Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 37

And her lovely face wore compa.s.sion and empathy so openly and naturally.

It was a face to which even strangers would be drawn to tell theirsecrets, even their shames, and Faith wondered how many confidencesDinah had carried with her to her death.

Before Faith could do more than ponder that question, her attention wascaught by another person moving in the background, someone across whoseface an expression of anxiety appeared when she saw the news crewfilming the place. And her. Someone who darted through the doorway anddisappeared into the shelter.

Herself.

Faith frowned at the set as the news piece continued. What was itabout the scene that nagged at her?

It wasn't as if she hadn't known she had met Dinah at Haven House when Dinah was researching her article.

What was bothering her?

Kane came into the living room 'just as a perky weather lady was sayingit might rain today, and Faith knew she had to tell him. Whether hebelieved her or not.

She drew a breath and stared at the television. "I didn't really answeryou when you asked if I'd had nightmares last night. I don't remembereverything I dreamed, but I do remember one of those ... those odddreams. There was a warning. A warning that another body will be found."

Kane sat on the arm of a chair near her. He was gazing at her, not indisbelief but in apprehension.

"Whose body, Faith?"

"I don't know."

"Where did the warning come from?"

"I don't know. My subconscious, which seems to know more than I do. Orthat psychic ability I might have but can't control. Or even that-that connection with Dinah."

"Dinah is dead."

That's what I keep telling her Faith felt a bubble of hystericallaughter rise in her throat, but managed to swallow it. "Yeah, well. Thelast time she warned me, she was right.- "The last time?"

Faith wasn't surprised that his face was masklike in its stillness.

"Dinah told me in a dream that some- body was trying to get into mywindow. When I woke up, someone was."

"You know very well that had to be your subconscious, Faith. The noiseyou heard while you were sleeping found its way into your dreams, that'sall."

"Probably," she agreed. "So I have to wonder, Kane.

I have to wonder what I've seen or heard that convinced my subconsciousthere's another body out there somewhere.- She returned her gaze to thetelevision screen. "Unless I know there is, of course."

'How could you?"

"Exactly. How could I?"

Like Dinah's, Faith's apartment felt too empty, and Faith wasted no timein searching for her watch. But it was nowhere to be found.

"You know, now that I think about it," she said to Kane, "I don't thinkthere was a watch among my things when they gave them back to me in thehospital."

"It could have been destroyed in the accident," he pointed out.

"Yes ... But how many people do you know who have only one watch?

Especially a woman. They're cheap accessories."

Kane helped her search a second time, but there was no watch in theapartment. They found a small trinket box containing a few pairs ofearrings, long and 'angry with brightly colored stones and crystals.

Faith reached up absently to touch her earlobe, finding the simple pearlstud there a far more restrained style.

"Dinah's," Kane said. "She kept a few pairs at my place, in a box in thelinen closet." Faith stared at him, horrified. "You mean I just- tookthem? G.o.d, Kane, I'm sorry. I hadn't even realized-"

"Don't worry about it. I doubt it would bother Dinah, and it doesn'tbother me."

But she knew it did bother him, and that she had unconsciously rapedDinah in yet another way definitely bothered her. She brooded about itall the way out to the construction site, even more unnerved when sherealized that at some point in the last twenty-four hours, she had,without even noticing her actions, polished her fingernails again.

With Dinah's red polish.

The building inspector was surprised that Faith didn't recognize him;they had, after all, worked in the same city office for months. He wasalso surprised to learn of her accident, which told Faith he hadn't feltenough interest in her to notice her absence.

Since it appeared that the morning's weather report had been accurate,and distant rumbles of thunder promised more than just rain, Kane andthe inspector wasted no time in going down to the half- finished lowerlevels of the Ludlow building to look at the foundation.

Faith remained outside. She stood, actually, between the building andthe gate, beyond which their car and driver waited, and the restlessbody- guard paced.

What is his name, anyway? she wondered for the first time. Kane hadcalled him something, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what.i.t was. She supposed bodyguards grew accustomed to being ignored; ifthey did their job well, they were supposed to be virtually invisible tothe people they guarded- or so she a.s.sumed.

A sudden gust of wind stirred her hair and chilled her despite hersweater and jacket, and she thrust her hands into her pockets. In theright pocket, she felt a thin, flexible piece of metal, and her fingersprobed it curiously. There was some- thing familiar about- "G.o.d, I'mwearing her jacket again," she muttered to herself. "And I didn't evennotice."

It scared her, made her feel she wasn't in control.

She turned her back to the building and hunched her shoulders againstthe growing chill. Richardson was just coming through the gate,apparently having paused to rea.s.sure the bodyguard that he was nothreat. He came straight down the rutted track toward her.

The grim look on his face made her heart sink.

"Where's Kane?" he asked when he reached her.

"Around back with the inspector, checking out the foundation. What'shappened?" He studied her, seemingly weighing her, then said bluntly,"We've found another body."

Faith thought the world tilted. But the dizzy sensation pa.s.sed quickly.

"Do you know who it is?"

"That's why I'm here." Richardson nodded toward the building. "It's theforeman of the construction crew supposed to be working here. JedNorris. He was shot. Two bullets to the back of the head.

But this one is easy to figure out. We have the gun. It's registered toJordan Cochrane."

Richardson thought Faith was nuts when she insisted they take furthersteps to identify the body. He pointed out that there had been adriver's license on the body and that two of his co-workers, includinghis boss, Max Sanders, had identified the body. Norris had had nofamily in the city to perform the gruesome duty.

"Fingerprints," she said. They were back in Kane's apartment, and shewas walking the floor, more agitated than Kane had ever seen her. "Youcan check his fingerprints.

Richardson grimaced. "The body's been out in the woods for a couple ofdays at least, and the animals have gotten to it. Getting fingerprintsmight not even be possible."

"You have to try. Please. He's not who you think he is." "I have avictim," Richardson said, counting off on his fingers. "I have a murderweapon. I have a suspect. My job is to gather up all three and presentthe evidence to the D.A." Softly, Faith said, "And I'm telling you thatneither you nor the D A. will ever understand why that man was killeduntil you know who he really was."

Richardson looked at Kane, who said, "Max says Norris worked for himonly a little over a year. Maybe we'd better."

"What do you expect to find?" Richardson asked them both.

"Somebody else," Faith said.

Kane shrugged. "All I know is that the foreman of my construction crewturning up dead 'just as a building inspector informs me that somebodydeliberately sabotaged the project sounds extremely convenient."

"How far does it put you off schedule?"

"Off schedule?" Kane laughed without amus.e.m.e.nt. "Guy, the sabotage is inthe foundation, and the inspector tells me it sure as h.e.l.l can't bepatched.

It was a subtle job but d.a.m.ned thorough. The whole structure isundermined. We'll have to pull it down and start over. That's if theproject can even continue, and I don't know that it can."

Standing by the piano and staring down at the ivory keys, Faithmurmured, "Want to guess who's going to get the blame?" Kane nodded andtold Richardson, "Max got me on my cell phone on the way back here, andhe's already covering his a.s.s, saying somebody obviously hired Norris tosabotage the building and then killed him to wipe out tracks. He doesn'tknow about your suspect yet, but his theory could still hold together.

And if it happened that way, Norris 'just might be more than heappears to be."

"Who would want to sabotage an office building? Why would JordanCochrane, for G.o.d's sake?"

"I don't know, but it has to be tied in with the rest of this, Guy.

Dinah was out there at the site the day before she vanished. Cochrane'sname has already turned up more than once, since he owns the ware- housewhere we believe Dinah was held. And so far, nearly everything we'vefound ties in to construction in some way. Including the names on thatlist." He had told Richardson about that as soon as they had arrived atKane's apartment.

The detective sighed. "s.h.i.+t. All right, I'll put the forensics team to work to get us a useable print. But, listen, I meant what I said aboutyou staying away from the men on that list, Kane. If they are beingblackmailed it's because they've done something they want to keep secret o they'd be really p.i.s.sed if you came stomping into their lives yellingabout it. Are we clear on that?"

"We're clear."

"As for Cochrane, his people claim he's out of town, and has been fordays, but they don't seem to know 'just where he is. Sounds to me likehe slipped his leash, but we're checking on that. Maybe he'll have a.n.a.libi, and maybe the alibi will hold up. But it's my job to figure thatout. 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 thepiano bench. Her fingers rested lightly on the keys, unmoving. Hethought 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, butprivately owned. There's a large group of investors, and they stand tolose 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. "Themen 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 knewthat Jordan Cochrane, through an investment company he partially owned,was in for a substantial sum in the Lud- low project.

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

Faith thought about that, then shook her head. "This doesn't make senseto me. Maybe Cochrane held Dinah captive in his warehouse. But only ifhe's the blackmailer instead of being blackmailed himself. Maybe he shotJed Norris after ordering him to sabotage the building. But why? Youjust said he stands to lose an incredible amount if that building isn'tcompleted 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 workedup 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 owners.h.i.+p run through somany holding companies it's sheer luck Tim found out it was his. Now whydo you suppose Mr. Cochrane. feels the need for a cozy little place withits own private entrance barely five miles from that big mansion ofhis?"

"Keeping a mistress?" Kane guessed.

Faith sent him a quick smile. "That's what occurred to me. Theinformation here says he's been married for nearly twenty years to afine, upstanding Catholic woman who's on record as saying in nouncertain terms that divorce is an evil practice of the state and thatthose whom G.o.d hath joined together-"

"Are together forever."

"Exactly. And when she married him, she brought along a very nice littlecontribution to the family war chest. Something in the neighborhood offive million dollars. Add in a budding political career ..

"Maybe he's being blackmailed about a mistress and has to pay up inorder to keep his fine upstanding wife from finding out and hispolitical 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 awhile. 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 d.a.m.n. Hewas smiling.

Without thinking, Faith reached out and with the backs of her fingersstroked gently down his cheek.

Kane froze for an instant, then jerked back his head and saidsomething violent under his breath. His Eyes were hot and angry andbewildered.