Taking Eve

  Very canny, Jane thought. “You might get more than you bargain for. Joe is frantic, and he’ll do anything to get Eve back.” Her lips twisted. “Don’t trust me, either. I’m trying to remember to be civilized, but I’ll probably fold at the first hint that Doane’s going to hurt her. You’d be much safer if you got the hell away from both of us.”

  Margaret’s head swiftly turned. “Doane? You have a name?” Her eyes were suddenly glittering. “See, information. It can be magic. How did you find out that—”

  “Go take your shower. I may tell you later. Or I may not.”

  “I’ll hurry.” Margaret disappeared into the bathroom and slammed the door.

  “Are you softening?” Caleb asked.

  “If I were softening, then I’d run her away from here. The word is hardening.” She wearily rubbed her temple. “I wish she hadn’t come. It makes it too easy to take advantage of her.”

  “She wouldn’t consider it taking advantage. You heard her, payback.” He shrugged. “I would probably take advantage, but then I’m a callous bastard. Your decision.” He glanced at the kitchen bar. “Now I believe you said you were going to give me a cup of coffee. You’re the one who looks like you need one. Sit down. I’ll make it for us.”

  “I can do it.”

  “I’m sure you can, but I didn’t take a bullet a couple days ago.” He was already around the bar. “It’s more reasonable to let—”

  “For God’s sake, stop arguing with him, Jane,” Joe said roughly as he came out of the bedroom. “Keep what strength you have. The last thing we need is for you to collapse and have to go back in the hospital.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m—” Jane stopped, and her heart skipped a beat. “You’re upset. What’s wrong? Did you hear something about Eve?”

  “No, I got a report on Blick’s overseas years from Army personnel. It was absolutely clear and uneventful until he reached Turkey. Then there were three instances of fights in bars and a few run-ins with the locals.”

  “That wasn’t in the report that Venable gave us.”

  “And therefore very suspect. The bar episodes were very violent but not lethal. Nothing that got him thrown in jail, but the incidents were written up. The Turkish complaints were because Blick was found in a private residential area where foreign soldiers were discouraged from going. He was with another man, who ran away and left Blick to take the blame when he and Blick were spotted near a Muslim girls’ school.” Joe added, “Blick wouldn’t reveal his identity when questioned by the Turks. Nor when he was released to the U.S. military police. He claimed he was alone, and the Turks were crazy. He said he was drunk and was wandering aimlessly when they picked him up.”

  “He never revealed the name of the man who was with him?”

  Joe shook his head. “And the charges against him were dropped the next day. Blick was shipped back to the States a month later.”

  “A cover-up? Venable?”

  “Maybe. But covering up what? And why?”

  “Blick seems fairly ordinary up to the time when he teamed up with that man in Turkey. And he was willing to risk being thrown into a Turkish jail to protect him. From what we’ve learned about Blick’s background, that’s unusual.”

  “And maybe the reason that Blick only got a slap on the wrist and was shipped back to the U.S. was to protect Blick’s buddy, too,” Caleb said. “It’s a game of maybes and ifs, isn’t it? Anything else, Quinn? The connection with Venable?”

  Joe shook his head. “Only that I’m doing a scan of the newspapers of those months Blick was in Turkey. I’ll keep on looking, but nothing of international importance occurred as far as I can see.”

  “But Venable seldom operates on the surface,” Jane said.

  Joe grimaced. “Almost never.” He paused. “There were two Muslim clerics who were killed in rather suspicious accidents in Istanbul. They were reputedly responsible for arranging for a suicide bomber to kill four U.S. Army border guards in Iraq.”

  “A revenge killing.” Jane frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Venable. He wouldn’t let emotion rule. He’d have a reason before he’d turn loose a team that might spark an international incident.”

  Joe nodded. “And there was also a story about the disappearance of a young student on her way from Istanbul to her parents’ home in Delhi. Take your pick.”

  “That wouldn’t involve the CIA either.”

  “Who the hell knows what he’d do?” Joe said. “But we’re going to find out. I’m tired of making guesses.” He checked his watch. “Time’s up. I’m going after him.” He turned to Caleb. “Stay with Jane. Don’t let her out—” His cell phone rang, and he stiffened as he read the ID. “Venable.”

  He punched the volume and access. “Where the hell are you, Venable?”

  “Not there obviously. I gather by your tone that you’re frustrated. You didn’t get very far with checking out Relling?”

  “You knew I wouldn’t. No Doane. No Relling. You were very careful about erasing his records.”

  “Yes, but sometimes there’s a slip,” Venable said. “I’m glad to know they did a good job.”

  “So good I may break your neck if I find out that what you did made Eve a target.”

  “I can understand that. I never meant it to happen, but I should have been more careful.” Venable added, “But you can tell me all that in person in a couple hours. I just called to let you know that I’m at General John Tarther’s house in Virginia to break the news to him about Doane, but I have a plane waiting, and I’ll be on my way back as soon as it’s done.”

  “Tarther? Another hint to dangle? That won’t cut it.”

  “I wouldn’t have mentioned his name if I hadn’t intended to take you into my confidence.”

  “Everything, Venable.”

  Venable paused, then finally said, “Everything.” He hung up.

  “Who is Tarther?”

  Jane turned to see Margaret standing at the bathroom door, fully dressed in jeans and shirt but her hair wrapped in a towel. Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity as she came forward. “General Tarther? I’ve never heard of him.”

  “I’ve heard of him,” Jane said. “He was famous. But it was a long time ago. Iraq, Joe?”

  Joe nodded as he hung up the phone. “And Afghanistan. He retired years ago.”

  “What’s happening?” Margaret asked, removing the towel from her head. “I only got to hear the last few words. And why would this Tarther—”

  “We don’t know,” Joe interrupted. “But it seems that we’re going to find out.”

  “But am I going to find out? Are you going to let me help find Eve?” Margaret asked shrewdly.

  “Why not?” Joe was suddenly smiling recklessly. “If you can prove you’re able to do it.” He took her arm and pulled her toward the door. “We have a couple hours before Venable gets here, and I don’t want to twiddle my thumbs waiting. Jane said that you have a talent that the rest of us don’t possess. Even if I believed her, I’m not sure that communing with forest creatures would be of any worth in tracking down Doane.”

  “I’m not sure either. It’s never a certainty,” Margaret said. “Where are we going?”

  “Into the woods. Dukes, one of Venable’s agents, had his throat cut about a mile from the lake. That’s all we know. The area was pristine clean. Forensics has been all over the area and not found anything yet. I want to know how he died and if Doane left any clues that we haven’t found.”

  Jane shook her head as she followed them out on the porch. “Joe, how can she possibly tell you anything about a murder that took place while she wasn’t even in the country?”

  He stared Margaret directly in the eye. “Can you?”

  She was silent a moment. “Perhaps.”

  His smile flashed tiger bright as he pulled her out of the house. “Then let’s go see, Margaret.”

  CHAPTER

  12

  Rio Grande Forest, Colorado

  “YOU’RE TAKING TH
OSE RED MARKERS out of his face,” Doane said approvingly as he leaned forward in his chair. “I’m glad. He looked like a demon, and Kevin is such a handsome boy.”

  “He’s no boy. He’s a man.” Eve corrected herself as she checked the final depth measurements. “He was a man. I’d judge him to be late twenties when he died.”

  “You’re trying to hurt me by reminding me he’s no longer with me.” Doane smiled gently. “You can’t do that when I know that you feel so deeply about your Bonnie. I’m sure you feel she’s still by your side.”

  Bonnie sitting leaning against the rollaway bed and talking to her.

  “Every now and then. Every parent who has lost a child clings to memories.”

  “It’s more than memories. Maybe it’s that way with you, but it’s different with Kevin and me. Sometimes a soul is so strong, it fights free.” He tilted his head as he once more leaned back in his chair. “You’re working very slowly today. I thought it would go faster after you got those voodoo markers out of him.”

  “I have to be careful. I start the sculpting process soon, and I have to have an accurate foundation on which to build.” And she was sick again, fighting the nausea. It was worse now than it had been before when she had thought it had been caused by breathing that gas.

  It’s not the gas, it’s Kevin.

  I’m beginning to believe you, baby.

  She stared at the mass of clay that was the reconstruction and fought the nausea. No defined features, cavities where the eyes, nose, and lips would be, just bold swathes of clay. There should have been no hint of personality yet in this unfinished state. She seldom felt a connection with the victim until she began the final sculpting.

  Dear God, but she was feeling a connection now. It was faint and dark and brimming with menace.

  “I’d hate to think you were stalling,” Doane said. “Kevin wouldn’t like it. It’s important that you finish the reconstruction as soon as possible so that we can go on with what we have to do.”

  “And what do you have to do?”

  Doane didn’t answer.

  “Kill me?”

  “Do I look like a man who would kill a kind, worthwhile woman like you?”

  “No, but I think that appearances don’t reflect the true picture where you’re concerned.” She paused. “Have you killed anyone before, Doane?”

  “No.”

  She waited a moment, then asked, “Has Kevin ever killed anyone? Was that why he was in court?”

  Doane didn’t answer.

  “You don’t want to tell me the truth? I’ll find out sometime. I’ll keep probing until I know everything about you and your precious Kevin. Why not tell me yourself?”

  “It would poison you against Kevin. It might affect the reconstruction.”

  “You haven’t researched me very thoroughly if you believe that. I don’t let anything interfere with the validity of my work.” She shrugged. “Who knows? It might make it come faster. Truth can be a great clarifier. Was Kevin in that court because he killed someone?”

  He slowly nodded.

  “Who?”

  “No one important.”

  She stared at him in shock. “Every human being is important. Every death diminishes us.”

  “That’s trite nonsense.” He grimaced. “I used to believe that kind of bullshit before Kevin taught me the truth.”

  “Kevin taught you? The father teaches the son.”

  “No other man had a son like my Kevin. He was … extraordinary.” Doane’s face was luminous, his eyes glittering. “It took me a long while to understand that there are special people born in this world to rule and others to follow. If Kevin had lived, he would have been a leader, no, he would have been more. He would have been a god. He told me once that Hitler would have changed the world and been worshipped as he deserved if he’d been a little smarter.” He added simply, “Kevin was much smarter. He only needed a little more time before he would have been able to control himself and move up where he belonged.”

  “Control himself?” She moistened her lips. “Who was this ‘unimportant’ person that your son murdered?”

  He didn’t speak for a moment, and then he shrugged impatiently. “It doesn’t really matter what I say, does it? I’ve tried so hard to do what Kevin taught me to do, but it’s coming to an end. I believe he’s ready for it to come to an end. I can’t make you believe in me. So what difference does it make?”

  “Whom did Kevin murder?”

  He was silent again. “Just a child. Her name isn’t important. She would have been glad to sacrifice herself if Kevin had time to explain how vital her death was to him. He needed a release to keep him functioning properly. If she’d gotten to know him, she would have loved him. Everyone loved Kevin.”

  She closed her eyes for an instant as the horror hit home. “I understand that Hitler had his fans, too. But I don’t believe that they would have been glad to die for him.”

  “That’s why Kevin would have been greater than Hitler. He could persuade anyone to do anything.”

  “Including you.”

  “When I understood that was my duty to him. Yes, I did anything he wanted me to do, gave him anything he wanted.” He met her eyes. “I’m not ashamed. I’m proud of everything I did for Kevin.”

  Eve’s head was spinning. Images of Hitler. Ugly visions of a dead child. How old had that child been when Kevin had killed her? As old as Bonnie when she’d been taken? “He still has you under his spell even though he’s dead. Don’t you realize that he was crazy? All of that bull about his needing a release is straight out of serial-killer textbooks. He obviously had delusions of grandeur, but that isn’t unusual either. He was a self-indulgent monster who was using you. He probably cared nothing for you.”

  “He did care.” His face was flushed. “That’s all you know. Kevin loved me. When he found out that he was going to have to go to court, he wouldn’t let me come to him and made sure that I’d be protected no matter what happened to him. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay and help him. But he said he had Blick if he needed to escape. Blick would never leave him.”

  “Blick was Kevin’s friend?” Her lips twisted. “Or should I say follower?”

  “He worshipped Kevin. They were both in the Army, but Kevin was in the Special Forces when they met in Istanbul. The Army taught Kevin to kill, and he became magnificent at it.”

  “Like a god? But then the Army didn’t know Kevin needed his little releases, did they? Did Blick know that executing the enemy wasn’t enough for your son?”

  “Not at first. But Blick could see his power, and Kevin let him come close to him. Kevin showed him how exciting it was to break all the rules and take what you want. He was grooming him.”

  “To become a monster like your son?”

  “I’m getting tired of your sarcasm.” His voice was suddenly harsh. “I knew you wouldn’t understand Kevin.”

  “Then why did you try to explain him to me? Did you want absolution for what you did to help him?”

  “Absolution? No.” He got to his feet. “I told you, I’m proud to be his father, proud of everything I did to help him.” His voice lowered to silky softness. “I told you because Kevin wanted you to know. I feel it. He doesn’t like it that you don’t fear him. You know he’s here, but you’re strong enough to resist him, like the other one.”

  “What other one?” she whispered.

  “You know.”

  Bonnie.

  I’m fighting to keep him away, but he’s getting stronger.

  “Well, you’ve told me, and I’m still not afraid of him.” But she was struggling to keep her voice from shaking from the shock she was feeling. “Do you know they made fun of Hitler during World War II? He was a monster, but get beyond that ugliness, and he was only a cruel little man who was easy to ridicule.”

  “Oh, that was another age. Kevin agreed with you. He admired Hitler, but he was also critical. He told me that manipulating al-Qaeda and the terrorist groups was
the way to go. He was already making great strides insinuating himself into a group in Pakistan by feeding them information, when those Army bastards caught him and threw him into jail.”

  “Too bad it wasn’t the al-Qaeda. They would have played with him a long time before they killed him.”

  Doane looked as if she’d struck him. “Bitch.” His hands balled into fists at his sides. “You’ll pay for that.” He drew a deep breath. “I’ve got to get out of here for a while, or I’ll beat you until you can’t sit upright on that stool. Kevin wouldn’t like that. He has such fine plans for you.”

  For the first time, Doane’s mask was slipping. Push him a little more. “He has no plans. He’s dead and gone, Doane.”

  “Is he?” He was striding toward the front door. “He’s not gone to me. I’m not gone to him. Sometimes I feel him near me just like when he was alive. I even dream about him. If he’s gone, then why do I feel he has plans for you and your Bonnie?” He paused at the door. “Keep on working. If you don’t have more done when I come back, I’ll call Blick and have a talk with him about Jane MacGuire.” The door slammed behind him.

  Eve straightened on the stool. Get control. The gloves were off, and it might be better that way. She had goaded Doane until he had jettisoned all the games he’d been playing. Now they were out in the open and face-to-face.

  Not quite. There were still blanks to be filled in, but that could come later. Doane was no longer pretending to be the warm, fatherly guy next door. It had been bizarre and horrible watching his expressions change and twist. The man who had strode out of here had been completely different from the mask he had worn since she had met him.

  “I’ve got you. I can see you, Doane,” she whispered. “And I’ll learn how to manipulate you just the way your dear Kevin did. Neither one of you is going to beat us.”

  Us. The word had come naturally, instinctively. Had she been referring to Jane or Joe?