Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 31

settle over Kane, saw the slight nod of reluctant agreement, and was

satisfied.

The intercom buzzed then, announcing that Bishop's cab had arrived, and Kane got up to see his friend to the door. "Keep in touch," he said.

"Oh, I will. And you do me a favor, okay?"

I can."

"Take care of yourself. And take care of Faith."

"I'll do my best."

When Bishop had gone, Kane went to the end of the hallway to the

bedrooms and listened. He heard the shower and felt a twinge of relief that Faith had been occupied and had missed his tirade.

He really wasn't ready to face her with his tangle of emotions.

They had already 'abbed at her once or twice.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

"I came as soon as I heard about the explosion.

Kane, what on earth is going on?" Sydney sounded as shaken as she

looked. They had spoken the day before by phone, after the discovery ofDinah's body had hit the news, but Kane had warned her not to come tohis apartment because of the media camped outside.

This morning, she came despite that.

"The police are still investigating," he told her.

"Guy Richardson thinks whoever killed Dinah wasn't happy when I put a

bounty on his head, and tossed a bomb into my bedroom to remove the threat of it."

Sydney frowned. "Didn't you say Faith was sleeping in your room?"

"Yeah.

She woke up and heard someone at the window. Otherwise she'd be dead too."

Kane had been listening for Faith but she had not yet emerged from thebedroom.

"Then the bomb could have been meant for her?"

"Could have. But with her memory like Swiss cheese, and no real evidence that she was the intended target, it's just as likely I was."

Sydney sipped her coffee for several minutes.

-Kane, that reward ... "What about it?"

"Well, maybe Guy is right. Maybe offering that money put a giant target

on your back."

"Then it's accomplis.h.i.+ng at least one of my goals- it's making somebody very, very nervous. And nervous men make mistakes, Syd.

If he's running around trying to kill me, he's not hiding-and I have a

better chance of spotting him."

She looked at him searchingly. "Getting yourself killed won't bring Dinah back."

"I know that. I don't have a death wish, if that's what you're thinking.

I'm just trying to flush the b.a.s.t.a.r.d out into the open."

"Kane ... I'm so sorry about Dinah. I know I said it yesterday, but I

don't think either of us was making much sense, and-" "I know, Syd." His sister's sympathy was like salt rubbed into a gapingwound, and he felt guilty accepting it from her. He wondered what she'dthink of him if she knew that in his heart he'd given up on Dinah weeks ago.

"Will there-Have you thought about a funeral?

Made any plans?"

"No, not really. The medical examiner won't release her body until after

the autopsy, probably a week or more. She wanted to be cremated, had it in her will, I think. So I guess a memorial service would be better." He heard the detached tone of his voice and wondered if his calm sounded as precarious as it felt.

"I can make the arrangements if you'd like, Kane.

You have enough on your plate right now and-and I'd like to do something for Dinah."

His impulse was to accept, but he disliked leaving others to perform the

difficult ch.o.r.es he knew he should do himself. "I'll think about it, Syd, thanks.

Let's wait a couple of days before we decide any- thing."

"Probably best," she murmured. "Besides, she may have left specific instructions as to what she wanted. Have you heard from her attorney?"

"No, not yet."

"Are you her executor?"

Kane frowned. "I'd be surprised if I was, since we were involved only

about six months before she disappeared. She never said anything about making changes to her will."

"But she didn't have any family still living, did she?"

"No. She had Conrad Masterson, though, and my guess would be that he's her executor, since he handled her money. I know she trusted him."

"Then maybe he'll know what she wanted done."

"Maybe so." More to himself than to her, he said, "I wonder if killers really do show up at the funerals of their victims."

"That's a morbid thought."

He looked at his sister and managed an apologetic smile. "Isn't it.

Sorry."

Before Sydney could comment, Faith came into the kitchen. She looked

about fifteen years old, with her hair pulled back with a wide elastic

headband and wearing faded jeans and a too-large white sweats.h.i.+rt.

No makeup at all, and Kane noticed Immediately that she'd removed the red nail polish.

Even more than young, she looked ... exposed.

Completely vulnerable, stripped of even the few defenses she had managed to erect since waking up with her past a blank page.

"Hi," she said, her voice more subdued than Kane had yet heard it, her gaze fixed on his sister.

"h.e.l.lo, Faith."

Kane didn't try to approach her, but poured a cup of coffee for her and pushed it across the work island toward her.