“Just what I told you. You thought you were ready, but you were wrong. It would have taken me weeks to get anywhere. We don't have weeks.” He picked up a stone and threw it skipping across the lake. “This last encounter with Trask bruised you. You need healing. You were comfortable here with me before, so this is where we stay.”

“It's not real.”

“But it's comforting. You like the sun on your face and the flowers and the lake. It's all very soothing, and you're going to need comfort.”

She couldn't deny that. She felt . . . exposed, naked.

“I told you that you wouldn't like it.” He turned to look at her. “There's nothing more intimate than what we're sharing. You're afraid of intimacy.”

“We're not sharing. You're invading. I don't see you letting me go prancing through your mind.”

“Good point. I'll make a bargain with you. When you're ready, I'll let you have a peek.” He chuckled. “If you can take it. My mind isn't nearly as clean as yours.”

“I can take it. Am I asleep now?”

“Yes, it's easier getting through to you. It may take a while to reach you in a waking state.”

“I hope to God you're never able to do that.” She braced herself. “Okay, we're here. Start teaching me.”

He shook his head. “Easy and slow. Relax.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“I could help.”

“No, you can't.” She tried to ease the stiffness of her muscles. “There's only one kind of help I want from you.”

“Then do it yourself.” He yawned and leaned his head against the trunk of the willow tree. “And while you're at it, start thinking about your father.”

“What?”

“He's one of the barriers we have to get rid of.”

“He has no place in what we're doing.”

“Yes, he does. I have to clear the path.” He closed his eyes. “Or you have to clear it yourself.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “Are you going to sleep?”

“Probably. I'm tired. I haven't had any sleep in the last two nights, and we can't go any further until you get used to the idea that we're together.”

“And you're just going to leave me here?”

“I'll be with you. I can maintain the scenario.” He smiled faintly. “I know you so well I can do it in my sleep.”

“I don't know if I want you to maintain—”

“Too tired.” He yawned again. “Wake me if you have any questions. . . .”

He was asleep, she realized with indignation.

Of course he was asleep. She was asleep too. This was only another one of Silver's manipulations.

And the concept was too confusing to cope with right now.

She gazed out at the lake. It looked blue and deep and clean. She wondered if she'd be able to feel the water on her hand if she touched it. Probably. Silver was nothing if not thorough.

But she didn't want to test him. She was tired and on edge and wanted nothing more than for Silver to stay asleep so that she didn't have to deal with him as well as his damn scenario.

And, okay, at least it was a pleasant escape from reality. She could feel a soft breeze blowing her hair gently away from her temples and bringing with it the scent of spring violets. He had this dream world down to the last detail. How did he do it?

Stop worrying about Silver's talent. It existed, and she must use it as he intended to use her.

Are you listening, Silver?

No response. Maybe he really was asleep.

A little of her tension eased as she stared at him. His lips were soft and slightly parted, and his body reminded her of the boneless relaxation of a cat at rest. He didn't look nearly as intimidating as he did when he was awake.

Had he left some posthypnotic command to make her think that? she wondered suddenly.

“No.” He opened his eyes. “Just got rid of the barriers. You wouldn't trust me if I messed around with anything else.” He closed his eyes again. “Now will you let me sleep?”

“How did I wake you up?”

“Sharp . . . We're linked now and I can feel the sharpness. . . .”

Linked.

She felt an instinctive rejection. She didn't want to be linked to him in any way. “I didn't think it would be—I don't like it.”

“Too late . . . We'll talk about it later.”

Too late.

Because she could feel it too. Just a ghost of a tether, but it was there.

All right, she had asked for it. Accept it.

She forced herself to look away from him and out at the lake. Relax. Get used to it. The sooner she learned what she needed, the sooner the bond could be broken.

Open your mind. Close your eyes. Relax. Ignore that strange feeling of being joined to Silver. . . .

I'm leaving you now,” Silver said.

She opened her eyes to see the sun going down over the lake and the light mellowing to soft twilight. How long had she been here? she wondered. She had drowsed and woken and drowsed again.

“Long enough.” Silver smiled at her. “And now you're going to sleep deeply and wake calm and rested.”

“That sounds suspiciously like a posthypnotic suggestion.”

“Just a suggestion. Take it any way you want.”

“You don't ever use hypnosis?” she asked skeptically.

“I told you, not with you. I promise. Sometimes I'm forced to use a form of it with a disturbed mind.”

“For instance?”

“Gillen.”

“The man you talk to on the phone. Who is he?”

“One of Travis's walking wounded. He's in an asylum in upstate New York. I've been working with him. He's a tough case. He was already unstable before he was injured and went into a coma. I use everything I can with Gillen.”

“To put him back together.”

“If I can. Sometimes it doesn't work. Good night, Kerry. . . .”

He was gone.

No!

Good God, she felt lonely. She wanted him back, she realized with shock. It was as if a part of her had been torn away.

Linked.

She was frightened at the thought, but that wasn't all she was experiencing. She hadn't expected to feel this sense of loss.

Empty. So empty.

The lake was darkening and so was the sky. Everything was becoming hazy. . . .

Her father called her tonight,” Dickens told Trask when he picked up. “I don't think there's anything you can use there. She wasn't exactly friendly with him. They have issues. He evidently had her committed to a booby hatch several years ago.”

“She's unstable?”

“She was at one time. No indication of it in her present life. Unless you'd call her obsession with catching pyromaniacs a sign.”

“Obsession isn't always a weakness,” Trask said. “I've been called obsessed myself.”

“Did you get my dossier on her?”

“Yes, very interesting.” He looked down at the photo of Kerry Murphy on the desk in front of him. She was looking straight ahead, and there was a touch of bold defiance in her expression. “I need to know more. Keep on her.”

“What about the surveillance of Raztov?”

He thought about it. He needed to move forward with tying up those loose ends, but Murphy was too alluring. “Put him on hold for now. Find me a way to get to Kerry Murphy.” He hung up, his gaze still on the photo.

Kerry Murphy was probably an indulgence he couldn't afford, but the more he learned about her, the more he was enticed. As he'd stood watching her at the Krazky ruins, he'd felt an odd sense of empathy and familiarity. It had been very strong and caught him completely off guard. It was probably that, in her way, she was as enthralled with fire as he was. It had dominated her life as it had his. It made him feel very close to her. Almost as close as he'd been to Helen. . . .