GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (30 page)

“So far, the connection for Compton and the rest is Phillip Crane.
The two men
go back to when Compton first started at Barton. One article about Crane claimed he
put
Compton in the driver’s seat at Barton. Crane’s company is the leader in oil drilling technology, and Haynesworth and Easley hold high positions. Crane inherited
the
company from his father
. I
t’s publicly traded, or else he’d probably be as secretive as Compton.”

“What about Reyes?” Lucier said
, cradling the cell phone on his shoulder
to take notes
.

“He headed the engineering department at Barton. When Compton left to form his own company, Reyes went with him. So did many of Barton’s customers. Eventually Barton went under. The five men have stayed tight. Crane retired a few years ago. He turned the company over to his oldest son, but he’s on the board of directors. He’s probably on Compton International’s board, too, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. That information, like everything else in Compton’s life, is private
.”

“
Hmm,” Lucier hummed.
“
Seems you got a good chunk of off-limit information.”

“Digging is what I do, Lieutenant.”

Lucier didn’t want to know that Jason did
some
digging for Diana’s act. He knew, but he didn’t want to.
“Still doesn’t explain why Crane took an interest in Compton.”

“Might be because of Compton’s first wife,” Jason said.
“More specifically, her father,
Gault
Fannon
, the senator.”

“You mean votes for contracts?”

“Nothing proven, but a huge government contract went to Crane’s company with a push from Fannon in the Senate.”

Lucier wondered what Crane
had on Fannon or his daughter
to
force him to back the bill.
Or maybe Compton
found the smoking gun
. “What about Compton’s first wife?”

“Socialite, beautiful, rich, much richer than Compton at the time, which is before he met Crane. He went after Ms. Fannon like a hungry lion looking for his next meal.
Pictures of them filled
the society pages. The man was moving up
,
and she was the top rung on the ladder.”

“Any gossip
about either the senator or his daughter
that would
lead to blackmail
?”

“
Haven’t found any
.
If I found the link, the congressional committee investigating the contract would have found it.
T
here’s something
that Crane
or Compton
had on Fannon personally
that’ll never see the light of day. But that’s
only
a guess.”

“I
think you’re right
.”

“Even without proof, when Compton hooked up with Crane, the blowback from Fannon’s vote blackened his name. No one prove
d
he was on the take, but a cloud
hung
over him from that point on. He never ran for re-election and died shortly after of a heart attack.”

“What about Compton’s children with Eliza Fannon?”

“Maia and Dione were originally named Susan and Meredith.

“Why would Compton change their names?”

“That would take more talent than I have to find out. However, the
current
names are
from
mythology, if that means anything.”

“It might, if I knew anything about mythology. The name changes are
one more
bizarre aspect of this case.” What case? Lucier thought. There was no case, only suspicion. “What else?”

“A son, Crane, followed a
year after the birth of Dione
. Interesting name, don’t you think?” Jason didn’t wait for an answer. “He was severely retarded. Eliza Compton shut herself off from everything to stay with the boy. H
is nanny wasn’t paying attention one day, and he
drowned in the swimming pool.
A year later,
depressed by the death of her son,
Mrs. Compton
jumped
out a hotel window. A few sensational days
in the media
and
the story faded into oblivion
,
until
an unauthorized biography of Silas Compton
dredged it up again. The author
claimed
Compton
cheated on his wife with
Selene Cra
ne
,
in addition to a few other
assertions
that paint
ed
an ugly picture
of the man
.
Shortly a
fter the book came out, the author, Donald Stanton, was killed in a hit and run accident. They never found the driver.”

Lucier wrote everything down. The information piqued his curiosity.
Fannon and then Stanton, both dead.

“
So
Selene Crane enter
ed
the picture before Eliza Compton’s death
.
”

“
So
buzzed
the g
ossip
rags.
The son named after Phillip Crane gives you an idea.”

Mega-r
ich company presidents, senators on the take, beautiful women, adultery, back-door deals. The story teemed with elements of a potboiler movie script.
But n
othing
co
nnect
ed
these people to the occult, except the word of two losers with a
far-out tale
no one in his right mind would believe
, along with
a
n always-questionable
vision
by
a psychic
.

“What about Crane’s
offspring
?
Who besides Selene?”

“Thought you’d never ask.
The Cranes had five other children. I mentioned the oldest son who runs Crane Corporation. He’s
equally
as private as Cran
e. Selene has a younger brother
Seth and three sisters. Guess who they are.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.
Sophia, Anastasia, and
Reah
.
Those are their birth names too.
”

Lucier
exhaled
a long breath
.
“Jesus
.
” Now that he thought about it, he
saw
the resemblances
.

“I already mentioned I couldn’t find
any record of
Compton and Selene
’s
children, but
I did for
the other second marriage liaisons. Interestingly, all their
kids
were home schooled, all took the state tests
and
passed with exceptionally high grades, and all went to a small private college in Pennsylvania,
Middlebridge
.

“The oldest offspring of the first wives head up divisions in Crane and Compton’s businesses, like Maia and Dione Compton, and are groomed to take over
the
top spots in the company.”

Lucier detected
a pattern evolving, but he didn’t know what it meant.
“Tell me about the college.
Is it a religious school? Who funds it, and where do the kids go when they
graduate
?”

“That’s what I’m working on, but so far they might as well be on a different planet.
Except for
the ones
employed by
their fathers
’
companies,
the others are
gone for months at a time, sometimes longer, to
either
represent
the Crane/Compton i
nternational business
es or
to do
humanitarian work for one of their foundations
.
The latter
sends
them all over the place.
I’d have to break into the Treasury Department
and
pull up their passports
to find out where
.”

“Can you do that?”

Jason’s nervous laugh echoed over the phone line. “Man, that’s tricky. If I got caught, they’d haul me off to someplace like Gitmo, and no one would ever hear from me again.” He cleared his throat. “Unless it’s a matter of national security and someone higher up on the food chain is asking
―
no offense, Lieutenant
―
I’d rather not. I have a feeling this
doesn’t meet the requirement
.”

“No offense taken,” Lucier said. “Forget I asked. I’m over the line with this as it is. I’d hate to get you in trouble, and I’d hate to explain what I’m doing
, e
specially since I
’m not sure I know.

Jason’s laugh came across full-throated. “I’ll
call
you when I get the rest of the information.”

Without putting down the phone, Lucier tried calling Diana again. No answer. He couldn’t force her to stay home, but
she
seemed to enjoy flying in the face of danger. He wished she took the two threatening notes seriously. Lucier guessed where she was,
which was why she didn’t answer her phone. H
e marshaled all his willpower not to go
to the mission
.

* * * * *

D
iana sat at the now
-
cleared table in Slater’s office, demolishing the platters of food one of the women brought in. “You’re right. This meatloaf is delicious, and I’m not a big meatloaf
fan
.” Diana mixed the meat with mashed potatoes. “
T
he corn pudding
is
excellent.”

Slater heaped a spoonful of the yellow mixture onto his plate. “You’d think a man wouldn’t beat on a woman who cooks like this
b
ut beat her he did. She has a restraining order on him. They don’t work. If a man wants to get a woman bad enough, he’ll find a way. She’s safe here for the time being. Problem is most women go back for more. Don’t ask me why.”

“I won’t because there’s no logical answer.” Diana wiped her mouth and sipped her iced tea. “You’ve piqued my curiosity
with your lunch invitation
, Edward.
Three times.
What will you start with, tell, show
,
or give?”

Slater laughed and said, “Show.”
H
e stacked the dishes an
d took them to the kitchen.

She looked around, noticed the camera again. Annoyed, she wished she could turn it off. Was she finally going to
learn
what
Slater kept
behind the
locked cabinet
door?

Upon returning, he wiped down the desk with a cloth he kept in the bottom drawer.
“Don’t want to get crumbs on my treasure,” he said. Unfastening the key ring hooked to the belt loop of his jeans, he unlocked his bookcase.

Yes.

Slater brought out what looked to be a very old book and gingerly placed it on the desk as if it were bound in eggshells. “This is a first edition of Edward Burnett
Tylor’s
Primitive Culture
, published in 1871
.
” His smile faded when he saw Diana’s
face
. “You don’t know what this is, do you?”

Diana shook her head. “No, I don’t. Other than it must be valuable, I have no idea who
Tylor
is or what this book is about. Should I?”

He sighed. “I thought you might, considering your interest in mysticism and religion, the spiritual in general.
Tylor
was
a
cultural anthropologist
who
reintroduced the ancient theory that the soul is the origin of the belief in spirits: animism.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’ve only dabbled in mysticism, a cursory education. I never studied it in depth.” She assumed Slater showed
his treasure
to Jeanne Highsmith and that their conversations were far more comprehensive than any he could carry on with her.

He pulled out the top desk drawer and extracted a paperback.
“
N
ow you can
read
it at your leisure.
It’s the same book, though obviously not a first edition, printed in 1958.” He handed it to her
, careful to avoid her touch
. “Don’t worry, I won’t test you. I just thought you’d be interested.”