Part 28 (1/2)

”My money. My allergy medicine costs a fortune and it's not doing a bit of good.”

”Sorry. I don't understand.”

”It's a joke,” she said. ”Arista Pharmaceutical makes the stuff I'm taking.”

The penny dropped. ”David Arista's family owns a pharmaceutical company?”

”You've never heard of them?”

”I've been overseas for so many years I . . . no, I haven't.”

”I'd better get back to the conference,” she said. ”I think you should talk to David and see if you can set up that session tomorrow.”

Arista Pharmaceutical must have been one of the companies Kevin contacted to ask about drug trials for his sister. And, as Thea had said, maybe he'd said something or dropped a hint that he might be able to locate seeds to an extinct plant more potent than modern-day water hyssop, something that had already proved effective in restoring memory loss. Was it David Arista who had been stalking Kevin because he already knew about the seeds?

”Sophie?” Olivia sounded impatient. ”Are you still there? I said I think you should give David a call. We don't want to lose this opportunity.”

”Sure. I'll do that.”

”Let me know how it goes,” she said, and disconnected.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me, and I looked up, s.h.i.+elding my eyes against the suns.h.i.+ne.

I didn't have to call David Arista.

He was standing right here.

22.

He held out a hand, offering to help me up. The smile on his face looked more like a leer. I stood on my own, clutching my phone in both hands.

How much had he overheard of my conversation with Olivia? It probably didn't matter, because I already knew it was no accident or coincidence that he was here. His eyes strayed to the ground and the freshly swept dust that revealed the little inground safe.

I caught the look of triumph before he wiped it off his face and pasted on a smile.

”Isn't this a surprise? Aren't you supposed to be at the Smithsonian?” I asked.

”Not until two.” He indicated my phone. ”Who were you talking to?”

I could have told him it was none of his business, but it didn't seem like a good idea.

”Olivia Upshaw. She says you can still get me into the Arts and Industries Building to take photos tomorrow.” He didn't say anything, so I went on like this was a normal conversation. ”Why don't we settle on a time now? I've got to get back to town for another meeting so I can't stay . . .”

He put his hand on my wrist, circling his fingers around it with unmistakable pressure. ”You're not going anywhere.”

”Let go of me, David.”

He pulled the phone out of my hand and shoved it in his pocket. ”Why don't we go for a little walk in the woods? They're planning to expand the cemetery in the next few years, right behind Arlington House. I think we ought to take a look.”

He wrenched my camera bag off my shoulder and twisted my arm so it was pinned behind my back. It hurt and I knew he meant to cause me pain. The day I met him he'd talked about his mother having a Jack-and-Jesus wall in their home and how often he'd visited the Eternal Flame with her as a kid. He probably knew this cemetery pretty well. And she was devoted to St. Francis of a.s.sisi. He probably knew the monastery garden equally well.

”Let go of me and give me back my phone and my camera bag.”

He slid his other arm around my throat and leaned close to my ear. ”Start walking, Sophie.” He applied a little pressure. ”Do as I say.”

I gagged and he released his chokehold.

I refused to give him the pleasure of telling him he hurt me. Or that he scared me. ”Did you follow me from the Castle?”

He gave me a heavy-lidded look. ”Your GPS settings are turned on in your phone. I was able to track you quite easily.” This time his smile really was a leer. ”New technology. My clients teach me things all the time. Now get moving. I've got a gun.”

If he brought it, he meant to use it. I said, with more bravado than I felt, ”What are you going to do? Kill me? Is this what you did to Kevin? Threaten him first, then kill him?”

”I don't know what you're talking about.” But his grip tightened and he shoved my arm hard enough to make me wince.

Just keep him talking, keep distracting him.

”Sure you do,” I said. ”You came to London, too, didn't you? You were the one who met Will Tennant at the Chelsea Physic Garden.”

His expression turned ugly. ”You've certainly been busy asking questions. You're smarter than I thought you were.”

”Not smart enough to put the paperwork for Kevin's book in a safe place so you wouldn't find it when you broke into my apartment,” I said. ”They have security cameras at Asquith's, you know. Who was the woman? Who's helping you?”

”The courier who picked up that book has no idea who she got it for,” he said. ”I'm not stupid. Get moving.”

”You came to the Tidal Basin the day I met Kevin. Neither of us saw you, but when I downloaded the pictures I took that day, I saw a man by the Roosevelt Memorial. You were only there for a moment and then you never showed up in any more pictures, almost like a ghost. But it was you.”

He didn't reply, but a muscle tightened in his jaw and I knew I was right.

”Why did you lie when you met me in the Ripley Garden?” I asked. ”You said you came from the Chihuly exhibit at the Hirshhorn, except it had closed a week earlier. What were you doing at the Smithsonian? Were you meeting someone?”

”None of your business.”

”It had to be Yasmin,” I said. ”Kevin talked to her after he left me at the Tidal Basin and advised her not to go through with the wedding when he saw the two of you together at the engagement party. I think he guessed you were having an affair. Yasmin called you because she must have been panicked that Kevin found out, so you came by to see her.”

”Kevin should have minded his own business.”

”One of you went to talk to him later at the monastery garden. Yasmin showed up early for a meeting with her mother and me at five o'clock, but you could have gone over there, too, after you left me at the Smithsonian. I think Yasmin was so upset by the idea that Kevin might say something to Victor about your affair that either she or you tried to stop Kevin. One of you killed him.”

David frog-marched me around the side of the house. ”That stupid little b.i.t.c.h has been more trouble than she's worth,” he said with venom. ”She thinks she can manipulate anyone, including that fool Jaine. Now stop talking and get moving.”

I ignored him. ”Did you kill Alastair Innes, too? Arrange an accident for him? Or did you have help in England?”