“And that was when the nightmares started?”
She nodded. “A few weeks after I came to live at the residence. The first day, I could feel a kind of bewilderment from her that I didn’t understand; and then I couldn’t reach her. I called Felicity and she said that Sylvie was fine. She was just on a new medicine that was making her a little fuzzy. They were trying to adjust it. I called the sanitarium and they told me the same thing. So I thought it was okay.” She whispered, “But I was still scared. I felt so alone without her.”
And perhaps that was the reason why a strong, sophisticated, Darcy had clung to Cara during these last months. “Evidently you should have been afraid for her,” Cara said gently. “You believe that’s when…” She hesitated on how to put it. “You lost her?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t reach Sylvie. My mother had told me she was going on a cruise, and I couldn’t get hold of her either. But the sanitarium kept giving me reports that Sylvie was getting better. I don’t know anything about this.” Her hand was nervously clutching and releasing the blanket covering her. “But I’ve got to find out, don’t I? Since I saw her this afternoon, I’ve been just trying to survive and face the idea I don’t have her any longer … that I’m alone. It’s … hard.”
“I know it is.”
“I never expected to have her with me always. She’s been ill all her life.” She looked out at the lake. “But she shouldn’t have had a year, a day, not even one moment stolen from her. And someone did that, Cara.” She said wonderingly, “A bullet? Why? If you could have known her … It would be like shooting a baby deer. There’s no sense to it.”
“There are crazy people out there. Sense probably doesn’t enter into a crime like this.”
“But I have to understand.” She pushed back her hair. “Felicity must have lied to me. And so did the sanitarium. Why?”
“You don’t have to deal with this now. Give yourself a little time. Once I tell Joe what happened, he’ll be on it right away. He’ll get your answers for you.”
“Will he? You trust him, so I have to trust him. But in the end, I’m the one who has to find Sylvie’s answers. I took care of her, I made certain I protected the joy that had been given to her when so much else had been taken away.” Her voice was unsteady. “So I have to take care of her in this one last way.” She drew a deep, shaky breath. “But maybe not just now. I seem to be falling apart again.” She sat up in the swing. “I’d better go back to bed and pull myself together to prepare for tomorrow when I have to face Eve … and Sylvie. I have to know what happened here. Will you pave the way for me?”
“I’ll be there with you.”
“No, it’s going to be difficult, and you’d try to spare me. I have to do it on my own.” She suddenly turned and gave Cara a fierce hug. “Thank you.” The words were muffled in Cara’s shoulder. “I’m sorry that I’ve caused you so much—” She released her and jumped to her feet. “Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She strode quickly into the house.
Cara slowly got to her feet and stood looking out at the woods. Eve had told her that the man who had delivered the skull had stood out there watching the house before he’d made his move. He was not there now she knew. She trusted that Joe was keeping him far at bay, if he was out there in the darkness at all. But the answers that Darcy was going to get from Eve tomorrow about the reconstruction were going to be as upsetting as she thought it would be.
Because it would include that man lurking in the darkness with her twin’s skull occupying that gold-foil box.
But she would pave the way with Eve as Darcy had asked her to do. Tell her the tragic story of Sylvie that had not really been tragic until that bullet had taken her life. It had been the story of self-sacrifice and togetherness and finding joy in every moment. Eve would understand and be able to bond with Darcy even as she presented her with the terrible reality of Sylvie’s death and the puzzle that surrounded it.
Puzzle.
But there was another aspect of the puzzle she had to confront that she’d not confided to Eve. She’d been too bewildered and uncertain that there had been any connection.
But she couldn’t take the chance.
Call him now?
No question.
She took her phone out of the pocket of her robe and dialed quickly.
Jock answered in two rings. “It’s three in the morning. What’s wrong?”
“All sorts of things. It’s not what—”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.” Of course that would be his first concern after last night. “It’s not me.”
“Eve? Michael?”
“No. Let me talk, Jock.”
“Talk.”
“I just didn’t want you to waste time searching for someone who was trying to kill me when maybe he wasn’t.”
“Cara.”
“That didn’t come out right. Or maybe it did. I’m tired, and my head is spinning. I’m trying to say that I might not have been the target last night. Maybe I just came into the suite at the wrong time. And perhaps when he found out that I wasn’t Darcy, that was the reason he didn’t finish the job and ran out.”
“Darcy? You believe he was after Darcy? Why?”
“I don’t know yet. And maybe it wasn’t me who was being watched. You didn’t find any evidence from your contacts in Moscow. It’s a possibility, right?”
“Not nearly as possible as your being the target. Are you trying to find a reason why you should keep your promise to Kaskov?”
“I don’t have to find a reason, the promise is the reason itself.” She paused. “And I didn’t even think of a threat to Darcy until I walked in and saw that skull, and even then it took me a little time to—”
“Skull?” The word came cracking through the phone.
“Sylvie’s skull.” She hurried through the explanation to ward off the storm she knew was on the horizon. “So you can see it would be too much of a coincidence to have a link like this to Darcy in the same week as the attack on me.”
Silence. “I can also see no reason why that skull was delivered to Eve in Atlanta, Georgia, when Sylvie was presumably killed in Zurich, Switzerland. Unless Darcy’s mother lied about Sylvie’s still being at the sanitarium there. And why involve Eve at all … unless it was because you were sharing that suite with Darcy. So was she targeted, or were you?” He was silent again, and she could almost hear his mind ticking through all the possibilities. “I don’t like any of it. Too many variables. Too many unanswered questions. I think I liked it better when I had the option that I could just zero in on any of Kaskov’s enemies who popped up on the radar.”
“I don’t,” Cara said. “And I don’t like it that a sick woman was murdered for God knows what reason. Or that Eve is involved, and I’m not certain if it’s my fault. Or that Darcy is going through the pain of losing her sister.”
“And you’re identifying with her,” Jock said quietly.
“Yes. I’m identifying with everyone. All of them are innocent, and I want it to go away for them. Why do you think I called you in the middle of the night? You’re my best friend, and I didn’t want to be alone with this. Tomorrow, I’ll have to be strong. Not tonight. So I’m reaching out.”
“You’re not alone. I’ll always be here.”
She closed her eyes. He had told her that before, but it was good to hear it again. Always. She wanted so desperately to believe it. She could almost see him, his face intent, smiling at her. “I know.” She drew a deep breath. “And now I’ll go to bed, and you’ll probably do nothing of the sort since I’ve set your mind to working.”
“Good guess. But I will wait a couple hours before I call Quinn and get together with him on contacting Sylvie’s sanitarium and to try reaching her mother.”
“You’re calling Joe?” She paused. “I didn’t tell Eve about last night yet.”
“Somehow, I thought it might have slipped your mind,” he said dryly. “I told you I was going to call him. There was no way I was going to let you go down there without Quinn’s knowing there was a threat.”