“Tell me about it.”

She shook her head. “I have to show you.”

But she didn’t want to show him. Nate could see her reluctance in her body language. Tight, closed, afraid. Showing him meant that the “something” that had prompted her to call him was real.

She dropped her arms to her sides and pushed past him with sudden energy, almost knocking him into the river.

He followed her back to the house, into a country-style living room with quilts and afghans in odd colors piled onto overstuffed furniture and shelves bearing an eclectic collection of books, including scholarly works and what had to be every mystery Rex Stout and Agatha Christie had ever written.

“Wait here,” she said, her tone more tired than commanding, and retreated back to the kitchen.

Nate debated going after her, but decided to do as she’d asked. He stood in front of the stone fireplace, noting a wedding picture on the mantel. The parents, Stuart and Betsy Dunnemore. He was handsome, she was beautiful-startlingly beautiful. And very obviously much younger.

Sarah returned with an envelope and a sheet of paper that she laid on the marble-topped coffee table. “Here. I’ve already touched them, so they have my fingerprints on them.”

Nate took in the words in a single glance.

If I can get to your brother, I can get to you.

“Jesus Christ,” he said under his breath.

She seemed almost relieved at his reaction. “I didn’t know what to do. It was in with a bunch of cards and letters, some of them kind of nutty.” She sank onto a chair and took a breath. “It’s amazing what some people will stoop to. I don’t want to take any chances, but I don’t want to send you all on a wild-goose chase, either.”

“This was in your mail?”

“Ethan piled it on the kitchen table, unopened. It was here when I arrived. I opened it this morning.” She leaned forward and stared at the paper, her cheeks pale, but she seemed calmer now that she’d told him about it. “After I called you, I checked all the phones for bugs. I don’t even know what one looks like, and I imagine there are ways for someone to tap a phone line that I’d never find.”

“Sarah.”

“I couldn’t make myself tell you on the phone. I was really spooked. I let my thinking run wild.”

She was upset, uncertain, a capable, intelligent woman not used to being out of her element-not used to having to trust someone, count on someone, besides herself.

But Nate knew there was more. Something else.

She twisted her hands together, working one of her delicate rings up to her knuckle, then back down again. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

“None of us does.”

“Rob, my parents. If something happens to them because of something I did or didn’t do…” She trailed off, not finishing.

“Your parents are still in Amsterdam.”

She nodded, taking in a small breath. “I know. I called them, too. I didn’t tell them about the note.” She stopped abruptly and lifted her eyes to him. “I really don’t like being afraid, you know.”

Nate sat on the edge of the couch and folded his hands. His head ached now, too. But his thinking was clear, sharp. After he’d left her last night, he’d thought about finding her collapsing in Central Park-thought about her body language and how similar it was to when he’d caught her following him to Sister Maria’s.

Sarah Dunnemore wasn’t a bad liar. But she wasn’t a good one, either.

“What happened in Central Park?” he asked her.

She almost slid off her chair. “What? Rob-” She took a breath. “You know what happened. You were there. It’s where you and Rob were shot.”

“To you. What happened to you in Central Park? Why did you almost pass out?” He settled back on the couch. “Don’t tell me it was the ‘twin thing.’ That won’t wash twice.”

“Nothing happened, at least, nothing that relates to the note.”

“Sarah, you’re a smart woman. I’m sure you’re a hell of an archaeologist, not that I’d be able to judge. It’s not my area of expertise, like law enforcement isn’t yours.”

She was silent, still twisting one of her rings.

“You’re feeling isolated,” he said, “and you don’t need to.”

“I don’t want to send you all off on some wild-goose chase. If I tell you what happened, which was nothing, you’ll investigate.” She shook her head. “No, it’s crazy.”

“Guess what, Dr. Dunnemore. You don’t get to decide.”

That brought her up short. “All right. Fair enough. I’ll let that be your job.”

He smiled, trying to take some of the edge off his demeanor. But his arm hurt, and he still had an image of the two of them on the blanket. “That is my job.”

She didn’t relax. “I saw a man I thought I recognized. He was up on the street, on Central Park South, looking down into the park.”

“Recognized him from where?”

She hesitated. “Amsterdam.”

Hell.

Nate didn’t speak. He wanted her to do the talking.

“I’m sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me. He reminded me of a man I saw at the Rijksmuseum. We were all there-my parents, Rob, me.” Sarah jumped up abruptly, turning away from him and gazing out a window onto the porch, down to the river. “I was on my own. Waiting for my mother, actually. Rob and my father were off looking at the Delftware. It’s a huge museum-we limited ourselves to the Dutch collection.”

“Where was your mother?”

“Viewing Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. It’s an incredible painting-it’s in its own rotunda. I was in an adjoining gallery. I don’t even remember what I was looking at. Earlier Dutch works, I believe. This man approached me, and we chatted for a minute or two about the paintings, the museum. He was friendly. French, I think. My parents know so many people, I assumed it was one of their friends or acquaintances.”

“Did you ask them about him?”

“No. It didn’t occur to me. It’s not as if he said outright that he knew them.”

“Describe him.”

She didn’t hesitate. “About five-ten, angular features, dark hair that’s long in front. Nate, he can’t be the same man as the one I saw at the park. It’d been a long, stressful day. I couldn’t swear-”

“What was he wearing?”

“Black leather jacket and black turtleneck. So was the man at the park. That must be what made me think I recognized him.”

“Rob didn’t see the man who approached you at the museum?”

“I don’t know how he could have.”

She turned from the window, her arms crossed on her chest, a way, Nate thought, for her to keep him from seeing that her hands were still shaking. She was a woman accustomed to staying in control. She wouldn’t want him to see just how the events of the past few days had rocked her. “You’re going to tell Agent Collins, aren’t you?” Her tone was cool now, almost resigned. “About both the letter and the man in the park.”

“Damn straight.”

She nodded and let her arms drop to her side. No shaking hands now. “I wasn’t holding back on you. I was convinced-I am convinced the man isn’t the same man I ran into at the museum. Even if it is, so what? It doesn’t mean he had anything to do with the shooting. It could just be one of those weird coincidences. If I hadn’t gotten the letter…” She didn’t finish.

“We’ll get to the bottom of whatever’s going on.”

“Maybe it’s nothing.” She tried to smile. “I should show you my letter from the psychic.”

Nate got to his feet, feeling the silence of the place, the isolation on this quiet stretch of river. Obviously Rob hadn’t expected his sister to come home to a threatening letter.

It was postmarked the day of the shooting. Whoever sent it hadn’t wasted any time.

“What goes on prune cake?” Nate asked.

Sarah seemed to have no idea what he was talking about. “What?”

“Frosting.” He wanted to pull her out of her spinning thoughts, just as his uncle had done with him with his talk of his orange eggs. “Does it have a frosting, or do you eat it plain like gingerbread?”