"I figured that."
Jack took a deep breath and let it out. There it was. The final link between the Menelaus house, Tara Portman, and Eli Bellitto.
Gert shook her head. "Tragic the way he died."
"Not tragic at all," Jack said, dropping out of character. "I'm pretty sure it was long overdue."
Gert's eyes widened as she straightened her wide shoulders. "What?"
Jack turned and strode for the door. "Thanks lady. Tell Eli I was asking after Dmitri."
"You know Mr. Bellitto? Who are you?"
"Just tell him. He'll know." Jack hit the sidewalk and headed straight for the subway.
3
"This is not to be borne!"
Eli slammed the phone down. He could barely speak. The brazenness of the man! The absolute gall!
"What is it?" Adrian said, hovering.
"It was him! The mysterious 'Jack'! He was just in the shop asking Gert about Dmitri!"
Adrian gaped at him. "Just now? Then I saw him. I looked right at him and didn't recognize him. But then of course I wouldn't recognize him since I still don't remember what happened Monday night. The last thing I remem-"
"What did he look like?"
"Like... like a common laborer. He was dirty and he smelled sweaty. I can't believe-"
"Believe it! He said he'd had a call from Dmitri telling him to meet him in the shop."
Adrian paled. "But Dmitri's dead."
Eli glanced at him. What had always impressed him most about Adrian, besides his size, was his swift mind; but since those blows to his head his mental functions seemed to have slowed to a walk.
"I'm well aware of that. He's just trying to rattle us." Though Eli said us, he meant me. "He wants to keep us off balance."
"But why?"
Suddenly Eli saw it all, comprehended the mystery man's plan in all its terrible simplicity.
"He wants to prevent us from performing the Ceremony during this cycle. That will put terrible pressure on us because we'll have to complete the Ceremony during the next cycle, the last new moon before the equinox, or..."
His words dried up as he contemplated the consequences.
Adrian was staring at him. "Or what? What will happen?"
"To you? Nothing much. Your string of Ceremonies will be broken and you'll have to go back and start at one again."
Adrian groaned. "Oh, God, no."
"But for me it will be much, much worse. If I fail, all the diseases and traumas I've been shielded from for the past two centuries will rush upon me and crush me."
Terror squeezed his shuddering heart in a cold fist. He'd die slowly and in unimaginable agony. And then the interloper would be free to take over the Circle.
That was why this Jack hadn't killed him Monday night. He wanted Eli to suffer a month of pain and anxiety before a horrible death.
"And to think I was that close!" Adrian gritted through clenched teeth. "If only I'd known I'd have..." He balled his hands before him, crushing huge fistfuls of air.
"He won't win!" Eli cried. "He thinks that by stealing our lamb he's sabotaged our Ceremony for this cycle. He can't know about the DiLauro woman's child-we didn't know ourselves until yesterday. We can still beat him."
He snatched up the phone, punched in Strauss's beeper number, and left a message to call back. The phone rang minutes later.
"Progress?" Eli snapped as soon as he recognized Strauss's voice.
"Some. Not moving as fast as I'd like. What's wrong?"
He filled Strauss in on the mystery man's latest stunt without getting into his theory of what the man was planning. "What's the hold-up? What are you doing?"
"I'm not sure I want to say," Strauss said. "With all this guy seems to know, how can we be sure your line's not tapped?"
Eli felt his chest tighten. The possibility had never occurred to him.
"Can you check the line?"
"Yeah, but not today. We got some situations here that won't allow me to get down there till late tonight."
Not good enough. Eli needed to know now. Then he had an idea.
"Fax it to me."
"What?"
"You heard me. Jot it down or type it out. Be as oblique as you wish-I'll understand-and fax it. You destroy the original, I'll burn the copy at this end, and no one but we will know."
A pause on the other end, then, "All right. That might work. Just make sure you burn it right off."
"I'll have the matches ready."
He gave Strauss his personal fax number, then hung up. Twelve minutes later the machine rang, then started printing out a brief, scrawled message.
Our financial friend got the ladys checking account records but no check written to a camp. Looking into credit cards but that takes longer. Will know by tonight and fax results ASAP.
BURN THIS!
Strauss, ever paranoid, hadn't signed it.
Eli handed it to Adrian. "Find some matches and do what the man says."
Checking accounts and credit cards... how clever. Why comb through the rosters of a thousand summer camps looking for a particular child when you can use the mother's own records to find out. Big Brother certainly had his drawbacks, but in this instance, he could be a Godsend. Eli felt better. They'd know the lamb's location by tonight and could then determine the best way to acquire her. If all went well, by dawn she would be theirs.
4
Lyle struck a pose on the bottom cellar step. He'd shaved, showered, and donned his black silk suit. Ifasen was ready for Forest Hills.
"How do I look?"
Charlie glanced up from his digging. "All G'd up like a wolf huntin' him some sheep."
"Thanks loads."
Not at all the image Lyle wanted to cut, but he knew Charlie's perception was tinted toward the cynical where he was concerned.
Lyle said, "Jack called. He's been delayed. He's going to grab a bite before he comes back. Why don't you take a break till he gets here. I should be back shortly after that and then the three of us can give it a couple more hours."
Charlie shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Told you I'd give you two days and that's what I'm doin'. Don't want you sayin' I shorted you. You go. I'll keep workin'."
"Charlie-"
"Go, man. I find somethin', I call you. We find nathan by midnight, we gone, right? That was the deal, right? Right?"
Lyle sighed. "Right."
He realized he should have rescheduled his women's club talk, or canceled it altogether. What good was wooing new sitters, no matter how well-heeled, if he wasn't going to be in business after tonight? He never should have struck that deal with Charlie, or at least should have insisted on three days instead of two.
Cool it with the negativity, he told himself. We're going to find Tara tonight. I know it.
And then these Forest Hills ladies would be cat fighting to book sittings with him.
5
The foil-wrapped sandwich was cool under Jack's arm as he stepped into Julio's. The after-work crowd was building and smoke hung thick in the air. As Jack headed for one of the rear tables he waved to Julio and flicked his thumb above his fist in a pop-me-one gesture.
A minute later Julio plunked an open Rolling Rock long neck onto the table and stood watching as Jack unrolled his sub from the greasy foil. A vinegary odor seeped into the air. He'd swung into Costin's mom and pop on the next block and grabbed it on the run from the cooler; a pre-fab construction of spongy bread filled with sliced meat byproducts topped with a cheeseoid substance that had never been within a hundred miles of a cow. But it was fast and promised to fill the void.
"Hey, meng, people see you they gonna think this some kinda bring-your-own-food place."
Jack took a long pull on the beer. Damn, that tasted good. He'd stopped home to shower and change. A clean pair of jeans, a fresh shirt-an Allman Bros, concert T he'd picked up at a secondhand store-and he felt halfway to a new man, ready to dig again.