CHAPTER NINE

NOTES: Lyrics are from "Still Within The Sound Of My Voice" by Jimmy Webb, from the same Linda Ronstadt album noted previously.

It always made me rejoice
Just to have you so near
There's a place for you here
If you're still within the sound of my voice

"Come in."

Diana entered Joe's office and plopped down in one of the padded leather chairs in front of the paper-cluttered desk. She looked inquiringly at Joe, thinking at the same time how easily, and capably, he'd settled into Moreno's position. The new District Attorney paced the floor silently, avoiding her eyes, his hands busily working away at the inevitable rubber band. Diana's curiosity grew even stronger as she watched him - along with her wariness. It wasn't often that Joe Maxwell was at a loss for words. It usually meant that something heavy was about to go down.

"Joe." Diana spoke firmly. "You've worn that band down to a thread. Sit down and give it a rest - and tell me why you asked me to come here." That it had been a request, not a summons, was in itself a giveaway, even without Joe's unusual hesitancy. Another indicator that something was definitely up.

Joe glanced down at his hands in surprise, having been unaware of their unconscious activity. He stopped and inhaled deeply, then blew out the breath. "Yeah, right."

He walked around the desk and sat in his chair, swiveling to face her. "Diana, I need to know something - something connected to Cathy's case." He paused and Diana's wariness increased, though her face maintained its usual cool, slightly aloof composure.

"I want to know about Vincent," Joe stated abruptly. He raised his hand as Diana opened her mouth to reply, cutting her off. "Look, before you start in with the denials - don't. I know damned good and well that you know who he is, and probably where he is. I want - no, I need - to know more about him. I need to know where I can find him."

Diana's ready denial was on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated. Abruptly, inexplicably, she decided to follow her inner urging, and shook her head. "I can't do that, Joe," she said firmly. She didn't attempt to refute his statement that she knew Vincent's whereabouts, but she also didn't elaborate on her declaration. Diana trusted her instincts even when she didn't understand them, but that didn't mean she was ready to risk exposing Vincent and his world without a lot more explanation and information than she had yet received.

Joe eyed her glumly and sighed. "Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say." He shook his head, perplexed. "I just don't get it. This guy must be something really special. He not only wins Cathy's love and protection - and I wish like hell I knew why he needed protecting - but within only a few weeks of your taking over Cathy's case he also has you guarding him too! Him and his secret, whatever it is. If I didn't know Cathy so well I'd be real suspicious about that, Bennett.

"You know, it wasn't that long ago that you were trying to make me believe that Vincent wasn't even real, that Cathy had dreamed him up. Hell, you were even willing to put your job on the line to protect him! You don't look or feel like you're on the take, but then I'd've bet a month's salary that Moreno was lily-white too." His mouth twisted bitterly.

Diana's mouth set grimly. This wasn't the first time Joe had made such a remark. If it wasn't that she knew what a shock it had been to Joe - and everyone in the D.A.'s office - to find out that their boss had been involved for years in criminal dealings, she'd have taken exception long ago to comments like this. Since she did understand, she bit her tongue and remained silent.

Joe sighed. "But I did know Cathy and I trust her judgment. She wouldn't get involved with some underworld character - "

Diana felt a flicker of amusement at Joe's choice of words.

" - or drug lord," Joe continued. "And I think I know you too, Diana. Well enough to say that I don't believe you're taking bribe money. You keep telling me that this Vincent had nothing to do with Cathy's death, that he loved her and protected her, even though you had no evidence to support that. At least," Joe amended drily, "none that you'd share with me. Okay, I accept that. But I have got to get in touch with this guy."

"Why?" asked Diana bluntly. "Gabriel's dead. The Chandler case is officially closed. Why do you suddenly need to talk to Cathy's lover now?" Her clear blue eyes didn't miss Joe's faint wince at her blunt reminder of the status of the mysterious man in Catherine Chandler's life. Nor could she mistake his air of desperation, however he tried to hide it. Something was up, just as she'd thought. It only remained to discover what that something was. And if it concerned Vincent she damn well wasn't going to leave this room until she had.

Diana leaned back in her chair and settled herself more comfortably, prepared to dig in her heels 'til doomsday if necessary. She regarded Joe, choosing her words with care.

"Joe, Cathy would have given her life for Vincent. She loved him, as he loved her, and his secrets became her secrets. She would have died rather than betray them, or him. You said you trusted her judgment about the man she loved; can't you trust her in this too?"

Joe's head jerked up angrily. "Trust her? What else did I do for two years but trust her? Damn it, Bennett, this is not an idle request. I have a damn good reason for wanting to see him!"

Diana merely looked at him and waited.

He got up again and walked restlessly around to the front of his desk, where he perched on one corner. He took a deep breath and eyed her measuringly.

"Cathy's alive."

Diana's face went blank. Whatever she might have thought to hear, this was definitely not it. Her mouth opened but no words came. She gaped at Joe in silence as he went on. "She's in a nursing home, in a coma. It's a real miracle she's alive at all."

Diana finally arranged her mind and her mouth into some sort of working order. "A miracle? It's impossible! I saw her body, Joe! I was there at the autopsy, remember?"

She stopped as something suddenly clicked in her memory. She stared up at Joe. "That was why I wasn't allowed in until the very end of the autopsy! That's why the face was covered. I thought it was odd, but Dr. Marks said he'd already worked on the head and it wasn't a pretty sight. He told me he'd found nothing significant. It wasn't Cathy's body on the table, was it?"

Joe shook his head.

Diana sank back into the chair, slightly calmer now. "Talk to me, Joe." Though her voice was soft, her tone made the words a barely polite command.

Joe raised an eyebrow but decided to let it lie. "Cathy owes her life to an extremely observant aide at the morgue. They had her all laid out, ready to put into cold storage til the autopsy took place, but this attendant saw what she thought was a pulse-beat in Cathy's neck. Only one tiny throb, but she knew what she'd seen and by God, she had guts enough to stick to her guns."

He shook his head almost with reverence, closing his eyes as he thought of the alternative. "She called the doctor over and made enough of a fuss about what she'd seen that he checked it, just to get her out of his hair."

Joe gave a ghost of a chuckle. "Boy, did he get a shock! Anyway, they took Cathy back upstairs and brought in all kinds of fancy equipment and drugs and got her heartbeat and respirations up to normal. Apparently Cathy has an unusually high tolerance to morphine."

He shrugged. "Or something. If you ask me the doctor's don't have a clue to why she didn't die. What the morphine did was depress her vital signs to the point where they couldn't be detected. So Cathy's alive but in a coma."

Diana shook her head, dazed. "I can't believe this. It doesn't seem possible." She glanced sharply at Joe. "What are her chances of coming out of the coma?"

Joe's eyes were bleak. He walked over to the window, where he stood with his back to her, hands resting on the sill. "They don't know," he said heavily. "They don't know if she'll ever come out of it - or what brain damage there might be even if she does wake up. We know she was given drugs during her captivity, probably to try to make her talk, but the doctors weren't able to identify all of them or for how long they were continued before she was given the morphine injection."

One of Joe's hands fisted and began pounding on the window sill, slowly, monotonously, knuckles white. Suddenly he whirled around, eyes blazing.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe that after everything she went through, all those months of imprisonment, after giving birth to the child of the man she loved - She won't give up! Cathy's a fighter. Somewhere inside her body she's there, trying to come back to us!"

He stared at Diana defiantly, his body tense, waiting for her skepticism. "And that's why I want to talk to Vincent. Cathy loved him; maybe he's what she needs to bring her back!" He leaned toward her, brown eyes hard and intent.

"I've broken about sixteen department regulations telling you this, Bennett. Cathy's in protective custody, under 24-hour guard. Gabriel's dead but until we can identify and track down all his associates, she could still be in danger. We don't know how much she learned about his organization before they kidnapped her - and maybe they don't either. If they find out she's not dead they might try to remedy that before she can cause problems."

"Joe," interrupted Diana. "If Moreno knew that Cathy's alive then Gabriel knew too."

Joe shook his head. "Moreno didn't know. Marks is a friend of Commissioner Solano; he notified him instead of Moreno. Thank God. It seems Solano had suspected for some time that there was a leak in the D.A.'s office, so he personally arranged for Cathy to be taken to the nursing home, under an assumed name. He only told me two weeks ago, after a careful investigation convinced him that I wasn't part of Gabriel's organization too." Again bitterness flashed across his face.

"It's not just personal, Diana - my wanting to bring her out of the coma. Cathy might be able to tell us something that could speed up this whole process of digging up Gabriel's people, and get her out of danger sooner. And that can't happen too soon for me."

Joe folded his arms and stared at Diana. "So," he challenged, "are you gonna tell me how I can reach him?"

Diana stared back, her mind awhirl in confusion and shock. She shook her head and abruptly got to her feet. "Joe, I can't - not now. I need to think about this." She gathered her bag from the floor and slung the strap over one shoulder. Halfway through the doorway she stopped with her hand on the knob and looked back gravely. "You don't know what you're asking."

"No," Joe said, with meaning. "I don't. No one would ever tell me." He walked toward her. "You and Cathy - both of you expect me to trust you about this big secret of yours, and I have. How about trusting me for a change? I'll come, alone, to any meeting you set up with him." His brown eyes were serious. "No backup, no wires. No tricks, Diana."

Diana nodded and left the room. Joe stared at the door for several seconds after it had closed behind her. Then an irrepressible grin came to his lips as he thought of the look on Diana's face when he told her about Cathy. If nothing else, he had the satisfaction of having shaken the unflappable Diana Bennett. Then the smile faded. And scant consolation that would be if she refused to relay his message to this Vincent.

* * * * * * * *

Diana walked briskly along the crowded streets toward her loft. Catherine Chandler was alive! Vincent . . . should she tell him? Her thoughts veered back and forth chaotically. Her first, instinctive impulse was that of course she should - Vincent must know, must not be allowed to continue in his grief one moment longer than was necessary.

But what if Cathy never came out of the coma, or died anyway? Or if she woke up but her mind was gone? What would that do to Vincent? Was it fair to raise hopes that might only be dashed to the ground? Maybe it was better to keep him in the dark about the whole thing? It seemed cruel even to consider not letting him know, but at least that would spare him further agony if -

Diana stopped without warning, ignoring the exclamations and curses behind her. More agony than what? Than he's already in? She knew beyond doubt that if it wasn't for his son Vincent would not have survived Catherine by many months. Every instinct, every empathic gift she possessed told her he would have faded away, drained of the will to live. It was the search for his son - Catherine's child - which had kept him from dying; that and that alone. And it was Jacob who kept Vincent alive now. Only when he looked at his child did his eyes lose their deep, haunting sadness. A part of Vincent's soul had died with Catherine.

She knew that Vincent continued to blame himself for Catherine's death - apparent death, she corrected herself wryly. If that incredible, glorious, fantastical bond between them hadn't been lost Vincent would have been able to locate her and rescue her from Gabriel - or so he believed.

Diana had tried to argue this with him once, pointing out that Vincent had only been able to penetrate Gabriel's stronghold when he did because everyone was distracted with preparing for Gabriel's imminent departure. Had he attempted to enter the building any time before that night, the likelihood was strong that he would have been overpowered - that he would have been captured or even killed. The end, for Catherine, would have been the same and their baby would not now be safely Below with his father.

Vincent had admitted Diana's logic, but she knew a part of him would always believe that he had failed Catherine in her darkest hour of need.

Diana blinked, and realized that at some point during her ruminations her legs had resumed their motion independent of her brain. She was in front of the building where her loft was located. Walking inside, she punched the call button and waited impatiently for the elevator. She knew what she must do. Vincent must be told. Whether he would agree to a meeting with Joe was another matter entirely.