Gift of Fire (30 page)

She spoke too late. Jonas raised the lid of the black chest. In spite of her fear, Verity couldn’t resist going closer to see what was inside.

“Empty,” she said in mingled disappointment and relief. “Damn. I wonder if whoever killed Digby cleaned it out.”

“Probably. Still, this chest alone will be worth a fortune to some museum. Take a look at the carving. It’s magnificent. Too bad it belongs to Doug and Elyssa. All we’re going to get
out of this is a consulting fee.” Jonas looked up, his features stark in the glow of the flashlight. “Let me have that sword hilt.”

Verity’s hand tightened around the broken sword handle. “Why?” she demanded suspiciously.

“I want another look at that vision of the man at the desk. I want to see if this is the room he was sitting in.”

“I’m sure it is. But I’m not sure we should mess around with that particular vision. There’s something very weird about it.”

Impatiently he reached out and took the chunk of metal from her. So much for trying to give good advice, Verity thought as the walls of the dark cell began to curve around them. People like Jonas rarely listened to good advice.

Verity held her breath as the image shimmered and took form. Her earrings were turning hot against her skin. She started to remove them, staring at the vision of the man as she did so. Whoever he was, he had been capable of violence, she thought suddenly. She could see that much in the forbidding lines of his aristocratic features and the malevolent glare of his frozen eyes.

The small, green, egg-shaped crystal on the desk seemed to pulse gently in the reflected glow of the flashlight. But that was impossible, Verity reminded herself. The images produced in the psychic corridor never reacted to outside illumination. They existed independently in time and space.

Verity cried out softly as her earrings became so hot they seemed to burn her fingers.

And then she knew.

“Jonas,” she whispered. “The crystal. The one on his desk. It’s still here in the villa. It’s somewhere nearby. I’m sure of it.”

Chapter Fifteen

“What
makes you think the crystal is still around here?” Jonas studied the frozen image in front of them. The sharp planes of his face were illuminated by the poisonous green glow of the vision.

“I’m not sure. I get the feeling the crystal on that desk is trying to connect with itself in real time. It’s as if it tried my earrings and they didn’t quite work. It sounds crazy, I know.” Verity shook her head. She was experiencing a disturbing sense of unreality. It was different from the feeling she usually had while in the psychic corridor.

“Nothing about this image makes much sense,” Jonas said. “That’s what bothers me. It’s just not a normal time-corridor film clip. I’ve got to find out what the hell is going on here, Verity. I can’t leave this place until I know what this is all about.”

“It isn’t even a scene of violence. You only pick up scenes of violence.”

“But I tune it in by using an object associated with violence. That part is normal enough.”

Verity edged backward a step. “It’s almost as if the violence is about to happen, but hasn’t yet taken place.”

“Damn. Verity, I think you’re right. That’s it. That’s the answer. We’re looking at the scene an instant or two before the action took place. This guy was probably sitting at his desk when someone walked in and killed him.”

“But why aren’t we catching the actual death scene? Why would we pick up on it a few seconds before it occurs?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve got to find out. I can feel the sense of warning emanating from this thing. It’s as if that guy is just sitting there daring me to try to get at him.”

“Or daring you to uncover his treasure,” Verity offered, glancing around at the barren cell. “Obviously he doesn’t realize someone else has already gotten to it.”

Jonas walked to the chest and ran his palm along the heavily carved lid. “I’m not so sure the treasure is gone.”

“Jonas, don’t do that,” Verity said, watching the image uneasily.

“Don’t touch the chest? Why?”

“I swear his eyes are following you again.”

“Just an optical illusion,” he said absently.

Verity bit her lip, studying the image. The chest was still there behind the man, filled with treasure. “Why wasn’t this room discovered when the villa was taken apart and shipped over here?”

“Who knows? Digby says in his diary that his relative had huge chunks of the villa left intact and transported that way. This room is small enough that it might have been shipped as a single unit. Maybe no one was even aware there was an opening behind these walls. It could look like a solid block of stone from the outside. Or it’s possible Digby’s crazy relative did find the room and the chest, and ordered it reconstructed exactly as it was. In which case, he’s probably the one who got the treasure, although he never admitted it to anyone.
Eccentric
was a mild term for Digby’s side of the family, apparently.”

“But the rest of the furnishings were all sold off. I can’t believe someone would have overlooked that valuable chest.”

“Digby didn’t know about the chest. At least not until the end of his life. Then again, maybe the chest is still here because someone wanted it left alone.”

“Who?”

“The guy in the vision?” Jonas suggested softly. “Digby came to the conclusion that the treasure, whatever it was, might be protected with a curse. It was one of the last entries in his diary.”

Verity closed her eyes
.
“Jonas, don’t talk like that. We’re not in the business of removing curses from haunted houses. You’re a consultant, not a ghost hunter. You authenticate things. You do nifty little articles on the historical significance of old weapons and villas, and maybe an occasional treasure. That’s it. End of job description.”

“It’s here, Verity. I know it is.” Apparently Jonas was not paying much attention.

“What’s here?” she demanded, scowling in the darkness. “The treasure.”

“Are you nuts? It’s gone. The chest is empty. Someone has already been in here and scarfed up the lot. And then he casually knifed poor Digby on the way out the door.”

“You said you knew the crystal was still around,” Jonas reminded her softly.

Verity was still holding her warm red crystal earrings. She glanced at the crystal on the desk in the vision and it seemed to wink at her. “That’s different,” she said with great certainty.

“No, it’s not. You know the crystal is still here in the villa and I know the treasure is still here. Whatever that guy was trying to protect is still locked away, safe and sound.”

“You’re a tough man to argue with,” Verity said with a sigh. She knew he was experiencing the same sense of certainty as she felt. There was no way to contradict such a feeling with logic. “Okay, for the sake of discussion, let’s say you’re right. What do we do now?”

“I’ve got to talk Doug Warwick into letting us stay here awhile longer,” Jonas said, moving back across the room to stand beside her. They both gazed at the image. The menacing man at the desk gazed back implacably. “I have a strong hunch he’ll want to call a halt to everything when he returns tomorrow.”

“Can’t blame him. As you said, he’s got what he wants, an authentication and a professional description of the villa for his buyers. Now that Elyssa’s more or less out of the picture, Doug’s not going to want to spend any more time humoring her interest in psychic phenomena.”

“I’ve got to find out what’s going on here, Verity. I need to know what that guy in the vision thought was so important he had to lock it away in time.”

Verity turned her head to stare at Jonas. “You think he’s locked it in time? That he found a way to store it here in the time corridor or something? Jonas, do you realize what you’re saying? You’re implying the man in the vision had psychic talent.”

Jonas nodded slowly, his eyes on the old man. “Maybe the same kind I have. Verity, there’s no reason to think I’m the only man on earth who was born with the ability to enter this time tunnel. What if that guy could access it, too? What if he found a way to leave something hidden in it?”

Verity felt chilled. She clutched her parka more tightly around her. “Now that’s a thought that could very well keep me awake nights.”

“I have to know, Verity.”

“Even if it’s dangerous? What if you’re right about the sense of warning you get from this vision?”

“Booby traps.” Jonas’s half-smile was grim. “The man liked to set traps. A real Renaissance type.”

“I don’t think I want the father of my baby springing any of those traps,” Verity said.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Oh yeah?” She didn’t believe him for a moment. “Jonas, I think we should call it quits.”

“I have to find out what this is all about. I have to know the truth.”

She knew that further argument was hopeless, so she stopped wasting her energy in that direction. “Do you think you can talk Doug into letting you stay?”

“I’ll find a way.” Jonas spoke with absolute conviction. “Come on, let’s get back to the room. We can’t do any more tonight. We’re going to need that crystal.” Jonas handed the broken sword hilt over to Verity. The vision and the psychic corridor vanished. “Can you realty sense it?”

“The crystal? Yes.” Verity thought about it as she followed Jonas out of the small room. “I don’t know where it is, though. I just got the strong feeling that it’s here in the villa.” She fingered her earrings. “There might be a way...”

“How?” Jonas cut in eagerly.

“Oliver knows a lot about crystals. When he and I worked them together I could feel things. Jonas, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing. But it’s just barely possible that Oliver could help me tune in to that missing crystal.”

“I don’t want Crump involved in this,” Jonas stated flatly as he led the way back down the corridor.

Verity glared at his back. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want him getting any ideas.”

“Ideas about what?”

Jonas halted abruptly and swung around. He was a dark, powerful mass behind the harsh beam of the flashlight. Verity could feel the masculine aggression and possessiveness radiating from him. When he spoke, his voice was cold. “I don’t want him getting the idea that you’re some kind of psychic pal for him; that he can use you to help him tune in to those damn crystals he’s always playing with. Got it?”

Suddenly Verity understood. She angled her chin in angry challenge. “You mean you don’t want him using me the way you do?”

For an instant she thought she’d gone too far. In the shadows Jonas’s eyes seemed to gleam like those of a predator. The stone passageway was suddenly more confining than ever, and Verity was trapped inside it. She held her breath but she never lowered her eyes from Jonas’s hard face.

It was Jonas who broke the dangerous impasse. “Right,” he said very quietly. “I don’t want him using you the way I do. I don’t want any man on the face of the earth using you the way I do. I’m glad we understand each other.” He swung around and started back down the corridor.

Verity followed, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. She was determined not to say another word until the storm of Jonas’s anger had blown over. Sometimes a woman had to bide her time.

Jonas stopped at the door that opened onto the torture chamber. Silently he found the opening mechanism and manipulated it until the door creaked open.

There were no ribald cracks about kinky lady torturers as Verity and Jonas made their way through the room and out into the hall. In fact, neither said a word all the way back to the bedroom. Verity was feeling quite cold as she removed her parka, and the chill was not a result of the villa’s lousy heating system. She shouldn’t have said anything about Oliver Crump, she decided morosely. It was obviously a subject best left alone.

Jonas locked the door of the bedroom, his movements precise and careful. Then he tossed the flashlight into his duffel bag and sat on the edge of the bed. Eyes narrowed, he watched Verity as she collected her nightgown and robe.

“Do you really believe I’m just using you?” he finally asked.

Verity busied herself with the buttons of her blouse. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was angry because you were making a fuss about Oliver Crump.”

“You’ve never been absolutely sure of me, have you? You can’t forget that the reason I came into your life in the first place was because I knew you could help me control my damn talent. That’s why you’re stalling about marrying me. A part of you is scared to death that the only real tie we have is a psychic one.”

“That’s not true, Jonas. We have a lot of other ties, as you’ve pointed out.”

“We sure as hell do. Including the fact that we’re both about to become parents.” Jonas raked his fingers through his hair. “I guess I shouldn’t have made that scene about Oliver and his crystals.”

“No, you definitely should not have snapped at me the way you did,” Verity said stiffly. “I like Oliver. He’s sweet and genuine. I was only trying to tell you that if finding the stupid crystal really means so much to you, he might be able to help.”

“I didn’t want him linking with you, goddammit.”

“I don’t ‘link’ with him. Not the way I do with you.”

“Well, what do you do with him when you play with those crystals?” Jonas demanded. He shot to his feet and began pacing the room. “I saw the way the two of you were touching each other when you were trying to cure Maggie’s headache.”

“I’m not sure what was happening, if anything. But I got the feeling Oliver can somehow tune into crystals and I...I can help him. A little.” Verity sank down on the bed, hugging her nightgown and robe.

“The same way you help me in the time corridor?” he demanded harshly.

“No. it’s much different. It’s not personal the way it is with you. There’s no sense of direct contact. I’m sorry, Jonas. I can’t really explain it.” She glowered at him. “What’s the big problem here, anyway? I thought you didn’t believe in the power of crystals.”

“I think I believe in the power of one particular crystal,” he said bluntly. “The one that man in the vision left behind here in this villa. We need it to find out what’s going on in that little room at the end of the passage.”