There was no doubt this woman was Jessica. In death her face looked as soft and gentle as in life. That gentleness had always been his impression of Cassie’s doctor. He had never been sure that her methods were right, but he’d never doubted the fact that she cared about his daughter.
Until she’d taken his daughter away.
Now he had to deal with a wild card. How did he know what kind of psycho Melissa Riley had turned out to be after those years in withdrawal? He’d felt some comfort when Jessica had called and told him Cassie was safe. There was no comfort at all now.
He turned away from the coffin. “Shut it up.”
17
Dawn was lighting the sky when Melissa came back to the cottage.
Travis met her at the door with a cup of coffee. She took a swallow before she asked, “Cassie?”
“I just checked her,” Galen said from the chair across the room. “I think she’s asleep.” He grimaced. “Though I’m not sure how you can tell.”
“I’ll take a look.” She opened the bedroom door. Cassie was curled up on the bed across the room. “Cassie.”
She sensed a withdrawal, a scuttling away. Melissa didn’t know to what extent Cassie had been aware of what was going on at the museum, but it had frightened her enough to make her retreat. How far she’d gone Melissa would have to find out later. “Everything’s okay, Cassie. Just rest. We’ll talk later.” She shut the door and came back into the living room. “She’s not asleep, but she’s all right for now.” She sat down on the window seat and leaned back. “How safe are we here?”
“I’ve arranged to have some of my guys positioned around the beach, so we’ll have warning. On a scale of one to a hundred, I’d give it a sixty,” Galen said. “It was a seventy before you made Travis snatch the Wind Dancer. It will go down to a forty if Andreas decides to release the story about the theft.”
“He hasn’t done that yet?”
“Not yet.” Travis sat down on the couch across from Melissa. “He may be waiting for us to contact him and make a deal.”
“Why would he do that?”
“It’s the smartest way to dispose of an art treasure that’s instantly recognized by everyone in the world. The only alternative would be to sell it to some closet collector who would bury it in a vault somewhere.”
“Would Deschamps have contacted Andreas?”
“I believe he has another agenda.”
“What agenda?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time some weirdo fixated on the statue.”
“And if Andreas did agree to deal, it would probably be so he could set a trap?”
“That’s my reading. Getting Cassie well is what’s been driving him all these months. The statue’s been in his family for centuries, but he’d give it up in a heartbeat to find Cassie. That’s all he really wants.”
Melissa nodded slowly. “And to get the terrorist who did this to her. He doesn’t know it’s Deschamps, right?”
Travis shook his head.
“But he has the power to locate Deschamps for us?”
“Maybe. But it wouldn’t be for us. If we told him Deschamps was the man at Vasaro, he’d go after him himself.”
“Then maybe we wouldn’t tell him. We could just use him for information.”
“Use Andreas? He’s not that pliable.”
“Stop putting roadblocks in my path.” Her lips tightened. “You’re the one who caused all these damned complications. What’s our alternative? I suppose you could spend some of those diamonds and buy the information.”
He grimaced. “I’d rather not.” He paused. “Actually, I’m going to retrieve the diamond I gave Thomas.”
“Why?”
“I need to get Karlstadt off my back. Having to dodge him will get in my way of finding Deschamps.”
“Even if you get the diamond from Thomas, you won’t be able to retrieve the ones I gave to Guilliame,” Galen reminded him. “They’re probably in the possession of either the French police or the CIA by now.”
“I can work around that. Karlstadt won’t like it, but if the diamonds are in a secure place and not in circulation, I can probably stall and keep him from taking a contract out on me.”
“They’re still not going to be in his pocket. What difference would their not being in circulation make?”
“All the difference in the world.” He took a sip of his coffee. “The diamonds are not exactly what they seem.”
Melissa’s eyes widened. “They’re phony?”
“It depends on how you look at it.”