Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense - By Hallie Ephron Page 0,77

blinked . . . August 11, 2008.

Diana felt as if she’d been dropped, the air knocked out of her. Daniel and Jake had used her identity to buy this property four months before her life had been shattered by Daniel’s disappearance. They’d been planning, knowing that they’d need a bunker where Daniel could live off the grid.

Now she knew for sure what she’d been afraid to contemplate. There’d been no accident. Daniel hadn’t been free-climbing without a harness. He hadn’t been climbing at all. It was all a sham, orchestrated for her as an audience of one. She felt sick and angry, furious with herself. How could she have loved this man, trusted his friend? She was a complete fool.

Daniel must have started hiking back to civilization as soon as Diana had cleared the first ledge and was safely out of sight. He’d cried out from below and thrown his helmet into the crevasse. She might even have passed near him as she scrambled down, racing to base camp to bring help.

Had he felt even a twinge of regret or pity, or only relief at the baggage he’d shed and excitement at the new opportunities that were about to open up to him?

Chapter Thirty-Three

When Jake had brought her the urn, supposedly from Switzerland and supposedly containing Daniel’s ashes, Diana had finally stepped through a portal from before to after, from together to alone. Holding the urn, she’d realized that she’d never again feel Daniel’s arms around her. Hear his ready laugh when she teased him. Watch pleasure suffuse his face as he enjoyed her body.

Now, looking at Daniel asleep in the chair, his face as tender and vulnerable as a child’s in repose, she wondered if she’d ever really known him at all. If she had, she’d certainly lost him long before he catapulted himself out of her life.

Maybe he’d loved her—for five minutes. But longer than that? He couldn’t love anyone but himself.

One thing was clear: Daniel had never intended to give up hacking. His offer to partner with her and go legit had been a setup designed to gull her into traveling to Switzerland in order to celebrate the transition. He and Jake had had other plans, and she was the witness they needed to make them happen. After that, she’d become the docile, blindfolded helpmate, the princess in the tower whom they needed to bring their plans to fruition.

What could have been worth the betrayal? As if Diana had finally asked the right question, the dinging sound started up again.

“Huh? What happened? Where’s . . . ?” Daniel flailed, looking wildly around the room and tipping sideways, nearly falling out of his chair.

“Whoa, take it easy.” Diana jumped up and grabbed his arm.

Ding-ding-ding. The sound seemed louder, and Diana spotted the source—barely visible in Daniel’s pocket was the tip of the distinctive plastic arc of his Bluetooth receiver. It occurred to her that though cell phones didn’t get a signal in the silo, his computer probably had a voice messaging program like Skype. He’d need a headset like the Bluetooth in order to hear and talk.

“Di?” Daniel looked at her, confused, his pupils dilated.

As she steadied him, she hooked the receiver and slid it from his pocket, folding it in her hand to muffle the sound. “You just fell asleep,” she said.

“Jesus.” Daniel tried to push himself to his feet but fell back, and all the while the damn thing kept dinging. She fumbled with the receiver until she found the button that turned off the sound and pressed it.

“What the hell’s the matter with me? Feels like . . . feels like . . . I dunno . . .” His words slurred together. “Am I sick?” He touched his face. “My computer. Where . . . ?” He put his hands down in the empty spot on his desk where his keyboard should have been and sat there hunched over, his mouth hanging open.

“You’re not sick. You were just exhausted. You fell asleep practically on top of your keyboard, so I moved it aside. See? It’s right over here.”

Daniel glanced over at it. “Log out. Need to log out,” he muttered. “Need to . . . shut down.”

“You already did that.”

“Did I?”

“Remember? Right before you fell asleep. Come on. You need to lie down and rest.”

She wasn’t sure he’d heard her. But then he licked his lips and nodded.

She helped him sit on the floor. “You want to work all night, you should at least