Dark Tribute--An Eve Duncan Novel

by Iris Johansen

  “Shut up.” He shoved her into the house, then toward the fireplace across the room. “Get closer to the flames. I won’t have you dying on me.” He pushed her to the floor. Then he was kneeling beside her, taking off her shoes and socks, then rubbing her hands. “And what if you’d done damage to your hands? Look at them. They’re stiff and cold as icicles. And you have to play…”

  The circulation was returning, and her fingers were beginning to throb. She’d thought she’d been exercising them enough to keep them warm enough during the night, but perhaps not …

  Then he was standing up and grabbing a fur throw from the easy chair. “All you had to do was call me.” He threw the fur over her. “Stubborn bitch. All you had to do…”

  “And beg you?” She looked up at him; he was only a dark blur against the firelight. “You said Marian begged you. How could I do that? I’d lose if I let you do that to me. Marian and I would both lose…”

  “Are you crazy? Marian’s dead.”

  “How—do you—know? She had a soul. She had the music…”

  He was muttering curses, but she could no longer bear to look at him. Later. When she was stronger …

  She closed her eyes.

  A stinging slap! “Don’t you die. I won’t have you die.”

  The words were harsh yet desperate. That desperation might give her a weapon. She slowly opened her eyes. “I’m not going to die. I’m just tired. I had to keep my muscles flexed and moving … Let me sleep.” Test him? “But first give me something hot to drink to take away the chill.”

  He didn’t move.

  She closed her eyes again.

  He was growling something beneath his breath. And then she heard movement.

  A few minutes later, she felt a cup being pressed to her lips. Heat. Coffee. Black and thick, but hot. He was spilling it down her chin, forcing her to take it. “Wait.” She opened her lips and took a few swallows. The coffee did help. And the fire was performing its magic, and she was slowly becoming warmer. Over his shoulder, she could see the black-and-white photograph of Marian staring down at her from the wall. Pale, glowing skin, light eyes, shining brown hair curling beneath her chin. One lovely, graceful hand holding her violin …

  You were so young, Marian. You had so much to live for. Thank you for keeping me company tonight. It was good to have a friend …

  She pushed the cup away. “That’s enough. I’m better now.” She closed her eyes again. “Go away and let me sleep.”

  She could feel him staring at her. “I don’t obey your orders, bitch,” he said roughly. “I’ll do what I please.” But he was tying her wrists again. Not too tightly, she noticed. Heaven forbid he damage her hands, she thought bitterly. He’d been in a panic at the thought she wouldn’t be able to play again. And now he was going away, so he had obeyed her after all.

  That interchange had taught her a few things she hadn’t known before. She had won the first battle of wills. She was going to be safe until Svardak got what he wanted from her. He was confident that he could do that, but there was a slim chance she might be able to manipulate him and the situation. Though it wasn’t as if she had any talent in that direction. Jock always said she was too honest for her own good. She should have Michael here to teach her, she thought ruefully. Eve said he was fast becoming an expert.

  Eve, Joe, Jane, Michael, Jock … memories of them were surrounding her, banishing the cold and fear, veiling the terror she would feel in a few hours. Hold them close until she drifted off to sleep, and perhaps they’d linger and keep the nightmares from coming.

  Did you have people you loved help you through those last days, Marian?

  COAL TOWN, WEST VIRGINIA 5:40 A.M.

  “The violin belonged to Marian Napier,” Joe said the instant that Jock answered the phone. “Twenty years old, born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She was studying music at Fleming Conservatory. The violin had no real monetary value, but it belonged to her grandfather, and she wanted to protect it, so she had that tiny gold ID plaque inserted inside the left F-hole.”

  “But she couldn’t protect it, could she?” Jock said grimly. “You’re all past tense, Joe. Where is she?”

  “They don’t know. She went hiking in the mountains over a month ago and never came back. There was a search, but the police never found anything. She lived with her grandfather, and she didn’t have any really close friends. The report was that she was only obsessed with her music. They haven’t ruled out an accident in those mountains.”

  “But they will now since you sent them the photo of the violin. That was more than self-explanatory. Anything else?”

  “Her teachers said she was very promising. I gather not on the level of Cara, but very good. The school had featured her in their last student concert. They said she was totally dedicated to her music. Sound familiar?”

  “Aye.” And that familiarity was chilling. “But Marian Napier disappeared over a month ago. We have no proof she’s dead.”

  “And neither of us want there to be proof.” He paused. “But the blood all over the suite was the same AB type as that Canadian girl’s. I’m trying to avoid telling Eve about her until I can balance it with a little hope. What did you find out from Palik?”

  “It’s debatable whether it’s hopeful, but at least I’m not standing still. According to Palik, I’ve received what amounts to a royal summons from Kaskov. He’s in West Virginia.”

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t want you to descend on him with guns blazing. I want information from him first.”

  “Where in West Virginia?”

  “I’ll let you know after I talk to him.”

  “Damn you.”

  “If it’s any comfort, I had to scout an entire town to find him before he finds me. I have it narrowed down to two areas, and I should be able to give you a location soon.”

  “If the bastard doesn’t kill you. It could be a trap.”

  “Eve will say it isn’t. If you’re right, then just get in touch with Palik and squeeze him until he tells you what he told me. You’re exceptionally good at squeezing. Must be that SEAL mentality. I have to get moving. I’ll call you when I can.” He broke the connection.

  He sat there for a moment gazing at Spruce Knob Mountain in the distance. The tallest mountain in the Allegheny range, it was beautifully majestic. This entire area was mountainous except for the flat riverbeds. Both the Blue Ridge and Allegheny ranges met here in West Virginia to form deep gorges and rugged wilderness and matchless beauty.

  A completely foreign environment for Kaskov.

  However, a terrain like this would make it easy to hide a young woman like Cara in those mountains.

  Yet give him just a sign, any indication, and Jock would still find her.

  But first he had to track down Kaskov. He doubted if Kaskov would make a great effort to hide from him since he’d practically sent him an invitation through Palik. It was probably just part of the hoops Kaskov wanted him to jump through. That being the case, he would choose a place where he could indulge his taste for luxury and still be able to station his guards with maximum efficiency. Jock has already found that there were only two locations in the Coal Town area that would meet those criteria.

  He got out of the car and moved into the brush. The plateau or the riverbed? He’d already done the calculations and the psychological reasons for either choice. Time now for instinct.

  The river bed …

  * * *

  “Open your eyes. I know you’ve not been sleeping,” Svardak said roughly. “Stop trying to play me for a fool.”

  “I was sleeping,” Cara said as she opened her eyes and stared coolly up at him from her nest of throws in front of the fireplace. “I slept for hours. Until you came stumbling into the room and woke me. And I didn’t have to try to play you for a fool. You did that very well on your own.” She struggled to sit up as she spoke. “Either a fool or a madman. Are you going to hit me again? Or maybe you’d rathe
r toss me out in that gorge to be with Marian. I really don’t care. But I do want to go to the bathroom and clean up. If you prefer to deny me that simple courtesy, I’ll learn to live with it. Though you might not be happy with the result.”

  He was frowning at her. “You’re like him,” he said slowly. “Last night, I thought that you were just out of your head. But you’re like him.”

  “Like whom?”

  “Kaskov.” His lips twisted. “You’re like that son of a bitch Kaskov. You look like an angel from heaven, but you’re as bad as he is. It’s no wonder he cares about you.”

  She stiffened as his words hit home. The reason why she had been taken? It had always been a possibility in the back of her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time she had been targeted. Her grandfather had many enemies, both in the criminal underworld and all the victims he’d left in his wake. Which was Svardak? “Kaskov doesn’t care about me. I’ve never lived with him. Hardly ever seen him. We’re almost strangers. Can’t you tell? I’ve never even called him grandfather. If you know anything about him, you should know Kaskov cares only about himself.”

  “I know a great deal about him,” he said bitterly. “And I realize that there might be one other thing that he cares about.” He reached down, tore the throws off her, and tossed them aside. “But by all means, we must make you both comfortable and presentable before I show you to Kaskov. Before-and-after contrast is everything.” He pulled her to her feet. “Come along. I’ll take you to see Marian’s quarters. I’m certain she wouldn’t mind you using them. You seem to have formed such a rapport with the poor woman in this short time. I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, I intended her death to send a warning to Kaskov that tribute was required.” He was dragging her across the room toward a door to the left of the fireplace. “However, I should tell you that side of the house butts up against the canyon, and since you’re a musician and not an acrobat, you’d find it impossible to get out the one window without falling to your death. That would make Kaskov extremely sad.” He threw open the door. “And it might make me even sadder because I would have failed.” He shoved her into the room. “But that won’t happen, Cara.”

  She was in a bathroom, she realized. A simple ivory-tiled shower at the far end of the small room. A toilet. A vanity with a double mirror reflecting both her and Svardak.

  A mirror that was broken and splintered in one upper corner … with a smear of blood caught in the splinters.

  Svardak met her eyes in the mirror. “No, it wasn’t me. Marian became quite desperate and depressed toward the end and did it herself. I just didn’t get around to cleaning it before you came.” He smiled. “Oh, that did upset you.” Then he was pulling her into a small anteroom, where there was only a small cot and the window he’d mentioned. He opened the window and stood aside. “As I told you, even Marian wouldn’t have been depressed enough to try to escape this way.”

  She might have tried it if she’d lived another few days, Cara thought. She stared down through the veil of pine trees to the twisting depths of the canyon that plunged only a scant six to eight inches from this window. Anything to get away from this man who must have made her life hell.

  He added, “And if she had, she would only have run into the guards I have stationed down the trails.”

  “Down the trails?”

  “The mountain and the cliff trails. Did you think I only had those few guards you saw up here in the thicket? I wouldn’t take a treasure like you without having adequate protection. I’ve been planning this for too long.” He slanted a look at her. “I was sure that it would not only be Kaskov who might be interested in you. I knew Joe Quinn was going to be tracking you, and that would require me to be ready. It’s much easier to set traps than go on the defense.”

  “It would be even easier to take me somewhere Joe wouldn’t be able to find me. Why bother with him? Joe doesn’t have anything to do with Kaskov.”

  “But you’re very fond of him, and that could be a weapon if I choose to use it. Besides, I’m very happy here. I’ve become accustomed to this little shack. It’s quite homelike.” He nodded at a tan duffel on the floor under the window. “I brought a few more items of clothing for you. Put on the red blouse after your shower. It will photograph beautifully.”

  “Photograph?” She immediately thought of the photograph of Marian on the wall of the other room.

  “You heard me. I need a photo of you.”

  “To put up beside Marian’s? A gallery of victims? That just shows how sick you are.”

  “I’ve been thinking of taking the photo of Marian down. It’s served its purpose.”

  “To shock and horrify me?”

  “Yes, it worked beautifully.”

  “It won’t anymore. I think she’s strong and beautiful, and so was her music. You just couldn’t see it.”

  “And you can?” His lips thinned. “She was as soft and weak as you are. I broke her, Cara. Just as I’ll break you.”

  “She probably only pretended.”

  “I broke her.” His eyes were glittering with anger. “When I finished, she did anything I wanted. And when she played, she did it in the proper way. My way.”

  “Stilted and afraid?” She lifted her chin, glaring at him. “And you don’t even see that you didn’t break her at all? She couldn’t stand what you were doing to her music, so she just went away.”

  “I killed her.”

  “She beat you. She didn’t want to let you take that part of her, so she just stopped fighting. But she kept her music.”

  “Liar!” He hit her in the stomach with his fist.

  Pain.

  She staggered back against the wall.

  He was breathing hard. “Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to hurt you yet. I have to follow the plan.” He straightened. “You will do what I told you to do. I want that photo. And I’m sure you’d prefer to get yourself ready. Marian always thought I was too rough.” He pushed her back into the adjoining bathroom. “Now I’ll get you out of those ropes.” He pulled a length of chain with a set of double handcuffs out of the top drawer of the vanity. The handcuffs were linked with a footlong length of the same chain that was fastened to the vanity. He slipped two handcuffs on her wrists that were linked with an eight inch chain and locked them in front of her. “The principal chain is fastened to the wall in back of the vanity, and it’s very secure. The length of the chain will allow you to use the shower and facilities and barely reach the cot in the next room.”

  She looked down at the chains and handcuffs on her wrists. “And Marian lived like this for over a month?”

  “No, it was much worse for her. I told you, I became very bored with her. I had to find ways to make her amuse me. Perhaps you can keep me entertained without my exerting myself.”

  “But it’s not about me, it’s about Kaskov, isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s also about you. Anna wouldn’t want me to leave you out. She wasn’t left out.”

  “Anna?”

  “My sister.” He turned and headed for the door. “He didn’t leave her out, Cara. Now clean up and change, and I’ll give you something to eat. Then we’ll discuss what else you can do to entertain both me and Kaskov.”

  The door closed behind him.

  She stood there gazing at it for an instant before she turned around to face the mirror over the vanity. The splintered glass, the smear of blood. Had Marian taken her fists and pounded it and tried to smash it? Depression and frustration? Or had she wanted to break off one of those splinters to cut her own wrists? Cara had tried to lead Svardak in that direction because she couldn’t bear the thought that he’d believed he’d completely destroyed Marian. She would probably never know the truth, but Cara didn’t believe it was the latter. Marian had held on so long, she didn’t think she’d give up at the end. Maybe she’d wanted to retrieve one of those mirrored splinters to cut Svardak’s throat, Cara thought fiercely. She only wished Marian had managed to do it.

  Should she try to c
lean the blood from the mirror?

  No, she didn’t want to erase the signs of the battle Marian had waged. It would hurt her every time she looked at them, but she did not want that battle ignored as if it hadn’t existed.

  “I’m finding out things, Marian,” she whispered. “And he might be even more terrible than I thought. I doubt if you even knew anything about Kaskov. You might just have been a piece in his puzzle.”

  As he intended Cara to be a pawn.

  He wouldn’t do it. Marian hadn’t been able to escape him, but Cara would search until she found a way. She couldn’t permit him to hurt her or any of the people she loved. “He thinks I’m weak because all he sees in me is the music. He thinks that I won’t be able to fight hard enough to bring him down. He’s wrong, isn’t he? I thought that might be true in the beginning, but now I know the music just makes us stronger…”

  She gave one last glance at the web of splintered glass, then turned to the shower and began to awkwardly take off her clothes.

  RIVER’S END, COAL TOWN, WEST VIRGINIA

  “I need answers, Kaskov,” Jock said coldly from the doorway behind the luxurious granite dining table where Kaskov was having his breakfast. “And I didn’t appreciate having to run across three states to find you without a definite address or a current phone number.”

  Kaskov didn’t look up from his eggs Benedict. “Stop complaining, Gavin. You would have had to come here anyway. And it always amuses me to offer you a challenge. It took you practically no time to locate me once you were in the area. You didn’t damage any of my men, did you? I might need them.” He finally turned his head and studied Jock’s expression. “Ah, what I expected. Actually, what I wanted.” He added quietly, “I’m almost certain she’s not dead, Gavin. Would you care to sit down and have a cup of coffee while we discuss it?”