By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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      The sheriff made a quick call and got the answer.

      “Ada says he checked in at one-fifteen, took his bag up to the room and then asked for directions to my office. Why do you want to know?”

      He told the sheriff about their adventure and their discovery in the caves.

      At the end of it, Skinner said, “So another piece of Eleanor Campbell MacPherson’s dowry has surfaced. I assume you’ve secured it.”

      “It’s in the Fort Knox-quality safe that Cam had installed,” Duncan said.

      Skinner took a sip of coffee. “And it could have been Lightman who followed you into the caves. But you say the person you saw was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. I know they’re pretty common apparel, but could it have been the guy Lightman filmed going into Piper’s apartment?”

      “Both are possibilities. The hooded sweatshirt guy could have taken a lucky guess and followed her up here just as Lightman did,” Duncan admitted as he cursed himself silently. The problem was that he hadn’t been thinking straight since Piper had walked into her apartment yesterday morning. If he had, he might have found a safer place to take her. Although where that might be, he didn’t know.

      “Or the person who followed us into the cave could be the person Cam believed was paying regular visits to the library,” Piper said, then explained what she and Duncan had theorized about in the woods.

      “Or someone new,” Skinner mused. “The Stuart Sapphires have brought fortune hunters out of the woodwork before. And the news that you’ve discovered a second earring will leak out soon enough.” He glanced around the diner. “Anything that’s said in this place goes viral almost immediately.”

      “So we’re back to a whole cornucopia of suspects. Happy thought,” Piper said.

      “Plus, there are those people from Architectural Digest planning on their photo shoot tomorrow.” At Duncan’s raised brows, Skinner shrugged. “The town has been buzzing about it for weeks. They’re staying at the same bed-and-breakfast as our friend Lightman. The woman left early with her camera to take location shots around the lake. I can check on that. The man has been exploring the village, talking to the locals, visiting the library. He’s even visited the college. When do you expect Vi and Daryl Garnett to be back?”

      “Roughly around dinnertime,” Duncan said. “They’re going to leave Albany right after Vi’s presentation winds up.”

      “I told Vi I’d stop by tomorrow for the photo shoot. But I could send someone out to the castle until they arrive tonight,” Skinner offered.

      “I think we’ll be fine until the CIA arrives.” Duncan offered his hand to the sheriff and then rose. “Thanks for your help—and for the information.”

      Lightman was still sitting on the park bench taking in the view when they stepped out of the diner.

      “I’d still like to get you away from here,” Duncan murmured as he escorted her to the car and opened the door.

      Lightman turned, beamed a smile and waved.

      Stifling the sick surge in her stomach, Piper muttered as she slid into her seat and clenched her fists in her lap. “There’s a part of me that wants to run. But running never solves anything.”

      She was right, he thought, as he joined her in the car. That’s what his mother and A. D. MacPherson had done after that summer when they’d first met. They’d fallen in love, then they’d run away from it and waited for a decade to act on what they’d felt.

      “Let’s go back to the castle and take a closer look at those files,” Piper said. “I helped let that monster out and I’m going to put him back behind bars.”

      Duncan took one of her clenched fists in his hand, raised it to his lips and kissed it. “We’re going to put him back behind bars.”

       10

      STRETCHED OUT FULL LENGTH ON one of the leather sofas in the library, Piper slept with the same focused intensity that she worked. Duncan leaned back in his chair and watched her, fascinated. A short time earlier, he’d opened the sliding doors to the terrace to alleviate some of the stuffiness of the room, and the only sounds that interrupted the silence were the breeze stirring the pines and the occasional call of a bird. Alba slept in the one remaining patch of sunlight she could find near the open doors.

      He and Piper had worked for nearly two hours on the RPK files before she’d taken one to the sofa and stretched out with it. For about five minutes she’d lain on her stomach, propping herself up with her elbows. Then her head had simply fallen onto the report she’d been reading and she’d dropped into sleep as abruptly and thoroughly as an infant.

      She hadn’t moved an inch since. It was little wonder that she was exhausted. They’d had quite a couple of days. And though they hadn’t discovered anything yet in the files, they’d each made their way through two more boxes.

      Better than that, he’d gotten a feeling that they were going to find something in them. He’d been through the files before, of course. He’d started on them the day that the verdict had been handed down on Lightman’s appeal. But he hadn’t had even a trace of a feeling then.

      What was different now was that he was working with Piper. And to his surprise, he was enjoying it. Bouncing ideas off her and talking about them was nearly as exciting as making love to her.

      He’d always preferred to work alone. Even his brothers had been aware of that. During those times when he’d gone into the field, he’d had partners; that was standard protocol. But in his office at Quantico, he usually kept the door closed because he didn’t like interruptions or idle chatter.

      From the time they’d reentered the library, Piper had offered neither. Instead, she’d seemed as totally absorbed in the work as he. Whatever his motivations, Patrick Lightman had made a mistake by taking a personal interest in Piper. For a moment, Duncan’s mind flashed to those seconds in the diner when Lightman had been playing the video clip, and he freed the anger that he worked hard to keep on a very tight leash.

      He’d been right about the fact that Lightman had been stalking Piper. But she may have been right about the reason. Maybe in a twisted way, he did want to protect her. Maybe.

      More than likely, Lightman was jealous that someone else was stalking her and had decided to get even. Either way, the man was going down. He shifted his eyes to the boxes of files. The answer was in them somewhere, and she was going to lead him to it the same way she’d led him to the sapphire earring.

      But where else was she going to lead them both? She’d made clear what she wanted. Simple, uncomplicated, no-strings sex—anytime, anyplace. The idea certainly held appeal. And it had held a lot of appeal for him in the past. Relationships demanded time. They also demanded risks, ones he’d studiously avoided. His mother had taken that risk. He believed that she’d truly loved his father, and when she’d had to face and accept the fact that he’d never loved her or his sons, he’d seen the price she’d had to pay. Then he’d watched her spend a great deal of her life trying to avoid taking that risk again.

      So that summer, СКАЧАТЬ