Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 39

"No? Then tell us how it was."

Faith heard Kane's accusations and Cochrane's quiet denials, but she hadalso heard that bell again.

She s.h.i.+fted on the couch, to get a better angle to see more of the room,and as her hand rested over the edges of two cus.h.i.+ons she feltsomething.

It was caught between the cus.h.i.+ons, out of sight, but her fingers foundit and pulled it out. A tiny silver bell.

Faith stared at it, holding it in such a way that if the men looked ather they would think she was intently studying her fingernails. A tinysilver bell. A tiny silver charm she suddenly remembered having seenbefore.

Did you know about this, Dinah? Or am I the one who knew somehow?

The dead didn't answer, so Faith said to the living, "What did Dinahwant of you, Mr. Cochrane?"

He turned his head quickly to look at her, seeming relieved to face herrather than Kane. "She said she was working on a story, that shesuspected other prominent men in Atlanta were being blackmailed. Shewanted to know if I'd be willing to come forward when the story broke,to go to the police.

"You told her no." "I told her I handled my own problems."

"And did you? Handle it?"

"I thought I had."

Faith didn't have to listen to the voice in her head now. "You refused to pay, didn't you? Refused to pay them and told them to go to h.e.l.l. Youwere the first not to give in to them. To be willing to see your secretexposed rather than pay hush money."

"The ... lady involved found out about the threats and agreed I couldn'tbow to blackmail. We both knew it would never end, that I'd be bleduntil I stood up to them. So, yes, I refused to pay. And they backeddown. Or so I thought. There were no more demands for money, and my wifenever received that envelope of incriminating photographs they'dpromised.""

"But?" Faith watched him steadily.

"But ... we began having problems out at the new plant. Mechanicalbreakdowns, tardy deliveries, mistakes in orders. It looked likesabotage, but there was never enough evidence to point to a culprit. Andthen problems began cropping up in our other divisions, the same sort ofdelaying, destructive tactics."

"You were being punished."

'So it seemed. I realized these faceless enemies were out to destroy me,and that I was helpless to stop them."

"You could have paid," Faith noted.

"No," Cochrane said. "I couldn't have done that."

"You could have gone public about the affair, taken that weapon out oftheir hands and taken your chances politically. Extramarital affairsaren't the political death knell they once were."

"True enough. I could have. The lady was willing, and I was ready toaccept the consequences.

But they had shown their hand. They meant to destroy me, piece by piece.

If I took one weapon out of their hands, they would have found others.

Another secret, some stupid mistake I'd made somewhere along the way."

Cochrane smiled wryly.

"I haven't led a particularly blameless life, Miss. Parker. And I haveno desire to watch all my mistakes exposed one by one."

"Then what can you do?"

"I'll fight them. Fight their tactics, hold my own until I discover whothey are. I may lose. But I won't go down without a fight."

"I see."

Cochrane looked at Kane. "By the time I realized the scope of myproblem, Miss. Leighton had been missing for several weeks. I hope youbelieve me when I say that if I'd thought I could help the police findher, I would have come forward."

Before Kane could respond, the sliding doors of the connecting studyopened, and a new voice spoke quietly.

"And so would I."

Kane was stunned, and Faith looked at him with sympathy, then stretchedout her open hand, the charm lying on the palm.

"I think this came off your bracelet, Sydney."

Kane's discomfort was obvious, and even though neither Cochrane norSydney seemed to bear him any malice, the next few minutes were verystrained.

It was left to Faith to keep the discussion going.

"You're absolutely sure you have no clue as to who is trying to ruinyou?" she said to Cochrane.

"I've racked my brains." He sat beside Sydney at the other end of thelong couch. "The problem is, I have plenty of enemies. I 'just can'tsettle on anyone with a grudge big enough to drive them to black- mailand sabotage. Unless it's purely money, of course, and I was chosenbecause I had a point of vulnerability and the means to make blackmailworth the risk."

"You've got bigger problems than that," she told him after a glance atKane. "Do you know a man named Jed Norris?"

"No, I don't think so. Why?" Kane asked, "Do you own a handgun, a .45automatic?"

"I own several, including two .45s. Why?" "Because," Faith said, "thebody of a man identified as Jed Norris was found this morning. Murdered,execution-style, shot in the head. A gun registered to you was foundnearby. And it is the murder weapon."

"Oh, my G.o.d," Sydney murmured.

Cochrane reached for her hand and held it. He was a little pale, butcomposed. "Setting aside that I would hardly be stupid enough to use agun registered to me in a crime and then leave it at the scene, the lasttime I can swear all my guns were in the case was months ago. Someonemust have stolen one of them." "The case isn't locked?" Kane asked.

"Of course, but it's hardly more than a childproof lock, a simpleprecaution. 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 house- keeping staff. My wife'ssecretary, my own a.s.sistant.

And my wife has held two charity functions in the house or on thegrounds in the last three months. The place has been crawling withpeople at various times." He paused. "Who was this man apparently killedwith my gun?" Sydney said almost inaudibly, "He was off some- where, Maxsaid, just AWOL because they weren't working ... Kane looked atCochrane. "Norris was the construction foreman on the Ludlow project.The crew wasn't working this week because there was a problem. Today, Idiscovered the site has been sabotaged."

"How badly?"

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

"That," Cochrane said without emotion, "would be the final nail in myfinancial coffin." "Maybe that's the idea," Kane said. "Put your backagainst the wall financially so that taking any action other than payingthem would mean total ruin."

"If so," Cochrane said, "it's a smart plan. Too many of my businessinterests are largely dependent on my wife's money, and she wouldn'thesitate to sell out her interests to get back at me-no matter how manypeople were put out of work because of it."

"In the meantime," Faith said, "the police are probably trying to find amotive for you to have killed Norris. They'll want to know where you'vebeen.

People at your office and home-"

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

"So have I," Sydney said instantly.

"Not all the time," he said, his voice astonis.h.i.+ngly gentle and hissmile 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 bewith you. Got in late at the office, took long lunches, and left earlyevery day.

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

"The police say the body's been ... exposed to the elements ... for atleast a couple of days. My guess is that they won't be able to pinpointthe 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 mefor you to say you were with me some of the time, and it could only hurtyou 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 sabotagethe building, then killed to cover it up. I don't see how you couldbenefit if the construction is stopped."

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

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

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

"Kane, no." Sydney was staring at him. "Jordan had nothing to do withthat. Not Dinah's disappearance or-or her murdered Faith said, "My guessis that it was yet another way his enemies thought they could chip awayat what mattered in his life. Mr. Cochrane, you said the blackmailersthreatened 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 relations.h.i.+pthan to have you suspected of have- ing tortured and murdered herbrother's fiancee?"

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

Faith wasn't surprised by the loyalty, having watched them together. Butshe 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. Atthe very least, by holding Dinah in the Cochrane warehouse, they'vemanaged to involve him."

"a.s.suming the police discover that," Kane rended her.

"Oh, I imagine they'll be led to discover it. Unless we can figure outthe truth before then." Faith spoke absently, her mind fully occupied intrying to do just that. She reached into the pocket of her jacket andbrought out a copy of the list they had found. "Take a look at thesenames, Mr. Cochrane. They're the men Dinah suspected were beingblackmailed. 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 inconstruction in some form," Kane said. "Is there anything else you knowof 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 d.a.m.neddiscreet, 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 shownthe list to Cochrane ... she might not be dead. She would have known tobe wary of Masterson."

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

"Only someone who thoroughly understood Jor- dan Cochrane's financialsituation 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 believeConrad 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 personinvolved in this. Maybe Conrad works for or with whoever killed Dinah.

Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence." She watched his profile, visibleonly now and again in the streetlights they pa.s.sed. "Look, we've doneall we can tonight. Richardson was right-we have to let him talk to theother men and find out if they can point to Conrad."

She forced a note of humor into her voice. "In fact, we're lucky hedidn't throw us both in jail after we told him about findingCochrane-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 wa.s.still glad she had been able to persuade Kane to go that route ratherthan follow his first instinct-to find Conrad Masterson. Of course, ithad helped her cause when a couple of phone calls had found Mastersonneither at his home nor his office, and so temporarily out of Kane'sreach.

"He'll get over it," Kane said, referring to Richard son. "And soonerrather than later if the information we gave him helps him solve a fewcrimes." From the front seat, the bodyguard said, "You folks still wantto 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 gesturetoward the driver. "We get time and a half."

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

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

"Cochrane will certainly thank you if you can-if the police don't arresthim for Norris's murder."

"Guy didn't seem too keen to do that just yet," Kane reminded her.

"Aside from having no believable motive, he agreed Cochrane would be toosmart to use his own gun and drop it at the scene after wiping all theprints off."

"I wish they'd get that report on Norr's's finger- prints," Faith saidrestlessly. "It's important, Kane, I know it is." "Probably tomorrow,Guy said. He's checking the system for a match and sent them up to Noahfor good measure. a.s.suming Noah's at Quantico. One of them will call usas soon as anything turns up."

Faith nodded, but she still felt uneasy. If Norris had been involved,why was he dead now? Had Conrad Masterson killed him? Was Masterson evenguilty of anything? And what was the thing Dinah was tortured for?

d.a.m.nit, they still didn't know!