"It's not been unearthed yet. It's buried about ninety miles north of here in a small cemetery."
She said through her teeth, "I don't rob graves, Montalvo."
"You won't have to rob this grave. I'll do it. I just couldn't do it until you were here and ready to do the job. You'll have to work faster than you've had to at any time in your career."
"And I don't act as an accomplice to grave robbing. Go get someone else."
"I've got you."
She met his gaze. "No, you do not. You played me like a violin to get me here, but I won't be manipulated by you to do anything that's against my conscience. Violating a grave is high up on the list."
"Because you think of a proper burial as bringing someone home. That's what you've been working toward since your daughter died." His lips tightened. "I assure you that the person in that grave has not been brought there by loving, caring hands. It's not home, Eve."
"So you say."
"It's the truth. Look at me." His voice vibrated with the force of his words. "I'm telling you the truth."
She had to believe him. "Or what you believe as truth. If you were sure, you wouldn't have brought me down here to verify. And why couldn't you get someone to do DNA?"
"I have someone lined up to do DNA, but I have to have some sort of proof before he'll run the risk."
"Why?"
"Because any scientist who touched that skull would end up murdered in a most unpleasant fashion."
"By whom?"
"Ramon Diaz. You may have heard of him."
"I've seen photos in newspapers. Drugs."
"Yes. Drugs and vice and murder."
"Then you have a good deal in common."
"You may think so. I told Miguel that you'd never met Satan. If you'd ever run across Diaz, I wouldn't be able to say that. I have my moments, but Diaz is the master. He's set himself up in a castle and thinks he's a king and has a license to do anything he wants to do."
"And if a DNA expert's life would be on the line for examining the DNA, what about mine?"
He nodded. "It would be the same. Forensic sculpting isn't accepted in a court of law, but you know about the skull and that would be enough."
She stared at him incredulously. "You admit you brought me down here to risk my neck for your reconstruction?"
"Yes."
"You bastard."
"Yes, but not Satan. Remember the difference." He took another sip of coffee. "And, if I'd had time to work at it, I could have been completely honest with you and you would have still come. If the price is high enough, the risk is worth it. But I didn't have the time once I put the plan in motion. I had to strike while I had the opportunity. I took the chance that you'd cooperate once you were here."
"You're out of luck, Montalvo."
"We'll see. The only reason you came was because I offered you Bonnie. That reason still exists. You didn't know what you'd find here. Everyone was warning you what a bad man I was. Still you came."
"I won't become the criminal you are. I made something decent of my life after Bonnie was taken from me. I won't be dragged down again."
"What if I promise that you'll not be doing anything dishonorable? Your reputation and moral principles will remain pure as the driven snow." He grimaced. "The only thing that you'll be risking is your life. Sorry about that."
"Only my life? Well, then of course I'll ignore everything else and jump right on the bandwagon."
"You might if I'd caught you during those years after Bonnie's death. Not now."
She gazed at him, anger flaring through her. "You think you know me so well. You can't learn about someone from a dossier. You don't have any idea who I am."
"The dossier was only a start. I thought about you. I ran scenarios in my mind about you. Sometimes I even dreamed about you."
She felt a ripple of shock. "You're psychotic."
He shook his head. "When I first started to look for someone like you, I was very coolly analytical. Then when I stumbled over you and started probing, all that vanished. I knew you were meant to come here and do this reconstruction."
"Why?"
"Because I looked at you and saw myself." He pushed back his chair and stood up. "You've had enough to digest at one time. And I don't mean your breakfast. We'll talk later."
"You haven't told me anything that would make me want to continue this discussion."
"I had to break the ice. It's not the time for details."
"I want you to drive me back to that landing strip. I'll have Soldono arrange a flight out."
He headed for the door. "I believe you'll change your mind."
"You'll be wrong."
"You know, I never thought you'd take money for the reconstruction." He stopped at the door. "It was just an opening play. I knew from the beginning what would make you work with me. That gave me time to try to find something that would make you want to stay after you got down here. I had Miguel put a report on the desk in your bedroom. You might look at it before you make a decision."
"Report?"
But he'd already left the room.
She stared after him, filled with frustration and bewilderment. Jesus, what kind of man was he? Deadly, threatening, and yet the threats had been so matter-of-fact that she had not felt fear. There had been a sort of bizarre companionableness, an intimacy, about the way he had talked to her.
I looked at you and saw myself.
"Chat finished?" Soldono was standing in the doorway. "You don't look too pleased."
"I'm not. He doesn't even have the skull I'm supposed to reconstruct. He has to rob a grave to get it."
"And what did you tell him?"
"That I was going to ask you to arrange a flight out for me." She stood up. "Will you do it?"
"I'll do my best." He added, "But if he doesn't want to let you go, it may be useless. It would take an army to get you out of here unless he gives the word."
"Just make the arrangements. I'll deal with Montalvo."
Soldono nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "What grave is he going to rob?"
"He didn't tell me. What does it matter?"
"Everything about Montalvo's movements matters. They have repercussions all down the line. You might consider doing the job for him. It would make your exit easier."
She stared at him in disbelief. "And your job easier too, I suppose."
"Infinitely easier." He looked her in the eye. "I don't care about disturbing the dead if it keeps you alive and on your way back home."
Her anger ebbed away. "I don't have any right to judge you. This is my responsibility. I knew when I came down here that I was stepping into a spider's web and I might have a hell of a time breaking out of it."
"A hell of a time," he echoed. "So do whatever you have to do to get all of us away from here with our skins intact."
"I'll think about it." She headed for the door. "But don't hold your breath."
Do whatever you have to do.
Soldono's words repeated in her mind as she climbed the steps to her room. Those words were easy to say, but she couldn't go along with that philosophy. Not when it came to her work. Soldono and the CIA made deals all the time and a good many of them were with criminals like Montalvo.
Even though she'd made a deal with Montalvo, she wasn't sure that she could countenance his deception, much less-
Miguel put a report on the desk in your bedroom.
Her steps instinctively quickened as she reached the top of the staircase.
A blue binder was lying on the desk.
She moved slowly toward it.
I knew from the beginning what would make you work with me.
She flipped open the cover of the binder.
Bonnie Duncan.
A picture of Bonnie taken the year before she disappeared.
A sheaf of papers over half an inch thick.