Madison Sheffield.
He spotted Amaryllis at the same instant that she recognized him. Rage replaced the confusion in his eyes. He took one step toward her and then apparently realized that he was standing in front of an audience. He swung around and tried to flee back through the stage curtain.
Lucas came through the heavy velvet drapes in a long, low rush. He plowed straight into Sheffield. The two men crashed to the floor and rolled toward the front of the stage.
The musicians went wild. The overworked sound system shrieked in protest. Amaryllis could smell the performers' sweat.
Lucas managed to straddle Sheffield. He slammed a fist into the senator's jaw.
The audience went orgasmic.
'Vivien was obviously blackmailing Sheffield with the contents of the file that Professor Landreth left with her.' Amaryllis, seated on the sofa in front of Lucas's exotic fireplace, pulled up her knees and bugged them. She still shivered from time to time, even though the room was warm. 'It's hard to believe.'
'I'm sure Sheffield's hoping the cops will find it hard to believe, too.' Lucas picked up the two glasses of moontree brandy that he had just poured and walked toward Amaryllis. 'He told the police that the reason he happened to be backstage at the SynCity tonight was because he was investigating the club's activities. Fulfilling a campaign promise, as it were.'
Amaryllis gave a ladylike snort. 'Likely story. He can hardly deny his motive for murder now that they've found what's left of the file.'
Lucas nodded as he sat down beside her. 'It was in the restroom sink. That was the source of the smoke you smelled. Sheffield apparently tried to burn the file after he shot Vivien, but he must have had trouble keeping the fire going. It was a charred mess, but his name was all over what remained, together with a lot of observations about his lack of ethics. All neatly typed and annotated, I might add. Nothing illegal, but the accusations of unethical behavior could have ruined him.'
'Professor Landreth was always very thorough. Well, so much for the expertise of Mr. Stonebraker. He never did find the file. I had to do it myself.'
Lucas raised his brows. 'That's one way of looking at it.'
'I trust he'll give you a refund.'
'I'll be sure to ask for it.'
Amaryllis frowned. 'Professor Landreth realized that Senator Sheffield was focusing in an unethical manner. He documented it in that file. But why did he give the file to Vivien?'
'Landreth was probably afraid that Sheffield would try to snatch the file before he was ready to go public with his accusations.' Lucas cradled the brandy glass in both hands. He gazed thoughtfully into the fire. 'He must have figured that no one would think of searching for the evidence in the dressing room of a syn-sex stripper.'
'He was right. Poor Vivien. She must have realized that she was in danger tonight. That's why she phoned me. But I got there too late to save her. I wonder if she called the guard?'
'Wouldn't have done any good. The cops found the guard a block away getting drunk in a bar. Said some guy gave him a hundred bucks to get lost for a couple of hours.'
'Sheffield was safe. With the music pounding away, there was no way anyone would have heard the shot.'
'No.' Lucas put down his brandy glass and reached out to catch Amaryllis's chin on the edge of his hand. His eyes were more intense than the jelly-ice flames on the hearth. 'You should never have gone to that club tonight. Do you know what I've been through?'
'Now, Lucas, I had to do something when Vivien called. There was no time to track you down at the restaurant.'
'Damn it, I went through all five hells when I got that message on your answering machine. And that was nothing compared to what I endured when I realized that you were somewhere in the darkness behind the stage. The alley door was locked. I had to find and break a window to get into the back of the club. You should have called the cops if you couldn't find me.'
'In retrospect, I can see that you have a point.'
'A point? I've got more than a point. I've got the whole damn argument.'
'Lucas, be reasonable. I didn't know that Vivien was in imminent danger. She didn't tell me that. All she said was that things were getting a little out of hand. One would think that if she had felt she was in real jeopardy, she would have called the police herself.' Amaryllis paused. 'Come to think of it, why didn't she do just that?'
'Because, as you just pointed out, she was a blackmailer. At any rate, that's not what I want to discuss here.'
The phone rang.
Amaryllis smiled brightly. 'Better get that. It might be the police. They may have a few more questions to ask you.'
'I've already answered more than enough questions to- night.' But Lucas released her to grab the phone. 'This is Trent. Oh, hello, Stonebraker. We were just talking about you. Amaryllis tells me I should get a refund.'
Lucas fell silent as he listened to whatever Stonebraker was saying on the other end of the line. Amaryllis sipped her moontree brandy and stared into the fire. It was nearly three in the morning, but she still did not feel normal. Her pulse no longer pounded, and she was able to breathe properly, but she felt strange. Exhausted, yet unnaturally, painfully alert. She was practically tingling with an overstimulated sense of awareness. Memories of the evil, questing tongue of talent flickered at the edge of her mind.
'Interesting,' Lucas murmured. 'Possible. Yeah, don't worry, Amaryllis gave the cops a stern lecture about the necessity of reopening an investigation into the circum- stances of Landreth's death. I think they'll do it.' He paused again. 'Right. Talk to you later.'
Amaryllis looked at him as he hung up the phone. 'Well? What did your brilliant private investigator have to say?'
Lucas's mouth curved faintly. 'He said he'll consider the refund when he gets around to billing me.'
'I should think so. What else did he have to say?'
Lucas stopped smiling. 'He said he just learned that the New Portland city police picked up Merrick Beech late this afternoon. Miranda Locking was with him. They were boarding a plane to the Western Islands.'
'Beech and Locking? Did they have anything to do with tonight's events?'
'Doesn't look like it. But they apparently admitted that they paid those thugs who attacked us that first night in Founders Square.' Lucas stretched his legs out in front of him. His face was grim. 'Said something about wanting to teach me a lesson.'
Amaryllis shivered. 'That's the last of the answers then. For both of us.'
'Yeah.'
Amaryllis turned her attention back to the fire. 'It feels weird somehow.'
'What does?'
'Knowing that it's over.'
Amaryllis realized then that her self-imposed mission to discover the truth about Professor Landreth's death had been inextricably bound up with her relationship with Lucas. The two were not really connected, she told herself. Yet in a way, they were.
Her mission had ended. The end of the affair was inevitable, too. In fact, it was already in sight. She thought about all the forms she and Lucas had filled out for Synergistic Connections. She recalled the interview. It would not be long now.
'Yeah.' Lucas rested his head against the back of the sofa and watched the fire through slitted eyes. 'It feels weird.'
Amaryllis didn't need telepathy to tell her that he was thinking the same thing that she was thinking. A great sense of loss welled up inside her.
From out of nowhere Amaryllis felt the tendril of psychic energy seeking a link. Lucas was reaching for her with his mind. This was not the fierce, white hot demand he had sent out earlier when he had been searching for
