“You can have all the credit,” he said as he opened the passenger door. “In fact, I insist on it.”

She seemed about to say something to this, but her cell phone rang, and he used the opportunity of her distraction to get into the car and talk to their detainees.

“Listen, I’m sure this can be straightened out quickly, but in the meantime, if there’s anything you can tell me that will help me out here, let me know now.”

Meghan Taggert said angrily, “If any harm comes to either Gabe or Spooky, it’s because you came here with that bitch.”

Logan was looking out the window but said, “No, Meghan. I’m sorry I didn’t put a better watch on Gabe. I should have known…”

“Stop it!” she said. “Not everything bad that happens is your fault! Not now, and not when you were younger, either. Gabe does stupid things all the time. This is just one more. You think I don’t know he’s a loser?”

“That’s not true.”

“Look,” Alex interrupted, “you two can fight all this out later. Kit, you told your guards to find Corey. Where do you think he might be?”

“He could be anywhere,” Kit said. “He was in Germany on Monday. We’ve just received a report he was in Mexico on Tuesday.”

“Mexico?” Alex thought of the grasshoppers. “Where in Mexico?”

“Oaxaca.”

“Jesus Christ.” Any small doubt he had of Everett Corey’s involvement came to an end.

Kit was watching him closely now. “He’s probably here-if not in L.A. or Malibu, then not far away. I know it was reported as suicide, but I think Cameron or Everett killed Freddy and Morgan. I think they took Spooky and tried to kill Moriarty. Gabe is probably safe-he’s good at hiding-he always has been.”

“That’s true,” Meghan said, looking at Kit in a way that made Alex wonder if the guy was blind. “That’s so true. You really think he’s safe, Kit?”

“I hope he is. I think Everett wants to punish you and me more than Gabe or Spooky.”

“Why?” Alex asked, but Ciara was getting into the car, and neither of them spoke.

Alex saw that Ciara was looking even more tense. “About your sister?” he asked.

He saw her struggle to keep her composure and felt alarm. He was sorry he had asked the question.

“Yes,” she managed to say. “I’m supposed to call back when I get home.” She glanced toward the backseat, then said, “I’ll tell you more later.”

They had reached the bottom of the road when his own cell phone rang. “Brandon.”

“Alex?”

“Clarissa? Did you find Chase?”

“Alex…” She was crying. “You have to help him, Alex…”

“Clarissa, what’s happened?”

“I…I’ve had a call from…from someone I was seeing. He has Chase, Alex.”

He said sharply to Ciara, “Stop the car!”

She pulled over.

“Take a deep breath,” he said into the phone. “I know it’s hard under the circumstances, but you’ve got to tell me this as calmly as you can. Who has Chase? What’s his name?”

“Everett Corey.”

“Corey!”

“He says…he says no police…no one else. Just you. Not even Miles. I’m sorry, Alex! I’m so damned sorry. But please, Alex-Chase!” He heard her sobbing.

With great effort, he bit back every word of anger. He managed to say, “Where?”

“He owns a school…”

He knew the answer even before he asked, “What school?”

“He owns Sedgewick.”

He swore. “Corey owns Sedgewick. And you wanted Chase to go there?”

“I didn’t know! I didn’t know he would do something crazy like this! I swear it. I never meant…oh God, I’m so sorry!”

He wanted to tell her that her sorrys weren’t worth shit, that they never had been. That for a fling with a man more than ten years her junior, she had let her son fall prey to someone who tortured and killed his captives. Images from the videotape from Oaxaca ran through his mind, and he suddenly felt bile rise in his throat.

And then he remembered what Shay Wilder had said and wondered if maybe it wasn’t Clarissa’s fault after all. Had Everett Corey used her to try to get to him? Taken Chase for the same reason?

“Alex?”

“I’m here, Clarissa. I’ll do what I can.”

He hung up. He tried to put his thoughts in order, but for a brief moment, could not. The images of the past week were too fresh, his fears for Chase too well founded. Everett Corey would not be kind to his captives.

He heard from the backseat, “I know Sedgewick.”

He turned to see Kit Logan studying him.

“I know Sedgewick,” Logan said again. “If your nephew is being held there, then I think Spooky’s probably there, too. I’ll come with you. I’ll help you find them. We’ll have about an hour’s head start on whatever they have planned for you-they don’t know you’re already in Malibu. They’ll be counting on the fact that it should take you an hour or more to get here from your home in Manhattan Beach.”

“Alex-” Ciara began to protest.

“What if it was your sister in there?” Alex asked.

She was silent.

“Drive us closer to the school,” he said. “Take a right at the next corner.”

As they made the turn, she said, “Do me a favor, hit redial on my phone. I need to tell them I’ll be later than I thought.”

He felt guilty for forcing her to come along, but Laney would be cared for by experts, while God knew what was happening to Chase and the girl, and maybe Gabe Taggert as well. He tried turning the phone on. It wouldn’t work.

“Something’s wrong with it,” he told her. “I think your battery is dead.”

She swore.

“You can borrow mine.”

She didn’t reply. She was concentrating on the shadowy, curving road, slowing as a set of gates came into view. “Is this it?” she asked.

“No,” Kit answered. “Farther up the road. It’s at the back of the canyon. Hurry.”

She shot him a look of annoyance, but speeded up. Alex glanced at his watch. Only ten minutes had passed since Clarissa’s call-it had seemed much longer.

At the last bend before they would be within sight of the school’s gates, Alex said, “Stop here. Don’t go any closer.”

She pulled over. “Alex, think for a minute-you’re making a mistake.”

Alex didn’t answer. He left his phone with her, then got out of the car, even as she continued to protest.

He went around to the door behind the driver and tried to open it. He pounded his fist on the roof of the car. “Unlock it, Ciara!”

He heard the locks go up. He opened the door and helped Kit out. He un-handcuffed him.

Ciara rolled down her window. “Alex, are you nuts?”

He didn’t answer.

“I’m calling for backup,” she said. “This should be handled by a crisis intervention team, and you know it. We need hostage negotiators-”

“Call them, then!” he snapped. “But I’m not waiting around for the cavalry.”

“Do you have a Kevlar vest?” Kit asked. “Cameron is an excellent shot.”

Alex swallowed hard, thinking of the shooting in Long Beach. “Open the trunk, Ciara.”

She hit the release, and it popped open. He reached beneath the bag that held his climbing gear and found his vest. He held it out to Kit.

“No, you should wear it,” Kit said. “He’ll probably go for a head shot with me. Or he might try garroting-that’s how he killed his father. And my dog.”

Alex, hearing nothing but cool deliberation in Kit’s voice, stared at him for a moment, wondering what kind of partner he was taking on now. He put the vest on.

“Bring a flashlight, too. And-do you have a first aid kit?”

Alex found each.

Kit looked down at Alex’s shoes. Before he said anything, Alex said, “I’ll change them. But I can’t do anything about the suit.”

“Keep the coat buttoned if you can-your white shirt will be easy enough to see as it is. Leave your pager here, please.”

“Good point.”

“I’m keeping his girlfriend hostage,” Ciara called out. “You hear me, Mr. Logan? Anything happens to Alex, Ms. Taggert here is going to meet lethal force while resisting arrest.”