abby said quietly. “Sam knows what it’s like to be falsely accused.”
Willow sighed. “I understand. So does Elias. It’s just that you took such a risk, Sam.”
“A calculated risk,” Sam said. He drank some more whiskey. “What I did not factor into the equation was the possibility that Frye might have another prism weapon. Also, I didn’t factor in Abby.”
“Or Newton,” Abby said.
“No,” Sam said. He smiled and rested his head against the back of the chair. The exhaustion was starting to seep through him. “I didn’t make allowances for Newton, either.”
Elias shook his head in disgust. “There were a few things that I failed to factor in, too. All these years I’ve been watching for a single lab book to surface. Knox and I were aware of only the one notebook containing the record of the experiments. It never dawned on us that Ray Willis had filled up a second notebook with the results of experiments that he ran in secret.”
“The question now,” Sam said, “is where did Gerald Frye stash the other notebook?”
“With luck, it will be among his personal possessions,” Elias said. “We need to get someone inside his house as fast as possible to search the place.”
“I can do it after I’ve had some sleep,” Sam said.
“Forget it,” Elias said. “I’ll handle the search first thing in the morning. According to Frye’s personnel records, he had no close family. No one will think it strange if his employer takes charge of his personal possessions until someone arrives who is authorized to claim them.”
“Which may be never,” Sam said.
Elias shook his head. “I still can’t believe that we spent the past few days thinking that the threat was coming from Lander Knox. When all along, Gerald Frye was right there in the Black Box lab, plotting against us.”
“I think we’ve still got a problem with Lander Knox,” Sam said.
“You’re right,” Abby said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions here. Did Gerald Frye kill Thaddeus Webber and that other book dealer?”
“No,” Sam said. He steepled his hands and contemplated the fire. “He didn’t have the connections in the underground market to identify those dealers, let alone locate them. Someone else murdered those two people.”
“What about the thugs who tried to kidnap me? Do you think Frye hired them?”
“No. Whoever murdered Webber sent that pair to keep watch for you.”
“Lander Knox,” Elias said grimly. “He’s still out there.”
“I agree with you,” Sam said. “We’ll find him. But the process of connecting all the dots will have to wait until morning. I can’t think clearly enough to do that tonight.”
“You need sleep,” Willow said.
Abby nodded. “Yes, you do.”
“I’m not arguing.” Sam pushed himself up out of the chair. “If you will all excuse me, I’m going to crash.”
He started toward the bedroom stairs.
“One more thing before you leave,” Elias said.
Sam paused and turned back. “What?”
“You said Frye told you that his mother had an affair with Ray Willis and that Willis entrusted her with that other notebook.”
“Yes,” Sam said. “Willis didn’t want you and Knox to know about those experiments.”
“What about the missing crystals?” Elias asked. “The ones he used in the field tests? Knox and I searched for them after the explosion, but we never found them.”
“I don’t have the answer to that question,” Sam said. “All I can tell you is that Frye made it clear he did not have them. That was one of the reasons he was so desperate to get his hands on the Coppersmith crystals. He felt that he had been deprived of his inheritance.”
“His inheritance ?” Willow’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
“Of course,” Abby said quietly. “It all makes sense now, including the psychic genetics. Ray Willis was Gerald Frye’s father, the father he never knew.”
45
ABBY AWOKE TO THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SAM WAS NO LONGER in the bed. She opened her eyes and saw him standing at the window. His strong, bare shoulders were silhouetted against the moonlight. His hard face was in shadow. He was not alone. Newton was beside him, front paws braced on the windowsill. Together, both males contemplated the darkness.
Abby sat up against the pillows and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“Did you have another one of your nightmares?” she asked.
“No.” Sam looked at her. “I woke up a while ago and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“You had a rough evening. We all did, but you endured that dreamstate experience and nearly got killed. That kind of stress takes some time to get over.”
“That’s not why I couldn’t sleep. I started thinking about some of the missing answers.”
“You said they could wait until morning. The main thing to focus on tonight is that you solved Cassidy Lawrence’s murder. That should give you some closure.”
“Closure. Good word,” Sam said. He turned away from the window and moved back toward the bed. “It does feel a lot like a door has been closed somewhere, this time for good. But there is another door still ajar. I think your stepbrother is standing on the other side.”
“Dawson?”
“We need to find that investor, the one who is pressuring him to acquire the lab book.”
“You think the investor is Lander Knox, don’t you?”
“I think there’s a strong possibility of that, yes.”
“Even if you’re right, Knox has to know the chase is over and that he lost. The lab book is no longer on the market.”
“If he’s killed two people to get it, he’s unlikely to stop now. We need to find him.”
Abby shivered. “I can call Dawson in the morning, tell him what’s going on. Maybe he’ll believe me and cooperate with us to help find the investor.”
“Yes.”
Newton dropped his front paws to the floor and trotted to the door.
“He wants to go out,” Abby said.
“And then he’ll want to come back in.”
“It’s the way of all dogs.”
Sam went to the door and opened it. “Remind me to install a dog door this week.”
Abby watched Sam and Newton disappear into the darkened hallway.
Remind me to install a dog door.She smiled. A gentle warmth spread through her. Installing a dog door sounded like a long-term plan, as if Sam was envisioning a future that included her and Newton.
She listened to the kitchen door open and close. Sam came back to the bedroom alone, got out of his pants and got into bed. He reached for Abby and drew her across his chest.
“Tonight, in the lab,” he said, “when I heard you coming down the hall and realized that I could not stop you, I think I went a little crazy.”
She framed his face between her palms and kissed him firmly on the mouth, silencing him. “No, that’s not what happened. You need to remember events correctly. What happenedis that, in an emergency, you pulled on psychic energy that you did not know you possessed because you’ve never had to use that much of it before. You broke free of the trance in time. If I had been dumb enough to open that door, I would have been okay, because you clocked Gerald first.”
He put two fingers over her mouth. “You didn’t let me finish.”
She sensed his amusement and winced.
“Sorry,” she said. “So what were you going to say?”
“That when I went a little crazy trying to break free of the trance, I suddenly realized that I could use the ring to do it.”
“Really?” She pushed herself up on her elbows and peered at his ring. She could not see it in the shadows, so she jacked up her talent a little and studied the tiny aurora of energy that leaked out of the stone. “You figured out what it can do?”
“I think it acts as a kind of psychic laser.” Sam raised his hand and examined the ring. “At least that’s what happened tonight. I was able to channel my own energy through it and focus it in a way I’ve never been able to do before. I could feel the currents overwhelming Frye, setting his aura on fire.”
“You didn’t say anything to your parents tonight about using the ring.”
“Because I’m still not sure what happened. I’ll talk to Dad in the morning, though. We need to run some experiments.” Sam paused. “Very careful experiments. And I need to contact my brother and sister, warn them that the rings appear to have laserlike properties and that they can be deadly.”
“Maybe you’ll know more when I break the code on the lab book.”
“Yes.” Sam thrust his fingers into her hair and wrapped them around the back of her head. “There’s something we need to talk about.”
“The lab book?”
“Not the damn lab book. The real reason I was able to pull the extra energy I needed to break the trance tonight was you.”
“Me? But I was out in the hall.”
“I knew you were there. And you were running hot. There’s a connection between us, Abby.”
“I know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s love.”
She froze. Her mouth went dry. “Sam.”
“I needed some additional power, and I drew it from the link between us.”
“I realize there’s some kind of psychic vibe going on here. But there might be a very straightforward explanation involving the resonating frequencies of our auras. Or something.”
He touched the corner of her mouth. “I’m the expert here. If I wanted a para-physics explanation for what’s going on between us, I’d have come up with it. But I don’t need one. I love you. I have from the moment you stepped out of Dixon’s water taxi. It was as if I’d been waiting for you all of my life and you had finally decided to show up.”
Warmth and wonder sparkled through her. “Oh, Sam.”
“You were like some fabulous new crystal, glowing with unknown fire and mystery. And you were in danger, and I had so much damn baggage.”
“Well, to be fair, I had a lot of baggage, too.”
“I know. Someone was trying to grab you.”
“That wasn’t the kind of baggage I meant,” she said. “I’m talking about more serious baggage.”
“What the hell is more serious than someone trying to kidnap you?”
She cleared her throat. “I have never been one to take risks when it comes to romantic relationships.”
“Oh, yeah, right. The commitment-and-trust-issues thing.”
“Yes. But I’ve always suspected that the shrinks and the counselors were wrong. I was pretty sure that I was just waiting for the right man to walk into my life. I knew I’d recognize him, you see.”
Sam traced her bottom lip with one finger. “Did you?”
“The instant I turned and saw you coming toward me along the dock that first day. I recognized you, but I told myself I had gotten it all wrong. There was so much drama going on all around us. Everything was happening way too fast. For Pete’s sake, we had sex the first night that we were together. I never do things like that.”
“We made love that first night. Big difference.”
“Sure, but at the time all I could focus on was the weird feeling that there was some kind of psychic connection forming between us. It was very confusing. I was afraid to trust what my senses were telling me. But now I know that what was really going on was that I was falling head over heels in love with you.”
He drew her mouth down to his. Abby felt him open his senses. She responded, heightening her own talent. The kiss was dark and profound, the kind of kiss that sealed a vow.
The heat built quickly. Energy burned in the room. Sam rolled Abby onto her back and came down on top of her. She pulled him close, savoring the weight of him crushing her into the bedding. The power that charged his aura challenged and aroused and thrilled her in ways that she could not begin to explain or understand. She knew on some level that he was as compelled and captivated by her energy as she was by his.
Sam raised his head so that his mouth was only an inch or so above hers. In the shadows, his eyes heated.
“You and me,” he said. “Forever.”
She wrapped her arms around him. “Forever.”
He took her mouth again. The night burned. So did the Phoenix ring.
She awoke to the muffled whine of an impatient dog.
“Newton,” she said.
“Your turn,” Sam said into the pillow. “I let him out.”
“Okay, okay. But definitely a dog door.”
“For sure. This week.”
She got out of the warm bed, wrapped her robe around herself and slid her cold toes into her slippers. She left the bedroom, went downstairs into the kitchen and opened the door.
Newton trotted over the threshold and paused, radiating a hopeful air.
“All right,” Abby said. “You’re a hero. I guess you deserve a snack.”
She opened the bag of doggy treats, took out a goodie and tossed it to Newton. He seized it out of midair and crunched with enthusiasm.
When he was finished, they both went back upstairs. Abby heard the chimes of her phone just as she arrived in the bedroom doorway.
“What in the world?” she said.
Sam levered himself up on one elbow. “Your phone.”
“Yes, I figured that much out all by myself.”
She grabbed the phone off the bedside table and looked at the glowing screen.
“I don’t believe it,” she said. “It’s Diana.”
“At this hour?” Sam grumbled. “It’s four o’clock in the morning.”
Abby took the call.
“If this is about Dawson and that book he wanted me to find for his client…” she began.
“Abby, shut up and listen to me.” Diana’s voice rose to a near-hysterical pitch. “Dawson has been kidnapped.”
“What?” Abby’s stomach clenched. “Please tell me this is some kind of really sick joke.”
“I just got a call demanding a ransom.”
“Let me guess. The lab book?”
“He’s going to murder Dawson if you don’t give him that damned book. Dawson’s life is in your hands.”
“You said we needed a plan,” Abby said. “I just gave you one.”
“It’s a lousy plan,” Sam said.
“Got a better one?”
“No. And yours just might work if we tweak it a bit.”
46
DAWSON WAS SLUMPED IN A CHAIR IN THE YACHT’S MAIN cabin. His wrists were fastened behind him. His legs were bound to the legs of the chair. He looked up when Abby walked on board. Disbelief flashed across his face.
“What the hell are you doing here, Abby?” he said. “I told him that you wouldn’t come.”
The good-looking, sandy-haired man with the gun chuckled. “But I was sure she would. She’s your sister, after all.”
“Stepsister,” Dawson said dully. “I explained that she’s not a blood relative. She doesn’t even like me.”
“But you’re all part of Dr. Radwell’s modern blended family, his family by choice. I admit I don’t get the family-loyalty thing, but it can certainly prove useful.”
Abby stopped just inside the cabin, the package containing the lab book in her hands. She looked at the man with the gun. He was polished and well groomed, the kind of a man who was at ease with money and the sort of people who possessed a lot of it. His open, classically handsome features invited trust. He was dressed from head to toe in iconic yachting attire, a dark blue polo shirt, well-cut white trousers and deck shoes. The ring on his hand was set with a large diamond. The watch was gold, the kind of timepiece that, according to the ads, was meant to be handed down to the next generation. The ads did not usually mention that in a pinch the watch could be pawned to buy a ticket to a no–name island if the Feds came to the door.
“You must be Lander Knox,” Abby said.
“So you figured that out, did you?” Lander looked amused.
“Sam Coppersmith is the one who worked out your real identity.”
“I see. Well, no harm done. When this is over, I will disappear again, just like I did a few years ago, when I wanted everyone to think that I was dead.”
Dawson shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come, Abby. He’s a total psycho. Now he’ll kill both of us.”
“No,” Lander said. “I’m not going to kill either of you, not unless you force me to take extreme measures.”
“Bullshit,” Dawson muttered.
“Why should I kill you or your sister?” Lander asked, in a voice of perfect reason. “She followed all the rules today. She came alone, as instructed. Paid a private charter service to drop her off at the cabin. She knows what will happen if I hear or see another boat or if there’s any sign of a floatplane, don’t you, Abby?”
“Yes,” she said. “You’ll kill Dawson.”
“Exactly right.” Lander gave her an approving smile. “But if everyone sticks to the plan, you both will walk away from this meeting, and I will sail away. You won’t ever see me again.”
“Why the gun?” Abby asked. “You’ve already murdered at least two book dealers by paranormal means, and I’m betting that you’ve killed others the same way.”
“I have discovered that people tend to take guns more seriously than they do the paranormal. A gun concentrates the attention.”
“Sam said something similar.”
“And those people you say I murdered were all victims of cardiac arrest. There is nothing to tie me to their deaths.” He glanced at the gun. “Certainly not this device.”
“Device?” Abby took a second look at the weapon in his hand.
“It looks like a gun, but it isn’t a traditional pistol. It’s crystal-powered. Kills without leaving a trace.”
“He’s lying about letting us go,” Dawson said wearily. “He’s a damned psychopath. He lies as easily as he breathes. He’s been stalking you for months, using Grandmother and me. He’s the one who set up the Ponzi scheme and suckered Grandmother and me into investing in it.”
Lander gave Abby a warm, charming smile. “I don’t want to have to kill anyone. All I want is the lab book. Once you’ve broken the encryption and I’ve verified that it’s the right book, we’ll take a short cruise. I’ll put you and Dawson ashore on one of the uninhabited islands here in the San Juans. It may take you a while, but sooner or later you’ll manage to flag down a passing boat. Plenty of time for me to disappear.”
“What if we go to the police?” Abby said.
Lander shrugged. “They wouldn’t believe you. There was no ransom paid. No money changed hands. At best, the kidnapping story will be viewed as a publicity stunt designed to help your father sell more books. Speaking of books, let me see Willis’s notebook. I want to be sure you brought the right one.”
“Afraid of being scammed the way you scammed Dawson?” Abby asked.
“You wouldn’t take the risk,” Lander said. “You know that it would cost your brother his life, and your own as well. But after going to all this trouble, I want to be certain that the book you found is the right one. You know how it is in the collectors’ market, so many frauds and forgeries out there.”
“True.” Abby put the package down on the desk and started to peel off the tape she had used to secure the wrapping paper. “How will you know if this is the right lab book?”
“I’ll know,” Lander said. He moved closer to the desk to get a better look at the package. “In fact, I can already sense some energy around it.”
“Encryption energy.” Abby finished unwrapping the book. The atmosphere inside the cabin heated a little, but she knew that it wasn’t all coming from the lab book. Lander had heightened his talent. He was powerful. The strange gun in his hand was suddenly a luminous green. A new chill went through her.
“You used a crystal from the Phoenix Mine to power that weapon,” she said.
He followed her gaze to the gun and gave her another approving smile. “Very good observation. My father thoughtfully kept one crystal as a souvenir. I ran a lot of experiments on it before I finally realized what it could do.”
“That’s what you used to kill Thaddeus Webber and the other dealer.”
“Yes. I know the East Coast hot-books market quite well. I’ve been dealing in it anonymously for some time now. But sadly, I lacked connections here in the Pacific Northwest.”
“But your contacts back east knew how to find Thaddeus.”
“It took some doing, but once I located him, I was able to get the names of the most likely auction dealers from him before he suffered his heart attack.”
“Before you murdered him, you mean. You sent those two men to kidnap me.”
“I had hoped to avoid violence, but when it became clear that you had another client and that your dear brother was not going to be able to convince you to work for him, I realized I had to take more drastic measures. I wasn’t absolutely certain that you would show up at Webber’s house, but it seemed likely. I didn’t have time to watch the place myself, so I hired that pair to pick up any female seen leaving his place. Obviously, they did a very poor job of grabbing you. I assume you had Coppersmith with you that day?”
“Yes.”
“That explains why you got away,” Lander said. “Never mind, what’s done is done, and it’s all ending the way it’s supposed to end. Let’s have a look at the lab book.”
He opened the leather cover and examined the first page.
“There’s Willis’s name,” he said. “The dates are correct.” He turned one page and then another. His eyes tightened. “This is a record of experiments conducted on rare earths and crystals taken from a mine, but there’s no mention of paranormal properties or the location of the mine.”
“The book is still encrypted,” Abby reminded him. “It won’t make any sense to you until I break the code.”
He closed the book with a snap. “Do it now.”
“You promise you’ll let us go?”
“I promise,” Lander said. Anger flashed in his cold eyes. “I told you, I have no reason to kill either of you.”
“He’s lying, Abby,” Dawson said.
Lander aimed the gun at him. “It occurs to me that now that I have your sister, I don’t have any more use for you.”
Dangerous currents swirled in the atmosphere. Dawson started to sweat. He gasped for breath.
“No.”Abby grabbed the lab book. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him. I’ll break the code for you.”
“Do it,” Lander snarled.
She jacked up her energy, found the frequencies and held out the lab book.
“Okay,” she said. “It’s done. Here, take the book and let us go.”
Lander reached for the book, ignoring her plea. His fingers closed around the spine. Abby seized the energy of the encryption and sent it into his aura.
Lander stiffened. His eyes widened in dawning horror.
“No,” he screamed. He tried and failed to let go of the book. “You can’t do this to me. I’ll kill you first, I swear it.”
His left hand was still frozen to the book. Abby sensed that the energy of the unlocking code was channeling straight into his aura. But he was so much stronger than she had realized. He managed to let go of the lab book. Gaining strength, he turned the pistol toward her.
“Bitch,” he screamed.
The barrel of the pistol glowed hotter. Icy currents flowed around her heart.
Sam came through the doorway, the Phoenix ring on fire. Paranormal lightning crackled across the small space, igniting Lander’s aura. Ultralight flames blazed. Lander jerked and twitched and writhed.
He stared at Sam from the heart of the inferno. “ No.It can’t end like this. The crystals are mine.”
In the next instant, he crumpled to the floor. His aura and the psi-fire winked out with a terrible finality.
Sam scooped up the crystal gun and looked at Abby.
“I told you this was a bad plan,” he said.
“I thought it all went quite well,” she said. Her voice sounded far too high and thin.
She hurled herself against Sam’s chest. His arms closed fiercely around her.
