“Oh, I intend to.” He took the sketchbook and opened it to the first sketch. He gazed at it for a moment. “She’s … changed.”
“Has she? I wouldn’t know. But you would. You’re related to her in some way, aren’t you? The shape of your eyes is so similar. Nothing else jumped out at me when she started making me draw these sketches. But that was very familiar. I thought I must have known her sometime in the past. Why else would I be drawing those damn sketches?”
“Why else indeed?” He turned to the next sketches. He went still as he reached the one that showed the blood pouring from Lisa’s cut lip. “When was this one?”
“The night before I left Lake Cottage. Who is she to you?”
He didn’t answer. He was going slowly through the last sketches, scanning every detail. “This is the last one? When?”
“Last night.” She repeated, “Who is she to you?”
“Every time you go to sleep? She reaches out to you then?”
“She says that’s practically the only time she can. She’s very angry about it.”
“She would be. Lisa’s never patient about anything.”
“I found that out. I should have known she was related to you. You want things all your own way, too.”
“But I’ve learned sometimes I have to wait. You should have seen me when I was her age.”
“What is her age? She looks younger in those first few sketches, but I can’t tell now from the most recent ones.”
“Lisa is nineteen now.” He looked back at the last sketches. “And she’s evidently maturing rapidly with what’s going on with her. That’s not good.” He glanced up at Jane. “You mentioned she said it was the only way she could communicate. Then she is reaching you in other ways than through the sketches?”
“Briefly. She’s angry about that, too. She says she’s having to teach herself.” Jane looked him directly in the eye. “And I’m not answering one more question until I get answers myself. I have an idea I was pulled into this because of you, and I don’t like it, Caleb.”
“Neither do I.” His lips twisted. “Or maybe I do. I didn’t mean to do it, but it could be a way to get what I want. You know what a selfish bastard I am.”
“Yes. Now tell me who she is to you.”
“My sister. Lisa Ridondo is my sister.” He flipped back to the last sketch, in which Lisa was gazing down at the cliff. “Did she tell you where this cliff is located?”
“No, and that’s not enough information. Why did you say she’s changed? How long has it been since you’ve seen her?”
“Five years.”
“Not exactly a close family relationship.”
“It was better for her.”
“Not if it ended with her being beaten up and forced to climb down cliffs.”
“It was better at the time.”
“Why?”
“I was a threat to her.”
“Evidently you let someone else take over that threat. She’s scared, dammit. She won’t show it, but she’s scared.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Not likely. Not if you couldn’t even stand being around her for the past five years.”
“Shut up.” He was suddenly on his knees beside her, his dark eyes blazing in his taut face. He grasped her shoulders and his fingers dug into her flesh. “Not now, Jane. I can’t take it now.”
Fury.
Wildness.
And something else that made the response she intended to make die unspoken on Jane’s lips.
She was silent a moment. “Let me go, Caleb. You’re hurting me. I’m not the enemy.”
He slowly released her. “Of course you’re not.” He was totally in control again. “But you have a tongue that tends to sting on occasion. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you.”
“And so you should. But perhaps not right now.” She scooted away from him. “Because I need to know what’s happening. I made Lisa a promise and I have to know why she made me give it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You saw what she wrote in blood on that table. ‘He must not come. Only you.’ I didn’t know what she was talking about. But it was clear that any help had to come from me. The mysterious ‘he’ wasn’t to be involved. Tonight when I was going over everything I remembered about her and the sketches, that was very clear. And I realized that it was you she was talking about.” She paused. “I thought you might be an enemy she didn’t trust. I still wasn’t sure when I broke in here.”
“Why should you be?” His lips twisted. “I’ve always been the enemy.”
“Not always. But you’ve always been the unknown quotient.” She added impatiently, “Because you won’t let anyone close enough to know what you’re thinking. Look at you right now. You’re still mocking and arrogant, and yet I know you’re hurting.”
“Do you?”
“Stop it,” she said. “Or maybe you can’t stop. Maybe it’s gone on too long. But I have to know what’s happening so that I can help that girl.”
His faint smile vanished. “She trusts me, Jane,” he said quietly. “She knows I’m not the enemy. I’d sense it if there was any change in that. But I don’t know why she doesn’t want me to go and help her.”
“Then we’ll have to figure it out,” she said. “I take it you don’t recognize any of the background features. Not the mountains, garden, cliffs?”
He shook his head. “I’ve never seen them.”
“I have Joe trying to identify them. He’s also doing facial recognition on Lisa. I’ll tell him to stop that now. Lisa Ridondo, not Lisa Caleb?”
“No, I took my uncle’s name when I left my home in Italy and moved to Scotland.” He shrugged. “It seemed best under the circumstances. I was persona non grata among my dear family.” He handed her the sketchbook. “I believe it’s going to be a long night. Why don’t you make us some coffee down at the campfire while I get some clothes on?”
“That’s right, you’re still naked. I’d forgotten.”
“That would have been a terrible blow if I believed you.” He got to his feet. “But since my ego won’t permit it, I’ll survive.” He turned away and reached for his clothes. “The coffee, Jane.”
*
The coffee was hot by the time Caleb joined Jane at the campfire. “That smells good.” He sat down. “I had to make a couple calls, or I would have been down here sooner.”
“I wasn’t timing you.” Jane handed him a cup of coffee. “Though I wasn’t thinking about telephone calls. I was considering the possibility that you might need a little time to pull yourself together like a normal person. Silly me.”
“Normal? Yes, silly you.”
She took a sip of her coffee. “Not so silly. Not about Lisa. I think you feel something for her.” She frowned. “And I think she feels something for you. She wasn’t afraid of you; it was for you. She’s trying to protect you, isn’t she?”
“I don’t know. It’s a possibility. At any rate, I can’t let her do it.”
“It may be difficult to stop it.” She tapped her chest. “Only me.”
“Bullshit. She belongs to me.”
“She belongs to herself. And I made her a promise. I may let you help, but I can’t involve you.”
His dark eyes were glittering. “You’ll have no choice.”
“I always have a choice. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” She met his eyes. “And I won’t know how to make it until I know everything surrounding this, Caleb. I want the whole story, not just a glimpse at the outline.”
He didn’t speak.
“I mean it, Caleb. Lisa said that she couldn’t reach anyone else but me because I was the only one who had the connection. I think she was talking about my connection to you and her connection to you. Somehow it enabled her to reach me. But she didn’t try to contact you. She was desperate not to involve you. So if she decides I’ve betrayed her by bringing you into this, she might break her contact with me. She’d be alone then, Caleb. I won’t permit that to happen.” Her voice was shaking with intensity. “She tries to be strong, but she’s scared and vulnerable. She’s not going to be alone.”
Another moment of silence.
“I can see that.” He looked away from her and down into the coffee in his cup. “Okay. No outlines. But it goes back a long time. You might wish you’d opted for the abbreviated version.”