“Not my personal life. I’d never let it interfere.” But Jane was relieved that Kendra had slid away from talking about Caleb. She hadn’t realized that their relationship was so transparent to outsiders. Perhaps it wasn’t to anyone but Kendra. She changed the subject. “Margaret. If your presence here is a threat, wouldn’t Margaret’s presence fall into the same category? She came here at approximately the same time, and though she was obviously not an investigator of any kind, she was at the scenes of the crimes.” She frowned. “And she was seen with you at the house in Goldfork.”

“Very good,” Kendra said. “But Margaret is your responsibility.” She headed for the front door. “I’m going down to try to convince her she should opt out as I’m doing. But knowing Margaret, I don’t think I’m going to get very far. She’s stubborn as a mule and thinks it’s her duty to take care of you.” She paused to look back at Jane. “I repeat, she’s your responsibility now. You take care of her, or I’ll be coming after you.”

“You’re being very stern. You evidently became very close while you were on the hunt for Eve.”

“As close as you can come to a character who’s part Peter Pan and part Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.” She nodded. “Yeah, I’m close to Margaret. And, if you’re looking for someone to trust, you don’t have to look any farther. But, unfortunately, she takes chances that she shouldn’t.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I was there when we found her cuddling that wolf in the woods above the ghost town.” She added, “Don’t worry. I won’t let her run any risks on my behalf. I’ll find a way to keep her safe.”

Kendra made a sound remarkably like a snort. “You can try.” She opened the door. “And you might be busy keeping yourself safe. You stay here and rest for a while. You haven’t convinced me that you’re in the best of shape.”

“I’m not in the best of shape. I won’t lie to you. But I won’t let it matter.”

“I know you won’t. Good luck, Jane. Don’t you dare not call me if I can help.” She shut the door behind her.

The house felt suddenly empty without that vital presence, Jane thought. She imagined that every room Kendra entered she effortlessly owned.

She looked down at the journal.

And since she was lacking Kendra’s vitality at the moment, she might as well start reading this journal of Kevin’s and hope that lightning might strike, and she could see something in it that Kendra had missed.

She shuddered as she reluctantly opened the cover and began reading the journal of a monster.

Penthouse

Drake Hotel

Denver, Colorado

“I’VE REACHED WEINER.” Stang, Zander’s personal assistant, entered Zander’s suite after contacting Zander’s information guru. “It was difficult. He got your message and said to tell you he’d already started the process. He said one of his contacts spotted an off-road vehicle with those special tires at the Wyoming border on the day of the explosion. It was a tan Toyota 4-Runner. He didn’t want to call you until he had something concrete to offer you. He was afraid that you were targeting him because Joe Quinn had found out that he’d done work for you.”

“Thanks to you,” Zander said dryly. “I don’t appreciate your lack of discretion in giving away my contacts. I don’t tolerate that lack of loyalty. Perhaps you should be the one afraid, Stang.”

“Probably. But I’m done with that.” He smiled. “You’ve been intimidating me so long that you’ve dulled the edge.” He put the telephone number down on the desk in front of Zander. “Do you really think that Weiner can zero in on Doane?”

“It’s possible he can help.” Zander leaned back in his chair. “He’s as close to an electronics genius as they come, and he thinks outside the box. He has the sophisticated equipment to make it happen. It depends on his motivation.” His smile was tiger bright as he said softly, “And I don’t wish to brag, but I’m quite good at providing motivation.”

Stang was aware that Zander could persuade anyone to do anything if he chose. His physical presence was very powerful, and his reputation was chilling. Who should know better than Stang? He had worked for him for a number of years as his accountant and personal assistant, and most of that time, he’d been on the edge of fear. Zander was a brilliant assassin whose fees were in the millions, but he kept most compartments of his life strictly private. That was fine with Stang, he had no desire to know too much about Zander’s dealings. It could prove dangerous, if not fatal. It was only lately that Zander had let Stang into his confidence. He had seemed to want him to know about the kidnapping of Eve Duncan by Doane. “What kind of electronics voodoo do you want Weiner to perform?”

“Something a little less than voodoo. Cameras are much more pedestrian.”

“Cameras?”

“In the past, I’ve had Weiner track targets for me using public and private cameras. I give him an area, and he creates a huge wall-mounted map and uses a highlighter pen to track a designated vehicle.”

“How?”

“Municipal traffic cams posted at major intersections. Most cities keep at least a few weeks’ worth on their servers’ hard drives. Live highway cameras feeds are available to anyone on the Internet these days, but Weiner takes it a step further by tapping into the Department of Transportation servers to review history. Then there are private-business security cameras. ATM cameras facing the roads. Toll-gate cameras…” He waved his hand. “It goes on and on.”

“So much for privacy on the road.”

“A few years ago, this kind of tracking would have been impossible. The camera feeds would have been recorded on videocassettes and stored at each place. Now the images are recorded on hard drives, usually networked, and thus vulnerable to remote hacking and snooping.” His lips twisted. “And Weiner’s network connections are truly impressive. Once he knows which road or direction Doane is traveling, he’ll be able to follow his path using Google Street View, looking left and right at businesses, banks, etcetera, to see security cameras he can hack.”

“Why tell him to focus on Colorado and Wyoming? For that matter, why are we holed up in this modernistic Taj Mahal instead of going back to Vancouver?”

“A hunch. That jump down into the cavern and the trip downstream was pretty rough. I’d think Doane would want to hole up and recuperate a little before he took to the road. First, he’d want to see if his little scam had worked; and then he’d start pulling a new plan out of his hat.” He nodded at the memorial service broadcasting on the TV set across the room. “This should reassure him that he’s safe to move.” He smiled. “And it will also be the signal for Quinn to go after me and try to grab me as bait for Doane.”

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Stang said.

“I’ll make a decision on how to handle Doane when I make the approach.”

“It seems to be the only way to keep Eve Duncan alive. Why not go along with Quinn?” He met Zander’s eyes. “And don’t tell me that you don’t care whether or not Eve survives. I’m no expert about analyzing your reactions. God knows, you’ve had decades to grow that hard shell, and I’ve just accepted that it has become part of you. But I watched you after that saloon blew up, and everyone thought Eve and Doane were dead. If you’re capable of caring about anything, you cared that night. You cared, Zander.”

Zander gazed at him without expression. “Maybe I was angry that I didn’t get my chance at Doane.”

“I don’t think so. You let me read Eve Duncan’s dossier. You talked to me about Doane and his son, Kevin. That was completely unlike you.”

“Was it?”

“Yes, you wanted me to know about Eve Duncan. You wanted someone to be on her side, to try to convince you to go after her and try to save her.”