Devil s Bargin Page 0,25

on the desk, flipping pages.

"Well?" Jazz prodded.

"I know the name. I just can't remember - " Lucia shook her head and looped silky dark hair behind her ear as she bent over the folder. "This is nothing. Tax accounting on assets, standard corporate stuff. But I know this name, I know I do."

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. In retrospect, Jazz supposed it would have been a good idea to keep an eye out, even though Borden had said he wouldn't be back for thirty minutes. Rookie mistake. She controlled the impulse to sweep the folders off the desk and looked at Lucia, who was looking utterly cool and composed and not at all tempted to try to hide what she was doing.

Must have been a spy thing.

"Ah. Eidolon Corporation." The voice had a hoarse edge that came from a lifetime of close acquaintance with cigarettes or, Jazz amended, maybe Havana cigars. The old man standing framed in the doorway - short, neat, white-haired, with electric blue eyes - looked as if he'd never stoop to anything so pedestrian as cigarettes. Old money. Polish and style and sophistication. His immaculate tailoring made Lucia look dowdy. "I thought you might recognize it. You have an excellent memory, Agent Garza. That's one of the reasons you came so highly recommended to us."

Lucia said nothing. She met the newcomer's stare squarely, chin firm, eyes bright. He came forward and put his hand on the back of Jazz's chair, and turned his attention to her for a few seconds. "Miss Callender," he said, and nodded down at her. His eyes were Paul Newman blue, and they looked as if they might require a separate power source. Maybe he recharged them at night, along with his cell phone. "My name is Milo Laskins. I am a senior partner with the firm, and Mr. Borden's immediate superior. You may address any questions you have about the agreement to me, as Mr. Borden has been temporarily detained." He nodded toward the file still sitting on the desk under Lucia's hand. "Although I see your research is going quite well without me."

"Are you expecting me to apologize?" she asked.

"Hardly. But I do expect you to abandon the attempt to rifle through the firm's confidential records, if for nothing else than simple courtesy." Laskins took the desk chair and looked at Lucia expectantly. She shrugged, slotted the files back in place and closed the drawer. "And if you wouldn't mind locking it...?"

She took out the lock picks again and turned tumblers, then came over and sat in the visitor chair again, legs crossed. Jazz met her eyes for a brief second, and was surprised at the strength of communication between them. Careful, Lucia was warning her, which was the same that she was broadcasting.

"Tell me about Eidolon and how it connects to this Cross Society," Lucia said. "You know that if I have five minutes and an Internet connection, I'll find out everything I need to know anyway."

"True," Laskins said, and shot his cuffs and inspected his cuff links, which were gold and looked expensive. Like the suit. "Eidolon Corporation," he said. "I'm sure what you're remembering is the scandal some years ago in which the company's chief executive officer was convicted of murder."

Jazz felt an unexpected jolt, and connections fired in her brain. "Wait, I remember. Max Simms," she said. "Serial killer."

"Alleged," Laskins said, and those Paul Newman eyes laser-beamed her.

"Convicted," Jazz shot back.

"Not everyone believes he was guilty."

"Sure, conspiracy theorists who also believe that OJ was framed and Elvis is running a bed-and-breakfast in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And those bodies in Max Simms's basement...? Wait, let me guess - people broke into his mansion, tumbled down the stairs and buried themselves in the mud. Oh, and then mixed concrete and covered themselves. I've heard of guests not wanting to leave, but that's pretty ridiculous." Jazz remembered the case vividly. She remembered the forensic investigators and detectives climbing out of the crawl space wearing gas masks, looking sick and exhausted. It had made quite an impression.

Laskins was silent a moment, then turned back to Lucia. "You asked about Eidolon. That's the only event worthy of note. Apart from that event, Eidolon has been a solid corporate citizen, employing thousands of people in dozens of locations around the country."

"You haven't answered the question," Lucia said coolly. "How does Eidolon relate to the Cross Society?"

Laskins's white eyebrows notched upward a bare degree. "It contains some