Always

by Jude Deveraux

  Darci narrowed her eyes at Devlin. “Or maybe I’ll put you in a string cage with a rock inside it.”

  At that, Devlin almost disappeared. All they could see of him was a shape in the paneling and two eyes—eyes that were full of fear. “If you put all the objects into the vessel, you will be able to see what can be changed, and what will happen if the world is changed.”

  “You mean I’ll be able to see that if I go back in history and say, stop Pearl Harbor from being bombed, I’ll see the repercussions to today?” Darci asked.

  “Yes,” Devlin said simply.

  “Can she see what would happen if Lavender lived?” Jack asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What else does it do?” Jack asked.

  Devlin stuck his head and shoulders out of the wall. Now he was wearing a soldier’s uniform of about 1870, and he had a big metal horn to his ear, as though he were deaf. “What? I can hear no more. I have been given my orders and I can tell no more. You must find the missing piece on your own.” He looked at Jack.

  “You know what and where it is.”

  “I do not—” Jack began.

  “How can I find the spirit of someone from the past who is living today?” Darci asked quickly.

  “You can do that now,” Devlin answered, then grinned. “My other master calls. He, too, has a bottle.” With that, he disappeared.

  “I can’t say that I really like that…whatever he is,” Jack said as he looked at Darci, who was thinking hard.

  “Can you find spirits now?”

  “Maybe. I never tried to find one.”

  “What have you done with your abilities all your life?”

  Darci sighed. “Truthfully? I’ve spent most of my time trying to keep people from finding out what I can do.”

  “Interesting.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You use your powers as little as possible, then your husband is taken from you and you’re thrown into situations that require that you learn a lot about your powers. And you find a whole lot more power. That’s interesting.”

  “I just wish I could find out who’s guiding all this. I think it’s Henry, but it could be someone I’ve never met.”

  “What you want to know is, who’s turning power over to you.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Jack smiled. “That Devlin. You told me that you had no power over him, but now you seem to be able to command him—to an extent.”

  “Except when his ‘other master’ calls and he has to go.”

  “Exactly,” Jack answered. “Are you hungry? No, sorry I asked. How about some lunch?”

  “Great. And you can tell me what and where the missing object is that we need to put into that base.”

  “Haven’t a clue,” Jack said, holding the door open for her. Ten minutes later they were in the kitchen with a plate full of sandwiches and steaming cups full of homemade soup. “Who would have thought my aunt was such a great cook?” Jack asked, mouth full.

  “Chrissy,” Darci said. “She made all this.”

  “That so? Maybe she’s found her calling.”

  “No, she’ll end up old, alone, and unhappy.”

  “I thought you couldn’t tell people’s futures,” Jack said.

  “I can’t. Except for sometimes. Sometimes I have visions about people and—”

  Jack used his napkin to wipe his hands, then held out his palm to Darci. “Tell me what you see.”

  “My goodness!” she said. “Your hand has turned purple.”

  It was a second before Jack got the joke and in that second he turned pale. His expression showed how much he’d come to trust Darci in the last days. “For that one, you’re dead meat,” he said, then lunged for her neck.

  Laughing, Darci tried to paralyze him, but she couldn’t concentrate, so she managed to only paralyze three fingers on his right hand—which made Jack laugh too.

  And that’s how Greg Ryerson found them. Darci had been so involved with the objects they’d found and laughing with Jack that Greg had been able to enter the house without her feeling it.

  When Jack and Darci looked up and saw Greg, they were both startled into speechlessness.

  “Jack, may I see you alone?” Greg asked stiffly, his body language revealing what he thought of the two of them laughing together.

  “I’m sorry,” Darci whispered to Jack, meaning that she was sorry for having neglected what she’d been sent there to do, and sorry that Jack had been caught playing on the job.

  Jack winked at her, then followed Greg into the library.

  Greg waited until the doors were firmly closed. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you,” Jack said.

  “Try me.”

  Jack opened his mouth to tell Greg that he’d been time traveling, but he changed his mind. “Did you come here because you were worried about me?” He was flexing his hand, getting the blood to flow after Darci’s paralyzing of his fingers.

  “I came here because we received a ransom note.”

  “For Dad?” Jack asked, taking a seat in one of his father’s leather chairs.

  Greg stared at his friend. “What’s happened to you? You’ve never called him ‘Dad.’ It’s always been ‘the old man.’ So why this title now?”

  “Who knows? Maybe I’m getting mellow as I get older.”

  Greg narrowed his eyes at Jack, willing him to talk—and confide, but Jack was silent.

  “Tell me what you’ve heard.”

  “I’m being told as little on this case as possible so I don’t know what’s up. I was told that a ransom note had been sent.”

  “To whom?”

  “That’s just it,” Greg said. “I don’t know who got it. The president of the United States, for all I know. All I was told is that fifty million is to be delivered somewhere tomorrow at six P.M.”

  “Why so low?”

  “I was told that it’s the cash on hand your father has.”

  At that, Jack and Greg looked at each other and laughed. And with their laughter their coolness toward each other vanished.

  Greg took a seat across from Jack. “You want to tell me about…” He nodded toward the kitchen. “Two days ago you two hated each other and now you’re playing footsie. You two spend the night together?”

  “Yeah, but not like you mean. She eliminated someone for me.”

  “Killed them? Look, I don’t think the bureau’s going to—”

  “It wasn’t like that. Could we drop this? There’s nothing between Darci and me—at least not like you think. If I’d had a sister she would have been it.”

  “Your sister? I thought you thought she was a freak.”

  Jack turned angry eyes on Greg. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again. She can do certain things, but she’s not a freak.”

  “Jack, you’ve got to keep this in perspective. I like the woman, personally like her, but she can kill people with her mind. She can paralyze people. She can—”

  In an instant, Jack grabbed Greg’s collar and lifted him up. “Keep your mouth shut about things you know nothing about.”

  “You planning to kill me, Jack?” Greg asked softly. “Because if you are, let me call my wife and see if my insurance is paid up.”

  Blinking, Jack dropped his friend, went to the bar against the far wall, poured two glasses full of cold ginger ale, and gave one to Greg. “Let’s stop this, all right? Some things have happened that I can’t tell you about, and as for Darci, she’s been through a lot, can do a lot, and—” He downed half his drink, then looked back at Greg. “Tell me what you came here to say.”

  Greg was looking at his friend in speculation. “I’ve been told that the bureau wants you off the case.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I’m considered too lowly to be told much of anything. You and I and your little sister out there…” Greg was making a joke but Jack didn’t smile. �
��Darci Montgomery is also to be removed from the case and she can go home. Tomorrow evening at six a specially delegated agent will deliver fifty million dollars in cash to a drop spot that I don’t know about. It’s hoped that the kidnappers will release your father after they get the money.”

  “And how likely do you think that is?”

  “About as likely as your thinking that a psychic is the sister you never had.”

  Jack ignored the comment. “The way I see it, my father has until six tomorrow to live—if he isn’t dead already.”

  “That’s what the psychic is supposed to know, isn’t it?”

  “You call her that one more time and I’ll make you sorry,” Jack said.

  “I’m shaking in my boots.”

  Jack gave Greg a hard look, but Greg just smiled in return. “So what have you two been doing these last days that’s made you so chummy?” Greg asked.

  “Popping in and out of time,” Jack answered quickly. “This whole thing about Dad is fishy, but I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Darci says that Dad is comfortable. Does that mean he has clean underwear every day, or does it mean he’s up to something in the murky world of crime so he’s with friends?”

  “Your dad? Do you forget that I sit behind a desk all day? I do little but read files, and with my clearance I have access to all sorts of documents. There’s nothing in your father’s life that isn’t squeaky clean.”

  “Oh yeah? Then how come he has a hidden room off his bedroom that’s full of magic objects?”

  “Does he?” Greg asked. “How interesting. Let’s go see it.”

  Jack looked as though he might be about to get up, but he stopped himself. “There’s an object I need to find. It’s about this big and this wide.” He held up his fingers to indicate something small, no more than an inch in either direction.

  “That covers pretty much all the rocks in the driveway.”

  “It’s asphalt, not gravel,” Jack said, not smiling.

  “What about in the bottom of the fish pond?”

  “Could be. Nothing stand out in your mind?”

  “Jack, what the hell are you up to with that woman? Is it sex? Is she so great in bed that you can’t think straight? Or has she hypnotized you with her powers? That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not anything like that,” Jack said. “She and I…Darci and I…” He waved his hand. “I can’t go into that. I need to find something. I need this small thing.”

  “Couldn’t you give me a better description than just the size? What’s it made of? What’s it used for? Where and when was it made? Is it natural or manufactured?”

  “I don’t know,” Jack said. “But I’d guess that it’s an important thing, not just a rock lying at the bottom of a pond.” Pausing, he smiled. “Besides, Darci has the rock locked up.” When Greg started to say something, Jack waved his hand. “That’s not important now. I need to find this thing so I can find Lavender.”

  “Lavender? Like the color? Someone named their kid Lavender?”

  Jack put his fingertips to his temples for a moment. “Does Dad have a safe deposit box and can I get into it?”

  “I have no idea and the only way you’d be allowed to get into the box is if you declare who you really are. You ready to do that?”

  “No, of course not. Although I don’t feel the…” Jack smiled. “I no longer feel the anger at that idea that I once did. Where’s the money to be dropped?”

  “No idea.” He was staring at Jack, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. “I’ll give Mrs. Montgomery a ride home, and you can go back to what you were doing when we picked you up. You remember? Before the jewelry store?”

  “That seems like a thousand years ago. Six tomorrow, huh?”

  “You can’t interfere in this, Jack. No one knows that you’re Hallbrooke’s son and if you want to keep it that way, you have to stay out of it.” He looked at his watch. “I have to go. I have a meeting with the big shots. Look, Jack, take my advice and let this go. Nothing’s been said, but I agree with you: There’s something not right about this kidnapping—if that’s what it is. None of it sits well with me. First I’m told to use the psychic, then I’m told to find you, then—”

  “Then what?”

  Greg ran his hand over his eyes. “All I know is that something’s not right. What’s in this hidden room?”

  “Nothing that would interest you, just some old stuff. An iron egg, for one thing.”

  “Right. An iron egg. Your father found an iron egg and hid it in a secret room off his bedroom.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “Actually, an old woman gave Darci the egg back in the nineteenth century, but Darci couldn’t take it with her, so she had Tom the driver hide it by a church in Camwell, Connecticut. Remember the box you had the agents dig up? The tunnels are in Camwell, you know. They were haunted by Adam Drayton and Fontinbloom Nokes because Adam gave up his life to try to save a lot of people in the twentieth century.”

  “All right,” Greg said, getting up. “I can take a hint. You don’t want to tell me anything. Should I take Mrs. Montgomery home or do you want to?”

  “I will,” Jack said, opening the library door. “She’ll stay here tonight. Don’t give me that look. Do you guys at the bureau think of nothing except sex? She’s my guest and—What’s that look for?”

  They were at the front door and Greg had stopped to look back at Jack. “What about that ruby that was on your father’s watch?”

  Jack had no idea what Greg was talking about. “Ruby?”

  “Or whatever it was. Remember the red stone he had hanging from that old pocket watch he used to carry?”

  Jack’s face lit up. “Yes! I remember. You and I used to say it was the key to all his wealth.”

  “You said that if he lost it he’d lose all his money.”

  Jack clapped Greg’s shoulder. “If that stone is what we need, the irony may be that I might have been right. Maybe his wealth is connected to it.”

  “Someday I want you to tell me every word about what you and Mrs. Montgomery have been up to these past days. And I want to know why you’ve had such a change in personality. She hasn’t exchanged your spirit with somebody else’s, has she?”

  Greg meant the last as a joke, but Jack didn’t seem to think it was. “Yes, in a way, maybe she has,” he said so seriously that Greg took a step back.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Fine,” Jack answered, then put his hand on Greg’s shoulder and half pushed him out the front door.

  “There’s something I have to do now, so I’ll see you later.”

  “What about your relatives?”

  “Relatives?” Jack asked, his mind elsewhere.

  “You know, Chrissy, Holcombe, your aunt and uncle? Your aunt’s dreadful husband? You remember them, don’t you? I’m not convinced that they aren’t involved in your father’s disappearance.”

  “Darci would know that, so they aren’t. Where are they now?”

  “Cleaning their fifth homeless shelter,” Greg said, smiling.

  “Great. Any orphanages around? Send them there. Just keep them out of here. Oh, wait, you might send Chrissy back here to make us dinner.”

  “Chrissy?” Greg asked. “Cook? Dinner?”

  “Yeah. Look, Greg ol’ friend, it’s been great fun, but I have to go. Darci and I…I mean, I have some things to do.”

  “You wouldn’t go after your father, would you? I was told to tell you that you are not to become involved in this ransom for your father. You’re to stay out of it. Completely out of it.”

  “I wouldn’t think of disobeying an order,” Jack said, smiling at Greg, then shutting the door before he could say another word.

  Three minutes later, he was back in his father’s bedroom, where he knew Darci would be. “I think I’ve found it,” he said, not bothering to explain what “it” was. Turning, he went into the room where the objects were. In the middle of the shelf was the base and on it were four obj
ects. Picking it up, Jack examined the small, empty depression in the side. “My father has always carried an old-fashioned pocket watch and on the chain of it is a little red jewel. It’s cut round, not brilliant.”

  “Cabochon,” Darci said.

  “Right. The ancient way of cutting a stone. I think it would just about fit in this space.”

  “So,” Darci said, as she left the room, “it’s all coming into place. I knew I was directed to you and to your father, and now I’m beginning to understand why.”

  “Yeah,” Jack said seriously. “You’re to find the woman I love.”

  “And the man I love,” Darci said, smiling back at him, then she grinned. “So where do you think your father and this jewel are?”

  Taking her arm in his, he led her down the hall. “That, my dear little sister, you and I are going to have to find out. You said you have visions and go into trances. I want you to do that now and tell me everything you see. Between your power and my—”

  “Knowledge of low-life, underworld characters—”

  “Exactly. Between the two of us, we should be able to find out where Dad is.”

  “And if we can’t find him, we’ll call my cousin Virgil.”

  “A cousin from Kentucky? Some redneck with a pickup and a rifle?”

  “He’s in Hollywood and he lives in my mother’s mansion.”

  “Mansion? Your mother?”

  “Jerlene Monroe.”

  Jack stopped walking. “Your mother is Jerlene Monroe? The movie star? The one who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year? The woman the American people voted as the most beautiful person in the world?”

  “Did you think my mother had three teeth and smoked a corncob pipe? And why didn’t you know about her? I thought you read my file.”

  “I guess they forgot to tell me that little detail.” He was being sarcastic. “And your cousin lives with her?”

  “Don’t start turning Yankee on me. My mother isn’t having an affair with her cousin. Just because we’re from the South doesn’t mean—Anyway, Virgil has a natural ability to deal with the lowest of the low.”

  “He should work for the FBI.”

  “He’d have a heart attack if anyone asked him to do that. He works for my mother and keeps people away from her.”