The Persuasion

by Iris Johansen

  “Oh, yes, you said he scolded you,” Jane said caustically. “How terrible for you.”

  “It was more than that. It was terrible. Because I wouldn’t promise I wouldn’t do it. It didn’t make sense to me.” She paused. “He cut me off,” she said jerkily. “From that day, he broke off all contact. Do you know what that did to me?”

  Jane could imagine. For Lisa, losing Caleb would have been the cruelest punishment she could suffer. “Perhaps taught you a lesson?”

  “He could have done anything else. He didn’t have to hurt me like that. It went on for months, and I couldn’t believe it was happening.” She grimaced. “And the longer it went on, the angrier I got with you. You were to blame for it all. Why didn’t you just do what he wanted you to do?”

  “Because I have free will and I do what I please. But probably neither you nor Caleb would appreciate that concept. You’re accustomed to reaching out and taking whatever you choose.” She was trying to smother the rage searing through her. “And I don’t appreciate being caught between the two of you. Go find someone else you can dangle like a puppet, Lisa.”

  Lisa shook her head. “He doesn’t want anyone else. Besides, I gave him my word when he called a few days ago. I have to keep it now.” She paused. “And I’d do it anyway, because I’m grateful that you talked him into letting me stay with you. That’s why I had to be honest with you. Do you think it was easy for me? I knew you’d be angry. Caleb will probably be angry, too, if you tell him I let you know. He doesn’t like me to interfere in his life.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “But his life is my life,” Lisa said simply. “I have no choice. It’s been like that since I was a kid. He realizes that, too, when he’s not angry.”

  “Well, I don’t realize it.” She took a deep breath. “Did he teach you that persuasion crap? I know he taught you the blood talent years ago for your protection.”

  “No, he just told me the basics and said that I’d have to learn the rest for myself. He said to be careful with it because it could be more dangerous than the blood talent.” She shrugged. “I played with it a little, but as I said, I didn’t like the idea, so I didn’t try to actually learn it. But I knew enough to be able to do what I needed with you. That would be simple.”

  “I don’t regard that as reassuring.”

  “You’re really upset,” Lisa said. “I guess I would be, too. That’s why I never liked the idea. How can I make it up to you?”

  “I’ll think about it.” She wanted to shake her. “It would have to be something very special to make up for that ugliness you were planning for me.”

  She frowned. “It wouldn’t have been ugly. I told you, I’d have made sure you liked it.”

  “It would still have been ugly.” She bit out, “And you will never think of doing it. Understand?”

  “Of course. I promised Caleb.”

  “And now you will promise me.”

  She nodded. “I promise.” She got to her feet. “And now I’d better go and dig with Michael and his friends. You won’t want to be around me for a while. I don’t want to make you any unhappier.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” Jane said carefully. “So considerate.”

  “It’s the truth,” she said quietly. “I like you. Since my sister died, I’ve never liked any woman as much as I do you. That’s why I couldn’t understand why you were being so idiotic. But I do want whatever is best for you.”

  “When you don’t want to serve me up on a silver tray to your brother.”

  Lisa grinned. “I’m trying to keep that separate. Besides, I promised.” She turned to go. “And I will make it up to you.” She headed across the dig toward Michael. “See you later…”

  Jane listened to Lisa laugh as she watched her slide down into the pit beside Michael and his friends. For her, evidently, the conversation was over and she’d moved on. Jane wished she could do the same. She was still feeling furious and indignant and a little helpless. She’d wanted to scream at Lisa all the time they’d been talking. The girl clearly didn’t understand the concept of free will, or if she did, she couldn’t connect it to Caleb…or Jane. She might very well have used that damn persuasion if Caleb hadn’t stopped her.

  And one of the irritations Jane was feeling was because she understood why. Right and wrong didn’t exist for Lisa where Caleb was concerned. There was only safe or unsafe, happy or unhappy. She supposed she should be grateful that Lisa seemed to have a few ethical restrictions where everyone else on the planet was concerned.

  Maybe. How did she know? The girl was unique and had her own code. Jane had to either jettison her or learn to read that code. She’d thought she’d come close at one time, but Lisa was much more complicated now.

  Yet Jane genuinely liked her, dammit.

  But what Lisa had almost done was totally wrong and incomprehensible. Would she have actually gone through with it? And could Jane run the risk that it might happen again?

  “You’re frowning,” Caleb drawled from behind her. “It’s not even noon and Lisa is nowhere in sight. Have you already banished her from your presence?”

  “Her choice,” she said curtly as she looked over her shoulder to see him standing a few yards away. “She’s over there working with Michael.”

  “But that still doesn’t explain the frown.” He tilted his head, studying her face. “Something’s wrong, but I’m not going to pursue it right now. I’m too pissed off myself and I don’t need anything else to set me off.”

  “Heaven forbid. We wouldn’t want anything to cause you any annoyance when you’re always so even-tempered.”

  “And I’m too pissed off to have you sit there and take potshots at me.” He reached down and pulled her to her feet. “I have something to show you. Come on, we’re going to your tent where I won’t have to be polite or civilized if I don’t feel like it.”

  “I haven’t finished for the day. Let me go tell Michael that I’ll be—” It was too late. Caleb was already pulling her up the hill toward the tent. “Let go of me. If this is your idea of being polite, you must have been raised by wolves.”

  “No, I was the wolf.” He dropped her wrist. “I was raised by wonderful, civilized parents for whom everyone in the neighborhood felt respect and a deep compassion. It just goes to show that you can never tell how a kid is going to turn out.”

  “Shut up, Caleb. I’ve had enough today.” They had reached her tent, and she went inside. It was hot and stuffy in here, but she didn’t bother to turn on the portable fan. They wouldn’t be here that long. “Just show me what you want to show me. Palik? You said he was going to Villa Silvano and you were expecting something from him. How bad is it?”

  “Not good.”

  She stiffened. “Deaths?”

  “Two. It was the caretaker and his wife, a couple in their seventies. No crucifixions, but still very bloody. They were propped up against the wall in the foyer with their arms outstretched, as if in greeting.” He handed her his phone. “Touching, don’t you think? Luca wanted to welcome me or whoever I sent to come calling. But he was sparing of the blood this time. He only used it to lead from the bodies in the foyer to the room he wanted to highlight.”

  Jane forced herself to look away from that elderly couple with their frozen expressions of stark terror. “Highlight? Which room was that? You said there were only two bodies.”

  “The master bedroom. As far as Luca was concerned, the butchery wasn’t as important as the rollout of his plan this time. Though he left a note pinned on the man’s chest that I’d be hearing from him soon.” He nodded at the phone. “Take a look. He was very explicit about everything he was going to take from me…and you. You’ll see that every one of the photos is labeled ‘Mine.’”

  “What do you—” She was staring down at a very familiar huge stone house where she had spent many weekends with Caleb. “This is your place in the Highlands.”

  He nodded. “He got some very good shots of it. The next pic
ture is Fiero Castle in Italy. That’s the place where the Ridondos moved when they decided to abandon the dark path and get away from the village.” His lips twisted bitterly. “He might have thought of it as a treasured ancestral home, but God knows he’d be welcome to that one. I always hated it.”

  “It’s magnificent.”

  “Yes. The Ridondos wanted to be sure to impress the villagers of Fiero with their palatial grandeur when they weren’t being terrified by their skill in the black arts.” He folded his arms across his chest. “There are two more of my houses, one in Geneva, Switzerland, the other in Paris, that he also evidently took a liking to. He must not have cared for the one in the Caribbean. Obviously he has no taste. That’s one of my favorites.”

  “‘Mine,’” she repeated as she flipped through those photos. “Very arrogant. And not bright or he’d know he couldn’t take them away from you just by boasting he was going to do it.”

  “It amused me until I came to the next photos.” His lips tightened. “Then I wasn’t amused at all.”

  She glanced up at him and inhaled sharply. Not amused, indeed. She quickly brought up the next photo.

  MINE.

  It was the painting of Fiona MacDuff.

  She brought up the next photo.

  MINE.

  It was a copy of the photo of her that he’d pinned to the wall at MacDuff’s Run, and on the chest of the man on the crucifix in the cave at Fiero.

  MINE.

  Another photo of a painting Jane had done of a young boy on a street in Amsterdam. She inhaled sharply. “I did this painting two years ago. It won me the Euro Award for Excellence.”

  “I remember. It was compared to works of the Italian masters of the Renaissance. And it was sold to an anonymous collector right afterward. Don’t stop there,” Caleb said. “He didn’t.”

  She went to the next photo.

  MINE.

  Another picture of her, this time a close-up on the lounge balcony at Mantua, smiling faintly, her eyes intent on her sketch pad.

  MINE.

  Another photo of her bending down to look at the waters of the bridge. It must have been taken from one of the second-floor windows of the house on the street behind her because he had caught a glimpse of the faint swelling of her breasts against her white shirt.

  MINE.

  A photo of her laughing, her head thrown back as she talked to one of the children at the ice cream shop down the street from the hotel.

  MINE.

  A photo of Jane sitting on her own balcony, drinking coffee and talking on the phone.

  Her thumb moved more quickly.

  MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE. MINE…

  Jane couldn’t believe it as she flipped through photo after photo. Every time of day and early evening there were pictures of her sitting, standing, walking. Some casual, some broaching on intimacy because she’d had no idea she’d been observed. A few were outright sensual as she raised her face to the sun with lips parted. Or the one where she was stretching, with her hands lifting her long red hair to cool the flesh of her nape.

  “Good heavens,” she murmured, stunned. “Incredible. How many are there?”

  “Thirty. Forty. I didn’t count after the first dozen or so. I was too pissed off. Each photo was blown up ten by twelve and mounted on the wall of the bedroom. There’s one last long shot at the end that shows all the photos displayed from the king-size bed at the far end of the room.” He paused. “Which Luca must have occupied while he was staying at the villa.”

  “That son of a bitch,” Jane said between set teeth as she pulled up that final photo. “Was he trying to make me look like a spread from Playboy?”

  “That was my first thought. But then I had another one that made me even more uneasy. Those photos were meant to catch the person you are. Even the more intimate ones were more sensual than sexy. He took his time with all of them. I told you when I came back from Mantua that he’d spent days getting those photos of you.” He said harshly. “I didn’t think they’d turn out to be…this.”

  She frowned, puzzled. “What?”

  “They’re almost a…” He shrugged. “He not only wants you, he wants to know you. Or maybe he thinks he does already.”

  “You’re crazy,” she said flatly.

  “Probably. But that doesn’t change the fact that sometimes lust isn’t enough. One gets a hunger that can’t be satisfied by the usual means.” He bowed his head mockingly. “As I’ve learned from dire necessity. Which means Luca is going to be very, very disappointed that I won’t give you up. Screw him.”

  “You don’t have me. And I doubt if he’s feeling anything for me that’s in the least sensitive or cerebral. After all, he’s a ruthless murderer.”

  “And I’m a hunter. Which some people might say comes down to the same thing.” He snapped his fingers. “But that just proves your point, doesn’t it? What could I be thinking?”

  “I don’t know. I never do.” She looked at him. “But you’re no Stefano Luca. Was this all that Palik sent?”

  “No, he sent one more photo that I had trouble decoding. I had to think about it.” He grimaced. “I was too involved with his first barrage of photos of you to pay proper attention to that one.” He reached over and flicked the photo button. “It’s a shot of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. Very substantial, very prosperous, but it’s not my bank. I prefer Geneva and the Caymans. But I don’t think that Luca made a mistake; I think he’s indicating that whatever funds I have there are going to be taken from me.” He shrugged. “Though we might hear more about it down the road.”

  “Royal Bank of Scotland,” Jane repeated thoughtfully. Something was mentally stirring as she gazed down at the photo of the building. It wasn’t her bank, either, but it was familiar, she’d been there recently…

  Then it came to her.

  She looked up to meet Caleb’s eyes. “It’s MacDuff’s bank.” She took the next step. “And the last time I was there was when I went with MacDuff and his men to deposit Cira’s treasure after we found it at Loch Gaelkar. As far as l know, it’s still there in a special vault.”

  “And it could very well stay there indefinitely,” Caleb said. “Just the yearly interest on that treasure would pay MacDuff’s bills and make several investments with millions left over. Interesting.”

  “But that’s MacDuff’s bank, MacDuff’s treasure. Why would Luca send that photo to you?”

  “Because in my profession, I’ve been known to wander off-track in a multitude of different fields in order to hunt down prey.” He was looking at the bank speculatively. “Though I’ve never robbed a bank. But perhaps Luca believes there’s always a first time. It seems that he might be including a service in his list of things he intends to acquire from me.”

  “Then we should warn MacDuff the bank might be a target.”

  He slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s better to wait until the threat becomes a reality. Particularly since depending on how you look at it, the threat might appear to be coming from me.” He added dryly, “And my last encounter with MacDuff wasn’t encouraging. I don’t want him setting that inspector on me and getting in my way.”

  “He’d know you’d have nothing to do with it.”

  “Would he?” Caleb smiled recklessly. “I don’t.” He met her eyes. “And neither do you. I do whatever I have to do at any given moment. Tell MacDuff if you wish, but it just makes my handling of Luca more difficult. I don’t like difficult, Jane. I tend to get frustrated, and that leads to me being more violent than usual. You’ve seen me like that before and you didn’t like it.”

  He was right. She was remembering a time years ago when she’d asked him to help her hunt down an assassin in the mountains in Switzerland. He’d gotten impatient with her then and gone off on his own. She would never forget the moment when he’d come back up that trail carrying the killer bleeding and almost dead on his back to throw him down at her feet like some kind of barbarian tribute. His fac
e had been lit with savagery as he’d met her eyes; there had been no regret and no mercy. “That was a long time ago.”

  “And you’d hoped I’d changed? I haven’t changed. Oh, I have a certain code, but the wildness is still there.” He smiled crookedly. “I’ve tried to modify it when I’m around you. But that’s pure self-defense, because I find the idea of losing you totally unacceptable. And it worked for a while, didn’t it?”

  “No, obviously not. We’re not together any longer.”

  “Just because in the end I’m just the same, a throwback to those blackhearted Ridondo brothers who became the scourge of Fiero? We only have to work around it.” He tapped the screen of his phone. “As we’re doing now. So are you going to run to MacDuff with every bit of information?”

  “He’s my friend.”

  Caleb waited.

  “What would you do if I said yes?” she asked.

  “Nothing. But I wouldn’t feel free to share information with you as I’ve been doing.”

  Jane wouldn’t be able to bear being closed out.

  And Caleb knew that.

  “Okay,” she said grudgingly. “But I want to know anything that happens that concerns MacDuff.” She added, “And I reserve the right to change my mind if I find out you’re going off on tangents.”

  “But tangents can be so intriguing. You see, we’re already compromising beautifully.”

  “I mean it, Caleb.” She couldn’t get the memory of his savage expression as he’d thrown that assassin down at her feet out of her mind. “I walked away once. I’ll walk away again.”

  “No, not again,” he said quietly, “I couldn’t take it twice.”

  She stiffened. “What would you do? Don’t threaten me, Caleb. I’ve had enough of that from your sister this morning.”

  “Lisa.” He nodded wryly. “That was why you were looking as if lightning bolts were about to strike when I came to get you.” He paused. “How bad was it? She actually threatened you?”

  “No.” She shook her head in frustration. “She apologized. Though I’m still not sure that she wouldn’t do the same thing again. Or maybe I guess I am, since I made her promise.” She glared at him. “That damn persuasion. It didn’t occur to you to tell me that even though she hadn’t used the blood talent, she was playing around with it?”