wrath of the Sea Queen (157 page)

"
Salma's still testing.  C
a
eli's a lot worse off than I thought.  Somehow, she didn't seem all that bad when we first found her, but she
w
a
s
badly
beaten and
is
still
fighting
, both
in her mind
and
when
she wakes.  Ben,
I saw
how he hurt her
.
  I want
ed
to reach out and defend her
, but I couldn't
.
"

"You saw it?"

"Y
e
s
, another talent, though I never tried to use it like that before. 
I
wi
ll explain it
to you some other time
. 
Honestly,
Ben,
I can't believe
C
a
eli
survived
such a brutal beating
; but I thank God she did
.  From what I can tell,
t
he
man
punish
ed
her for not letting him
take Max," Vin continued.

Neither he nor Ben realized that Apela had returned to the lounge to ask them about dinner, but stopped and listened quietl
y for a minute when he heard that portion of the
ir conversation. 

"
She has so many bruises and cuts and possibly
even a few
broken bones
; and Salma said she lost a lot of blood
, too
. 
Salma is running one last test now.  Ben, I've got to
find a way to
help
C
a
eli
.
"

"
I understand, Vin.  You
want
to
lash out
, but
you don't know who to blame
.  There's no
justice to be had until we figure this
out."

"
I have a pretty good idea who to blame
. 
I
just need to
find out wh
o that man is
,
who Rika is
, and if they are working together
.  Why are they doing this to her
? 
I couldn't protect
C
a
eli
from the poison, or help her with her gift, or even keep Rika from invading
her
mind.  But this
, this
was a physical a
ttack
. 
I should have been here
for
her. 
When
I find
th
at
man
,
he w
ill pay dearly
,
Ben
.  I
f I
could get my hands on
him right now, I would kill him.
"

"
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
"

"
What's your take on all of this,
Ben
?
"

While the guys talked,
Apela crept away from the lounge entrance
where he had been standing
unnoticed
for several minutes.  He had returned to inquire about their needs; but had refrained from making his presence known upon hearing the nature of their discussion
.
 
Not only did
Apela
recognize the description of the man who attempted to a
b
duct Max, but h
e
also
recognized Rika's name and wanted to talk to
Max's uncle
before
deciding if he should
shar
e
the limited information he had with Vin.

Ben set aside the laptop computer he
borrowed from Vin's room the day before
.  He knew Vin
could provide
a few details that would help fill in the gaps in his
developing
theory. 
Ben
also
faced the
fact
that Vin was not going to like some of what
he
was
about to hear
.  Ben didn't much care for the news himself.  Nonetheless, the two of them were going to have to pool their knowledge if they
expected t
o have any chance of helping their wives
.
  The
pair
had
already reviewed the list of threats to Salma
;
now they
needed
to add
the
imminent
danger to
C
a
eli to that list.

"
Vin, before we get into this, there is something you should see.  I picked
this
up in your room earlier.  It was already open and sitting face down on C
a
eli's
suitcase
.  I
accidentally bumped it, knocking the envelope and its contents onto the floor
.  When I went to put it back, I saw the images and brought
the whole lo
t out with me.  I'm quite certain that C
a
eli has
already
seen them.
"

B
en handed Vin a manila envelope with
Mrs. Harding
hand
written on the front.  When Vin
looked at
the
three
photos, he grimaced, and the wind in the room became agitated for a few moments. 
He
had not yet told C
a
eli about the incident at Vicki's house. 
When she called to tell him about Salma's accident, he put Vicki out of his mind
and rushed straight to the hospital
via a detour at the police station
on
Ben
's behalf
.  T
he topic had not made it to the front of his mind since
. 
It went without saying that n
ow was not the ideal time to revisit it.

Igniting Vin’s irritation,
the photo
s
in the
packet
looked like they might have
been retrieved
from a security camera near Vicki's front door, capturing
both the front entrance
and a portion of the living room beyond. 
As he considered it now, he realized that must have been why the front door was open when he arrived. 
The photos did not paint Vin in a good light.
 
In fact, they presented
him in
the worst possible perspective.  In one, he was comforting Vicki
in what could
easily
be
taken out of context and
mistaken for a personal embrace
.  In the next, she
had fallen
on top of him, though it
appeared
much more
intimate
than that.  In the last photo, Vicki's attempt to kiss him at the
front
door
could
clearly
be misinterpreted
as something more
.  Combining all three images could easily paint a scenario
much
different
than
the truth, which was not
at all
discernible
from
t
he snapshots
.  This
could be none other than
Vicki's
handi
work, and she
selected
the most compromising images possible, making Vin
appear
guilty of infidelity.  Of course,
it
wasn't true. 
Vin wondered
how Vicki even kn
e
w that C
a
eli was going to be here
.
 

"I could be wrong
about this
, but I believe I saw Lorrie place this envelope in C
a
eli's luggage when we were at the arena.  She
was carrying
a similar envelope in her hands when she
was talking
to Apela.  When she
walked away
, her hands were empty.  If I had to guess, I would say that Vicki and Lorrie know each other.  Given what
else
I've discovered about Lorrie,
it seem
s
likely. 
Lor
rie
i
s probably
conspiring with
Vicki
;
toward
what end, I can't say
," Ben began.

"
Great!  Vicki
was
ticked off because I rejected her.  Now she
must be
trying to get
even
by sending these
photos
to C
a
eli.  C
a
eli will understand, but this is the last thing she needs
to think about
right now.
"
  Vin ripped the photos into several pieces and dropped them into a trashcan.  As
Vin’s
anger flared and he pounded his fist against the arm of his chair, a small spark leapt from his hand to the torn paper.  The
shredded images
began to burn.  Both Vin and Ben were
startled
by the unexpected
fire
.