“‘We’ll’? That sounds as if you’re going to stick around after this is—I’m not asking you to—I know you’re busy and you have Joe and Jane and your work—”
“That you find very spooky,” Eve interrupted. “Stop stuttering. We’ll just have to see how this plays out. You may want to walk away and never see me again.”
“I don’t think so. And I don’t mind your being spooky. I’ve just never felt anything like that myself.” Beth was silent. “Except maybe once. I had a dream about you, Eve.”
“What? When?”
“A few nights ago. I dreamed you were at the hospital, running away, running down the road. It was crazy.” She made a face. “Because I’d never met you. But I knew who you were. Oh, not that you were my sister. Just your name. I knew your name was Eve. I knew it. And when you showed up at the house, I recognized you. It kind of scared me. I guess that was one reason I reacted so … violently. Yeah, that was pretty weird.”
Eve stiffened. More than weird. She touched her jaw. “Remind me not to scare you again.”
“I’m sorry. I always seem to be saying that to you, don’t I? But it’s true, I just struck out without thinking.” She looked away. “I was wondering … do you think my dreaming about you is a … sister thing? I was watching one of those paranormal shows on TV, and they said that sometimes dreams and stuff like that happen.”
“Yes, it could happen.”
“I thought maybe it was the drugs that could still be lingering in my system.” She moistened her lips. “Unless you had the same kind of dream … But I suppose you didn’t. That would be even more weird.”
“No, I didn’t have the same kind of dream.”
“Oh,” she said, clearly disappointed. “Of course you didn’t.”
“When I dreamed about you, I thought I was dreaming about myself. I was at our cottage in Atlanta, and it was before I knew anything about you or your history. But I swear, I was feeling what you were feeling. Only I didn’t understand what I was thinking. It didn’t make sense.” She met Beth’s gaze. “Because I kept thinking about a hospital and someone named Billy.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
“I told you that sometimes you have to look beyond hard-and-fast reality for answers.” Eve looked away from her and up at the stars. “So you’re not alone in this particular weirdness. Does that make you feel better?”
Beth didn’t speak for a moment. “It makes me feel … not alone. It’s strange and warm and sad.”
“Sad?”
“Maybe I should have said scared. Because it means that we’re together in a special way and that if I don’t do something wrong, you might … want to be with me sometimes.” She lifted her chin. “Providing I want to be with you. I might not, you know.”
“Beth, dammit, stop being so defensive.” Because Beth’s defiant, touching words were breaking her heart.
“I should be defensive,” she said fiercely. “I want this. I like it so much, and what if it goes away? What if someone takes it away?”
Eve felt her throat tighten with emotion. What, indeed? Beth had had her entire life before her, and all those years had been stolen, taken away from her. Why wouldn’t she doubt that it could happen again? She reached out and took Beth’s hand. “Why, then we’ll find a way to take it back. We’re a team. No one can do that to us.”
Beth looked down at their joined hands, and a brilliant smile suddenly lit her face. Her gaze lifted to Eve’s. “You’re right, no one can beat us, can they?” Her hand closed tightly on Eve’s. “I knew that. I just wanted to hear you say it.” She released her grasp and gave a sigh of relief as she leaned back in the lawn chair. “Do you ski, Eve?”
“What?” The abrupt change of subject took her off guard. “No, I tried once, but Joe had to pick me up out of a drift three times. I decided he was enjoying himself a little too much.”
“I’ll teach you. I’m very good. I have an entire wall of trophies.” She stopped. “At least, I did have trophies. I wonder what happened to them…” She shrugged. “Oh, well, we’d have a great time on the slopes. You’ll really like it once you learn how. And you can teach me to—” She frowned, lost for a moment.
Eve’s lips quirked. “If this is supposed to be a reciprocal arrangement, you may be getting the short end. I hardly think you’d enjoy my teaching you how to reconstruct a skull.”
“No, what else do you do?”
“Not much. I’m a workaholic. That eliminates a hell of a lot of potential hobbies.”
Her frown vanished. “Then you need me. I’ll save you from yourself.”
“Heaven help me.”
Beth threw back her head and laughed. “No, that’s the point. I’ll help you. We’ll have such fun.”
“If you say so,” Eve said warily. “I’m not sure about all that snow, Beth.”
“We could try swimming. I was thinking of trying out for the Olympic team. But it required taking time off from—”
Eve’s phone rang. “It’s Joe.”
“Sorry I didn’t call before. Gelber’s home security system is state of the art and I was looking for a way to circumvent that damn alarm.”
“Did you do it?”
“No way. We’ll have to corner him tomorrow after the autographing. I’m heading for Gelber’s office to see if Newell had any luck breaking in there. He called and told me the security system at the office is much less sophisticated, and we may have a chance. Everything okay there?”
“Fine. Except that I appear to be destined to spend a number of uncomfortable days fighting icy snow and my own lack of equilibrium.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “Be careful, Joe.”
“Always.” He hung up.
“You lied to me.” Beth’s gaze was on Eve’s face. “You are worried.”
“I didn’t lie. I don’t have a bad feeling about this.” Her lips tightened. “But sometimes fate slips in a wild card. So distract me, Beth. Tell me about skiing and your competitions and all those trophies and your friends at school…”
* * *
“IT’S NOT BAD AT ALL,” Joe murmured as he bent over the security alarm on the wall beside the door of Gelber’s office. “It’s clear he must have put more value on the things in his residence than here. Which doesn’t bode well for his clients’ confidentiality.”
“We’ve got to hope that he was equally careless with his computer records,” Newell said. “Hurry.”
“That does it. Try the door.”
Newell cautiously opened the door. “Jackpot. Are you this good at cracking safes?”
“I’m an amateur. But a good amateur.” Joe moved into the office. “And I’m not nearly as good at bypassing codes to get into computer files.” He jerked his head toward the paneled mahogany door beyond the reception area. “So get in there and see what you can find while I stay out here and act as lookout.”
“Right.” Newell glided toward the door. “It may take a while. I’ve no idea what the password might be, so I’ll have to find a backdoor. And those records are old, and he may not have them in a current file.”
“You’re wasting time with all those explanations.” He moved over to look out the window at the parking lot. “Just get in there and get busy.”
The door closed behind Newell.
Forty minutes later, Newell still had not reappeared.
Another twenty minutes passed.
No Newell.
And he heard the faint sound of a siren in the distance.
“Shit!”
Joe strode toward the office and threw open the door. “I may not have been as good as I thought at disarming that alarm. I’m hearing sirens. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Give me one minute.” Newell didn’t look up. “I’m copying this file to disc.”
“We don’t have a minute, dammit.” But Newell obviously wasn’t going to be budged. “Wipe the prints off everything you’ve touched and exit the file. I’ll do the same for the outer office.”
“Right,” he said absently.
Joe left the door open as he left the office and carefully wiped prints from the knob.