Part 18 (1/2)
”You must know I can't talk in specifics about Miss. Leighton's businessaffairs,” Sloan replied immediately.
”I'm not asking you about her business affairs,” Kane said with justenough patience to make the effort noticeable. ”I'm asking you if youknow any- thing-if you saw or heard anything-that might help us to findyour missing client.”
This time, there was a pause. A rather deliberate one, Faith thought.
Her heartbeat quickened as she gazed at the lawyer's face. He knowssomething. He knows something, and he's just been waiting for some- bodyto ask him. But n.o.body had asked, because his relations.h.i.+p with Dinahhad not been a public one- and Sloan was not a man who would evervolunteer information. Which explained why he had not come forward whenDinah had vanished.
”Please, Mr. Sloan.” Faith knew her voice was unsteady. ”Please help usif you can. Did anything unusual happen in the days before shedisappeared?”
”Just one thing.” His voice was composed. ”Two days before she vanished,Miss. Leighton asked me to recommend a good private investigator, onewho specializes in missing persons.” Faith looked at Kane in confusion, and it was he who said, ”Did she say why?”
”The only thing she said to me, Mr. Macgregor, was a rather crypticremark to the effect that she needed someone to look for a corpse.”
”And that's all he'd tell you?” Bishop asked.
”That's all.” Kane wedged the receiver between his ear and shoulder,reached for a legal pad on the coffee table, and scowled at the noteshe'd jotted down earlier. ”Just that Dinah wanted to hire a P I.specializing in missing persons because she needed someone to find acorpse.”
”Did he know if she actually hired the P I.?”
”He said that when Dinah disappeared, he called the two people he'drecommended, and neither had heard from her. I'm inclined to believehim. For one thing, news of the reward has been played up heavily in themedia, and I doubt very much that a professional investigator would pa.s.sup the chance to make a million bucks if he had any knowledgee at allabout Dinah.”
”That is a point.” Bishop paused. ”Where's Faith?”
”I dropped her off at Haven House. There's a woman there who seems tohave known both Faith and Dinah months ago, and Faith wanted to talk toher. Understandably, men aren't welcome there, so I've been checking outa few other things. Faith's bank, where she has no safe deposit box.
Dinah's other bank, where the manager was very cooperative and is evennow sending Richardson all the records.”
”Did you take a look at those records?”
”Yeah. And they verify what Conrad told us, that Dinah used that bankaccount the way she used Sloan, to handle those bequests and donationsshe wanted to keep quiet.
Guy's team will go over all of it wit a fine-tooth comb.” He paused.
”Since you're still at Quantico, I a.s.sume you've been able to look intothat restricted file?”
”I'm not still at Quantico,” Bishop said, then went on before Kane couldask him anything about that.
”But, yeah, I found out why the files on the murders of Faith's motherand sister are restricted.”
”Why?
”Ties in to what you told me about her former husband and the abuse. Itseems that he was, and still is, under suspicion for the crimes. Thetheory is that abuse escalated to open violence when she dared todivorce him, and that she escaped being killed only because she wasunexpectedly called in to work that night.”
Grim, Kane said, ”That doesn't explain why in formation about theinvestigation is restricted.”
”Yes, well, it makes sense when you learn one more salient fact. Faith's.e.x-husband, Tony Ellis, is an FBI agent.”
Katie was at school, but Faith left new sheet music on the piano forher. Kane hadn't asked any questions when she'd requested the stop at amusic store; she'd told him the gift was for a child, and he had made acouple of suggestions as to what might appeal to a budding youngpianist.
Even last names weren't offered, which Faith a.s.sumed was one of HavenHouse's policies-turned out to be a not very tall, solidly built womanof about twenty-one, with wary brown eyes that had already seen far toomuch. She was watching over a small group of toddlers when Karen tookFaith down to the roomy nursery in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the house tointroduce her. The children's mothers, the director had explained, wereworking, or job hunting, or busy with lawyers or police attempting todivorce, arrest, or prosecute abusive husbands.
But it was late in the day, and even as Faith was introduced to Eve,women of various ages were beginning to arrive to claim their offspring.
Karen suggested she take over the nursery to give Eve a chance to talkto Faith, and they went upstairs to the second-floor sitting room nearEve's bedroom.
”So you've lost your memory.” Eve's voice was a little abrupt, but notunsympathetic, a tone explained when she added, ”Happened to me once.
Got knocked into a wall and out cold. When I came to, more than sixmonths were a total blank.”
Faith winced. ”Did you eventually remember?”
Eve shook her head. ”Not really. But I pieced most of it together,talking to people. I guess that's what you're doing?”
”Trying to. Can you help me?”
”We weren't close,” Eve said frankly.
”Friendly, just not confiding. So I don't know much, except that youwere very angry.”
”Angry? Not frightened?”
”I don't think you were as afraid of your ex as some of us were. Maybebecause he was so far away, or maybe because you had other things onyour mind.
I think you and Dinah were up to something.”
Faith blinked. ”Up to something?”
”Yeah. A story of some kind. I don't know what it was about, but I gotthe feeling Dinah was trying to hold you back in some way. To keep youfrom doing something she didn't think you should do. I think she wasworried about YOU.”
Faith wondered again if it was her fault that Dinah it I it was in suchdanger, and was conscious of a cold, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. But all she said was, ”Were you close to Dinah?”
Eve's rather immobile face softened. ”She talked to me a lot for her story. And, after, she gave me the money I needed to go back to school.
I got my GED, but I wasn't going to do anything else until Dinahconvinced me it was the best thing for me to do. I'm studyingcomputers,” she finished proudly.
Faith smiled at her. ”That's great.”
”Yeah, I think so. I have a future now. Dinah said-” She broke off andbit her lip.
”What did she say, Eve?” The younger woman hesitated, then said slowly,”I've thought about it since she disappeared, and crazy as it sounds, Ithink she always knew she'd- she didn't have a future of her own. Sheseemed almost sad when we talked about my plans. Once, she said I had somuch to look forward to, and that she wished she'd be here to see it.”
”Maybe she was ... just planning to go away,” Faith said.
”I don't think so. You didn't see her face the way I did, hear hervoice. I think she could see the future sometimes, that she knew aboutthings before they happened. She never said so, but once she warned menot to go back to a certain club I liked, and later I found out my exhad been there looking for me. I heard her tell Andrea she should go seeher mother, and 'just a couple of weeks later the poor lady died of aheart attack. And there were other things. The way she looked at Katieand the other kids. The way she moved really fast to arrange thingswhenever she donated money to Haven House or one of us, as if she knewshe had to hurry.” Eve shook her head. ”I think she knew she didn't havemuch time left.”
Faith suddenly remembered what Bishop had said about Dinah. She wasprecognitive, able to ... tune in to future events, to predict the turnof a card or the throw of dice.