He breathed more easily. There were ways to change hair color, yes. But it wouldn’t have had time to grow that much.

Drake shook himself and turned from the window. He was just stir-crazy. He’d been laid up and kept inside for over two weeks, and his brain was simply fabricating some adventure for him. That was all. It made him jump at shadows—not out of fear but out of boredom. He meandered the room for another few minutes, deliberately not looking out the window.

The phone jangled. He was only a few steps from it, so he could actually reach it before it stopped. He picked it up after the second ring and didn’t even sound too breathless when he said, “Hello, Elton residence.”

Silence stretched. His shoulders went tense. Then, “Is this Drake Elton?”

The words didn’t ease the tension. The voice . . . Did he know it? Or was he still just starting at shadows, prey to his own thoughts? “Yes it is.”

“Good.” The chuckle that thrummed over the line made a chill crawl up Drake’s spine. “You will pay. Know that. Not quite yet, but you will pay. Know I am here.”

“Jaeger.” His hand went so tight around the telephone that he feared he’d crack it. It had to be. He’d never heard him speaking in English before, and his voice was distorted a bit over the phone lines, but he still recognized it from the train. He moved as far toward the window as the cord would allow, but he couldn’t see down to the street below.

No answer came, just silence. Drake waited for a moment, then put the receiver back in the cradle. He stared at it for a moment, filtering through the questions in his head.

Had it been Jaeger? Yes. He recognized his voice, and he’d said the same words he had on the train. That Drake would pay.

Where was here? England, obviously—he couldn’t have made a telephone call from outside the country. London? Possibly, though he couldn’t be sure at the moment. That was surely something Hall could help him discover. How did he learn Dot’s phone number, though? Did he also know where she lived? Was he watching them?

He strode back to the window now, too fast for his side. But he didn’t care about the pain.

The man in the grey overcoat was gone.

It didn’t mean anything. He knew it didn’t. He’d already convinced himself it wasn’t Jaeger out there. But it could have been someone he hired to watch the window, couldn’t it? To let Jaeger know that Drake was in.

Had he been the one to call before and hang up when someone else answered? Like Dot or Red?