Charlie grimaced. "Sorry. I guess I was being a hot dog.”
“Well, eagerness is better than apathy."
"Did they find any cases that matched?" Joe asked.
"Two possibles. Two skeletons were found three months ago in San Luz, a suburb of Phoenix.
No teeth. Wax sediment in the right hands."
"Children?" Eve asked.
Spiro shook his head. "Adults. One man. One woman.”
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“Arizona," Joe repeated. "That’s a long way.”
“Who says Dom is a local boy?" Spiro said. "He was here ten years ago," Eve said. "He’s here now."
"It’s a mobile society, and organized serial killers are known to be particularly mobile." Spiro turned toward the door. "At any rate, I’ll send a man to Phoenix to see if he can find out anything more from the local PD. We’ll probably have to organize an interstate task force now."
"Could I go?" Charlie asked.
"No, you may not," Spiro said. "You stay here and guard Ms. Duncan. I don’t want you out of sight of the cabin, and you make sure those other perimeter guards are on their toes."
"Eve," she said dryly. "Formality is pretty silly under the circumstances.”
“Eve." Spiro smiled. "I suppose you’re right. We all may become more intimate than we’d like before this is over. Good-bye. I’ll let you know if I find out anything else." He paused at the door. "Stay inside, Eve. I evidently have more faith in my guys and your friend Quinn than you do."
As soon as the door closed behind Spiro, Charlie grinned. "I’d better get outside. I could see Spiro wasn’t pleased with me for going over his head. It will take a little groveling and strict obedience for me to redeem myself."
She smiled back, then returned to her bedroom to shower.
Phoenix, Arizona. Two bodies.
Eleven at Talladega. Two in Phoenix. How many more had Dom killed? How could a man murder that many people and remain human? Was he human? How much evil could he commit without his soul becoming twisted and—
She was cold and starting to shake. Stop it. It didn’t matter what manner of monster Dom had become. All that was important was that they catch him and keep him from murdering again.
The hot water poured out of the showerhead onto her body. But it didn’t banish the chill.
"For heaven’s sake, stop prowling, Joe," Eve said. "It’s after midnight. Why don’t you go to bed?"
‘’You go to bed. I’m a little tense, okay?”
“You don’t have to bite my head off."
"Yes, I do. It’s one of the few things that I’m allowed. There’s damn few of them that I can—"
He stopped. "Sorry. Maybe I’m getting cabin fever waiting for something to happen."
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So was she, and she didn’t feel like being sweet and generous about Joe’s nerves. "If you won’t go to bed, make yourself useful and go out and give Charlie a cup of coffee."
"Maybe I will."
She drew a deep breath as the front door shut behind him a few minutes later. She had never seen Joe this explosive. Ever since that afternoon he’d been—
Her phone rang.
"Did I wake you?" Dom asked.
Her heart was pounding. "No, I wasn’t asleep."
"Oh, yes, you must have slept after you finished working on little Johnny Devon. It was him, wasn’t it?"
"I told you I wouldn’t tell you anything."
"Defiant. That means I guessed right. I knew you’d do a fine job. You have great pride in your work."
"Why are you calling me?"
"It’s important that I stay in touch with you, that we get to know each other better. I’m sure that’s what Agent Spiro told you. Draw the bastard out. Find out everything you can for the FBI profile. Isn’t that right?"
"Something like that."
"I’ll cooperate. But you have to give me something too. I want a profile on you, Eve."
"You already seem to know a great deal about me.”
“Not enough. For instance, do you believe in reincarnation?”
“What?"
"Reincarnation. Millions of people do, you know. Such a comforting belief." He chuckled. "As long as you don’t come back as a cockroach."
"What are you talking about?"
"But I don’t think God would let your Bonnie come back as a cockroach, do you?”
“Shut up."
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"That hurt, didn’t it? I could almost feel it myself. Pretty little Bonnie…" It had hurt. The bizarre idea had stabbed her. Stupid to let him hurt her. Even stupider to let him know he’d hurt her.
"It didn’t bother me. Why should it? I don’t believe in reincarnation."
“You should consider it. As I said, it could be very comforting. I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. Are you familiar with the Bible?"
"Some."
"It’s not my favorite tome, but there are some unique ideas in it. I found one particularly amusing. Genesis 2:22."
"I don’t know what that is."
"I’ll tell you. But first go to the front door and get my present.”
“Present?"
"It’s on the left edge of the porch. I couldn’t just come up to the front door and leave it with that FBI agent watching you so closely."
She moistened her lips. "What kind of present?”
“Go get it, Eve. I’ll hang on."
"I’d be dumb to go outside just because you tell me to. You could be waiting for me."
"You know better. You know I’m not going to hurt you yet." He paused. "But I won’t promise not to hurt Quinn if you call him. This is just between us. Go get the present."
She moved toward the door. "Are you doing it?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now, let’s see. They say that the souls of victims of violence are troubled and return to earth as soon as possible. So Bonnie would have been reincarnated immediately."
"Bull."
"I killed her ten years ago, didn’t I? That means we’re looking for a ten-year-old child. Either a boy or a girl." He chuckled. "Since we’ve ruled out cockroaches. Are you at the front door yet?"
"Yes."
"Check the window and you’ll probably see your stalwart guard sitting in his car by the lake.
That’s where he was when I left your package a few hours ago." She glanced out the window.
Charlie wasn’t in the car, he was standing by the front fender, talking to Joe.
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"Are you on the porch yet?”
“No."
"Are you afraid of me, Eve? Don’t you want to know what’s in the package?”
“I’m not afraid of you." She opened the door. She was wearing only an old T-shirt, and the cold wind struck her bare legs. "I’m on the porch. Where’s the damn package?"
"You’ll see it."
She did see it, a small brown cardboard box on the very left edge of the porch. "Quinn would say you’re foolish to go near it. It might be a bomb or maybe I put some kind of gas or poison in the box. But you know I don’t want you injured or dead."
She did know it. She moved toward the box.
"Or maybe I do. I could be waiting in the shadow of the porch right now. Do you see any suspicious shadows, Eve?"
"No, where are you?"
"But it’s so dark on the porch you can’t see shadows, can you?" She stopped in front of the box.
"Eve?" Joe had turned away from Charlie and had seen her.
“Or I might be in my car, miles away. Which do you think is true?" She knelt beside the box.
"Eve!"
She opened the box.
Something hard and white gleamed inside.
Dom’s voice was soft in her ear. " ‘And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.’ Genesis 2:22."
"What the hell are you doing?" Joe was beside her, trying to draw her away from the box.