Jock stood there with a tray. “Coffee and a sandwich. Mrs. Dalbrey said you didn’t eat much of her stew. She’s very disapproving. But even if you don’t want to eat, I figured you’d still need the coffee.”

“You didn’t have to do this.” She stood aside to let him into the room. “But coffee sounds good.”

“I thought it would.” He set the tray on the small table by the window. “You’re sure you won’t have the sandwich? I’m not going to let you get ill. That would cause me all kinds of trouble.”

“I wouldn’t want that.” She sat down in the chair. “I’ll have the coffee. I had enough of that stew to satisfy me. You eat the sandwich.”

He shook his head. “I had a fine meal at dinner. Mrs. Dalbrey’s stew was magnificent, wasn’t it? Though MacDuff would have preferred I eat crow. He’s still not pleased with me.”

“Did he give you a hard time?”

“Moderate. He felt better after I let him interrogate me for a while. He always feels more in control once he knows all there is to know about everything. To be out of control is MacDuff’s prime bugaboo.”

“You told him everything?”

He shrugged. “Why not? We may need him soon.” He paused. “You mean did I tell him what a strange bedfellow you have in Caleb?”

“Strange bedfellow.” The common slang phrase applied to Caleb caused a ripple of shock to go through her. “Yes.”

He nodded. “I decided it was time to break it to MacDuff gently before we ran into a situation where Caleb was slinging bodies down in front of him and making people scream with agony. It might come as a slight surprise.”

“I was a bit surprised,” she said dryly. “To put it mildly.”

“But you haven’t sent him on his way.”

“No.” She had tried, but somehow she hadn’t been able to get him to go. Maybe she hadn’t tried hard enough. Maybe she hadn’t really wanted him to go. “No, I haven’t done that yet. When MacDuff met him, he didn’t give any indication that he thought Caleb was… unusual.”

“I’m not sure if he really believed everything. He’s probably taking everything I said with a grain of salt and making his own judgment.”

“That sounds like him. He and Caleb were definitely searching for flaws and weaknesses.”

“Well, MacDuff won’t find that a lack of determination is one of Caleb’s weaknesses.” He looked at the pile of Bibles that were strewn on the bed. “I see you’re going through all your holy books. Do you have enough?”

“More than I need.” She took a sip of coffee. “You believe in overkill.”

“Have they helped?”

“I haven’t started to go through them yet. I’ve been too busy searching the Internet for information. It’s mostly repetitive, but some sites have more than others do.” She finished her sandwich. “But I’m almost ready to start on the Bibles.”

“Do you need any help?”

She shook her head. “Not unless you’re an expert and can fill in some of missing chinks in these passages.”

“No, my mother always saw that I went to church, but I don’t remember a lot of biblical details.”

“Neither do I.” She swallowed the last of her coffee. “Sorry to kick you out. But if you can’t help, then all you can do is leave me alone so that I can get back to work.”

“I was going anyway.” He turned to the door. “I have to get a tray and take it to Lina. It seems my present duty is just to be a waiter.”

“You do it very well. You’re taking care of everyone.”

He smiled as he opened the door. “Not Caleb. He can get his own tray. I have to draw the line somewhere.”

“I’m glad you didn’t draw it before you brought mine. That caffeine is making my brain start to function again.”

He studied her face. “I don’t think that your mind is too dull at the moment. You’re excited.”

She nodded. “I’m learning things. That’s always exciting.” She got to her feet and started toward the computer. “Thank you, Jock. I’m glad you’re checking on Lina. Though she may kick you out.”

“I’ll risk it. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yes, good-night.”

The door closed softly behind him, but she wouldn’t have heard it anyway. She was already absorbed in the theories surrounding the man whose face had haunted her until she’d been forced to put it on canvas.

Thirty shekels of silver.

Judas hanging from the willow tree.

The field of blood…

IT WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT, BUT there was no way she was going to be able to go to sleep, Jane realized. She was too wired. Too much coffee. Too much adrenaline.

And she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to talk, to discuss, pour out all she had learned and brainstorm. She started to reach for her phone to call Eve or Jock, then stopped. She should be considerate and let anyone who could sleep do so.

To hell with it. She quickly dialed a number.

“Trouble?” Caleb asked.

“No, I can’t sleep, and I want to talk to someone, anyone.”

“And I take it I’ve been chosen.”

“I didn’t want to wake Eve or Jock.”

He chuckled. “And I don’t matter.”

“Yes or no?”

“Where? Your room or mine?”

Too intimate. “Neither. I’ll meet you in the courtyard in five minutes.”

“I’ll be there.” He hung up.

She went to the bathroom, washed her face, and ran a comb through her hair. Then she was out the door and running down the grand staircase.

Caleb was standing by the fountain in the middle of the stone-paved courtyard. He was dressed in dark trousers and a white shirt open at the throat. The bright moonlight caught glints of the silver threading his temples.

She stopped short as she came out the front door.

He was waiting for her.

Of course, he’s waiting for me, she thought impatiently. Why had the sight of him brought that sense of alarm?

Because she had the strange feeling that the waiting was not just for this night, this moment.

Nonsense. Her head was still swimming from hours spent on the computer.

“You can’t change your mind,” Caleb said. “You dragged me from my bed and didn’t even flatter me that you did it because I’m special.” He smiled. “In fact, I got the opposite impression just as you wanted.” He sat down on the edge of the fountain and patted the stone rim beside him. “Now come and talk to me. After all, I did risk my life wandering around this courtyard in the dead of night. MacDuff’s guards don’t like midnight callers.”

She hadn’t thought about the security guards. She had only wanted to avoid the intimacy with Caleb that always disturbed her. “They challenged you?”

“It doesn’t matter. I handled it.”

She started across the courtyard. “I didn’t mean to cause a problem. I just thought it would be best if-”

“I know why you wanted to meet me here. It’s all right, Jane. I take what I can get.”

“And most of the time you take more than is offered,” she said tartly.

“Not from you.” He suddenly chuckled. “Well, not usually. For instance, you see me patiently waiting for you to tell me what you learned from those dozens of Bibles Jock brought you.”

Waiting. Again that word brought a frisson of uneasiness.

She instinctively lifted her shoulders as if to shrug it off. “Actually, I found out more from the Internet. April first is supposed to be Judas’s birthday, hence the Offering.” She sat down beside him on the fountain’s rim. “And you’d be surprised how many scholars have been intrigued by Judas over the centuries.”

“No, I wouldn’t. The greatest betrayal of all time. Greed. The struggle of evil and good. It would fascinate most sinners and angels alike. For a scholar, it would prove irresistible.”

“But most of them ended up with suppositions and theories. There’s just not enough written about Judas. In Mark, Judas is an enigma. His entire purpose in Mark’s writings is to hand over Jesus to the authorities. He has no character beyond the act itself and no clear motives.”