"How dare you bring this up to me." Sydney looked away, guilt filling his dark eyes, and Parker continued in anger. "You were told thirty years ago never to mention it again, much less on the very day that--"

"--I am not doing so out of malice."

Mr. Parker's voice took on a sarcastic tone, "Really?"

Sydney looked at the man, but his voice remained soft, unthreatening. "I'm concerned about Miss Parker."

"Your concern is misplaced."

"I don't think so."

"What is so unusual about my daughter visiting her mother's grave?"

"To commemorate an anniversary she knows nothing about?"

Parker's jaw clinched in fury, "A coincidence, nothing more." His voice grew dark with intent, "And today does not represent an anniversary of any kind."

Sydney looked away, his stomach pulling tightly into a knot. "She came to me this morning, without knowing why."

"She goes to your office daily, Sydney, you work together." A strange smile pulled at Parker's mouth, "It's just your guilt rising to the surface."

He looked down, "Perhaps so, Mr. Parker." The dark eyes flicked up to look into the blue ones staring at him. "But I believe it to be something else."

Parker laughed, "Oh yes, the 'inner sense.' That's what you call it, isn't it? It's a lot of crap."

Sydney stepped close to Parker, and leaned in mere inches from the man's face. "If you actually believed that, I wouldn't be here right now."

Parker gritted his teeth, "I should have killed you thirty years ago for what you did." He looked down, then back up at Sydney. "The only reason I didn't was because Catherine begged me not to."

"She threatened to expose your duplicity, you mean." Parker stared in astonishment, and Sydney smiled. "You didn't think I knew, did you?"

Parker turned his back to Sydney, as he walked behind his desk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You set it up as a means of controlling her. But in the end--"

"--in the end Catherine took us all by surprise."

Sydney looked down at his hands. "Yes, I suppose she did." He glanced up at Parker. "Look, I'm here for Miss Parker's sake, nothing else. If we're going to keep her from discovering the truth, we're going to have to work together. As she gets older, her abilities are becoming sharper. And let's not forget, Mr. Parker, she was there that day, she just doesn't remember."

"You don't think--"

"--I don't know." Sydney looked deeply into the man's eyes, "What I do know is that we must protect her. This particular truth could destroy her, and I don't believe that either one of us wants that."

Mr. Parker stared hard into the dark eyes before him, but did not comment. After thirty years, revenge would be no less sweet.