“They keep trying. Messages have been left at all his contact points, so it’s just a matter of him checking in. Deep inside China, communications just aren’t what they are here.”

Josh poked his head out to say hello. She brought out a mug of java for Garrett, then got trapped on the telephone with a customer. By the time she caught up with him, he’d obviously been freely wandering around. “My God, Emma, what you’ve made of this place.”

His enjoyment buoyed her spirits as nothing else could have, so she couldn’t resist showing off some of her favorites. Right inside the lobby was a fish tank-not filled with fish but with a mermaid sculpted in marble and inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones. “I found the artist-and this crazy, wonderful piece-in a tiny jewelry store in upstate New York.”

“One of those who-can-believe-it kind of things? She’s…riveting. Hard to take your eyes off her.”

That was exactly how Emma had always felt. “Come on, I’ll whisk you around upstairs.”

She didn’t have to coax him. Today he was wearing casual chinos, a dark polo. As a teenager, he’d been a workaholic and a hard-core overachiever yet always friendly and gregarious. He was still easy to talk to, but maturity had given him an inner quietness. His emotions didn’t show the way they used to. He had that mover-and-shaker look, that kind of virile, vital energy, even with his emotions locked out of sight. She wondered-she hoped-that he’d found someone to love him. Really love him. Because he seemed vitally alone.

Beware, whispered her hormones.

But she was aware now and had every intention of being careful.

Surely it wasn’t wrong to feel compassion for him, though. His sister was in the middle of a frightening crisis, after all.

She showed him her Oriental lacquer room and the long, skinny hall where she displayed a range of Oriental carpets. She reserved the far east room for women’s art-sculptures, oils, watercolors, cameos of women in all shapes and forms. The west room across the hall echoed a range of art about males-men sleeping, studying, working, fighting, enjoying guy hobbies. Down a few doors was her “room of light,” which displayed work with gems.