Part 24 (2/2)
”He got up early to take pictures of the sunrise,” I said. ”To be there for the golden hour, the first hour of light at sunrise and the last hour before sunset. He's been doing it all his life.”
”I know what the golden hour is. You don't need to lecture me. He shouldn't have been out there by himself after what happened the other day in Connecticut-and G.o.d knows how many other times. I can't watch him every minute of the night and day.”
”As far as we know, it's only two times. Today and last week. You can't chain him to his bed. It'll kill him.”
”Don't you dare start-”
”Mom,” Tommy said, ”calm down. Soph.”
I took a deep breath and said to my mother, ”I know you're under a lot of stress. But nothing happened this morning and he's okay.”
”This time. What about the next time, or the time after that? And where will you be?” She glared at my brother and me. ”If you two want breakfast, help yourselves. I need to get changed. We have to leave in twenty minutes if we're going to get to Landsdowne in time.”
After she was gone, Tommy walked over to the coffeepot and filled two mugs, adding milk and sugar. He pa.s.sed one to me.
”Well,” he said in a laconic voice, ”just another day in paradise. You want breakfast?”
”Not really. I think I've lost my appet.i.te.”
Harry found me alone in the kitchen fifteen minutes later sitting at the table with a cup of cold coffee. ”We're on our way,” he said. ”Just wanted to let you know and say goodbye . . . make sure you're all right.”
”You mean, after Mom and I went a couple of rounds over Chappy, did anyone draw blood?”
He grinned. ”I wasn't going to put it quite like that.”
”I'm fine. And thanks again for London.”
”Sorry we had to cut it short.”
”This is more important.”
He gave me a rueful look. ”Look, you know your mother doesn't mean half the things she says just now. She hasn't slept in days so she's snapping at everyone. Let her be, she'll calm down once we get Chap checked out and figure out what to do next.”
”Sure.”
”She loves you, kitten. You know she does.” He walked over and pulled me to him, kissing my hair.
I slid my arms around his waist. ”Will you call me after you get back from the doctor?”
”Of course. Wish us luck.”
Nick phoned after everyone left. I had e-mailed him from Heathrow, telling him about Chappy and that I no longer needed the services of his bodyguard friends in London.
”My other friend already had a job, but he was making some calls. Then I got your e-mail so I told him to forget it,” he said. ”I guess it worked out for the best. I'm glad you're okay and safe at home.”
Telling him about someone pretending to be Victor's secretary and then chasing me across the Millennium Bridge fell into the category of things too disturbing to talk about over the phone and better saved for a face-to-face conversation.
”Me, too.”
”Looks like I might be able to come home at the end of next week,” he said. ”I'm wrapping things up here in a couple of days, and then I've got one more stop.”
”Next week? That would be fantastic. Where's your last stop?”
”Atyrau, Kazakhstan.”
One of the oil-rich cities of the world, a former Russian republic on the Caspian Sea. ”Just don't make any side trips across the border into Russia.”
”Don't worry. I have no desire to be thrown out of the country again.”
”You probably wouldn't be,” I said. ”I'd have to come get you out of jail.”
He laughed and hung up.
Tommy and I left for Was.h.i.+ngton shortly after that. I played fetch with Ella one last time while he packed up his books and laptop, and then I fell asleep on the drive home.
I woke up when he shook my arm. ”Okay, sleepyhead, home, sweet home. I'll carry your suitcase upstairs, but I'm not carrying you, too.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. ”I'm sorry. You should have poked me or something.”
”I could have pushed the eject b.u.t.ton and you wouldn't have woken up. You were out cold.” He pulled into the alley next to my house and we both got out of the car.
In the few days since I'd been away, the bare-branched dogwood in the front yard was now covered with blossoms on the verge of opening and the air felt soft and fresh scented. I shrugged out of my coat. It had warmed up since this morning when Chappy and I had been out at sunrise.
”You don't need to carry my suitcase,” I said to Tommy. ”I can manage.”
But he was already halfway up the front walk. ”What have you got in here? Bricks? It wasn't this heavy last night.”
I had taken Olivia Upshaw's thick ma.n.u.script out of my carry-on and put it in the suitcase. ”A dead body.”
The mail was still in the mailbox, since I'd forgotten to stop it. I scooped it up, unlocked the door, and headed up the stairs with Tommy following me. Even before I stepped into the foyer I knew someone had been here.
Whoever had searched my apartment knew they had time, and had been methodical. Every drawer had been opened, every cus.h.i.+on overturned, the books on the bookshelf in the living room were strewn all over the floor. I stared at the mess and remembered Kevin's books splayed out just like this on the floor of his study room at the Library of Congress.
Tommy was two steps behind me. ”What the h.e.l.l-?” He set down my suitcase and said in a tense voice, ”You'd better check your camera equipment and Nick's guns. That's probably what they went after.”
I blinked. He thought it was a random burglary, plain and simple. I thought it was related to Kevin and the book.
”Everything's locked in the closet in the second bedroom, the one we use as a study,” I said, but I ran for the stairs.
”Wait.” My brother grabbed my arm. ”Maybe we'd better call the police before you go up there. And it looks like they jimmied the worthless lock on your balcony door. Which, by the way, is something I could have done if I stuck my credit card or my license between the door and the jamb and worked at it for a few minutes. I thought you were going to get that replaced.”
”I meant to talk to India about it, and whoever did this is long gone,” I said. ”India's visiting her daughter in Chicago, I was in England, and Max isn't here that much anymore. Someone had all the time in the world to go through the place.”
The lock on the bedroom closet door had been cut and so had the locks on the cases where I kept my camera equipment. They hadn't managed to figure out the combination to the gun safe, thank G.o.d. I knelt down and opened my equipment cases.
Everything was there.
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