Текст книги "Body of Lies "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

NEW ORLEANS

Victor’s skull was dimly lit by the moonlight streaming through the window.

Nathan didn’t flip the switch that would have lit the steps to the scullery. He knew Joe Quinn made several trips around the grounds at night, but he had no idea what time.

He moved carefully, quietly down the steps. It should be safe. He had checked on Eve and she was sound asleep. But both Eve and Joe Quinn were still unknown quantities to him, and the unknown was always dangerous.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and glided silently across the scullery toward Victor’s pedestal. He knew the back of that skull so well, and nothing about his features. He had only been able to watch Eve’s intent expression as she worked.

He took out the flashlight he had found in the kitchen cabinet and moved closer to the pedestal. He took a deep breath, his thumb pressing on the flashlight switch.

The scullery was suddenly flooded with light.

“Would you like to tell me what you’re doing?” Joe Quinn said from the top of the stairs.

Dammit.

He stiffened defensively. “I wasn’t going to hurt it.”

“You didn’t answer me.” Joe came down the stairs. “What are you doing creeping down the stairs in the middle of the night?”

“I just wanted to see it.”

“But Eve didn’t want you to see it until she finished. Is she done?” Nathan shook his head. “Not until tomorrow. She said I wouldn’t be able to tell anything until then. But I thought maybe I could tell where it was going.” He scowled. “I’m going to look.”

“Go ahead. I’m not going to stop you.”

Nathan moved around the pedestal to stand before Victor. Disappointment surged through him. The visage had form, but no definition. No one could recognize the features at this point.

“You should have believed her,” Joe said. “Eve doesn’t lie.”

“I didn’t think she’d lied. I just thought I might be able—” His hands clenched at his sides. “Dammit, it’s hard to wait. I want to know.”

“And you didn’t trust her.”

“In my business you learn not to trust many people.” Nathan started toward the stairs, and then stopped to stare at Joe. “Are you going to tell her I was here?”

“I should. Eve likes you, and she has a habit of trusting people she likes. She doesn’t appreciate people sneaking around behind her back.”

“I didn’t do anything to hurt her. If I’m guilty of anything, it’s of caring too much.” Nathan’s gaze went back to Victor. “It’s important to me to know who he is.

God, I hope it’s not Bently. I hope he’s still around, maybe gone underground and ready to come out swinging against those bastards.” Joe studied him. “I believe you.” He shrugged. “I’ll hold my peace for now. There was no harm done. But you made a mistake.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. You must have made a big one, or Eve wouldn’t be angry with you.” Nathan moved quickly up the stairs, and then stopped and glanced over his shoulder at Joe. “I must have made another mistake. How did you know I was down here?”

“I was outside patrolling, and I saw movement in the kitchen through that bank of windows. It aroused my curiosity when I saw it was you rifling through the cabinets.

Particularly when you only took that flashlight.”

“I checked outside the kitchen, but I should have been more careful.”

“Like you said, we all make mistakes.”

And Quinn wasn’t making him pay for this one. “Thanks. I owe you.” Nathan hurried up the rest of the stairs. It could have been much worse. He had done what he felt he had to, and no real harm had been done. He had hoped to get a jump on the situation, but he would just have to wait.

Damn, it was hard to be patient.

The basement was well lit, the heating and air-conditioning mechanisms gleaming and powerful. The best of American technology, Jules thought, as he moved down the aisle.

“Hey, what are you doing down here?”

He glanced over his shoulder. A uniformed security guard was coming out of the elevator.

“Don’t you guys ever talk to each other?” Jules waved his clipboard. “I just went through this with the guard at the front door.” He glanced at the man’s badge.

“Phillips. I’m from the supe’s office. I’m supposed to do the yearly service check.”

“I’ve been out on a coffee break,” the guard said defensively.

Jules knew that. He hadn’t expected Phillips to be back this soon, but you always had to be ready to make adjustments. “I’m almost through here. Have you noticed any problems on your rounds? Puddles beside the air conditioners? Excess steam?” Phillips shook his head.

“Since you’re here, would you mind coming with me to that furnace room and holding my flashlight? I have to crawl in back of the units and it’s damn hard to see.” Phillips frowned. “If it doesn’t take too long. I have to get back to the front door and relieve Charley.”

“Like I said, I’m almost done.” Jules picked up his toolbox and started down the aisle. “It won’t take a minute.”

Phillips followed him. “If you’re sure.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Jules smiled at him over his shoulder. “I know my job.”

“Ready, Victor?” Eve murmured. “It’s almost time.”

“Did you say something, Eve?” Nathan asked from across the room.

“Hush. I don’t want to hear a word from you until I’m done.” The clay was soft, cool beneath her fingers. She touched it delicately, tentatively.

Smooth.

Don’t think.

Instinct.

She was moving quickly; her fingers were tingling.

Who are you, Victor? Tell me, help me.

Smooth. Mold. Fill in.

She had no idea how to shape the ears. Make them generic.

The mouth. God, the mouth was hard. She only knew the width…

Instinct. Close out what she didn’t know, and let her hands flow.

Smooth. Mold. Fill in.

She was going too fast.

Stop for a minute and study the eyes, the angle of the orbits, the bony ridge above…

Okay, go for it.

Smooth. Mold. Fill in.

Check that lip height… 12mm. That was right. Nose projection 18mm. It should be 19. Change it.

Smooth. Mold. Fill in.

Be aware of the measurements, but let instinct dominate now.

Tell me, Victor. Let me bring you home.

Her hands flew over the visage. Her fingertips seemed to have a life, a mind of their own.

Smooth.

Mold.

Fill in.

Galen stepped out of his car and strode over to Hughes, who was standing under a streetlight. “Anything?”

Hughes shook his head. “Everything’s quiet. The kid went into the condo with her grandmother at the usual time. A squad car cruised by five minutes ago. They must have put more plainclothesmen on the job. I saw one guy I didn’t recognize talking to the front-door guard.” He held up his hand as Galen opened his lips. “It’s okay, I watched him and he got into the squad car twenty minutes later. The cops knew him.”

“Inside?”

“I have a guy on the same floor as the kid, and he reports no activity. What have you been doing?”

“Scouting. There’s a telephone truck five blocks from here. What’s it doing here at this time of night? Have you checked it out?”

Hughes shook his head.

“Why not?”

“It wasn’t there today. I’ll get on it.”

“Now.”

“Why are you so edgy? It’s five blocks away.”

“It could be a surveillance van. Eve calls Jane regularly.”

“I told you we’d checked out the high-rise. The condo’s too high and there’s too much interference for the phones to be bugged.”

“Just check the truck, okay?”

“Whatever you say.” Hughes reached for his phone.

Galen stared up at the condo while Hughes was telling one of his men to check out the vehicle. Damn, he felt uneasy.

Hughes hung up. “He’s trying to get through to the telephone company.

Satisfied?”

“No. Something’s happening. He’s got to be around here. He knows he doesn’t have much time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind.” He glanced at the cars parked along the street. There were no new vehicles, and all of these had already been checked out. “It just feels wrong.”

“If Hebert’s gone underground, he’s buried himself pretty deep,” Hughes said.

Galen stiffened. “What?”

“You said that Hebert must have gone underground, or we would have been able to—”

Underground.

“Shit!” Galen moved toward the canopied entrance of the condo. “Come on.” Hughes got out of the car and hurried after him. “Where are we going?”

“You’re going to distract the security guard and find out from him if anything unusual has happened today.” He opened the glass door. “And I’m going to see how far Hebert is willing to go to get that kid.”

Galen found a uniformed guard in the furnace room behind the massive units that heated the high-rise. His throat had been cut.

He found the plastic explosive and the timer that controlled it behind the furnace unit beside the dead man.

Twenty-two minutes.

Shit.

It wasn’t a simple timer, and was probably booby-trapped. No time to disarm it.

He turned off his telephone as he ran toward the elevator. A ringing phone could set off a bomb. He turned the phone back on as he reached the street.

It rang at once.

“Nothing much unusual,” Hughes said. “A building inspection. One of the guards got sick and had to go home. Want me to—”

“Forget it.” It would take more time for him to go get Jane himself than to delegate. “Get out of the building. Call your man on the twelfth floor to get Jane MacGuire and her grandmother out of there. Now. He has about twenty minutes.

Then call the bomb squad and get them here. I think it will be too late, but I could be wrong.”

“Right.” Hughes rang off.

Galen checked his watch.

Nineteen minutes.

Jane MacGuire was on the twelfth floor. Not much time.

And no time at all for the rest of the people who lived in the building. Galen wouldn’t get past the first few condos before the bomb went off.

Christ, what the hell could he do?

“It’s done.” Eve leaned back against the worktable and wiped her face. God, she was exhausted. The adrenaline was draining out of her, and she felt limp as a dishrag. “It’s the best I can do.”

“I thought you’d never get done. It’s almost three in the morning.” Nathan leaned forward, his body tense with eagerness. “May I look at it now?”

“Not yet. I have to put the glass eyes in the sockets.” She smiled faintly as she turned to the eye case on the worktable. “Galen would be glad of that. He has a thing about empty eye sockets.”

“Hurry!” Nathan moistened his lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I’m just…

anxious.”

“I know.” Eve opened the case and took out a pair of brown eyes and turned back to Victor. Only it might not be Victor now. He might soon have a real name. “It will only take a few minutes.”

It took less than that before she stepped back and turned to Nathan. “You can look now.”

Nathan jumped up from the chair and moved quickly across the room. He stopped, took a deep breath, and then moved around to stand beside Eve.

He stared at the features of the reconstruction.

Eve’s gaze searched his face. “Well, say something. Is it Bendy?”

“It’s him.” Nathan’s lips thinned. “It’s Harold Bently.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” His voice was uneven. “You did a good job. That’s him.” He turned away and moved quickly toward the staircase. “Excuse me. I’m so mad I want to choke someone. I can’t look at him. I was hoping—” Nathan flew up the stairs and almost ran into Joe coming down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” He brushed past him and was out the door.

“What’s wrong with him?” Joe asked as he came the rest of the way down the stairs. Then he saw Eve’s face and said, “Oh, the moment of truth?”

“It’s Bendy.” Eve rubbed the back of her aching neck. “You always have hope until you actually see the proof.”

Joe came to stand beside her, and looked at the face. “You evidently did a good job if he’s so certain.”

“I was hoping as much as he was that it wouldn’t be Bendy,” Eve said. “From what I’ve heard of him, he was a very good man. I didn’t want him to have died like this.” Her eyes were filling with tears, too. She blinked them back. “But it never does any good. So many more of the good die than the bad. They trust. They have no defenses. Like Bonnie…”

“Shh.” He pulled her into his arms. “Jesus, you’re so tired you can hardly stand up. Listen to me, you did a good job. You brought this poor guy home. Isn’t that what’s important?”

“Yes.” Comfort surrounded her, keeping out the cold and the loneliness as it always did when she was close to Joe. “That’s important. But not right now.”

“It will come.” He rubbed the exact spot between her shoulders that always bothered her. Her knees went weak with relief. “Your muscles are all knotted. Go on to bed and try to sleep. I don’t guess you’d let me give you a massage?”

“No.” She shouldn’t even be standing here like this. There were reasons, good reasons, why she should be pushing him away, but they didn’t seem to matter right now. “I’ll be okay.”

“You’d be better than okay with me. I’d make sure you were.” He shrugged. “But that’s not in the cards. Come on, I’ll help you up to bed and tuck you in.”

“I’m fine.”

“Stop arguing. You’re about to fall over. I know you’re vulnerable right now, and I’d love to take advantage of you. But I won’t.” He slid his arm around her waist and half led, half carried her toward the stairs. “Why are you fighting it? It’s no big deal.

How many times have I done this after you’ve finished a job?” So many times she couldn’t remember. Sometimes it seemed as if they’d been together all her life. Ten, twelve years? She couldn’t think. Everything was a blur right now. “Now that Victor’s done, I guess it’s time to call Jennings. The FBI should probably…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“I really didn’t want it to be Bently, Joe.”

“I know. Never mind. It will seem better in the morning.” Eve was barely aware of Joe helping her up to her room and pushing her down on the bed. He took off her shoes and pulled up the coverlet. “I’ll be right back.” He went into the bathroom and came back with a damp washcloth. He carefully wiped the clay off her hands. “That’ll do for now. You can hit the shower when you wake up.”

“Thanks, Joe.”

“I’ve always liked doing things for you. It makes you more mine. Next to sex, I liked it better than anything. Didn’t you know that?” She shouldn’t be listening to this. It was… intimate, and everything was wrong between them. It was hard to remember why. She didn’t want to remember why. Not now. “No, I didn’t know…”

“And you don’t want to think about it. That’s okay. I’ll settle for you not scuttling away from me.” He sat down beside her and took her hand. “That’s good enough.” Her hand tightened around his. “It shouldn’t be…”

“Shh. Go to sleep.”

She was already half asleep. She curled up on the bed and closed her eyes. “It’s…

so sad… Poor man…”

Chapter 13

« ^ »

EVE WAS ASLEEP.

Joe stared down at her face. Christ, he wanted to ease her pain. Fat chance. Ever since Bonnie’s death, Eve had been dealing with this pain. Giving her mind and skill and heart to bringing both the living and the dead home. Well, she had found another lost one and, as usual, he could only stand on the sidelines and help when she would let him.

Hell, he felt pretty lost himself right now. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. She doesn’t need that, too. He released Eve’s hand and bent down to press his lips to her forehead. “Sleep well, love,” he whispered.

He didn’t want to leave her, but he forced himself to stand up and head for the door. When she woke, they’d probably be back to square one, but maybe he’d made a tiny inroad tonight. He hoped to hell he had.

His phone rang as he reached the hall.

The side of the high-rise had exploded in a ball of flame and concrete.

Galen gazed up at the flames erupting out of the windows. It could have been worse. The bomb had been placed so that it only affected the west side. Jane MacGuire’s grandmother’s condo was on the west side of the building.

“Grandma’s scared. You get that creep.” Jane MacGuire took a step closer to Galen. “A lot of people could have been hurt if those sprinklers hadn’t gone off. Did you do that?”

“It was the only thing I could think of that would get everyone up and out of the apartments in time. I disconnected the fire alarm bell that might have set off the bomb, and sent Hughes’s men to knock on doors as long as it was safe. The water flooding their apartments saved a lot of arguments.” His glance wandered over the dimly lit street filled with men, women, and children in all stages of dress huddled together. Dogs ran around barking at cats held tightly in their owners’ arms. “I hope they all got out.”

“Me, too.” Jane pulled at Toby’s leash to keep him at her side. “Grandma didn’t want to go when that man came to the door. It was only when the sprinklers went off that she ran out.”

He could hear the sirens of fire trucks in the distance. “Where’s your grandmother?”

“Over there trying to calm down Mrs. Benson. She just had a baby and she’s pretty shook up.”

“I’m surprised she’s letting you talk to me.”

“I just told her who you were. Maybe I should have done it before. Grandma’s usually pretty cool.” She looked back at the fire. “He did all this to kill us?” Galen nodded.

“And he did it to get Eve out of hiding?”

“Yes.”

“Then you tell her to stay put.” She moistened her lips. “And you’d better do it fast. The first thing Grandma did when she got down to the street was call Joe.”

“What?”

“Joe told her to call him if there was a problem.” She looked at the burning high-rise. “He’s going to think this is a big problem.”

“How long ago?” He’d wanted to call Quinn himself.

“Five minutes. He told her to stay with me and he’d send a black-and-white.” She glanced at a squad car careening around the corner. “There it is.”

“Maybe.” A police car appears and whisks Jane and her grandmother away? No way. Not until he’d checked it out. He moved toward the car. “Stay here.”

“What the hell is happening?” Joe demanded when Galen answered his phone ten minutes later. “I just got a hysterical call from Eve’s mother, and she was talking about you and the condo blowing up and the sprinkler—”

“Jane’s safe. The squad car you sent picked her and her grandmother up and took them to a safe house. That’s what’s most important.”

“You went there to protect Jane. How did that bastard get so close to her?”

“She’s safe. That’s all that’s important.” Galen looked at the high-rise, which was still in flames. “I’ll tell you about the rest of it later.”

“The hell you will. I need to know what—”

“Wait a minute.” Hughes was trying to get Galen’s attention. “There’s something going on.”

“Sorry,” Hughes said. “I just heard about that telephone truck. Bell South says they sent no truck to that area.“ He paused. ”And the truck is gone now.“

“Jesus.” Galen’s hand tightened on his phone.

“What’s happening?” Joe demanded. “Is Jane okay?”

“Jane’s fine.” Galen was thinking, going over the possibilities. He didn’t like any of them. “But Hebert may have gotten what he wanted.”

“Then what do you mean Jane’s okay?”

“Calm down. I think Hebert hedged his bet. There’s a good chance he had a surveillance truck parked a few blocks from here tonight. There was no question of him intercepting phone calls from the high-rise, but once Eve’s mother was out of the building he’d have no trouble.”

“And she called me right away.”

“If the bomb killed them, you’d come out of hiding. If the bomb didn’t kill them, she’d call you and give him a chance for a trace. Get out of there, Quinn.”

“You’re guessing.”

“Do you want to risk proving me wrong? Hebert may prefer to do his dirty work personally, but he wouldn’t risk losing you because he wasn’t on site. He’d send someone else to do the job. If he got the fix, you don’t have much time.” Galen repeated, “Get the hell out of there.”

Silence. “Where?”

Thank God Quinn was listening. “Just get on the road. Call me when you’re clear.

I’ll be working to find you somewhere safe.”

“Wherever that is.” Quinn hung up.

Joe hesitated for a moment, thinking. Eve was exhausted. She’d been barely coherent. So he’d let her sleep as long as possible while he made preparations for departure.

He moved down the hall to Nathan’s room, threw open the door, and turned on the light. “Get up. I need your help.”

Nathan sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?”

“We have to get out of here. Go down and pack up all Eve’s equipment and the reconstruction. I’ll go and bring the car around to the front door.”

“Why?” Nathan swung out of bed and pulled on his pants. “What’s wrong? Why do we have to go?”

“Galen says we may have visitors any minute.”

“Hebert?”

“No, Hebert’s in Atlanta. So is Galen.” Joe turned away. “Get moving. I have to get Eve out of here.”

“Have the trunk open so I can put the equipment in.” Nathan was tying his shoes.

“You’d better pack Eve’s clothes when you get her up. She was pretty tired.”

“I’ll take care of Eve.” Joe was already moving down the hall. “Hurry.”

“Wake up, Eve.”

Joe was shaking her, Eve realized dimly. So tired…

“Wake up. We have to get out of here.”

She opened her eyes. “Sleepy…”

“Sorry. You can sleep in the car. We may have visitors.” At the lake cottage? They seldom had visitors. It was always an oasis of peace and quiet. Joe made sure of that.

But they weren’t at the lake cottage, she realized suddenly. New Orleans. Victor.

No, it wasn’t Victor. It was Bently. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve got your bag packed.” Joe pulled her to her feet. “Nathan’s already in the car.” He half carried her from the room and down the stairs. “He packed up all your equipment. All we have to do is get on the road.”

“Why?”

“Galen called. We have a problem.” He pulled her out the front door. “It’s not safe here any longer.”

“Why not?”

“Later.” He pushed her into the passenger’s seat of the Lexus that Galen had sent and ran around to the driver’s seat. “Did you get everything, Nathan?”

“The equipment’s in the trunk. I have the reconstruction back here with me.” Nathan fixed his gaze on the road. “Headlights. They’ll be at the gates in no time.”

“They’re locked, aren’t they?” Eve asked.

“They’ll have the equipment to get them open,” Nathan said. “It will only take a few minutes.”

“Then let’s use those few minutes.” Joe didn’t put on the headlights, but drove slowly, silently down the driveway. When he got to the small wood surrounding the house, he left the driveway and drove into the trees.

The car that stopped at the gates was a dark-colored Volvo. Two men got out of the backseat and went up to the gates. It took less than three minutes before the gates swung open. The men piled back into the car.

Eve held her breath as the car glided by them and up the driveway to the house.

The Volvo’s lights were out now, too, and the car appeared sleek and menacing in the darkness.

“Now,” Nathan whispered.

“Not yet. Let them get inside.” Three men entered the front door. Two others went around the back. “Close enough.” He let out the brake and pressed down on the accelerator.

The sound of the engine couldn’t have been as loud as it sounded to Eve, but it was loud enough. One man ran around the side of the house.

“Gun it,” Eve said.

Joe was already gunning it. He tore through the open gates and hit the road at sixty miles an hour.

Damn those trees surrounding the house, Eve thought. She couldn’t see anything.

What was she thinking? Those trees might well have saved them.

Now she could see. Headlights racing down the driveway toward the gates.

Then they were gone as Joe went around the corner of the road and stomped on the accelerator.

“There’s a gas station up ahead. It’s closed, but I can see the pumps,” Nathan said.

“You could pull behind it and let them go by.”

“It worked back at the house.” Joe pulled off the road and came to a stop behind the gas station. “Maybe they won’t expect it a second time. We’ll have to see…” He cut the lights.

Or maybe they would expect it, Eve thought. Joe’s hand was sliding beneath his jacket. She knew that gesture. He was loosening his gun in his holster.

“Get out,” Joe said. “Now.”

“What?”

“Don’t argue. Both of you. Get out,” he snapped.

Eve instinctively obeyed and found Nathan beside her.

“Take care of her, Nathan.” The Lexus roared away from them and back on the road.

Shit. Eve’s hands clenched into fists as she watched the taillights disappear around the curve. Everything had happened so fast she hadn’t realized what Joe was doing. But she should have realized. She knew him, dammit.

The Volvo screamed around the turn and barreled toward them.

Closer.

Almost on top of them.

And then passed them.

It was out of sight seconds later.

“It worked,” Nathan said. “We should leave now.”

“What do you mean, leave? They’re going after Joe.”

“But that’s what he wanted them to do. We have no way to help him. We’ll call him once we’re clear of this place. You’ll ruin his plan if you stay here. If he loses them, they could double back to check out the area.”

“You give him a little time to shake those men, and then call him and tell him we’re not going anywhere. I’m not moving until Joe comes back.” Nathan gazed at her expression and then shrugged. “Okay, but it’s not good tactics.”

“I don’t care about tactics.” She leaned against the wall of the gas station, her gaze on the curve where Joe had disappeared. Jesus, she was scared.

“He’ll probably make it,” Nathan said. “He’s been well trained, hasn’t he?”

“Just because he was a SEAL doesn’t mean that he’s a champion race car driver.

And he shouldn’t have left us here, damn him.”

“It was a good tact—” Nathan broke off as he met Eve’s gaze. “Sorry.” He quickly pulled out his phone and in a moment was talking to Joe. “He’s not happy,” he said when he hung up.

“Too bad. He had no right to take off like a bat out of hell. He’s not the only one involved here.”

“There wasn’t much time for discussion.”

Eve knew that, but it didn’t make her feel any less angry and helpless… and terrified.

Joe.

“He seemed to be able to drive pretty well,” Nathan offered.

He was trying to comfort her, Eve realized. “Yes.”

“And I think the Lexus was faster than that Volvo.”

“Let’s not talk about it, okay?” she said jerkily.

Nathan nodded and fell silent.

Ten minutes passed.

Where the hell was he?

Fifteen minutes.

It was forty-five minutes before Joe appeared around the curve and glided to a stop behind the gas station. He reached over and opened the passenger door. “Get in.

I think I lost them five miles back, but we should get out of here.” Nathan scrambled into the backseat. “You didn’t do bad at all, Quinn.”

“Thank you,” he said ironically as he pulled back onto the road. “I’m glad I met with your approval.”

“I tried to get her to leave, but she was worried.”

“Was she?” Joe glanced sideways at Eve’s set face.

“I wasn’t worried. You were stupid. You could have stayed with us and we’d have given them the slip, but you probably enjoyed playing Keystone Kops.” Her voice shook. “It was… stupid.”

“It seemed the most reasonable thing to—”

“It was good tactics, right? Just shut up and get us out of here.” Joe gave a soundless whistle. “Yes, ma’am. Right away, ma’am.“ Joe went back in the direction they had come from.

“Where are we going?”

“I have no idea. I’ll worry about that when I’m sure we don’t have anyone tailing us.”

Joe didn’t stop until he was fifty miles away from Galen’s house and he’d changed roads and directions twice. He finally pulled over at a supermarket lot in a small town on the east side of New Orleans.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Galen. “We’re clear. We did have visitors.”

“I was afraid of that. No one was hurt?”

“No, but we’re in a Podunk town in the middle of nowhere. Find me a place to put Eve.”

“I’m working on it,” Galen said. “I’ll get back to you.” He hung up.

“Now can I find out what the devil is happening?” Eve asked.

He got out of the car. “Come on, let’s take a walk.”

“I do have a stake in this, too, you know,” Nathan said.

“Later,” Joe said. “Stay here and take care of the skull.” It was chilly, and Eve jammed her cold hands into the pockets of her jacket as she fell into step with Joe. “Talk to me.”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“So what’s new. I haven’t liked anything to do with this reconstruction,” Eve said.

“This strikes close to home.”

She stiffened. “Jane?”

“Don’t panic. She’s okay. So is your mother.” He quickly filled her in on what her mother and Galen had told him.

“And you say she’s okay?” Eve’s hands clenched into fists in her pockets. “For God’s sake, that crazy bastard blew up the condo. It’s a miracle they’re still alive.”

“But they are alive.”

“I should never have left her. You should never have left her.”

“Don’t you know that’s what I’ve been telling myself ever since I got that call from your mother? I thought Hebert would concentrate on you, but I still tried to give them enough protection.”

“You didn’t do it. She almost died. You should have—” She shook her head.

“Why am I blaming you? It’s just as much my fault as it is yours. I’m the one who took this job. I’m the one who chose to steal the damn skull. I thought he’d go after me, too. I’m the one who’s to blame.”

“Shh. Stop shaking. Nothing happened.”

“What do you mean? Something did happen. He almost killed them. I was so worried about Victor and so busy thumbing my nose at Hebert that I—”

“Hush.” He took her in his arms and pressed her head into his shoulder. “Jane and your mother are fine, and we’re going to keep them that way.” Oh, God, she needed him. An anchor in a rough sea. A rock that never moved.

“Joe…” Without thinking, she slid her arms around him. “Jane’s never been sure that I really loved her. She’s always thought Bonnie came first. I do love her. It’s just…

different.”

“She knows you love her.”

“She’s not sure. I want to tell her again. What if she’d died and I didn’t get the chance to tell her how much she means to me?”

“But she didn’t.”

“There are so many things I didn’t tell Bonnie before she was taken from me. I’m not going to make that mistake again.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks. “But I almost did. Shit.”

“Okay, you’re not perfect. Who is? But Jane’s not one of your lost children. She’s strong and smart, and she’s a survivor. She’ll only take so much from you. We’re lucky she lets us as close to her as she does.” His hands cupped her face and he looked down into her eyes. “Are you listening to me, Eve? Jane doesn’t want a mother. She loves you, but you came together too late for all the maternal folderol.