Deep Waters

I'll use something that's more effective."
    "Don't do it for my sake, Keyworth." Elias walked slowly across the terra-cotta tiles that covered the floor of the glass-walled solarium.
    The Keyworth house was a huge, aging brick relic on the shores of Lake Washington. In another era it had no doubt dripped with gracious elegance. But as Elias had walked through the dark-paneled hall to the garden room, his footsteps had echoed with a bleak, hollow sound. It seemed to him that there was no soul in this house. It was as if something had died here long ago.
    He had been obliged to get past an electronic gate, two rottweilers, a sullen gardener, and a determined housekeeper in order to gain access to Garrick Key-worth. Now that he was here, he wasn't sure what he was going to say.
    "Bullshit," Garrick muttered. "It's the perfect vengeance. Isn't that what you wanted? Revenge?"
    "The perfect revenge requires that you live. I want you to look down the river into the future and change the reflections you see there."
    "What is this garbage? An updated version of the Ghost of Christmas Past? Someone told me that you practice some bizarre martial arts philosophy crap. Whatever it is, don't try to foist it off on me. I may be suicidal, but I'm not crazy."
    "Your son came to see me yesterday." Elias circled the wingback chair so that he could see Garrick's face.
    He was not prepared for the sight of the pale, gaunt features and lifeless eyes. It was nearly noon, but Garrick was dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe. He had a pair of slippers on his feet. The coffee on the table beside him was untouched.
    "Justin went to see you?" Garrick's voice was flat, devoid of all emotion. He stared past Elias into the garden. "What the hell did he want?"
    "Revenge."
    Garrick scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "Take a good look at me, Keyworth. Justin is responsible for this black eye."
    Garrick raised his head with a surprised, jerky movement and stared at Elias's face. "Are you trying to tell me that Justin took a swing at you?"
    "Several swings. Would have flattened me if help hadn't arrived."
    "Why?" Garrick looked genuinely baffled. "Can't you guess? He blames me for your attempt at suicide. Seems to think I'm responsible. Sound familiar, Keyworth? Do you see the pattern of the ripples in the water here?" Garrick's mouth worked. "I don't understand."
    "Don't you?" Elias turned away from Garrick's haunted gaze.
    He went to stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the garden and the gray surface of the lake. In the distance, the towers that marked the Seattle skyline were dark shadows in the mist. Charity was in one of those high-rise buildings at this very moment. He wished she were here, instead. She would have known how to handle this scene. He knew he was floundering badly. "Goddamn it, say what you came to say, Winters."
    "It's no secret that you and your son don't get along very well, Keyworth. But when the chips were down, Justin proved that blood is still thicker than water. He came to see me because he blamed me for what happened to you."
    "That's hard to believe. Justin doesn't give a damn about me. He wants me out of the way."
    Elias absently fingered his bruised face. "That's not the impression I got."
    "You don't know anything about Justin."
    "You're wrong." Elias turned slowly. "I know a great deal about him. I made a thorough study of him as well as everyone else connected to you and your organization before I put my plans together. I can tell you why your wife left you, and about the affair your Pacific operations officer had with his secretary, and how your Singapore account rep got lured away by the competition."
    "I believe you." Garrick rested his head against the back of his chair and closed his eyes. "Your plans were all so exquisitely detailed. You missed your calling, Winters. You should have gone into politics or worked at the Pentagon. I've never seen such a strategist."
    "Are you interested in what I learned about Justin?"
    "I'm more interested in why you want to tell me anything at all about him. Is this another act in your grand scheme of vengeance? If so, you can save yourself the effort. You can't do any damage to my relationship with Justin. I lost him years ago."
    "You may be able to get him back."
    "Stop talking about Justin." Garrick's lashes lifted to reveal the first trace of real emotion. "Leave him out of this."
    "He's a part of it."
    "No, he's not, by God." Rage gathered