"I found two," Kane said slowly.
"Does she even take novels out of the library?"
Kane had to think about that for a moment. "I don't think so. She used the library for research, but she was always willing to buy a book, even by a new author. Building a personal library was important to her." He indicated the bookshelves throughout the apartment."Obviously."
"Then I think," Faith said, "we should look for more Stephen King novels."
They found the handwritten list of names in the fourth King novel on the bedroom shelves.
There were six names, all men. Five were prominent Atlanta businessmen, two of whom were politically active. The sixth man, Kane told Faith, had committed suicide a week before Dinah vanished.
The third name on the list was Jordan Cochrane.
But what caused Faith and Kane to look at each other in surprise was the single word Dinah had written and twice circled at the bottom of the page: Blackmail
"Blackmail," Tim Daniels said, "is a nasty business, and the kind of dirt men pay to keep under the rug tends to be bad enough to provide a motive for murder."
"Or suicide," Kane said. "One man on the list took care of his apparent problems by blowing his brains out, and it emerged afterward that for about six months before he'd been trying to pay back some money he had borrowed from the company he worked for. It was a lot of money. He would have gone to jail for a long time if the company had found out, and his very churchgoing wife would have been disgraced."
"I'd call him a likely target for blackmail," Daniels allowed. "Assuming somebody found out what he was up to."
"And if he was paying hush money, it was probably next to impossible for him to also pay back the money he'd embezzled. Which probably explains the suicide. Poor bastard was caught in a no-win situation."
"I'd say," Daniels agreed.
"We can also assume that since his name was lumped in with the five others, all these men were probably being blackmailed. Which begs the question..."
"Who's doing the blackmailing?" Faith supplied.
"Exactly."
"It also," Faith noted, "seems to indicate that Jordan Cochrane is on the victim side of the equation."
"That doesn't mean he wasn't involved in Dinah's in murder. Some secrets are worth killing to keep."
"True enough. But there are four other names on that list, Kane. And you said all five share one other connection besides apparently being blackmail victims."
"All are in some way involved in the construction business. The man who committed suicide was too. He kept the books for Mayfair Construction."
"Isn't that the company..."
"Working on the Ludlow building, yes. Or we, when I can put them back to work."
Slowly, Faith said, "Another connection."
"Another connection," Kane agreed.
CHAPTER 13
"I don't much like you waltzing around in my dreams," Faith said to Dinah.
"It's not my idea of fun either," Dinah retorted, very busy with what she was doing. "If you'd only get your head on straight, I could get on with my life."
Faith opened her mouth to remind Dinah once again that she had no life to get on with, but finally just shrugged and stepped closer, watching the other woman curiously. "What are you doing now?"
"I'm fixing it, of course." Dinah was carefully gluing together delicate porcelain pieces of a shattered figurine. It was, Faith saw with a shiver, the figurine of a woman.
"Are you trying to say you put me back together?" Dinah sighed, a bit impatient. "Never mind this. You aren't ready to think about it yet. What you have to do first is understand what that list means."
"The names? It means blackmail, doesn't it?"
Dinah looked at her sympathetically. "This is going to be very hard for the next little while. But you have to get through it. You won't begin to see the truth until you get through it."
"Get through what?"
"There's another body, of course. Once you begin killing, it's so easy to keep doing it. It even seems reasonable to use that means to solve a problem — especially if you've been successful before. And he has. First back in Seattle, and now here."
"Who? Who is he, Dinah?"
"Just remember that the body isn't who it appears to be. Don't let them make that mistake, Faith. You have to be sure who the body is, or you won't have the right answer."
"But..."
"And when you find the bell, make him tell you the truth. He won't want to, but you have to make him. He has pieces of the truth, and you need them."
"Dammit, why do you have to talk in riddles?"
"It's the only way you can hear me."
That made no sense to Faith, and she sighed. "Can't you at least tell me where to look? There has to be a key to all this, and we need it. I don't even know the right questions to ask!"
Dinah returned her attention to the figurine. "Ask yourself this, Faith. Ask yourself how many people you would die to protect. And be careful. Be very careful. He's watching, you know."
It was the second time in as many days that Faith had jerked awake in the darkness just before dawn, but this time no intruder lurked outside the window.
"Just the one in my mind," she heard herself murmur.
She remained in bed for as long as she could, but it wasn't yet six-thirty when she finally got up. She slipped into the bathroom to take her morning shower.
Ask yourself how many people you would die to protect.
What frightened Faith about that question was her certainty that Dinah had done just that, had died believing her silence was protecting someone she cared about. And so far, the only person Faith could imagine the other woman caring for so deeply was Kane.
Had he been in danger even before the last few days?
Because he was somehow involved? Viewed objectively, she supposed it was possible — though nothing she had seen or felt supported the likelihood.
But there was that elusive thing Dinah's torturers had demanded of her, and Faith's apartment had been searched at least twice. She doubted the simple list of names was the cause of all that. Whatever else it was, its threat against the equally elusive villains had to be incredibly explosive to justify torture and murder, gunshots and bombs.
No, it wasn't the list. She thought it was something she herself had found not long before the accident, some evidence that not only identified but condemned those behind the blackmail, and the murders of her family and Dinah.
The list was a beginning, at least, the beginning where Dinah had started.
Faith made her way to the kitchen. She didn't go near the couch, hoping that Kane was sleeping. He needed to sleep. She turned on the dim light above the stove and got the coffeemaker started. Then she leaned back against the counter and waited, trying not to think because she felt so weary of her thoughts chasing one another around in her mind.
"You're up early." Kane stood in the doorway, his pale hair tousled and stubble on his jaw.
"Sorry if I woke you," she said.
"You didn't." He came in and busied himself getting the cups.
Faith moved away a bit nervously to get the cream from the refrigerator. Kane didn't appear to be watching her, but she thought he noticed.
"You cried out in your sleep," he said suddenly.
That surprised her, and she looked at him uncertainly.
"About two-thirty. I opened your door and looked in. You seemed restless, and you'd thrown off most of the covers."
Remembering the thin nightgown she'd slept in, Faith felt heat rise in her face. But Kane was pouring coffee into their cups and didn't notice.