Copper Beach

44

“WELL, OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT I WOULDN’T do something dumb like open the door and make a perfect target out of myself,” Abby said. She patted Newton’s head. “I watch TV like everyone else. You don’t charge into an unknown situation. But Newton is a lot shorter than me. I knew that no one would be expecting a dog to be the first one through the door.”

Newton licked her hand. She fed him another treat, his fourth or fifth, Sam thought. He had lost count.

Sam raised his glass. “Here’s to Newton.”

“To Newton,” Willow said.

“To Newton,” Elias repeated.

The four of them were sitting in the living room of the big house. A fire burned brightly on the wide stone hearth. The Coppersmith employees and their families had returned to their island lodgings, preparing to leave in the morning. The county sheriff and a deputy had come and gone, taking Gerald Frye’s body with them.

Everyone seemed to think that Frye had died of a heart attack. There was, Sam thought, nothing to indicate otherwise. He looked at his ring and thought about the raw power he had pulled from the small Phoenix crystal. So much energy from just a tiny stone.

“Not to take away anything from Newton’s act of derring–do,” Abby said, “but it’s obvious that Sam had the situation under control before Newton and I arrived.”

“Don’t be so sure of that.” Sam swallowed some of his whiskey and set the glass down on the arm of his chair. He gazed into the flames. “In a weird way, I think it was knowing that you were coming down the hall and that you would open the door that gave me the juice I needed to break through the trance.”

“You would have escaped from the dreamstate with or without me,” Abby said, with conviction.

Willow smiled. “You have a lot of confidence in my son.”

Abby raised her glass. “Another professional.”

Elias studied her with keen interest. “How did you know?”

“Know what?” Abby asked.

“That Sam was in danger?”

Abby rubbed Newton’s ears. “I just knew. And there was a huge sense of urgency about the knowing. I knew he had set a trap in the lab, so that was the logical place to go first.” She glared at Sam. “I thought you had set up cameras to photograph the killer when he went after the prism.”

Willow frowned. “Yes, that was the plan.”

“I changed the plan,” Sam said. He took his attention off the flames and looked at Abby. “Did you know that Frye was in the lab with me?”

“I wasn’t certain, but I had a feeling he might be there, because Jenny O’Connell was alone. Frye had been with her most of the day, but suddenly she was on her own. When I realized the door was unlocked, I flattened myself against the wall, just like they do on the cop shows, and sent Newton in.” She smiled, not bothering to conceal her pride. “And it worked great. Except that you had already taken out Frye, so in the end, it was something of a nonevent.”

“Trust me, it was not a nonevent from my perspective,” Sam said. He drank some more whiskey. He was still riding a post-burn buzz, but he was going to crash soon.

Elias scowled at him. “Why didn’t you tell us that you suspected Frye was the one who would walk into your trap?”

“He didn’t tell you because he didn’t want to get it wrong,” Abby said quietly. “Sam knows what it’s like to be falsely accused.”

Willow sighed. “I understand. So does Elias. It’s just that you took such a risk, Sam.”

“A calculated risk,” Sam said. He drank some more whiskey. “What I did not factor into the equation was the possibility that Frye might have another prism weapon. Also, I didn’t factor in Abby.”

“Or Newton,” Abby said.

“No,” Sam said. He smiled and rested his head against the back of the chair. The exhaustion was starting to seep through him. “I didn’t make allowances for Newton, either.”

Elias shook his head in disgust. “There were a few things that I failed to factor in, too. All these years I’ve been watching for a single lab book to surface. Knox and I were aware of only the one notebook containing the record of the experiments. It never dawned on us that Ray Willis had filled up a second notebook with the results of experiments that he ran in secret.”

“The question now,” Sam said, “is where did Gerald Frye stash the other notebook?”

“With luck, it will be among his personal possessions,” Elias said. “We need to get someone inside his house as fast as possible to search the place.”

“I can do it after I’ve had some sleep,” Sam said.

“Forget it,” Elias said. “I’ll handle the search first thing in the morning. According to Frye’s personnel records, he had no close family. No one will think it strange if his employer takes charge of his personal possessions until someone arrives who is authorized to claim them.”

“Which may be never,” Sam said.

Elias shook his head. “I still can’t believe that we spent the past few days thinking that the threat was coming from Lander Knox. When all along, Gerald Frye was right there in the Black Box lab, plotting against us.”

“I think we’ve still got a problem with Lander Knox,” Sam said.

“You’re right,” Abby said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions here. Did Gerald Frye kill Thaddeus Webber and that other book dealer?”

“No,” Sam said. He steepled his hands and contemplated the fire. “He didn’t have the connections in the underground market to identify those dealers, let alone locate them. Someone else murdered those two people.”

“What about the thugs who tried to kidnap me? Do you think Frye hired them?”

“No. Whoever murdered Webber sent that pair to keep watch for you.”

“Lander Knox,” Elias said grimly. “He’s still out there.”

“I agree with you,” Sam said. “We’ll find him. But the process of connecting all the dots will have to wait until morning. I can’t think clearly enough to do that tonight.”

“You need sleep,” Willow said.

Abby nodded. “Yes, you do.”

“I’m not arguing.” Sam pushed himself up out of the chair. “If you will all excuse me, I’m going to crash.”

He started toward the bedroom stairs.

“One more thing before you leave,” Elias said.

Sam paused and turned back. “What?”

“You said Frye told you that his mother had an affair with Ray Willis and that Willis entrusted her with that other notebook.”

“Yes,” Sam said. “Willis didn’t want you and Knox to know about those experiments.”

“What about the missing crystals?” Elias asked. “The ones he used in the field tests? Knox and I searched for them after the explosion, but we never found them.”

“I don’t have the answer to that question,” Sam said. “All I can tell you is that Frye made it clear he did not have them. That was one of the reasons he was so desperate to get his hands on the Coppersmith crystals. He felt that he had been deprived of his inheritance.”

“His inheritance ?” Willow’s eyes widened. “You mean…”

“Of course,” Abby said quietly. “It all makes sense now, including the psychic genetics. Ray Willis was Gerald Frye’s father, the father he never knew.”