Page 38 of Edge of Secrets

I shook my head. “Even so. There’s a short list of motivations for crimes like this. Insanity, revenge, or money. I doubt you girls have pissed anyone off that badly?—”

“We haven’t. Not one of us. We’re a pack of goody-goody pussycats.”

I nodded. “Right. And there’s the murdered jeweler and his family, too, so I’d strike personal revenge as a motive. We could consider revenge against your mother, but that falls pretty flat since she’s passed on. Insanity’s a possibility, but there are the references in those letters, to maps, searches, keys, secrets. Whoever this dickhead is, he’s invested a lot of time and money watching you and your sisters. Whatever Lucia wanted you girls to find? It means big bucks, and they won’t stop till they have it.”

Nell massaged her temples. “It’s so ironic if that’s true.” She sounded exhausted. “We don’t need this money. We don’t give a shit about money. None of us do. All we want is to do our thing and live our lives in peace. There’s so much to freak out about, so much to be scared of. I’m … I’m in tilt.”

“Don’t think about it,” I suggested. “Just put it out of your mind.”

“Neat trick.” There was a smile in her voice. “And just exactly how do you suggest I manage that?”

It had been such a weird evening, I decided one more crazy risk wouldn’t change anything. I lifted her hand and gave it a long, lingering kiss.

“I’ve got a few good ideas,” I said.

She laughed behind her hand, and the vibrations in her shoulders went on for so long, I got nervous that she might actually be crying again. But when she looked up, she was smiling, even though her eyes were wet.

“Wow. I had no idea I was so damn funny,” I said. “Who knew.”

She threw her head back and wiped her eyes. “It’s not you. I just can’t believe it. I felt safe in my place after I put the alarm in. The thing cost a fortune. And the whole while, they were watching me. God, it makes my flesh creep. How did they get in there?”

“They probably wired the place before you even put the alarm in.” I handed her my phone. “Call your little sister. If she’s told you where she’s going on that telephone, tell her to change her plans.”

“Oh, God, you’re right. Vivi.”

She called, and I listened to her garbled, one-sided conversation for the rest of the drive to my Upper West Side condo. The driver pulled over at the lobby entrance. She was still talking as I paid him.

“... can’t stay with me there any longer, Viv. Haven’t you been listening? They’ve been watching us all along! We can’t go near the place until we fix this mess. Go to Liam and Nancy’s … yes, I know, I know, but please, be a grown-up, Viv. Being a fifth wheel is better than being stuffed into the backseat of a car ... oh, no, don’t worry about me. I’m staying with a friend.”

Her eyes flicked to me. Her voice got defensive. “No, you don’t know him ... yes, it is a him, okay? And so? What of it?”

I heard a shrill burst of female verbosity from the phone, and Nell snorted. “If you must know, he’s the one who clobbered the kidnappers for me ... Yes! Of course I knew him before! He’s my new boss.”

Another impassioned burst from the phone.

“Look, Viv, I know it’s crazy, but can we thrash this out another time?” Nell pleaded. “Come to the seisiún at Malloy’s tomorrow night with Nancy and Liam, and we’ll talk there, okay? ... Of course. Of course I will. Okay. You be careful, too.”

She ended the call and handed the phone back to me. “She’s staying with an old art school friend that she met at the crafts fair by chance, and we never discussed that on the bugged phone or my cell, thank God. Snake Eyes has no line on her there.”

“Could you folks work all this out once you’re outside the car?” the driver asked, his voice plaintive. “I got another call. I gotta go right now.”

I led her into my building, dragging her huge suitcase behind me into the elevator. It whooshed up thirty-five floors, and I closed the apartment door after her, engaging the chain, the deadbolts, and the alarm.

I let out a long, relieved breath. Finally, I had her right where I wanted her.

Whoever would’ve thought it would take this goddamn much effort.

Chapter Thirteen

Nell

I looked around, impressed. His apartment was huge, and almost empty. Austere to the point of chilliness. Blond wood on the wide expanse of gleaming floor. Three gray couches, grouped in a square around a low table with a vast plasma TV and entertainment console. A big, shadowy kitchen sat in a distant corner. Picture windows framed stunning, brilliant cityscapes on two sides. A big terrace. A scattering of black-and-white photographs hung on otherwise blank walls.

“Wow,” I murmured. “Is this place, uh … yours?”

He nodded.

Um. That answered any questions I might’ve had about how lucrative the business of intelligent data analysis program design had been for him. It beat academia all to hell. Not that it mattered. God knows, I hadn’t chosen academia for money.

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