Кей Хупер - Hiding in the Shadows

"Of course, but it's hardly more than a childproof lock, a simple precaution. There is a security system, but it's active only at night."

"Who has access during the day?"

"To the room? Quite a few people. The housekeeping staff. My wife's secretary, my own assistant. And my wife has held two charity functions in the house or on the grounds in the last three months. The place has been crawling with people at various times." He paused. "Who was this man apparently killed with my gun?"

Sydney said almost inaudibly, "He was off somewhere, Max said, just AWOL because they weren't working ..."

Kane looked at Cochrane. "Norris was the construction foreman on the Ludlow project. The crew wasn't working this week because there was a problem. Today, I discovered the site has been sabotaged."

"How badly?"

"It's bad enough. Somebody who knew how to do it undermined the foundation. The inspector says it can't be patched. Which means we pull it down and start all over, cancel the project."

"That," Cochrane said without emotion, "would be the final nail in my financial coffin."

"Maybe that's the idea," Kane said. "Put your back against the wall financially so that taking any action other than paying them would mean total ruin."

"If so," Cochrane said, "it's a smart plan. Too many of my business interests are largely dependent on my wife's money, and she wouldn't hesitate to sell out her interests to get back at me — no matter how many people were put out of work because of it."

"In the meantime," Faith said, "the police are probably trying to find a motive for you to have killed Norris. They'll want to know where you've been. People at your office and home..."

"Said I was out of town. Yes, it's what I told them to say." Cochrane looked at Sydney. "We hadn't had much time together these last weeks, so I invented a business trip. I've been here at the condo since Sunday night."

"So have I," Sydney said instantly.

"Not all the time," he said, his voice astonishingly gentle and his smile too tender for onlookers. "You've been at the office during the day, Syd. "

Her mouth firmed stubbornly. "I slipped out a lot and came here to be with you. Got in late at the office, took long lunches, and left early every day."

"You know I did." Cochrane smiled at her again, then said to Kane, "When was this man killed? Do they know?"

"The police say the body's been ... exposed to the elements ... for at least a couple of days. My guess is that they won't be able to pinpoint the exact time of death."

"Then I have no verifiable alibi," Cochrane said calmly.

"Jordan..."

"No one was witness to my movements all the time, Syd. It won't help me for you to say you were with me some of the time, and it could only hurt you for no good reason. Don't worry. I had no reason to kill this man."

Faith said, "Somebody's already suggested Norris was hired to sabotage the building, then killed to cover it up. I don't see how you could benefit if the construction is stopped."

"I couldn't. I have a lot of personal money tied up in that project, and the investment only pays off once it's completed and generating income."

Cochrane frowned suddenly and looked at Kane. "Why did you ask about the warehouse? What has that to do with any of this?"

Kane's gaze dropped to his clasped hands. "We have ... reason to believe that warehouse is where Dinah was held at least part of the time she was missing."

"Kane, no." Sydney was staring at him. "Jordan had nothing to do with that. Not Dinah's disappearance or...or her murdered"

Faith said, "My guess is that it was yet another way his enemies thought they could chip away at what mattered in his life. Mr. Cochrane, you said the blackmailers threatened to send photographs to your wife?"

"Yes."

"Then they knew it was Sydney you were involved with."

"Yes."

"What better way to drive a stake into the heart of that relationship than to have you suspected of having tortured and murdered her brother's fiancée?"

"I would never have believed that," Sydney said fiercely.

Faith wasn't surprised by the loyalty, having watched them together. But she said, "It wouldn't have been pleasant, though. And for all we know, the real killers might have evidence they mean to plant against him. At the very least, by holding Dinah in the Cochrane warehouse, they've managed to involve him."

"Assuming the police discover that," Kane rended her.

"Oh, I imagine they'll be led to discover it. Unless we can figure out the truth before then." Faith spoke absently, her mind fully occupied in trying to do just that. She reached into the pocket of her jacket and brought out a copy of the list they had found. "Take a look at these names, Mr. Cochrane. They're the men Dinah suspected were being blackmailed. Do any of the other names mean anything to you?"

He stared down at the list. "Mason is dead, suicide. Carson ... Hayes ... Swain ... Cordon..."

"We know they're all involved in construction in some form," Kane said. "Is there anything else you know of that these five men have — or had — in common with you?"

Cochrane looked up, a sudden realization on his grim face. "Just one thing. I wouldn't know in the ordinary way because he's so damned discreet, but I accidentally saw some files in his office one day. Conrad Masterson. We all use him to manage our personal money."

In the darkness of the sedan's backseat, Faith said, "If Dinah had shown the list to Cochrane ... she might not be dead. She would have known to be wary of Masterson."

"Conrad. Jesus." Kane was still coping with the shock.

"Only someone who thoroughly understood Jordan Cochrane's financial situation could know where and how to strike at him. That makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but..." With barely suppressed anger, Kane said, "I can't believe Conrad would have hurt Dinah. I always thought he was the least violent man I'd ever met in my life."

"Maybe he didn't. We've always known there was more than one person involved in this. Maybe Conrad works for or with whoever killed Dinah. Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence." She watched his profile, visible only now and again in the streetlights they passed. "Look, we've done all we can tonight. Richardson was right — we have to let him talk to the other men and find out if they can point to Conrad."

She forced a note of humor into her voice. "In fact, we're lucky he didn't throw us both in jail after we told him about finding Cochrane — and all the other bits and pieces we'd kept to ourselves."

The hour or so in Richardson's office had not been easy, but Faith was still glad she had been able to persuade Kane to go that route rather than follow his first instinct — to find Conrad Masterson. Of course, it had helped her cause when a couple of phone calls had found Masterson neither at his home nor his office, and so temporarily out of Kane's reach.

"He'll get over it," Kane said, referring to Richard son. "And sooner rather than later if the information we gave him helps him solve a few crimes."

From the front seat, the bodyguard said, "You folks still want to go by your office, Mr. Macgregor?"

"I know it's getting late, Sam, but..."

"Don't mind me or Steve here," the bodyguard said with a faint gesture toward the driver. "We get time and a half."

"The office it is, then." Kane lowered his voice and said to Faith, "Are you sure you don't mind? I want to pick up the master blueprints for the Ludlow building and see if I can figure out a way to salvage that situation."

"No problem." She knew very well that he'd go crazy unless he had something to fix his mind on while the police plodded along trying to gather evidence.

"Cochrane will certainly thank you if you can — if the police don't arrest him for Norris's murder."