Donovans 02 - Jade Island

burning behind her eyes. She didn’t like to think of anyone setting her up. Thinking of Daniel doing it, Daniel with her father’s eyes and smile…Her stomach rolled.
    It was such an intimate betrayal.
    “What about Wen himself?” Archer said. “Would he do it?”
    “He’s blind,” Kyle said without looking away from Lianne. “He’s frail. I’ll bet he can’t even get into the vault without help, much less sort through the jade. Can he, sweetheart?”
    She shook her head and tried not to lash out at the logic box that was being so carefully built for her. And the cage that had already been built.
    Someone had stolen the jades and made certain that she took the blame.
    “What about Joe?” Archer asked.
    “He doesn’t know the difference between nephrite and soapstone,” Lianne said, her voice low. “Whoever did this had to know which pieces to steal, which to ignore, and how to find substitutes. Even if Joe had the knowledge, why would he do it? It’s his own inheritance, his own personal wealth, the pride and soul of the Tangs. The Tang Consortium is held by the whole family. The jade vaults have been passed down to the First Son’s First Son since the first piece was collected.”
    “Which leaves Daniel,” Kyle said gently, relentlessly. “The third—or is it fourth?—son of Johnny, who is the third son of Wen Zhi Tang. Danny boy is a long way from inheriting the keys to the jade kingdom, isn’t he?”
    “Yes,” she whispered unhappily.
    “How long has he had the combination to the vault?” Archer asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Ten years? Five? Two?”
    As though cold, Lianne pulled the silk lapels of her robe closer. “I…a year. Maybe less. Whenever Wen couldn’t see or feel the combination anymore and Joe wasn’t there to open the vault for him.”
    “In other words,” Archer said, “Daniel has had plenty of time to cream the jades.”
    “Yes. But…”
    “But what?” Kyle asked.
    “Why would he hate me enough to set me up? I haven’t done anything to deserve that.”
    “Wrong assumption,” Archer said. “Hatred might have nothing to do with it. Deserving sure as hell doesn’t. Pragmatism would explain choosing you.”
    She looked at Kyle as though asking him to counter his brother’s relentless logic.
    “It’s a lot easier for Daniel to pin a stinking rose on Johnny’s illegitimate daughter than on Wen’s Number OneSon,” Kyle said quietly. “Isn’t it, sweetheart? There’s no one to protect you, no patriarch to rise up in righteous fury if you’re threatened. You’ve lived your whole life out on the end of a Tang limb. Now someone’s sawing it off right next to the trunk.”
    Lianne’s chin came up a notch. She didn’t like Kyle’s logic, but it made a horrible kind of sense. There was only one thing wrong with it.
    “Daniel doesn’t have the combination to the inner vault,” she said. “The one that held the jade shroud.”
    “Can you prove that?” Kyle said instantly.
    “No.”
    “Can Daniel prove that he didn’t know the combination?” Archer asked.
    “How do you prove a negative?” Lianne retorted with bitter satisfaction, for she was in the same position—trying to prove that she had not stolen any jades.
    “You can’t,” Kyle said. Then he smiled as coldly as Archer ever had and turned to his older brother. “We don’t have much, but it might be enough to shake something loose. Time to call Uncle?”
    Archer’s eyelids lowered until his eyes were no more than glittering, steel-colored slits. Then he got up and went to the phone.

Chapter 21
    D isplayed by a television screen that was no thicker than a debit card and no smaller than a chair, three heads spoke in measured terms about the volatile international situation. Sitting in his circular work area, Dick Farmer watched PBS with part of his attention and scanned several computer screens with the rest.
    “What effect do you think this will have on international monetary markets in the near, semi-near, and long term?” asked the host, Helen Coffmann, a woman of average looks, manly tweed jacket, and impressive cheekbones.
    “In the short run, it’s hard to say with total assurance,” Ted Chung, the resident Asian specialist said. “A lot will depend on the reaction of overseas lenders and China’s non-American trading partners. If trade barriers go back up, there is little chance of an economically painless resolution. The ripple effect will be very costly,