“Good God.” She shook her head as she stared at Darcy. “Where did all that come from?”
“I took a few courses in psychology here and there. I was pretty messed up, and I had to learn how to sift through the bullshit.” She smiled without mirth. “Though I may have to take a few more lessons to see my way through what’s happening now. I’m having big-time trouble understanding that beast, Norwalk.”
“There’s no understanding. As you said, beast.”
“But I have to understand,” Darcy said fiercely. “I have to understand everything about him. You heard what he said on that call. Sylvie didn’t really exist. She was nothing to him. I’m nothing to him. But there had to be a reason that two people whom he thought had no value were still important to him. I’ve been thinking about that ever since Eve played back that call. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
Cara could see that. She had never seen Darcy so intense. She had been afraid that callous call might break her, but instead it appeared to have caused her to strengthen, totally focused. And Cara had to focus, too. Help her find an answer. “Twins,” Cara said. “He said he needed a twin.”
“But why?” Darcy murmured. “I was so upset and angry the first time I heard it that I couldn’t think of anything other than that Sylvie had been nothing to him. But then I played it again, and a few lines jumped out at me. When he was saying good-bye to Eve, Norwalk was telling her that talking to her made him feel like he was no longer alone. And that he always felt alone these days.”
“So?”
“That’s how I felt when I lost Sylvie,” she said simply. “I may have mentioned it to you. She was always with me, then she … wasn’t.”
Cara went still. “Because you were twins.”
She nodded. “Twins.” She looked out at the lake. “I know it sounds weird, but what I told you about the bond between Sylvie and me wasn’t limited to just us. Look it up. It’s been medically documented. There have been all kinds of tests, zillions of explanations why it occurs. The result is that nobody really knows why, it’s just there.”
“I wasn’t doubting you,” Cara said. “I didn’t understand, but I know that there’s too much going on in this world for me to question anything if I trusted the person saying it. I trust you, Darcy.” She paused. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying Norwalk needed a twin for his master plan, so he killed Sylvie. What did he say? Tit for tat?”
“That’s what he said.” Cara was gazing at Darcy’s face. “And that could mean because he’d lost a twin, he was taking another one away as some kind of revenge?”
“Sick. But that’s what he is, right? I don’t know why he did it. A statement? Whatever. But it meant something to him. A twin always means something. You have no idea how powerful that pull can be. Since Norwalk is clearly a psychopath, it might be a completely different dynamic than that between a normal set of twins, but the loss would still be mind-blowing.”
“Like yours?” Cara asked softly.
“Yes.” She glanced back at Cara. “But this isn’t about me and Sylvie right now. It’s about Sylvie and that devil who killed her. That’s what I’m trying to focus on now.”
She nodded. “And if he’s lost his twin, does that mean his twin is dead?”
“That’s what it meant with me.”
“Did you tell Eve?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.” She swallowed hard. “I’ve just been piecing it all out after I recovered from listening to that damn call. And it’s just guesswork right now. But it makes sense to me.”
“It makes sense to me, too.” She was mentally going over Norwalk’s call. “Sean. He mentioned a Sean. His twin?”
Darcy shrugged. “Possible. I don’t know. I’ve given you all I have. I thought it might help to track Norwalk down.”
“I don’t believe Interpol said anything about Norwalk’s having a twin brother.”
Darcy’s lips twisted. “But no one knew I had a twin either. Check it out.” She moved over to the swing and sat down. “But I’m still confused about all this. It seems like the tip of the iceberg. Maybe this Kaskov will be able to find out more. Eve seemed to believe he could.” She stared Cara in the eye. “What do you think?”
“Eve’s very smart.”
“That’s no answer. You know your grandfather better than Eve, better than anyone. Can he help me?”
“Me?” she repeated quietly. “This isn’t only about you, Darcy. We’re all in this fight together.”
She was silent. “I know that.” Her lips twisted. “But I sometimes forget. I spent all my life being number one. Number one in the spotlight. Number one in responsibility. Number one behind the eight ball.” She wrinkled her nose. “Though that last doesn’t make much sense, does it? You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do.” She sat down beside her and took her hand. “And number one when Sylvie was left behind. You don’t want her left behind this time.”
“She can’t be left behind,” Darcy said fiercely. “I won’t let that happen.” Her hand tightened on Cara’s. “So tell me about Kaskov.”
“You’re expecting more than I may be able to give. Can he find out the information we need to know? Probably. If he chooses to do it.”
“Will he choose to do it? You’re a target. He must care something about you, or he wouldn’t want you to spend a month with him every year. That’s sort of sentimental, so he can’t be that tough.”
Cara looked at her incredulously. “Sentimental? Kaskov doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Tough? He walks in the room, and everyone else fades away.”
“Do you fade away?”
“Not when I’m playing for him, but that’s the only time I know I have any value for him. It’s the music. It’s always the music.”
“Why?”
“He grew up in a work camp in Siberia. His mother was a violinist. Kaskov was going to be a musician. But one of the guards smashed the bones in his hands. It ruined his chance of a career as a performer.” She grimaced. “So he told me that he went in ‘another direction’ to reach the top. Evidently, he reached that goal when he was in his twenties and never let go. In Moscow, he’s not only a premier crime boss, but he controls a good many of the political parties that come and go. He’s a contributor to the arts, and he even funds scholarships to various music academies. He’s extremely clever, completely ruthless, and he never lets down his guard.” She moistened her lips. “Which makes it almost laughable that Norwalk thinks he can take him down.”
“Unless he can strike at an Achilles’ heel. Does he have any other family?”
She shook her head. “Just me. His mother died years ago. He had two children—Natalie, my mother, and his son. They’re both dead now. I’m not sure how his son died, but I heard a few years ago that my mother had been killed in a helicopter accident.”
“You heard?”
“We weren’t close. Never.” She made an impatient gesture. “Enough. Norwalk won’t find any weakness in Kaskov as far as family is concerned.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said. “And I’ll back off, Cara. I haven’t forgotten my promise. I just had to know. I might—We might need to use him.”
“Eve is already going down that route. I gathered she wasn’t entirely sure she’d handled it right.”
“I received the same impression.” She was frowning. “Would you mind if I seduced him?”
“What? Who?”
“Kaskov. I could probably do it. And that would solidify any chance we might have to—”
“Yes, I would mind,” she said in exasperation. “First, you’re going to seduce Jock, and now Kaskov? That’s playing with fire, Darcy. I thought I’d made that clear. That’s crazy.”
“No, it’s Sylvie,” she said quietly. “Sex is only a fun game to me, and I wouldn’t use it ordinarily. But all the rules are off now. However, if it upsets you, we’ll have to find another way.”
“It upsets me,” Cara said p
ositively. “And besides, the last I heard, Kaskov has a mistress who’s a diva in the Bolshoi Opera.”
“No problem. I could overcome.” She smiled. “But I can’t overcome you, Cara. I’ve never had a friend like you.” She released her hand. “And now that I’ve thoroughly rattled you, why don’t you go inside and be referee between Eve and Jock, while I sit here and think more about Norwalk’s call.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me? You said that Eve didn’t need me.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you have a need to help her.”
And that Darcy might need to be alone to recover from the agony of that call, an agony that she’d managed to submerge while she tried to find something of value in the message. “True.” Cara got to her feet. “I’d hate to prove all your psychological mumbo jumbo about my relationship with Eve is a total fallacy.” She moved toward the door. “I’m off to the rescue.”
“Cara.”
She looked over her shoulder.
Darcy was smiling curiously. “You said that when Kaskov walked into a room everyone else faded away … Did Jock Gavin fade away?”
Kaskov standing warily at the bar in the anteroom of his box at the theater in Moscow, tall, broad, powerful with his gray-streaked hair and that aura of total dominance and power.
Jock standing looking at him, slim, sleek, lithe, his silver eyes glittering with intensity. Eager, ready, his entire body like a stiletto poised to strike.
She shook her head. “No, Jock didn’t fade away.”
“I didn’t think so. And what did Kaskov do? What was his reaction?”
“He wanted to own Jock. He tried to hire him.”
“Now that’s a truly intelligent man … and even more dangerous than anything else you’ve told me about him.” She smiled. “Or maybe not. Don’t we all want to own Jock? Don’t answer that.” She looked back at the lake. “That was a little too close to the edge…”
Yes, it had been, Cara thought as she opened the door. Not because Darcy had reminded her how desirable Jock was in so many ways. Because it had brought back memories of that night that Jock had risked everything to guarantee that Kaskov would keep his word to save Eve and her child.
“I was wondering when you would show up to check casualties,” Jock said, as she came into the house. He was sitting at the kitchen bar with a glass of whiskey in his hand. “I would have come to you after I had a drink. I needed it.”
“Where’s Eve?”
“Putting Michael to bed, and probably telling Joe that I was more civilized than she’d thought I’d be.” He lifted his glass to his lips. “All an act, Cara. I’m not feeling at all civilized.”
“And Eve would realize that. She wasn’t looking forward to your reaction.” She paused. “None of us were.”
“Because you all knew I’d have found a way to have prevented it if I’d been here.”
She shook her head. “No one could have prevented it once Eve made up her mind. Even Joe couldn’t have done it.”
“I’d have found a way.” He took another drink. “It’s what I’ve been dreading for years.” His hand tightened on the glass. “Hell, I could see it coming. And now she’s joining forces with the devil who could destroy you?”
“Eve thinks he can help.” She came closer to him. “And the reason everyone was afraid for you to know was that they were afraid you’d do something that would make that impossible.”
“And is that what you thought?” His lips twisted. “Am I going to do that, Cara?”
“No, you’re going to hate it, but you’ll find a way to do what you think has to be done without damaging what Eve has set up with Kaskov.” She met his eyes. “Because you wouldn’t want to take the chance that she might be right, and you’d run the risk of spoiling a way of winding this up quickly.” She smiled faintly. “Is that what you told her?”
He was silent a moment. “No, I wasn’t that generous. I was too pissed off. I told her what she’d done was dangerous, and it might be hard to pull her out of the fire.”
She nodded. “But she’d recognize that as a tacit acknowledgment that you’d accept it and be ready to do the extraction.” She added, “So she felt comfortable about leaving you and going to put Michael to bed.” She nodded. “And you thought a stiff drink is what you needed to bring that frustration and anger down to a low simmer. Too bad MacDuff isn’t here. He’s your favorite drinking partner. He would have been glad to join you.”
“You think you can read me so well?” he said softly. “In this particular situation, I’m finding that particularly annoying.”
“Of course I can read you. Not as well as you can read me. You sometimes say one thing and mean another. I’m clear as glass, and I never try to hide anything from you.”
“Yet I’ve been feeling lately that you might be trying to do that.” His gaze was narrowed on her face. “I believe I mentioned that before. Now isn’t the time for secrets, Cara.”
She suddenly couldn’t breathe. She wanted to reach out and touch him. She had made a mistake and blundered into that area that was causing her to—
Back out. Don’t reach toward him. But don’t run away, that would be worse.
Distract him.
“Hiding something? Because I know that you and MacDuff usually have a drink when you’re together?” She looked at his whiskey. “Though how the two of you can stand that stuff, I’ll never know. Perfectly foul, Jock. The one time I ordered one, I nearly choked.”
“Ordered one?” He tilted his head. “Just where did you order a whiskey?”
“Phoenix. We went out after a charity concert to a party at the home of one of the benefactors, and I ordered one from the bartender. So it was kind of legal.”
“Were you with Darcy?”
“No, that was before I knew her. She doesn’t drink much anyway. But she does believe in experimenting. So I should probably go with her if I try anything else. Right?”
“You could wait awhile. You’re only eighteen.”
“But I told you, it was almost legal. These days there are all kinds of exception laws about liquor in private homes.” She looked at the whiskey again. “I have to find out what I like, and I don’t like. Experimenting is important. The older I get, the more aware I am that I should experience everything. Don’t you agree that—” She stopped as she met his gaze. She had been rattling on, but she suddenly realized she was in deep waters. She inhaled sharply. Too far? “Jock?”
“Not the time for this, Cara,” he said quietly. “I don’t know quite what you’re doing, but I believe that you’re playing me. You know I’m very protective, and what you said would send up red flags. If you recall, my own experiments when I was even younger than you almost destroyed me. I want everything for you, but I prefer a controlled environment.” He tossed back the rest of his whiskey and set the glass on the bar. “We’ll discuss experimentation later.” He moved toward the door. “But right now, I intend to set about ‘doing what has to be done’ to safeguard us all from Kaskov.”
“Now? You just got here,” she said. “And I meant to tell you that Darcy thinks that Norwalk had a twin who perhaps was killed. We were going to tell Eve and Kaskov.”
“Don’t bother with Kaskov. I’ll tell him myself.”
The door shut behind him.
Kaskov?
She stood there a moment, her hands clenched into fists. She had rushed forward with the first thing that she thought might distract him from seeing too much, and it could have been the wrong way to go. He’d been in an explosive mood anyway, and she might have driven him to be more reckless.
No, she knew he would do whatever he intended to do anyway. And when he did it, there would be no recklessness, just cold, precise efficiency. The exact response she had been hoping never to see in him again.
But it had been a foolish hope in a situation like this, she thought wearily. The trigger was there, and Jock would pull it. All the more reason to get this over and everyone safe.
> The twin.
She started across the living room and down the hall. She had to tell Eve about the twin who might have been the reason for all this madness.
And break the news that Jock was going to see Kaskov to inform him himself.
BELLE GRACE MORGANA, LOUISIANA 4:40 A.M.
The last move.
Jock slid out of the secret compartment in the hall wall and closed it behind him.
He glided silently down the hall toward the bedroom.
No security alarms on the bedroom door itself.
But it was Kaskov who was behind that door, and that was always the principal danger, Jock thought.
He soundlessly opened the door and slipped inside into darkness. He could see the king-size bed across the room. And the shape of a man beneath the covers in that bed.
Enough.
He had reached his objective. He dropped into a brocade chair beside the door. “Kaskov,” he said softly.
The man on the bed was instantly awake. His body language changed, became tense, ready. “You’re dead, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.” Jock turned on the lamp on the table beside him. “But the attempt might have been enjoyable enough to be worth it. Hello, Kaskov.”
“Gavin.” A little of the tension left Kaskov’s muscles. “I should have known.” He sat up in bed. “I’m glad we found the means to keep you entertained. How did you get into the compound?”
“With difficulty.” He smiled. “And I have no intention of telling you how. I might need to use it some other time. But you’ll be glad to know that your men were all alert and fairly competent. I only had to put one down, and I didn’t have to make it permanent.”
“Thank you,” he said dryly. “Since I had Nikolai put on extra guards today, I wouldn’t want to feel the effort was wasted.” He paused. “The man you put down wasn’t Nikolai by any chance?”
“No, I remember from our former encounter that you have a fondness for him. I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.”
Kaskov stared at him, then chuckled. “You don’t think invading my turf … and my bedroom is starting off on the wrong foot? Nikolai would say that such a show of disrespect could have only one ending.”