Gift of Gold

Caitlin said. She paused and then added gently, “I was a close friend of Elihu Wright. A very close friend.”
    Tavi shifted slightly and put her hand on Caitlin’s. She said nothing.
    Verity frowned thoughtfully. “Elihu Wright. Wasn’t he the old man you said gave Vincent College the money to start the Department of Paranormal Research, Jonas?”
    It was Caitlin who answered. “Elihu believed passionately in the existence of psychic phenomena of all kinds. He was determined to prove their existence and he gave millions to Vincent. In return he demanded to be kept thoroughly briefed on all research progress. When Jonas started testing, Elihu got very excited. He said that at last they had found a solid experimental subject. He was surprised at the type of psychic ability you had, Jonas. Elihu had been expecting to encounter telepathy or something more familiar. But there was no doubt about your talent.”
    “How much did he know?” Jonas asked.
    “Everything.” Caitlin looked at him. “Including what happened the day you went wild in the lab and nearly killed the technician. You never knew it, Jonas, but a great deal of data was recorded from that experiment. The research people went over it thoroughly and put together some theories. Those theories were all turned over to Elihu. The information was kept very secret but more tests were planned.”
    Jonas swore softly, feelingly. The bastards had intended to put him through that hell all over again. “Tests which never got carried out because I packed up and left the country.”
    Caitlin nodded again. “Elihu died shortly after you left. And the department itself was permanently closed. Psychic research was not deemed a respectable field of study for a classy college like Vincent. As Elihu’s heir, I got possession of all the research reports that had been done.”
    “You were his heir?” Verity asked.
    “I loved Elihu, not as a lover but as a friend. I met him in the hospital where I spent so much time after the accident. He was recovering from a heart attack. He became my friend and my mentor. He was the one who encouraged me to go back to painting. At that point in my life I didn’t want to do anything, not even paint. But Elihu kept pushing me. We became very close. He had no family. His only passion was psychic research. When he died he left everything to me. He was extremely wealthy.”
    “It was his money you eventually used to buy this house?” Verity prodded.
    “In part. But by the time Sandquist died, I was already becoming very successful on my own.” She shrugged eloquently. “Money has not been a problem for me. Revenge was what I wanted. I spent hours, days, months, years thinking of ways to punish Sandquist and Kincaid. But they were always too powerful, too wealthy, and infinitely out of reach. Then Kincaid began collecting my paintings. I was stunned. At first I worried that he would recognize my style. I should have known better. My style changed drastically after what happened to me here in this house. And Kincaid had never been all that interested in my art before the rape.”
    “Besides, he thought you were dead,” Verity said slowly. “Why was he so sure of that?”
    “There was another woman in the car with me that night he ran me off the cliff. A hitchhiker I had picked up earlier. She was asleep in the backseat and never knew what happened. But I was conscious after the accident and I knew it was Kincaid who had tried to kill me. I knew I would never be safe. So I switched identities with the poor, dead woman before the authorities arrived. In the confusion, no one ever asked any questions.”
    “When you knew Kincaid had begun collecting your work, you saw the beginning of what might be a chance to get at him, right?” Jonas hazarded.
    “Yes. Finally I had a hold, however tenuous, on him. I was wondering how to involve Sandquist, too, but then he went over that cliff one night.”
    Jonas’s mouth twisted grimly as he remembered the muddy battle for survival he had waged at the broken fence.
    “The same way I almost went over it tonight. Kincaid knew all about that particular spot at the edge of the cliff. My guess is he had used it previously. Probably to get rid of Sandquist.” Broken flashes of impressions and images flickered through his mind again as they had when he grabbed the fence post to keep himself from falling. Another man besides Tresslar had gone, screaming, over those cliffs.
    Tavi spoke up for