Текст книги "Hunting Eve"

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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“Kendra Michaels?” Eve said. “What’s Kendra got to do with Blick?”

“Your friend, Kendra, is interfering in my plans. She’s searching for you, but she’s getting in my way,” Doane said grimly. “Another sign that your Quinn and Venable may be getting a little too close.” He nudged her again with the rifle. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Lisbon, Colorado

“HEY.” KENDRA LEANED in the passenger-side window and shook Margaret awake. “Ready to join the living?”

Margaret opened one eye, then the other. “It’s light out.”

“Excellent observation. And to think I was having doubts about bringing you with me.” Kendra pushed a tall drink cup through the window.

“What’s this?”

“I got you a green tea. No one who sleeps as soundly as you could possibly be a coffee drinker.”

Margaret smiled and took the cup. “It doesn’t make any difference. I lived next to a rock quarry for a while, and dynamite charges couldn’t wake me.” She glanced around at the old-growth trees and mountains in every direction. “Where are we?”

“Lisbon, Colorado. That’s the Continental Divide you’re looking at.”

Margaret nodded and gazed at the scenery a moment longer before looking at her phone. “It’s seven A.M.?”

“Yes. We got here a couple of hours ago. I thought this valley would be a good place to watch the sunrise, but I slept right through it.” She nodded toward a small white shack situated next to the lot where they were parked. “The coffee place just opened.”

“You’re not mentioning the journal. When we changed seats a few hours ago, I was too tired to ask you any questions. Did you find anything interesting?”

“Only a sadist would find Kevin’s journal interesting,” Kendra said soberly. “He was terrible. But there were a few things in it that sort of puzzled me. I’ll have to read it more closely.”

“By all means.” Margaret climbed out of the car and stretched. “Beautiful place, Kendra, but I have to ask—why here?”

“We found traces of gold in the trunk of Doane’s car. It wasn’t processed, at least not the way gold is now. This area was big during the gold-rush days, and some people still pan for gold around here.”

“Really?”

Kendra nodded toward a man, a woman, and three children climbing from an SUV. “Mostly tourists. There’s a gold-panning operation on the other side of that hill. There might be someone over there we can talk to.”

They followed the family up the path running alongside the parking lot, over a small hill, and found themselves looking down on a gentle stream babbling over rocks and a large tree that had fallen into the water. Two tents were set up next to the stream, staffed with young men and women renting out waders and pans. Two dozen or so people, mostly families, stood in the stream awkwardly moving their pans back and forth.

“Cool.” Margaret smiled. “But nobody here really looks like they know what they’re doing.”

“He does.” Kendra pointed to a bearded man, about seventy, who wore a bright orange vest adorned with the same company logo as on the equipment-rental tents. He was moving from party to party, demonstrating the proper technique for gold panning. “We’ll talk to him.”

They moved down a series of stepping-stones in the water and walked alongside the stream.

The bearded man looked at them and pointed back to the tents. “You rent your waders and pans over there, ladies. You might just strike it rich!”

Kendra smiled. “Do you own this operation?”

“Yes, ma’am, Martin Salle, at your service. I have over forty years’ experience working this area.”

Margaret’s eyes widened. “Forty years? In all that time, I’m surprised you didn’t strike it rich.”

There was nothing critical or catty in her tone, but her remark still caused Salle to look at them suspiciously. “Do you want to rent a pan or not?”

“We’re more interested in information,” Kendra said.

Salle raised his hand to shield the sun from his eyes. “What kind of information?”

Kendra pulled out her phone and showed him a photo of Doane on the screen. “Do you know this man?”

He studied it. “Afraid not. Should I?”

“Not necessarily. We think he may pan for gold in this area.”

“Huh.” Salle lowered his voice. “Did he run out on one of you?”

“No, nothing like that.” Kendra paused. “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

“Oh, I’m sure. It’s just that…” He stepped closer to them. “Look, the only people panning around here are doing it for fun, for a hobby. Like fishing. No one really thinks they’re going to score. It’s like buying a lotto ticket. They do it because it relaxes them. I know most of them, and this guy isn’t one of them.”

“Are there others who do what you do?” Margaret asked. “For tourists, I mean.”

“Sure. There are four or five companies that operate more or less regularly. And half a dozen other people who lead private gold-panning tours. But again, that guy isn’t one of ’em.” Salle looked downstream over his shoulder. “Sorry, but I gotta get back to my group. You might want to ask around at the visitors’ center if you haven’t already.”

“Where is that?”

He pointed to another hill behind him. “Over there. There are bathrooms, a little museum, and a gift shop all in one building. I seriously doubt he pans around here, but if he does, maybe someone there knows him.”

Salle turned his attention back to his group, leaving Kendra and Margaret to step across the stream’s most shallow section and make their way up the hill.

“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Margaret asked.

“About not knowing Doane? I’m pretty sure. If he had, there probably would have been at least a flash of recognition when I showed him the photo. There wasn’t one. I was looking for it.”

Margaret smiled. “You have a lot in common with animals.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“No, just an observation. Animals are very perceptive about people. They don’t understand our spoken language. So they depend on everything else to make judgments about us. Our tone of voice, body language, the way we smell … Kind of how you absorb everything to form a complete picture. It’s interesting.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. That’s why many animals are such good judges of character. People rely almost entirely on their words to deceive. If you’re not focusing on just that, you have a much better idea about the kind of person you’re dealing with. Of course, you take it to an entirely different level.”

“You mean you’re giving me more credit than you would a poodle?”

“Sure, dogs are terrible judges of character. They like almost everyone they meet. It’s probably from being away from the wild for centuries.”

“I don’t have to talk to them to realize that.”

“Of course you don’t. Unlike people, animals don’t try to hide their feelings. I think that’s one reason I’ve always felt so comfortable with them.”

Kendra studied Margaret as they proceeded up the path. She was obviously accustomed to the skepticism that greeted her, and she didn’t seem at all concerned with convincing others of her abilities. It was yet another factor that made Margaret and her eccentricities easier to accept, Kendra realized. What you saw was what you got, and she didn’t really care what you did with it. “And you don’t trust what your fellow human beings are telling you?”

“Some of them. But I instinctively want to believe people are good, and that gets in the way of my judgment.” She shrugged. “But I couldn’t live any other way, so I just have to try to be careful.”

“You appear to know yourself very well.”

“You think so? It’s kind of hard when we all change with almost every experience.” She slanted her a look. “You’re an experience that will most likely change me, Kendra. It probably has already. I wonder what—” She broke off as they came over the hill. “Is that what they call a visiting center? Tiny, very tiny.”

“Well, it appears to only serve this particular tourist area.”

It took them another couple minutes to reach the visitors’ center, which turned out to be a small one-room building staffed only by an elderly woman passing out maps and pamphlets. The “museum” consisted mainly of framed black-and-white photos taken during the gold-rush era, interspersed with a few scant displays of vintage mining tools and clothing.

Kendra pulled out her phone and once again accessed Doane’s photo. “I have a feeling we’re wasting our time here. As soon as the lady is through talking to those people, I’ll see if she recognizes Doane. I guess then we can get on the road and try to find—” She froze, her gaze caught, held by something that she’d seen out of the corner of her eye. She whirled to face the wall.

Could it be?

“Kendra?” Margaret’s glance shifted between Kendra and the sepia-toned photograph that had grabbed her attention. “What is it?”

“That picture over there.” The photograph showed a clunky mechanical contraption, perhaps four feet tall, resting on four iron legs. A long handle jutted from the top, perpendicular to the rest of the device.

“It looks like some peculiar robotic animal,” Margaret said. “What about it?”

“Trust you to see an animal in a machine,” Kendra said absently as she stepped closer to the framed photograph. “This is incredible.”

“What’s incredible?”

“This … thing. Whatever it is.”

“The little sign says it’s a nineteenth-century coin press. What’s so amazing about it?”

“Doane had one of these in his car recently.”

“How do you know?”

“I saw fresh marks in his car after it was brought up from the lake.”

Margaret shook her head. “I don’t see how one of these things could even fit.”

“It could fit. I know it.” Kendra could understand why Margaret was doubtful. She should be questioning herself. She had to figure out why she was so certain that this was the answer. Yet the minute she had caught sight of that press, something had clicked. She had visualized that machine in the trunk. From the time she had seen those indentations in the trunk at the lake, it had been there in the back of her mind. She had been working at it, trying to puzzle it out. “Okay, I see what you mean. It does seem a little too large. Let me think about it.”

Kendra concentrated, studying the contours of the press for a moment longer. Then she began replaying in her mind’s eye each scratch, dent, and impression she had observed in Doane’s car.

How had he done it …

Then it all came together. “It was disassembled and moved in three trips. The iron legs extended from the trunk all the way through the backseat. Trip one. The bottom half of the body went in the trunk for trip two. The top half of the body went into the trunk for trip three, and the handle might still have been attached to it and poked through to the backseat.”

Margaret stared at her in amazement. “You’re sure of the order?”

“I’m positive. Given the way the marks intersected with each other, it’s the only way it could have happened.” Kendra raised her phone. “I have photos of the trunk right here. Do you want me to show you?”

“No, thanks.” Margaret smiled at Kendra’s burst of intensity and excitement. “I’m not sure I’d see the same thing that you do.”

“Of course you would. Once I explained it to you. It’s very clear.”

“If I marched to your drummer, maybe.” She chuckled. “But I don’t have to see what you see to believe you. I march to kind of a different drummer myself.”

“I noticed that.” And it was enough that Margaret believed that Kendra’s deductions were valid. That faith was more than Kendra had offered Margaret.

Kendra turned to the elderly woman who had just finished her conversation with the center’s only other occupants. “Excuse me. May I ask you something?”

The woman walked over to her. “Yes, honey?”

Kendra pointed to the photograph. “This device was used to make coins?”

“Yes. Most gold-rush towns had their own coin factories. Sometimes more than one. Prospectors would bring their gold to be weighed and get gold coins in return.”

“So it was kind of like a mint,” Margaret said.

“That’s exactly what it was. Back then, not all money was made by the government. Private companies could manufacture it themselves. Believe it or not, the Denver mint began as a private coin factory.” She pointed to the photograph. “That’s where this picture was taken. This press is still there.”

“Are there others around?”

“Oh, sure. Museums have them, some belong to private collectors.”

“Any in this area?”

The woman thought for a moment. “Hmm. I don’t know of any offhand.” She glanced at a family that had just entered the center. “You’ll have to excuse me now.”

Kendra gave one last look at the photo of the coin press, raised her phone and snapped a picture of it, then jerked her head toward the door. “Let’s go, Margaret.”

Margaret was frowning as they left the center. “Okay, I accept that Doane had a coin press in his trunk. Why? And where did he get it when he was under surveillance?”

“Pretty faulty surveillance, or he would never have been permitted to leave Goldfork. As to why, that’s what we’ve got to find out. He was either transporting it from one place to another or perhaps disposing of it. Either way it’s a damn odd object to be moving when he was focused on going after Eve.” Kendra was taking her phone out of her pocket. “I think we may need a little help.” She was quickly dialing a number.

“Who are you calling?” Margaret asked.

“Hello, Venable.” Kendra spoke into the phone. “Miss me? Didn’t I tell you I’d keep in touch?”

“I don’t miss you as much as that dead police officer’s buddies. You might find yourself on the receiving end of a statewide APB if you don’t talk to them soon.”

“Don’t you think I’d do that if I could? I just don’t have time.”

“Somehow I thought that might be your answer,” he said dryly. “So what’s keeping you so busy?”

“I need information. Quinn says you’re good at marshaling resources among all the government agencies and coming up with the right answer. Is that right?”

“Of course,” he said sarcastically. “Why else does the CIA exist but to provide you with what you need?”

“I’m transmitting you a picture I just snapped of an antique coin press. It was used to make gold coins during gold-rush days. I’m positive Doane had one of these, or a similar model, in his car recently.”

Now she had Venable’s full attention. “‘Positive’ is a strong word.”

“As positive as I can be without actually seeing the machine in the trunk. Pass this photo along to the forensic team going over Doane’s car in Atlanta right now. They’ll back me up if they compare it to the impressions and scratches on the trunk and backseat. This thing was disassembled into three major parts and moved. That’s why there was gold dust on the scene. It had probably been caught in the press’s inner workings for over a century.”

“Okay, good. I’ll see what we can find out about it. I’m not sure what it will do for us, though.”

“I’m not sure either, but we’re not exactly swimming in leads. I’m excited that we managed to find this one.”

“I’m a little excited myself.” He paused. “So are you coming in? We have a lot to talk about.”

Kendra eyed the tattered journal protruding from the oversized pocket of Margaret’s jacket. “Not quite yet.”

“Why not?” His voice held a trace of urgency. Or was she just imagining it?

“The amount of gold dust we saw in Doane’s car leads me to think maybe the press had never been moved before. It may have come from an old bank or mint around here. While your people are researching this, we’ll do some looking around ourselves.”

“Kendra, I’m really not sure that’s the best—”

“Will you call Jane and tell her what Margaret and I found out? How is she doing?”

“Very well. The doctors gave her a pass out of the hospital, and I imagine you might see her before I do.”

“That’s great. But a surprise. She was pretty sick.”

“They wouldn’t have released her if she wasn’t much better.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m transmitting the photo now. Thanks, Venable.”

She cut the connection and turned to Margaret. “Jane’s out of the hospital. Venable says she’s doing well and that we can probably expect her to show up.”

“I’ll be glad to see her,” Margaret said. “She needs to be here helping to find Eve. It was hurting her to feel that helpless.”

“If she’s back on her feet, then she’ll probably be trying to forge ahead like a bulldozer.”

Margaret smiled faintly. “Like you, Kendra?”

“Maybe. But we’d go at problems from different directions.”

“Will Venable cooperate?” Margaret asked. “He sounded a little surly.”

“He’ll cooperate.” She thought about it. She was becoming slightly uneasy about Venable. “He wants to find Eve. He just likes his own way.”

“Don’t we all.” She wrinkled her nose. “And my way is to get to a motel where I can take a shower. I desperately need it after what we’ve gone through since we landed in Colorado.”

“I’ll second the motion,” Kendra said. “We’ve had enough sleep in the car, but I feel filthy, too.” She headed for the car. “Then we’ll get on the move and see what we can find out about antique coin presses.”

CHAPTER

14

KENDRA’S PHONE RANGAS SHE was getting dressed after her shower.

Jane.

She picked up. “I heard that you were released from the hospital. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Jane said curtly. “I’d feel better if you and Margaret hadn’t decided to go incommunicado on me. You could have called me back.”

“You were ill. We didn’t want to upset you. If there had been anything definite that you should know, we’d have called you.”

“I’d say almost getting blown up in Doane’s house would qualify as something I should know.” She sighed wearily. “I’m sorry. I’m just so damn frustrated. Everyone was just trying to protect me, but I had no right to be protected when everyone else was in danger.”

“No one is in danger now. We haven’t seen Blick since Goldfork. And I did tell Venable to call you and tell you everything we’d found out. He said you were probably on your way out here by now. Where are you?”

“We’re at the Atlanta airport. We’ll get to Denver around midnight. So after we rent a car and drive down, it’ll probably be sunrise by the time we get to you.”

“We?”

“I’m with Seth Caleb and Mark Trevor. What about this coin press? You think Doane got it from somewhere around there?”

“I think it’s a decent possibility. It’s gold-rush country. They had coin presses. His radio was set on this listening area.”

“Why would he want a gold press?”

“The more I consider it, I’m leaning toward wondering why he might want to get rid of a coin press.” She paused. “And where he got rid of it from.”

Silence. “Eve,” Jane whispered. “He wanted to prepare a place for her. Maybe it was in his way.”

“That’s my guess. Margaret and I are going to be driving around the area and talking to locals and trying to find out about any known coin presses. I asked Venable to try to find out anything he could about them and let me know. Maybe you could help cover a couple of the mining tourist spots when you get here.”

“Fine. We’re going to stop before we leave Denver and talk to a friend of Trevor’s who works in the forestry department of the university. He says he’s more familiar with the forests in this area than anyone else in the world. What else can I do?”

“I have no idea. The same thing we’re doing? Playing it by ear. You’re on your own, Jane.”

“Did you access photos of that sketch of mountain country I sent you?”

“Yes, none of it looks familiar. I’ll keep it in mind if I run across anything like it.”

“I know it sounded bizarre, but don’t discard it because of that. We can’t afford to discard anything that might help.”

“Look, I’m traveling around with your friend, Margaret, who evidently communicates with sundry creatures from field and stream, and I hardly question it anymore. What’s more bizarre than that?”

“Where can we reach you?”

“We’ll be traveling, as I said, but we’ll answer the phone. I promise.” She added, “I have a feeling we’re close, Jane.”

“I hope you’re right. You’ve got to be right. And you’re damn right you’ll answer the phone. We’ve got to work together from now on. No one protects anyone but Eve. I’ll call you if I learn anything.” She hung up.

Kendra pressed the disconnect. Jane had sounded worried but strong, very strong, she thought. Clearly the medical staff at the hospital had been right in dismissing her.

And there would be no way anyone would succeed in trying to keep her from the battle.

Vancouver

“THE INFORMATION,” JOE SAID softly. “I won’t ask you again, Weiner. I want that tower area.”

“I can’t tell you.” Weiner moistened his lips and glanced nervously at Stang. “Why did you bring him here? You know I can’t talk to him. You know what Zander will do to me.”

“Yes, but I thought it worthwhile,” Stang said. “Tell him.” He smiled. “And then get the hell out of here and hope Zander doesn’t decide to make an example of you. He may not think chasing you down is worth his time.”

“What about you?” Weiner said viciously. “Do you think he won’t go after you?”

“No, because I’m not going anywhere.” He grimaced. “I decided that it was time I stopped operating in a holding pattern where Zander was concerned.” He glanced at Joe. “I’m not sure if Quinn is as lethal as Zander, but I know he’s highly motivated, and that could make the difference. I’d advise you to give him the information before you make him angry.”

“Step away from him, Stang,” Joe said impatiently. “I don’t have time for this. He has to talk now.”

“Just trying to facilitate the matter.” Stang took a step back. “I’ve never liked violence. It makes me—” He broke off as his cell phone rang. He gave a low whistle as he glanced down at the ID. “Zander. Remarkable.” He turned and moved toward the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take this call. Feel free to carry on without me.”

“The hell I will.” He gave Weiner a cold glance. “Don’t move from this room. You don’t want to annoy me.” He left the door open as he joined Stang outside. “I want to talk to Zander.”

“No, he won’t want to talk to you. He’ll hang up. I’ll compromise and put the call on speaker.” He pressed the access. “Hello, Zander. This is unexpected. What can I do for you?”

“You’re damn right it’s unexpected. I’m sending you coordinates where I am right now. I want you to contact Dr. Eland and bring him here. Pronto.”

“Someone is hurt?”

“Me. Compound wrist fracture. Nasty. I’ve been trying to set it myself, but I keep blacking out, dammit.”

“Imagine that.”

“You imagine. It’s very clear and real to me after spending seven and a half hours climbing from that damn mine shaft.”

“What?”

“Long story. You have to come in from the north, not the south. Get a helicopter and land on the opposite side of the mountain with the stream running through it. Then trek overland to these coordinates. No flyovers in that copter. And stay away from the south, or you’ll blow everything.”

“You keep saying you,” Stang said. “You want me to come, too?”

Zander was silent. “Yes, I want you to come.”

“Extraordinary.”

“Just get Eland here within the next few hours. I have to get on the move. I don’t know how much time I have.”

“Eve Duncan?”

“I think she’s alive. I couldn’t find the body.” He hung up.

“He thinks she’s alive?” Joe said. “Call him back.”

“Not if you want to find him at the coordinates he gave me.” He pulled the door closed behind him. “Which you’re now not going to have to pull out of Weiner. Convenient timing for him.” He strode toward the car. “I’m sure he’s extremely grateful.”

He followed Stang. “Give me your phone. I want those coordinates.”

“You’ll get them when I give them to the pilot who takes us to Zander.”

“I could take your phone from you.”

“You could, but I’d fight. Since I’ve been wonderfully cooperative, I don’t believe you’d want to hurt me unless there was no other way to save your Eve.” He got into the driver’s seat. “And there’s a better way if Zander feels like cooperating. Evidently he’s at least interacting with her if he knows she’s not dead. He’s ahead of you in all this, and that might make a difference. You go into that area without knowing what’s happening, and you might start something rolling that proves fatal for Eve.”

Joe was silent. Then he gave a low curse. “I don’t want you to be right, dammit.”

“Because you want to be totally in control, and now you may have to depend a little on Zander.”

“A very little.” He fell silent again, trying to see some other way that made sense. “He wanted you there in a couple hours. He must have thought it possible.”

“Yes.” He glanced at Joe as he pulled away from the curb. “And it’s my job to make it possible. Three hours, and you may be near where Doane is keeping Eve. Think about that instead of having to work with Zander.”

Three hours.

Joe felt a sudden rush of excitement as he thought about that short time span. He was close. In three hours, she would be near after all this agony he’d gone through. What the hell was he thinking? Who knows what she had gone through, what she was still going through?

“Let’s move,” he said crisply. “What about this Dr. Eland? Are you going to have any trouble rousting him out of his bed?”

“No.” Stang reached for his phone. “Zander has an arrangement with him. He comes when called. I’ll call him and tell him to meet us at the airport. Then I’ll phone the pilot of Zander’s jet and tell him the same thing.”

“And does he come when called, too?”

“Of course, it would be dangerous for Zander to take a chance on someone who would fail him. He wouldn’t tolerate it.”

“You’re failing him. You’re taking me with you. What will Zander do to you?”

“I’m not failing him. I’m just entering into the picture instead of just staying on the sidelines.”

“And you think that Zander will make that distinction?”

“I have no idea.” He smiled. “But if he doesn’t, I’ll have you there to protect me.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“But I do count on it,” Stang said as he dialed the phone. “You’re one of the good guys who should know better but don’t. I knew it the minute I saw you in that library. That’s why I took a chance on doing what I wanted to do without its interfering with—” He broke off and spoke into the phone, “Stang, Dr. Eland. Sorry to wake you, but we have a possible situation that Zander needs…”

Denver International Airport

“YOU’D BETTER BE PREPARED for a big payback, Trevor,” Professor Hansen said sourly. “I can’t believe you talked me into schlepping out to the airport at midnight to see this sketch.”

“I’m prepared,” Trevor said. “It’s worth it if you can identify the area.”

Hansen held out his hand and took the sketch. He studied it for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s … familiar. But I can’t identify the area for certain.”

“You’re sure?” Jane’s hands clenched into fists. She had been hoping against hope. “Perhaps somewhere in Mineral County?”

Hansen frowned. “Maybe…” Then he shook his head again. “Wild country. It’s my kind of country. I think I would have remembered it if I’d ever seen it before.” His tone softened as he saw Jane’s expression. “Sorry. Look, I’ll go back to my lab and look through my photos in the computer. Maybe it will jog my memory.” He turned and shook Trevor’s hand. “I’ll remember that you owe me. Expect a call.” He turned and left.

“Zero,” Caleb said. “You struck out, Trevor.”

“And it could have been a home run,” Trevor said coolly. “We have to try every avenue. What have you done lately except fly that airplane?” He looked at Jane. “I could go check out a few more sources in the forestry department at the university, but Hansen is the best man I know.”

“That doesn’t mean someone else might not have been in that particular place at some time. It’s a big country.”

“It’s your call.”

She thought about it. She was tired of searching through books and making calls on the off chance a dream might have some basis in reality. “Yes, send e-mails and make phone calls, but we’re not going to track anyone down for face-to-face interviews. I want to get out in those mountains and see for myself. Kendra actually sounded hopeful.” She added wearily, “God, I need hope.”

“I think a little of that is beginning to stir,” Caleb’s gaze was fixed on her face. “I feel it.”

She tried to look away from him. Dammit, she could feel her body’s response begin to heighten, heat, as it seemed to do whenever she was near him now. He had warned her, and it had come to pass.

Get over it. Once she became accustomed to the reaction, then it would surely lessen, and she could ignore it. “Well, I don’t feel it.”

“You will,” he said softly. “It’s buried deep, but it’s coming to the surface. It might be Kendra, or it might be instinct, or your Eve trying to reach you. Who knows? As I said, it’s there, I feel it.”

And looking at him, she realized she was beginning to feel it, too. The tiny flowering of hope and a deeper excitement mixed with determination. Of course, Caleb’s effect on her always had hypnotic elements connected with it, but this was different. This came from within, and she welcomed it. She tore her gaze away from him and got to her feet. “Maybe you’re right. At any rate, we’re not going to get anywhere by sitting here.”

Trevor nodded. “For once, I hope Caleb is right.” He smiled. “It pains me to say that, but I hate the worry and the pain. I want you over it. It hurts me.”

Glowing, golden, magnetism. Nothing dark or burning or hypnotic about Trevor. She drew a deep breath as she looked at him. It was like being held in velvet, protected, knowing that he would keep all pain and sadness from her path. Why had she turned away from him and walked away?

“I’ll go get the car,” Caleb said. “All this sentiment is making me a little nauseous.”

“I can see how it would,” Jane said as she grabbed her bag. “Well, suck it up, Caleb. You’ll get over it.”

“Will I?” His brows rose. “We’ll have to see.”

“Not me. I could care less.” She moved toward the terminal exit. She was suddenly brimming with strength, determination, and the beginnings of excitement. For the first time since she had learned of Eve’s loss, Jane felt as if she was coming out of the darkness and heading toward her. Irrational? It didn’t matter. She’d take it and run with it.

Caleb smiled faintly as he motioned toward the door. He said softly, “Told you so.”

Pueblo, Colorado

Fourth Street

THIS SECTION OF THE CITY was filthy, Blick thought in disgust. Bums lying in alleys.