Sam tossed his two soy sausages to Newton and dumped the dishes in the sink.
“Let’s go,” he said.
17
“DID HE GIVE YOU ANY DETAILS ABOUT THE AUCTION?” SAMasked.
He was at the wheel of his SUV, driving into the foothills of the Cascades along a narrow, winding road. The terrain was turning steeper and more heavily wooded. Abby was strapped into the passenger seat, her attention focused on the view through the windshield. Newton was in the backseat.
Abby had been unusually quiet since she had locked up her condo and stowed her suitcase and her dog in his vehicle. He had sensed how hard it was for her to accept that her home was no longer safe. He wanted to tell her that she could trust him to take care of her, but he knew that would not make up for the temporary loss of the one place that was hers, the small, cozy space where she was in complete control. He understood about control issues. Hell, he had them, too. Who didn’t?
“No, but obviously rumors are circulating that the lab book will soon be up for auction,” Abby said. “That’s good news and bad news.”
“What’s the good news?”
“I know how to track that kind of chatter. I don’t usually do business with the dealers who work the deep end, but thanks to Thaddeus and Nick, I know who they are and I know how to contact them. I’ll try for a preemptive bid for the lab book. Failing that, I can guarantee that my client will top any other offer.” She gave him a quick, searching look. “That’s right, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I want that lab book.” He tightened his hands around the wheel. “Price is no object. What about the bad news?”
“Once the announcement of the auction is made, one or more of the high rollers who want the book will be able to drive the price sky-high.”
“Not a problem.”
“That’s nice to know. What has me worried is that we are now officially in the deep end of the market. Like I told Dawson, some of the collectors are dangerous. If one of them decides he won’t be able to buy the book, he may go after it some other way.”
“He’ll try to steal it?”
“To do that, he would have two likely options. The book is most vulnerable during a transaction. So he can try to identify the current owner or the dealer who is brokering the sale. That won’t be easy. If that doesn’t work, he’ll get a second shot at acquiring the volume if he can ID the new owner.”
“Me.”
“Your problem is that you are not exactly a low-profile collector in my world. Dawson, for instance, now knows that you are trying to acquire the book. If he tells his investor…”
“I see where you’re going with this. But once I have the book, I’ll make sure it’s secure. The word will go out that it is permanently off themarket. Even if some people know that my family has it, there won’t be many collectors who will take the risk of trying to steal it from Coppersmith Inc. We’ve got some serious security and an even more serious interest in making sure that notebook stays locked up. We’ll take good care of it.”
“Okay,” she said. But she did not look satisfied.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She hesitated. “I’m not sure. I’ve got a bad feeling about Thaddeus’s last email.”
“We’ll be at his place soon.”
“Take the next left.”
“There’s no road sign.”
“Thaddeus likes it that way.”
He slowed and turned left onto an even narrower strip of badly cracked pavement. The trees loomed close on either side. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Depends on the question.”
“I’m pretty sure I know what happened when you accidentally started the fire in the bathtub. You tried to unlock a book, and the energy got out of control.”
“I had no idea what I was doing, let alone that it might start a fire.”
“Paranormal fire is unpredictable. Get it burning hot enough and it will affect the energy in neighboring bands on the spectrum, all the way to the normal.” Sam whistled softly. “Must have been a lot of energy released when you broke that code.”
