Текст книги "Body of Lies "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

“What?”

“Well, I’m here, but Galen and Quinn don’t think I’m qualified to help them. The most I’ve been able to get them to let me do is go to the supermarket and buy groceries.” He grimaced. “So I thought I’d stay down here and protect you.”

“Protect me? I don’t need you.”

“You never can tell.” Nathan scowled. “I wouldn’t get in your way.”

“You’d talk to me.”

“I can be quiet.” He paused and then said grudgingly, “Please.”

“Why?” Eve carefully smoothed clay over Victor’s mid-therum area. “You obviously disapprove of my doing the reconstruction.”

“I don’t disapprove. I just think you’re taking a big chance. I went to a lot of trouble to try to save you, and I don’t want my efforts wasted.” His gaze went to Victor. “But I want to know if this is Bently as much as you do.”

“Your news story.”

“I’m not apologizing for that. It’s my job.”

“Did Joe tell you about Jennings’s fuel-cell theory?”

“Yeah. It makes sense.” He paused. “There’s another reason I kept pushing for Bently’s case to remain open months after his disappearance. He was fighting for something I believed in, and it made me mad as hell that the special interest groups had him taken out. Do you know there’s a dead spot in the Gulf of Mexico fifty miles wide, where the Mississippi empties into it? The fertilizer in the river sucks up the oxygen and nothing can live. And do you remember the oil spill in the gulf ten years ago? I covered it for the paper. It made me sick. All the birds and fish that died, smothered by the oil slick. When I was a boy, I used to go fishing in the gulf with my grandfather…” He shook his head. “I thought it was a memory that couldn’t be spoiled no matter how long I lived. I was wrong.” He grimaced. “I want my kids to grow up with clean air and clean water and some of the beauty that I knew. Bently wanted that, too, and was fighting for it. It’s not right he ended up like this.” Eve stared at him in surprise. It seemed beneath that surly facade Nathan had a soft side. It was clear he meant every word he said.

“What are you looking at?” he asked gruffly. “Is it so weird that I don’t want the earth to get any crummier than it is now?”

“No, it’s not weird,” she said gently. “I live on one of the most beautiful lakes you could ever hope to see. I wouldn’t want anything to spoil it, either.”

“Okay, then, we’re kindred spirits.” Nathan plopped down in the easy chair by the fire. “So is it all right if I stay and kind of watch out for you? I’m getting bored as hell waiting around for something to happen. I want to do something.”

“I don’t need—” Oh, what the hell. His intentions were good, and he was obviously at loose ends. “If you don’t bother me.”

“I won’t.” He took out a paperback from his back pocket. “You work, I read.” He opened the book. “Forget I’m here.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Concentrate. Forget about Nathan and Jules and Joe and everything else troubling.

Think only about Victor and the task of bringing him home.

“I brought you coffee and a sandwich.” Galen set the tray on the worktable. He glanced at Nathan, sound asleep in the big chair by the fire. “If I’d known you had company, I’d have brought more food.”

“He’s protecting me.” Eve grinned as she glanced at Nathan. “He was very insistent, but he got bored after about four hours and dropped off. He meant well.”

“Hmm.” Galen poured Eve’s coffee before turning away from Nathan. “How are you coming on Victor?”

“I’d be better if I didn’t keep being interrupted.”

“Ouch. Well, you won’t have to worry about me for much longer. I’ll be out of your hair. I’m going to snoop around and see what I can find out about our friend Jules.”

“Where are you going?”

“New Orleans, first.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“Not long, I hope. I’ll be in touch.”

“So much for my poison taster.”

“I’m designating Quinn as my temporary replacement.” He held up his hand as he saw her stiffen. “I knew that would be your reaction. That’s why I decided to come and talk to you before I left. It’s important that I go, and I wouldn’t have the option if Quinn weren’t here. You’re evidently resigned to his presence, but that’s not enough.” He paused. “He knows what he’s doing, Eve. You have to cooperate. You have to listen to him.”

“Do I?”

“You’re not thinking straight. Do you believe there’s a threat to your life?”

“I’d be stupid not to consider the possibility.”

“Do you believe Joe Quinn is competent?”

“Of course.”

“Then, dammit, stop being stubborn and let him help you. He’s not going to take advantage of the situation. I’ll feel better about being away if you’ll promise me you’ll cooperate with him.”

She didn’t want Galen to go away. He had been a buffer between Joe and her.

Now he was tearing down the barrier and leaving her exposed.

Okay, be adult. It was a life-and-death situation, and she couldn’t expect to have everything her own way. She was the one who had chosen to take Victor from the church. Face the consequences. “I’ll cooperate.”

“Good. I’ll be back as soon as I can. You should be okay with Quinn protecting you.” He glanced at Nathan. “Though I doubt if Nathan is going to be of any use.” He started for the stairs. “I have to see Quinn before I go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Where are you going?” Nathan’s eyes were suddenly open, and he was sitting upright in the chair.

“Ah, good to see you with us again. I was afraid I’d have to get a frog to kiss you to wake you up. Or is that the right fairy tale?”

“Where the hell are you going?”

“To track down Hebert. But I feel very confident that Eve will be safe with you as long as you take your No-Doz.”

“Smartass.” Nathan glowered at Galen. “At least, I don’t willingly jump into bayous with alligators and…”

He was talking to air. Galen had already disappeared up the stairs.

Nathan muttered an oath, and his glance shifted to Eve. “Quinn’s staying?”

“Yes.” She turned back to the reconstruction. With all these interruptions, it would be incredible if she ever finished Victor. “Now I have to get back to work.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t speak for a moment, and then he grumbled, “I wasn’t really sleeping. I was just resting my eyes…”

“Anything from the FBI?” Galen stood in the doorway of the library.

“I have your photos. The sketch and the photo were two peas in a pod.” Joe nodded at the four faxes on the desk. “Hebert must be very smart. He’s been picked up on suspicion of murder once, but he’s never gone to trial. Lack of evidence.”

“Or pull in very high places.”

“I’m not going to believe that until I get proof.”

“That’s the problem with being a cop. I have the advantage of being able to make guesses out of the blue.” Galen folded one of the faxes and put it in his jacket pocket.

“But this could come in handy. I’m heading into New Orleans and I have to take the car. I’ll stop and have another car dropped off for you. Any preference? Another Lexus?”

“Why are you going to New Orleans?”

Galen didn’t answer for a moment. “To catch a plane to Atlanta. I’m not really needed here, and I thought I might as well join the legion you have looking out for your Jane and her grandmother.”

Joe stiffened. “You think something’s going to happen in Atlanta?”

“I don’t know. It shouldn’t. You have enough protection for them.” He shrugged.

“My problem is that I never trust anyone but myself. Since you’re here, I thought I might as well go scout out the area.” He paused. “Unless you object?” 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 the 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 12

« ^ »

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.”

Hughes hurriedly got to his feet. “I’m out of here. See you later, Galen.” She turned back to Galen. “Let me see your ID.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He handed her his driver’s license.

She glanced at it and then handed it back to him. “If you’re Galen, you must know my dog Toby’s mother’s name.”

“The beautiful, bad-tempered Maggie. Satisfied?” Jane relaxed. “No.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Here comes Grandma. We have to be quick. Why are you here?”

“I’m sure that if you ask your grandmother, she’ll tell you anything you should know.”

“Don’t give me that bull. Grandma doesn’t want to worry me. If I asked her anything, she’d only lie to make me feel better. It’s something to do with Eve, isn’t it?

Is she in trouble?”

“We’re trying to keep her out of trouble.”

“I could tell something was wrong when I talked to her on the phone a few nights ago. She said everything was fine with her, and that Joe was with her.”

“He is.”

“But you’re here. Why?”

“Jane!” her grandmother called, running toward her.

Jane turned and waved before telling Galen, “Hurry.” He decided to level with her. The kid was sharp, and it wouldn’t hurt to warn her.

“We think there’s a possibility the people who are trying to hurt Eve may attempt to get at her through you. Have you seen anyone suspicious?”

“You mean besides you? You’re not very good at this, are you?”

“I can be. I didn’t try to be this time. I didn’t expect you to be suspicious, and the sight of me could have been a deterrent to anyone else.”

“Who? The other creep?”

Galen stiffened. “Creep? You noticed somebody else watching you?”

“Two days ago. He followed me to school, and then he was here in the park. He was much better than you.”

“Did you get a good look at him?”

She nodded. “I made sure I did. I’d already noticed the squad cars. I knew something was happening.”

He took out the photo of Hebert. “Look anything like this?” She glanced at it. “That’s him.”

“Why didn’t you tell your grandmother?”

“I couldn’t be sure he was a creep. He might have been one of Joe’s friends, and it would just have worried her. Or he might have been just your ordinary run-of-the-mill pervert. I’ve seen plenty of those.”

“Oh, have you?”

“I haven’t seen him since. I have to go, or Grandma will call the cops on you.” Her lips tightened. “I don’t like not knowing what’s happening. You tell Eve and Joe that.”

He shook his head. “I’ll tell Joe what you said, but I won’t tell him about your

‘creep’ yet. It would be a sure way to make them drop everything and come running.

They’re much safer if they stay in hiding.”

“Hiding? Eve never mentioned anything about that. Why are they in hiding?”

“It’s complicated. Eve wanted to finish the job she started.”

“Then why are you here? You go back and make sure Joe and Eve are safe,” she said fiercely. “You do your job. Don’t you dare let anything happen to them. I’ll take care of Grandma.” She whirled and ran back toward her grandmother. “It’s okay,” she called. “He only wanted directions, Grandma. Just another lost Yankee. They get so confused with all these Peachtree Streets.”

“I told you not to talk to strangers.” Her grandmother whisked her up the path.

“Now you call that idiot dog and we’ll go home to supper.”

“Wow,” Hughes said softly as he strolled back to Galen. “Correction: She’s not at all like my kid. If I needed some muscle, I might decide to hire her.”

“Eve told me she grew up on the streets.” He watched Jane and Sandra Duncan walk down the path. “She didn’t tell me she was twelve going on fifty.”

“You showed her the photo?”

“She saw him. Hebert is here in Atlanta. Or at least he was two days ago.” He stood up. “But where the hell is he? If he was hanging around, you should have been able to spot him.”

“Maybe he was scared off.”

That scenario didn’t fit with the picture of Jules Hebert Galen had been building up. “Or maybe he went underground and is only waiting for his chance.” The idea of Hebert stalking that bright kid, hovering over her like a dark cloud, turned his stomach. “We’re not going to give it to him, Hughes.” Jules watched as the black pickup truck sank below the waters of Lake Lanier with scarcely a ripple. There was so much water here in Atlanta. He had found it very convenient.

He had chosen a deep part of the lake so the man would not be found too quickly.

There should be no outcry for at least three days. Leonard Smythe was divorced and lived alone in his mobile home, and from Jules’s brief surveillance he appeared a solitary man.

Jules glanced down at the treasure for which Smythe had died. If he’d been given a choice, Smythe would have given it up in a heartbeat, but Jules couldn’t risk giving him that option.

It was sad when a man had to die for a clipboard and a few scraps of paper.