“You’re flying? Where?”
“Atlanta.”
“Why?”
“I have something I have to do there.”
“That’s no answer. If you were still a teenager, I’d call it rude.” She frowned. “Why didn’t you answer the door?”
“I was in a hurry. I have to get out of here.” She smiled. “I wasn’t rejecting you. I gave you a key to the condo, didn’t I? That means you’re welcome anytime.” She paused. “Why did you decide to come today? I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
“I dropped by your conference. I was going to take you to dinner.”
Kendra grimaced. “And you saw me almost blow my cool.”
“They were idiots. They should have known you were right. You were right, weren’t you?”
“Yep. But not diplomatic.”
“Thank God.” She paused. “I followed you out to the parking lot, and I was going to save you from that earnest young man, but you got a telephone call.” She shrugged. “You hung up right away and jumped in your car and left the conference.” She met Kendra’s gaze. “But I saw your expression. It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
“Wild oats?” Kendra shook her head. “I like my life, Mom. I’m not going to fly off and leave those kids I teach.”
“You know what I mean. Who is it? FBI? The local police? Say no, Kendra.”
Kendra hadn’t thought she’d be able to deter her, but it had been worth a try. “I can’t do that, Mom,” she said quietly. “Not this time.”
“Why not?” Deanna asked harshly. “Those law-enforcement people don’t give a damn about you. How many times have you been hurt? And I’ve almost lost you before when they tapped you and ask—” She drew a deep breath. “You’re too valuable to waste. You’re good and giving, and you’ve worked too hard to become a complete person.” Her lips twisted. “The only problem is that you became a bit more than complete.”
“No, I won’t accept that. Anyone can do what I do. All they have to do is concentrate.” All during her childhood, she had trained all her senses to overcompensate for her blindness. At twenty, when she’d had the operation that had given her sight, she’d been amazed that the people around her weren’t able to use those senses in the same way she did. In a way, they appeared more blind to her than she had been before her operation. It had been that ability that had brought her to the attention of the law-enforcement officers against whom her mother was so bitter. “And I assure you that most of those agents at the FBI don’t consider me loving and giving. They consider me a bitch, useful but not comfortable to be around.”
“I never taught you to suffer fools gladly.” Deanna added, “There’s a possibility I might have gone slightly overboard. But deep down, you have fine instincts. The rest doesn’t matter.”
“And since you taught me, it must be the world and not me that’s wrong.” She leaned forward and gave Deanna a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll sign on to that.” She grabbed her computer case. “I have to go, Mom.”
“Not until you tell me who you’re going to see.” She added grimly, “I need to know who to go to for the body if they get you killed.”
Deanna wasn’t going to be deterred. Kendra had hoped she would be able to avoid explanations. She didn’t have time for them. “Joe Quinn. He’s a detective with Atlanta PD. You may remember my mentioning him. I worked with him when he was out here chasing down a serial killer; and then later he involved me in a missing-person case.”
“I remember you weren’t happy to leave one of your students at a crucial time.”
“It was okay. It worked out.”
Deanna was frowning. “And you were working with an Eve Duncan. You had problems with her.”
“We were a little too much alike. That worked out, too,” she said. “I liked her, Mom. She was kind of special.”
“So you’re going to be working with her again? That’s why you have to become involved?”
“Yes, she’s the reason.” She shook her head. “But I won’t be working with her. Joe Quinn called me and told me that Eve has been kidnapped by some nutcase. The man’s name is Jim Doane. Quinn asked me to help find her. I have to do it.”
Deanna sighed. “Dammit, then I don’t have a chance of talking you out of going, do I?”
“It won’t be that dangerous. I’m not going to be actively working the case. I just have to try to pull up any clues as to where this Doane took her. I’ll go in and do my job and get out.” She added softly, “I won’t tell you not to worry because that’s been your modus operandi from the moment I was born twenty-eight years ago. I celebrate that you think I’m still worth it. But this time, I honestly believe that there’s not going to be any reason to do it. Okay?”
“No.” She stared at her a moment. “If you don’t get yourself hurt physically, you’ll end up an emotional wreck. I’ve seen it before. And this time the odds are leaning in that direction. You told me yourself, you like this Eve Duncan. You’ll get hurt again.” She turned and slammed the suitcase shut. “And I’ll be here to pick up the pieces. Maybe someday you’ll develop a sense of self-preservation.”
“I already have. Things just seem to get in the way. You’d like Eve, too, Mom.”
“Would I?” Deanna asked as she turned toward the door. “I’m driving you to the airport. You can tell me about her on the way.” She held up her hand as Kendra opened her lips to speak. “I’m driving you,” she repeated firmly. “I’m not letting you fly off into the night without having a solid hold on the situation. Grab your suitcase.”
Kendra shook her head ruefully as she hurried after her out of the condo to her mother’s Mercedes in the parking space in front of her condo. “We might have to go to a therapy session or two when I get back. You’re being domineering again.”
“Am I?” She got into the driver’s seat. “Oh, well, you can take it. Talk to me. Tell me about Eve Duncan.”
“She’s a forensic sculptor, one of the best in the world. She does a great deal of work re-creating the faces of skulls of victims found by police departments across the country. She tries to devote most of her time to doing reconstructions of children. Perhaps you’ve heard of her? She’s very famous.”
“The name’s familiar, but I tend to avoid looking at skulls unless it has to do with something of historical significance. It reminds me of my own mortality. But a person is more than a profession. You haven’t told me about Duncan, just what she does for a living.”
“She’s illegitimate and grew up in the slums of Atlanta. Her mother was on drugs most of her childhood and didn’t list any name for the father on Eve’s birth certificate. Her mother wasn’t sure who he was. Eve had an illegitimate child herself when she was seventeen. It was a little girl she called Bonnie. She adored her. The little girl was kidnapped and killed when she was seven years old.”
“Dear God,” Deanna whispered. “How could she survive a blow like that? I don’t know if I could.”
“Eve survived. She went back to school and became a forensic sculptor. She spent years trying to find the body of her daughter and only succeeded a short time ago. She adopted a ten-year-old street kid, Jane MacGuire, years after her daughter disappeared, and she and her lover, Joe Quinn, raised her. Jane’s now an artist and temporarily living in Europe. Recently, Eve discovered she had a half sister, Beth, and they’re trying to build a relationship, but Beth lives here in California. They don’t see much of each other.” She looked at Deanna. “Is that enough personal background for you?”
Her mother nodded. “She’s no lightweight.” She made a face. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to tell me about her. I don’t have much ammunition to convince you not to go off and try to find her.”
“No, you don’t. She’s strong, and she’s real. Like you, Mom.”
Deanna didn’t speak as she changed lanes to get on the freeway. “If they know the name of this man who abducted her, why can’t they find them without you?”
“I don’t
know. Joe said that Doane had been planning this for years. His son, Kevin, had been murdered and partially cremated, and Doane only managed to salvage his blackened skull.”
“Ah, and he wanted Eve Duncan to do the reconstruction on the skull?”
“Presumably. Doane let her call Quinn and check on the condition of Jane MacGuire, and she told him she’d made a deal with him to do it.”
“Condition?”
She hesitated. Her mother was not going to like this. “Jane MacGuire was shot by one of Doane’s accomplices, a man named Blick.”
“Shit. And this isn’t going to be dangerous?”
“I go in, then get out. Jane wasn’t killed, only wounded.”
“What a relief,” Deanna said grimly. “Wonderful.”
“It is wonderful.” She wouldn’t tell her about the CIA man who had been found with his throat cut on the lake property. “I’m not saying that Doane isn’t dangerous. He’s not stable, but I’m not going to have to deal with him. That’s Joe Quinn’s job. And he’s fully capable of handling it. Before he became a detective, he was with the FBI, and before that, he was a SEAL. He only asked me to look around and see if I come up with something.”
“And he wouldn’t try to pull you into the case if he thought it necessary? You said he was Eve Duncan’s lover. That doesn’t bode well for cool professionalism.”
Trust her mother to cut through everything to get to the truth. “No, Joe isn’t at all professional about Eve.” Kendra wouldn’t lie. “He’s crazy about her. They’ve been together for years, and it’s still a love story. Nice…” She added quickly, “But no one pulls me into anything if I don’t want to go. I’m not reckless. You know me well enough to realize that, Mom.”
“But you don’t have to be reckless if you get emotional. What about that case a few years ago, where there were kidnapped children involved? That nearly made you into a basket case.”
Kendra didn’t answer.
“Okay.” Deanna sighed. “I’ll shut up right now if you promise to call and give me reports how things are going.”
“So that you can get on your white horse and come to my rescue?” she asked gently. “Mom, you have to let me go sometime. You were the best, the most extraordinary mother a child could have. You fought a thousand battles for me and taught me to fight them, too. Now you have to trust me to make good choices. And, if I don’t make them, you have to trust me to make the situation work.” She added softly, “Just as you did all those years. It shouldn’t be so hard. After all, I am your daughter.”
Deanna didn’t speak for a moment. “Was that supposed to appeal to my ego? It is hard. You’ll realize that when you have a child of your own.” She pulled over in front of the terminal building. “And I will come to rescue you if you don’t behave sensibly. I’ll give you space, but I won’t give you up.”
“And that makes me a very lucky woman.” Kendra opened the passenger door. “How could I ask for anything else?”
“You couldn’t,” Deanna said brusquely. “Now, have you told me everything you know about the situation? If I have to mount that white horse, I want to know how to program this GPS.”
“How convoluted can you get?” Kendra got out of the car and retrieved her suitcase from the backseat. “I think you have the bare bones. I don’t have much more than that. Quinn was rattling off names and details so fast that I still have to get everything straight in my mind. I’ll probably be landing in Atlanta before it becomes clear to me.” She leaned back into the car and gave Deanna a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Now you know as much as I do. Satisfied?”
“No.” Her eyes were glittering as her palm cupped Kendra’s cheek. “And if you don’t want me to interfere, you’ll call and keep me informed. That’s not too much to ask.”
“Blackmail.” Kendra was laughing as she straightened. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I have no idea. I taught you to make your own decisions.”
“True.” She slammed the car door. “And there’s really only one thing I can do with you.” She turned away. “I just have to love you. I’ll call you when I get to Atlanta.”
She could feel her mother’s eyes on her as she headed for the glass doors. She lifted her hand and waved as she went through the doors into the terminal.
Her smile faded as she went toward the kiosk. She had tried to comfort her mother and she wished she had been able to be more reassuring. She knew so little, and she hated it. She wanted to reach out, to see, to hear, to touch. She was going into this hunt for Eve as blind as she had been during the first twenty years of her life.
And she had a terrible feeling that she wouldn’t be able to help Eve. Eve was very sharp, and if she’d been taken by this criminal, then he must be a formidable adversary. It was hard for Kendra to understand how the wary, intelligent Eve she had come to know had become a victim.
But most criminals left traces, clues that shined a light on their path. Doane surely wouldn’t be different. All she needed was to go to the crime scenes and everything would come clear.
God, she hoped he wasn’t different.
I’ll find him, Eve. Fight him. Give me a chance. I’ll do everything I can. I’ll search so hard for you.…
CHAPTER
2
Rio Grande Forest
Colorado
THE RUSTLING IN THE BUSHES UP ahead had stopped.
Eve listened.
The faint rustling was now to the right going down the slope.
Not Doane. A bear?
She didn’t care what kind of predator it was as long as it was moving away from her. She started moving forward again.
Dear God, she was cold.
The moments when she had stayed still, waiting for an attack, had robbed her of the warmth from running.
And she would get colder. She didn’t need Doane to taunt her with the possibility of hypothermia in these mountains. She couldn’t run all night to keep warm. She couldn’t light a fire. She needed shelter and warmer clothing than she had on now.
And where was she supposed to get them?
Think.
Shelter would have to be found in a cave or trees. Clothing? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t made plans. She’d known she had to prepare for this frigid wilderness. Hours before her escape she’d packed clothes and a blanket into the duffel into which she had thrown the skull of the Kevin reconstruction.
But after she’d tossed the skull off the cliff she’d run only a short distance before she’d thrown the duffel to the side of the trail to get it out of her way and conserve her strength.
Retrieve it? It was possible. She’d made a mental note of the immediate surroundings when she’d tossed it.
If she could recognize the place in the darkness.
And it was only a few short miles from the house where she’d been held. It was reasonable that Doane would still be there, at least for the night. It could be insane to double back and give up the distance she’d already traveled.
And she’d be even closer to the cliff edge where she’d stood to toss Kevin’s skull into the ravine. What if Doane had decided to camp out there to be close to his son? Considering his obsession, it was entirely possible.
And that possibility was very dangerous for Eve.
What if Doane had seen her discard the duffel and was waiting for her to come back for it?
So was she going to stay here all night, getting colder by the minute, trying to decide?
No, she had to assume that she was in this for the long haul. She mustn’t count on someone coming to rescue her. She had no doubt that Joe would do everything he could, but she had to assume that what could go wrong, would go wrong. Stop questioning and weighing every step. Take a chance on getting what she needed to survive until she could find her way out of these mountains.
She turned and started back through the brush toward the trail that led down the mountain to the log house that Doane had told her had been formerly used as a factory.
r /> She had a sudden mental picture of Doane sitting and waiting like a giant spider with a smile on that kindly face that hid the soul of a demon.
She firmly dismissed the vision from her mind. He would like the idea of intimidating her, making her hesitate, controlling her moves.
And he would probably attribute it to the force of his son, Kevin, reaching from beyond the grave. He had told her that he believed that Kevin was trying to break through the barriers between life and death, and there had been moments when she had believed it was true. She always felt a connection when she was working on a reconstruction, but with Kevin it had been frightening. It had filled her with terror … and nausea. She had been filled with profound relief when she had tossed that skull off the mountain.
Because she believed that the dead could reach from beyond the grave. Her little girl, her Bonnie, had begun coming to Eve a year after she had died. Eve had been spiraling downward and would probably have died herself if she had not begun to see and dream of Bonnie. Yes, the dead could cross that threshold.
But Kevin was not a loving, gentle spirit like Bonnie. In life he had been a serial killer of little girls, and there was nothing but evil in the force that Eve sensed while working on his reconstruction.
She was starting to shiver with cold. Don’t think of Kevin. Don’t think of the father who had given him life and helped him lure those little girls to their deaths. There was hope and good in the world. She was walking toward darkness, and she needed hope right now.
Think of Bonnie.
Vancouver, Canada
“IT’S VENABLE.” HOWARD STANG handed Lee Zander his phone, which he’d left on the library desk. “Shall I leave the room?”
“Of course not. After all, he’s CIA, not the usual less-than-upstanding client whom you avoid like the plague. In fact, I’ll turn on the speakerphone and let you listen. Haven’t we reached a new plateau of understanding lately?” Zander smiled mockingly as he took the phone. “You’re not only a trusted employee, you’re actually becoming a confidant.”