Diana rose and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you're a good man, Sebastian, one who's caught up in something much bigger than real life. Something very confusing."

"I'm not-"

"Confused? Then you're a better person than I am. I was confused as h.e.l.l. Am still confused. Even when Ryder revealed to me what he was and I wanted to kick his a.s.s so that the pain would go away, I couldn't stop loving him."

Sebastian pulled back a little at his sister's admission. He'd never imagined her not knowing what she wanted. "I know you love him. And I think you know how much I worry that he'll break your heart."

Diana nodded. "Just as I worry that being involved with Melissa will risk yours, hermanito."

He was silent as he pondered her statement, then he gave a quick chuckle. "Seems to me that we have to trust each other's instincts."

She opened her arms. He stepped into her embrace and hugged her tightly. "Then trust me next time, Sebastian."

"I will, but in the meantime, what do we do?" he asked.

"It's time to flush our snake out of hiding."

The news was not good.

A visit to the specialist that day had revealed the cancer was spreading fast. Soon it would become even more debilitating.

All that was needed to make a difference was some of the refined cell strain Frederick Danvers had somehow perfected. Those cells had seemed to work magic on Elizabeth. Dear sweet Elizabeth.

Killing her had been difficult, especially when it seemed as if she would finally be able to live a normal life. Had she been a different kind of woman, she might have opted for life with him rather than death with her freshly departed husband. But she hadn't, a testament to her strength of mind and her love for Frederick Danvers.

Danvers had been a lucky man to have all that he could ever have wanted-a beautiful adoring wife, an equally wonderful daughter, success in a career such as few could envision.

All things which might someday have been his.

There was suddenly something of interest on the monitor. With a smile, it was obvious someday might have just arrived.

The medical journal lay in the middle of her desk, the highlighting prominent. Various sections were tagged with sticky notes.

Beside it were her own handwritten comments, as well as copies from some of her patients' charts, again with sticky notes and highlighting. It would appear clear to anyone that she was intent on duplicating an experiment and comparing it to the results she had achieved with her own patients.

Risking but a half glance at the frame on her desk, she wondered what her voyeur could see. Just another day at work, or something to pique his or her interest? In time, she hoped to draw out the killer. He would see her new experiments as a smoke screen for setting up a lab where she would repeat her father's experiments.

Melissa was a little queasy as she made the first call. She had a.s.sumed they had eliminated Sara as a possible suspect, but with only two people on the list, Diana believed they should at least offer Sara the bait.

Ringing the nurses' station, Melissa prepared herself for deceiving her friend and hoped she was not wrong to believe that Sara was innocent. When Sara answered, Melissa said, "I have a favor to ask. Do you think you could come by when you have a moment?"

"Hold on a sec." There was the metallic clank of charts and ringing before the Muzak from the hospital's phone system clicked on. "Sorry. There was a bit of a rush right then. What can I do?"

"I'm thinking of doing some experiments and-"

"Like your dad did?"

s.h.i.t and double s.h.i.t. "No, not at all. If you come down when you're free, I'll show you what I'd like to research."

Was it her imagination that it took just a little too long for Sara to respond? "Sure. Do you mind if I ask your advice about something?"

A little relief returned. "Of course not. Unless I'm called to the E.R. or doing rounds, I'll be in my office."

The sounds of activity surged forward on the line once again before Sara reacted. "This is a crazy night, but I'll try to break away in about fifteen minutes."

"Sounds good," Melissa said. After putting the phone down, she took a breath and braced herself for the next call.

Nervous energy crackled through her as Edward's voice mail answered. She hated to leave a message, so she hung up and tried his home number. Again, it rang and rang until the answering machine picked up. With a sigh, she replaced the telephone receiver in its cradle. She would try again a little later.

Returning to the journal and papers before her, Melissa reviewed the article and her own information. She skimmed through the papers one last time and was in the process of making a few new notes when a knock came at the door. "Come in," she called out, expecting Sara.

Surprise came in the form of Edward Sloan.

"Well, h.e.l.lo, Edward. I just tried reaching you." Melissa sensed something was off, but she was unable to pinpoint what. As always, he was impeccably dressed and perfectly groomed. His gait was a little slower than usual, but that was to be expected from a man who was nearing his midseventies.

"I was just on my way out," he said, motioning with his hand to the door. "I wanted to make sure everything was fine after our little misunderstanding the other day."

"I am fine with everything, Edward. No hard feelings. Actually..." She grabbed the medical journal and all her notes and met Edward by the door. "If you have the time, I'd like to run something by you."

He smiled. A shark's smile or was it her imagination running rampant? Could they be wrong about him? Could the real killer still be undetected? "Of course, my dear. Anything to help you."

Once they were both settled on her couch, Melissa spread the papers out on the coffee table. Gesturing to the article, she said, "You were right the other day, Edward, when you said that in time I'd have to do more if I wanted to advance here. So as I was doing some reading, I came across this." She explained how the results in the journal matched those she had gotten with her patients, but how she was uncertain as to whether the mechanisms described in the article fit the patterns she had observed in her practice.

"You'll pardon me if I'm a little confused. These experiments-"

"Will help me establish my own reputation here. One not built upon what my father did."

Edward appeared taken aback. After impatiently examining the papers, he eased back onto the sofa cushions, wincing as he did so.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just a touch of arthritis. Happens to the best of us, I'm afraid." His smile was forced and pain lingered in his eyes.

Once she was certain he had recovered, Melissa said, "I was wondering if you could help me set up a lab. I know my father-"

"Had one over in the university building. It may still be available, but are you certain this new experiment is the way to go? Your father's research was quite impressive." In that moment, whatever lingering doubts she might have had vanished. She finally saw him for what he was-Edward the Deceiver. Edward the Manipulator. Edward the Murderer.

Because of that, she carefully chose what she would say next. "I'm sure it was, although I must confess to knowing nothing about it. Still, once I'm more comfortable around the lab, maybe you can help with what you know-"

"Or you can check your father's things. Frederick was always the kind of scientist who kept meticulous notes."

Somehow, she schooled her emotions. Her voice, when she responded, was calm, with not a hint of either the anger or discomfort she was feeling. "You're probably right, Edward. After all, my father and you knew each other for how long?"

"Almost thirty years. But unfortunately, I know as little as you do about his last work." He patted her leg in a fatherly kind of way.

Melissa fought back a shiver of revulsion. "That's a long time to be friends." But apparently not long enough if he could sacrifice both her father and mother for his own gain.

"Ah, friends. Yes, we were friends. Your father and I. Your mother. She was quite a woman." There was a mix of emotions in his tone. He'd obviously cared for her mother, possibly more than he should have. Had that been one of his reasons for getting rid of her father? She decided to push him just a little to see if he pushed back.

"I never really knew Mother. She was always distant, except in the last few months when she was doing so much better. She and my father seemed so in love. Had you noticed?"

"Who could fail to see their affection for one another?" His voice was gruff. He moved his hands nervously on his legs, then stilled them suddenly. "They lived only for each other."

His response gave her the perfect opportunity. "And never for me. It must have been difficult for you, as well, being their friend and all. But Mother seemed so much better toward the end. I've wondered if it was because of what my father was working on?"

Edward again shifted his hands anxiously. "I understood the way they were. After all, your mother was very sick, but she was better at the end. I suspect that your father had-"

"Are you ready for me?" Sara asked. She barrelled into Melissa's office, but stopped short at the sight of Melissa and Edward sitting together on the sofa. "Sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here. Evening, Dr. Sloan."

"Nurse Martinez," he said with an imperious tone and haughty nod. "Is it your habit to barge into private offices?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Sloan, only-"

Melissa stepped up to Sara's defense, rising from the couch to stand next to her friend. "It's okay, Edward. I had asked Sara to come in just before you visited."

Edward grunted and slowly eased himself to the edge of the sofa. Once there, he used the coffee table for leverage to stand. His movements were again slow and clearly painful. Melissa wondered why she hadn't noticed before.

"I need to be going anyway. Just remember I'm here to help you should you find any information," he said.

Melissa faked a smile and escorted the older man to the door. "I'll see if there's anything I've overlooked amongst my father's things and give you a call. In the meantime, maybe you can put me in touch with who I can contact about a lab room?"

Edward paused as he entered the hallway. "Yes. Yes, of course I will. I'll have a name for you in the morning."

Melissa closed the door behind him.

"And again I say he's a weird bird. What's he want this time?" Sara asked as she plopped down on the couch.

"He seems to think I have information about my father's experiments," Melissa replied without hesitation.

"But you don't. Right?"

"Right. So I was thinking of asking you if you knew where my father had his samples and things. Notes, stuff like that."

"Actually, no. I a.s.sume he kept them close by on account of running into him with those tubes. You normally wouldn't be going far with samples."

Examining her friend as she spoke, Melissa decided that Sara was either a very good liar or totally innocent. Melissa held to the belief that it was the latter. "What's up with you? You said you had a favor to ask?"

"My mom..." Sara paused as her voice cracked. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but the odd thing was, they didn't seem like tears of sadness.

Melissa sat on the edge of the coffee table and laid a hand on Sara's scrub-covered knee. "She's not worse, is she?"

"That's why I need a favor. I can't take Mami to her oncologists. They'd just start poking and prodding if they thought she'd suddenly gotten way better." Sara motioned to her. "But you know there are things that happen that don't have explanations."

Confused by her friend's statement, she asked, "Why's that?"

"Your mami. The way she was all of a sudden not so sick anymore. I know you always wished she'd be better. Maybe you got your wish."

She'd wished her mother and father had loved her more, but that wish hadn't materialized until it was too late. The old adage of be careful what you wish for came to mind. "I think my father had a new treatment for her, but I'm not sure what it was."

"I so totally understand," Sara said with a wave of her hand. "This santero did his little brujeria on Mami. Three times she went over there with the blood he wanted."

"Why so many?" Melissa questioned, wondering what scam he'd been running.

"He said he could only heal so much at a time. He also said he wouldn't be able to do anything else for now. That we needed to wait and see what happened." Sara let out a frustrated sigh and brushed the long strands of her caramel-colored hair from her face.

"Do you think it's a con to get you to offer him money?" Melissa asked.

Sara shook her head. "I don't know. All I do know is that Mami seems better. But maybe he just cast some spell-"

"Come on, Sara. You don't really believe in that mumbo jumbo c.r.a.p," Melissa admonished.

"Your problem is that you're too skeptical, Melissa. Too by the book. There's all kinds of things out there that you won't let yourself believe in, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still there."

Didn't she know it. Who believed in vampires? Which suddenly had her wondering if maybe there was more to this santero than he was letting on. "He didn't bite your mom, did he?"

When Sara spoke, it was nearly a screech before she calmed down a little. "Are you crazy, chica? He only laid his hands on her.

Told her if her faith was strong enough, it would help her heal. Not much different than what you see on Sunday morning television, huh?"

Melissa nodded. "Faith is faith. You either believe or you don't. So you want me to run some tests? See if she really is better?"

"And if she is, I want to leave it at that, Melissa. No needles or other tests to see why."

Melissa understood completely. Sara wanted her mother to enjoy what time she had left. Melissa only hoped that this santero hadn't been faking. She didn't want to be the one to disappoint her friend with any bad news.

Giving Sara's hand a gentle squeeze, she said, "I promise. Nothing else. You can trust me."

"I know I can, same as you can trust me, amiga."

And in that moment, just as she had known she couldn't believe Edward, Melissa knew she could trust Sara with her life.

Chapter 24.

T he lab her father had used was no longer available, but there was another one, smaller, which required a bit of organization and cleaning. Given that her purpose in needing the s.p.a.ce was only a ruse, it was just right.

Although very messy, she thought as she walked in through the door, Sebastian trailing behind her. "Could use a Mission: Big Sweep, couldn't it?"

Sebastian arched a brow as he stood in the small free s.p.a.ce in the center of the room and examined the three tables littered with a variety of beakers, columns and tubes. "Possibly even a bulldozer. Do you need all this?" he asked as he walked to one table and ran his finger over a thick layer of dust on one beaker.

Melissa laid her files on another less cluttered table and took stock of the equipment the previous occupant had left behind.