Soft Focus

  “Speaking of dangerous,” Jack said casually, “you’ve had a real run of bad luck lately, haven’t you? First Vicky splits before you can murder her for the insurance money, and then Gillian turns out to be more obsessed with her revenge than with the business of selling Soft Focus abroad.”

  “Gillian screwed up the whole deal.” Dawson’s face worked in fury. “She wasn’t interested in the money. She only wanted her silly revenge. She used me.”

  Elizabeth watched him as if he were a cobra. “How did you meet her?”

  “She attended a film festival in Sedona a few months ago. Sought me out. Introduced herself. She’d done her research. Knew who I was and that I might be interested in an offshore business venture.”

  “She needed someone who could give Tyler Page what he wanted so badly,” Elizabeth said. “A film he could claim to have produced.”

  Dawson’s mouth thinned. “As I said, she used me. At first it seemed like an ideal partnership. I needed Soft Focus to get some people off my back, and I was preparing to cash in on Vicky’s insurance policy anyway. I thought I could kill a couple of birds with one stone here in Mirror Springs.”

  “But in the end Gillian didn’t cooperate, did she?” Jack said.

  “The crazy woman hid herself and Page, too. I couldn’t find either of them. “Dawson’s voice rose. “And then you and Shaw showed up. I tried to scare you off, but neither of you budged. Then you sent Ledger out to ask questions about Page, and I had to buy him off.”

  “Where did you get that video?”

  Dawson grimaced. “Gillian had it made weeks ago. Just in case, she said. She wanted to make certain that, if anything went wrong, the evidence would point toward someone else. She was willing to give me a copy, so I took it and kept it. Just in case.”

  “The authorities think you’re on your way to Amsterdam,” Elizabeth said.

  “I had to pretend to disappear after Vicky staged her accident. I bought the ticket for Amsterdam at the airport this morning. But then I rented a car and drove back here. I had Shaw’s hotel room bugged. I knew when he got the call from Gillian. I got to the location first and confronted her.”

  “She told you where she had hidden Page?” Jack asked.

  “The crazy bitch was so excited about her plans for vengeance finally coming to a head that she laughed in my face and told me I could have Soft Focus. She even told me where she’d stashed Page.”

  “So you shot her dead and came here,” Elizabeth whispered.

  “Page was about to leave.” Dawson grimaced. “The fool was going to try to sneak into the theater tonight to watch the screening of Fast Company, if you can believe it. A fortune at stake, and he wants to go see his movie.”

  “You came here to force Page to hand over Soft Focus, and he refused because he guessed that Gillian had betrayed him with you,” Elizabeth said. “And he was right.”

  In the backwash of the flashlight, Dawson’s face was a shadowed mask of fury. “The idiot kept saying that Soft Focus was right in front of my eyes but that I would never find it.”

  “You figured you could find it, though, didn’t you?” Jack gave him a humorless smile. “How long have you been searching for it?”

  “I’ve spent the past few hours tearing the goddamned house apart.” Dawson’s voice throbbed with frustrated rage. “I even searched the hot tub. Page taunted me. I really believed him when he said it was somewhere in plain sight.”

  “But you’ve run out of time, haven’t you?” Jack said. “Even if the cops don’t find you, your offshore business associates will. How far do you think you’ll get?”

  “All I have to do is get off this damned mountain.” Dawson’s cheek twitched nervously. “Once I’m out of Mirror Springs, I’ll be in the clear. I have a new ID. All I have to do is disappear for a while.”

  “The cops will catch you before you get off this mountain,” Elizabeth said.

  “I don’t think so.” Dawson smiled coldly. “But just in case, I’m going to have a hostage with me. Insurance, you understand. I’ve always been a big believer in insurance.”

  Elizabeth sucked in her breath. “If you think I’m going to go with you—”

  “That is exactly what I think.” Dawson motioned with the hand that held the flashlight. “Come over here. Quickly.”

  “What about Soft Focus?” Jack asked. “Are you going to give up on it?”

  “One learns to cut one’s losses, Fairfax.” Dawson made another gesture with the flashlight. “Come here now, Elizabeth. Or I will shoot Fairfax.”

  He meant it, she thought. Holland would not hesitate to kill again. She walked slowly toward him.

  “Quickly, my dear. Fairfax is correct in one regard. Time has run out on me.” When she was no more than a step away from him, he took the gun off Jack and aimed it at her instead. “Excellent. Now, then, Fairfax. One move and I will kill her without a second’s hesitation and take my chances. Is that clear?”

  “Yes,” Jack said softly. “It’s clear.”

  “My car is parked on a side road not far from here.” Dawson kept the gun trained on Elizabeth, but he did not take his gaze off Jack as he issued instructions. “Move. Slowly, Elizabeth.”

  She did not budge. “You’re going to kill Jack as soon as I start toward the car, aren’t you?”

  He smiled approvingly. “You really are an intelligent woman, my dear. Under other circumstances we might have done very well together.”

  “Not for long,” she said.

  “No, not for long. Now, move, or you will have to watch him die, and somehow I do not think you would like that.”

  She looked at Jack. He was still crouched beside the body, a good two yards from the gun that Page had dropped.

  “Jack?”

  “It’s okay, Elizabeth. Do what you have to do.” Jack paused for a heartbeat. “But do it quick, okay?”

  “Right.” She turned as if to walk back around the deck.

  Dawson continued to point the gun at her head, but his attention was on Jack.

  The handle of the cooking fork that she had swiped off the grill and shoved under her sleeve a moment earlier was in her fingers. She pulled the implement free of her sleeve.

  She felt Dawson’s weight shift. He took the gun off her and started to swing the barrel toward Jack.

  There was no time to aim the fork. She plunged it wildly toward Dawson. She felt the tines tear through the fabric of his trousers, felt the sickening resistance of flesh and muscle.

  Holland convulsed in pain and fury. He screamed.

  “Bitch.”

  The pistol roared, deafening her. Light sparked. Dawson’s flashlight hit the deck and rolled. She felt rather than saw the collision as Jack slammed into Dawson. The two men struck the deck with enough force to send a shudder through the wooden supports.

  Elizabeth scrambled madly out of the way. She tripped and reeled back against the railing. She swung around.

  A bloody apparition rose from the shadows of the hot tub. Tyler Page sat up slowly. He swept out a hand, groping blindly. His fingers closed around the gun. He seized it and pointed it toward the struggling men. His arm shook wildly.

  “You stole her away from me,” he gasped in a quivering voice. “She betrayed me with you.”

  “Jack,” Elizabeth yelled. “Get out of the way.”

  Jack glanced up, saw Page, and assessed the situation in a single glance. He rolled free of Holland and threw himself headlong out of range.

  “Don’t do it,” he yelled. “It’s okay, he’s—”

  But it was too late. There was another crash and a flash of light, and then Holland went utterly limp on the deck.

  “Angel Face,” Tyler whispered. “My beautiful Angel Face.”

  He fell back and lay still once more.

  A stark silence descended.

  “Elizabeth?”

  “I’m okay.” She stared at Tyler Page. “I thought he was dead.”

  “No, unconscious. Holla
nd’s bullet got him on the side of the head.” Jack went down beside Dawson and felt for a pulse. “Holland’s still alive, too. Got your cell phone?”

  “Yes.” Grateful for the distraction, she pulled the little phone out of her coat pocket and concentrated hard on punching in the emergency number.

  It seemed an eternity before the emergency operator came on the line and Elizabeth gave her the details of the situation.

  When she finished the call, she saw that Jack had moved back to the hot tub. As she watched, he bent down to scoop up the silvery container that had fallen on the deck.

  She walked slowly toward him. In the distance she heard the first keening wail of a siren.

  “What are you doing with that cocktail shaker?”

  “It’s not a cocktail shaker.” He aimed the flashlight at the object. “It’s a sort of high-tech thermos. Designed in the Excalibur lab specifically to transport Soft Focus.”

  She stared at it, suddenly riveted. “It’s empty. Do you think Page threw the crystal into the woods to spite Holland?”

  “Next to Fast Company, the development of the crystal was Page’s only major accomplishment in life. I don’t think he would have destroyed it.” Jack gazed thoughtfully into the hot tub. “He told Holland that it was right in front of his eyes. Maybe he was telling the truth.”

  Jack went to the control panel and flipped a switch. The underwater lights came on inside the tub.

  Elizabeth peered over the edge. “You think he tossed it in there? But Holland said he looked in the tub.” The submerged lighting provided a clear view of the interior. There was nothing under the water except the benches.

  “Holland was no high-tech wizard. Gillian probably told him they were going to steal a crystal, so he naturally assumed that Soft Focus would look like a chunk of quartz.” Jack upended the thermos and unscrewed a small section. “And it does. Sort of. When it’s not in a state of suspension, that is.”

  Elizabeth suddenly understood. “Of course. It’s a new type of colloidal crystal, isn’t it? Page transported it in the thermos because the particles are suspended in a liquid.”

  “Only under certain conditions. Soft Focus has several unique properties.”

  The sirens were closer now. Elizabeth glanced out across the valley. She caught a glimpse of flashing lights on Loop Road.

  “You’ve got maybe ten minutes at most,” she said. “Once they’re here this whole house will become a crime scene. They won’t let you tear the place up to search for Soft Focus.”

  “If I’m right, I won’t need ten minutes.”

  Jack had the bottom of the container off now. A small plastic envelope fell into his hand. He opened it and tossed the contents into the hot tub.

  “What’s that?” Elizabeth demanded.

  “The catalyst. Unlike true colloidal crystals, Soft Focus needs this stuff to make the particles clump together in a semisolid form. It won’t take long. If Page dumped the specimen into this tub, it will take shape fast.”

  Elizabeth watched intently. At first she saw nothing. Then she caught a glint of what looked like a shard of blue-green glass on one of the benches.

  “There it is.” Satisfaction laced Jack’s voice. He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. “Just another couple of minutes and we’ll have the whole damn thing.”

  The chunk of crystal grew swiftly beneath the water as the tiny particles floating invisibly in the pool reacted to the attractive force induced by the catalyst.

  The sirens were very loud now. The first car had turned into the access road that led to the house.

  “That looks about right.” Jack plunged his bare arm into the water and scooped the crystal off the bench.

  He held it cradled in his palm for a moment and aimed the flashlight beam into its heart.

  Elizabeth caught her breath. It was like looking into the depths of an impossibly brilliant diamond. Soft Focus glowed with blue-green fire. It pulsed and sparkled and glittered.

  “It’s spectacular,” she whispered.

  “And it’s ours.”

  The sirens cut off abruptly. Car doors slammed. Footsteps sounded on the rear deck.

  Jack closed his fingers around Soft Focus and dropped it very casually into his pocket.

  “If the question should arise,” he said, “the crystal Page took was a mock-up, a decoy version of the actual crystal. Luckily, the real one is safe in the Excalibur labs.”

  “You think that story will work?”

  “Like I said, a good CEO can talk his way through anything.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  * * *

  TYLER PAGE WAS A TRAGIC FIGURE IN THE hospital bed. His head was swathed in bandages. An IV line hung from a nearby stand, the contents dripping into his veins. His bent glasses sat askew on his nose. He looked up at Jack with sad resignation.

  “I know it’s too late to apologize, Mr. Fairfax. Nevertheless, I would like to tell you how sorry I am about this entire affair. I don’t know what came over me.”

  Elizabeth saw the derisive look in Jack’s eyes and quickly moved closer to the bed. “Jack understands, Dr. Page. You were a victim of passion. For a time you lost your bearings. These things happen.”

  Jack raised his eyes to the ceiling.

  Tyler switched his glum gaze to Elizabeth. “She was so beautiful. Beautiful women like her never notice men like me. But she did. She made me feel brilliant and important and dashing. When I was with her I was Bogart and Mitchum and Grant, all rolled into one.”

  “Gillian used you,” Jack said bluntly.

  Elizabeth frowned at him from the other side of the bed. “There’s no need to belabor the point.”

  “I know she used me,” Tyler said. “But by the time I understood that she had convinced me to steal Soft Focus for her own purposes, not so that we could run off to a tropical island together, it was too late. The whole thing became a nightmare. I couldn’t see any way out.”

  “Did you ever think of picking up the phone and giving me a call?” Jack asked without any evidence of sympathy.

  “Jack,” Elizabeth said quietly. She infused her tone with a strong note of warning, but she got the distinct impression that he was not paying attention.

  “I felt helpless,” Tyler explained. “Trapped in her web. Do you know, when Chief Gresham told me that Gillian was dead, I felt a terrible sense of relief. It was as if the scales had fallen away from my eyes. I was finally free of her clutches. Looking back, I can see what a coward I was.”

  “You are certainly no coward,” Elizabeth said firmly. “You stood up to Dawson Holland, even though he tried to murder you. That was a very brave thing to do. Incredibly heroic, in fact.”

  Jack raised his brows but said nothing.

  Tyler looked at her with fragile hope. “Do you really think so, Ms. Cabot?”

  “Yes, and so does everyone else.” Elizabeth pinned Jack with a bristling expression. “Isn’t that right, Jack?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Jack said. Then his mouth curved slightly. “As a matter of fact, it was. Defying Dawson Holland took balls, Tyler.”

  Tyler blushed. “Thank you, sir. Is Mr. Holland . . . ?”

  “Dead?” Jack nodded. “An hour ago. In surgery.”

  “I see.” Tyler looked as if he was trying to square his shoulders against the pillows. “I suppose I shall have to stand trial for that, as well.”

  “Don’t think so,” Jack said easily. “Gresham is convinced that it was a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense. Holland was trying to kill us, remember.”

  Elizabeth met Jack’s eyes across the white-sheeted bed. Neither of them had seen any reason to point out to Gresham that Jack had already subdued Holland when Tyler surfaced briefly from his unconscious state and fired the fatal shot. Details, Jack had said. Unimportant details.

  “The chief is not happy with any of us,” Jack continued, “but no one is going to jail.”

  Tyler blinked owlishly. “But surely I
must pay for my crime.”

  “Excalibur is not pressing charges,” Elizabeth said.

  Tyler blinked again. “I don’t understand. I stole the result of a valuable research project. I’m a thief.”

  “Excalibur has decided to overlook the incident,” Jack said smoothly. “Especially in light of the fact that the item you took was merely a mock-up of the original, which has been in safekeeping at Excalibur the entire time.”

  Tyler’s mouth dropped open. “But—”

  “New security measure that was installed last month,” Jack said. “Milo and I were the only ones who knew about it.”

  “But—”

  “I ought to know, don’t you think?” Jack gave him a cool look, heavy with meaning. “I am the CEO of the company.”

  Tyler brightened as understanding dawned. “I’m very glad to hear that, sir. That was . . . extremely clever and farsighted of you, Mr. Fairfax.”

  “Yes, it was, wasn’t it?”

  “I can’t tell you how delighted I am to know that there will be no long-term ill effects on Excalibur from my actions. It’s a fine company. The Ingersolls have always treated me well. I shall miss them.”

  “Not for long,” Jack said. “You’re expected to report back for work in the lab as soon as you’re released from the hospital.”

  Tyler stared at him. “You want me to return to Excalibur?”

  Elizabeth smiled. “The company needs you, Dr. Page. You’re the only one who truly understood the theoretical work that Patricia Ingersoll did on colloidal crystals. The firm would be lost without you.”

  “Lost.” Tyler looked dazed. “Without me.”

  “Absolutely.” Elizabeth looked at Jack. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Damn right,” Jack said. “Absolutely lost.”

  “I hadn’t realized—” Tyler broke off, a look of wonder in his eyes. “Nobody’s ever been lost without me before, you see.”

  THE TENSION IN Excalibur’s executive suite was so thick, Elizabeth was amazed that she could breathe the air. She glanced around at the anxious faces of the other members of the Excalibur board of directors. The various Ingersolls were scattered about the office. Some slumped in chairs. Some gulped coffee. Some paced. All had gone from a state of euphoric excitement to one of deep despair.