Soft Focus (24 page)

Hayden blinked. “What's that supposed to mean? Are you threatening me?”

“No,” Jack said quietly, “I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you that there's an outside chance that this situation could turn dangerous. Elizabeth and I think that Dawson Holland is here for the auction. If that's true, we've all got to watch our backs. Some people are convinced, for example, that he might have arranged the murder of his first two wives in order to collect on an inheritance and some insurance.”

“Dawson Holland?” Hayden stared at him in disbelief. “The guy who's involved in all this film stuff? Where the hell did you get the idea that he's here because of Soft Focus?”

“His wife gave me the idea,” Elizabeth said.

Hayden frowned. “She actually mentioned the specimen and the auction?”

“Well, no, but she sort of implied that it might be a good idea if I got the heck out of Dodge. And last night, after we were stopped on the road, one of the thugs admitted that he had been hired to, quote, ‘deliver a message.' ”

“This is bullshit.” Hayden levered himself up out of his chair. “Pure bullshit.”

“In addition to the warnings,” Jack said coolly, “there is a possibility that the trashing of the Excalibur lab might be connected to the theft.”

“Hard to see how,” Hayden said.

“The Vanguard of Tomorrow crowd doesn't want to claim responsibility. They've certainly been eager enough to take credit for their vandalism in the past. So we have to wonder if there could be another reason for the break-in. Given that
it occurred within hours after Soft Focus disappeared, I think we can assume that it might have been done in an attempt to distract attention from the theft.”

Hayden scowled. “You're starting to sound like some kind of conspiracy nut.” But he appeared reluctantly thoughtful now.

“And there is one other outstanding matter that has not been resolved to our satisfaction,” Elizabeth said very quietly. “A man is dead.”

That got Hayden's attention. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“A lab tech named Ryan Kendle was murdered the night the lab was trashed,” Jack said. “The cops think that he was killed in a drug deal. But it turns out he was working at Excalibur under an assumed identity.”

“Probably because he was involved in the drug scene,” Hayden muttered with exaggerated patience. “Maybe he had a history with the law. You know it's not uncommon for someone to fake a résumé.”

“A few details maybe, but not an entire identity.”

“It happens.”

Jack shrugged. “Yeah. It happens. And I admit there is no direct connection between Kendle and Tyler Page. Kendle didn't even work in the same lab. But I don't like the coincidence.”

Elizabeth went to stand behind the nearest chair. She gripped the back with both hands. “The point here is that it's possible this thing is escalating beyond the normal parameters of high-tech, white-collar crime. In which case it would behoove all three of us to stick together.”

Hayden threw a sour look at Jack. “Forget it. I offered you a deal, Elizabeth, but it sure as hell doesn't extend to Jack.”

“I'm not interested in going into partnership with you,
either,” Jack said. “But you're here. That means you're involved. Tell us what you know about this mess, Hayden.”

Hayden hesitated and then shrugged. “Even if I felt like helping you out, which I don't, I couldn't. I don't know anything useful. I'm here because I got a phone call inviting me to an auction. That's it.”

“Has anyone contacted you since you arrived?” Elizabeth asked sharply.

“Once. The night I got here. I was told that I would get a call just before the auction was scheduled. That was all.” Hayden's mouth thinned. “Until someone tried to run me down tonight, that is.”

“It wasn't me,” Jack said. “But I will give you a warning, Hayden. If, by some bizarre chance, you do get your hands on that specimen, I'll tie you up in court for years even if I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. You'll never be able to use the technology in your own labs.”

Hayden gave him a beatific smile. “Jack, Jack, you just don't get it. I don't give a damn about Soft Focus. All I care about is keeping it out of your hands long enough to kill the deal you've set up with Veltran.”

Elizabeth frowned. “You know about the Veltran presentation?”

Jack took a step toward him. “Who told you?”

“The same person who called to invite me to the auction,” Hayden said. “Guess he wanted to make sure I'd have a good incentive to take part in the bidding. Timing is everything here, isn't it? If you don't get Soft Focus back by the presentation date, you might as well scrub the whole project.”

“Tyler Page.” Jack glanced at Elizabeth. “He's the only one who could have known about the timing of the Veltran presentation.”

“We've known all along that he was the thief,” Elizabeth
said. “Nothing new there.” She looked at Hayden. “One more thing. Did you ever meet with Tyler Page in a hotel room?”

“Hell, no, I've never met the guy anywhere. Didn't even know he existed until I got that phone call telling me that a specimen of a crash-research project at Excalibur had disappeared.”

Elizabeth traded glances with Jack. He shrugged but did not say anything.

She looked at Hayden. “Think about what you're doing here. If you keep us from making the Veltran presentation, it won't be just Jack who gets hurt. Excalibur will go down the tubes, too. A lot of innocent people will be put out of work. A family heritage will be destroyed.”

“You know what they say about making omelets,” Hayden murmured. “Gotta break a few eggs.”

“What a perfectly disgusting thing to say.” Elizabeth picked up her purse. “Jack was right. You're so obsessed with your need for revenge that you're willing to do something stupid and vicious. And you've got the nerve to accuse your brother of being ruthless.”

“How the hell can you defend him after the way he screwed you over not once, but twice,” Hayden demanded.

“My differences with Jack stem from the Galloway takeover,” she said tightly. “I didn't like what happened two years ago and I didn't like the way he handled it. But I can understand his motive.”

“To make a nice profit,” Hayden drawled.

Elizabeth threw her hands into the air, beyond exasperated now. “I told you, he did it for your brother Larry's sake.”

Hayden's expression tightened again. “You might be willing to buy that story, but I'm not.”

“Why don't you pick up the phone and ask Larry for the truth?” Elizabeth suggested through her teeth. She looked at Jack. “I've had enough of this. Let's get out of here.”

“Whatever you say.” He followed her to the door.

Neither of them looked back at Hayden as they went out into the hall. They waited for the elevator in silence. When the cab arrived, Elizabeth stepped inside. Jack followed.

She gazed determinedly at the closed doors. “That was my fault.”

“Your fault?”

“That scene with Hayden. I'm sorry about it. I honestly thought I could talk some sense into him. I didn't realize he would be so . . . so rigid.”

“Told you so.”

“Yes. You did mention it once or twice.”

Jack exhaled slowly. “He hates me, Elizabeth.”

“I agree that something is eating him up inside and he's projecting it outward, focusing those feelings on you. But I don't think he really hates you.”

“Has anyone ever told you that your naïveté is quite charming at times?”

“Vicky mentioned it this afternoon. She seemed to think it was an unfortunate character flaw.”

Jack smiled slowly. He caught her chin on the edge of his hand and leaned down to kiss her briefly, a quick, hard, hungry kiss that left her slightly breathless. She gazed at him, wide-eyed.

“What was that for?” she asked.

“For championing my honor and my integrity back there in that hotel room.”

She flushed. “Don't be ridiculous. We both know you didn't try to scare off Hayden by nearly running him down this afternoon.”

“I know it.” Jack's eyes gleamed. “But how can you be so certain? You weren't with me.”

“That kind of thing just isn't your style,” she said brusquely. “You might confront him. You
did
confront him, in fact. But you wouldn't use scare tactics, especially not the kind that could result in physical injury or . . . or worse.”

“Not my style, hmm?”

“What's so funny?” she demanded.

“Nothing. It's just that I recall saying something very similar to you after we watched that video.”

Silence fell again. Elizabeth said nothing as they walked through the lobby and out into the resort parking lot. She waited until she was in the car and Jack was behind the wheel.

“About Garth Galloway,” she said quietly.

He paused, his hand on the ignition. He glanced her way, his eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. “What about him?”

She gazed straight ahead at the row of parked cars in front of her. “For the record, Garth and I had begun to have problems before you launched your assault on Galloway. I suspected that he, well, it's not important now.”

“You knew that he was seeing someone else?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “What I'm trying to say is that the engagement would have ended even if the takeover had never occurred. I delayed the inevitable because I didn't want to abandon Garth and Camille while they were under siege. It just didn't seem right, somehow. They were old friends of the family. I had known them both for so long, you see.”

Jack folded his hands on top of the steering wheel and stared out over the hood of the car. “You didn't answer my question. Did you love him?”

“Whatever it was I felt for Garth, it was founded on lies
and errors in judgment. My judgment. As Vicky Bellamy once told me, nothing is ever quite what it seems in the movies or in real life.”

He turned with unexpected speed, whipping around in the seat, catching her by the shoulders, hauling her toward him. “Don't give me that bullshit.
Did you love him?
”

She went very still, hardly daring to breathe. “Back at the beginning? Yes, I loved him. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

His jaw tightened. She could see her own reflection in the lenses of his glasses.

“No,” he said. “It's not what I wanted to hear. But I had to know the truth.”

“Stop it,” she ordered gently.

“What?”

She touched his taut jaw with her fingertips. “Garth killed my love for him before you came on the scene, Jack. You've got some things to answer for because of what you did to Galloway, but wrecking my engagement is not on the list. You don't have to assume responsibility for destroying the great love of my life, okay?”

“Was it the great love of your life?”

“No.” She hesitated. “It was nice while I thought that it was real. But looking back, it never was great.”

He did not move for a long moment, just sat there studying her intently from behind the shield of his sunglasses.

“I told you once that if I had to do the Galloway deal again, I would,” he said, as if he wanted to be certain she understood.

“I know. Because of your brother Larry.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something else but changed his mind. He bent his head and kissed her instead.

It was a different kind of kiss, unlike any of the others she
had received from him. There was a deeply buried hunger in it, not for sex, she realized, but for something else. Something more. Absolution?

Whatever it was, she sensed the need and could not resist the appeal. She put her arms on his shoulders and kissed him back, not with the fire and passion that his kisses usually induced in her, but softly, gently. Offering him the forgiveness he seemed to be searching for in the embrace.

He wrapped her close against him and held her very tightly. It was a long time before he released her, turned the key in the ignition, and drove out of the parking lot.

He said nothing, but she saw the grim, unyielding plane of his jaw and she knew a sense of failure. He had not gotten whatever it was he had wanted from her.

If it wasn't forgiveness he had been seeking, what had he been searching for in that kiss?

SHORTLY BEFORE EIGHT
the following evening, Elizabeth took her seat in the first row of the balcony and watched the festivalgoers arrive for the awards ceremony. It had been her idea to attend this evening. She was convinced that Tyler Page would want to be here to see if his film or Vicky Bellamy won an award. Jack had agreed that it was possible Page would break cover for the event.