Текст книги "Sleep No More "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

*   *   *

JOE SLOWED DOWN TO A CRAWL as he passed the long driveway of the estate next door to the Dendridge Tudor. It was dark, and there were several turns on the way up the hill. A good place to pull off and avoid possible scrutiny and yet be able to keep everything around him under surveillance.

Are you up there, Drogan?

If they’d been followed by Drogan, he could have pulled off at any of ten houses along this stretch.

And there was no proof that they had been followed.

No proof. But a nagging hunch that wouldn’t go away. Joe believed in hunches. They had saved his life too many times for him to ignore them. And he had felt that strong whisper of instinct the moment he had gotten out of the car back at the Tudor. That sense of being watched …

He had thought it might be Drogan somewhere on the grounds, but that hadn’t panned out. So he had decided to explore the road behind him.

Nothing.

Or nothing he could see.

He turned around and headed back toward the Tudor. He didn’t like the idea of not being with Eve when he knew that bastard was somewhere around. He’d come back later on foot and scour the neighborhood.

He dialed Eve. “No luck. I’m on my way.” He hung up, and his gaze once more traveled down the street of luxurious homes.

But I know you’re out there, Drogan. You can’t hide from me for long. I’ll find you.

*   *   *

“JOE’S ON HIS WAY BACK.” Eve hung up the phone and turned to Beth. “Newell doesn’t look too good. Do you have any coffee in this place?”

“In the kitchen.” Beth headed for the door. “I’ll get it.”

“I’ll go with you.” She said over her shoulder to Newell, “Stay where you are and rest. We’ll be right back.”

“I’m not moving.” Newell closed his eyes. “It’s been a rough night. I deserve to relax.”

“Yes, you do,” Beth said soberly. “I’m so sorry, Billy.”

“No problem.” He didn’t open his eyes. “A little caffeine, and I’ll be fine.”

“Right away,” Eve said as she followed Beth out of the room and down the hall. “I assume we can’t turn on the kitchen lights?”

“No, but I always get the coffeemaker ready so I can have it in the evening.”

Moonlight was streaming into the kitchen from a huge window over the sink, and Eve could see Beth hit the button on the coffeemaker and moved from the sink to the bronze thermal carafe sitting on the granite counter. “Caffeine is an essential for quality living for Joe and me. I suppose Newell is the same.”

“I didn’t like coffee at first. But I found it gave me a little zing and kept me awake while I was studying here. They never gave it to me at the hospital, and I only drank water and Gatorade before they took me there.”

No, Pierce had probably not wanted to mix caffeine with her drug regimen, Eve thought bitterly. “I guess you were too young to develop an addiction to coffee. I keep forgetting that you were only a teenager when you had your accident.” She paused. “What were you studying here?”

“Everything. Billy told me to catch up and learn how the world works these days.” She made a face. “I don’t like it very much. Maybe I didn’t notice all the corruption and bad stuff that was going on when I was growing up, but it seems as if it must be worse now.”

“Or maybe just more publicized. Media is all around us.”

“And computers. I was surprised how easy it was to work the one in the library.” She added, “Facebook. It’s very … intimate.”

“Only if you want it that way. Your choice. It can get in your way. It interferes with my work, so I usually ignore it.”

“What is your work?”

“I’m a forensic sculptor.”

“What’s that?”

“I reconstruct skulls. You’re not really interested in what I do, are you?”

“I suppose not.” She took the coffee and poured it back into the carafe. “Or if I am, it’s not because it has anything to do with you. I’m just curious. I’m curious about everything. At first, I was only doing what Billy told me to do, but the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. It was like being … drunk.”

“If you know how that feels, you must have been drinking more than water and Gatorade when you were a teenager.”

“I went to parties.” She frowned. “I had a friend … She laughed a lot…” She was silent, then shook her head. “I can’t remember her name.”

“I’m sure it will come back to you,” Eve said gently.

“No, you’re not sure. How could you be sure when I’m not? But I think it will. I hope it will.” She took down cups from the cabinet. “It makes me angry that I can’t remember everything. I feel cheated.” She glanced at Eve. “You believe that this Dr. Gelber was responsible for making me forget things?”

Eve nodded.

“Drugs?”

“Maybe partially, but I’m leaning toward hypnosis.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know if I believe in hypnosis. Do you?”

“I don’t know everything that it can accomplish, but I do believe that hypnosis can work. Gelber is evidently a very skilled practitioner, and he spent many sessions with you.”

“Then wouldn’t I remember him?” She shook her head. “Not if he didn’t want me to, right? But why wouldn’t he? And why would he want me to forget everything before I came to the hospital?”

“The reason on the chart was removal of psychological trauma.”

“Billy says that I was injured in a ski accident. What kind of psychological trauma would I get from that? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I agree.”

She gave Eve a disgusted look. “Is that all you’re going to say? What help are you?”

“You said you didn’t want my help.”

“I don’t. But you might as well be useful if you’re going to stick around for a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She added quietly, “But you have to come to terms with the fact that we’ve been thrown in this brouhaha together, and we have to cooperate. You appear to have some lingering resentment toward our mother because she abandoned you. Maybe you include me under that same umbrella. I should point out that since I had no idea you even existed, that’s totally unreasonable.”

“I don’t have to be reasonable.” Her lips tightened. “I’m mentally incompetent. Ask Pierce.”

“Don’t give me that excuse. You can’t have it both ways, Beth.”

“I can do whatever I want to do.” She didn’t speak for a moment as she screwed the top back on the carafe. “Okay, maybe you’re right. I’ve just realized since I’ve been out of the hospital and free how alone I’ve been all these years. I could have used a friend to help me. What do they call it? To watch my back? But no one was there. I was alone. You may not be to blame, but it’s hard for me to accept that there was no one there for me. Someone should have been there.” She impatiently shook her head. “Listen to me. I’m whining. I’ve always hated whiners.”

Eve smiled faintly. “I believe you have cause to complain. But suppose we strike a truce. We both have a motive to get you out of this mess. Let’s work our way through it, then I’ll go away and won’t bother you again.”

“I guess that would be okay.” She picked up the carafe and turned toward the door. Then she turned back and gazed at Eve. “But what if I don’t want you to go away then?”

Eve blinked. “What?”

“Never mind. That just came out. I don’t know why.” Her lips twisted. “It’s probably my lack of ‘reason’ again. Sometimes my mind is just a jumble, and I wonder if Pierce was right about my being crazy.”

“You’re not crazy. And we all have moments of confusion and ‘jumble.’ Don’t you remember that from the time before your accident?”

“I don’t remember much about my thought processes. I don’t remember much of anything except that I was happy most of the time. And that I always wanted to be first at everything.”

“Competitiveness isn’t bad. It can be very healthy. And, evidently, you were pretty good at everything you did.”

“You bet I was.” She started for the door. “But that’s in the past. I mustn’t think of that now.”

“Why not? Why turn your back?”

“Because it’s not healthy to—” She broke off. “It seems as if I’ve heard that before.”

“You might have heard it. Posthypnotic suggestion?”

“Maybe. Or just something else that doesn’t make sense.” She added fiercely, “But it doesn’t make sense for anyone to try to kill me either. Or to try to kill Billy. It shouldn’t have happened. It wasn’t right. And if you want to help me, I’ll let you do it.” She strode down the hall toward the library. “Why not?”

Eve heard her talking to Newell as she followed her down the hall. Beth was such a combination of passion, bewilderment, and suppressed anger that it was like being next to a lightning rod during a thunderstorm. You never knew which strike was going to hit, but you were sure that one of them would. In that short conversation, Eve had learned a great deal about Beth. She had expected her to be vulnerable and weak, and she was neither. There was a fragility that was balanced by strength and intelligence. Though a few of her impulsive remarks might have been spoken by the teenager she had been before her normal life was cut short, that was to be expected. She’d had no mature experiences to hone away the rough edges and teach her discretion and diplomacy.

Not a bad thing, Eve thought ruefully. Discretion and diplomacy were only armor, and she’d be able to get to know Beth much faster if she didn’t have them to hide behind.

And why did she want to get to know her? A truce would surely not require it.

It didn’t matter. No matter what resentments and complexities made up their fledgling relationship, Eve knew that she was going to be driven to explore the person that Beth had been before and after Pierce had gotten his hands on her.

Her phone rang.

Joe.

“I’m parking the car down the street, so it won’t be noticed. It will take me a few minutes to get to the front door.”

“I’ll be waiting there to unlock the door and turn off the alarm.” She hung up and turned to see Beth standing in the library doorway. “It’s only Joe. He’s on his way here.”

Beth followed her down the hall toward the front door. “Billy called him your significant other. That means you’re not married, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But you sleep together and have sex?”

“That’s right, too, but it’s considered rude to describe exactly the nature of an intimate relationship.”

“I didn’t describe it exactly. If I had, it would have been pornographic, wouldn’t it?” She stopped at the door and punched in the security code on the panel beside it. “And I didn’t mean to be rude, I was just curious.”

“You didn’t offend me.” She opened the front door. “I was just telling you what most people might think. You said that Billy told you that you had to catch up with what was going on in the world today.”

“For God’s sake, it’s not as if I didn’t know about sex before the accident. After all, I wasn’t in a convent. I was just unfamiliar with the term and wanted to be sure that I had gotten it right.”

Eve’s gaze narrowed on her face. “And perhaps you wanted me to be a little uncomfortable?”

“Maybe.” She met her gaze. “And maybe I was jealous.”

“What?”

“Sex. I’ve never gone to bed with anyone. I was always into sports, and I never even dated. I thought there was plenty of time. But there wasn’t, was there?”

Another important element of life the Beth had missed, Eve thought. “Not for the girl you were, but it’s not as if you can’t make it up. Sex isn’t only for the very young.” She grinned. “If it were, I’d be feeling pretty damn cheated myself.”

“You like it?”

Eve caught sight of Joe, who had entered the far courtyard and was walking toward the house. “Oh, yes, I like it very much indeed.”

“I can see that you do.” Beth’s gaze was focused on Eve’s face before it shifted to Joe. “He’s very … good-looking. No, he’s just … I don’t know, but I can see why you’d want to have sex with him.”

“I’m glad that you approve of my choice,” Eve said dryly. “Not that it matters.”

“Would you mind if I had sex with him?”

Eve’s eyes widened with shock. “I beg your pardon.”

“You would mind.” She shrugged. “I just thought that it might be okay. I think I’d like it with him, too. From what I’ve been watching on TV, people seem to be having sex with everyone these days, and no one seems too bothered about it.”

“You’ve been watching the wrong programs. There is such a thing as fidelity, Beth.”

“Forget it. It was just a thought. Sex is probably going to be awkward for me at first, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself with a man I cared about. I thought I’d get it out of the way.”

“Not with Joe,” Eve said firmly. “And I’d think you’d be thinking about how to keep alive instead of your first roll in the hay.”

“I’m going to stay alive. But I can’t close everything else away from me.” Her voice vibrated with intensity. “You don’t understand. Just staying alive isn’t enough. I want to live. I want to drain the cup. I want to feel and know.”

And who could blame her? That young Beth in the photograph, whom Eve had thought so vibrantly alive, had been imprisoned and was finally free and wanting to taste every morsel of life.

“You’re wrong, I do understand.”

“Do you?” Beth whispered. Then she smiled brilliantly. “I think you do.”

Eve chuckled. “But you still can’t have Joe.” She turned to Joe, who was now only a few yards away, and said, “Come and meet my sister, Joe. This is Beth.”

CHAPTER

11

IT WAS THE BITCH!

Drogan focused his binoculars on the two women who stood in the doorway of the house as Quinn approached them. The first woman was the one he’d followed with Joe Quinn. The other was Beth Avery. He recognized her not only from the photo that Pierce had given him but also the glimpse he’d had of her in that hospital room. He would have known her anywhere. He had been thinking of her, lusting for too long after the moment he’d have her in his sights.

She was smiling faintly at Quinn as she took a step back into the house. He lost sight of her.

Again.

But not for long, bitch. I’m not going to lose you again. You think that Quinn and those others can protect you? Now it’s only a matter of time. When you least expect it, I’ll be there. Did you see what I did to Newell? That’s nothing to how I’ll cut you. Pierce wants it to look like an accident, but that’s not going to happen. I’ve waited too long for you. My dear Mama Zela taught me how to make death take a long time, and I’ve missed those nights in the bayou with only the fire and the prey and the Snake God.

He wriggled down the hill to the trees and stood up as soon as he had cover. He’d wait until they got settled, then start reconnoitering the property to see if he could find a way into the house that wouldn’t set off the alarms. If that wasn’t possible, he’d just stake it out until they left the place. Then he’d pounce and—

His phone was vibrating.

If it was Pierce, he wasn’t about to answer. Not until the bitch had been put down in the way he wanted.

It wasn’t Pierce. He looked at the ID in shock. What the hell?

He slowly pushed the access button. “Well, what a surprise. I wasn’t expecting you.”

*   *   *

“YOU WERE LONGER THAN I thought you’d be,” Eve said as she closed the front door after Joe entered. “What’s wrong?”

Joe shrugged. “Maybe nothing. I just decided to be extra careful. I needed to reassure myself that—” He stopped and glanced at Beth.

“It’s okay,” Eve said. “You’re not going to have to worry about her crumbling away or crawling under the bed to shiver in terror because of Drogan. She met Newell and me in the hall with a Luger.”

“Really?” He tilted his head. “Interesting.”

“Not really,” Beth said. “I knew enough to pull the trigger, but I wasn’t sure I could hit anything.”

“It’s not difficult to hit a target if you’re close enough,” Joe said. “Just keep on shooting, and you’ll have it covered.”

Beth smiled. “I’ll remember that. But I’m glad I didn’t have to shoot at Eve and Billy.” Her smile faded. “What did you want to tell Eve that you were afraid would scare me?”

“Nothing concrete.” He looked at Eve. “But Drogan’s out there. I can feel it.”

“But you didn’t see him?” Beth asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Eve said absently. “I’d trust Joe’s instincts every time. So what do we do, Joe? I don’t believe it’s likely that Drogan will bring in the police or some help from the hospital.”

“I don’t either. I think he’s a loner. But if he’s a professional, then he’ll have contacts and might decide to call in someone else that he knows he can dominate.” He shrugged. “Which means that we can’t stay here too long. My bet is that he’ll try to find a way to get to her. We’ll have to find another safe house.”

“Newell needs rest,” Eve said. “How much time do we have?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Joe said. “I’ll go out in an hour or so and see if I can track Drogan down.”

“Don’t do that,” Beth said sharply. “I saw what he did to Billy. That’s not going to happen again. I’m not going to be to blame for anyone else’s being hurt because of me. Just find a way for me to leave here.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Joe said. “In the meantime, I’ll do what I think is right.” He met her gaze. “Eve wants you safe. That means you will be safe. Back off.”

Beth’s hands clenched into fists as she stared at him for a moment. Then she turned on her heel and strode down the hall toward the library.

“Not what I expected,” Joe murmured as he watched her disappear. “She won’t be easy to manipulate.”

“I don’t want to manipulate her, dammit,” Eve said through set teeth. “For years she’s been stuffed in that hospital bed like a lifeless doll, with Pierce and his buddies trying to keep her quiet and not bother him and the Averys. She’s been manipulated too much already.”

“Shh.” He brushed his lips across her cheek. “Wrong word. I didn’t mean to stir you up. It seems she’s arousing your sense of protectiveness. She may not need it. I notice that she has a mind of her own.”

“That they tried to take away from her.” She shook her head. “I can imagine how I would have felt in the same circumstances, and I wasn’t like her. She was an athlete, and you could see from that photo how much she loved life.” The anger was growing as she thought about it. “Hell, no, she’s not going to be easy. She’s only been out of that place for a few days, and she’s already questioning, probing, trying to get back a little of what’s been stolen from her.” She suddenly smiled. “Actually, I think she’s going to get back more than a little. She asked if she could go to bed with you, Joe.”

“What?”

“She liked the look of you and thought that it would be better to have her first sex experience with someone she didn’t really care about, in case she wasn’t good at it.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Did you tell her that one glance doesn’t guarantee a safe or happy experience?”

“No, I was flattered that she thought my choice of you guaranteed that for her.”

“Oh, so you decided to give me to her for the experiment?”

She smiled. “No way in hell. Let her find her own man.”

“Good.” He kissed her. “And I’m sure she’s not going to have any problem. She’s exceptionally attractive.”

She nodded. “Sleeping Beauty. Only very much awake and alive now.” She started toward the library. “And we’ve got to keep her that way.”

“You said you think Pierce’s orders were to keep her quiet. I don’t believe that was a slip of the tongue.”

“No, don’t you think the same thing? It’s all too pat. A mysterious accident, and she’s whisked thousands of miles away to a hospital where the Averys establish a connection with a rising young doctor who soars even higher under their patronage. She’s kept there for years and virtually buried away from the Averys, the media, and everyone who has ever known her. Then there’s the business with Dr. Gelber. Another layer in the attempt to silence her.” She met Joe’s gaze as they paused at the library door. “I think she saw something or found out something that made her presence in the Averys’ lives very inconvenient.”

“And they chose to send her to that hospital rather than kill her? If what she saw was that dangerous, wouldn’t they have wanted a permanent solution?”

“She was an Avery. Family might have made a difference.” She frowned. “I just don’t know. And I don’t know what changed that made Beth a luxury they couldn’t afford. Why bring in a hired killer after all these years?”

“Then maybe we’d better ask Beth a few questions.” Joe stepped aside to let Eve precede him into the room. “Not that I have much hope.”

*   *   *

“YOU THINK I SAW SOMETHING I shouldn’t have seen?” Beth asked blankly. “What?”

“If we knew that, then we wouldn’t be asking you,” Eve said dryly. “I know you said you had very little memory of the time before the hospital, but I was hoping if you tried … You did say that things were coming back to you.”

“Not about the accident. I guess it was too traumatic for any memories to survive. Or maybe it was just that it was so quick that there isn’t a memory.”

“Of maybe it was that all of those, logical, fine reasons were suggested by Dr. Gelber,” Newell said as he lifted his coffee cup to his lips. “What about before the accident? You were at a lodge skiing?”

“Yes. My roommate from school, Cara, and I were up in the mountains practicing for the big ski competition.”

“Cara?” Joe repeated. “I didn’t hear any mention of a Cara when I was talking to the people at the lodge about your accident. Only about you, Beth.”

“Then they must have made a mistake. After all, it was a long time ago. Cara was there with me.” She stopped hesitating, then said firmly, “No, dammit, she was there. I know it. I won’t doubt myself. I’m not that person I was in the hospital. Cara Sandler was there with me.”

“Easy,” Eve said. “We’re not suggesting that you’re having hallucinations because of the drugs. We’re just trying to get to the bottom of this mess. Is that your friend you mentioned to me?”

“No, Cara wasn’t a friend, just my roommate. Sometimes, I didn’t even like her.”

“Was Cara skiing with you that day?”

“No.” She thought for a moment. “She said that her skis needed waxing, and she’d see me at lunch. I didn’t care. I’d rather have skied alone anyway. I’m a better skier than Cara, and I’d have to wait for her.”

“That must be annoying. You must like her more than you said to put up with it,” Joe said.

“She’s okay.” She shrugged. “I liked her when she was first assigned to my room, but she was nosy, and she kept asking me questions. But I had to put up with it because the school wouldn’t let me go anywhere alone. They said it wasn’t safe.”

“What kind of questions?” Eve asked.

“All kinds,” she said vaguely. “About the places I’d visited, what I knew about Rick’s mother, lots of questions about Rick.”

“Rick Avery?” Eve paused. “Your father?”

Beth nodded. “Only he didn’t seem like a father. Other girls’ fathers were all boring. Rick was my best friend.”

“Did your best friend ever visit you at the hospital?”

“No, I don’t think he did.” Then she shook her head. “I’d remember if he’d been there. Even if my head was messed up from the drugs, I’d remember Rick.”

Because she loved him, Eve thought, as she saw Beth’s glowing expression. That love couldn’t have been more evident. What kind of man was this Rick Avery, who could charm Sandra and now his daughter, Beth, into forgiving whatever sins he committed?

“Stop looking at me like that.” Beth’s chin lifted defiantly. “I know what you’re thinking. But if Rick didn’t come to see me, he must have had a good reason. Maybe Pierce told him it would be bad for me. I could understand that. Rick would never want to hurt me.”

“I’m not going to argue with you. I don’t know Rick Avery,” Eve said. “And it’s natural for a daughter to defend her father. I’m just trying to put the pieces together. Rick Avery may be a very big piece.” She paused. “You were raised by a Robert and Laura Avery until you went to school in Geneva. Did you always think that they were your parents?”

“No, they had the same name but they told me that I was to call them Aunt Laura and Uncle Robert since they’d only been hired to take care of me until I was old enough to go to school.” She grimaced. “They said we should all be grateful to Nelda Avery for being so generous.”

“Were they good to you?”

“They weren’t bad to me. They did their duty. It was clear to me even as a little child that I mustn’t expect any more than that.” Beth shook her head. “And I always knew Rick was my father. He’d come to see me and bring me presents and take me to amusement parks. When I was old enough to understand, he told me that I was his little girl, but it had to be a special secret between us so that no one would say bad things about me.”

“Or about him?”

“He loved me. He protected me. All the other kids at school had parents, but I didn’t care. Every now and then, Rick would come, and it would be wonderful.”

“Was Rick at the lodge that weekend?”

She frowned. “No, I told you I went there with Cara.” She lifted her cup to her lips. “But that’s all I remember.”

“Except that she was always asking you questions.”

“Not that day.” She thought about it. “It’s strange that it seems like yesterday. But I guess it was to me. All the other days were like shadows…”

“Cara didn’t ask you questions that morning,” Joe prompted.

“No, she seemed abstracted. She wasn’t like me. She liked to have a lot of people around all the time. Maybe she was bored.”

“It’s possible.”

“Why are you asking me all these questions about Cara?”

“Because she’s the person who wasn’t there,” Joe said. “Or no one remembers she was there. Intriguing.”

“Are you going to call the lodge back?” Eve asked.

He nodded. “And see if I can find Cara Sandler and get a statement. What do you know about her background, Beth?”

“Not much. She was from Vancouver, Canada. Her mother was dead, and her father was an important politician. She never talked about either one.”

“You didn’t like Cara, but did you spend time with other people from school?” Eve asked.

“Of course I did.” She lifted her chin. “I was smart, head of my class. And I was very good at sports. I won all kinds of awards in swimming and skiing. Everyone likes a winner.”

“No, I mean someone you liked and who liked you because you just hit it off. Not because you were a star.”

“Perhaps. I don’t remember.” She moistened her lips. “I guess you noticed that I’m a little– It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have friends. It was just safer to keep to myself.”

Safe because she had been jerked away from her foster parents when she was scarcely more than a toddler and been sent to one foreign school after another. It was no wonder that she had been afraid to form attachments. “Yes, I can see that.” Eve smiled faintly. “I have a tendency in that direction, too.”

“Do you?” Beth’s expression was suddenly eager. “I wouldn’t think that you’d—you seem to be so—” Her expression changed, became closed. “But what do I know? I don’t know you at all, do I?”

Eve’s brows rose. “And you don’t appear to be too upset about that.”

“I didn’t say that I didn’t want to know you,” Beth said quickly. “Or maybe I did, but I—” She turned to Newell. “Do you want another cup of coffee, Billy?”

He shook his head. “I still have a bit.” His brows rose. “And I don’t appreciate your using me as a distraction when you get yourself into verbal jams.”

“I wasn’t doing that.” She sighed. “Or maybe I was. I’m sorry, Billy.”

“You’re forgiven. I just wanted you to recognize that you have to face things head-on and not try to hide behind me.” He added softly, “I know it’s hard, but you’ve gone through tougher experiences. Remember when you were getting off the drugs and had to keep anyone from knowing that your body was being torn apart? I was very proud of you, Beth.”

She glanced away from him. “And you should have been. I felt as if I were dying.” She hesitated, then turned to Eve and met her gaze. “He’s right. I was trying to hide from telling the truth. I can’t do that again. Life is too short, and too much of it has already been taken away from me. I won’t waste one word, one sentence, trying to protect or lie to myself or anyone else.”

“Heaven help us,” Eve said. “That could get all of us into bad trouble. I remember a Jim Carrey comedy that stressed the dangers of complete truth.”

“Too bad. I’m not good at doing things halfway. You saw that when I started stuttering and running to Billy.” She drew a deep breath. “Because I didn’t want to admit that I … might want to know what kind of person you are and if there’s really any bond between sisters.” She added in a rush, “I’ve told you I’m very curious. I know those kinds of stories about family closeness are probably bogus. After all, people are just people. But I’ve never had a family, so I’d just like to make sure that’s true.”

Eve was touched. Those words had been poignantly vulnerable, and it must have been difficult for Beth to open herself by speaking them. “Yes, people are just people. Sometimes outsiders become closer than blood relatives. I have an adopted daughter, Jane, who is my true daughter and best friend in everything but blood.” She held up her cup in a half toast. “But I’m curious, too. It wouldn’t hurt to explore our relationship a little.”

Beth gave a sigh of relief. “Then that’s settled.” She turned to Joe. “So what’s next? When can you get me out of here?”

“Not tonight. I’m going to do a little scouting. Then I’m going to go over some more of the records Pierce was keeping on you. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to call the lodge again.”

“Tomorrow afternoon, then.” She jumped to her feet. “Billy, you need to get some sleep. There’s a maid’s room at the end of the hall near the kitchen that has a bed and attached bathroom.” She was pulling him to his feet and throwing his arm around her shoulders. “That way you won’t have to climb the stairs. Eve, you and Joe can have the bedroom at the top of the stairs. I changed the sheets and got it ready to sleep in when I first got here. But then I found out I couldn’t bear to curl up in a bed, so I came down and slept on the couch.” She was half leading, half carrying Newell toward the door. “I guess it’s because I practically lived in a bed at Seahaven. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to sleep in a bed again.”

“Beth, you don’t need to help me,” Newell said. “For God’s sake, I can walk.”

“You didn’t need to help me, either,” Beth said. “You could have turned your back and left me in that place. Instead, you got me away from Pierce and got yourself chopped up doing it. Now shut up and let me get you to that room. Lean on me. I’m strong, Billy.”