Part 26 (1/2)
”Just something?” Lyra settled down onto the lounger and took a sip of her wine. ”Funny, I had the impression that you've been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. You know, finding the artifact, hunting a killer.”
They were sitting on her balcony, a bottle of wine and a plate of cheese and crackers on the small table between them. Vincent was on the railing, munching on a cracker. The night was balmy and warm, and the great wall cast its eerie green glow over the Quarter.
”The particular stuff I'm thinking about is the way the gate of the amethyst chamber closed, trapping five people inside,” Cruz said.
”You're back to wondering if it was something other than an accident?”
”I am.” He ate a cracker. ”You said the gate could have been closed by either stray waves from a psi river or a storm. You also said that someone working certain nonstandard amber could have done it deliberately.”
”Right. In addition to amethyst, I'm pretty sure diamond or silver amber would do it. My grandfather told me that they have some distinctive properties. He said they could disrupt the currents generated by most of the other ambers. But both are extremely rare. I've never come across a single specimen of either in my work. So even if the killer could work one or the other, how would he get hold of a chunk to use on the gate?”
”I can think of one place. The vault at the lab.”
”Wow.” She raised her brows. ”You've actually got some diamond and silver at the lab?”
”Sweet.w.a.ters and their employees have been collecting specimens and artifacts of rare amber for decades. Everything goes into the vault, but almost nothing comes out. It's like the bas.e.m.e.nt of a big museum in there. Things go into storage and get forgotten.”
”But presumably access to the vault is limited.”
”Sure.”
”Got a list?” she asked.
”It's a short one.” Cruz drank some wine. ”Felix Webber was right at the top.”
”Well, that fits. He was at the ruin when it closed.” She paused. ”a.s.suming he could work diamond or silver.”
”If he was able to work it, he sure as h.e.l.l kept the information to himself. It wasn't in his file.”
”Wouldn't be the first time someone with an unusual talent kept the data out of an employment file.”
”True.”
She considered for a moment. ”Originally you thought that whoever triggered the gate did it to frame me.”
”That theory still fits. But I'm starting to wonder if there was an additional goal.”
”What?”
”Another murder. I have a feeling that one of the five people trapped inside that chamber was the real target.”
”You sound very sure of that,” she said.
”I am.”
”But how can you know something like that with such certainty?”
”The same way I know we were meant to be together.”
”Your talent?”
”Uh-huh.” He ate another cracker.
She pursed her lips. ”You know, I can buy the idea that you have a talent for hunting bad guys. But this thing about the men in your family being able to know when the right woman comes along? Not so much.”
”You get used to it after a while.”
”Me, I'm going to sign up with a professional matchmaker.”
”Why bother? Just be a waste of money.”
”Maybe,” she said. ”But now that I'm going to be getting this big check from Amber Inc. as my fee for opening the ruin, I can afford to experiment with a really high-end matchmaker.”
”This is all about making me suffer isn't it?”
”No,” she said. ”It's about me being really, really careful the second time around.”
”Okay,” he said.
Chapter 31.
CRUZ WAS AT HIS DESK WHEN JEFF STROLLED INTO THE office early the next morning.
”I've got Webber's parapsych profile,” Jeff said. ”There's nothing in it about the doc being able to open jungle gates, just like there's nothing in it about his ability to work unusual amber.”
”That doesn't come as a shock.” Cruz closed the file he had been reading and took the folder Jeff held out to him.
Jeff dropped into a chair and stretched out his legs. ”I don't get it. If Webber was helping himself to relics from the lab vault, why didn't we pick up on it?”
”Like I told Lyra, there's fifty years' worth of amber in that vault. Every drawer is crammed with relics and samples. No one would notice if a few items went missing now and then, especially if whoever took them knew how to bypa.s.s the security alarms.”
”Something Webber would know how to do,” Jeff said.
Cruz rocked back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. He contemplated the three paintings hanging on the wall across the room.
”Here's what I think happened,” he said. ”Webber had a nice little part-time racket going for himself. Probably teamed up with Fairstead and the third man a few years ago. They kept the thefts small, taking pieces no one would miss. But the amethyst relics from the ruin were different. Each was worth a fortune on the underground antiquities market. Got a hunch they had never before risked swiping something that valuable out of the vault.”
”Security was a h.e.l.l of a lot tighter around the relics, too,” Jeff observed. ”Unlike some of the other stuff housed in the vault, one of those artifacts would have been missed immediately. They needed to make it look like someone else had stolen the artifact. They picked the obvious suspect.”
”Lyra. But something went wrong the night of the theft. One of the lab techs must have discovered them. They had to kill him to keep him quiet.”
”They?” Jeff repeated.