Part 9 (1/2)
”Her lawyer mentioned it. He said she had gone through my desk at home to find out what bills I had so they could be paid. That must have been just after the accident.” She was about to mention the missing laptop,
but Kane was speaking and her wavering concentration lost the thought.
”So we have a span of weeks.” Kane looked at Bishop. ”Great.”
Bishop's mind was on something else. ”The apartment was searched afterDinah went there to go through your desk.” His pale gaze was intent onher face. ”And just a few weeks later, Dinah disappeared.”
Faith tried to make her mind focus on what he meant. ”Are you sayingthat Dinah might have disappeared because someone thought she she foundsomething at my place? Something she wasn't supposed to find?”
”Maybe.” He turned to Kane. ”Maybe we've gone about this the wrong way.
Maybe there was no direct threat to Dinah, no story someone wantedstopped before she could write it. Maybe it isn't her past we should belooking into.”
”But mine,” Faith said shakily.
Kane realized suddenly that she was exhausted. it showed in her eyes,darkened with strain, and in the shadows beneath them. She was trying tosit up straight, but her shoulders kept slumping, and her skin wasashen. He was sure that if her hands hadn't been clenched together inher lap, they would have been shaking uncontrollably.
”You need to get some rest,” he said.
Apologetic, she said, ”I haven't quite got my strength back yet. It hitsme all at once and ... and then I just need to sleep. I'm sorry.”
”For G.o.d's sake, don't be sorry. You've been through h.e.l.l, and it'sunderstandable. Besides, you've told us things we didn't know before.
And you may be able to help us find Dinah.” Bishop looked at him butsaid nothing.
”I want to,” she said again, then sighed. A shadow of fear crossed herface. ”if-if you could call a cab for me ...” Kane's hesitation wasbrief. ”Look, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back to yourapartment, at least not tonight. Until we figure out what's going on,until we're sure that what happened to you and what happened to Dinahare unconnected, it's better you stay with us.”
Color crept into her face. ”I can't stay here.”
”Of course you can.” He kept his voice matter-of- fact. ”There are twobedrooms. Noah's in one, you take mine. I'll bunk down in here.” Hegrimaced.
”These days, I'm usually in here most of the night anyway. Might as wellget a pillow and blanket and make it official.”
She bit her lip in indecision, and Kane thought about how terrified shemust be, so alone that even the face in her mirror was unfamiliar toher.
Gently, he said, ”We'll take it one day at a time, okay? Tonight, youneed to sleep, and I think you'll feel safer here than at yourapartment. Tomorrow we'll start trying to figure Out What's going On.”
Bishop said nothing.
Faith finally nodded. ”Thank you.”
Kane showed her the way to his bedroom, made sure there were cleantowels in the connecting bath- room. He invited her to use Dinah'stoilet articles but found one of his own s.h.i.+rts for her to sleep inrather than anything of Dinah's; that was an intimacy he didn't thinkeither of them was ready for.
When he returned to the living room, he found Bishop sitting just wherethey'd left him, his frowning gaze fixed on the spot where Faith hadbeen sitting.
Silently, Kane fixed drinks for them both, then reclaimed his place onthe couch. ”Do you believe her?” he asked abruptly.
”I don't know. She could have told us what we wanted to hear.”
”I didn't want to hear that Dinah's being hurt.- Kane's voice was verysteady.
”No. But we might have expected something of the sort, if we're honestabout it. And it made for a dramatic telling, didn't it? Virtuallyguaranteed to create an emotional reaction.”
”The details about the beach house-there's no way she could have foundthose out. Except from Dinah.” Kane wasn't ready to give up.
”Or from you.”
Kane frowned, then realized what his friend meant. ”You mean she couldhave gotten them out of my mind as we were sitting here?”
”If she's psychic, maybe. just because she was able to block me doesn'tnecessarily mean she can't use her abilities at the same time.”
”Another psychic rule?” Kane asked wryly.
”Something like that.”
”Okay. I have to admit that's possible. But there has to be a connectionbetween Faith and Dinah, and what happened to both of them. Maybe thethreat was against Faith-maybe she was into something dangerous andDinah just stumbled into the situation.
But Dinah clearly felt responsible for Faith's accident, Noah. She feltguilty enough about it to spend a h.e.l.l of a lot of money trying to fixthings for Faith.” Playing devil's advocate, Bishop said, ”But sheapparently has a history of giving money to people in trouble. So how dowe know her guilt was excessive?
Maybe Faith merely represented ... one more wounded soul she was tryingto help.”
”Maybe. But whether Dinah's story got Faith hurt or something in Faith'slife became dangerous to Dinah, the answer has to be there, between thetwo of them. Maybe she won't be able to tell us much, but there arethings we can find out. The facts of her accident, for one. Whathappened to the prescription drug she was supposedly taking and did a doctor actually prescribe it? How did she have a couple of drinks in herjust minutes after leaving her job and going to meet Dinah?”
Kane's face was hard with determination. ”The police obviously chalkedthe crash up to a careless, intoxicated driver, so they wouldn't havechecked out the details. We can do that. We can do a background check onFaith and find out as much as possible about who she is. We can find outif Faith and Dinah were actually friends, if anyone saw them together orknew about the friends.h.i.+p. We can find out what Faith's job involved,and whether it might have provided Dinah with information she waslooking for, a story that might have gotten them both hurt. We can lookfor facts, Noah.”
After a moment, Bishop said, ”So you're convinced both Faith and Dinahwere gotten out of the way because of a story Dinah was working on.”
”It's possible, isn't it?”
”Yes. It's possible.”
”Then we have a lead,” Kane said, his voice sharp with antic.i.p.ation.
”We have a lead,” Bishop agreed.
CHAPTER THREE.
it was fairly early when Faith woke up, and she stared around theunfamiliar bedroom with absolutely no idea where she was. The panickedconfusion was mercifully brief, but it left her feeling shaky.
A feeling she was very familiar with.
That was a sensation She took a shower, and it wasn't until she wasdrying her hair with a blow dryer that she realized she had knownexactly where it was in the en closet, even though Kane hadn't shown herthe night before.
Then, when she became conscious of her actions, the brush in her righthand suddenly felt clumsy and wrong, and she had to transfer it to herleft.