The Tower

Jade expected Allander to hit early, intent on killing Thomas and either killing or kidnapping Darby. Maybe he'd let Darby go for now so he could catch her in a more intimate setting later.

Since Allander wouldn't recognize Travers, Jade put her at the bar to keep an eye on the front of the restaurant. Wearing a simple black dress, sitting at the bar with her legs crossed, and sipping a glass of Burgundy, she blended in perfectly with society's elite. She glanced up from her position between two girls who looked like debutantes and winked at Jade. He nodded seriously and leaned back out of view.

Travers had agreed to back him only after learning that the Atlasias were already planning to attend the event. She tried briefly to talk Jade into ordering them not to come, but she realized early that her protests were falling on deaf ears-Jade's and the Atlasias'. They were three of the most determined people she'd ever met.

Thomas and Darby were intent on not letting their son dictate how they lived their lives, and they were willing to use themselves to catch him; they had already proved that. They trusted Jade more than Travers had realized. There seemed to be an element of faith between them, something unspoken yet understood.

"I want it to end," Darby had said to both Jade and Travers earlier in her kitchen. She had looked up at Jade, keeping her eyes steady on his. "Just make it end."

The Atlasias' Singspiel entrance was beautifully natural. They walked in and ordered a drink at the bar, standing only about four feet from Travers, never making eye contact.

Thomas looked very sharp in his tuxedo, complementing the sweeping black sequined dress that Darby wore. She carried a small clutch purse, having denied Jade's request that she put a gun in it for the evening.

Jade smiled to himself as he remembered something Darby had told him. "We'll do fine," she had said. "We're good actors. We've had lots of practice."

She proved that now as they walked to their table, pretending not to notice the hushed silence that fell around them, the hands covering whispers, the curious glances that lingered a beat too long. They smiled and nodded at the people they knew as they threaded their way gracefully through the tables to their own.

They were seated in front of the brewing vat, to Jade's right. He leaned out from behind the vat and scanned the restaurant, focusing on the Atlasias' table from time to time. Once in a while, he caught Travers's eye at the bar and she shrugged, raising her shoulders and eyebrows just slightly. The agent working the coat check was doing well-she wasn't so much as looking at Jade and Travers. Jade didn't let down his guard, but he started to relax.

Travers gave him another half shrug and he frowned, bringing his hands up in frustration. What do you want me to do? he thought.

The first part of dinner was over and Jade couldn't smell any danger in the air. At this point, another fruitless evening out might be devastating for the Atlasias. Glancing over, he checked on Darby and Thomas.

Darby laughed boisterously, raising one hand to cover her mouth. An elegant pearl bracelet hung from her wrist, swaying with the force of her laughter. She sat at a table full of grinning men who looked at her with expressions of delight and amazement.

It had taken some doing, but she had won over the table. She was used to the routine. It started with awkward glances and pointed questions: Well, how are you, Darby? How are you holding up? But she had done it again. She had won another small social victory for herself and her husband. A moment of normalcy to hold in their memories and cherish.

She smiled and continued with her story. "And so I didn't know that Thomas had just washed the floor, so here I come, walking in with bare feet and-" She burst into fresh peals of laughter and some of the men began to chuckle prematurely, anticipating the rest of the story.

"-two cartons of eggs (I mean, what are the odds of all the things I could be carrying in-not one, but two cartons of eggs?), and Thomas was at the sink peeling carrots and he said he just heard this enormous THUMP!"

Darby banged the table with a fist to punctuate the thump and all the water glasses jumped. One fell over into the lap of a man with a carefully manicured mustache and Darby burst into laughter all over again.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry. I'm a nightmare. See what a nightmare I am?" Her voice was high as she strained to speak through her laughter. "And during my eggs story."

The mustached man assured her that he was fine and that the water would soon dry.