“I’m not torn up. Naturally, I’m surprised and—” She stopped as she saw the way he was looking at her. Joe knew her far too well, she thought ruefully. He had obviously seen right through her attempt to appear undisturbed. Why defend herself from him when he would be on her side no matter how she was feeling? “Things aren’t exactly as I thought they were. That doesn’t mean I can’t function while I become accustomed to all this.”
“I know that. As I said, I may need you as a backup. Give me a little time.” He went into the house.
She stood up from the swing as the door closed behind him. Joe, as usual, had taken charge and was formulating possible scenarios, making plans and going full steam ahead. Should she argue and take over the agenda? If it had been a mere issue of his trying to protect her, there would have been no question. But she could see no danger hovering, and he’d said he had a plan that might demand she not be connected to him. Joe was smart, and they had worked together for many years. She was not going to be stubborn if it meant destroying that plan. She could give him the time he said he needed. She could be patient … barely.
She went into the cottage and moved across the room to the reconstruction on her worktable. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so she might as well work. Her mind was full of the thought of Beth Avery, a woman of her blood, near her own age, and yet Eve had no idea what she looked like or what kind of experiences had made her what she was. So much had happened since she had stopped working on the skull when Sandra had arrived. Better to block it out than let those thoughts consume her. Janelle would help her do that, and in turn she would help this broken child.
“Hi, Janelle, it looks like we’re going to be able to work a little longer before we get interrupted,” she murmured as she reached for a marker. “Sandra called you ugly. It’s all those markers sticking out all over. She doesn’t understand that you’re not ugly at all. All children are beautiful. When we go into the final smoothing phase, you’ll be beautiful again.” She carefully placed the tissue-depth marker above one eye cavity. “And then we’ll find a way to bring you home…”
CHAPTER
4
“WHY DIDN’T YOU PICK UP?” Piltot snapped when Pierce answered. “I’ve been calling you for the last four hours.”
“I was busy.” Pierce pushed away from Stella and sat up in bed. “And I believe you should be a little more courteous, Piltot. You can be replaced.”
“No, I can’t. You wouldn’t like it if someone else was handling your patient records, would you? And I’m tired of your bullshit. You’re not leaving me to handle this mess alone.”
Piltot was genuinely upset, and that didn’t bode well, Pierce thought. Piltot was usually subservient and easily handled. “I didn’t mean that as a threat. I was joking. You’re right, we’re in this together.” He gave Stella a poisonous glance as she laughed. “Now, what’s the problem?”
“I received a call from a Detective Joe Quinn with the Atlanta Police Department asking questions about Beth Avery’s disappearance from the hospital. Atlanta? How the hell did they even know about her?”
Pierce muttered a curse as he swung his legs to the floor. “How do I know? What did he say?”
“That they’d received a report that an inmate had wandered off, and they were asked to follow up.”
“Report from whom?”
“Quinn said it was confidential. But he was damn persistent. I think we’ll hear from him again.”
“That’s not an emergency. Troublesome, but not a danger. I’ll take care of it in the morning.”
“The only way you’ll be able to take care of it is to find that damn woman and bring her back here. It’s been three days. Why haven’t the police been able to do it? It’s not as if it should be that difficult. I’ve seen her, and she’s almost a vegetable.”
“I said I’d take care of it.” He tried to keep the edge out of his voice. “Keep calm and let me know if you hear from him again.” He hung up, then dialed Drogan. “We’ve got a problem. How close are you to finding her?”
“She took a bus from Santa Barbara and got off in San Francisco.”
“Great,” Pierce said sarcastically. “Since San Francisco is such a tiny city, you should be able to locate her with no problem at all.”
“She took another bus from the same station south again. She’s doubling back for some reason.” He paused. “And where did she get the money for that bus? Could she have stolen it?”
“Maybe from one of the nurses. No one is careful around her. She’s harmless.”
“She’s not harmless. Find out where she got the money. If it wasn’t stolen, then someone had to have given it to her. If that’s the case, then we may be in luck if you can zero in on her source.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“I never count on anything. Just furnish me with a list of the people who had the opportunity to help her, and I’ll do the rest.”
“I’ll see about getting it for you. But you said you’d find her yourself, do it.” He added, “Keep in touch. I may have another job for you. Things are coming apart here at the hospital.”
“And you want me to fix it for you. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He hung up.
Son of a bitch.
“Trouble?” Stella was smiling maliciously. “You always seem to be having trouble with Drogan. You can’t handle him, can you? I’d like to meet him. I bet I could handle him.”
“I might send for him and let you try. I couldn’t lose either way.” He was thinking. “Tomorrow, drift around and see if any of the nurses have been missing any money from their purses or the petty-cash drawer in the desk. Be tactful.” He grimaced at the thought of “tactful” and “Stella” in the same description. “Or at least don’t throw up any red flags.”
She nodded. “Are you going to tell Nelda about the call from this cop?”
“Not if I can help it.” He was beginning to feel the same panic he had heard in Piltot’s voice. They had kept the story of Beth Avery’s escape very quiet, with absolutely no media coverage. How had the story leaked to a cop in Atlanta? Keep cool. He’d manage to do damage control. “Tomorrow I think I’ll pull one of the women patients out of the ward and put her in a solitary room. I’ll tell the police it’s Beth Avery, and she came back on her own.”
“And you’ll have me taking care of her and covering for you. Boring.”
“You’ll do what you’re told.” He frowned. “I’ll tell Nelda the same thing I’ll tell the police until I actually find Beth Avery. Though I may still have to break down and tell her that the situation isn’t contained. It may be necessary to have Nelda check into who filed that report in Atlanta. She has the political clout to do it.”
“But that would annoy her, and she’s already angry with you.” She lay back down on the bed and stretched lazily. “Maybe she’ll hire Drogan to take care of you, too. I think I envy her. I’ve often wondered how it would feel to be able just to lift a finger, and someone dies.”
“Well, you don’t have that power,” he said roughly as he came over her. “I’m the one who is in control.”
“And you want to show me right now,” she said. “Go ahead, I don’t mind. Screw me. Hurt me. But no matter how many times you do it, I’ll still know I’m the one who is really in control.” She smiled up at him. “Someday, you’ll realize that, Harry. If you live long enough…”
8:15 A.M.
Charleston, South Carolina
“PIERCE.” NELDA AVERY’S LIPS TIGHTENED as she hung up the phone. “He said they’ve found Beth, but the situation is too volatile to take any final action now. He was assuring me that he had everything under control.” She threw her napkin down on the breakfast table and stood up. “Fool. He’s probably lying to me. Does he think I don’t have my hand on the pulse of the situation out there?”
Her husband, George, looked up from his newspaper. “I’m sure that Pierce won’t make any more mistakes. He’ll be careful. He has too much to lose.
”
“Not as much as we do.” She gave her husband a contemptuous glance as she headed for the French doors. He was as much a fool as Pierce. Lazy and foolish and unable to function properly in a world where every step was watched and criticized. Why couldn’t she have married a man who had brains as well as money? “I’m going to the carriage house to see Rick. Remember that we have an appointment with the campaign publicity manager at ten.”
“I know.” He was reading his paper again. “You reminded me an hour ago.”
Because she had to be the one to keep all their ducks in a row. They were close, united in purpose, but she wouldn’t allow him to pull her down after all her hard work. “We need this campaign manager. He’s the best in the business. Be charming.”
“Tell that to Rick. That’s not my job.” He glanced up at her. “I’m the moneyman.”
There was a distinct coolness in his expression that made her hesitate. Had she pushed him too far? She forced a smile. “You can be charming. Why else would I have married you? And Rick may be totally charismatic, but you have a steadiness and sophistication that he’ll never possess.” She opened one French door. “If you don’t want to be involved in the campaign, I’ll take care of it. You’re such an asset that I wanted to show you off.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Nelda,” George said. “I’ve never felt good about this, but I just let you do what you wanted because I love my son. But it’s getting dirtier and dirtier, and I don’t like being in this deep.”
Because he was a coward and couldn’t see that you had to risk everything if you wanted to reach your goals. “You say you love Rick. We have to fight for him, don’t we? He can climb so high. That’s what we both want for him. How many parents can give the Oval Office to their sons? But we have to protect him.”
George wearily nodded his head. “Yes, I guess we do. I’ll meet with this campaign person.”
“I knew you would.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll do most of the talking. You’ll only have to deal with him on a minor level.” She left the room and headed for the carriage house.
Ken Spoder, Rick’s bodyguard, was lying in a lounge chair by the pool and smiled at Nelda as she approached. Muscular, tanned, and completely assured. “Good morning. You don’t look as if it’s a good day for you, Mrs. Avery. Maybe I can brighten it up for you. The town-hall meeting went great last night. Everyone loved Rick.”
“Everyone always loves Rick,” Nelda said. “That’s not one of his problems.” She paused. “How has he been, Ken?”
“Good. I told you that I could take care of it. I don’t let him make any missteps.”
Because she paid him a small fortune to make sure that he watched Rick like the proverbial hawk. “You’d better not. I wouldn’t like that. I haven’t come this far to have him brought down now.” She met his gaze. “I’m not pleased about a situation in California. I may need someone I can trust to take care of it.”
“Trust. You? I’m flattered. But I can’t watch Rick from California. Since his wife took off for Florida a few weeks ago, I’m the only one who can keep him … stable. And we both know that it would only take a few hours to blow everything.”
He was right. Rick was the most important part of the entire equation. She thought about it. “It might not take long, and I can control Rick if I’m with him. I’ll have to see if I think—”
“Mother, what are you doing here?” Rick strolled out of the carriage house. He was dressed in bathing trunks and looked fit and handsome, and his smile was as bright and warm as the sunlight. She felt a surge of love as strong as it was fierce as she gazed at him. He had been the center of her life since the minute he had been born. And George was quibbling about everything they had to do to realize the potential that Rick possessed? “I thought I wasn’t going to see you until dinner tonight.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You look wonderful. That suit has to be from Paris.”
“New York.” Nelda smiled. “We have to have everything made in the U.S.A. The time of Jackie Kennedy and her Camelot doesn’t resound in this climate.” She took his arm and drew him a few yards away from Ken Spoder. “I just wanted to tell you that everything is going well with poor Beth. She’s safely back at the hospital.”
Rick smiled with relief. “That’s good. I was worried.”
“But you let me take care of everything.” She added meaningfully, “And that’s why things turned out as they should. If you’d gone out there as you wanted, it would have ruined everything. After all, there was no reason. You haven’t even seen Beth since the accident.”
“You told me that she wouldn’t even know me.”
“That’s right, and it would have upset her.” She put her hand on his arm. “And she’s much worse now, Rick.”
“I know.” He shook his head. “Sad … she means so much to me, Mother. I didn’t get to see her very much when she was little but later I grew to know and love her. And I think she loved me, too.”
“And we’re going to take care of her just as we always have.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now go in for your swim. Ken tells me you were wonderful last night. You’re so good with handling people.”
“It’s fun. The speeches are almost the same every time, but most of the people who attend those rallies are pretty cool.” He was still not smiling. “I’ve been thinking about Beth a lot lately. I’m glad that she’s safe.”
“I know you are. But you have to forget about her now. We have too much to do.” She stepped back. “Bye, Rick. Have a good day.”
She was halfway back to the house when she heard a splash as he dove into the pool. A moment later, she heard him laugh and say something to Ken. Hopefully, she had stopped him from dwelling on the Beth problem. Thank God he was usually easy to distract. Though he had been very stubborn about Beth, and she hadn’t been able to budge him, dammit.
Beth had been a problem for years, and Nelda had always known she could be a threat to her plans for Rick.
She wouldn’t allow it.
If Pierce had bungled it, she would take care of eliminating that threat herself.
Seventeen Mile Drive
11:40 P.M.
IT WAS RAINING AGAIN.
She was wet to the bone, Beth realized as she ran down the beach toward the big house. It had been raining hard all day, and that wasn’t bad as far as she was concerned. This was California, where rain was probably not that common, and people tended to stay inside, not tempted to ask questions if they saw her on the road or beach.
She liked the rain on her face. It felt good. She had never been permitted to go outside when the weather was nasty or threatening. The doctors had to keep her well and free from germs or disease. Why? Why be so careful to keep her well, then try to kill her?
Don’t think. Just keep moving. She could puzzle everything out later.
Now she was climbing the dunes toward the house on the hill. All she had to do was reach the front door and enter the security code. Billy had given her the code, and there weren’t supposed to be any guards on the beach side of the property at this hour. She’d go inside and dry off and be safe for a little while.
But only for a little while. Billy had told her that she couldn’t trust anyone, that she had to figure out things for herself once he got her away from the hospital.
She felt a tingle of fear. Figure out things for herself? No one had let her think at all during these years. It was like a cripple learning to walk with no one standing beside her to hold her up if she fell.
But she wasn’t a cripple. She would not fall. Memories were coming back to her all the time about her life before the hospital. She had not been weak then, and she would not be weak now. Billy had told her she was to take this time to remember and find the answers he couldn’t give her.
“Hey, there! This is private property. You’re trespassing.”
A man in a security uniform was coming toward her! Dammit, Billy had told her there would be a guard, but she’
d forgotten.
She whirled and stumbled back down the dune toward the beach. Go away and hide and come back later.
She heard his shout behind her. “Wait. What are you doing here? I want to talk to you.”
He was skidding down the dune behind her.
No!
Run.
Keep on running.
He was cursing.
Was he gaining on her?
Run …
* * *
RUN.
The phone on Eve’s nightstand was ringing as she struggled out of the depths of sleep and the tentacles of the dream …
Joe. She had been expecting him to call all evening. “What’s happening, Joe?” She tried to control the harshness of her breathing. “I thought you were going to call me before I went to bed.”
“Sorry. I’ve been on the phone most of the afternoon and evening. I wanted to know more before I filled you in.” He paused. “You okay? You sound kind of blurry.”
Rain and sand and a security guard chasing her down the beach.
“I’m fine. You woke me. Why have you been on the phone?”
He was silent. “Because I don’t like what’s going on here. When I went to the local police station this morning, I was told that the case was closed. Beth Avery had wandered back to the hospital last night during a rainstorm and was now safe in the hands of Dr. Pierce and his staff.”
“Just what you said you hoped would happen. But it’s a curious coincidence. Beth wandered away and just wandered back?” She added dryly, “That’s a lot of ‘wandering.’”
“It could have happened. But I went to the hospital to check it out and see Beth Avery. I saw Piltot, the human resources manager, I saw Dr. Pierce, but I didn’t see Beth Avery.”