See Me in Your Dreams (25 page)

He sounded as
if he cared, Keelin realized. But if he really cared he wouldn't shut her out
knowing what he did about her past mistake. About the guilt that had followed
her for years. Or maybe he didn't really believe that she had it in her to set
things right this time.

"You
cannot do this without me," Keelin said, as certain of this as she was of
anything.

"I can
and I will." Tyler backed off, and a flash of regret washed over him
before he opened the front door. "And I hope you have the good sense to
stay put until it's all over."

Good sense?

Keelin stood
frozen to the spot until she heard the Jaguar pull out of the drive. Then she
ran to the door and threw it open in time to see the bottle green vehicle
disappear.

"God
bless," she whispered after him, hoping the good-bye was only temporary.

Taking a deep
breath, she looked around. Helen's car was gone, as well. She was well and
truly alone. She slammed the door and locked it.

Stewing over
such heartless treatment, Keelin put the kettle on to boil and fetched some tea
from her kit. The mixture of chamomile,
vervain
,
peppermint, linden, lavender and lemon balm was a restorative mix meant to
improve well-being and happiness and to lift the spirits. She could certainly
use a good dose of spirit-lifting so she could rationally decide what to do
next.

By the time
she'd had her tea and toast and had chosen not to feel sorry for herself, it
was after eleven. Bringing a mug of tea to Cheryl's room, she finished dressing
and fixed her hair properly.

Then, as she
sipped at the last of the brew, she found herself standing before Cheryl's
shelves, pulling out the scrapbook with the photos of the girl and her dad at
the fair. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she stared at the two of them.
Even in this glossy still-life she could see how much they meant to one
another.

She touched
the girl's image, wishing she could see through Cheryl's eyes at will.

Thinking she
might need to show someone a picture of Cheryl later, Keelin looked for a shot
of the girl alone. The last series in the album was of Cheryl's graduation. She
chose a five-by-seven blow-up and carefully pulled the edges free from the
stays that held the glossy in place on the page.

And something
dropped from behind the print.

Wondering what
the girl had secreted, she hesitated only a second before unfolding the note.

Tyler –

Our arrangement is no longer satisfactory. Call me to work
out the details. 317-555-4362.

Helen

Keelin stared
at the missive.

Tyler's
ex-wife.

Why hadn't he
told her about the note? She had no doubts that Helen had been asking for more
money. And Cheryl...how had the demand found its way to her...and what had the
girl done about it? Cheryl must have guessed Helen was her mother or she
wouldn't have hidden the note in her scrapbook.

Can't stay here any longer.

Not one minute.

No more lies.

Cheryl's
thoughts came back to haunt her. Now they made sense. Had she contacted Helen?
How to know? Keelin wondered. Cheryl didn't seem to keep anything in writing.

Unless...

Her gaze
strayed to the computer. Skelly had given her a quick introduction to his when
she'd been looking for those articles. She vaguely remembered him keeping his
phone numbers and notes in different files.

And Tyler had
talked about Cheryl navigating through cyberspace.

Keelin
approached the electronic beast. "Please God, that I may tame you,"
she whispered, drawing out a seat and finding the
Power
switch.

The computer
energized as did the monitor. Messages and colors flashed across the screen.
Dread built in Keelin. What foolishness was this? She had no idea of what she
was doing. But when the computer settled, boxes that Skelly had called windows
were on the screen, and in each box, small figures with names. She found one
such figure labeled
Notebook
and
clicked the mouse pointer on it.

She spent a
frustrating fifteen minutes before managing to find the few file names and open
the first on the list. She worked by trial and error. Nothing of value.

Terminal
was equally unhelpful.

Cardfile
was next. She
was getting a handle on this process. Files were labeled
Friend, Relative, Business
and
Other
.
She opened
Relative
and found a
number for Tyler's mother in Florida and his sister in Kentucky. She tried
Other
. Only a single entry:
Helen
.

Keelin
recognized the telephone number as being the same as that in the note. Cheryl
knew, then. Furthermore, she must have used the number, or why would she have
entered it into her computer.

But Helen
hadn't said anything about her daughter contacting her...

Thoughtfully,
Keelin stared at the entry, wishing it could give her some answers.

Then she
carefully backtracked, closing the file, then the program, then the operations.

"Good
beast," she said, patting the computer before shutting off the power.

Her next stop
was the room Helen had been using. She had no qualms about entering. The bed
was unmade. Towels were strewn across the bathroom floor. So Cheryl had
inherited her mother's untidiness. But not one item that she could identify as
belonging to Helen remained anywhere to be found. Not even a tube of
toothpaste.

Helen was
gone. For good, Keelin suspected.

That cinched
it. She rang L&O Realty.

"Sorry,
Miss McKenna," Pamela told her. "But Mr. Leighton stepped out."

Did his
assistant sound nervous, or was it her imagination? Keelin wondered.

"What
time will Tyler return?" Keelin asked.

"Uh, I'm
not sure...but he said not to expect him until I see him." Pamela added,
"He'll probably be in and out all day."

Making Keelin
wonder if Tyler's assistant knew why. More important, was Pamela aware of
Brock's involvement with Nathan Feldman?

Every time she
considered the situation, the resolution seemed more and more complicated, as
if they were dealing with a large conspiracy of which Cheryl was only a small
part.

Grand.

And she could
not even speak to Tyler. He was out collecting the ransom. For all she knew, he
could so avoid her calls the entire day.

Frustrated
beyond belief, she dialed Skelly's number at the station, but his taping was
already in progress. She left a message for her cousin, asking that he ring her
at her hotel later.

And then she
searched Tyler's bedroom, hoping he'd been foolish enough to leave the ransom
note for her to find.
Some
clue as to
where he was to make the exchange.

No luck there
or in his study, however.

After
completing her search, Keelin leaned back in Tyler's office chair and gazed at
the framed photograph of Cheryl on his desk. So young to be hostage to some
revenge scheme. Part of the girl's innocence – her faith in her fellow man --
would be shattered. Noting Tyler had set the charm they'd found at the
bandshell
near the picture of his daughter, she snatched it
up. Staring at the perfectly crafted tiny fairy, she only wished the charm
bracelet had the power to protect its owner...

About to
replace the charm, something made Keelin hesitate. She rolled the tiny bit of
silver between her fingers and couldn't quite force herself to let it go. She
slipped the charm into her pocket. Perhaps the fairy would bring
her
good luck.

For the fates
seemed suddenly to have turned against her, Keelin mourned.

Not that fate
would stop her from being part of the night's dramatic events. If she had to,
she would lie in wait for Tyler at L&O Realty. As Pamela had suggested, he
would be in and out all day. Undoubtedly, he would be depositing each large
amount of cash he collected in his safe. No doubt he would proceed to the
exchange point directly from his offices.

And Keelin
hoped to have the perfect opportunity to follow him.

"TOO BAD YOU CAN'T DREAM through
the kid's eyes while you're awake," Skelly said after she'd explained her
dilemma later that afternoon. "Then you could see where the bastards who
are holding Cheryl take her."

Keelin was
curled on the sofa in the sitting room of her suite, while her cousin paced the
room's length, as if the outcome of the night's events were as important to him
as they were to her.

"Being
able to do so would simplify things. Too bad Gran never taught me how."

"Whoa!"
Skelly skidded to a halt. "You mean Moira indicated it's possible?"

"She
spoke of having lucid visions," Keelin agreed, once again wishing she knew
more about the process. Maybe then things would never have gotten to this
point.

"But
you've never tried it?"

"I regret
not. I have no experience in the area of self-hypnosis."

"I got
into self-hypnosis for a story." Sounding excited, Skelly perched on the
sofa next to her. "That's how I quit smoking."

"Not
quite the same task," Keelin pointed out.

"No, but
the principle's got to be similar. You relax, first your body, one part at a
time, then your mind. You give yourself a suggestion to do whatever it is you
want, but you package it in fancy wrappings."

Keelin frowned
at him. "I'm not certain that I understand."

"Like I
had to think of something that would make me feel good if I wasn't smoking.
Imagining a beautiful spot where I could swim for miles. Or climb mountains. Or
run through fields. Things that took a lot of deep breathing. Things I couldn't
do with nicotine-corroded lungs. See what I mean?"

"I...think
so." Though the same methods might not help her unlock someone else's
mind. "Perhaps we should keep to the original plan."

"Following
Tyler?" Though he appeared a bit disappointed, he said, "Your call,
cous
."

Keelin gave
Skelly a big hug. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you
properly."

"Hey, no
big deal." While Skelly seemed somewhat embarrassed, he returned the hug
and patted her on the back. "Hopefully we'll get good news all
around." To her questioning look, he said, "Dad's flying in tonight,
remember."

Dear Lord, the
reunion. She'd been so preoccupied that she'd forgotten the reason for coming
to the United States in the first place.

"Aileen
will meet him?" she asked.

"That's
the plan."

"I hope
your sister has as much influence with your father as you imagine."

Something had
to go right, Keelin thought, trying to be positive. And surely Raymond McKenna
couldn't be as stubborn as Tyler Leighton.

NERVES ON EDGE, KEELIN started when
Tyler finally left L&O Realty, loaded backpack in hand, shortly after nine
p.m. She grabbed Skelly's arm. "There he is." Having lucked out,
they'd been able to get a parking spot just down the street from the realty
office more than an hour ago. "Wait. He's not crossing to the car park.

Skelly started
the engine. "He's hailing a taxi."

Keelin didn't
take her eyes off Tyler who was barely a hundred yards away. She only wished
she could see him better to judge his frame of mind.

She only
wished she was with him.

"Follow
that cab," she told Skelly with a grimace.

As the taxi
pulled away, so did they, only two vehicles in between. Keelin's sense of
urgency pressed in on her, increasingly so as they continued in the same
direction. Rather than turning west toward Wicker Park as she'd suspected
they'd be doing, the taxi was continuing south on Clark.

"Where
could he be headed?"

"Your
guess is as good as mine," Skelly said. "All kinds of places loaded
with people between here and the Loop."

"I was
imagining an area a bit more deserted," Keelin admitted.

They'd gotten
within blocks of her hotel before the problem of keeping up with Tyler began.
Heedless of traffic, two couples raced across the street in the middle of the
block. Skelly threw on his brakes. Several more vehicles inched in between them
and Tyler's taxi, including a van.

"I can't
even see him now," Keelin complained as they came to an intersection where
a group of burly young men who could be rugby players crossed against the
light. "Try to catch up, could you?"

But by the
time the crossing was clear of pedestrians, the light had turned red.