Chapter Eleven #2
“What made him think you’d keep quiet?”
Owen shrugged. “Initially I’m sure he and his fixer expected me to give them an address, take the money, and go back to my office.
That was supposed to be the end of the matter as far as I was concerned.
I had no reason to question their motives.
He and Twitchell assumed I would think they were doing what was best for you and for the family. ”
She chilled. “What will happen when they realize you’re the one who helped me escape the trap at the hotel?”
“They’ll assume my motives are simple and straightforward.
I took the risk of grabbing the prize because I intend to sell you back to them for a substantial fee.
If we play our cards right, Kelbrook will tell Twitchell to make me an offer.
When he does, we’ll find out what you are worth to Kelbrook. That will tell us a lot.”
She could not breathe. “And if you refuse to sell me?”
“He’ll try to take me out of the equation. There wouldn’t be much of a stir if a small-time private consultant who specializes in paranormal inheritance theory suffered an unfortunate accident.”
“Right. He’ll try to kill you. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“It would be the most logical move under the circumstances.”
“There is no logic to murder.” She remembered to breathe and gave herself a moment to consider the stunningly casual way he spoke about the risks he was taking. “But in your case, there would be people who would ask questions. Your family, for example.”
“My close relatives are small-town people. They might ask questions, but they don’t have the kind of money or power it takes to go up against a man like Kelbrook.”
“At what point did it occur to you that Kelbrook’s motives were not exactly pure?”
“About two seconds after I discovered that someone had hacked my computer and was monitoring my online searches. By then, you were on your way to the Hotel of Dreams. I realized you were being set up, so I went after you.”
She swallowed hard. “You’re in danger because of me. This situation is becoming more and more unbalanced.”
“We are going to rebalance things. Ready to watch the rest of the video? There’s only another forty-three seconds.”
She took a centering breath. “Yes.”
Once again, Owen rezzed the video. The muscular man tossed a white sheet over the woman on the stretcher, leaving her face uncovered, and gripped the handles on one end.
“Ready?” His gravelly voice sounded hollow and mechanical because of the gas mask. “The vehicle’s waiting.”
The tall man hoisted the opposite end of the stretcher. “Ready.”
She clenched one hand very tight. His voice was distorted because of the mask, but she recognized it. That made it all more real, more painful.
“That is Travis Poole,” she said.
“Looks like you’re going to miss out on your wedding night,” the bulky man chuckled. “Too bad you didn’t get one last quick fuck out of this deal.”
“Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do was fuck this bitch. Even if she hadn’t been a sleepwalking robot because of the drugs, I wouldn’t have been interested. She’s got one scary talent.”
“Yeah? What kind of talent?”
“Didn’t they tell you? She can put you into a nightmare coma with just a touch. That’s why we used the sedative tonight in addition to the vapor. Insurance.”
“Fuck,” the big man muttered, evidently shocked. “She can do that just by touching you?”
“Yep. Don’t worry. She’s headed for a locked ward and a heavy dose of suppressant drugs. But even if she wasn’t one of the monsters, I wouldn’t be interested. She’s not even close to hot, not like Brooke.”
“You got a hot girlfriend, huh? Lucky you.”
“Showgirl at a big casino in Illusion Town.”
“Sweet. Think you could get her to introduce me to some of her friends?”
“Brooke will do anything I tell her to do.”
The two men carried the stretcher out of the scene. There was a final kerchunk as the door closed behind them. The video went dark.
Alice stared at the mirror, trying to sort out her conflicting emotions. She decided she was still enraged by what Travis had done to her, but she was also overwhelmingly relieved.
“At least we didn’t have sex,” she whispered. “I’m glad I scared him.”
“So am I,” Owen said. There was a lethal edge on the words.
She frowned. “Are you absolutely certain he’s the man who jumped off that hotel roof?”
“When I took your case, the first thing I did was verify the autopsy report. There was never any doubt that the man who jumped was Travis Poole. What we know now is that someone got the time of death wrong. Poole went off that roof after he helped kidnap you.”
She pulled herself together. “This is getting more twisted by the minute. If Travis was in on the conspiracy, why did he jump? Judging by the conversation in that video, he was looking forward to seeing someone named Brooke again.”
“I think it’s safe to assume Poole did not jump.”
“You’re saying someone pushed him off?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“Because he was no longer useful? Maybe someone—Twitchell—thought he might become a problem?”
“How?”
Owen moved one hand in an isn’t it obvious gesture. “At some point in the future he might have demanded additional compensation for the sacrifice he was making by marrying you.”
“What sacrifice? I was the one who got sacrificed.”
“From Poole’s point of view, the Kelbrook family was asking a lot from him.
After all, as long as you were alive, he was trapped in a Covenant Marriage.
Other people in his position could have used the spouse’s insanity as grounds for divorce, but apparently he couldn’t do that.
He probably knew why, and that gave him leverage.
He might have taken a notion to blackmail Kelbrook. ”
“So for some reason they needed me alive, but they no longer needed Travis?”
“That looks like the most plausible scenario.”
She had to get over being shocked by every new twist, she thought.
In spite of Owen’s low opinion of the Ballantine Method and her sheltered, cloistered past, she was not naive, damn it.
She knew very well that there were evil people in the world.
She had come face-to-face with a few since the Academy had closed—Travis Poole, Dr. Webber at the asylum, and the kidnappers at the hotel were on the list.
And don’t forget Randolph Draper, she added silently.
She immediately reversed herself. Technically speaking, her sort-of ex could be classified as a sneaky, unscrupulous, manipulative user—but he wasn’t the type to plot kidnapping and murder.
At least, she didn’t think he would do anything like that.
But what did she know? She could no longer trust her intuition.
“I never thought I’d say these words,” Owen continued, “because whatever my faults, I am not given to outbursts of optimism and positive thinking. But here I go: look on the bright side.”
“What bright side?”
“At least now you can be certain that you didn’t lose control of your talent and cause Poole to jump off the roof of that damned hotel.” Owen paused a beat for emphasis. “Not only that, you’ve got visual evidence of your innocence.”
She took a moment to fully appreciate the realization that she had not gone mad and murdered Travis Poole. That should have been a huge relief. And it was.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I’m glad I didn’t go temporarily insane on my wedding night. But I’ll never be able to forget that I was so easily deceived.”
“You weren’t deceived; you were drugged. Poole was a chemist, remember?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I was just so stupid.”
“Shit happens. Get over it. We don’t have time for the self-pity.”
An invigorating shot of outrage slammed through her. “Don’t get carried away with sympathy and understanding.”
“That’s better,” Owen said, looking satisfied. “You were going down a bad road. Another minute or two and you would have collapsed in tears. You can ride the emotional roller coaster later. We’re trying to stay alive here.”
“What am I supposed to say? Thanks? I needed that?”
A slight smile edged his mouth. “You’re welcome. Now, about the next step in our plan.”
He was right. They had to focus. They were dealing with murder, blackmail, and one of the most powerful families on Harmony. There wasn’t time to feel sorry for herself.
“I hate to admit it, but you’ve made your point,” she said. “I’ll reschedule my emotional breakdown for a more convenient time. Back to the plan. Step one was getting married. We’ve done that. Now what?”
“The getting-married step has two phases. The first was making sure we were legally married, but that won’t do us much good if Kelbrook manages to make me disappear before anyone knows what really happened.”
“But the video—”
“They can make that vanish, too—unless we go public with it first.”
The boldness of what he was proposing stole her breath. “Are you saying we should give that video to the media?”