“I would have told you, but it didn’t seem as important as you getting Jane to wake up. I was worried about her. Besides, they aren’t here anymore.”
“Do you know where they are?” he asked carefully. “Providing you believe it’s important enough to tell me?”
He shook his head. “They’re just not here. Maybe they went back to MacDuff’s Run.”
“Back? That’s where they came from?”
He nodded. “I told you, he was thinking about the other blood on the photo.” He paused. “I was wrong about you getting Jane well being more important?”
“No, you were entirely right. It was perfectly natural that you thought of her first. But next time you might remember to tell me everything instead of categorizing in order of what you think important.”
“But there’s not going to be a next time.” His eyes widened in alarm. “You said we can’t let it happen again.”
“I wasn’t talking about Jane.” He punched the elevator button. “But even though you’re certain that she’s safe at the moment, I believe we’ll eat in the hospital cafeteria instead of finding a restaurant.”
He nodded gravely. “So I can keep watch.”
“Exactly. And maybe relax and think about what happened before you hit those gates. Anything else that might occur to you. A name would help enormously.”
Michael shook his head.
“There were two men on that hill. Didn’t you get either name?”
“Two? There was only one.” He shook his head in confusion. “Or, if there were two, the other person wasn’t important, he kind of didn’t exist.”
“How depressing for him.”
“Well, that’s how it seemed. I guess I’m not helping much,” he said, dejected.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Caleb said. “You’ve already helped by confirming that the man who was taking potshots at you and Jane was the same one who was at MacDuff’s Run.” He pressed the button for the cafeteria. “Now I can call MacDuff and tell him to have the inspector concentrate on combining the investigations. I’ll do it while you’re having your snack.” He smiled at Michael. “And because of you, we can move on to the next step, too.”
Michael smiled back at him. “You just want me to feel better about making a mistake. It won’t happen again, I promise. It’s hard keeping everything straight. Sometimes I get mixed up.”
“I imagine you do.” All the emotional and psychic conflicts must be a constant challenge for this boy. Caleb could definitely empathize. “You’ll work it out.”
Michael nodded. “Right.” His smile had suddenly become mischievous. “I just didn’t want you to think I was perfect. Jane told me that there was no way you were perfect, and I didn’t want to make you feel bad.” He walked ahead of him out of the elevator and into the cafeteria. “Do you think they’ll have pizza here?”
* * *
The call from Palik came through while Caleb was watching Michael eat his fruit salad for dessert.
It was about time. He’d expected the call last night, and it was almost six in the morning now. Caleb got up from the table and turned away from Michael so the boy wouldn’t hear how pissed off he was. “You’re late,” he bit out. “Why? What’s the word?”
“Stop barking at me,” Palik said sourly. “I’ve had enough trouble since you called me. I had to make sure I had the right information. Will you calm down and listen to me?”
Caleb took a deep breath. “I’m listening.”
“I had trouble contacting Enrico Donzolo at Fiero Village. He was the man I hired to keep an eye on the area to make sure there wasn’t any cult activity. His phone was going straight to voicemail. So I called his sister and she said that she hadn’t heard from him, either, that he’d left a note saying he was taking his sons up to his cabin in the mountains on a fishing trip.”
Caleb began to swear beneath his breath.
“I didn’t like it, either,” Palik said. “And I knew you wouldn’t. Very unprofessional. You pay Donzolo very well to keep an eye on what’s going on in Fiero, and he’s always been reliable reporting.”
“Until this time,” Caleb said grimly. “Did you send someone after him?”
“I went myself. It was a great sacrifice. You know I abhor leaving the city for all that fresh air and boring nature crap. And it turned out that he wasn’t even at the fishing cabin. So I started looking around the property. It took me most of last night to find him.” He paused and then said softly, “He didn’t go fishing, Caleb.”
* * *
“You’re looking much better,” Caleb said as he strode into Jane’s hospital room late that afternoon. He looked her over critically. “Rested. No circles. More color.” He smiled crookedly. “And not nearly as tense as when you threw me out to go watch over Michael.”
But Caleb was more than tense, she recognized instantly. She had seen him like this before—he was generating a reckless electricity that was almost tactile. She automatically warily braced herself. “I wasn’t tense, I’d just had enough. I was beginning to feel as if you both were ganging up on me.” She looked him in the eye. “So I had a nap and then I started to think how I could keep you from overwhelming me.”
He tilted his head. “And what did you decide?”
“Just to dig in my heels and walk away if you try to run over me.”
“That sounds like a great plan. I know you consider me as disposable. But how can you walk away from Michael?”
“I can’t. Michael is the problem.” She added, “And neither of you has made it any easier by those stories you told Lady Kendrick. I feel guilty as hell about going along with a lie, but if I don’t, she might contact Eve and get her all upset.”
“That was Michael’s thought exactly.”
“And you patted him on the back and told him what a good job he’d done.”
“He did an excellent job,” he said coolly. “The truth is often overrated when it comes to keeping the peace. Michael has an amazing grasp of how to obtain the greater good.”
“And he went directly to the right person who would back him up.”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “And I always will. The rest of you can stress complete honesty to him. I’ll balance it with being honest when it doesn’t hurt the people you care about. And you don’t have to worry about talking to Lady Kendrick. I’ve taken care of most of that business. I’ll follow up, and by the time you get out of the hospital, she’ll think Michael referring to me as his uncle was just a title of kinship because I’m so close to your family.”
She wasn’t about to go into that prevarication. “So much for Lady Kendrick. I suppose you’ve also got a plan for what I should tell Eve about what happened here?” She made an impatient gesture. “Don’t answer that. I’m not going to invent a lie for the greater good.”
“I wouldn’t think of attempting to change you in any way. As I said, I’m very skilled at the greater-good concept. I’m at your disposal.”
“That’s my intention,” she said grimly. “Because I sure as hell won’t send Michael to Maldara to be with Eve and Joe. That country is a second Rwanda, and Eve would worry all the time if she had to expose Michael to all that corrupt bureaucracy and criminal elements. That’s why she was happy to leave him with me. The only other alternative would be for them to cut short her work on those reconstructions and go home. That would put them between a rock and a hard place.” She stared directly into his eyes. “So you are at my disposal, Caleb. But not to lie to them. I’ll have to tell them what happened eventually. But I figure that I might be able to stall them until the police find out what’s happening here, so that they can make an informed decision. Eve and Joe were going to be very busy for the next few days at that inauguration business, and that might be all the time we need. I texted them on the road last evening that we were almost back at Kendrick Castle. They were going straight from the airport to the swearing-in of Interim President Gideon, and then there was some kind of festival scheduled.”
>
His eyes were narrowed on her face. “What are you getting at?”
“I was terrified when I thought that Michael might have been hurt last night. I can’t let that happen. But I can’t send him to Maldara, either.” Her lips curved in a bitter smile. “You agreed to help protect Michael a few weeks ago, and I backed down when I thought it wasn’t necessary. That’s all changed. I think we both agree that it’s definitely necessary now.” He wasn’t answering, and she went on quickly. “Just Michael. Naturally, I’ll take care of myself, but I need someone to keep him safe. No one can do that like you. Everyone knows the things you’re capable of. Eve was so happy that you were going to take care of him during that emergency before. It would make her feel even better if she finds out what’s happening here. I think that—”
“Hush.” He put his fingers over her lips. “Of course. You know I will.” He took his hand away. “On the condition that I have total control of Michael from this moment on. He’s mine. No arguments.”
She hadn’t expected that stipulation. “That’s a bit overbearing. I don’t know if—”
“I won’t have you arguing about how I care for him.” His voice was clipped. “I know you don’t trust me, but this time you’re going to have to. You’ve asked me to keep him safe; now you have to trust me not to screw it up.”
That tough, hard recklessness was back, as if his moment of softness had never been. He wasn’t going to back down. And heaven knew she needed desperately to keep Michael safe. “We’ll see how it goes.”
He shook his head. “All the way, Jane.”
She sighed. “Okay. But you’d better do it right.”
He smiled. “He belongs to you. It will be my way, but in the end you’ll have no complaints.”
And she had no right to complain since she’d been the one to go to him. Anything to keep Michael safe. “Where is Michael now?”
“Still being cared for by Tovarth’s policeman. He’s down in the game room by the gift shop. I had a few things to discuss with you and I didn’t want him around for a while.” He dropped down in the chair beside the bed. “Though I wasn’t anticipating one of them being Michael himself. I know how possessive you are.”
“Not possessive. I just always want the best for him and hope that I can give it to him. This time it seemed that was you.” She lifted her chin. “Though I thought you might be more reasonable.”
“And give you what you want?” His smile was suddenly purely sensual. “I’d do that without question. Just not in this arena. When are you going to get out of here? The head nurse said that Dr. Rabine had signed off on you a couple of hours ago.”
“He did. He said that I was fine but not to push it for a few days. But then I had to give a statement to the local police officer handling the case.” She grimaced. “Not that it did him any good. It read like a trip on a roller coaster…without the seat belt. I didn’t know what was going on at the time.” She added, “And Lady Kendrick dropped by for a few minutes and expressed her disappointment and dismay that I’d been hurt. She spoke highly of you. Why am I not surprised?”
“You shouldn’t be. She’s an intelligent woman.” He paused. “You still want to stay at the castle? You’d feel safe?”
She nodded. “Michael loves it here. And I’ve always felt safe at the encampment. There are patrolling sentries, dozens of students are around at all times of the day and night, and the gates are locked at ten every night. According to what Lady Kendrick said, she’s even going to double security from now on.” Her lips twisted ruefully. “You’ll notice the only time anything happened to me was when I was outside those gates.” She gazed at him curiously. “Where else would we go?”
“I’d have to think about it. I just don’t like the thought that someone was on that hill across the road peering down at you. But I’ll arrange for one of Tovarth’s men to be stationed there.” He paused. “However, Michael might have lost his enthusiasm for the dig after yesterday.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “Did he tell you that?”
“No.” He added, “But he told me that he knew the man who shot you wanted to hurt you. He could feel that the bastard thought the blood might be enough even if he didn’t kill you.”
She inhaled sharply at the words. The shock lasted only for an instant. It would have been natural for Michael to confide in Caleb. “He could feel it?” She shivered. “He told me that he sometimes knows things other people don’t.” Her lips were trembling. “He didn’t tell me that monsters sometime came to call and murmur in his ear. How frightened he must have been.”
“Only for you,” Caleb said. “And he said that the murderer at MacDuff’s Run was the same man who was shooting at you here. He could feel the blood. It was all about the blood. I called and let MacDuff know.”
“That Michael told you he was communing with murderers?”
“No, I’d protect Michael’s specialness even from MacDuff. I merely mentioned that I’d run across a connection between the two attacks.” He smiled crookedly. “No one would think that weird for me. Certainly not MacDuff. Who’s more weird than Seth Caleb?”
Was there a hint of bitterness beneath that mockery? She found herself saying quickly, “But he’d know how valuable you are. Maybe you are weird, but I chose you to take care of Michael, didn’t I?”
“Reluctantly.”
“Bullshit. If I was reluctant, I’d never have asked you to take care of him at all. Michael’s too important to me.”
Caleb just looked at her.
She tried again. “And it’s your fault I never know what you’re going to do or who you really are. It’s like swimming in the dark. Anyone would be uneasy.”
“Swimming in the dark,” he repeated. “Never knowing if there’s a shark below you?” Then he smiled. “But I’m not a shark, I’m definitely hot-blooded.” His smile faded. “I didn’t mention to MacDuff another piece of information that I gathered today. I decided to save it for you in case you wanted to go back to MacDuff’s Run and tell him yourself.”
“Why would I do that?” She was aware that the dangerous recklessness she’d first noticed when he’d walked into the room was back in full force now. “What’s wrong with you? Are you enjoying this?”
“No, quite the contrary. I’m pissed off because I fell into a very dark hole. It’s going to be difficult to climb out of it.” He leaned back in his chair. “I heard from Palik today. He was very late getting back to me on an assignment I’d given him. I was angry, because everything else seemed to be going down the tubes, too. But he had a good excuse, so I forgave him. I’d asked him to check on Enrico Donzolo, a man he’d hired to keep watch over any problems or signs of cult activity in Fiero Village.” He smiled crookedly. “You remember Fiero? Such a fine village, with such unique citizens.”
“Of course I remember. Your sister Maria was kidnapped from her husband’s estate near there.” She could feel herself tensing as she gazed at him. “And you said you later found it was a hotbed for that cult that was responsible for her death. You said you hunted down all the members of that cult and eliminated them.”
“And it was true, but I’m a careful man. I wasn’t going to risk them rising from the dead to plague me again. Cult members have a habit of being like rabid animals, biting and infecting everyone around them. So I had Palik arrange to have one of the villagers, Donzolo, keep watch.” He shook his head. “But when Palik called him to check on the present status, he was told he’d gone fishing in the mountains with his sons. His phone calls went to voicemail. When Palik went up to the mountains to check on him, he wasn’t at his cabin. There was no sign of him being there, so he set out to check the property. It took almost two days for him to find him, but only because he was looking too close to the cabin. Once he went beyond the lake, he had no problem locating him.” He met her gaze. “Because they wanted him to be found. They’d spread a trail of blood directly to the cave where they’d left him.”
“A cave?” She swallowed.
She’d started to shake when she’d heard the word “blood.” She couldn’t look away from him. “Why was he—” She broke off as Caleb handed her his phone.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” he said harshly. “Look at it. The cabin was too close, but this cave was just right. It protected him from the elements, and it took a little effort and time for Palik to discover him. I believe the timing was thought to be important.”
She slowly looked down at the photo on the camera.
She flinched.
Blood.
Everywhere.
So much blood.
A gray-haired man had been pinned to a wooden crucifix fixed to the cave wall. His dark eyes were wide open and stared into nothingness. His throat had been cut, and his blue shirt was soaked with blood. But so were the crucifix and the cave wall behind him.
“The blood…”
“That’s what I asked Palik,” Caleb said. “The human body has only so much blood. This was excessive.” He added curtly, “There were two other bodies in the cave as well as this dramatic display of Donzolo. They’d murdered his two sons, nine and twelve years old, and took their blood, too.” His lips were tight. “After all, they had to have a sufficient amount to complete their exhibition properly. They’d gone to such a lot of trouble to send their message.”
“Three deaths…” She shook her head dazedly. “What message?”
“Look closer. His shirt is so soaked in blood that I didn’t see it at first. How disappointed that would have made them if they’d known.”
She knew what she was going to see even before she slowly enlarged the photo.
There in the center of Donzolo’s chest was a photo, streaked, almost hidden, by the blood on his shirt.
“Me…again,” she said hoarsely. “It looks like it was taken at the same lake as the other one. Why?” She looked at him as a sickening thought occurred to her. “And did his sons have one of those—”
“No,” Caleb interrupted. “No photos. Evidently the boys were killed just to supply the blood, not to send a message.” He added, “To each his own, Jane. And this message was very effective and pointed, wasn’t it?”
The Persuasion Page 10
