She glanced at the door. And this might be an opportunity to see what she could find.
She moved quickly to the file case across the room. Locked. She went to the beat-up pine desk next to it.
The middle drawer was unlocked and opened immediately. Paper, pens, nothing of any importance. The drawer on the right was totally empty.
The drawer on the left was locked.
The lock wasn’t complicated. A simple tool could probably jimmy it.
What tool? Doane kept the kitchen utensil drawers locked. She’d have to jimmy that lock to jimmy this one, she thought dryly.
Find another way.
What work tools did she have? Most of them were soft, and bendable to work with the clay. But there could be—
The door of the truck slammed outside in the driveway.
He was coming!
She darted across the room, hopped on the stool, and picked up a red marker as the door opened. “You didn’t stay out there very long.” She lowered her head as she carefully placed the marker beneath the orbital cavity. “Did I run you out, Doane?”
“I came back to say I’m sorry. This is very difficult for you. I realize that you must feel intimidated. You can’t know what a fine boy my Kevin was, and I have to understand that words are the only way you have to fight back.” His voice was gentle. “Just do your work, and I’ll make it easy for you.”
“I am working.” His voice was so sincere she could almost believe him. “And you’re not intimidating me.”
He smiled. “Good.” He turned and headed for the kitchenette. “Now I’ll make us something to eat. At least, our little discord made you a little more lively. You’re not pale any longer. Your cheeks are positively rosy. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Eve reached up and touched her cheek. The flush to which he was referring had been caused by panic and running full tilt back to the reconstruction worktable from the desk across the room. She still had a touch of nausea, but she felt alive and active and on the move. “Are you? So am I, Doane.” She smiled back at him. “Very glad.”
Lake Cottage
“IS IT A GRAVE?” JOE ASKED as he came toward the mound of mud by which Venable was standing. “I thought you might have an answer by the time I got here.”
“You knew I’d be careful not to disturb the scene. If this is Dukes, I want to nail the son of a bitch who killed him.” Venable’s gaze never left the two men who were carefully digging through the mud. “And he didn’t want Dukes found right away. He took his time. He covered the area with leaves and branches, and he dug deep.”
One of the men stopped digging and looked at Venable. “I’ve hit something. I see a green tarp, and there’s blood on it. Should we go on?”
“Yes, just be careful.” Venable took a step closer. “Draw back the tarp. I want to make sure of his ID. After that, I’ll turn this over to forensics. But I have to know.” He looked down at the tarp and watched them draw back the waterproof plastic.
Joe stepped forward. The dead man was dark-haired, and his gray eyes were wide open and staring into nothingness. His throat was cut from ear to ear. “Dukes?”
Venable nodded and turned on his heel. “Dukes.” He walked away from the mound. “He had a wife and a kid. I’ll have to call them.”
“Very fitting.” Joe fell into step with him. “But it would be more fitting for you to zero in on the man who cut his throat. First things first, Venable.”
“I have my own priorities.” Venable gave him a cold glance. “And I do things my own way.”
“Unless you do them wrong. Putting Eve in jeopardy falls into that category.”
“I didn’t want her hurt. There was a chance she wouldn’t be in jeopardy. I had to be sure.”
“You just dug up evidence that should convince you.”
“Knock it off, Quinn. Nothing you can say is going to influence me more than seeing Dukes with his throat cut. I liked him. He was a good man, and I worked with him for more than four years.”
Joe attacked from another angle. “Why would you think that Eve wouldn’t be in danger?”
“Because he wasn’t the one who—” Venable broke off. “Drop it, Quinn. I’m thinking.” He raised his head as they approached the cottage. “There’s Jane on the porch. She looks like hell.”
“Yes, but I can’t convince her to rest. She won’t stop.” He added deliberately. “She’s not like you. She thinks Eve is in danger. She’s probably going to go after you when she finds out about Dukes.”
“Did she finish the sketch?”
“Yes, she brought a copy with her.” He was climbing the steps. “I wanted you to see it.”
“Joe?” Jane took a step forward. “What about Dukes?”
“Dead. Throat cut.”
“Shit.” She had turned paler. She whirled on Venable, and said fiercely, “It could have been Eve. Damn you, Venable. Joe said that you know more about this than you’re telling him. You talk to us.”
Venable’s face was without expression. “Joe said you have a sketch.”
She opened her pad and thrust the copy at him.
He gazed at the sketch for a moment and handed it back to her. “You’re extraordinarily good, Jane.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?” Her gaze was narrowed on his face. “You recognized him, didn’t you?”
He walked over to the porch rail and stared out at the lake. “I hoped it wouldn’t be him. Everything pointed in his direction, but there was the smallest chance that it could be someone else. Because of her profession, Eve does seem to attract a wide variety of lethal weirdos.”
“Who is he?” Joe asked hoarsely.
Venable didn’t answer immediately. Then he shrugged. “His name is James Doane.”
“More,” Jane said. “Tell us more.”
Venable shook his head. “Later. I’ve got to call Dukes’s wife, and then start trying to issue a few warnings.”
“If you know his name, do you know where we can start on finding him?” Jane asked.
“Right now?” He shook his head. “The last address I have is a house in Goldfork, Colorado, where he lived until last week. There’s no possibility he’d take Eve there. He’d know I’d be having it watched.”
Joe tensed. “He’s aware you knew his address?”
“Of course.” He added simply, “I’ve had him under protective custody for the last five years.”
“What?”
“I told you, later.” He met Joe’s gaze. “You’re going to get what you want from me, but it’s going to make waves like a tsunami. I have to warn people it’s coming, so I can minimize the damage. I’ll talk to you as soon as I can.”
There was no pushing Venable any more at the moment, Joe thought. It would be useless. Venable had already committed, and he had to give him a little more space. “Not long, Venable.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Doane?”
“You’re already trying to work it out for yourself. Before you get on the phone and start checking, you’d better have another name other than the one we gave him.” He took out his phone. “Relling. James Herbert Relling.”
Rio Grande Forest, Colorado
DOANE WAS ASLEEP AT LAST.
Eve could hear the steadiness of his breathing. It had taken him over an hour to settle down on his couch and another twenty minutes before she could take the chance that he was sound enough asleep so that she could start to move. Doane must have been as charged as she had been after he had opened up the floodgates about Kevin this afternoon.
She gazed up at the socket in the ceiling over the bed.
Two more minutes, and she’d start moving. She just hoped there was still gas in that line. She had opened that nozzle four times, and the last time it had not seemed to have a very powerful effect on her. That could mean that she was not getting enough gas or that she was becoming partially immune to it. She hoped it was the latter. Perhaps this time she’d leave it open a little longer and find which was true.