Her smile faded. “You won’t give up, will you?” She didn’t speak for a moment. “Because she told me.”
“Go on.”
“You want all the details that constitute my particular form of insanity?” She lifted her shoulders. “Why not? The spirit of my daughter comes to me, and I’m grateful with every cell in my being. After Bonnie was killed, at one point I thought I was spiraling downward to death. Then she came, and I knew I could live.” Her gaze shifted away from him to the fire. “There it is. Nothing mysterious. Just love. Just Bonnie. You can laugh now.”
“No, I can’t,” Zander said. “And I do find it mysterious. Though I had a vague suspicion. And I can’t call you insane because that would be insulting myself, wouldn’t it?”
“Suspicion?”
“The way you spoke about your daughter, your expression. And I’ve studied After Life stories. I became interested when I was at that monastery in Tibet. There were some very bizarre experiences on that mountain. The stories varied, angels, demons, reincarnation. I take it your Bonnie is an angel.”
“No, she’s just Bonnie. And very special. I don’t know anything about all that other stuff.” She kept her eyes on the fire. “Do you think that demons—” She stopped. “I never thought much about demons before.”
“Before what?”
She was silent. “Kevin. Sometimes I think that he’s trying to break through and merge with his father. Crazy…”
He smiled. “You accept Bonnie but not Kevin? Good and evil. That’s not crazy. The eternal battle.”
“I’m afraid to accept Kevin.”
“Why?”
“Because if he’s a true entity, then I’m afraid he’s with my Bonnie. And I can’t reach her to protect her.”
“Then she’ll have to protect herself, won’t she? Don’t you believe that good triumphs?”
“Most of the time.” When she didn’t think of the evil Kevin and Doane had done. “Do you?”
“Not in my world.”
“Then it’s not a world I’d want to live in.” She grimaced. “Though my world probably doesn’t seem all that inspiring to you either.”
“Inspiring? I’m far beyond being inspired by anything. But your life is full of idealism and hope. Incredible when one thinks where you came from and all that’s happened to you. Fascinating.”
“I’m glad that I was able to entertain you.” She held out her wrists. “Now show me that you’re not a liar as well as a killer. Let me go.”
He gazed at her for a moment, then slowly got to his feet and came around the fire. “I’m many bad things, but I’m not a liar, Eve.” He knelt before her, took out his knife and cut the ropes. “Unless I find it necessary.” He sat back on his heels. “And you’ve paid your way. Now be still, I’m taking a souvenir.”
“Souvenir?” She went rigid as the cold blade of the knife pressed against her neck.
“Don’t be so suspicious.” He carefully cut the collar off her cotton shirt. “See, I’ll trade you. And you’ll get the best of the deal.” He took off his black thermal vest. “I don’t want you to freeze while you’re on the run. It would be a waste. A lack of completion.” He slipped her arms through the vest and fastened the top button. It felt warm from the heat of his body.
“You’ll get cold yourself.”
“Does that mean you want to give it back?”
“No, you can take care of yourself.”
“Indeed, I can. Now stay still. I’m going to roll up the leg of your pants.”
“Why?”
“Because I wish to do it.” He was quickly rolling up the material. “Two pairs of pants. You were prepared when you took off from Doane.”
“I tried to be. I knew what I was going to face out here. What are you—” He had pushed up his black denim pant leg and was unfastening a sheath and a huge bowie knife from his left leg. “Another knife? Isn’t that overkill?”
“In my business, there’s no such thing.” He was fastening the holster to her bare leg. “Your legs are too skinny. It would be easier if you were wearing boots.”
“It’s not my style. I don’t go around trying to choose my wardrobe to accommodate gigantic knives. I have a friend, Catherine Ling, I can see doing that.”
“Catherine Ling?”
“She’s a CIA agent. Very smart, very tough.”
“Oh, one of Venable’s team?”
“No, not really. She’s more of a loner.”
“Then I can see how you’d be drawn to her,” he said absently as he drew the straps tighter on her calf. “You didn’t tell me about her…”
“You didn’t ask. You can’t expect to know everything about my life in a few hours.”
He sat back and pulled her trouser down. “Then maybe I should spend another hour or two.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I agree. I know enough. Do you know anything about handling a knife?”
“No.”
“Just rely on surprise if you get cornered. Doane won’t expect you to have a weapon.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“You put up a good fight against Doane. I don’t like the idea of his blundering across you on the trail and being able to kill you because you didn’t have a weapon. For some reason, the thought offends me.”
“Why?” He didn’t answer, and she shrugged. “You’re very weird. Where’s the phone you stashed?”
He tilted his head and smiled. “Straight to the point.”
“It’s a way out. I won’t let Doane beat me.”
“The phone and the gun are in a building in a town down the mountain from the log house where Doane imprisoned you.”
“A building?” Her eyes widened. “I thought I saw roofs down in that valley. People?”
“No, not for a hundred years or so. Probably since the mines played out in this area. Just cobwebs and rats. It’s a ghost town.”
Eve felt her hopes plummet. What had she expected? Nothing had been easy since she’d been brought to this place. Make the adjustment. “Which building has the phone?”
“The saloon. No sign on the place, but it’s the first building closest to the road leading up the mountain. Evidently the saloon was the town’s main attraction, and it was the first and last place the miners wanted to visit.”
“Where did you put the phone?”
“Behind the bar. I pushed it far back on the top shelf beneath it.” His eyes narrowed on her face. “No mention of the gun. Tell me, would you use it? Would you use the knife I just gave you?”
“Would I kill Doane if I had to do it?” Her lips tightened. “I’ve been thinking about that while he’s been hunting me. It would be difficult.” She was silent. “Or maybe it wouldn’t. I believe that monsters like him have to be destroyed. It wouldn’t be the first time for me.”
“Really? That’s not in your dossier.”
“Screw my dossier. During the years I was searching for Bonnie’s body and her killer, I encountered a hell of a lot of monsters.” She looked at him. “But it’s different making a deliberate decision.”
“No one knows that better than I.”
“Did it get easier?”
“No, you just get harder and don’t think about it.”
“I wouldn’t get harder. It would tear me apart.” She got to her feet and headed toward the trees. “I’m out of here. I hope you kill Doane before he kills you.”
“So that you won’t have to do it?”
She looked back over her shoulder. “Maybe that’s one reason. But I know Doane is a monster. Perhaps I should think that about you, too. I don’t know why I’m not sure.”
“I could furnish you with a collection of opinions to assure you that I am. One of them from Doane.” He lifted his hand in a half salute. “That ghost town is quite a distance down in the valley. It will take you a long time to reach it on foot. Stay away from that road until you’re sure Doane is away from the house, and you know I’m tracking him. He’s probably familiar with the town. There were signs that someone might have been down there lately. I saw footsteps in the dust on the floor.”
“Good-bye, Zander.”
He nodded and smiled. “And you’ll do exactly what you want.”
“I’ll do what I want.”
“What can I say? It was my one and only attempt at fatherly advice. Since you won’t believe I’m your father, it was bound to fall on deaf ears.” He suddenly smiled recklessly. “I don’t know why I made the attempt anyway. It was an impulse, and I’m not given to impulse.”