"Sure," Jeff said. "And maybe there was a struggle. That would be good."
"Yes, it would," Cruz agreed.
Lyra grabbed a trailing vine and used it to haul herself up the incline behind the men. "Why?"
"Because where there's a struggle, you often find some evidence," Jeff explained.
"Oh, right," she said. "I knew that."
"Except where there's a lot of water and a lot of jungle," he added grimly. "Talk about a great place to hide evidence and bodies."
"We found Webber's body," she reminded him.
Cruz looked back over his shoulder. "That was because someone wanted us to find him."
"How could the killer have known that we would find the jungle gate in the catacombs?" she asked. "Let alone conduct a search?"
"He must have assumed that I'd check out the murder scene with a PF team and pick up the psi trail," Cruz said. "He knew that trail would dead end at the gate and that I'd figure it out from there. Once inside, it would have been hard to miss the waterfall. No offense, but we didn't really need Vincent."
"Don't say that." She looked at Vincent, who was already at the top of the falls, playing with a palm frond that dipped into the water. "He thinks he won the game."
Cruz came to a halt at the edge of the falls and gave Vincent another considering look. "Are you sure you can't convince him to play a new game?"
"Yeah," Jeff said, scrambling up to stand beside him. "One that involves finding evidence of some kind."
"I don't know how to go about it," she said. She watched Vincent bat the palm frond with his front paw. "It's not like he's telepathic or anything. He's a dust bunny."
"Forget it," Cruz said. "Let's start the sweep. We'll stick to the area immediately around the perimeter of the falls."
They moved out side by side, arm's length apart. Vincent tumbled after them but showed no interest in the new game until they passed a small cave in the rocks. At that point he chortled to them and disappeared into the shadowed opening.
They stopped.
"Now, what?" Jeff asked.
"I don't know," Lyra said. "Maybe he spotted some small animal that passes for dust bunny prey."
Vincent reappeared with a piece of foil in one paw. He looked quite pleased with himself.
"He's into bling," Lyra explained.
"Will he give it to you?" Cruz asked.
"Sure." She picked up Vincent. "Can I see that?" she asked.
Vincent let her take the scrap of foil. She handed it to Cruz.
"It's a wrapper," he said. "The kind used to package candy and snack bars."
Jeff whistled softly. "Someone dropped it. The killer?"
"Yes." Cruz smiled his cold smile of satisfaction. He rubbed the wrapper between his thumb and forefinger. "His psi is all over it."
"Could be a piece of foil from something Webber ate," Jeff said. "If there was a struggle, the killer's psi could have ended up on the snack bar or anything else in the vicinity."
Cruz moved to the edge of the rocky opening and crouched to study the interior. Then he reached inside and withdrew what looked like a plastic sack emblazoned with a familiar logo.
"That's an AI rain poncho pouch," Jeff said. "The rain gear is standard issue in every AI pack."
"Same psi traces," Cruz said.
"Again, could have belonged to Webber," Jeff said. "Maybe he got caught in a downpour, put on the poncho, and waited out the storm inside that cave. You know what it's like when it rains in the jungle. You can't move. Maybe he was wearing the rain poncho when the killer attacked."
"On Psi Crime Investigation they make it clear that, although the courts are starting to admit testimony from psychics, it has to be backed up with hard evidence," Lyra said.
Cruz gave her and Jeff a narrow-eyed look. "That does it; no more PCI for either of you. You want proof that the poncho and the snack bar wrapper didn't belong to Webber? Fine. I'll give you proof."
Jeff frowned, curious. "How will you do that?"
"Watch and learn, Mr. Hotshot Psi Crime Investigator," Cruz said.
He went back down the side of the falls to the body, removed Webber's pack, and unzipped it. A few seconds later he pulled out an unused rain poncho still tucked neatly inside its plastic pouch. Next he went swiftly through the remaining contents of the pack. After a moment, he straightened.
"There aren't any energy bars missing, either," he announced.
"Oh, yeah," Jeff said. "I should have thought of checking out the pack. Okay, it's pretty clear that the killer left the pouch and the wrapper. Now we know something else about him."
"He was carrying AI equipment, so he probably works for AI," Lyra said.
"We know more than that." Cruz started back toward the top of the falls. "He's cutting his losses and getting rid of his partners. Cleaning up."
Chapter 30
" SOMETHING I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT," CRUZ SAID.
"Just something?" Lyra settled down onto the lounger and took a sip of her wine. "Funny, I had the impression that you've been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. You know, finding the artifact, hunting a killer."
They were sitting on her balcony, a bottle of wine and a plate of cheese and crackers on the small table between them. Vincent was on the railing, munching on a cracker. The night was balmy and warm, and the great wall cast its eerie green glow over the Quarter.
"The particular stuff I'm thinking about is the way the gate of the amethyst chamber closed, trapping five people inside," Cruz said.
"You're back to wondering if it was something other than an accident?"
"I am." He ate a cracker. "You said the gate could have been closed by either stray waves from a psi river or a storm. You also said that someone working certain nonstandard amber could have done it deliberately."
"Right. In addition to amethyst, I'm pretty sure diamond or silver amber would do it. My grandfather told me that they have some distinctive properties. He said they could disrupt the currents generated by most of the other ambers. But both are extremely rare. I've never come across a single specimen of either in my work. So even if the killer could work one or the other, how would he get hold of a chunk to use on the gate?"
"I can think of one place. The vault at the lab."
"Wow." She raised her brows. "You've actually got some diamond and silver at the lab?"
"Sweetwaters and their employees have been collecting specimens and artifacts of rare amber for decades. Everything goes into the vault, but almost nothing comes out. It's like the basement of a big museum in there. Things go into storage and get forgotten."
"But presumably access to the vault is limited."
"Sure."
"Got a list?" she asked.
"It's a short one." Cruz drank some wine. "Felix Webber was right at the top."
"Well, that fits. He was at the ruin when it closed." She paused. "Assuming he could work diamond or silver."
"If he was able to work it, he sure as hell kept the information to himself. It wasn't in his file."
"Wouldn't be the first time someone with an unusual talent kept the data out of an employment file."
"True."
She considered for a moment. "Originally you thought that whoever triggered the gate did it to frame me."
"That theory still fits. But I'm starting to wonder if there was an additional goal."
"What?"
"Another murder. I have a feeling that one of the five people trapped inside that chamber was the real target."
"You sound very sure of that," she said.
"I am."
"But how can you know something like that with such certainty?"
"The same way I know we were meant to be together."
"Your talent?"
"Uh-huh." He ate another cracker.
She pursed her lips. "You know, I can buy the idea that you have a talent for hunting bad guys. But this thing about the men in your family being able to know when the right woman comes along? Not so much."