Текст книги "Silencing Eve"

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

CHAPTER

8

Muncie, Indiana

Muncie Airport Terminal

“MS. WEBER?” JANE SAID when Harriet Weber answered her call. “This is Jane MacGuire. You don’t know me, but it’s essential that I talk to you. If I come to the school where you’re teaching, could you spare a few minutes?”

“I’m very busy Ms. MacGuire.” Harriet’s voice was crisp. “I have students who need me. Perhaps we could make an appointment for next week.”

“I need to talk to you right away. I don’t want to disturb you in any way, but I have to ask you a few questions.” She paused. “It concerns your ex-husband and your son.”

Silence. “You’ve got the wrong person. I’m a widow.”

“Your ex-husband’s name was James Relling. When he was placed under federal protection, his name was changed to James Doane.”

Another silence. “Are you a reporter?”

“No.” She paused. “I wonder if you’ve been informed that your ex-husband was recently killed in an explosion?”

She didn’t answer for a moment. “Yes, that CIA agent Venable called me and told me that James and some woman were blown up in a town in Colorado. I told him I didn’t care, that I’d put all that behind me.”

“I do care,” Jane said. “I couldn’t care more. That woman was Eve Duncan, who adopted me when I was ten years old, and he was responsible for her death. Perhaps you saw the media coverage?”

“No, I don’t know anything about her or what happened. I didn’t want to know. I told Venable that James was a stranger to me now, and I didn’t want to hear anything about what kind of terrible things he was doing.” She added harshly, “Is that why you came? You want to heap blame on me because of what he did to that Eve Duncan? Well, it’s not my fault. Venable was supposed to watch him and keep him from doing anything bad. I’ve had nothing to do with James for years.”

“I have no intention of blaming you for anything. I don’t want to cause you any trouble. Just answer a few questions, and I promise I’ll go away and not bother you again.”

“Why won’t you leave me alone?” she said angrily. “I told you, that was another life.”

And Jane was feeling guilty at insisting. But not guilty enough to stop. Every avenue had to be explored with Eve in danger. “Just a few questions.”

Harriet Weber was silent, and Jane could sense the waves of resentment in that silence. “Very well,” she said shortly. “I’ll meet you in the stands at the athletic field behind the school. One hour.” She hung up.

Jane made a face. “She’s not pleased.” She turned to Trevor and Caleb, who had been listening on speaker. “And who can blame her? She worked hard to have a second chance, and she thinks I might blow it for her. I’ll be as glad as she is when this is over.”

Caleb smiled. “But not if you can squeeze something of value out of her. I take it that we’re not invited to go along?”

She shook her head. “All she’d need to send her running for the hills is to see more than one person heading toward her. You’re both high-impact. I sent Margaret to rent a car, and she can drive me, but I’m not letting her come to the meeting either.” She got to her feet and started for the car-rental area. “I have to go down and sign for the car. Margaret’s not old enough. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“And you’re leaving us to our own devices?” Trevor asked. “Boredom can be dangerous.”

“That sounds more like Caleb than you.”

“I have my moments.” He smiled. “Remember?”

Yes, she remembered all of those moments that had been charged with adventure and sex and a thousand other emotions that had made life full of zest. Gazing at him, she could feel a wave of nostalgia sweep over her, warm, sweet … She shook her head. “That was the past, Trevor. I’m living only in the present.”

“Not true. But I’ll settle for the present.” He waved his hand dismissingly. “Have a good chat with Satan’s mother.”

“I will.” Jane felt both their eyes upon her as she headed for the rental-car booth.

She saw Margaret step forward as she approached. “Everything is fine,” she said. “Just sign and show him your ID. I gave him your credit card, so we’re all set.”

“My credit card? How did you get my credit card?”

“I took one of them out of the bedside table drawer in your hospital room a couple weeks ago. I needed it to get to Colorado to find Eve.” She smiled. “I meant to give it back to you, but I kept forgetting.”

Jane stared at her in disbelief. “Don’t you think it would have been a little more honest to have told me … or even asked?”

“Yes, but you were all upset about imposing on me and might not have wanted to have anything to do with sending me after that bastard, Doane.” She smiled with satisfaction. “So I took care of it. I didn’t have enough money for a plane ticket, so I borrowed your credit card. I’ll pay you back later. You can trust me.”

“I’m sure I can.” She signed the rental contract. “In the basics, but not to have everything clear and up front. Don’t do that again, Margaret.”

She nodded. “Whatever.” She headed for the door. “Our car is in the pickup outside. You decided not to intimidate Harriet Weber by bringing along Trevor and Caleb?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s smart. She’ll be much more comfortable with just us.”

“You’re staying in the car.”

“But I’m not intimidating.”

“Margaret,” Jane said dryly as she opened the terminal door, “in your own way, you’re far more intimidating than either Caleb or Trevor.”

*   *   *

“YOU DID A VERY GOOD JOB of reviving the embers of ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ Trevor,” Caleb said as he watched Jane and Margaret go out into the parking lot. “But it was the wrong time for Jane. You should have waited until she could concentrate fully on you.”

“There’s never a wrong time, Caleb. Not if the emotion is honest, and the memories are good.” He smiled. “And I can understand how you’d feel a trifle annoyed by the fact that Jane and I have a history.”

“I’m not annoyed. I was at first, but it’s just something I have to deal with. In Jane’s eyes, you’re the knight in shining armor, and I’m Merlin the evil magician.” He tilted his head. “You’re a very good knight in shining armor. Not phony. Only interested in Jane’s good. I don’t think that I’ve ever met anyone as genuine as you are. There are even moments when I actually like you, Trevor.”

Trevor burst out laughing. “God, how it must have hurt you to say that.”

“I have my honest moments,” he said. “And I won’t ask you to lie and tell me that liking is returned.” He was no longer smiling. “Because I’m not interested in Jane’s good. I’m too selfish, and I’ve never felt about anyone as I do Jane. White-hot and pure unadulterated lust. And I will have her, Trevor. It’s just a matter of time.”

Trevor shook his head. “She needs something more and you can’t give it to her. But I’m lucky enough to be able to do it. You’re too intense, you’d burn her up.” He paused. “And I do like you in some weird, twisted way, Caleb. I just have to protect Jane from you.”

“Oh, no, that won’t happen.” Caleb was smiling again. “But I’m glad that we have everything straight. Though I believe we both knew what we were up against from the beginning. Now we can concentrate on finding Eve, so that Jane will be free to think of other things.” He met Trevor’s eyes. “I agree with what you told Jane, boredom can be dangerous … but interesting. I think we should keep ourselves busy until she finishes with Harriet Weber.”

Trevor’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

“I have a few ideas.” He started across the terminal toward the rental-car booth. “But they require wheels. Let’s go get a car.”

*   *   *

WHEN JANE ARRIVED at the athletic field, it was vacant except for a young boy in navy blue gym shorts who was running the track.

The only person sitting on the benches in the stands was a tall, well-built woman wearing a herringbone tweed coat that picked up the silver in her short, dark hair. She stood up as Jane approached her. She was even taller than she’d first appeared, Jane noticed. She was perhaps in her fifties though she looked younger. The skin of her face was olive and appeared satin soft and almost entirely without any sign of age. She had magnificent dark eyes that were staring coldly at Jane.

“Hello, I’m Jane MacGuire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”

“I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t sure how ruthless you’d be about revealing facts I don’t wish revealed.” She glanced at her wristwatch. “And I don’t have much time. I have to get back to my classes. What do you want to know?”

“Did you keep in contact with your ex-husband?”

“I did not. I haven’t seen him since the divorce.” She asked a question of her own, “Who are you? Are you with the CIA?”

“No, why would you think that? I told you that I have a personal interest in what happened in Colorado.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have a connection with the CIA. After my son was killed, that Venable from the CIA came to visit me and asked all kinds of questions. And he was the one who called me a few days ago and told me that my ex-husband, James, was dead. Do you work for him?”

“No, I’m an artist, but I do know Venable.”

“Then he must have told you that I know nothing about James or Kevin. I left home when Kevin was fifteen, and I never saw either of them after that time.”

“He said you were not involved, but I have to be sure. Things have changed since then. The stakes are higher.” Her lips tightened. “And what happened to Eve was crazy. She meant everything to me. I’m trying to make some kind of sense out of it. I have to know why it happened.”

“The disk? Venable told me about that disk. I know nothing about it.”

“No, it seems that there was something else other than the disk that your ex-husband was holding as a blackmail tool. Did you know anything about Kevin’s journal?”

She stiffened. “Journal? My boy had a journal?” She shook her head emphatically. “How could I know? When Kevin was a little boy, he liked to write stories, but that’s all I remember.” Her eyes were suddenly glittering with tears. “I thought he was going to be a writer or maybe a reporter when he grew up. But then I started to read his stories…” She shook her head as if to clear it. “And I knew—” She had to stop to steady her voice. “That no one would ever want to read those stories but someone—like him. But there wasn’t anyone like him. No one could be that—sick.” She lifted her gaze to Jane’s face. “But you know what he was, don’t you? That’s why you’re here.”

“I know what he was.” She moistened her lips. “And I know that your husband protected and helped him do unspeakable things. I don’t blame you for leaving them. But I need to know if you know anything about his activities before or after your son’s death. Your husband was involved in a plan that might have tragic consequences. It might save lives if you could recall something, anything.”

“Leave me alone,” Harriet Weber said with sudden violence. “I’m only a woman who tried to do her best, and yet you expect me to change what can’t be changed. Why do you think I can save anyone? I wasn’t able to do it before. I tried, but I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t do it. They were both against me and I—” The tears had overflowed and were running down her cheeks. “Please—go away.”

Jane reached out in sympathy to touch her shoulder, but the woman jerked away. Jane was tempted to get up and leave her as she was begging her to do. She was unbearably touched by the thought of the helpless battle the woman must have waged to save her son from his demons.

Then a thought occurred to her. “In the journal, your son made certain references to you. They were admiring, affectionate. Evidently, his attitude toward you didn’t change when you left your husband and Kevin.”

“Why shouldn’t he love me?” she said hoarsely. “I was his mother. I loved and protected him all the days of his life. And when I found out that what he was writing in his stories was real, true, I protected him then, too. I didn’t go to the police. I turned my back and hoped it wouldn’t happen again.”

“But it did happen again,” Jane whispered.

She nodded jerkily. “And then I knew I couldn’t stay with them any longer. I had to get away.”

“Without telling anyone what a monster Kevin was?”

“He wasn’t a monster; he was sick.” She closed her eyes. “And I loved him as much the day I left him as I did when I cradled him as a baby. It doesn’t change. I had to let fate punish him. Judge me if you wish, but don’t do it until you walk in my shoes.” Her eyes opened. “I cut all ties with James and Kevin, but I couldn’t cut Kevin out of my heart. If I’d betrayed him to the police, it would have destroyed me.”

“So you left him free to destroy others.” Jane was silent a moment. “I understand your hurt, but I believe I would have found some way to stop him instead of just turning my back.”

“You don’t understand anything,” she said fiercely. “You couldn’t. No one could unless they knew Kevin. He could be so loving…” She swallowed. “That’s why it was impossible to grasp that he would do those terrible—But he did do them, and he wouldn’t listen to me. So I had to leave him.”

“And your husband.”

“By that time, James didn’t pay any attention to me anyway. It was all Kevin. He didn’t care what Kevin did as long as it was what he wanted. The most terrible things were right if Kevin told him they were.” Her lips twisted. “I’d lost James long before I lost Kevin.” She got to her feet. “I’ve had enough of this. I can’t take anymore. You can do whatever you like. Tell the school administrators, tell everyone that I’m just as much a monster as Kevin because I ran away instead of trying to stop him.” She drew a shaky breath. “Sometimes, when I wake from a nightmare in the middle of the night, I believe that’s true. So punish me any way you please.” She turned and walked away.

“Wait.”

Harriet Weber didn’t turn around or stop. The next moment, she disappeared off the field.

It was just as well. Jane didn’t know what she had wanted to say to Harriet Weber, but she hadn’t wanted the woman to leave like that. The pain and torment were too obvious. She wanted to somehow heal it. But how could she heal it when she had no empathy at all for the woman’s decision? She had chosen that her Kevin survive and risked countless others so that he would.

Jane moved slowly down the steps toward the exit. What had she accomplished by this meeting except disturbing Harriet Weber?

She had become so involved with the intensity of the woman’s emotional response that it had been difficult to sort out what else had been said. She would have to analyze these minutes and consider if she had learned anything that could be helpful. Was Kevin’s mother victim or, by her silence, accomplice? Perhaps both. Jane knew how she felt but, as the woman said, she hadn’t walked in her shoes.

All that was clear now was that the dark ugliness that had been Doane and Kevin had also pulled Harriet Weber down into those stagnant depths.

*   *   *

TREVOR AND CALEB WERE NOT at the airport terminal when Jane and Margaret arrived back over an hour later.

Jane checked her phone. No message.

She called Trevor. No answer. Just voice mail.

Caleb? Same.

“Where the hell are they?” she said as she hung up.

“Somewhere interesting, I’m sure.” Margaret was gazing at her. “Stop frowning. Do you know how absurd it is for you to even think about being worried about them? I can’t imagine any men who would be better able to take care of themselves.”

“I’m not worried.” But she had to admit that she was wary. The mere fact that Trevor and Caleb were probably together made her uneasy. They struck sparks off each other. “I’m just … curious.”

“Well, let’s be curious about lunch.” Margaret was nudging her toward the airport restaurant. “We’ll leave them to starve as punishment for being incommunicado.”

Trevor and Caleb didn’t appear for another hour, and she and Margaret were almost finished with their meal when they strode into the restaurant.

“Scoot.” Caleb sat down in the booth beside Jane. “Is that ham sandwich any good? I’m starved.”

“Fair.”

He motioned for the waitress. “Trevor?”

“The same. Anything. Coffee.”

“Not for me. I’m zinging.” He gave the order to the waitress and leaned back. “We had a good morning. How about you, Jane?”

“Not very productive, but I’ll have to decide if—” She stopped, gazing at him. “You are zinging.” She had seen him like that before, and it was usually when he was on the hunt or in battle. The charge of emotion he emitted was electric. Her gaze shifted to Trevor. He didn’t have the same animal intensity as Caleb, but he was also wired. His eyes glittered, and he was smiling. She asked, “What have you been doing? I called you and got voice mail.”

“It would have been inconvenient to answer the phone.” He exchanged a glance with Caleb. “We were busy.”

Jane gazed at them, annoyance mixed with bewilderment. What the hell was happening? They were like two little boys in a neighborhood club who were brimming with secrets and mischief. She had never expected that response from two men who were fully mature, sophisticated, and slightly antagonistic. “Is someone going to explain?”

Caleb smiled. “You left us with nothing to do and twiddling our thumbs. We decided to do our own investigation on Harriet Weber.”

“What?”

“We had her address, so we decided to go to her place and look around while you were conducting your interview.”

“Look around? Are you saying that you burgled her apartment?”

“Burgled sounds as if we were thieves,” Trevor said. “We had no intention of stealing anything … but information. We did, however, break into her apartment to do that, and breaking and entering is a crime.” He grinned. “So I let Caleb pick the lock. He was amazingly good at it.”

Caleb nodded in mocking acceptance of the praise. “I thought that was your plan. But you did the photography, and I’m sure that’s not precisely legal.”

“I couldn’t trust you to do it,” Trevor said. “It requires a steady hand and a certain selectivity. You wanted to whirl through the place like a hurricane.”

“I can see Caleb’s doing that.” Margaret was staring curiously at them both. “But I believe you were both enjoying it, weren’t you? You’re not at all alike, and yet you found common ground. Interesting.”

“In breaking into a woman’s house.” Jane stared at them. “Why did you do it?”

“We both thought whatever Harriet Weber told you should be verified,” Trevor said. “It sounded as if it was going to prove to be an emotional, defensive interview on her part. Was it?”

“Yes. It couldn’t be anything else. She was talking about her son, whom she’d left when he was fifteen, and a husband who had mentally left her years before in favor of Kevin.”

“And never seen or heard from either one after that time?” Caleb asked. “What a tragedy.”

She studied his expression. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that she had communication with her son, Kevin, until at least the year before his death. Mostly letters. I found several from him in a sleek, black cardboard box that contained a lockbox. It was beneath her bed.” He shot a glance at Trevor. “Which I expertly burgled so that you could photograph the contents of those letters. There was no selectivity there. You photographed all of them.”

Jane gazed at them in shock. “You’re telling me that she was writing to him?”

“And he was writing to her. Very affectionate letters.” Caleb paused. “And confiding, very confiding. The ones from Pakistan told her about his link with al-Qaeda. Every now and then, he would tell her about his latest kill.”

Jane felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. “No.”

“Yes,” Trevor said. “And some of the details were worse than the ones in his journal. Oh, he said something about how he knew she wouldn’t approve, that she’d told him how dangerous killing the little girls was for him. But he still told her about them. Let her know that the pleasure he got from the kill was nothing compared to his happiness being with her.”

“Dear God.”

“He loved her, Jane. If a sicko like him could love.”

“And she loved him,” Caleb said. “It didn’t matter what he did. It was clear from his letters that she was giving him support and affection all through those years.”

“But why would she divorce Doane and leave them both?”

“Perhaps she thought she could resist her love for the boy and was fighting it,” Trevor said.

Caleb shook his head. “Except that in one of the letters, Kevin was complaining about the necessity for her living apart from him.” He repeated, “Necessity.”

Jane’s head was whirling. “Okay.” She was trying to get it straight. “Everything she told me today and Venable five years ago were lies. Except that she loved her son and couldn’t bear to turn him over to the authorities. But there was more than that…” She lifted her hand to rub her temple. “Lord, was there more than that. If her supposed new life was all a fraud … Why? And was she also lying about Doane? Was there anything in the letters about Doane?”

Caleb shook his head. “We didn’t run across anything in the letters, but we were practically speed-reading. You’ll have to go over them again. We didn’t find any other letters or documents with his name on them in the apartment.” He grimaced. “Except the divorce decree. She didn’t lie about that.”

“What else did you find?”

Caleb shrugged. “Damn if I know. We were moving so fast that we were pulling and photographing everything in sight. We’ll have to go through the camera roll later and see if we got anything important. Oh, one thing, she told you that she saw none of the media coverage of Doane’s death. Not true. The first thing I did when I arrived at the apartment was to check her TIVO, and she had set that memorial service to record. She knew exactly what had happened to Doane and Eve. She probably knew who you and Joe were, too. That set up red flags that we should go over everything in the apartment very carefully.” He took a bite of the sandwich the waitress had placed before him. “I ran a disk on her computer for current entries to see if anything interesting showed up. That will take some time to scan.”

“You were gone a long time. You just searched her apartment?”

“Just? We did a magnificent job of searching her apartment and putting everything back exactly the way we found it.” He shrugged. “But when we found out that our Harriet was not what Venable thought she was, I took time to run out to the nearest mall and bought a few bugs to keep track of what she was up to.” He gazed at her inquiringly. “Okay?”

“More than okay. You both did everything right. I’m the one who screwed up,” Jane said bitterly. “If she lied about Kevin, she could have lied about Doane. Which means that she might know where he is now.”

“You didn’t let her know that Doane and Eve might still be alive?” Trevor asked.

“Of course not. I admit I felt a little sorry for her. She was faced with a terrible decision, and, in my opinion, she made the wrong one. But there’s no way I’d trust her enough to confide in her.” She added harshly, “Though it appeared that Kevin had no such problem.” Her hands clenched into fists. “She works with children every day of her life. How could she stand to hear what he did to them?”

“Just because she works with them doesn’t mean she holds them in particular affection,” Margaret said. “I’ve heard that some people can only care about one or two people in their entire lifetime. Maybe her one love was her child, Kevin.”

“Well, she married Doane, and they had a child. Evidently, they both loved Kevin above anything else in the world. If they shared that passion, then Doane must mean something to her. She has to know something about him.” She was trying to control her rage. “Let me out of this booth, Caleb.”

“I was waiting for that.” Caleb got to his feet and helped her out of the booth. “But, at least, I got my sandwich down.” He smiled down at her. “You’re going to go see Harriet Weber again?”

“You bet I am.” She looked at her watch. “It’s past time for school to be over. I’ll go to her apartment and talk to her.”

“I’ll go with you.” Margaret started to slide out of the booth.

“No. I’m going by myself.” She grabbed her bag. “This is between the two of us. She played me.”

“Let me go with you,” Trevor said quietly. “Anyone who would welcome letters that were that sick could be off-kilter herself. She could not only be a liar, but something much more dangerous.”

“Are you trying to protect me again? I can take care of myself, Trevor. Have you forgotten that I grew up on the streets until I was ten and that after Eve and Joe took me in, he taught me martial arts?”

“I haven’t forgotten. You’re tough. I just think that you lack the killer instinct. I don’t know if Harriet Weber does or not. Let me go with you.”

“Hell, no. I don’t want to be protected from that barracuda. If I don’t have the killer instinct, what I’m feeling is pretty damn close. I feel like an idiot. She had me feeling sorry for the poor mother who was forced to give up her child. I thought she was in agony. I was even fighting to understand how she could walk away without finding a way to safeguard those children who were threatened by Kevin.” She could feel the fury surge through her. “Understand? I could never understand her. She didn’t care about those victims. She was only worried that Kevin might get in trouble by killing them.” She started across the terminal toward the exit. “Well, she’s not going to play me again. I’ll find out why she lied and cram it down her throat. If she knows anything about Doane, she’s going to tell me.”

Starlite Motel

Casper, Wyoming

“WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO FIND?” Zander asked as he threw open the door of the room Eve and Doane had formerly occupied. “We already know it was Eve who was here with Doane.”

“Eve is smart.” Catherine went into the room. “If you’d spent more time with her, you’d realize that, Zander. She left those clay bits on the bed as ID, but she’d try to tell us more than that.”

“Where she was going,” Zander said. “She’d find out from Doane where he was going to take her and try to let us know.” He gave Catherine a level glance. “And I didn’t have to spend much time with her to know that she’s clever. She fought Doane on his own terms up in those mountains, and she would have won if she hadn’t gone soft.”

She frowned. “Gone soft?”

He shrugged. “I was in somewhat of a quandary, and Eve decided that she had to distract Doane from me. I could have handled it. I told her I didn’t need her. She did it anyway.”

“And Doane recaptured her.” Catherine shook her head in wonder. She repeated, “Gone soft. Is that what you call it? Why, you son of a bitch.”

“Yes. I’ve never denied it. Just as I’ve never denied that I don’t think the same way that other people do.” He smiled. “Like you, Catherine. You have a great deal of trouble with my not being sentimental about Eve’s deplorable lack of instinct for self-preservation.”

“I may just test your self-preservation instinct,” she said through her teeth. “I wonder how you’d—” She stopped. “You’re laughing, dammit. Stop it.”

He nodded. “I’m just amused by how easily you’re aroused to anger in defense of Eve. She must be a very good friend to you. I admit that I yielded to temptation to see how you’d respond. It’s my eternal curiosity.”

“Screw your curiosity.” She stared at him. “And I don’t think you’re as detached as you’d like everyone to believe about Eve. I’ve been watching you today, and you’ve been … intense.”

“I’m on the hunt for Doane.”

She gazed at him for a long moment and slowly shook her head. “Have it your way. But there were moments when you might have had Doane, but it would have put Eve in danger. You’re not quite as ruthless as you pretend.”

“I never pretend.”

“Then you may be a split personality. I don’t have time to psychoanalyze you.” She headed for the bathroom. “I’ll check out the cabinets and the shower for anything Eve might have left. You search this room.”

“If I find something, do I get a prize?”

She gave him a glance and started looking through the lower cabinets. He was deliberately trying to annoy her. He didn’t like orders, and she was probably lucky that his response had been verbal.

Nothing in the cabinets.

She went into the shower.

Nothing written on walls or soap.

Not good.

Nothing on the washcloths.

“Catherine,” Zander called from the other room. “I won the prize.”

She ran out of the bathroom. “What did—” He was kneeling beside the table and peering underneath it. “What is it?”

“I noticed the surface of the table was faintly discolored and it would have been natural to use it as a worktable.” He had taken out a small penlight and was shining it underneath. “There’s a small piece of clay stuck to the underside of the table. Can you think of any reason why anyone would do that?”

“Only one.” She held her breath as he started to pry the clay from the table. “Be careful…”

“I’ll not answer that useless bit of—” He stopped. “Part of it is hanging loose. I have to take my time, or it will break in two when I take it down.”

“If you’ll move, I could try—”

“I’ve got it.”

“I meant my hands are smaller.”

“I didn’t think you meant I was inadequate to the task.” Zander’s fingers were moving with exquisite delicacy on the clay, working it away from the table. “I’m sure you’d never be so rude.” The next moment, he’d extracted the clay and brought it from beneath the table. “There we are. Now let’s see what we’ve got here…”

She opened the drapes to let more light into the room and hurried back to the table. “What is it?”

“Your extraordinary Eve,” he murmured. “Four letters…”

“The last two are a W and an A preceding a period. The second one is an e. The first one is…” She frowned. “What? It’s messed up.”

“The clay is ultrathin at that edge,” Zander said. “And it appears that she had to rework it. But the indentation should be clear.” His index finger moved along the indentation. “It’s difficult as hell…” He closed his eyes. “Give me a minute.”

“You look like a safecracker.”

“Only when necessary to my profession.” His finger continued to move on the indentation. “It’s an S.” He opened his eyes. “And a dot following the e.”

“You’re certain?”

“Stop questioning me.” He was gazing in concentration down at the clay. “You just don’t want to admit I found the treasure. Only this time it may be the grand prize.” He pointed to the WA. “She tried to make it easy for us. WA. The state of Washington.” His index finger once more caressed the misshapen curve. “Se. What large city would be a likely target in Washington?”