Nine

32

Malibu, California

Wednesday, May 21, 4:32 P.M.

Meghan heard someone step out onto the deck behind her and quickly closed the cover of the photo album. She turned to see Kit.

She saw his gaze go to the album. He flinched and looked at her uncertainly. She felt her face turn warm with embarrassment, but smiled and said, “You’re back safely. I’m so glad. Spooky has been worried about you-we all have been. Moriarty said you were doing something foolhardy, but wouldn’t tell us more.”

“Everything went fine,” he said. He seemed distracted. He walked to the edge of the deck and leaned his forearms on its railing. He stood looking out over the canyon, toward the ocean.

“Spooky will be relieved.”

“I’ve seen her,” he said, still not turning around. “She’s swimming with Moriarty. A way of putting off working on her summer reading assignments, I suppose.”

She set the album aside, stood, and walked over to him, but she kept a distance of a few feet between them. “I apologize,” she said.

“For what?”

“Looking in the album. I-I wasn’t trying to pry.”

She saw him reach into one of his pockets. He pulled out a little soapstone tortoise. He began to turn it over and over in his hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He looked at her then, studying her face in a way that would have embarrassed her and made her step away had anyone else stared at her in the same way. But Kit was unlike anyone she knew, and something in his own face told her that any lack of patience on her part at this moment would cause her to lose a chance-a chance at what, she wasn’t entirely sure, but she didn’t move.

“Did Moriarty give you the album?”

She shook her head. “I found it in the library. I thought I might find pictures of you when you were little.”

That brought a quick, mirthless smile. “Did you?”

“A few. I hadn’t gotten far.” She hesitated. “Your mother was beautiful.”

“Well, then. You really didn’t get far, did you?”

She was taken aback-she had never heard him speak in this bitter, sarcastic tone.

He saw her dismay and instantly said, “I’m sorry…I’m sorry.” He looked out at the sea again and drew a deep, steadying breath.

After a moment he asked, “Do you know why Freddy Whitfield was in Albuquerque?”

“No. I guess I’ve stopped believing it was coincidence. I wanted to ask you about it, but I figured you didn’t want to talk about it in front of Spooky.”

“Thanks for understanding-you’re right, I’d rather she didn’t worry.” He smiled ruefully. “For one thing, she tends to relieve her stress by starting fires.”

“So, was Freddy there because of me?”

“I think so. Indirectly, anyway. I think he was probably looking for Gabe and hoped you’d lead him to your brother.”

She frowned. “Why would Freddy want to find Gabe? Do you think he’s trying to collect the reward on him?”

“That reward would be pocket change to someone like him. Knowing Freddy, he spent more getting to and from New Mexico than the amount of the reward.”

“So why?”

He hesitated, then said, “He’s involved in the killing of the people on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.”

“Freddy?” She started laughing. “Oh, Kit-I’m sorry, but-Freddy?”

He waited.

“But he’s such an idiot!”

“He isn’t as stupid as you’d think. Besides, I didn’t say he was masterminding it. But he’s involved. This morning, on the television news, I saw that the police were looking for someone who had stolen the ID of Eric Grady.”

She looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “One of the driver’s licenses in the wallet.”

“Yes. And for all he might seem to be an idiot, he’s always been sneaky. He loves to spy on people, to try to learn their secrets.”

She studied him for a moment and said, “He learned some of yours?”

He looked out at the sea again. “A few. Not many.”

She saw him rolling the stone tortoise between his thumb and fingers. She set aside her curiosity about him and asked, “Why would Freddy-or whoever it is he’s working with-go after criminals on the FBI’s Most Wanted list?”

“I think he’s working with Everett Corey and Cameron Burgess. Maybe others-I don’t know. Morgan, I suppose. I’m certain of one thing: Everett’s in charge. As for why…If you build a machine, maybe sooner or later you want to see what it can do.” He saw she was puzzled, and added, “Everett feels superior to just about everyone else alive. He enjoys making his closest friends do as he asks-they’re totally under his control. His own secret society.” He frowned. “No, more like a band of mercenaries. He used to do all this drilling and playing at soldiers at Sedgewick-kid’s stuff, I thought. I knew Moriarty, who had been a real soldier, so I thought what Everett was doing was laughable and figured the only good part of it was that it took up a lot of energy and time that he would have been using to push other people around. Now-well, it’s not funny at all.”

“But why the Most Wanted list?” she asked again.

“I don’t know, exactly, but I think it has something to do with old grudges against Gabe and me.”

“I know why Everett didn’t like Gabe in high school-”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Gabe stole a lid of marijuana from him.”

Kit shook his head. “Gabe paid him back for that.”

“Because you insisted on it. I know the story. I know that’s how you met Gabe-you kept Everett from beating the hell out of my brother on your first day of school.”

“That was part of it. But Gabe’s biggest offense, as far as Everett is concerned, is that your brother talked you out of dating him.”

She was silent for a time. When he looked over at her, she said, “That’s not true. Among other reasons, I didn’t go out with Everett because I didn’t want to go out with him. I never liked him.”

“I don’t think his incredible ego can accept that explanation.”

“Is that why he bears a grudge against you?”

“Me? Because of you?”

He looked surprised, and she found herself irritated that he did. “Yes, you.”

“No. He hates me because, as you’ve said, from my first day at Sedgewick, I started breaking his stranglehold on the school. Gabe was my biggest ally. Before that, Everett’s word was law.”

“But you wouldn’t accept that.”

“No. Everett didn’t present much of a challenge to me-I thought I’d seen his type before, and I-I had been in worse situations.” He gripped the little tortoise for a moment, then went on. “When I came to Sedgewick, it was at a time in my life when I was unable to tolerate bullies. I thought that was all he was.”

“Well,” she said, “I thought he was a bully, too.”

“He is one, but that’s not all there is to it. He’s…he’s missing something-whatever it is that makes a person think about anything or anyone but himself. He only studies other people so that he can manipulate them.”

“To be honest, Cameron always scared me more.”

“Maybe he should have. He’s disturbed in an entirely different way. But for a long time now, he’s been under Everett’s control. They’re both ruthless.”

“You’re twenty-six, right?”

“Yes. You’re thinking that it’s a long time for someone to bear a grudge, that it was just high school.”

“Well, yes-”

“But you went to Malibu High.” She saw him look toward the cliff that dropped down into the canyon to the east of the house. “At Sedgewick…at Sedgewick, it was different. The students were all male, and almost all of them were kids who couldn’t fit in anywhere else, usually because they couldn’t control their tempers.” He paused. “How can I explain it? If you’re disappointed about something, you feel bad, but ultimately, you accept it. At Sedgewick, most kids didn’t react to setbacks that way. Something upset them, they couldn’t let it go.”

“Are you bearing any grudges from high school?”

“No, I have my own kind of problems. I’m not better off-I just don’t think in the way Everett does.” He turned back to her. “Has he been in touch with you lately?”

She blushed. “Not all that recently.”

“He’s called you, or come by?”

“He called not long after my parents died. I don’t know how he got my number.”

“He has more than enough money to buy what he wants to know. What was the excuse for calling?”

“Condolences. Started to say something about small planes, thought better of it, said my dad was a great pilot. Wanted to know how to reach Gabe.”

“You’re still blushing, so I assume he also said that he always thought the two of you should get together, or something like that.”

“Something like that.” “Meghan,” Everett had coaxed. “Think of it. Our children would have beauty, brains, and wealth. What more could you want for them?”

Kit was watching her closely again. “Did he insult you?”

“No. Listen, Kit, I can understand-barely-that he might have some ridiculous notion in his head that I should have gone out with him in high school. But after all these years? I can’t believe he’s been carrying a torch for me-”

“It’s not impossible,” he said quietly, staring out at the water. “Not by any means.”

“Kit…” she said, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“It’s not impossible,” he said again, a little more firmly, “but in his case, I think it has more to do with anger over a rebuff than a broken heart.”

“Let’s say you’re right. Is he still angry that you wouldn’t kiss his ass in high school?”

“I guess so. He sent Cameron to Colorado to kill my dog.”

“What? Cameron killed Molly?”

“I saw him get in his car and drive away from my place in the mountains. I almost think he waited for me to notice him.”

“My God,” she said, shaken.

“There are other ways they’ve issued challenges to me. The way the victims of their crimes have been found.”

“What do you mean?”

He glanced back at the photo album, then looked at her. “Meghan,” he said, and swallowed hard. “Meghan, from the day I first met you, I’ve hoped…and hoped…and prayed to God that I’d never have to tell you…”

He stared out toward the sea again, clenching his fist around the stone tortoise.

“And all that same while,” she said, “I’ve waited for you to trust me, even a little.”

He turned to her in surprise.

“And if,” she said, “it’s still too soon, then take the photo album. I can keep waiting.”

He pushed away from the rail and shoved his hands into his pockets. “No-no, go ahead. Look at it.” He started to pace.

Seven steps in each direction. She noticed this, and despite the tension between them, she had to hide a smile.

“It isn’t a matter of not trusting you,” he said. “I do trust you.”

“To care about you no matter what?”

He stopped. “I know you would want to. You would try. But it would change everything.”

“Everything changes anyway, Kit.”

He sat down, holding his head in his hands. She took the seat next to him.

After what seemed to her a long while, he picked up the album and turned to a page near the end. He handed the album to her.