Кей Хупер - Hiding in the Shadows

"We're clear."

"As for Cochrane, his people claim he's out of town, and has been for days, but they don't seem to know just where he is. Sounds to me like he slipped his leash, but we're checking on that. Maybe he'll have an alibi, and maybe the alibi will hold up. But it's my job to figure that out. Let me do my job, all right?"

"Just move fast, Guy." Kane's gaze was on Faith.

"I don't know how much more of this we can take."

"I'll be in touch," Richardson said as he left.

When Kane returned from showing the detective out, Faith was sitting on the piano bench. Her fingers rested lightly on the keys, unmoving. He thought she looked bewildered, lost somehow.

"Who would want to sabotage an office building?" she asked slowly.

"Who'd have something to gain? "

"I don't know. It's intended to be leased mostly by the city, but privately owned. There's a large group of investors, and they stand to lose a bundle if the project stalls too long or gets canceled outright."

She took her fingers off the keys abruptly and turned to face him. "The men on that list — are any of them investors in the project?"

"I didn't recognize any of the names — but there are a lot of investors. Wait." He got on the phone to his office, and within an hour they knew that Jordan Cochrane, through an investment company he partially owned, was in for a substantial sum in the Ludlow project.

Kane said, "It looks like so much of his personal capital is tied up in the project that if it goes bust, so will he."

Faith thought about that, then shook her head. "This doesn't make sense to me. Maybe Cochrane held Dinah captive in his warehouse. But only if he's the blackmailer instead of being blackmailed himself. Maybe he shot Jed Norris after ordering him to sabotage the building. But why? You just said he stands to lose an incredible amount if that building isn't completed on time."

"It doesn't make sense at all," Kane agreed reluctantly.

"We need to talk to him."

"We won't get a chance unless we find him before the police do."

"Do you think he really is out of town?"

"He seems to be out of touch." Thoughtful, Faith said, "The report Tim left here after he brought me back from Haven House, the one he worked up on Cochrane — I glanced at it last night."

"And?"

Faith went over to sit on the couch and began to leaf through the pages. "I remember reading something about Cochrane that made me wonder ..."

Kane joined her on the couch. "What?"

"He has a condo right here in Atlanta with the ownership run through so many holding companies it's sheer luck Tim found out it was his. Now why do you suppose Mr. Cochrane feels the need for a cozy little place with its own private entrance barely five miles from that big mansion of his?"

"Keeping a mistress?" Kane guessed.

Faith sent him a quick smile. "That's what occurred to me. The information here says he's been married for nearly twenty years to a fine, upstanding Catholic woman who's on record as saying in no uncertain terms that divorce is an evil practice of the state and that those whom God hath joined together..."

"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."

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?"