“Physical traits,” Jane said. “Not necessarily souls. You told me that your ancestors back in medieval times were said by the villagers to be offspring of the devil. You don’t have to be what your ancestors were.” She added deliberately, “That’s all bullshit.”
Caleb glanced at Trevor. “What do you think, Trevor?” he asked mockingly. “Do I have a devil’s soul?”
Trevor didn’t speak for a moment. “I think that you’re strong enough to be whatever you want to be,” he said quietly. “And I believe that souls can change if the desire is there.”
Caleb’s eyes widened with surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that. You continue to astonish me. I give you the opportunity to condemn, and you return it with generosity. It’s really very clever since you come across in a very favorable light.”
“It wasn’t calculated, Caleb.”
He smiled wryly. “I know.” He turned to Jane. “I take it we’re heading for Muncie, Indiana? When?”
“In a few hours.” She checked her watch. “We don’t want to roust Kevin’s mother from her bed. We should arrive in Muncie about eight or nine if we can do it.”
“Then we should all try to get a few hours’ sleep.” Margaret jumped to her feet and headed for the door. “Call me when you’re ready to leave, and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
“Margaret,” Jane said. “I appreciate your—”
“Stop arguing, Jane. It takes too much energy.” She smiled. “You can’t just use me and throw me away.”
“I’m not doing—”
“I’m going with you, or I’m going alone. That’s your only decision.” She opened the door. She glanced at Trevor and Caleb. “And you get out of here, too, and let her rest. All this talk about souls and devils and monsters. Too deep and too gloomy.” She gestured in front of her at the open door. “Out.”
Trevor’s smile was faintly bemused as he allowed himself to be ushered into the hall. “Heaven forbid that we express any gloom and doom. However, I have to point out it was you, Margaret, who delved into the ugliest concept of all.”
“Necessary.” She pushed Caleb out the door, then stuck her head back in the room to repeat to Jane. “Call me.”
Jane turned and headed for the bedroom. She was suddenly dragging in every limb, totally exhausted. She could use that few hours’ sleep Margaret had suggested, no, demanded. The effects of the brief rest she’d had earlier in the afternoon had dissipated.
She didn’t bother to undress as she curled up on the bed and closed her eyes.
Sleep.
Relax.
She wasn’t at all sure that this journey would prove helpful, but if it didn’t, they could fly on to Vancouver immediately. They were at least no longer standing still. They were going to be on the move in a few hours.
She remembered Margaret’s words as she burrowed her head into the pillow.
Close out the gloom and doom. Cling to hope and send all the devils and monsters packing …
Penthouse
Drake Hotel
Denver, Colorado
8:40 A.M.
CATHERINE HESITATED FOR A moment before the door of the hotel room.
What the hell. Go for it.
She knocked firmly and waited for an answer.
An eye appeared in the security peephole. “Yes.”
“I need to talk to Zander.”
“Wrong room.”
“You must be Stang. Let me in.”
“Wrong room.”
“Look, you clearly don’t want to draw attention to Zander’s being here. Let me in, or I’ll start pounding on the door and screaming that now that I’ve had your baby, you won’t give me child support. You have no idea what kind of publicity and outrage that can spark. I’ll give you one minute.”
“I believe I’ll have to call security.”
“And that will cause even more of an uproar.”
“Let her in, Stang.” A deep voice and completely without expression. “I’ll attend to it.”
The door swung open. “I’m Howard Stang.” Stang was a tall, thirtyish man in a beige sweater. “And you are?”
“Catherine Ling.” The white-haired man who had spoken strolled forward from the balcony to confront her. He was dressed in black slacks and a white shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to reveal that there was a cast on his right forearm. He appeared ageless, but her immediate impression was of power, elegance, and leashed violence. “If I’m not mistaken?”
She nodded curtly. “But I’m curious to know how you guessed. I didn’t tell Venable I was coming to see you.”
“Really? He didn’t send you?”
“Hell, no. The two of you are dancing around each other like Olympic fencers. He’d be afraid of sending you underground where he couldn’t get his hands on you.”
Zander smiled faintly. “I don’t have to go underground to be sure that he can’t get his hands on me. But Venable is proving moderately helpful, and I don’t mind giving him limited access.” His smile faded. “But I’m not pleased he was less than discreet about taking you or anyone else into his confidence.”
“He didn’t think that I’d go knocking on your door.”
“Then he has bad judgment, and I’m even less pleased.”
She changed the subject. “How did you know who I was?”
“A matter of elimination.” He turned to Stang. “Why don’t we get the lady a cup of coffee?” He looked at Catherine. “Or do you prefer tea? Since you grew up in Hong Kong, I’m sure that’s your preference.”
“Either will do.” She shut the door behind her as Stang went to the phone. “Elimination?”
“You’re bold, smart, and you have a certain dash. You had to have a CIA connection, or you would never have been able to locate me. Eve mentioned her friend, Catherine Ling, who was with the CIA.” He waved his hand. “Elimination.”
“Joe mentioned that you’d talked to Eve in the mountains. I didn’t think I’d be the topic of conversation.”
“You weren’t, actually; she didn’t bring you up until right before she took off into the woods. That’s why I felt I had to check you out while I had nothing better to do here in Denver.”
“And that’s how you knew I grew up in Hong Kong?”
“Yes. And that you’d have been the first to try to find Eve if you’d known what had happened to her. No one told you, did they? Venable kept you in the dark.”
Sharp. Very sharp.
She studied Zander. Ice-cold. Completely in control. Dangerous.
And challenging.
“And Venable heard about it from me,” she said grimly. “I just found out when I got back to Miami yesterday morning.”
“And you were angry, and you wanted to kill him.”
“Yes, but I didn’t. Because he thinks he was right, and he can help me find Eve.” She looked him in the eye. “And he told me where you were even though he didn’t know that I might blow your cozy little relationship.”
He chuckled. “You make us sound like lovers. I assure you that I’m not of the gay persuasion, and there’s nothing cozy about anything between Venable and me. We’re both very wary of what the other might do.” He gestured to a chair. “Won’t you sit down? I’m finding your visit very entertaining. I’ve been extremely bored lately.”
“I’ve not been bored,” she said bluntly as she sat down in the chair. “I’ve been scared and sick and angry. I wanted to kill Doane. I wanted to strangle Venable.” She looked up at him. “And I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do to you, but it wasn’t going to be pretty. I was told you had a chance to help Eve when she was free in those mountains, and you didn’t do it. Why?”
“Doane was my target. Eve would have been in the way.”
“They told me that Eve’s your daughter. That had no impact on your decision?”
He shook his head. “Does that put me beyond the pale in your eyes?”
“No, my father was an American soldier who deserted my mother before I was born. My mother was a whore, who was hooked on drugs and let me fend for myself on the streets. I don’t have any faith in family or obligation. But some people do. I hoped that you might be one of them. Because that would mean Eve has a better chance of surviving.”