The Killing Game

  She reached into a jacket pocket and handed him the sandwich she'd stolen from Fay's refrigerator that morning. “Breakfast. It's pretty stale. I couldn't get anything else.”

  She watched him gobble down the food, then shot a glance behind her.

  The creep had ducked into the shadows of a garbage dump. Good place for him.

  “Come on. Time to go to school,” she told Mike.

  “I ain't going.”

  “Sure you are. You want to grow up stupid like your father?”

  “I ain't going.”

  She played her trump card. “It's warm there.”

  Mike thought about it and then got to his feet. “Maybe I'll go just today.”

  She'd thought he would. The cold and an empty belly were enemies. She'd spent a lot of nights in alleys herself when she'd been staying with the Carbonis. That was the foster home before Fay's and it was there she'd learned that if she caused enough trouble, not even the welfare money would make foster parents keep her. Welfare was always ready to give them another kid if one didn't work out.

  Fay was much better. She was always tired and often crabby, but sometimes Jane thought she might grow to like her . . . if she stayed long enough.

  She glanced back at the creep. Still hiding behind the dump. “I think maybe you should find another place to sleep tonight. There's a place near the Union Mission. I'll show you.”

  “Okay. You goin' to school now?” Mike asked. “Maybe I could walk along with you.”

  He was lonely. He was only six and hadn't learned how to ignore the emptiness yet. “Sure. Why not?”

  She smiled at him.

  DOM HADN'T BEEN sure until he'd seen her smile.

  The smile was warm and sweet. All the more appealing because of the kid's usual air of wariness and toughness. Without that streak of softness he wouldn't have been sure. But now he was convinced.

  Little Jane MacGuire was perfect.

  “YOU'RE SURE HE'S the Devon boy?” Spiro asked when Joe opened the door later that afternoon.

  “It's close enough.” Joe gestured to the pedestal. “The picture's on the worktable. See for yourself.”

  “I'll do that.” He crossed the room. “Where's Ms. Duncan?”

  “Still sleeping.”

  “Wake her up. I need to talk to her.”

  “Screw you. She's exhausted. Talk to me.”

  “I have to—” He gave a low whistle as he compared the reconstruction with the photo. “Damn, she's good.”

  “Yes.”

  He tossed the photo back on the worktable. “I almost wish it wasn't him. You realize what this means?”

  “Yes, and so does Eve.”

  “I'm going to have to use her, Quinn.”

  “No one uses Eve.”

  “Unless she wants to be used,” Eve said from the doorway. She came toward them. She'd obviously just gotten out of bed; her hair was tousled, her clothing rumpled. “And the fact that he's John Devon doesn't make that much difference to you, Spiro. You would have tried to use me anyway.”

  Spiro glanced back at the skull. “He could be telling the truth about Fraser taking credit for his kills.”

  “Some of his kills,” Joe corrected Spiro. “All we have are the two boys.”

  “Aren't they enough?” Spiro turned to Eve. “Are you going to help me?”

  “No, I'm going to help me. You and Joe keep my mom safe and I'll let you use me as bait.”

  “The hell you will,” Joe said.

  She ignored him and asked Spiro, “He's been watching me, hasn't he?”

  “Quinn told you?”

  “No, but Dom knew about our trip to Talladega.” She glanced at Joe. “What else?”

  “Someone's been keeping an eye on the cottage. I had Spiro send a forensic team yesterday to go through the bushes where he'd been standing, watching.”

  “Thanks for telling me.”

  “I'm telling you now. You were a little busy before.” He smiled. “I don't think he'll be back with Charlie and those other guards patrolling outside and me inside.”

  “Don't be too sure. He's bored or he wouldn't have taken so many chances.”

  His smile faded. “You think he's that unbalanced?”

  “I believe he's desperate for some reason. But I don't think he'll try to kill me yet. Not until he gets what he wants.”

  “And when he does, we'll be here,” Spiro said.

  “Will you?” she said wearily. “Why would he attack if he knows there's a chance he'll be caught? If he's as smart as you believe, he'd find a way to get to me and elude you. Did your team find any evidence in the stuff they collected yesterday?”

  “We're still sifting through—” Spiro shook his head. “We don't think so.”

  She shrugged. “I rest my case.”

  “And what do you suggest?”

  “That we go after him, not wait for him to come after me.”

  “It's much safer for you to—”

  A knock on the door.

  Charlie smiled apologetically. “Sorry to bother you, but I wondered if my call had come through. It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would.”

  “No call,” Joe said.

  “Why not ask me?” Spiro said dryly. “Did it occur to you that as your superior, I'm the one they would contact?”

  Charlie eyed him warily. “Did they?”

  “Last night. They're faxing the full report to me at Talladega. They were surprised I knew nothing about your request that they call you directly.”

  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.”

  “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.”

  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 take 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.”

  “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.

  “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.

  She shoved him. “Leave me alone.”

  “God and I have a lot in common. If you believe in reincarnation, then by killing your Bonnie I, like God, created a brand-new human being. Though I didn't actually create her from Bonnie's rib, I thought you'd appreciate the symbolism.” He paused. “By the way, her name is Jane.” He hung up.

  The phone dropped from her hand. She stared down into the box.

  “Don't touch it,” Joe said.

  “I'll call Spiro and get a team down here to check it out.” Charlie ran down the steps toward his car.

  “Dom?” Joe asked.

  She nodded.

  “Did he tell you what this is?”

  She nodded again.

  So small . . .

  She reached down and touched it with one finger. Smooth . . .

  Tears began to run down her cheeks.

  “Eve.”

  “It's Bonnie. It's Bonnie's rib.”

  “Shit.” Joe picked her up and carried her inside. “Son of a bitch. Bastard.”

  “Bonnie.”

  “Shh.” He sat down on the couch and rocked her. “Dammit, why didn't you call me?”

  “Bonnie's rib.”

  “It could be an animal bone. He could have lied to you.”

  She shook her head. “Bonnie.”

  “Listen to me. He wanted to hurt you.”

  And he had succeeded. God, how he had succeeded. Pain was searing through her. She had told herself only last night that he had no real weapon against her, that she could control—Dammit, she couldn't stop crying.

  And she couldn't stop thinking of that little fragment of Bonnie in that box.

  “Go bring it in.”

  “What?”

  “It's . . . cold out there.”

  “Eve,” Joe said gently. “It's evidence. We can't move—”

  “Do you think he'd leave any evidence? Go get it.”

  “Even if it's Bonnie, she can't feel—”

  “I know I'm not being reasonable. I just don't want her out in the cold if I can help it. It . . . hurts me. Bring her in.”

  Joe muttered a curse and got to his feet. A moment later he came back with the box. “You're not looking at it again.” He crossed the room and slid the box into a drawer of her worktable. “And it's going to the lab for analysis.”

  “Okay.”

  “And stop crying, dammit.”

  She nodde
d.

  “Oh, shit.” He dropped down beside her and gathered her in his arms. “You're killing me. Please. Stop crying.”

  “I'm sorry. I'm trying. It was the shock. I didn't expect—” She swallowed. “He got the response he wanted from me, didn't he?”

  “What did he say?”

  She shook her head. “Not now. Give me a minute.”

  His arms tightened around her. “Take all the time you need. I'll give you ten years if you need them. Why not? Hell, I've already given you one decade.”

  What was he talking about? She didn't have a decade. She might not have any time at all. She buried her head in his shoulder, trying to get past the horror of the box and face an even greater horror. “He said that—” She couldn't go on. Not yet.

  Her name is Jane.

  “IT'S ALL BULLSHIT,” Joe said flatly. “Reincarnation?”

  “Did he sound as if he believed in it?” Spiro asked Eve.

  “Not really.”

  “Then he could have been manipulating you.”

  “He'd like me to believe it.” She smiled bitterly. “That could make it very entertaining for him.”

  “He knows you're too intelligent to fall for that crap,” Joe said.

  “He also knows I care about children.” Her hands clenched on her lap. “And bones aren't enough for him. What if he's chosen his next victim? What if he can make me a part of the kill, make me the cause of it?”

  “Clever,” Spiro murmured.

  “It's nice to be so detached,” Eve said unevenly. “I'm not finding much to admire in the bastard.”

  “I'm not admiring him, merely assessing his capabilities. And this is all supposition on your part.”

  “He went to a great deal of trouble to bring me that box.”

  “And it gave you a great deal of pain. He may regard that as enough return.”

  She shook her head. “It's just the opening gambit. He hit me with Bonnie. He hit me with the threat to another little girl. And he tried to tie the two together in my mind.”

  “And did he succeed?” Spiro asked.

  “Of course not.”

  Spiro's gaze narrowed on her face. “Not even a little?”

  She looked down. “I wouldn't let him do that to me.”