make sure. There couldn't be a mistake.'
'I don't make many mistakes, Renata,' he said quietly.
'No, you don't.' She stood looking at him. 'Of course you could have done better shooting the bastard.'
'I was almost a thousand yards away. And she was too close to him.'
'Well, on the whole, I suppose you did very well today.'
He chuckled. 'Lord, I feel as if I've been awarded a gold medal.' He tilted his head. 'Except I've never seen a judge who was as beat up as you are. You look like you've been rolling in dirt, that blasted wound is bleeding again, and you have a bruise on your cheekbone.' He reached out and touched her cheek. 'Molino?'
'Condon, one of his men.' She took a step back so that his hand fell away.
'Cousin Mark should have taught you to take better care of yourself.'
She shrugged. 'Mark says the first rule of safety is to do the job and not to get involved. I didn't play by the rules.'
'For which Megan is no doubt very grateful.'
'Why? I should have found Molino before he got his hands on her. I did a lousy job.'
'Oh, yes. I can see it was entirely your fault.'
'I would have done better if I hadn't let emotion throw me off-kilter.' She turned and headed for the path leading up to the cliff. 'I've got to go see Megan and then call Mark and tell him about Molino.'
'Just look at you. You're even limping.'
She glanced over her shoulder to see Harley watching her with a frown. 'I'm fine. Mind your own business.'
'It is my business.' He moved after her. 'Megan wouldn't like it if I let you try to make it up the cliff alone. You know how softhearted she is. She's gone through enough today. Let me clean you up before she sees you.' He slid his arm around her waist. 'Come on. You've leaned on me before and it wasn't so bad.'
Why not? She was hurting and experiencing a hollowness that could be… loneliness. It was probably the last time that she would need to take help from Harley or any of them. She'd be on her own again.
'You're right; Megan is much too softhearted.' She leaned against him. 'But I wouldn't want to make her feel bad…'
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
'HOW IS HE?'
Megan turned to see Renata standing in the doorway of Phillip's hospital room. 'Not good.' She shrugged wearily. 'Or maybe he's not so bad. They still have all kind of tests to make, but the specialists here don't believe his condition deteriorated irreparably while Molino had him. It's just that I was hoping Gardner was right and I'd be able to see some sign of him coming out of it.'
'No luck?'
She shook her head. 'But maybe it will come later. Who knows if Phillip understood anything about what was happening to him. Maybe he suffered some kind of shock that caused a setback.'
'You're reaching, aren't you?' Renata asked gently.
Megan's hand tightened on Phillip's. Feel me, friend, know I'm here. Let's work through it together. 'Yes. But hope can work miracles. I've seen it. It was a miracle that Davy got away from Molino without harm.' She changed the subject. 'Where are Grady and Harley? Still at Molino's place? Grady dropped me off and told me he was going back to join Venable. They're trying to gather information from Molino's files about the bandits and sleazebags Molino was working with.'
Renata nodded. 'Harley's there too. I told him to look for any records concerning victims. I need to find Adia.'
Megan had a poignant memory of that little pink dress belonging to the child. 'Of course, we do.' She paused. 'I wanted to thank you for risking those pages of the Ledger to buy me time with Molino. I know it was difficult for you to give them up.'
'No, it wasn't.'
Megan stared at her in disbelief.
Renata smiled. 'Well, it would have been difficult if they had been Ledger pages.'
Megan's eyes widened. 'But you said they'd tested positive for antiquity.'
'When I took over guardianship of the Ledger, I had Mark create two counterfeit ledgers. No genuine names or addresses, but the paper was treated to make it test positive for antiquity. I thought that maybe Edmund might not have died if he'd had something to give those bastards until he could find a way to escape.' She shrugged. 'I brought one of the copies with me when we left Munich in case I found a way to set a trap for Molino.'
Megan had a sudden memory of how reluctant Renata had been to have anyone touch her suitcases. 'You didn't tell us.'
She grimaced. 'We've already established I'm not good at sharing.'
'Oh, I don't know. I believe you're getting the knack of it.' She had a sudden thought. 'I'm surprised the family hasn't put the Ledger on computer disk. Wouldn't it be safer?'
'It depends on how you look at it. Computer records are more readily accessible. If stolen they could be copied in five seconds and we might not know it was done in time to protect the family. Edmund started to try to put the records on a disk to be sealed away with the originals, but it's a nightmare process. The only person who has access to the ledger is the Keeper.'
'That means it's up to you?'
She nodded. 'I'll try to do it, but it's not high on my priority list. We can't scan it because it was handwritten by different people and there might be blurring and discrepancies. We have to destroy hard drives every time we make an entry to make sure no fragment of data can be retrieved. We can't trust the software that supposedly wipes them clean. And there isn't only one volume to the Ledger. The family has been growing for centuries.' She made a face. 'And I assure you that as the Keeper I have other things to do besides sit and enter data. It's enough that I'm able to do the entries into the original ledger.'
'It does sound like a nightmare.' Megan studied her face. 'What if you'd had the real Ledger in that suitcase? Would you have used it?'
'No.' She moistened her lips. 'I'd like to tell you I would but I'd be lying. I couldn't do it. I care about you but I wouldn't take a-'
'Stop agonizing. It's okay, Renata,' she said gently. 'I wasn't backing you into a corner. I always knew that would be your priority.'
'I'd have found another way. I wouldn't have let Molino-'
'You did find another way.'
'But I always thought any decision connected with the Ledger would be simple, black and white. Nothing's black and white any longer.'
'Good.'
'Not for me. It's going to be much harder for me.' She made a face. 'And it's your fault. You've made me question things I've believed all my life.' Her glance shifted to Phillip. 'Was your life really worth the risk when you may never bring him back?'
'It was to me. I love Phillip.'
She shook her head. 'No reason. Just emotion.'
Megan smiled. 'And you're all reason and no emotion. At least, you try to be. But you're slipping, aren't you?'
'I'll get back on the right track.' She moved across the room to stand beside Megan. 'I have to go. Mark called me and said that it would be smart to fade away into the sunset. Too many people know that I'm connected to the Ledger now.'
'Only the CIA.'
'The CIA is composed of people with opinions, ambitions, and their own agendas.'
'You don't trust them.'
