“How can you be—”
“Drop it,” he said curtly. “I can’t be sure of anything, so stop speculating. Maybe when Megan pulls one of her psychic buddies out of her hat, then I’ll know more.”
Eve shrugged. “I’m just trying to put the pieces together. It seemed reasonable.” She made a face. “As reasonable as anything else. It’s an entirely new ball game, isn’t it?”
“There may be new rules, but I’m going with standard operating procedure. I have a killer I have to catch, and I’m going to do what I always do. It’s the only way I can keep it together.” He glanced at her. “I’m trying to track down Jelak’s steps. It’s too close a coincidence that he shows up at the same time that we find this goblet in the refrigerator.”
“You think it was Jelak who killed Nancy Jo?”
“As I said, I have problems with coincidence.”
“So do I,” Eve said. “Montalvo said that his investigators are trying to find out more about him.”
“I was planning on calling him later in the day.”
She gazed at him in surprise. “You were?”
“Not willingly. But that murdering bastard invaded my home. That goblet was a direct threat. I’ll use anyone who can help me get him.” He opened the bedroom door. “Even Montalvo.”
Munich, Germany
“MARK, COME OVER HERE AND look at this.” Renata Wilger took the fax off the machine as her cousin crossed the office toward her. “I think I’ve seen it before.” She handed him the drawing of the goblet. “Fiero?”
Mark examined the fax closely. “Fiero,” he confirmed. “Megan sent it?”
“It’s in connection to another problem.” She took the fax back. “Which I don’t think is going to turn out to be as big a problem as this will be.
“At least we have a tentative location.” She glanced at Mark. “I’m going to call Seth Caleb and tell him.” She made a face. “I’m not looking forward to it.”
“You can handle him.”
“Because he lets me handle him. I’d be curious to see how he’d react if you weren’t around. He respects you because you’re an ex–Israeli agent and thinks of you as a fellow hunter.”
“Yet you’re the one who hires him to do the hunting.” Mark smiled. “And he respects you too. He told me once that there’s always room in the world for firebrands. They make life interesting.”
“Really?” She was always conscious of a cool wariness when she spoke to Caleb. That was fine with her. She had no desire to get any closer to him. She wondered if anyone ventured into that territory. Somehow she doubted it. “It probably wasn’t a compliment. With Caleb, you can never tell if there’s an edge.” It shouldn’t matter. It was her job to deal with all kinds of people to keep the family safe. Caleb was just another wild card who had to be made aware he couldn’t have things all his own way. She crossed to the desk and picked up her phone.
She dialed Seth Caleb and got his voice mail. “Renata Wilger. I’m sending you a photo attachment on your phone. Call me back.” She hung up.
She leaned back against the edge of the desk and waited.
Two minutes later her phone rang.
She smiled as she checked the ID. Seth Caleb. She picked up the call.
The question came sharp as a dagger. “Where?”
MEGAN’S CELL PHONE RANG AT four that afternoon. Renata.
“Did you find someone who can help Joe Quinn?” Megan asked when she picked up. “I feel so damn helpless. I did this, Renata.”
“Yes, you did. But you didn’t do it deliberately so stop obsessing about it.”
That was typical of Renata—blunt, crisp, and to the point. “You’re the one who should be able to dig up someone with that same psychic talent. Help me.”
“I’m working on it.” She paused. “But right now I’m more interested in that fax you sent me with the drawing of the goblet. How accurate is it?”
“As accurate as I could make it without seeing the goblet myself. Joe Quinn is a detective and has a trained eye. It’s probably pretty close. Why?”
“I showed it to my cousin Mark. He was very interested, and we thought we recognized it. I got on the phone and made a call. We’re going to send someone to Atlanta to do a more in-depth investigation.”
“Because of the goblet? I don’t care about the goblet. I want someone here to give me some insight into how to do something that will make sense of this albatross I’ve hung around Joe’s neck.”
“This may be more important. At least, more urgent to us. We think he may have done injury to one of the family members. The man we’re sending is Seth Caleb, and I told him to contact you. He may or may not do it. The bastard usually does as he likes.”
“I don’t care what he does. I want answers, Renata.”
“You’ll get them. But this is important. You know we can’t let anyone hurt the family. It could cause unpleasant chain reactions among the others. They already feel like victims and it’s sometimes hard to keep them from striking back. You should understand. You’re part of the family, too, Megan.”
“The only thing the family has done for me is give me a talent that’s made my life a nightmare. Is this Seth Caleb an agent or some kind of peacekeeper?”
