of that caliber. Fewer still who would take on that kind of project. I'll get back to you in a day or two with a name.'
'Thanks.' Nick hung up the phone again and met Zinnia's eyes. 'That was a friend. He'll find the forger for us. When I get a name, I'll share it with you. Satisfied?'
'Maybe.' She confronted him with a calculating expression. 'What do you want from me?'
Everything. The realization took away his breath. He sucked in air and forced himself to sound calm and in control. 'Cooperation. No more going off on your own. We talk before we make our moves.'
She appeared to think that over for a few seconds. Then she nodded once. 'Okay, it's a deal.'
He felt something inside himself untwist and relax slightly. 'Like I said, we're back to Plan A. As far as everyone else is concerned, you're my new interior designer. And to answer your earlier question, yes. The invitation to dinner tomorrow night still stands.'
Zinnia smiled slightly. 'Your place or mine?'
He glanced around the bright, airy loft. 'I like your place better.'
'Let's make it yours,' she said softly.
'You want to eat above a casino?' He didn't want to entertain her there. The casino represented the past he intended to leave behind soon.
'Not the casino,' Zinnia said. 'Your new home. The one I'm supposedly going to redecorate for your future bride.'
Chapter 12
'You've got to be kidding.' Leo swept the crowded coff-tea house with a worried glance, as though he feared that some of the students or faculty clustered around the small tables might eavesdrop. Then he turned back to Zinnia. 'You're going to be his what?'
'His interior designer.' Zinnia grinned. 'Don't get excited. It's not quite the same thing as being his mistress.'
'This is not a joke, Zin.'
'No. Actually, it's just a pretense.'
'You're talking about a little game of pretend with the guy who just happens to operate the most exclusive casino in town. Are you out of your mind? Chastain is dangerous.'
'He may be able to turn up information that will point to Morris's killer. Something that I can take to the cops to get their attention.'
Zinnia had been braced for a negative reaction to her plans, but Leo seemed more upset about them than she had anticipated.
When had her gangly little brother turned into a strong handsome man, she wondered. Leo had their mother's clear, thoughtful blue eyes and their father's lithe build. His dark brown hair was drawn back from his face and tied with a black cord in a style left over from the waning Western Islands look.
Zinnia was grateful that he hadn't gone in for the garish colors and outlandish designs of the new Alien Artifact fashions as had so many of the other students on campus. In truth, he was already starting to look like a budding young professor of Synergistic Historical Analysis in his cuffed khaki trousers, unpressed button-down shirt, and slouchy tweed jacket.
It seemed only yesterday that he had stood beside her at the memorial service that had been held for their parents. With their stoic-faced relatives ranged behind them, they had held each other's hands and fought back tears. Perhaps it was then that Leo had begun to emerge into manhood, Zinnia thought.
She certainly had not been the same since that bleak day. The stress of dealing with the personal tragedy as well as the very disastrous, very public bankruptcy of Spring Industries had changed both of them.
'I admit he's got a reputation,' she said. 'But I think it's somewhat exaggerated. In fact, I think he deliberately promotes it because he believes it's good for business.'
'The rumors about him aren't all fantasy.' Leo's fingers tightened around his double tall coff-tea latte glass. 'Listen, after the story about you and Chastain finding Fenwick's body broke in the newspapers I started hearing things.'
'What sort of things?'
'Remember John Garrett?'
'Sure. Garrett Electronics. John used to be a friend of yours back in the old days.' The old days was mutually understood by both of them to refer to the era before the loss of their parents.
'John and I ran into each other again in a History of Synergistic Theory class this semester. He took me aside yesterday. Told me he'd seen the headlines about you and Chastain. He wanted to warn me.'
'About what?'
'About what kind of guy Chastain is.' Leo leaned a little farther across the tiny table. 'Seems like John's cousin, Randy, lost a lot of money in Chastain's Palace a few months ago. Randy had to go to his father for cash to settle the debt.'
'That would be John's uncle?'
'Right. At any rate, old man Randolph Garrett was furious. Mostly because he didn't have the cash. He didn't want anyone to know he was having financial problems. Some kind of merger was in process. At any rate, John said that borrowing to pay off Randy's debt would have brought the kind of attention from the business news media that could have jeopardized the deal.'
'What happened?'
'Randy's father went to see Chastain who said that things could be worked out.' Leo glanced around once more and then lowered his voice. 'Get this, Chastain told him that the gambling debt would be wiped off the books provided Garrett sold him a certain piece of property up in the hills above the city.'
'So? That seems perfectly reasonable to me. Generous, even.'
Leo gave her an exasperated look. 'The property was the original Garrett estate. The one John Jeremy Garrett, himself, built three generations ago. It's a piece of the Garrett family history. They would never have parted with it willingly. Chastain must have known that.'
'Did Randy's father sell the property to Chastain?'
'He had no choice. John told me that the other branches of the Garrett clan were furious when they found out that the estate had been sold off. It was supposed to pass down through Randy's side of the family.'
'You just told me that Randy's father was in financial difficulty. If that was true, the estate would likely have been sold, in any event. We had to sell our family home four years ago. These things happen.' It worried Zinnia that she was trying to defend Nick Chastain or at least excuse his actions. Not a good sign, she thought. Not good at all.
'John said the Garrett estate would have been the last thing to go. And even if it had been sold, the family would never have agreed to sell it to someone like Chastain.'
Zinnia chuckled. She couldn't help herself. 'Horrors. A casino owner in the neighborhood. Who will they let in next?'
Leo's mouth tightened. 'Don't you get it? It's an example of how Chastain works. He obviously wanted that estate. He knew he'd never convince the Garretts to sell it to him, so he manipulated Randy into a big loss at the casino.'
'Are you accusing Nick of cheating his customers?'
'He wouldn't have to resort to cheating.' Leo flopped back in his chair. 'John said Randy is kind of wild. Give him a few drinks, feed him all the gambling chips he wants, and the end result would be a foregone conclusion. Chastain must have known that.'
Yes, Zinnia thought, Chastain would have known that.
'He's a matrix,' she said quietly.
'Chastain? Five hells.' Leo's mouth twisted with acute disgust. 'I should have guessed. That explains a few things.'
'Such as?'
