"Are together forever."
"Exactly. And when she married him, she brought along a very nice little contribution to the family war chest. Something in the neighborhood of five million dollars. Add in a budding political career ..."
"Maybe he's being blackmailed about a mistress and has to pay up in order to keep his fine upstanding wife from finding out and his political aspirations going up in smoke?"
"It seems possible, doesn't it?"
"I'd say so."
"And I'm willing to bet the police won't have this information for a while. Will Richardson be furious at us if we talk to Cochrane before he does?"
"Furious," Kane said, but in a tone that said he didn't give a damn. He was smiling.
Without thinking, Faith reached out and with the backs of her fingers stroked gently down his cheek.
Kane froze for an instant, then jerked back his head and said something violent under his breath. His eyes were hot and angry and bewildered.
Faith felt a jolt of pain. But then scenes flashed through her mind, countless moments when Dinah had touched him just that way.
"Kane, I..."
He stood up and left the room.
Faith was conscious of her heart beating quickly.
She stared at her hand, at the oval nails that were polished red. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath, but now let it go in a ragged sigh.
She had forgotten. In the excitement of fitting puzzle pieces together, she had forgotten what this was really all about. She had forgotten her blank past. She had forgotten blackmail and torture and death.
She had forgotten Dinah.
Consciously, she had forgotten.
Whispering even though she was alone in the room, Faith said, "Dammit, Dinah. It's getting harder and harder to know where you end and I begin."
CHAPTER 14
The bodyguard was not happy when he was ordered to stay in the car with the driver once they reached Jordan Cochrane's secret condo.
"Mr. Macgregor, you hired me to protect the two of you and I can't..."
"I know, Sam, but we can hardly take you with us into a private home and then expect the man to talk to us. Don't worry, we'll be all right."
Sam. So that's his name.
"At least take my weapon," Sam said.
"I'm armed. You stay here."
"Yes, sir," Sam replied reluctantly.
The first drops of rain fell as Faith and Kane went up the secluded walkway to the condo. Even though it was only about four o'clock, it was already getting dark.
"I didn't even know you had a gun," Faith murmured. "I know how to use it, so you don't have to worry about that."
They were, Faith thought, being very polite. Both of them were acting as though nothing had happened between them, as though this tension didn't exist. But it did. And for an instant as Kane rang the doorbell, Faith was tempted to suggest that they leave right now, that they let the police do their Jobs and find out whether Jordan Cochrane was villain or victim. But then the door was opening, and it was too late.
"Cochrane. I'd like to talk to you," Kane said.
The man in the doorway was in his forties, handsome in a dark, rather saturnine fashion, and completely unsurprised by their arrival on his doorstep.
"I see." His voice was matter-of-fact, betraying no concern or animosity. But there was something, Faith thought, something she felt more than heard or saw. Then his gaze focused on her, and she heard Kane introduce her, saw Cochrane's polite nod.
"Come in," he said.
Kane was visibly wary as they stepped into the elegant foyer and watched Cochrane close the door behind them. He led the way to a comfortable living room where a cheerful fire burned in the fireplace. He used a dimmer switch to brighten several lamps, then invited them to sit down and offered wine or coffee.
A wineglass on the coffee table was evidence of what he'd been drinking. Faith wasn't terribly surprised when both men remained on their feet. Echoing Kane's refusal of refreshments but a bit more politely, she sat down on the long couch where she could see both men.
Watch. Listen.
The abrupt return of the voice in her head was eerie, especially since it had been absent — except in her dreams — since she had learned of Dinah's death.
But all Faith could do was obey it, settling back with a pretense of relaxation.
Cochrane said, "Would you mind telling me how you knew I was in town?"
"Lucky guess," Kane answered.
"I see. And how you found out this condo belonged to me?"
"Good research."
Cochrane's slanted brows drew together, lending him a distinctly ominous expression. "May I ask why you were researching me, Mr. Macgregor?"
Faith heard his question echoed by the faraway sound of a bell tinkling, but it was such a fleeting thing she wasn't at all sure of it.
"Because I wanted a few answers." Kane barely waited for that to sink in before going on. "Your company does own the warehouse at 281 Ivy, doesn't it?"
"Yes. But it hasn't been used in months, not since we built a new plant with adequate storage room last April."
"Then why the guard dog?"
"To protect against vandals, of course. Empty buildings are always targets, you must know that. What is this all about?"
Now.
Faith heard herself ask, "Mr. Cochrane, did you ever meet Dinah Leighton?"
"No."
He's lying.
"I don't think you're telling the truth, Mr. Cochrane."
"I can't help what you think, Miss Parker."
I came to see him. Here. October eighth.
Faith felt a chill and was surprised she was able to keep her voice steady. "Here. On the eighth of October. She came to see you, Mr. Cochrane."
Kane said, "That was two days before she disappeared."
Cochrane didn't take his eyes off Faith, and it was to her that he spoke, in the matter-of-fact tone of before. "I suppose she told you."
Had she? Faith didn't know. She just didn't know.
But what she said was, "She asked if you were being blackmailed. What did you tell her, Mr. Cochrane?"
At first it seemed he wouldn't answer, but then he shrugged, accepting something he knew he couldn't change. "I told her I had been approached by someone demanding money. I also told her it was none of her god damned business."
"And she went away meekly?" Faith smiled slightly, aware of that ghostly bell ringing again.
Cochrane's mouth softened in an answering smile.
"Hardly."
"She knew you had a mistress?"
Kane's sharp question drew Cochrane's gaze, and his reply was just as intense.
"She knew I was ... involved outside my marriage. She also knew that my wife would never consent to a divorce — and would make my life a living hell if she found out about the other woman. To say nothing of what would happen to me politically."
The bell rang again, and Faith looked around. What on earth was that?
"Was it a secret you were willing to kill to keep?" Kane demanded harshly.
"I am not a killer."
"I'm sure you told yourself that. But you had so much to lose, didn't you? And there really wasn't another way out for you, was there?"
"It wasn't like that."
"No? Then tell us how it was."
Faith heard Kane's accusations and Cochrane's quiet denials, but she had also heard that bell again.
She shifted on the couch, to get a better angle to see more of the room, and as her hand rested over the edges of two cushions she felt something.
It was caught between the cushions, out of sight, but her fingers found it and pulled it out. A tiny silver bell.