“Not if I could help it.” He smiled at Cara. “You like him?”
She nodded. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
Caleb looked at Eve. “I believe that’s our cue to leave.” He took her elbow to help her over the rocky terrain toward his car parked on the road. “I’ll keep her safe, I promise, Cara.”
Cara nodded and went back to her digging.
“Jock has her completely fooled,” he said quietly. “She thinks he’s some kind of Boy Scout. Are you going to tell her about him?”
“Not if I don’t have to do it.”
“Because she’s a child?”
She shook her head. “She’s not really a child. Because she’s half-right, he wouldn’t hurt anyone he didn’t have to hurt. He is what she believes him to be. He didn’t try to fool her, he was just being himself. I don’t want her to think everyone she reaches out to is a threat.”
“Well, I don’t have that problem with Cara.” He opened the car door for her. “If you’ve noticed, she regards me with the same wariness that everyone else does. I’m surprised that she permitted me to take her Eve away without her.”
Eve glanced at him, her eyes twinkling. “But you were vouched for by Jock. That makes you totally acceptable.”
He started the car. “Until she reaches the age of intimidation. Then I’d have my work cut out for me.” He glanced at Jane sitting on a rock and going through a box of papers. “Wouldn’t I, Eve?”
“Yes,” she said bluntly. “But even Jane allowed me to go off with you without protest. She either trusts me to take care of myself, or you’ve made inroads on her trusting you.”
“Which do you think?”
“I have no idea. I know you usually don’t give a damn about anyone’s trusting you. But Jane may be different.” Her gaze narrowed on his face. “Is she different for you, Caleb?”
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
“Are you going to answer me?”
“So that you can rush to protect her?”
“I’ll always do that.”
“She’s … different. I won’t hurt her … if I can help it.”
“That’s not good enough.”
He suddenly smiled recklessly. “It’s all you’ll get from me. It’s more than I’ve ever given before. She fights me, and that makes me … angry.”
“That’s not what you were going to say.” Her gaze was still reading him. “I think you were going to say it hurts. Were you?”
“Me?” He shook his head mockingly. “Why would you think I would succumb to that particular weakness? No one else believes that I would ever be that soft.”
“I know you would never admit it. I don’t know why I asked.”
“Neither do I.” He took out a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “Jock gave me this map. He thought you might want to look it over. He told me to take you to the lake. It’s the only area that has access from the north. From the south, anyone coming would be easily spotted.”
She unfolded the map and checked it out. “By all means, let’s go to the lake.”
* * *
Gaelkar Loch was large, deep, crystal blue, and surrounded by craggy hills that fell steeply to its green banks. The north bank was bathed in thick gray mist that not only shadowed the lake itself but obscured a good fourth of the massive hills that hovered over it.
Eve felt suddenly small and overwhelmed as she stood on the edge of the steep slope nearest the road and looked out at the blue water and that ghostly mist. “What is it?” she murmured. “I’ve been to the Alps and I never felt…”
Caleb nodded. “It’s principally that heavy fog. MacDuff tells me that it never goes away. Most unusual. It makes the place seem a bit menacing. It’s easy to imagine that anything could happen in those mists. There are all kinds of legends about it. The locals say that it could hide the beginning or the end of the world.” He shrugged. “Some people feel it, some people don’t. It does manage to capture the imagination. These Highlands have been battlegrounds and full of pain and savagery for centuries. I’m sure that Cira was a part of those battles.”
“But you feel it? You weren’t born here either, were you?”
“No, my family settled in Italy centuries ago.” He grimaced. “Much to the dismay of the villagers who were there before them. It seems my ancestors were far more intimidating than I am, and the villagers didn’t understand the gift that was passed down through the family.”
“Imagine that,” Eve murmured.
“But I do have a home a few hundred miles from here now. I like the wildness of the Highlands.” He smiled. “I think I would have bonded with Cira.”
“I believe you would, too.” She looked back at the lake. “MacDuff believes Cira is Jane’s ancestor.”
He nodded. “But that means nothing to me. I want Jane exactly what she is, what she’s made of herself.” He inclined his head mockingly at Eve. “What you’ve made her.” His smile faded. “As usual, I have a number of purely selfish interests in coming here, but one of them is to help you, Eve. I won’t let anything happen to you or Cara.” Then the smile was back. “Jane would have my head, and that’s not the part of my anatomy I’m interested in giving her.”
Outrageous. Totally outrageous. But she still had trouble smothering a smile. “It depends on how you look at it. But I do thank you for any help. There are many reasons why I need everything to go smoothly while we’re here.”
“Smoothly. What a curious word to use in this case.” He looked at her speculatively. “And you’re usually very clear and concise.”
“It’s just a word, Caleb.” She could have bitten her tongue. The word had come out of nowhere. Everything had to be smooth. She had to take every care so that the child would be able to survive these next weeks. But Caleb was sharp and intuitive, and he had caught that subtle inference. “Stop reading something into—” Her phone rang, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She took the cell out of her pocket and her relief was gone in an instant.
Joe.
“I’ve got to take this.” She walked a few yards away from Caleb as she punched the access. “Is there a problem, Joe?”
“The forensic report came back yesterday. Salazar knows that you and Cara weren’t in the car.”
She drew a shaky breath. “We knew that was coming. Yesterday? Why didn’t you call me when it first came in?”
“I was a little busy.”
She stiffened. “I don’t like the sound of that. Did Franco come after you?”
“He didn’t get a chance. I made myself unavailable. Something else popped up, and I had to check it out.”
“Joe.”
“I’m going to tell you. That’s why I’m calling. It may be a way we can manipulate the situation to keep Cara in the U.S. I was in Mexico City checking out a lead one of Manez’s informants handed him.” He paused. “For at least the past six years, Natalie Castino has been sleeping with Salazar. Probably longer than that, but that’s the only time span Manez’s informant knew for sure.”
“What?” Eve was stunned. “There’s got to be a mistake.”
“I was at their little love nest in the hills outside Mexico City. I saw her. She was angry with Salazar. She’d probably just heard about the forensic report.”
“Joe, that doesn’t make sense. It had to be dangerous for her to conduct a liaison with Salazar. If her husband found out, she’d be killed.”
“Maybe she thought it was worth it.” He paused. “Or maybe she was caught in a trap and couldn’t get out.”
“You think that she helped him kidnap the girls,” she whispered. It was almost too horrible to say the words. There was no child more helpless and vulnerable than when a parent was involved. They were automatically thought to be the protector, not the aggressor. “Why, Joe?”
“Manez is trying to find out. He’s digging for more information about her.” He added ruefully, “He didn’t want to believe it. He’s a tough guy, but he probably loves his own mom, a
nd it’s hard for him to make the connection.”
“It’s hard for anyone.” She was having trouble herself. Though she had done a few reconstructions on children who she had later found out had been killed by their parents, it had almost always been an accidental blow. Or by the father to hide proof of molestation. She could remember only two murders committed by a child’s mother, and the women had both been declared by the court to be insane. But then, maybe judges had the same problem as Manez about accepting that a mother could kill her own child. “I don’t understand. It’s not as if she had much to do with Jenny and Cara. You told me that nurses took care of the children, and she and Castino didn’t see that much of them. I’ve seen photos of them while they were with their parents and … they were damn adorable.” She had to steady her voice. “Why would she do it? Was it because she was so obsessed with her lover, Salazar, that she’d do anything he wanted?”
“It’s a possibility, but I don’t believe that’s true. The woman I caught sight of outside that house last night was no weakling. She exuded power, lots of power. What she was doing with Salazar was what she wanted to do.” He added, “And I’d bet that if she was involved in the children’s kidnapping, she wanted that, too.”
“Did Manez give you anything more to go on?”
“He came back with a bare-bones report by the time I got back here to Atlanta. I’ll forward it to you. Not much. She married Castino when she was eighteen and had Jenny only a year later. In Russia, she was Daddy’s little girl and lived the life of a princess. Sergai Kaskov is a Mafia boss, but he evidently adored her and gave her everything she wanted. But maybe she didn’t want to be a princess, she preferred being a queen. When Castino came to Moscow and she heard how powerful his cartel was, he seemed to be what she needed. For the first few years, her life in Mexico was ideal, parties, a husband who was crazy about her, designer clothes, the power she’d never had in Russia.”
“It changed?”
“Not on the surface. She had another child, Cara, a few years after Jenny. The word was that she hadn’t wanted to have another child, but Castino was insisting. He wanted a boy.”
“And he didn’t get one that time either.”
“No. So he wanted to try again. Natalie suddenly became ill and flew home to Moscow to visit her father. She came back eight months later, and she was in fine form and absolutely radiant. Manez said that everyone who saw Natalie and Castino together during that period remarked on how she managed to dazzle Castino again. He wasn’t pleased about her long visit to her father and had taken a mistress. But within a few weeks, he’d sent her away, and Natalie was queen again. She kept him so busy, in bed and out, that he wasn’t pushing about her getting pregnant immediately.”
“If she was that busy with her husband, she wouldn’t have had time to seduce or be seduced by Salazar.”
“I don’t know, it depends on what spurred them to get together. Manez didn’t give me any more details about that period.”
“What about the girls? Would she have had an opportunity to help with the kidnapping?”
“The afternoon before Jenny and Cara disappeared, Natalie had taken Jenny to perform at the garden party at a friend’s house in the hills. Cara stayed home, taken care of by Elena. Natalie said she and Jenny returned to the house at about six, and she sent Jenny and Cara to bed about nine. No one discovered they were missing until the next morning.”
“She sent them to bed at nine,” Eve repeated. “Her nurse would have put their nightgowns on them, wouldn’t she?”
“Presumably.”
“But Jenny wasn’t found in a nightgown when they took her out of that grave. She was wearing a white eyelet dress and a black-velvet ribbon in her hair.” She moistened her lips. “As if she’d gone to a party.”
“You’re saying you think that the girls were taken immediately after Jenny was brought back from that garden party?”
“It would give Salazar almost twelve hours more to whisk them out of Mexico before the search started.” She felt sick. “Natalie gave him that time.”
“But you still don’t want to believe it.” He said wearily, “Neither do I.”
“I can’t think why she would—”
“We’ll find out eventually. We just have to accept that’s almost certainly what happened.” He was silent. “And be on guard against her.”
“On guard?”
“Manez told me that she boarded a flight for Moscow this morning. It seems her father is ill and wants to see her. Convenient?”
“Perhaps she’s panicking and going to him for protection.”
“Or perhaps she’ll surface somewhere other than Moscow. I just wanted to warn you that she may be a factor.” He paused. “How are you? Everything okay with Cara?”
“She’s digging in the dirt at the castle. She’s smiling a lot and having a good time.” She drew a shaky breath. “And how the hell do I tell her that her mother might have been responsible for killing her sister and Elena?”
“You don’t tell her, not yet. Let it play itself out. You didn’t answer me. How are you?”
“I’m digging in the dirt, too. And right now I’m with Caleb, gazing out at a lake that the Highlanders say might have been created to hide the beginning of the world or maybe the end of it.”
“Caleb? If he showed it to you, then I’d bet on the end.”
“Maybe. I can never tell about him. But Caleb’s been more accommodating than usual.” She changed the subject. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to keep Franco and Salazar from tracing you. I got behind when I flew down to Mexico. I’m on my way to Gainesville now to contact Jeff Brandel, the pilot who flew you to Scotland. I’m going to give him enough money to go out of the country for a while. He should have arrived back in Gainesville by now.” He was silent for an instant. “Look, yes, the idea of Natalie Castino’s killing her own child is horrible, but look at the good side that we found out about it. How likely is it that Immigration would send Cara back to a mother who’s suspected of murdering her sister?”
“But how long would it take to prove that Natalie did that? It’s hard to believe, people push it away. She might persuade everyone that she’s a victim.”
“The glass half-empty?”
“I want hope for Cara, Joe. I just don’t want to take chances. Not with her, not with you. I love you.” She added unsteadily, “Take care of yourself.” She hung up.
She gazed blindly out at the lake that had so intrigued her before. The beginning of the world, the end of the world. Mist and swirling waters and no one knew what was happening beneath that mist.
And no one knew what had happened to twist the heart of Natalie Castino, who should have loved and cared for her children and instead had tried to destroy them.
“Bad news?” Caleb was studying her expression. “Quinn?”
She nodded. “It looks as if Salazar will be on the move soon, if he’s not now. I guess that’s actually not bad news. We knew it was going to happen.”
He shrugged. “You looked stunned.”
“Joe just found out that Jenny and Cara’s mother was probably involved in their kidnapping.” She made a face. “I suppose stunned is the word, and sick, and bewildered. I can’t understand it. A child’s life is so precious. I can’t see how any mother could do that.”
“You’re saying kidnapping, do you mean killing?” he asked bluntly.
“I’m having trouble saying the word when connected to Jenny and Cara.” She deliberately said, “Killing. Because that was where it was going to end, and Natalie Castino must have realized that.”
“I’m just being very clear.” Caleb’s lips turned up in a half smile. “No one minces words about me, and I generally return the favor.” He tilted his head. “This is really disturbing you.”
“You’re damn right it does. I’m a mother. I instinctively want to protect any child.” She added fiercely, “And I want to punish anyone who would try to hurt a child.”
/> “Back to the primitive. I understand that concept though I generally operate from a different standpoint.” Caleb looked out at the lake. “Have you seen enough? Would you like me to take you anywhere else?”
“No, we should probably go back to the castle.” She started to turn away, and then realized he was studying her again. Why? Had she been too passionate about the idea of Natalie Castino’s crime and betrayal? She couldn’t have been anything else. Perhaps that wasn’t why he was staring at her so curiously. He might not have even noticed how upset she’d been.
Though he probably had noticed and would analyze and bring it up at his leisure. Not that she couldn’t just laugh it off. But she seldom laughed at whatever Caleb deduced about anything. He always came too close.
Face it now. She turned to look at him. “What? You’re staring at me.”
“I like looking at you. I like you, Eve.” He took her arm and led her back toward the car. “I can see why you and Jane are so close. You’re both painfully honest … most of the time. I find that infinitely refreshing.” As they reached the car, his hands slipped down and he grasped her hands as he stood looking down at her. “Though it’s usually not in the least complimentary to me. But even that’s forgiven, I always know where I stand.” He stared directly down into her eyes. “And here’s where you stand. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be safe. You have Jock and MacDuff, who are the soul of everything bold and noble, but every little while you need someone who’s not at all noble. That’s me.” He was smiling as he opened the car door for her. “I have an incredible number of dirty tricks at my disposal. And I’m putting them all at your disposal.”
She stared at him in surprise. “What brought this on?”
He shrugged. “Occasionally something touches me, and I have to respond.” He got in the driver’s seat. “You seem to have hit it today.” He started the car. “Don’t tell Jane, she’ll say I’m conning you.”
“No she won’t. She knows you better than you think.”
He nodded. “But she’d still put up barriers and have me jump through hoops. She doesn’t like the idea that I might do something that’s not totally on the dark side. It confuses her.”