Gift of Fire (17 page)

Verity unconsciously touched her stomach. “No,” she said. “I think I know exactly how you feel,”

“You are still with Jonas?”

“Jonas?” Verity glanced at him; he was standing in front of the window, watching the harbor activity. “Yes, I’m still with him.”

Jonas looked over his shoulder, scowling. She smiled blandly back at him.

“Good,” said Caitlin. “The two of you need each other. You’re so good for each other.”

“Caitlin, I’m calling to ask a favor. Or rather, Jonas wants to ask a favor.”

“Anything, Verity.”

“Do you still have those old records from the Department of Paranormal Research?”

“They’re filed in the basement. Why?”

“I’ll let Jonas explain.” Jonas walked toward her and Verity handed him the phone.

“I’ve got a list of names, Caitlin,” he said without preamble. “I need to know if you’ve got any information on them in those old files.”

“Just a second, let me get a pen and paper.” There was a small clatter on the other end of the line. “All right, Jonas. Give me the names.”

“Elyssa Warwick, her brother Doug, Oliver Crump, Preston Yarwood, and Slade Spencer. I think the last one, Spencer, may have a drug problem.”

“I’ll see what Tavi and I can turn up. It’ll take a while, though. How soon do you need the information?”

“As soon as possible.” Jonas threw a wry glance at Verity. “Verity has chosen a new career path for me. I’m in the middle of my first consulting case.” He read her the phone number off the phone.

“Where is that area code?” Caitlin asked curiously.

“The Northwest, near Seattle. The case is supposed to be part business and part vacation. We’re on an island in the San Juans.”

“At this time of year?”

“Yeah. Verity thought it would be a good substitute for Hawaii.”

Caitlin chuckled softly. “Is she still of the same opinion?”

“You know Verity. She insists on looking on the bright side. She was doing a good job of it, too, until she found out the bathrooms in this bed-and-breakfast place are down the hall.”

“Quaint. Probably reminds her of some of the dumps her father and she lived in when she was a kid.”

Jonas raised his eyebrows. He held the phone away from his ear and just looked at it for a moment before saying slowly, “How did you know about the kinds of places she lived in as a kid?”

“Verity and I are friends,” Caitlin said quietly. “We’ve talked. I hope one of these days you and I will be able to be friends, too, Jonas. In the meantime, I certainly owe you a few favors. I’ll see if I can find any of these people in the old files.”

“Thanks.” The clipped word was grudgingly spoken, but it was meant. Jonas hung up the phone. He turned around to see Verity digging high heels and pantyhose out of the seemingly bottomless duffel bag.

“You’ve been keeping in touch with her,” he said in a strangely neutral tone.

“We’re friends.”

“You’ve got a strange notion of friendship.”

“If you think my friends are strange,” Verity shot back, “you should meet my lover.”

For an instant she thought he was going to lose his temper. But he shocked her by taking the remark seriously. “Do you really think I’m strange, Verity?” Jonas asked roughly. “is that what’s been bothering you lately? You’ve come to the conclusion that I’m some kind of freak?”

She wished she’d kept her mouth shut. “Don’t be a total ass,” she scolded. “Of course I don’t think you’re a freak. I think of you as the sexiest thing to come along since black lace underwear. Now stop talking nonsense and get dressed. It’s almost dinnertime, and I’ve found a nifty place in the guidebook.”

Jonas smiled slightly, but his eyes were still watchful. “Cute and quaint?”

“I believe it has a nautical theme,” Verity remarked serenely.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

She handed him a strip of silk. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“Very funny. You know perfectly well it’s a tie.”

“Is this a hint that I’m supposed to dress tonight?”

“It is.” She collected her silk dress from the closet. “Wear something besides jeans with that tie.”

“Right, boss.”

***

An hour later, Verity confronted Jonas over her salad. This time the guidebook had not been misleading. The restaurant theme was painfully nautical. There were stuffed fish displayed on the walls, a display of ropes tied in intricate knots, and a variety of sailing apparatus strewn about in what Verity assumed was an artistic fashion. The menu featured fish cooked in every conceivable style. Fortunately there were also a few meatless pasta selections.

“Cute place, isn’t it?” Verity spoke determinedly.

“Nobody else in the whole damn place is wearing a tie.”

“So the locals don’t dress for dinner. That’s their problem. You look terrific.” Which was the truth, Verity thought with a sudden pang. But then, Jonas always looked good to her—strong, lean, and hard, with that unconscious masculine grace that always fascinated her. His
midnight-dark hair was still damp from the light mist that had been falling outside, and his eyes glinted softly in the dim restaurant light.

Jonas gave her an oddly speculative look. “You know something, you look pretty good yourself.” He leaned forward and caught her hand

“
My mistress glows by candlelight.

She leaves me breathless;
I
am undone.

Her hair like fire, her eyes like gems,

Then she smiles at me; She is my sun.
”

“Another four-hundred-year-old, loosely translated Renaissance love poem that you just made up on the spot?” Verity said lightly. But in truth, she was warmed to her soul.

“What can I say? You inspire me,” he explained modestly.

Her love for him tugged at her heart, and she almost let herself get sidetracked. But this restaurant wasn’t the place to tell him about the baby. She wanted privacy for that. She had no way of knowing how Jonas would react.

“First, let’s talk about the case,” Verity said briskly. She pulled her hand out from under his and picked up her salad fork.

Jonas studied her through narrowed eyes for a few seconds. Then he shrugged and picked up his own fork. He began poking through the salad to find the mushrooms. “Okay. First we’ll talk about the case. Then what are we going to talk about?”

“Us.”

His head came up abruptly, his eyes very golden in the shadows. “Us?” he repeated softly.

“Later,” Verity said. She felt more nervous than she had anticipated.

“Verity…”

“Please,” she begged softly.

Jonas started to argue, but something about her expression stopped him. “All right,” he finally agreed. “Later.”

Verity smiled gratefully. “Tell me, in your professional opinion, what exactly do you think is going on out there on that island?”

“My professional opinion is that the whole situation sucks.”

“You academic types have such a way with words.”

“It’s a professional requirement. It’s been a few years, but when called upon I can, as I’ve explained, still bullshit with the best of them. Have you noticed?”

“I’ve noticed,” she said dryly. “You know something? You can sound awfully impressive when you try. When you gave that little dissertation at breakfast on the differences between Milanese and Florentine construction techniques, everyone was fascinated. Architecture wasn’t even your specialty when you taught Renaissance history. How come you know so much about it?”

“Goes with the territory,” he explained. “When you’re studying the various Renaissance war machines designed to knock down walls and buildings, you find yourself learning a little something about how the walls and buildings were constructed in the first place. And don’t get any ideas about nagging me to write an article about Hazelhurst’s Horror for some obscure little history journal. The report I’m doing for Doug is all I’m interested in turning out.”

“Now, Jonas, if you’re going to establish a career as a historical consultant you’ll need to have your name appear in print occasionally. It’s good advertising. Speaking of Hazelhurst’s Horror, let’s get back to the case.”

“I love the way you call it ‘the case.’ Makes us sound like a couple of amateur detectives.”

“Well, maybe that’s what we are. We’ve already found one body, haven’t we? Poor Hazelhurst. What do you think happened to him?”

“My professional opinion is that he got a stiletto in the back,” Jonas said, munching his salad.

“Not an uncommon fate during the Renaissance,” Verity pointed out. “Jonas, that ruby ring on the hand that stabbed Hazelhurst appeared in the first vision. I know I saw it, either in the chest or on the man’s hand.”

“Maybe.”

“There’s no maybe about it. I saw it.”

“There is no way the guy in the vision came alive and killed Hazelhurst,” Jonas said forcefully. “Forget it.”

“All right, if that’s an impossibility, what does it leave us with?”

Jonas ate the last of his mushrooms. “It leaves us,” he stated slowly, “with the possibility that Hazelhurst and somebody else found the treasure, or at least the ruby ring, and the guy with the stiletto didn’t want to go halvesies.”

Verity put down her fork and stared at Jonas. “Good grief, you’re right. That’s a perfectly plausible explanation. That ring alone is probably worth killing for, which means that two years ago Hazelhurst involved someone else in the treasure hunt. But Maggie said that he never had any luck getting his academic buddies to help.”

“She also mentioned a guy who claimed he was a grad student in Renaissance history showing up a few months before Hazelhurst disappeared.”

Verity nodded. “But she said Hazelhurst didn’t work with him long. Claimed the man wasn’t a real student, just a treasure hunter.”

“It’s possible the guy sneaked back into the villa after he was kicked out. If he was reasonably discreet, he could wander around a long time in that pile of rocks before anyone caught him.”

“But maybe Hazelhurst did catch him. Maybe he ran into him in that hidden passage. And maybe one of them had found that ring along with a few others items, like the old stiletto.”

“And maybe there was an argument. A fight.” Jonas nodded thoughtfully. “It’s possible.”

“Which means that whoever was hanging around two and a half years ago has long since taken the treasure and vanished.”

“Also possible. Probable, in fact.”

“Which means we’re wasting our time,” Verity concluded with a sigh. “The treasure’s gone.”

“Not necessarily.”

She looked at him in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jonas shook his head. “I don’t think the real treasure was found. Or if it was, I don’t think the thief got away with it.”

“Why not?”

Jonas looked at her, his eyes shadowed. “Because the treasure, whatever it is, will be very well guarded, Verity. No casual treasure hunter could have stolen it, not easily. Precautions were taken. I felt the echoes of them.”

“Booby traps, you mean? But they might all have rusted by now, like the one that guarded the crystal.”

“I’m not sure that all the traps are mechanical.” Jonas became very busy buttering a chunk of sourdough bread.

“Jonas, for crying out loud, what are you trying to tell me?”

He hesitated, then said quietly, “I don’t know. But I got a strong sense of warning, a feeling of real threat from the room where the crystal was found. I got an even heavier dose of it from that vision of the man seated at the desk. I’ve felt a lot of things in that psychic corridor, but what I felt this last time was different.”

“Different how?”

“If I understood that part, I’d have this case solved.” Jonas bit off a large piece of the chewy bread. “There’s just this faint sense of impending action or violence. Like something’s waiting to happen.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.” Verity had been hungry, but she was rapidly losing her appetite. “Do you think we should drop the whole thing and go home?”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t leave now if you paid me.”

“Dammit, Jonas, you just said it was dangerous.”

“I’ll be careful.” He grew thoughtful. “I could try exploring the passageway alone. You can stay behind in the bedroom. Apparently the link between us is strong enough now to permit some distance. I can get hold of you mentally if I need you.”

“Now you listen to me, Jonas Quarrel. You are not going to go off merrily exploring that hidden passage on your own while I sit and wait in the bedroom. You take me with you, or you don’t go at all.”

“Now, Verity,” he began soothingly.

“Don’t even try to talk me out of it. You don’t know what you’re getting into. You don’t know how strong the link between us would be in a real emergency if we were separated by a long distance. This whole consulting job was my idea, remember? I’m the one who got you the project, and the agreement was that I go along as part of the package. If you stay, I stay. And if you go into that secret passage again, I go with you.”

“You are one stubborn woman, Verity Ames.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“Jonas,” Verity said warningly, “don’t get any ideas about sneaking off to explore that passage while I’m asleep. Try anything tricky and I’ll never forgive you. I mean it.”

“I hear you.”

She wished she could read his mind. Unfortunately, the link between them did not include telepathy.

Chapter Nine

“It
will be interesting to see if Caitlin turns up any information on the Warwicks and their friends. Personally, I’m betting against it,” Verity said later as they walked back to the inn.

The light mist was still falling, but Verity was dry. Jonas was holding the umbrella and he had most of it over her. They were walking through the small shopping district of the town. Everything was closed for the evening, but there were lights on in most of the store windows. A surprising variety of chic art galleries and sophisticated craft shops were scattered amid the standard small-town collection of old-fashioned hardware stores, insurance offices, and real estate firms.