Joshua fell silent, watching her work.


    Ste began to paint the sky, blending shades of red into a brilliant canvas of color. It was the same dazzling sunset she had been painting the day he woke up.


    ***


    From his vantage point, Leonard lowered his binocrs. Ste had been painting for over two hours, and Joshua had watched her the entire time, not looking bored for a single second. Because Ste was facing the window, Leonard couldn''t see what she was painting.


    "A pathetic imitation," he sneered.


    He turned and saw the painting Aurora had given him lying on the table, but he felt no desire to look at it. Instead, he had a strange urge to see one of Summer''s works.


    He called his assistant. "When will Summer''s paintings be delivered?"


    There was a pause on the other end. "Mr. Lerman, it''s only been a few days since she agreed. If she''s painting them from scratch... it will likely take some time."


    Leonard had forgotten; less than a week had passed. He had painted before and knew that a good piece could take months toplete. He didn''t know what was wrong with himtely. He was constantly on edge. He had faced far worse situations in the past. His current predicament was hardly hopeless, yet he felt a strange sense of apathy, as if nothing interested him anymore.


    "Also," the assistant added, "I just received a call. Your prosthetic ear is ready, and the mechanical arm should be finished by the end of the month."


    Leonard''s ear had been injured, but since his eardrum was fine, his hearing wasn''t impacted. His severed hand, though, was gone forever.


    Just as he was about to hang up, the assistant spoke again. "Oh, and I just found out that the woman you were looking for, Violet, seems to be in hiding under Ste''s protection."


    It took Leonard a moment to remember that Violet was the woman Aurora had asked him to find.


    "You handle it," he said dismissively. "Let me know if you find anything."


    The assistant was secretly shocked. In the past, anything concerning Aurora would have received Leonard''s full, personal attention. He never would have delegated it like this.


    After hanging up, Leonard picked up the binocrs again and looked across the way. They were the most powerful consumer-grade


    BUT


    binocrs on the market, allowing him to see not just actions, but even minute facial expressions. Although he was across from the hospital, the distance was significant, well outside the range of a sniper rifle. And Ste''s security was airtight; she even had guards patrolling the roof around the clock. Other than spying on them, Leonard had absolutely no opportunity to assassinate Joshua.


    It was only then that he realized he had truly underestimated Ste. He had always dismissed her as a simple-minded housewife. But he Sellers and the entire Williams family had all been outmaneuvered by her on several asions. And her response this time had been unexpectedly meticulous. To keep the Williamses too busy to target Joshua, she had unearthed Israel''s one great secret.


    He would have to re-evaluate this woman.


    With nothing else to do, Leonard fell into a daily routine of observing them through


    his binocrs.