Joe thought about it and then slowly shook his head. "Not if you call me every day and keep me informed. I think you're wrong. Eve will be the target. But I'd never turn down any help to protect Jane, even yours."
"I'm touched by your confidence. I'll call you." Galen turned and headed for the front door.
Joe followed him and watched as Galen walked toward the Lexus. "Did you tell Eve?"
"Not that I was going to Atlanta. I didn't want her to worry when I didn't really have any solid reason to question your security arrangements." He opened the car door. "The car being delivered here isn't a rental car. I have a few contacts in New Orleans who managed to find a car to borrow."
"Borrow?"
Galen grinned. "It's not hot. I'll drive over to Mobile and drop this car off there. It may lay a false trail for Hebert if he manages to trace it." He started the car. "Nathan seems to be determined to keep Eve safe. He could prove helpful to you on a limited basis, but don't trust him too far. He wouldn't measure up to Hebert."
"I can make my own judgments, dammit."
Galen studied him. "You're uneasy about me leaving. I'd be flattered, but I know it's only because you're afraid Eve will prove difficult. You'll be relieved to know I got her to promise to cooperate with you." He smiled slyly. "That struck a sour note, didn't it? You don't like having anyone act as an intermediary between you and Eve. Well, you won't have to worry for a little while. You're on your own, Quinn." He lifted his hand in farewell as he pressed the accelerator.
Joe watched the Lexus rolling down the long driveway. He was glad to see Galen go and to know that he was now in sole control of the situation. And he couldn't deny he felt a little relieved that Galen would be one of the team looking out for Jane. A heavyweight like him on the job almost guaranteed her safety.
Now he had his own job to do. He straightened his shoulders as he turned back to the house and went inside.
-------------------
"You've turned Victor around on the pedestal," Nathan said. "Why?"
"I'm getting to the final stage and I don't want you to see me working on him."
"Why not?"
"You know Bently. Your expression might tell me something. If I see your approval or disapproval as I do the final sculpting, it might influence me. I might zig when I should zag and spoil the reconstruction."
"You're very careful."
"I have to be. Victor deserves it. They all deserve it."
"Bently deserves it. I'm not sure about the other skulls you work on. Some of them probably deserve to be tossed in the ground and forgotten about."
"But I don't know that."
"What would you do if this skull belonged to the man who killed your daughter?"
Eve stopped in mid-stroke. "I'd finish it." She finished the stroke. "And then when I was sure, I'd stomp on it, crush it, and then incinerate it. I might even hire a voodoo priest to put a curse on it." She glanced at Nathan. "Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Yes." Nathan smiled. "I didn't want to be insensitive, but I feel much better now. You were a little too noble for me."
"Noble? Nonsense. I didn't have much of a home life as a kid, and I guess home became something of an obsession to me. I believe everyone should have their own home, their own place, even in death. Maybe even more in death, if their life was tortured and troubled. If I bring them home, it validates their life, it shows the world they weren't disposable, that they had value." She glanced at Nathan. "Does that make sense to you?"
He nodded slowly. "Knowledge of your own value is important. We all have to realize what's important to us."
"What's important to you?"
"My kids, my job."
"How old are your children?"
"Henry, twelve, and Carolyn, seven. Great kids." He made a face. "I wish I were as great a father. I haven't seen them for over four months."
"Why not?"
"I'm divorced and she has custody. It was the fair thing to do. I'm freelance and I specialize in environmental stories, so I travel all over the state. I couldn't make a stable home for them. My ex-wife lets me see them when I can. She's a nice woman. She put up with my job for longer than she should have before she bailed." He made a face. "In a way, I'm like you. I'm kind of obsessive about my work. I wish I could have put her and the kids first. You know, journalists get a bad rap. But often we're the guards who keep the public safe from the bad guys."
"My experience hasn't been too positive, but I've known a few reporters I respect." Eve had a sudden thought. "And what I've just said is strictly off the record. I don't like hearing myself quoted by the press."
"You won't. You have my promise."
She believed him. "Thank you."
"Thank you for letting me come down and keep you company." He grimaced. "It's pretty obvious that all of you are pretty skeptical where the Cabal is concerned."
"Jennings seems to put some stock in it."
"But you don't."
"I think there's a possibility."
"It's more than a possibility; it exists. Etienne was telling me the truth. I know it in my gut. These days, every time I hear about another Bosnia or Sarajevo, I wonder if the Cabal decided it was politically to their advantage to use a war to move their agenda forward."
"Now that I have trouble believing. Starting wars is on a different scale from manipulating economic policies."
"Wars are economic tools. Look beyond the rhetoric and idealism, and you find the money pot. War scares me. The Cabal scares me." His lips tightened grimly. "And not knowing what's going to happen in Boca Raton scares me most of all. It must be something pretty nasty to shake Etienne enough to make him bring me into this."
He believed what he was saying, and he was making her believe it, too. And belief brought her the same uneasiness Nathan must be feeling. Jesus, she didn't need this disturbance. She instinctively pushed it away, her gaze fixed on the skull before her. "Maybe Etienne was telling the truth. Maybe the Cabal is everything he says it is. But dealing with them is the FBI's job. Mine is to reconstruct Victor. I know Hebert is out there killing people and that Melton is probably in it up to his neck. That's as much as I need to know right now."
"It must be comforting to be so focused." Nathan stood and arched his back. "God, I'm stiff. I must be getting old. Oh, well, it's time I took a look around the grounds and stretched my legs, anyway." He headed for the stairs. "I'll be back in thirty minutes with coffee." A moment later the door at the top of the stairs slammed behind him.
He was a strange and complicated man, she thought as she turned back to Victor. At first, she had been torn between exasperation and amusement at his interchanges with Galen, but since he had parked himself in her workroom, she had begun to like and respect him. He was smart and perceptive, and his rueful honesty was appealing.
"Nathan asked me to come down and stay with you." It was Joe at the top of the stairs. "No, he didn't ask, he ordered me to come. He didn't want you to be left alone."
Eve tensed and then forced herself to relax. "He's being overprotective. He seems to think I'm helpless. But I can take care of myself."
"I know. I taught you."
Yes, he had. He'd taught her self-defense in those first years after Bonnie had been killed. She had felt helpless and angry, and he had empowered her. She looked away from him at Victor. "Then you shouldn't have paid any attention to Nathan."
"Give me a break. I'm overprotective, too. You know that." He paused. "If you don't want me to come down there, I'll just stay here."
She didn't want him to stand there at the top of the steps. She didn't want him anywhere near her. She was acutely conscious of him whenever he was in the same room. All the comfort of their relationship had vanished. Well, she'd have to get used to it. She had promised Galen to cooperate because it had made sense. She wasn't a child who hid her head under the bedclothes.
"You might as well come on down." She kept her gaze fixed on Victor. "You'll be less distracting sitting by t
he fire than hovering up there like a gargoyle."
"Heaven forbid," he said as he came down the steps. "After that comparison, I guarantee I won't hover." He settled down in the chair. "I know the routine."
Yes, he had sat on the couch in the lake cottage for hundreds of hours, reading, doing paperwork, helping Jane with her homework while she worked on her reconstructions. He had rubbed her neck and shoulders when she was tired and stiff. He had forced her outside for walks when she had become so obsessed she wouldn't leave the cottage.
"Those times weren't so bad, were they?" Joe asked softly.
Dammit, he knew the memories that last sentence had brought to mind.
She didn't answer, and continued to work on Victor. How the devil could she close him out when he was only ten feet away and she was aware of every breath he took? He wouldn't be here long. Nathan would soon be coming in that door with coffee, and Joe would leave.
Just keep working.
-------------------
"Good to see you, Mr. Galen." The red-haired young man was at the gate when Galen's flight arrived from New Orleans. He shook Galen's hand. "David Hughes. Welcome to Atlanta. I've heard a lot about you. Bob Parks gave me a picture of you and asked me to meet you and extend all courtesies. Do you have any more luggage?"
Galen shook his head. "I'm traveling light. Have you put the kid under surveillance?"
"As soon as you called last night." Hughes walked down the corridor with him. "The police squad cars Quinn arranged for surveillance are on the job, and he has at least two plainclothes officers hovering over her. The cops and the FBI guys you called us about seem to be working together. My guys have had a few problems avoiding them."
"They're not there to check out the squad cars. Have you seen any sign of Jules Hebert?"
"Not yet. I made copies of the photo you sent us and distributed them. Maybe he's not here."
"And maybe he is. It's where I'd be if I wanted to flush out someone. You always try to hit them where they hurt the most. What's the kid's routine?"
"Her grandmother takes her to school every day and picks her up. The kid takes the dog for a walk in the morning, and they all go for a run in the park after school. The kid doesn't leave the condo after she gets back." He checked his wristwatch. "They should be in the park in about fifteen minutes. Do you want to go there?"
"Yes." He wanted to see the child and her grandmother and make sure he'd be able to recognize them. "Let's go."
"I'm surprised Quinn isn't with you."
"He has another priority." Massive understatement. Eve was clearly an obsession with Quinn. "And he thinks the kid is safe. He trusts his police buddies."
"But he knows you're here?"
Galen nodded. "He thinks I'm wasting my time." Maybe Quinn was right. Everything seemed to be fine on the surface, but he was uneasy and he'd always trusted his instincts. "Let's hurry, okay?"
Chapter Twelve
He was leaving, thank god.
Eve watched Joe walk up the staircase. She had always loved the way he moved. There was a sort of sensual grace, an alertness so different from the stillness of Joe at rest. Yet even that stillness was never passive. She could always sense the intelligence, the emotions that were going on behind that almost expressionless face.
"I didn't bring cream," Nathan said from across the room. "You take your coffee black, don't you?"
"What?" She quickly picked up the cup Nathan had put on the worktable beside her. "Yes, I take it black."
She heard the door at the head of the stairs close behind Joe.
"I thought I remembered right."
"It will be fine." Everything was fine. Joe was gone now. She could work.
She pulled her gaze back to Victor. Concentrate, dammit.
-------------------
"Go to bed," Eve ordered Nathan. "It's almost midnight, and you've been sitting there all day."
"When you go to bed, I'll go to bed. I haven't disturbed you, have I?"
"No, you've been very quiet." Eve took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "But it's nonsense for you to hover over me. I'm beginning to feel guilty every time I look over there at you."
Nathan smiled faintly. "You've been so absorbed, you haven't even known I was here for the last six hours. How's it going?"
"Okay." Eve's glance shifted back to Victor. "He's coming along."
"You're excited. Will you finish tonight?"
"I'd like to, but I'm too tired. I should stop." Her fingers longingly touched the cheek of the reconstruction. "But I'm so close, dammit."
"May I look at it now?"
"No, you couldn't recognize anything yet. It's the final stage that tells the tale." She wiped her hands on a towel. "But by the end of tomorrow, he'll be done."
"Good." Nathan's gaze was fixed on the back of the skull. "Why are those last hours so important?"
"It's the time when instinct takes over. Sometimes I feel as if the subject is guiding me, telling me." She made a face. "Weird, huh?"
Nathan shrugged. "I've heard crazier things. The whole process is a mystery to me. I don't understand how you do it."
Eve smiled. "First, you have to want to do it with your whole being. After that, it's a piece of cake."
"Yes, sure. That's why you work your ass off. Because it's so easy."
"No career is easy if you want to be the best. You're pretty driven yourself, or you wouldn't be going after that Pulitzer."
"It's the peak of a journalist's career. I've never wanted to be anything else but a reporter. Maybe someday I'll write a book or two. I'm a simple soul."
"Yeah, sure."
"You're the one who chose a career that's considered macabre at best."
"Everyone believed I should have had enough of death after Bonnie died. But you go where you're led." She cast a final glance at Victor before turning away. "And I'm being led to bed so that I can get up early tomorrow."
"What time?" Nathan got to his feet. "I want to be here for the great unveiling."
"Whenever I wake up. But he'll still take several more hours' work."
"I'll be down at six." Nathan moved toward the staircase. He paused at the top of the stairs to gaze back at Victor. "Are you sure I wouldn't recognize him now?"
"I'm sure." Eve followed him up the stairs. "Now forget about him and get some sleep."
"Have you heard from Galen?"
Eve shook her head. "But it's only been two days. He'll let us know if he finds out anything." She flipped the wall switch that controlled the lights in the scullery. "And we'll call him tomorrow if I finish Victor."
She took one last look at the dim shape of the skull on the worktable below.
We're nearly there, Victor. You're almost home.
Boca Raton, Florida
October 23
"It's a waste of time, sir," Jennings told Rusk. "I've checked in with the agents in our Miami office, and there's not even a hint of anything happening down here except drugs, confidence schemes, and money laundering. I might as well come back."
"If you're sure." Rusk's voice was disappointed. "I was hoping you'd get lucky." He hung up the phone.
It would have taken more than luck, Jennings thought. He leaned back in his chair and gazed out the hotel window at the gray-blue Atlantic. Everything on the surface in this city was all small-time. Maybe below the surface, too. There was nothing like the ugliness of that anthrax scare.
As he had told Rusk, it had been a waste of time. He hadn't accomplished anything here; he should go back and try another path.
Yet why did he have this nagging sense that he had missed something?
What the hell? One more try.
He flipped open his portfolio to the notes on Bently and the Cabal that Joe Quinn had given him that first night he had called him. Beside it, he placed the notes he'd made since he'd arrived in Boca Raton.
It was fifteen minutes later that he suddenly stiffened in his chair.
Holy shit.
---
----------------
The little girl looked a little like Eve Duncan, Galen thought as he watched her running through the park after the pup. Strange. He knew the two were not related, but that red-brown hair was almost the same shade. She didn't have Eve's wariness, though. This was Galen's second afternoon of watching her, and she was blissfully unaware of anything but that dog.
"She reminds me a little of my daughter. My Cindy's that age." Hughes sat down beside Galen on the bench. "Cute kid."
"Yes." Galen watched Jane pick up a stick and toss it for Toby. "No sign at all of Hebert?"
"No. Maybe you're barking up the wrong tree." He suddenly chuckled. "Like that dog of hers. He doesn't seem to know that you have to concentrate on one tree and not the whole park when you're on the hunt."
"Maybe I am wrong." But Galen didn't think so. "No one hanging around the condo?"
"Nope. We checked out all the vehicles and questioned a few people who seemed to be loitering. Everyone on the street belongs there." He grinned. "Here she comes, running after the pup again. Better open your newspaper."
Jane was careening toward them after Toby. Galen lifted his copy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution in front of his face.
"Who are you?"
He lowered the paper to see that Jane had stopped, and was standing in front of them.
"I beg your pardon."
"What's happening?" The child was staring him belligerently in the eye. "Why are you watching me?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Don't lie to me. You've been here for two days. Are you a plainclothes detective like Joe? If you are, I want to see your ID."
"No, I'm not a detective like Quinn. And you shouldn't confront strangers in the park."
"The squad car will be driving by any minute, and a plainclothes detective is trailing behind Grandma. I'm not supposed to know about them, either." Her lips tightened. "I'm not supposed to know about anything. What's your name and why are you here?"
And he'd thought this kid was lacking Eve's wariness, Galen thought ruefully. "My name is Sean Galen. This is David Hughes. We're here to make sure you're safe."
"You're Logan's friend. I've heard about you. You're supposed to be with Eve now." She glanced at Hughes. "But I don't know anything about him. Send him away."