Vision Impossible (23 page)

Eddington’s gaze never left mine. He looked absolutely terrified at where I was headed with this.

“Your butler’s time in prison was many years ago, however,” I added. “And I believe he served his time, then left England for Canada to make a fresh start and leave all that behind.”

“Is my art collection in any danger from him?” Grinkov asked me.

At this I actually laughed, because it was ludicrous to think that this frail-looking butler would ever consider pinching more than a grain of salt from someone as dangerous as Grinkov . . . and yet . . . at the edge of all this energy, something tugged at me. Something I couldn’t quite place but had to ignore. “Your art collection is perfectly safe,” I assured him. “Mr. Eddington learned his lesson long ago, and today he is very much your faithful servant.” I swiveled back to Eddington and looked for anything I could use that would help assure Maks that his butler wasn’t capable of the crime I’d invented. I noticed a considerable amount of pain emanating from his left knee, which was likely why he used the walking stick; but he also had some degree of discomfort coming from the knobby knuckles of his right hand, and I pointed to it. “Your poor butler has a terrible case of arthritis,” I said, as if to prove that Eddington couldn’t possibly pull off another forgery. “I doubt he can wield a paintbrush with the skill he exhibited in his earlier years. Am I right, Mr. Eddington?”

The butler managed one shaky nod.

Still, there was something off about his energy, and I had little doubt that the butler had stolen from his boss at some point or another, but there was
no way
I was going to call Eddington out in front of Grinkov and watch as Maks either murdered him or had one of his thugs do it. No, tonight I was going to save this man’s life if it killed me . . . which, frankly, it could.

To my immense relief Grinkov seemed to accept my take on it, because he regarded his butler with a shrewd look before nodding. “Yes,” he said after a moment. “All right. You weren’t wise to keep your past from me, William. The man I used to investigate your employment history before I hired you was dismissed long ago for incompetence, so it doesn’t surprise me that you escaped scrutiny. Still, you have served me well these past ten years. But you should remember that I always know when people are keeping secrets.”

Eddington bowed very low and there was a slight tremble to his frame. “My apologies, sir,” he said. “But it is exactly as your guest described. I was reckless in my youth, I was caught, and I served my time. Since then, I have been a loyal and honest servant.”

I looked at Grinkov and with some relief I could see that his servant’s bald-faced lie was evident only to me.

I stood up abruptly and walked over to the butler. I didn’t want Grinkov focusing overlong on his servant, and decided it might be time for the both of us to make a hasty exit. “Maks,” I said in my most businesslike tone. “It’s late, and I would like to be on my way.”

Grinkov appeared surprised. “You won’t stay for dinner?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you. I’ve overworked my sixth sense tonight, and I now have a splitting headache. What I need is some rest. But please call me or Rick when you’ve arranged for us to meet with your friend.” I didn’t want to mention Boklovich’s name in front of the butler, because I didn’t know if that might upset Maks.

He smiled slyly. “I will want to meet with Richard and finalize the terms first,” he said. “And as I said, my friend is a difficult man to arrange such things with. I imagine it will take some time to convince him that a meeting is in order.”

Crap. Time was something we didn’t have a lot of. Still, there was no sense pushing it, especially when I knew it was more prudent to get my butt out of there before Maks insisted I stay.

I turned back to Eddington. I didn’t want to leave him alone with Grinkov, who might grill him more on his shady past. “Mr. Eddington, would you please escort me to the front door?”

The butler offered me his right arm, his expression quite relieved. “Of course, ma’am,” he said.

He and I then walked purposefully from the room, neither one of us daring to look back. As soon as I was out of hearing range, I said very softly, “You’ve been a naughty boy, William.”

The servant beside me didn’t say a word, but he did stiffen and I added, “I saw a hint of your dishonesty in the ether, and I’m not talking about your stint in jail back in England. If you don’t want Maks to know what you’ve been up to, then you’ll need to make reparations and do it quickly. Understand?” I wasn’t sure what Eddington had stolen, but whatever it was, I wanted him to put it back, posthaste.

“I understand perfectly,” he said tersely.

We arrived at the door and he opened it for me without meeting my eyes. “Good evening, ma’am,” he said.

“Good night, Mr. Eddington,” I replied, holding back from sprinting to my car. “Sleep tight, and remember what I said.”

With that, I left Maks’s house without a backward glance.

D
utch’s phone rang early the next morning. It was Grinkov. He wanted to meet with Dutch. Alone.

I knew why and it really bothered me. “You can’t go alone,” I told both him and Frost over breakfast. “Seriously, honey, you can’t.”

Dutch sighed and held the ice pack up to his jaw again. It’d been bothering him more than anything else save his ribs. “I’ll be fine,” he assured me.

“Oh, I know you’ll be fine. Grinkov has no intention of hurting you again, at least until you double-cross him. That’s not why he wants to get you alone.”

“Then why does he want to get him alone?” Frost asked.

“Because he wants to negotiate the terms of the partnership without me there to call his bluff.”

Dutch eyed me sideways. “
Do
you need to be there to call his bluff? I mean, Abs, this is a fake agreement. We’re not really going into business with Grinkov—we’re just using him to get the ball rolling.”

I sighed and took a bite of my bagel, chewing while mulling that over. “I suppose not,” I admitted. “I mean, as far as the negotiations go, I’m positive you can handle them, but sweetie, you don’t really know this guy like I do. He can smell a bluff a mile away. He’s got great radar in his own right, and he’ll use it to feel you out. If you sit down with him, he may probe you because he’ll sense something’s a little off. You’ll have to be very, very careful with him, and when you go in there, you’ll have to do more than act like Des Vries; you’ll have to
believe
you’re Des Vries.”

Frost looked unsure. “Maybe she’s right,” he said. “Maybe you should insist on taking Cooper with you. At least then she can help divert Grinkov’s attention away from any inconsistencies.”

Dutch shook his head. “Des Vries would never insist on bringing along a woman, even if it was his business partner. He’s got way too much machismo for that. Trust me, if asked, he’d go in alone and with an attitude.”

That alarmed me. “Grinkov isn’t going to tolerate you going all alpha male on him, cowboy.”

My fiancé moved the ice pack from his jaw and took my hand. His fingers were cold. “I know,” he assured me. “It’ll be a little dicey, but I can handle him.”

I looked to Frost, thinking he’d back me up, but his expression told me that he was now leaning Dutch’s way. “Okay, Rivers,” he said. “But if you go in alone, we can’t risk the wire or the camera. You’ll be on your own.”

I scowled at both of them, but I knew I’d just been outvoted. “Fine,” I said. “But remember he’ll look to take you by surprise, Dutch. And he’ll definitely try to test you, so please, be on the alert.”

Dutch leaned in and kissed me lightly on the lips.

“Blech,” we heard from across the room. “You two should get a room.”

I backed away from my sweetheart and glared hard at Mandy. That woman was getting on my last nerve.

“Easy, killer,” Dutch whispered with a chuckle. “Remember, it’s all for the cause.”

“Easy for you to say,” I growled, and left the kitchen to stew over Mandy and worry about Dutch.

 

 

A
s it happened, I was decidedly less worried when Dutch left for his meeting with Grinkov, because he wasn’t able to drive a car. The pummeling he’d taken to his ribs had made it difficult for him to raise his arms and steer the wheel, especially since he was now refusing all pain meds beyond two Tylenol every few hours. So Frost donned a chauffeur’s uniform and drove Dutch to Grinkov’s offices, which were located only a few miles away from Des Vries’s office, which allowed me to get away from Mandy for a few hours to go along with them as far as that and get dropped off downtown. The plan was to meet back at Des Vries’s office after the meeting and brief me and Frost about how it had gone.

Mandy was left back at the condo, locked inside and with a guard posted at the door, lest she get any ideas about venturing out on her own.

After the boys had dropped me, I paced the floor again until I had an idea, and I sat down at the desk and closed my eyes, focusing on Dutch’s energy to make sure he was okay.

To my immense relief I could clearly feel him in the ether—our link was so strong it was nearly telepathic. I smiled because I had the clear sense that Dutch was thinking of me too. I don’t believe he knew I was tuning in on him, but I could feel him reciprocate that strong connection to me, which helped me all the more to figure out what was happening around him.

Inspired, I picked up the phone and called Frost. “You okay?” he asked me.

“I’m fine,” I told him. “I just wanted you to know that I’m tuning in on Dutch.”

There was a pause, then, “I’m not sure what that means.”

“It means that we’re no longer totally blind to what’s happening in this meeting between Dutch and Grinkov.”

“Really?” Frost said, his tone interested. “What’re you seeing?”

I took a deep breath and felt out the ether. “Dutch’s energy is calm, but guarded, which is to be expected. He’s being careful, but he’s confident, which means that Grinkov hasn’t tried to test him yet. I can sense Grinkov there, and his energy feels guarded but engaged. And there’s another person in the room. . . .” My voice trailed off as I focused on the newest member to the group.

“You there?” Frost asked me.

“Yeah,” I told him. “I was just trying to get a bead on the other guy.”

“Who is it?”

I shrugged, then realized Frost couldn’t see me. “I don’t know. I’d guess him to be a bit older than Dutch and Grinkov, maybe by ten years or so. He’s also an extremely powerful man. I’m thinking he’s the head of something big, and he’s loaded. We’re talking
big
money here.”

“Do you think it’s Boklovich?”

I frowned. “It could be.”

“What’re the initials you get for him?”

I realized Frost was trying to help by pointing me this way and that, but my radar didn’t work in the way he thought it did, and his constant questions were only serving to distract me. “I don’t know,” I said tersely. “I don’t get names or initials.”

“Okay, so can you describe him physically?”

I sighed. For the record, linking in quasi-telepathically to a meeting between three people miles away is really,
really
hard. “The most I can tell you is that he feels big.”

“Huh?” Frost said. “You mean like fat?”

“No . . . well . . . maybe . . . but more like he has a big presence. He might be a large man, it’s really hard to tell.”

“How about complexion or hair color?”

I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I had a video camera in my head, peering into the room. “You’ll have to wait for Dutch to give you that. I can only describe his energy.”

Frost paused, probably taking that in before asking me his next question. “Is there anything else you can tell me that might be relevant?”

“Yeah. It feels like the guy with the power is directing the meeting. Grinkov feels like he wants to defer to him. If I had to guess, I’d say that he’s either brought along Boklovich or one of Boklovich’s henchmen.”

“That could be a good thing,” Frost said.

“Or it could be bad.”

Frost blew out his own sigh. “Okay. Keep your ESP pointed at the meeting and call me if you get anything else.”

“Got it.”

I hung up and refocused all my attention to the meeting. I kept my radar trained on Dutch, because I was worried about him and would be able to tell in a moment if things turned ugly. His energy remained calm but alert, and there was also a feeling there of being pleased with how the flow of the meeting was going. I took this as a very positive sign.

An hour later I called Frost. “They’re wrapping it up.”

“That was quick,” he said. “I was prepared to wait another couple of hours.”

“It was a good meeting, and they accomplished what they wanted to. We’ll have Dutch fill us in.”

“He’s coming out of the building now,” he told me. I felt a wave of relief. “We’re on our way back to you. Sit tight and we’ll see you in a bit.”