With Private Eyes Part 29

"And you have no evidence!" She spun around. "Do you? Not about the arson."

"Not yet. But I have to give what I've got to the police, Claudia. Once they're concentrating on Derrick-under whatever name-it will be just a matter of time before they can connect him."

"You're wrong." He had to be wrong. Sickly, she realized she could conceive of Derrick having taken a bribe to ruin Baronessa's new flavor. No one had ever appreciated him, in his opinion. He'd been shuttled aside, denied the big corner office he wanted... But not the fire. "Good grief, Emily was injured in the fire! You can't believe he would hurt her."

"He probably didn't know she was at the plant."

But Claudia wasn't listening. Thinking of her sister had diverted her. "Ethan, you thought Emily might be able to remember under hypnosis."

"She might. She wasn't too crazy about the idea."

Claudia crossed to him, seizing his arm. "Don't tell the police yet. Please. Let me talk to Emily first. If she can only remember ... maybe she saw something that will prove it wasn't Derrick."

He was silent for a long moment. "And if she refuses?"

"She won't. Not when she knows this is for Derrick."

The therapist's waiting room was small, maybe twelve feet on a side. Ethan watched as Claudia paced its length for the umpteenth time. She worried him.

She'd gone quiet right after talking to Emily. After Emily and Shane went into the inner office with the therapist, she'd tried sitting and looking through a magazine, but that hadn't lasted long. She'd been pacing for-Ethan glanced at his watch. Twenty-seven minutes.

Her face was pale, but two flags of color came and went every so often on her cheeks, linked to whatever internal struggle she was working out as she went up and down, up and down the small room. She seemed wholly unaware of him.

Ethan ached to hold her, comfort her, but when he'd tried taking her hand she'd stared at him so blankly. As if she couldn't remember who he was.

He s.h.i.+fted. Dana's chairs were probably comfortable enough for most people, but they didn't fit a man his size very well.

Claudia had been right about one thing. Emily had agreed immediately when she understood what was at stake. Ethan had pulled some strings pretty hard to get an appointment right away-those strings being attached to his cousin Sharla, whose husband's sister was Dana. Otherwise known as Dr. Dana Merriweather.

Emily had asked that Shane be present during the session. They were in there now. Ethan stretched out his legs. They'd been in there a long time.

Claudia muttered something.

"What, honey?"

She gave him that blank stare. "Nothing. I'm just ... thinking."

Probably figuring out how to break Derrick out of jail, once he got there. Ethan grimaced.

The door opened. Ethan was on his feet before he decided to stand up. Claudia stopped moving.

Emily's pallor told its own tale. So did the tear tracks on her cheeks. Shane had an arm around her protectively, but she pulled free when she saw Claudia and went to her, holding her hands out, "It worked," she said, her voice small. "I remembered."

Claudia took her sister's hands. She didn't speak. Ethan moved up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

She shrugged them off.

His lips tightened. He wasn't going to give up, but this wasn't the time to push her.

"Emily?" Claudia whispered. "What did you remember?"

"I know why I was at the plant that night. I was looking for something, some kind of evidence. I'd overheard Derrick talking on his private line with someone from Snowcream, Inc. and i-it didn't sound right. But I couldn't quite believe... I didn't want to say anything without some kind of proof." Her voice trailed off. She swallowed. "It was Derrick. I saw him, though I don't think he saw me. He set the fire."

Claudia's shoulders jerked. "How could I have let it get this bad?" she whispered. "How could I not have known?"

Ethan tried to be soothing. "No one knew, honey."

"But I should have!" She flung herself away, pacing again. "I've been so busy fixing everything for everyone. But my brother, my own brother, was so desperately messed up-and I didn't know." Tears spilled from her eyes. She dashed them away angrily.

"It's not your fault!" Emily protested.

"Isn't it? I've been thinking, remembering, trying to understand how I failed-how I could have failed-"

"That's enough," Ethan snapped.

She stopped and stared at him. So did the others.

He walked up to her. "You aren't in charge of your brother. You aren't responsible for what he decided to do."

"But I should have seen! If I'd been paying attention, I would have known something was wrong. I could have helped-"

He gripped her arms. "If it's your fault, then it's even more Emily's fault. She worked with him every day, right? Why didn't she realize he needed help? Or your parents? They must bear even more of the blame. What did they do wrong, that their son turned out this way?"

"That's a horrible thing to say!"

"Yeah." His voice softened. "It is, isn't it? So why are you saying it to yourself?" He wanted so badly to hold her close, but she was rigid beneath his hands. He had to try to put everything into his voice. "Some things can only be fixed by the one on the inside, honey. Derrick has to fix himself. You can't do it for him."

In the brief silence that fell, Claudia's eyes filled. And her purse rang.

"d.a.m.n." Her voice shook as she wiped her eyes again, without stemming the flow. "My phone. I don't know why I brought it."

Ethan went to the chair where she'd left the oversize leather purse she toted everywhere. Her phone was tucked into a pocket on the outside. He took it out and started to shut off the power, but happened to notice the little caller ID window. He hesitated.

Claudia sniffed. "Who is it?"

"Your folks."

"They never call on my cell phone. I forget to charge it or leave it at home so often..." Her voice trailed off. "I'd better see what they want."

He handed it to her. Their fingers didn't touch, which took some doing with the tiny phone.

"h.e.l.lo? Yes," she said after a moment, "Emily is with me. Why?" A few seconds later every bit of color drained from her face. "We'll be right there."

"What is it?" Emily asked, alarmed.

"Derrick and Bianca Conti have been kidnapped."