“What kind of investigation?” She looked at the woman’s badge. “Officer Maddox. I just received a call from the FedEx dispatcher to tell me that I’d be receiving a visit from the police and the FedEx rep. Why?”
“I’m sure that one of the detectives will be able to tell you what you need to know. But you really do have to get beyond the tape and let us get your statement. It’s not—”
“Eve, what the hell are you doing here?” Detective Pete Salyer had come around the truck. “I just called Joe and left a message for him. He’s with the captain and the mayor at some council meeting. I thought he’d want to know.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. She’d known Pete for years, and she liked and trusted him. “Know what?”
“A murder practically on his doorstep would interest him.”
Shock surged through her. “Murder?”
“The FedEx driver was shot at close range. No one heard the shot, so we think the weapon had a silencer.” He looked around at the trees lining either side of the road. “No houses. So far, we have no witnesses.”
“Murder,” she repeated numbly.
“She said that the company dispatcher phoned her about the truck,” the police officer said. “We wouldn’t allow that, would we, sir?”
“No way,” Pete said flatly. “What’s happening, Eve?”
“I have no idea.” She shivered. That pleasant young man to whom she’d given the reconstruction only hours ago was dead. “The man who phoned me said he was the dispatcher and there had been an accident. The package I’d given the driver was missing.”
“No accident. And we haven’t had a chance to determine if there was anything missing from the truck.” Pete turned and headed for the truck. “But I think it’s time we checked it out. I’ll talk to one of those FedEx bigwigs and see if they can pull up the info.”
Officer Maddox grimaced. “Look, I’m sorry that I wasn’t more helpful. I was just trying to do my job.”
“And you did it,” Eve said. “I must have looked pretty wild when I jumped out of that Jeep. And my story was just as improbable. Don’t apologize.”
Pete came back fifteen minutes later. “A record of a package being sent by you at 12:42 P.M. No package in the van. We’ll go through the entire van later for other missing packages but that’s a positive.”
“I don’t believe you’ll find any other missing packages,” Eve said. “I think he got what he wanted.” Her phone rang. “It’s Joe.”
“Are you okay?” Joe said the instant she picked up.
“Yes, I’m not the one who got shot. It was that poor driver.”
“Yeah, I got Pete’s message. Right before I got yours. It scared the hell out of me. I’m on my way,” he said tersely. “Are you at the crime scene?”
“Yes.”
“Stay there. Stay with Pete. Twenty minutes.” He hung up.
CHAPTER
4
Joe arrived in fifteen minutes, and he fought his way through the police and media crews that had just arrived to where Eve was standing in the trees. “Talk to me.” His expression was grim. “Tell me everything.”
“There’s not much more to tell.” She went over the entire phone conversation in detail. “He said he was a dispatcher. At first it sounded legitimate, then it got weird. It bewildered me. And all that about the police and FedEx reps coming to see me didn’t sound right. I’ve been standing here trying to piece it together.”
“And what did you come up with?”
“That he wanted me to be suspicious. He wanted me to suspect something wasn’t as it should be.” She met his eyes. “He wanted me to go try to find out the truth.”
“And you did it.” His jaw tightened. “He could have ambushed you, too. Just as he did that FedEx driver.”
“You know I keep a gun in the glove box.” She added, “And I was already suspicious. I wouldn’t have been that easy.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” His hand reached out and gently touched her cheek. “But I think you wouldn’t have been so eager to run out of the house if your precious reconstruction wasn’t in danger.”
“I don’t know if I would or not.” She could feel the fury that she had been trying to subdue start to rise. “I do know I’m angry as hell that Jenny’s reconstruction was stolen. All I have now are those computer photos that I—” She stopped. “The photos.” She whirled away from Joe. “The photos, Joe. That’s the only documentation I have on the reconstruction. I was going to send them to Nalchek later today, but I—”
“You were interrupted.” He took her elbow and strode toward his car. “And you weren’t ambushed because the killer had something more important he had to do first.”
* * *
There was a squad car in their driveway, and the front door was wide open.
“It’s okay,” Joe said, as Eve tensed beside him. “At least, this part is.”
“This part? What’s happening?” Eve asked.
“Don’t panic. I phoned ahead when I was on the highway and told one of the officers at the crime scene to check out our house and surrounding area to make sure that—”
“You could have told me.” She got out of the car and headed quickly for the steps. She had panicked when she’d seen that open door.
And the panic didn’t abate when she saw the face of the gray-haired officer who met them at the door.
“Officer James Kiphart, ma’am. You’re Ms. Duncan?”
“That’s right.” She looked beyond him to her workstation. “Dammit, where’s my computer?”
“It’s missing?” the officer asked. “I was hoping that we’d scared the thief off before he was able to steal anything. The lock was broken, and the door was wide open, but nothing appeared to be missing.”
She ran over to the worktable. The place that her computer usually occupied was vacant. The notes and measurements she’d used to reconstruct Jenny were no longer in the binder on the dais.
“Would you like to fill out a report?” Officer Kiphart asked.
“Not now.” Joe was standing beside her. “Maybe later. You checked out the other rooms?”
“Clean as a whistle. Like I said, I hoped that I’d scared him off.” He was looking sympathetically at Eve’s stricken expression. “Maybe your home insurance will cover the computer.”
“Maybe,” Joe said. “We’ll look into it. Thank you for coming so promptly, Officer. I’ll help with the paperwork and give you a statement when I get back to the precinct.”
It was a clear dismissal, and the officer nodded and headed for the door. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get here in time to catch your thief, Detective Quinn. I’m afraid you’ll have to replace that lock.” He nodded at Eve. “Good day, ma’am.”
“Good day.” She was still looking at the place on the worktable where her computer had been and paid no attention to the door closing behind the officer.
“How bad is it?” Joe asked quietly.
“Bad,” Eve said. “He took all my notes on the reconstruction. And he made sure the photos couldn’t be copied by stealing the entire damn computer.” She swallowed. “And I don’t have the actual reconstruction of the skull. He took care of that when he killed that FedEx driver.” Her hand was shaking as she brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “I have nothing left of Jenny. She’s gone.”
“God, I’m sorry, Eve. Look, you know exactly what she looked like. Can’t you draw a sketch and send it to Nalchek?”
“Yes, but that wouldn’t be enough without the reconstruction. Nalchek wouldn’t be able to persuade any of the media to act without proof it was based on the actual skull. It would just be my word, and it’s a damn cynical world.”
“It was a great reconstruction.” He pulled her into his arms. “I know how hard you worked, how glad you were that you had something concrete to send to Nalchek.”
And Jenny had been so much more to her than that. The spirit of that little girl had reached out and touched her, stirred her curiosity, her sympathy, and something … deeper. “I’ve lost her, Joe.” She nestled her head in his chest. “It’s all crazy. Why would anyone be so paranoid that he’d kill someone just to get his hands on that reconstruction? She was only a nine-year-old little girl.” She had a sudden aching memory of Jenny in that white eyelet long dress smiling at her across the room. “I hate this. I can’t stand feeling this helpless.” She stepped away from him. “That call I got had to be from him to lure me away from the cottage. He’d gotten his hands on the reconstruction, but he had to have the complete package.”