The Unquiet - J. D. Robb [40]
“I’d stunned the shit out of him,” she began. “And yeah, he might’ve gotten a piece of me anyway. You finished him off real nice.”
“Well then, you’d loosened the lid. I’ll wait for you.” He leaned forward, touched his lips to hers. “Always.”
“Sap.”
“Guilty. And when we get home tonight, we’ll take care of that arm.”
“I know what that means.”
He laughed, kissed her again. “You’ve had it cradled since you sat down.”
She glanced down, saw he was right. “I guess it took a knock in there.” She released it, took his hand to examine his knuckles. “You, too.”
“Then we’ll take care of each other.”
“Sounds good.”
And it did, she thought, when he’d left her to find his quiet spot. Before the work, she rose, walked to her skinny window. She looked out at New York—safe, for the moment, from one of the monsters who hunted.
And stood awhile, holding vigil for the dying.
HER GREATEST TREASURE
MARY BLAYNEY
For Mary Kay, Nora, Pat, and Ruth
PROLOGUE
For nine months the nightmare plagued her, not coming every night but ruining her sleep when it did. The dream left her in tears and reminded her, quite needlessly, that Alexei would never come home again.
Without Alexei beside her, Lydia lived a quiet life. The quiet was a comfort, relieving, if only a little, the heartache of losing him.
A loving, passionate man, Alexei Chernov had a selfish streak that even his mother could not deny. Alexei’s charm delighted men and women both. But his obsession with secrecy bothered Lydia the most. Secrets, endless secrets. Even in the nightmare, he still kept a secret.
He came to her, in his last moments.
The sea, an angry monster, churned around him, turning the ship into random pieces of wood and canvas. Alexei’s eyes welled with tears of despair as he fought against the torn sails that smothered him, the ropes binding his legs, dragging him down, down, down.
Lydia felt the unquiet of his soul, the grief that seized his heart. “Wish!” he called to her. Not “Help me!” or “Save me!” but “Wish! Wish! Wish!” The word repeated over and over until the sea filled his mouth and all she could hear was the death rattle of water filling his lungs. She woke with the image of life fading from his eyes.
The dream came at first light, so Lydia rose to face the day. While she waited for the maid to come start the fire and lace her stays, Lydia sat at the window, saying the morning prayers that gave her some measure of comfort. Always for Alexei first. Then for his dear mother. And finally a plea for understanding of Alexei’s message: Wish.
She could imagine a hundred things Alexei would wish for. That he had taken a different ship at the very least. But the more she thought about his plea, the more convinced she became that “Wish” was a message for her. One she would have to decipher, like all the rest of his secrets, hers now to keep or expose.
She held on to the chain and the coin he had given her, his last gift. “Wear this for me. It will be your greatest treasure.” he’d said as he put it around her neck. Now she would wear it always, not because Alexei had given it to her, but as a reminder that her most valued possession could not be worn or its worth measured in pounds or pence.
ONE
BIRMINGHAM
MAY 1816
Lydia Chernov put on her cloak and gathered her things so she could hurry out to the hackney as soon as it drew to a halt in front of her shop door. Chernov Drapers might be on the best street of shops in Birmingham, but at dusk and beyond, one could not be too careful.
Carriage wheels rattled across the stones and slowed to a stop at her door. Lydia pulled her cloak tight around her, doing her best to control the hum of excitement that made her heart beat faster. Tonight’s meeting could change everything.
Lydia glanced to the left and right as she locked the shop door behind her. The fog hung just above the rooftops, turning to rain as it came closer to earth, inviting shadows or worse.
With her umbrella and