Bonnie.
The ugliness of the picture Jelak had drawn was beyond belief. A child being fed on by that monster.
Her baby.
Oh, God, the tears were running down her cheeks.
It was a lie. He’d only wanted to hurt her. It had to be a lie.
“Eve?” Caleb was standing in the doorway. “You didn’t answer my knock. I saw the squad car was still here, and I was worried that you—What the hell is wrong?” He was across the room in four strides. “You look sick.”
“I feel sick.” She wiped her damp cheeks with the back of her hands. “Jelak.”
“What about him?” He took his handkerchief and gently wiped her eyes. “Other than that the bastard might have killed two other people. Though that’s enough.”
“There’s no might about it. He killed the gas-station attendant. He killed Nicole Spelling.” She drew a shaky breath. “Though she was useless to him. Like a child.” Her voice broke. “Like Bonnie.”
He stiffened. “You’ve seen him? Talked to him?”
“He called me.” Lord, she had to pull herself together. “He wanted to hurt me.”
“I should have expected it.” He took her hand and led her toward the couch. “Sit down. I’ll get you a glass of water.”
She wasn’t about to argue. She dropped down on the couch. “Why should you have expected it?”
“He would be furious at Joe Quinn for what happened. He’d want to strike out and hurt him. He knows he can hurt him by hurting you.” He handed her a glass of water. “And it appears he succeeded.”
“Bonnie.” She took a swallow of water. “He told me she was one of the—” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t even think it. “It wasn’t true. I knew when he was saying it that it was flimsy—but he—it could be true. I don’t know.”
“And that’s what he’s counting on.” He knelt in front of her and was carefully wiping her face with a cool, wet cloth. “You don’t know. What you don’t know can twist and cut and hurt you.”
“You don’t have to do this.” She reached up and took the cloth from him. “You’re being very kind, but I’m okay now. I’m sorry I was being so childish.”
“I’m not.” He sat back on his heels. “I’m sorry he hurt you before I managed to kill the bastard.” His eyes met her own. “And in the most painful way possible. You’re trying to block it out, but it will come back when you least expect it. When you’re working, before you go to sleep . . . I don’t think we should let him have that victory. Do you?”
She tried to smile. “No, I won’t let him do that to me. It will take a little while, but I’ll—”
“I don’t want it to take a little while. It would worry me. I don’t like to be worried.” He took both her hands. “Listen, Eve, it didn’t happen. Jelak never knew your Bonnie. He never touched her. You know that. In your heart, you’re absolutely certain.”
As she met his eyes, she felt a tremendous surge of relief. Of course she knew that. She just hadn’t been able to see beyond that load of agony that had been heaped upon her. It was so clear now. “He never touched her.”
“And if he ever tells you that again, you’ll realize immediately that it’s a lie.” He smiled. “He can’t hurt you. Not with Bonnie.”
She nodded, then suddenly stiffened. “Are you doing something that—I’m not Patty’s grandfather.”
“Not in the least. I’m not changing anything about the way you think or even your perception. I just did a little reinforcement. When you’re raw, you need a little bandage to make you stop thinking about the wound.”
And she was still aware of that hurtful wound, but it was anger, not agony that she was feeling. Anger at Jelak. “You’re a dangerous man, Caleb.”
“Not to you.” He got to his feet. “Well, yes, I should probably qualify that. Not intentionally. I’ll make us a pot of coffee. Where’s Jane?”
“With Patty again. I’m not much company when I’m finishing up a reconstruction.” She got to her feet and went over to the skull. “Don’t tell her or Joe about the call. If he wanted to hurt Joe through me, I’m not going to let him do it. Why are you here, Caleb?”
“I wanted to check to make sure you were okay. I’ve been uneasy since Quinn shot Jelak. It opened a whole new spectrum of problems.”
“Jelak’s still after basically the same thing.”
“But just the fact that he called you indicates that his mindset has changed. He was being moderately cautious before. That’s gone.”
“But if he’s careless, that may be good for us.”
“He won’t be careless. He’s smart, he’s been trained by an expert, and he’s had years of experience. Bold doesn’t mean careless.”
“He was enraged at Joe.” She shivered. “Ugly rage.”
“Quinn is standing in his way.”
“The way to me.”
He nodded. “His whole focus for years has been on this final ritual. Now he’s not sure if he might have to delay it if the blood he lost was important to his resurrection.”
“How would he know?”
“He might suspect by the way he feels. No way to be sure until after he takes you.” He smiled without mirth. “Then if he doesn’t become a god, he’ll know he has to keep on with the rituals until he feels the power.”
“Which means that he could be killing indefinitely. Particularly if his definition of power is the ability to become invisible.”
He nodded. “But he’ll go first for a known power source.”
She knew where he was going and it terrified her. “Jane.”
He held out the coffee cup to her. “She’s definitely a powerful woman. She’d be on his list. Either before or after. You knew that.”
Yes, she had known, but the thought still frightened her. Caleb wanted her to be frightened, she realized suddenly. “My Lord, you’re devious. First, you set me up by making me feel better about Bonnie, then you make me afraid for Jane. You’re trying to manipulate me.”
He nodded. “But I really didn’t mean to bring Bonnie into the mix. That was an impulse Jelak triggered. But I did come out here to prepare the way.”
“For what?”
“In the end it’s going to come down to you, Eve. You’re the prize that Jelak’s got to have. Quinn will let it go on forever if it means putting you or Jane in danger. I knew that the minute I saw Quinn with you.”
“But not you, Caleb,” she said. “You don’t care if either one of us is at risk.”
“I care.”
“That’s hard to believe.” She remembered something else. “You came here to ‘prepare the way’ with me. But you’d already done it with Jane, hadn’t you? I wondered why I felt as if the two of you had a kind of bond.”
“Very perceptive. You might say that was true.” He smiled. “We did share an experience.”
“You were covering all your bases.”
“That’s what a hunter does,” he said simply. “And I could have behaved much more dishonorably than I did.”
“So what happens now?”
“Nothing. Both of you know what you should do to save lives. You know that I’m ready to help you.” He set his cup down on the counter. “And it may all be for nothing. Quinn may be able to bring Jelak to his knees without me involving you as bait. It would be a wonderful and welcome solution.”
“You won’t be involving me or Jane,” Eve said. “We won’t allow you to manipulate us, Caleb. You may have set us up, but that’s as far as it goes. Any action we take will be our decision.”
“I didn’t expect anything else.” He turned and moved toward the door. “But you have my number, and you know I’m here for you when the time is right.”
“You’re very sure, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” His smile disappeared, and she could see an element of regret in his expression. “I’ve been a hunter for a long time. I can see the pattern.”
Eve stood there for a moment after he had walked out the door. It was exa
sperating that she couldn’t dislike him. She wished she could attribute it to that strange persuasive ability Caleb seemed to possess, but she believed him when he had told her that he could have been more dishonorable. He was probably being as ethical as he could be considering he was such a ruthless bastard.
And what a hell of a dichotomy that was.
But she’d have no trouble at all disliking him if he did anything but tread delicately in his attempt to manipulate Jane. She’d go after him with guns blazing.
“I’M ON MY WAY TO DAHLONEGA,” Joe said when he called Eve. “They’ve found Nicole Spelling.”
“Dead?” Eve asked.
“Yes. She was found in the examining room in a doctor’s office there. Dr. Baker was killed too. Jelak probably forced him to treat him, then murdered him. Nicole was clearly a ritual murder.”
“Sixteen. So young . . .”
“Yes. Just a kid.”
“It just goes on and on. When are we going to be able to end it?”
Joe didn’t answer. “I’ll call you from Dahlonega and let you know what’s happening there.” He hung up.
She had been expecting that Joe would tell her Nicole was dead from the time she’d gotten the call from Jelak. It didn’t make the news any less shocking.
When would they be able to end it?
Joe hadn’t answered her. How could he? Jelak seemed to be able to go on forever. He thought he was some kind of Monster Superman, and the way he was running roughshod over the world she could almost believe it.
“Bad news?” Jane had just come in the front door.
Eve nodded. “Nicole Spelling. Her body was found in Dahlonega at a doctor’s office. Joe’s on his way there now.”
Jane shook her head. “Ever since I heard about her disappearance, I’ve been hoping . . .”
“Me too,” Eve said. “Hoping doesn’t seem to do any good.” She turned to face her. “But that’s all we have unless we try to do something about it.”
“No,” Jane said sharply. “I can see where this is going.” Her eyes narrowed on Eve’s face. “Caleb’s been talking to you.”
“Yes.”
“Dammit, he should have left you alone.”
“But he didn’t. Just like he didn’t leave you alone. Did he?”
“No. I would have told you, but I didn’t want—”
“You didn’t want to involve me, you wanted to protect me. For heaven’s sake, Jane, we’ve always worked through things together. You let Caleb convince you to close me out.”
“It was your life,” Jane said. “Caleb couldn’t have convinced me of anything if I hadn’t been scared shitless.” She shrugged. “And he didn’t make me commit to anything. It was just a sort of oblique suggestion.”
“That you allow yourself to be used as bait.” She added, “Yes, ‘oblique’ is the word.”
Jane’s gaze flew to her face. “That son of a bitch. You?”
“Divide and conquer,” Eve said dryly.
“I’ll cut off his balls,” Jane said.
“He’s obsessed. He wanted bait. He didn’t care which one of us he had to use.”
“Well, I care,” Jane said. “You’re out of it, Eve.”
“You’ve already decided that you’re going to let Caleb use you.” She shook her head. “What on earth did he do to you? He said that you’d ‘experienced’ something together.”
“It has nothing to do with that,” Jane said. “If I thought it had, I’d really be after his balls.”
“He’s very persuasive.” She added quietly, “No, Jane.” She held up her hand as Jane opened her lips to protest. “I won’t let it happen. I know how you feel.” Her lips thinned. “But I won’t let him push either one of us into something until we decide it’s right. Though God knows that news about Nicole Spelling is a pretty big push on its own.”
Jane nodded soberly. “Jelak just keeps coming.”
Should she tell Jane about the call from Jelak? At first, she had wanted to protect her from that ugliness, but she couldn’t keep silent after reprimanding Jane for not confiding. They had to face everything together as they had since Jane had come into their lives.
“And he’s coming nearer to us all the time.” She paused. “He called me today.” She held up her hand to stop Jane’s flow of questions. “Sit down. I’ll tell you all about it. Everything has got to be out in the open. Even a few things I was waiting for Joe to tell you.”
NICOLE SPELLING WAS STRETCHED out naked on an exam table in the cold, sterile room. Her hands were crossed on her breasts. There was no goblet in her hand.
Schindler shook his head. “God, I was hoping we weren’t going to have to tell her folks that son of a bitch had done this to their kid.”
Joe nodded. “I know.” He had known that this job was going to be rough. He had dreaded it all the long drive to Dahlonega. And it appeared that the case was still squarely in their laps. He had talked to the local sheriff, and they were more than eager to turn over jurisdiction of the case. It was too ugly for this quiet town. “The authorities here are going to send Dr. Baker to their own county morgue. They want to keep him here. He’s served this town for nearly forty years. But after forensics gets through here, we’ll have Nicole Spelling taken to the morgue in Atlanta.” His lips twisted. “And then we get to talk to her parents and get a final ID. I guess we should feel lucky that the doctor was alone in the office when Jelak made his visit. We only have two bodies to deal with.” It was hard to feel lucky after seeing that kid lying on the table and white-haired Dr. Baker crumpled on the floor of his office.
He started for the door that led to the waiting room. “I’ll make some calls to the precinct while I’m waiting for forensics to finish. You don’t have to stick around. I’ll take the kid home.”
Take her home. The phrasing had been unconscious. Eve’s phrase. Perhaps it was because Nicole was so young that he identified her with Eve’s lost children. “And I’ll talk to her parents.”
“Thanks, Joe.” Schindler headed for the door. “I’m not about to refuse. This one is tough.”
And so was Schindler, but there was always a case that hit too close to the heart. He was probably identifying Nicole with his twelve-year-old daughter, Cindy. “Yeah. But you’re not off scot-free. I’ll let you do the paperwork.”
“No problem.” Schindler was already heading for the parking lot.
Joe dropped down in a waiting-room chair and wearily stretched his legs out before him.
No goblet. Nicole hadn’t been found worthy. Son of a bitch.
For some reason that omission was pissing Joe off. He almost wished that Nicole would pop out of that exam room so that he could tell her that she was worthy, and loved, and all the other good things to which a young girl had a right.
How long he’d come in such a short time. Now he was wishing for a ghostly visit? No, but it wouldn’t blow him away if it happened.
Evidently it wasn’t going to happen. Maybe Nicole was happy to move on. Good for you, kid. Maybe you could have a few words with my friend Nancy Jo.
And in return she could tell you that you shouldn’t pay any attention to that murdering bastard.
You’re damn worthy.
NICOLE SPELLING WAS PROVING worthy after all, Jelak thought as he watched the medical examiner’s van drive away from the doctor’s office. Not in the most splendid sense but still very useful.
It was what he had planned, but plans often went awry.
Not this time.
He watched Joe Quinn get in his car and drive out of the parking lot. He’d accompany Nicole to the morgue as if she were someone of importance instead of a mere trifle.
Go on, Quinn. Do your duty. Be her honor guard.
I’ll be right behind you.
NO USE HURRYING, JOE THOUGHT. He’d let the M.E. van get to the morgue and the techs ready Nicole Spelling for the final visit from her parents.
Neither Joe nor Nicole’s parents would be eager for that final confirm
ation.
He took his foot off the accelerator and braked to slow down.
Nothing happened.
He pressed the brake again.
Nothing.
Shit.
No brakes?
Joe stomped on the brake again.
Nothing. Completely gone.
Okay. No reason to panic. He wasn’t driving through the hills any longer. It was pitch-dark out here in the country, but he could barely make out dirt on the far side of the road. No deep gullies or ditches. He’d wait until he came to a level stretch, then drive off the road into the dirt that bordered it.
There. Up ahead.
He eased the car off the road and bumped along the rough dirt, gradually slowing. Then he swerved and came to a stop.
He sat there for a moment, getting his breath. The situation might not have been life-threatening, but it hadn’t been pleasant.
And it shouldn’t have happened.
There had been no problem on the drive up here. He kept the cars in great shape, and there should have been no—
“Need a lift?”
He tensed. His gaze shifted to the man walking toward him in the darkness. He could see only a dark silhouette framed against the headlights of the car parked several yards away.
“I’d say you might.” Ed Norris smiled as he got close enough for Joe to identify. “Judging by that vehicular swan dive I saw you pull. It looked like your brakes are shot. You should really have them examined regularly. I could give you the name of my mechanic.”
Joe got out of the car. “Should I ask what you’re doing here, Norris?”
“I told you that I’d be the only one tailing you from now on. When I heard about Nicole Spelling, I naturally decided I had to see what was happening.”
“And you didn’t by any chance tamper with my brakes?”
Norris’s smile vanished. “Hell, no. Why would I do that?”
“I don’t think you did. It’s not your style.” His gaze searched the darkness behind Norris. “So it might be a good idea for us to get in your car and get the hell out—”
A motion behind Norris in the darkness, black on black.