“You’ll hear soon.”
She couldn’t wonder and worry about something that could happen. She had to go find the person who she knew was most vulnerable and without protection.
And pray that she had guessed right.
* * *
“Joe, go away, dammit.” Eve Duncan frowned at him across the room as she finished smoothing the clay on the reconstruction on the dais in front of her. “You don’t have to be right on top of me. Go on the porch and call the precinct or something. You’re practically drumming your fingers on that coffee table. I can’t concentrate.”
“Put up with it.” He didn’t look up from his computer. “Consider it the test of being a true professional. Tell that young boy whose skull you’re working on that it will just take a little longer to get identified this time. What’s his name, by the way?”
“Garrett.” Eve always named the skulls she was given by law enforcement to sculpt an identifiable face. She might be thought the most talented forensic sculptor in the world, but it all came down to personalities as far as she was concerned. It made her feel closer, creatively and emotionally, to bond with those poor children who had been murdered or merely thrown away like so much trash. “He was found buried by the railroad tracks outside Chicago. Nine years old.” She stepped back and wiped her hands on the towel beside the reconstruction. “And I don’t want to slow down. I want to finish Garrett today.”
“Because you want to clear the decks to go to Catherine.” He looked up and shook his head. “It’s not what she wants, Eve.”
“No, she wants me to sit here and be safe. She put her life on the line for me. I can’t hide away now.” She crossed the room to stand before him. “You know that, Joe.”
“I know that I don’t want you getting anywhere near Santos.” He got to his feet. “He’s one nasty son of a bitch. But I know I can’t talk you out of it. So we’ll just work our way through it.” He nodded at the computer he’d laid on the coffee table. “I’ve been going through every record on Santos I can find. I imagine that Catherine is going to go on the offensive as soon as she thinks she’s protected all the people she believes are vulnerable. Maybe we can get a little ahead of her.”
And Joe would take any action possible to bring down Santos, Eve knew. He was the quintessential warrior, ex-SEAL, ex-FBI, police detective. She had first met him years ago, when he’d been working the case when her daughter, Bonnie, had been taken. They’d gone through pain and tragedy and come out on the other side with their love intact. “I bet we can.” She slipped into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. He felt so good. Strong. Gentle. Alive. Sex was always there between them, but it was wonderful that there was also comfort and love. Lord, she was lucky. “Catherine needs all the help she can get.” She made a face. “Even though she won’t admit it. At least to me. She’s so damn independent that I want to shake her.”
“No, you don’t. You’re just like her.” He gave her a quick kiss and let her go. “You want to handle your own problems, then go out and save the world.”
“Just my corner of it. Now, do I get rid of you while I’m finishing Garrett?”
“Only as far as the front porch.” He headed for the front door. “I want to take a look around near the lake road anyway. I’ll be within calling distance.”
“What a surprise.” She grinned as she turned to go back to her reconstruction. “I guess I can take that.”
“Sure you can. When there’s a bad storm brewing, everyone rallies around to batten down the hatches. You know I’m an expert at rallying.”
“But are you rallying around Catherine or me?”
“Both. I’m excellent at multitasking.” He opened the front door. “Lock the door behind me. I’ll be watching, but you can’t be too—” He broke off as Eve’s cell phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID. “Jane?” Jane was at her apartment in London, and Eve hadn’t heard from her adopted daughter in over a week. This was a little too coincidental. She looked at Joe.
He nodded. “I called her yesterday. I was checking out the possibility of your going to stay with her until this mess was over.”
“And have her rally around me, too?” Eve asked dryly.
“Why not? She’s family. She wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I would. Jane’s only beginning to heal herself.” Jane had only recently lost Trevor, the man she loved, who had been killed while trying to save Eve. He had been the love of her life from the time she was seventeen to the up-and-down passions of her young adulthood. Then, when she had totally committed herself to him, he had died to save her life. She had been totally devastated.
Eve punched the access. “Hi, Jane. No, I’m not coming to London. Joe was trying to make a preemptive strike.”
“Good,” Jane said. “I’m glad you’re not going to London because it would be to an empty apartment. I’m calling from Hartsfield-Jackson. I should be at the cottage in about an hour.”
“What?” She looked at Joe. “The airport. We were just discussing rallying around and battening down hatches, but I don’t believe Joe meant for you to fly here to batten down these particular hatches.”
“Then he shouldn’t have told me about that slimeball who’s causing Catherine and you so much trouble. You all appear to have need of a little battening.” She paused before she said unevenly, “And I need to be with you, Eve. There’s been too much death in my life lately. You tried to help me before, but I couldn’t really accept it. But now I’m having trouble coping. I’m scared it’s going to happen again. Let me come and try to put a stop to it before it begins.”
“Jane.”
“Okay, then let me help Catherine. I didn’t really get to know her until we all teamed up to find you after you were kidnapped by that psycho. But she worked her ass off to get you back, and I loved her for it.”
“So did I.”
“But there was another reason I got to love her.” Jane paused. “I never told you about the e-mails she sent me after Trevor was killed.”
“E-mails?”
“I know, Catherine is tough and keeps most emotions buried deep. You’d expect her to let everyone else take their knocks and ride with the pain.”
“Perhaps. Not necessarily.”
“Well, I didn’t know her that well. It’s what I would have expected of her. But she knew how much I was hurting, and a few days after I’d gone back to London, I got the first e-mail. It was just a simple expression of sympathy for my loss. I thought that would be the end of it.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, every day I’d get a few lines from her. Never demanding a comment or answer. Sometimes it was just to tell me what Luke was doing. Or that she’d heard from Hu Chang and Erin from that village in Tibet and what they were doing to help the villagers. A few times she shared a few memories of how she’d grown up in Hong Kong. Once she told me about a temple where she’d spent time with Hu Chang after she’d first met him and prayed for the soul of a young prostitute. She said that the priests believed the soul lived on, and she’d lit a candle to light the way. She said at the time she’d thought it couldn’t hurt. No preaching. Just touching base every day to remind me that she was there, and so was the rest of the world. It made me feel … warm.”
“Me, too.” Eve swallowed. “I had no idea.”
“No surprise. I’m sure she wouldn’t want you to know she’d reached out to me in such a personal way.”
“You wouldn’t think e-mails could be that personal.” Eve smiled faintly. “But I can see that it would be a medium in which Catherine would feel comfortable. She could touch without revealing her own vulnerability.”
“I was feeling pretty damn vulnerable myself, and I wasn’t analyzing Catherine’s motives. I was just grateful. I’m still grateful, and I’m not going to let anyone hurt her or you. I’m hopping into a rental car and I’m on my way. Okay?”
“It appears it’s going to have to be. Maybe Joe should come and—”
“Love you. Bye.” Jane broke the connection.
Eve turned to Joe. “You shouldn’t have contacted her. She has her own battles to fight. It’s pretty clear she’s still going through hell.”