Page 107

“Yes, it is, but in a world where children are involved, as you might say, it’s five o’clock everywhere.”

“In your world.” I laughed. “She’s energetic.”

“To say the least.” He handed me a glass of wine before moving to the railing and leaning over. “She’s happily sketching in her room.”

“Well, that won’t last for long,” I told him, giving him a little space before grilling him, but I couldn’t take his silence for long. “Are you going to share even part of your conversation with your father?”

His face didn’t register any expression. “He was friends with your father, meeting him not long after we arrived in the United States. Your father was considered a broker.”

“That doesn’t shock me. I don’t think you could tell me much about him that would.”

“My father said he was betrayed and suffered greatly. And as with all treachery, my father put a contract on his life.”

“Oh.”

“And you shouldn’t be drinking wine.”

When he started to take the glass from me, I pulled it away. “I think under the circumstances I can have one glass.”

He held up his index finger. “Just one.”

“What aren’t you telling me? I always know when you’re holding something back.”

It was a few seconds before he turned toward me. “You need to know something, Isabel. I was the one who pulled the trigger ending your father’s life. He is dead, which makes what we’re facing that much more difficult to explain, but it’s obviously revenge based.”

There was no inflection in his tone, no real sense of emotion at all. He searched my eyes, undoubtedly searching for a negative reaction.

“Okay.”

His forehead wrinkled as he furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s it?”

“If you’re looking for me to be angry with you, I’m not. Yes, I feel a little hollow inside, but that’s not from anger. Maybe a sense of relief. Although I will say that revenge leads to exactly what we’re going through right now. Does this also have anything to do with the reason your wife was murdered?”

“That’s my father’s belief.”

“Then whoever is doing this deserves to die.” The look he gave me brought a smile. “I’m not the innocent flower you think I am.”

“Yes, you are, but you also recognize evil when you see it. There’s something else. Someone your father cared about was also killed. A woman.”

As I searched his eyes, I felt another cold chill, but for an entirely different reason. “As I would have expected. I was no fool at that point even though I hoped I was wrong. Did you kill her as well?”

“Yes, but I can say in all honesty, that hadn’t been my intent and I hadn’t known there was a woman in the building until my father mentioned it last night.”

“So he knew who I was all along.”

“At least by your funeral.”

That much I wasn’t certain how to feel about, but I could tell it bothered Maxsim. “Well, I won’t speak ill of the dead, but I don’t feel a sense of anything. Not one thing.”

“You never cease to amaze me, Isabel.”

“Why is that? Because I know what true evil is like?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve considered me as being? Evil personified.”

“Hardly. You’re a marshmallow.”

At least my statement made him laugh. “Only with you.”