Shadow Play

“It might be true. You’ve been feeling a little lonely since Jane left home. And Cara certainly is going to need you.”

  “Us,” she corrected.

  He nodded. “Us.” He got to his feet. “And now I’ll go and talk to Nalchek and Margaret and make sure that they don’t disclose anything to local law enforcement. Then I’ll arrange to whisk Cara away from here as if she’d never been. Preferably before Salazar finds out that Walsh is dead.”

  “I guess I’d better talk to Cara. Would you send her to me?” She made a face. “Though I should really get up and go to her. It’s ridiculous that I’m still lolling in this bed. I shouldn’t have given in and let you talk me into a full exam. You know those idiotic tests aren’t going to find anything, Joe.”

  “Can’t be too careful. I figured it couldn’t hurt. You’re always too busy to go in to see the doctor.” He headed for the door. “We’ll get the results in another hour or so.”

  “Joe.”

  He looked over his shoulder. “Yes.”

  “Come back here.”

  He tilted his head as he saw her expression. “Delighted.” He whirled, and the next moment, he was beside her, lifting her, kissing her. “Hey, did I forget something?”

  “No, I did.” She kissed him again. “I forgot to tell you that most of the time you meet my every wish and that I’m damn grateful.” She pushed him away. “And that I love you, Joe Quinn.”

  “Most of the time?”

  “You were supposed to stay in San Francisco at that hospital. Instead, you came flying up here smack in the middle of the fray. That was definitely not according to what I wanted, and you know it.”

  “Yep, but you knew there was a strong possibility. I’ll just have to make it up to you in other ways to lull you into forgetting it.” He straightened and turned toward the door. “And I’ll start doing that right away, after I send Cara in to see you.”

  * * *

  “So what do you say, Cara?” Eve asked quietly. “Is it something you might want to do?”

  She didn’t speak for a moment. “I’d live with you?”

  “At least for a while. You wouldn’t have to be committed to us for the long haul. We could try it out and see how you liked it.”

  “And how you’d like it.”

  Eve nodded. “We’re pretty much strangers. I don’t see why we wouldn’t get along, but it’s better that we make it a trial run.”

  “You wouldn’t send me back to Mexico?”

  “No, that wouldn’t be best for you. Why? Do you wish to go back?”

  “No, Elena told me that I mustn’t ever go back there.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember anything about it except being with Jenny and Elena. But she said it would be bad for me, that I would be hurt.”

  “Joe and I think that’s true. But it might be difficult for us to keep you from being sent back. That’s why we thought that you should change your name. Okay?”

  “Again?” Cara nodded. “If that’s what you want. I don’t care.”

  “Does that mean that you’re willing to come to live with us?”

  “Of course it does. I told you that I wouldn’t leave you, that I’d hold on as long as you let me.” Her voice was suddenly fierce. “And I don’t care about all that trial business. I’ll be so good that you’ll want to keep me. Jenny told me that you’ll need me, and I have to be there for you.”

  “Cara, come here.” She held out her hand. “It goes two ways.” She drew the girl into her arms and held her. Cara didn’t fight her, but her body was stiff and unyielding. It might be a long time before she would be able to physically respond to anyone after the death of her Elena. She had told Joe it might be difficult to bring her into their home. Don’t force her. Everything must be slow and easy. She released her and smiled into her eyes. “I know you love Jenny, but this is between you and Joe and me. Can you start thinking of it like that?”

  Cara nodded jerkily. “If that’s what you want.”

  “That’s what I want.” She kissed her on the cheek and released her. “Now let’s make a list of everything that you’ll need from your apartment. Don’t worry about clothes. We’ll take care of that when we get home to Atlanta. Any personal items?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t need anything. Only my violin. Elena would have taken it, but you said everything in her car was burned.”

  “Yes, it was. We’ll get you another violin.”

  A brilliant smile lit her face. “Thank you.”

  They couldn’t take away the music, Jenny had said.

  And no one must take away Cara’s music, either.

  “You’re welcome. I look forward to hearing you play.”

  She nodded eagerly. “Yes, that’s something I can give you. It’s part of me and—”

  “Hi, everything settled?” Joe came into the room. “Yes, I can see that it is.” He smiled at Cara. “We’ll get everything finalized before Eve leaves here today. But there are a few things I have to go over with Eve first. Would you run out to the hall, where Margaret is waiting?”

  Cara didn’t move. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  But there was something wrong, Eve realized. Cara’s instincts were right. She recognized the tension in the way Joe was carrying himself. “Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with you, Cara.”

  Cara slowly got to her feet. “If it’s me, I’ll make it right, Eve.”

  “It’s not you,” Joe said shortly. “I promise.”

  Cara gave him another troubled look as she left the hospital room.

  “She has good instincts. You’re not easy to read,” Eve said. “I’m glad that it wasn’t about her. It would have been difficult explaining a sudden change of heart. Do you know, I’m starting to look forward to having Cara staying with us.” She shook her head. “Bonnie was talking about a change in my life. This may be what she meant.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  Eve went still. She couldn’t miss that jerky roughness in his tone. “What are you talking about? What is wrong?”

  “Not wrong. Strange. Bizarre.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what else.”

  “Stop playing around with words. Talk to me.”

  “I don’t know how to say it.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “The hospital has the results from all the tests. The doctor stopped me in the hall to go over them.”

  “The results? Joe, I know you’ve been ramrodding everything connected to my treatment since you brought me to this hospital, but that’s going a little too far. Why go over them with you and not with me?” She tried to smile. “Some terrible disease popped up that he thought you should break to me?”

  “God, I’m not doing this right. No terrible disease. You’re very healthy and ready to go home. He just didn’t want you to leave the hospital without knowing.”

  “Joe, what are you trying to tell me?”

  “In my completely clumsy and inadequate fashion”—He reached out and took her hand.—“I’m trying to tell you that you’re going to have a child, Eve.”

  READ ON FOR A BONUS SCENE FROM JOE QUINN’S POINT OF VIEW!

  LAKE COTTAGE

  ATLANTA, GEORGIA

  “You have a FedEx package,” Joe Quinn said as Eve came into the cottage. “It’s on your worktable. It came from somewhere in California.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, Sonderville. Sheriff Nalchek called me last night and asked me to bump his reconstruction to the top of my list.” She made a face. “I almost told him to forget it. I’m swamped right now, and I don’t need any more pressure.”

  Something was wrong, Joe realized instantly. Eve never complained about pressure, even to him. She just did her job and kept on moving to the next poor kid whose skull ended up on her worktable. But if something was wrong, she wouldn’t want him probing. Keep it light, and let her tell him when she was ready.

  “You’re always swamped.” Joe smiled teasingly. “You thrive on it. And it’s natural that you
’re in demand. Everyone wants the world-famous forensic sculptor, Eve Duncan, to solve their problems.”

  “Bullshit.” She went to the kitchen counter and reached for the coffee carafe. “There’s usually no urgency about putting a face on a skull that’s been buried for years anyway. It has to be done, but there’s no reason that I can’t do it an orderly fashion. Every one of those children is important.”

  He had heard that many times before, but it was clear she needed to express it again. “So why did you give in to Sheriff Nalchek?”

  “I don’t know.” She poured her coffee and came back to Joe. “He wore me down. He sounded young and eager and full of the horror that only comes the first time that you realize that there are vicious people out there who can do monstrous things to innocent children. I got the impression that he was an idealist who wanted to change the world.” She sat down beside Joe and nestled close, her head against his shoulder. Her cheek felt right, absolutely perfect against him. He wanted to hold her closer, but he could wait. He could sense the slight tension of her body, the disturbance that made her want to touch him. She probably didn’t even realize that she was in need and wanted his touch to be comforting. But he knew it and would give her what she needed.

  “He kept telling me that this little girl was different,” she said. “That he was sure that he’d be able to find out who she was and who had killed her if I’d just give him a face to work with. Who knows? Maybe he’s right. In cold cases like this, the chances are always better if the officer in charge is enthusiastic and dedicated.”

  “Like you.” Joe’s lips brushed her forehead. “Maybe he thinks he’s found a soul mate.”

  “Oh, I’m dedicated. Enthusiastic?” She wearily shook her head. “Not now. I’m too tired. There have been too many children in my life who have been killed and thrown away. I’m not as enthusiastic as that young officer is. I’m only determined … and sad.”

  “Sad?” Joe straightened and looked down at her. “Yes, I’m definitely feeling the sad part. But it’s not only about that skull in the box over there, is it?” His hand gently cupped her cheek. “Jane?” He had thought the root of Eve’s depression might be Jane MacGuire, their adopted daughter who Eve had just dropped off at the airport to catch her flight to London. “I could have taken her to the airport. I thought you wanted to do it.”

  “I did want to do it. It may be the last time we see her for a while. She’s off to new adventures and finding a life of her own.” She tried to steady her voice. “Just what we wanted for her. Look what happened when she came back from London to try to help me. She got shot and almost died. Now she’s well and going on with her life.”

  But Eve was having problems coming to terms with the fact that Jane’s life as an artist often took her far away from her, he thought. He had seen this coming. In Eve’s line of work as a forensic sculptor and his job as a police detective, sometimes the evil came close to home. Most recently Jane had been one of the targets. Those weeks with her daughter, while she had been recuperating, had been strained and yet poignantly sweet for Eve. Jane had come to them when she was ten years old and she had been more best friend than daughter to Eve. But that hadn’t changed the love that had bound them all these years. For Joe, the relationship had been different, the love was there, but it had built gradually, and he’d always known that Jane belonged to Eve. That was okay with him because he belonged to Eve, too. She was his center and Jane had always understood. But now that Jane was out on her own and becoming a successful artist, it was terribly hard for them to adjust to the fact that most of the time she was thousands of miles away.

  “It’s exactly what she should be doing,” Eve said. “What’s here for her? Hell, I’m a workaholic and always involved with a reconstruction. You’re a police detective who they tap to work cases that don’t give you normal hours either. It was just … difficult … to see her get on that plane.”

  “And you didn’t let her see one bit of that pain,” Joe said quietly. “You smiled and sent her on her way.”

  “That’s what every parent does. It always comes down to letting them go.”

  “And more difficult for you than for others. First, you had to let go of Bonnie when she was killed. Now Jane is moving out of our lives.”

  “Not out, just away.” She made a face. “And evidently I couldn’t let go of Bonnie because I insisted on keeping her with me, alive or dead. I was so stubborn that whoever is in charge of the hereafter let me have my little girl’s spirit to visit me now and then.”

  And that had been the most difficult challenge of all for Joe to accept. He was a detective, and logic dictated that ghosts were off his radar. But logic had nothing to do with his feelings for Eve. Not from the day that Quantico had sent him down to Atlanta to investigate the disappearance and probable murder of seven-year-old Bonnie Duncan. He had been a Special Agent with the FBI at the time and had not even wanted to visit Eve Duncan’s house or go over old material the ATLPD had already covered very efficiently. But he had gone anyway, and life had never been the same for him. He had only been in that house for a few hours with Eve Duncan before he realized that something extraordinary was happening to him.

  * * *

  “I’m not a fool. I grew up on the streets, and know all about the scum who are out there.” Eve looked wonderingly up at him. “But I have to hope. She’s my baby. I have to bring her home. How can I live if I don’t hope?”

  He felt as if he were breaking apart inside. He could feel her pain, and it was becoming his pain. “Then hope.” His voice was hoarse. “And I’ll hope with you. We’ll explore every way we can to find her safe and alive. There’s nothing I won’t do. Just stick with me and give me a little help.”

  She hesitated, gazing up at him.

  Believe me, he urged her silently. Put your hand in mine, trust me, let me guide you. Something strange is happening here, but it’s not anything bad. I won’t let it hurt you.

  She stood staring at him. She could feel it, sense what he couldn’t say, he realized. In her pain, she couldn’t define the nature of what she was sensing, but perhaps it would become clear to her later.

  As, God help him, it was becoming clear to him.

  * * *

  But it was years before Eve had healed enough to realize that they could become lovers instead of friends. During that time he had almost lost her. The depression had been too severe, the heartbreak of her loss a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake. But then something happened, she had begun to dream of Bonnie. Or at least that was what she had told him. She had thought she was hallucinating, thought that grief had made her mind fly to any solace possible. Before that, she had given up on life and wanted only to be with her Bonnie. She had only been stopped by the realization that the visits from Bonnie were not hallucinations.

  It had taken Joe a lot longer than Eve to accept the possibility, but he had finally done it. Bonnie had kept Eve alive when he was losing her. Screw reality. Accept whatever miracle had kept her here with him.

  Eve drew a deep breath and gave him a quick kiss. “Which makes me luckier than a lot of people. I refuse to feel sorry for myself. I have you. I sometimes have Bonnie. I’ll have Jane as she moves in and out of our lives.” She nodded at the FedEx box across the room. “And I have a chance to help the parents of that little girl find resolution.” She got to her feet and took a sip before she put the cup down on the coffee table. “So slap me if you see me go broody on you.” She headed for the kitchen. “How about lasagna for supper? There’s something about the smell of baking garlic bread that lifts the spirits and makes everything seem all right.”

  “Besides outrageously tempting the taste buds. Sounds good. Need help?”

  “Nah, you know my culinary expertise is nonexistent. I’ll do frozen.”

  “Eve.”

  She glanced over her shoulder.

  He had to make sure that was the only problem. He was frowning, and his gaze was narrowed. “It’s just Jane le
aving? You’ve been pretty quiet the last couple weeks. Nothing else is wrong?”

  He could see she was tempted to deny it and put him off but she couldn’t do it. They had been together for years, and their relationship was based not only on love but honesty. “Nothing that can’t be fixed.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m just going through some kind of emotional adjustment. I wanted everything to stay the same. I wanted to keep Jane close to me. Mine. Though I always knew she didn’t really belong to me. She was too independent and was ten going on thirty when we adopted her. And Bonnie was mine but then she was taken.” She smiled. “And that spirit Bonnie, who comes to visit me now and then, is very much her own self now. Beloved, but only flashes of being mine.” Her smile faded. “But I’ll take it. I just want to keep her with me, too. I don’t want anything to change.”

  “Why should that change?”

  “It shouldn’t change. That’s what I told Bonnie. Nothing has to change.”

  His brows rose. He had hoped the problem wouldn’t have anything to do with Bonnie. How the hell could he fix anything having to do with a spirit? “Ah, your Bonnie. She said something to disturb you? When?”

  “A couple weeks ago. She scared me. She said she didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep coming to me. She said everything was going to change.”

  “How? Why?”

  “She didn’t know. She just wanted to warn me.”

  “Very frustrating.” He chuckled. Keep it light and off-hand. “If your daughter has to pay you visits, I’d just as soon she not upset you like this.”

  “That’s what I told her.”

  He got to his feet and took her in his arms. “And so you should. Send her to me and I’ll reinforce it.” He kissed her. “Though I doubt if that’s going to happen. She only appeared to me a couple times just to make sure I knew that you weren’t hallucinating.” He looked directly into her eyes. “I know you need Bonnie. She’s the anchor that keeps you here with me. You were spiraling downward and almost died before you had your ghost visits from Bonnie. She brought you back, and I thank God for her.” He paused. “But if for some reason she stopped coming, I want you to know that we’ll make it all right.” He had to make her believe it. Their love was strong and yet he could still remember how fragile she had been during those first years together. There were times when he hadn’t been able to help her then, but he could now. There was nothing he wouldn’t do, no battle he wouldn’t fight. His voice was soft, urgent. “I have so much love for you, Eve. I’m full of it, you’re my center. You always have been and always will be. If your Bonnie drifts away from you, I’ll just pour more of that love toward you. I’ll find a way to stop you from hurting. I promise you.”