Gone.
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"What happened?" Joe knelt beside the dog. "Does he need first aid? I’ve had training in—"
"He found her."
Joe stiffened. "Here? Debby Jordan?"
"I guess it’s her," she said dully. "It’s a human being and it’s dead." She rose to her feet. "I’m taking Monty back to the car. He’s done his job." She gently tugged on the leash. "Come on, baby."
Monty wouldn’t move.
"You can’t help, Monty. It’s time to go." He lay there, whimpering.
"Can I help?" Joe asked quietly.
"He won’t leave her. He knows she’s dead, but he won’t accept it." She tried to steady her voice. "The damn idiot never accepts it."
"Then we’d better get him away from here." Joe picked up the retriever. "Easy, boy. I won’t hurt you. Sarah wants you to go back to the car."
"Should I come with you?" Eve asked.
"Stay here." Sarah followed Joe. "There’s no way I’m bringing Monty back if we lose the exact location."
Jane ran toward them when she saw Joe with Monty in his arms. "What’s wrong? What happened to Monty?"
"He’s okay." Joe set Monty carefully on the backseat. "He didn’t want to come back to the car."
"Why not?"
Joe turned to Sarah. "I’ve got to get back to Eve and mark the site. Will you be okay?"
Sarah nodded, then she climbed into the backseat and lifted Monty’s head onto her lap.
Jane stood watching her. "He looks sick.”
“He’s not sick, he’s just sad."
“Why?" She stiffened and her gaze flew to where Eve was standing. "He found her?"
"He found someone."
Jane shivered. "You know, I didn’t really think it would happen. I knew it was right to search for The Killing Game – Eve Duncan 02
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her, but I—"
"I know." Sarah tried to smile. "I had mixed feelings about finding her too.”
“Because you were afraid it would upset Monty?"
"I knew it would hurt him."
"He’s been like this before?"
"Every time. When I brought him back from Tegucigalpa, he wouldn’t leave the cabin for a month. He lost seven pounds. I had to coax him to eat."
"Will it be like that this time?"
"I hope not." She stroked Monty’s head. "You shouldn’t have taken him there."
"He saved many, many lives. Was I to stop him from doing that?"
Jane frowned. "I guess not. But I don’t like it."
"Neither do I."
"Are all dogs like him?"
"Golden retrievers are wonderful family and handicap dogs because of their gentleness. They’re full of love, and Monty seems to have gotten a double dose."
Jane’s hands knotted into fists at her sides. "I hate that he’s hurting like this. Tell me what to do to help him."
Sarah knew from past experience that there was no quick fix. But the child was hurting almost as much as the dog, so she had to do something. "Climb in and sit with us. Pet him. Let him know you’re here."
"He’d like that?"
"He likes children, and he particularly likes you, Jane. It could help." Jane scrambled into the backseat and started stroking Monty. "He’s still whimpering. You’re sure this is helping?"
Sarah wasn’t sure of anything but that love and a child’s life force were miracles in themselves.
She could use a little of that life force herself. "It couldn’t hurt. Just stick with it."
There was silence in the car for several minutes. "Why do you do this?" Jane whispered. "You love Monty. You have to hate it."
"Not many other people are able to do what we do." She cleared her throat. "But I have to be The Killing Game – Eve Duncan 02
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careful how I use Monty. I’m responsible. I have to be the one who protects us."
"Why?"
"Because Monty is what he is and he loves me." Her hand moved caressingly on the dog’s head.
Come on, boy. Please don’t hurt anymore. It’s killing me. We have to get you over this. She whispered, "And he’ll never, never tell me no."
Debby Jordan was lying beneath this ground. Eve stared down at the area Sarah had indicated.
It didn’t look like a grave.
"Here?" Joe was standing beside her, carrying a red emergency flag he must have taken from the trunk of the car.
She gestured to the spot. "I can’t believe Monty found her. I’d almost given up hope."
"Not you." He anchored the flag and stood up. "That should do it. Have you thought about what we should do now?"
“We can’t excavate ourselves. We’d disturb any evidence. The local police?”
“We could go that route." He paused. "Or we could call Spiro.”
“I’m wanted for kidnapping. I won’t let him take Jane away from me.”
“Then we’ll have to work a deal, won’t we?" His lips tightened. "One that won’t make you a bait."
"We don’t even know for sure it’s Debby Jordan who’s buried here.”
“But you have a hunch it is, don’t you?"
"Yes, I think it’s her. He wanted me to find her, and we found her. But he wanted to stretch it out. This was probably too soon for him. We’ll have to see what he does next."
THIRTEEN
"How’s Monty?" Joe asked as Eve came down the stairs later that evening. "Sarah’s worried. He wouldn’t eat his supper. Jane’s hanging over him." She shook her head. "I thought he was going to be good for her, but I didn’t foresee this.”
“He probably is good for her. Caring never hurt anyone. There’s not enough of it in this world."
Joe had cared. She remembered how tenderly he’d lifted the retriever and carried him back to the car. Strange how moving the gentleness of a tough man could be. "Did you reach Spiro?"
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"Yes, he’s on his way. He said he would have come anyway. Charlie’s come across something pretty interesting about the other two cases."
"What?"
"He wouldn’t talk about it.”
“So much for sharing information."
"We’ll get it out of him. Right now he thinks he’s doing us a favor. We just have to convince him that we stand on equal ground."
The phone rang.
She tensed.
Joe looked at her. "Shall I get it?"
It wouldn’t be Dom. Dom always called on her digital phone. "No, I’ll answer it." She picked up the receiver.
"Good to hear your voice, Eve," Mark Grunard said. "Though I wish I’d heard it earlier. You promised you’d contact me."
"There wasn’t any reason. I didn’t know anything. How did you find out where I was?"
"Joe and I made a deal, and he keeps his word. Is he there?”
“Yes." She handed the phone to Joe. "Mark Grunard."
She sat and watched his face as he talked to Mark. No expression. The wariness and stillness were firmly back in place.
"He’s coming." Joe hung up. "He wants to be on the spot in case anything interesting happens."
"He said you made a deal."
"It was the only way I could get him to tell me where you’d gone. I called him after I found out about this house."
"Without asking me?"
"Did you ask me before you flew the coop?" He added softly, "I’d have made a deal with the devil himself to find you, Eve. Shall I tell you what I’d do to keep you?" The words came out of left field, surprising her, shaking her. "I don’t want to—”
“I didn’t think you’d want to know." He turned and moved toward the front door. "I’ll drop it The Killing Game – Eve Duncan 02
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for now."
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the burial site. I don’t like the idea of leaving it unattended." Her eyes widened. "You think he’ll come back to it?"
“If he’s watching you, then he knows we found the grave.”