Copper Beach

Frye stash the other notebook?”

    “With luck, it will be among his personal possessions,” Elias said. “We need to get someone inside his house as fast as possible to search the place.”

    “I can do it after I’ve had some sleep,” Sam said.

    “Forget it,” Elias said. “I’ll handle the search first thing in the morning. According to Frye’s personnel records, he had no close family. No one will think it strange if his employer takes charge of his personal possessions until someone arrives who is authorized to claim them.”

    “Which may be never,” Sam said.

    Elias shook his head. “I still can’t believe that we spent the past few days thinking that the threat was coming from Lander Knox. When all along, Gerald Frye was right there in the Black Box lab, plotting against us.”

    “I think we’ve still got a problem with Lander Knox,” Sam said.

    “You’re right,” Abby said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions here. Did Gerald Frye kill Thaddeus Webber and that other book dealer?”

    “No,” Sam said. He steepled his hands and contemplated the fire. “He didn’t have the connections in the underground market to identify those dealers, let alone locate them. Someone else murdered those two people.”

    “What about the thugs who tried to kidnap me? Do you think Frye hired them?”

    “No. Whoever murdered Webber sent that pair to keep watch for you.”

    “Lander Knox,” Elias said grimly. “He’s still out there.”

    “I agree with you,” Sam said. “We’ll find him. But the process of connecting all the dots will have to wait until morning. I can’t think clearly enough to do that tonight.”

    “You need sleep,” Willow said.

    Abby nodded. “Yes, you do.”

    “I’m not arguing.” Sam pushed himself up out of the chair. “If you will all excuse me, I’m going to crash.”

    He started toward the bedroom stairs.

    “One more thing before you leave,” Elias said.

    Sam paused and turned back. “What?”

    “You said Frye told you that his mother had an affair with Ray Willis and that Willis entrusted her with that other notebook.”

    “Yes,” Sam said. “Willis didn’t want you and Knox to know about those experiments.”

    “What about the missing crystals?” Elias asked. “The ones he used in the field tests? Knox and I searched for them after the explosion, but we never found them.”

    “I don’t have the answer to that question,” Sam said. “All I can tell you is that Frye made it clear he did not have them. That was one of the reasons he was so desperate to get his hands on the Coppersmith crystals. He felt that he had been deprived of his inheritance.”

    “His inheritance  ?” Willow’s eyes widened. “You mean…”

    “Of course,” Abby said quietly. “It all makes sense now, including the psychic genetics. Ray Willis was Gerald Frye’s father, the father he never knew.”

45

    ABBY AWOKE TO THE KNOWLEDGE THAT SAM WAS NO LONGER in the bed. She opened her eyes and saw him standing at the window. His strong, bare shoulders were silhouetted against the moonlight. His hard face was in shadow. He was not alone. Newton was beside him, front paws braced on the windowsill. Together, both males contemplated the darkness.
    Abby sat up against the pillows and wrapped her arms around her knees.

    “Did you have another one of your nightmares?” she asked.

    “No.” Sam looked at her. “I woke up a while ago and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

    “You had a rough evening. We all did, but you endured that dreamstate experience and nearly got killed. That kind of stress takes some time to get over.”

    “That’s not why I couldn’t sleep. I started thinking about some of the missing answers.”

    “You said they could wait until morning. The main thing to focus on tonight is that you solved Cassidy Lawrence’s murder. That should give you some closure.”

    “Closure. Good word,” Sam said. He turned away from the window and moved back toward the bed. “It does feel a lot like a door has been closed somewhere, this time for good. But there is another door still ajar. I think your stepbrother is standing on the other side.”

    “Dawson?”

    “We need to find that investor, the one who is pressuring him to acquire the lab book.”

    “You think the investor is Lander Knox, don’t you?”

    “I think there’s a strong possibility of that, yes.”

    “Even if you’re right, Knox has to know the chase is