goblet. It’s Jelak’s calling card. And I think he completed the ritual.”
“What are you doing here?” Joe asked.
Caleb turned to Schindler. “Do you mind staying here and seeing if forensics turns up anything new? I need to talk to Quinn about that goblet.”
“No, glad to do it.” Schindler knelt beside a tech. “Take your time.”
“We’ll only be a few minutes.” Caleb glanced at Joe. “Come on, we’ll talk while we walk back to the house. Selkirk’s kids are in rough shape. I want to spend a few minutes with them before I leave.”
“I’m not going to let you near them,” Joe said. “I don’t know how you managed to con Schindler, but I won’t have you manipulating those children.”
“I didn’t tell the whole truth, but I didn’t exactly lie to Schindler.” He smiled. “I am an expert, and I was brought into the case. Only not by you.”
“How did you know about the murder?”
“Eve called me. She was upset by Margaret Selkirk’s murder. She said to tell you that if you wanted her to stay out of it, you had to use every resource. She thinks I’m a resource.”
“So you hotfooted it over here and tried to—”
“I took advantage of an opportunity,” he interrupted. “Now you should do the same. You’ve been very reluctant to use me except when you need a particular bit of information. I’ve had to waltz around you. I know why, but it’s time the dance stopped.”
“Just what do you know about me?” Joe asked warily.
“Nothing specific. But it wasn’t difficult figuring it out. Even though Renata wouldn’t break Megan’s confidence by telling me anything but that she was contacting them about you. But you’re fiercely resentful about the idea of anything to do with psychic gifts. Since I’m the closest representative of that dislike, you automatically rejected anything to do with me.” He tilted his head. “Now why would that be?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Certainly. You recently discovered you were one of the chosen, or should I say, one of the condemned. You resent it in yourself but have to accept it. But you’re trying your damnedest not to have to accept it in anyone else.”
“And just how have I been condemned?”
Caleb shook his head. “That’s your business. I may be curious, but I’ll never ask you.”
“How kind.”
“And it doesn’t matter unless it interferes with me getting Jelak. Eve is on my side in this. She doesn’t want any more deaths, and she thinks I can help. I could use that, use her, but I don’t want to do that.” He looked him directly in the eye. “Now, I’ll ask you again. Will you go hunting with me?”
Joe was silent. He could still feel the simmering anger and resentment he’d experienced when he’d walked into this yard today. Some of it had been earned, but how much was the anger at Caleb and how much at his own condition?
A hell of a lot was at Caleb, dammit.
“Don’t you ever lie to anyone working one of my cases,” Joe said curtly. “I don’t know why Schindler didn’t send you on your way.”
Caleb smiled. “He likes me. I remind him of his brother.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Schindler is a nice guy. I wouldn’t have tried to con him if I hadn’t wanted a look at that goblet. I wasn’t sure that you’d let me examine it.” He added, “Because I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to con you.”
“You pick and choose?”
“Yes, I do. I can do that.” He opened the kitchen door. “I hope you find that you can too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Codes. Are you going hunting with me?”
Joe hesitated, then slowly nodded. “I believe I am.”
“Good,” Caleb said. “Now you can go back to Schindler and do all the things you have to do as a fine upstanding man of the law. I’ll go up and talk to the Selkirk kids. They’ll need understanding and strength if they’re going to get through this.”
“And you’re going to furnish it?”
“I can help bridge the gap until some of the pain goes away.”
“What a great humanitarian.”
“No, I just believe in balance. It doesn’t hurt me to take a little time and devote it to doing something worthwhile. It lightens my core. I do a good many things that people perceive as evil. If a soul becomes too black, then it rots.”
“An unusual philosophy.”
“Not really. Actually, very ancient.”
“Well, you can’t give a fifteen- and ten-year-old enough understanding of this ugliness. Hell, I don’t understand it.”
