“I BROUGHT CHINESE,” JOE said as he walked into the cottage. “I know I should have called first. Have you eaten?” He set the bag down on the kitchen table. “Where’s Jane?”
“Out for a walk. Patty dropped Jane’s dog off a few hours ago.” She held up her hand as he opened his lips. “And we know Toby is gentle, but he doesn’t give that appearance. No one is going to bother her with Toby near.”
“I’m glad you’re sure. I’m not.”
“And I called one of the officers in the squad car and asked him to follow her. And, no, we haven’t eaten dinner yet. We ate a late lunch and thought we’d wait for you.” She began to unpack the cartons in the bag. “Did you get a report on the blood in that goblet we found?”
“Human blood. Type A negative.”
“I was afraid of that.” She threw the empty bag in the trash. “A warning of some sort?”
“I have no idea. It’s a definite possibility.” He got plates down from the cabinet. “Do you remember the carving on the cup?”
“How could I forget? I stared at the damn thing for a couple hours while I was waiting for it to be picked up. Some kind of medieval dining hall, nine seated men and one standing with a goblet in his hand. Unusual.”
“Not that unusual. We found one that was identical to it in Nancy Jo Norris’s hand.”
She went rigid. “What?”
“Same carving.” He was getting out the cutlery. “They’re checking the blood now. But the blood wasn’t Nancy Jo’s. She was B positive.”
“Dear God. If it wasn’t her blood, then it had to come from another victim. You’re saying her murderer is-”
“I don’t know.” He suddenly whirled and threw the cutlery on the table. “Dammit to hell. I don’t know anything.” In two strides he was beside her, and she was in his arms. “It’s all crazy.” His voice was muffled against her hair. “Just hold me, okay?”
“Okay.” Her arms went around him with fierce protectiveness. “What’s wrong, Joe?”
“What could possibly be the matter? Other than we have a ritual killer who seems to have picked you as a victim? Everything is just fine.”
There was something very wrong. There was an element of desperation in Joe’s voice Eve couldn’t remember ever hearing before. She had known from the moment he walked through the door that she’d been wrong in thinking that whatever had been bothering him had gone away. “It will be fine. It’s not as if we haven’t dealt with-”
“I’ve never dealt with this.” He pushed her back and turned away. “It’s crazy.”
Crazy. That was the second time he had said that word in the past few sentences. Eve felt a sinking sensation as she stared at him.
You’ll call me if he doesn’t behave normally, Megan had said.
But she couldn’t believe that Joe’s behavior had anything to do with all that Pandora business. As she had told Megan, that was too far a reach for her.
He had a perfect right to be upset. He was a very protective man and he was worried about her.
Upset, not desperate.
And he didn’t want to admit that he was feeling that desperation. He seemed to view it as an admission, a loss of control.
All right. Handle it his way. He had come home to her. Now she had to be patient and let him come the rest of the way.
“Yes, it’s crazy.” She began to spoon the rice out on the plates. “I guess we’ll have to try to make sense of it. You’d better call Jane before this food gets cold.”
“WHEW.” EVE WAS PANTING as she rolled away from Joe to her own side of the bed. “That was… interesting.”
“Did I hurt you?”
“No. It was just intense. Nothing wrong with that.”
The sex that night had been explosive and completely draining. Desperation again. She had an idea that demand hadn’t been about any carnal need. “A little different…”
She felt him stiffen beside her. “Different? What the hell do you mean different? I either hurt you or I didn’t.”
“You didn’t. I told you. It was damn well incredible.” As sex always was with Joe. She rolled closer and tucked her head in her favorite place in the hollow of his shoulder. “Stop being so defensive.”
He relaxed. “Sorry. I told you, I’m a little on edge.”
“I noticed.” She was silent a moment. Okay, go for it. “I didn’t tell you. Megan called me twice today. She was pretty upset.”
“More psychic mumbo jumbo?”
“You’re being very scathing. You told me that you believed her when she told you about hearing those dead children.”
“I also told you that I wouldn’t go to her on another case.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m a little too pragmatic. There have to be reasonable explanations. It’s the way I live.”
“Megan is an ER physician. What’s more practical? But when she had to face the fact that she had this so-called gift, she had to come to terms with it.” She paused. “But she’s having trouble with this other facilitating gift she says she has. It’s erratic, and she doesn’t understand it.”
“Then I’m sure I wouldn’t either,” he said flatly. “Let’s drop it.”
He didn’t want to talk about anything to do with psychic gifts, Eve realized. “Okay, I just wanted to tell you that Megan was full of warnings because of what happened in the swamp. Remember that she didn’t want to be touched? She said that sometimes if she touched someone, it released latent psychic talents in them. Some people can’t adjust. She was afraid for me because I touched her.” Don’t mention that she’d included Joe in the warning. It might cause him to instinctively reject it. Let him draw his own inferences. “I told her I was fine and that I’d contact her if there was a problem.”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “She thought you’d hear dead people like she does?”
“She said it depended on the person. She said it might cause them to read minds or be a healer or be able to make flowers grow. Any special talent that might be within them.” She cuddled closer. “And I told her that I found all of this a little hard to swallow.”
“Of course.” His tone was absent. “Totally ridiculous.”
“Nothing about Megan is ridiculous. It’s just out of my realm of experience, so I can’t imagine it.”
“I can imagine it.” He added with sudden roughness, “And I find it ridiculous as hell.”
“Don’t get upset about it.”
“Why not? It’s bullshit. Dead children speaking from the beyond, corpses walking around. It’s bullshit.”
“I’ll tell her that when she calls again. She’ll probably agree with you. But it’s the bullshit she has to live with.”
“Well, I don’t have to live with it.” He sat up and swung his legs to the floor. “I can’t sleep. I’m going to call the M.E. and see if he has a report on the Norris autopsy.”
“It’s almost midnight.”
“They’ll still be there. We’re working around the clock on this one.” He shrugged on his robe. “Ed Norris will have his aides on our ass every step of the way.”
“Do you want company?”
“No, stay in bed. This shouldn’t take long.”
Eve watched him leave the room. She had done her best. She didn’t know if that would be good enough. It was like trying to walk along a precipice blindfolded. For the first time in their relationship, she had no idea what he was thinking. And it was only guesswork that it had something to do with Megan’s facilitator talent. She was grasping at straws. She could only allow him his space and hope that he would work it out for himself.
Damn, it was hard.
What was she complaining about? If it was hard, then it was only a tiny portion of the hell Joe had gone through for her over the years. From that initial meeting after Bonnie had been taken, he had tried to shoulder every burden, ease every pain. Yet when he had first come into her kitchen that first morning, she’d been bitterly resentful.
There was a discreet knock on the kitchen door. “Ms. Duncan. FBI. I rang the front doorbell, but no one was answering. May I come in?”
Because she’d ignored the bell. She turned back to the stove. “Yes, I suppose you may.”
She heard the door open behind her.
“I can understand why you wouldn’t want to answer the bell. I’ve heard the media has been harassing you. I’m Special Agent Joe Quinn. FBI. I wonder if I could have a few words with you.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him as she turned the omelet in the pan. Dark blue suit, square face, brown eyes, maybe twenty-six or -seven, good-looking. Young, too young. Why hadn’t they sent her someone older, with more experience? “Questions? I’ve answered millions of questions. It’s all in ATLPD’s records. Go ask them.”
“I have to make my own report.”
“Red tape. Procedures.” She scooped up the omelet and put it on a plate. “Why didn’t they send someone right after it happened?”
“We had to wait for a request from the local police.”
“You should have been here. Everyone should have come right away.” Her hand was shaking as she picked up the plate and put it on a tray. “I suppose I’ll have to talk to you, but I have to take this omelet to my mother. She hasn’t gotten out of bed since Bonnie disappeared. I can’t get her to eat.”
“I’ll take it.” He reached out and took the plate. “Which room?”
She wasn’t about to argue. Let him do something, anything. He hadn’t done what was important. He hadn’t found Bonnie. “First door at the top of the stairs.”
She took the pan to the sink and started to wash it. Keep busy. Don’t think. Keep moving.
“She started to eat,” Quinn said as he came back in the room. “Maybe it was the shock of seeing a stranger.”
“Maybe.”
“And how are you eating, Ms. Duncan?”
“I eat enough. I know I can’t afford to lose strength.” She started drying the pan. Slowly. She was desperately afraid of running out of something to do. “What do you want to know, Agent Quinn?”
He looked down at his notes. “Your daughter, Bonnie, disappeared at the park over a week ago. She went to the refreshment stand to get an ice cream and didn’t return. She was wearing a Bugs Bunny T-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t see anyone suspicious loitering anywhere nearby?”
“No one. It was crowded. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be-” She drew a deep breath. “No one suspicious. I told the police that I wondered if maybe someone had seen what a sweet kid my Bonnie was and taken her away. Maybe someone who had lost a child and only wanted another one.” She stared at his face. “And they only looked at me the way you’re doing and made soothing noises. It could have happened that way.”
“Yes, it could.” He paused. “But the odds are against it. I’m not going to lie to you.”
“I know that. I’m not a fool. I grew up on the streets, and I know all about the scum that’s out there.” She looked wonderingly up at him. “But I have to hope. She’s my baby. I have to bring her home. How can I live if I don’t hope?”
“Then hope.” His voice was hoarse. “And I’ll hope with you. We’ll explore every way we can to find her safe and alive. There’s nothing I won’t do. Just stick with me and give me a little help.”
She believed him. The intensity in his expression was overwhelming. Suddenly he didn’t look like the young man she’d assumed him to be when he’d walked into the kitchen. He looked hard and mature and fully capable. “Of course I’ll help.” She glanced away from him as she put the pan in the cupboard. “I’m afraid, you know,” she said unevenly. “I’m afraid all the time. My mother gave up and just went to bed, but I can’t do that. I have to keep fighting. As long as I’m fighting, I have a chance to find Bonnie.”
He nodded. “Then we’ll fight together. I’ll stay with you until we get through this.” He paused. “If you’ll let me.”
Together.
She suddenly felt a little less lonely. Nothing could ease the aching fear, but to share it was somehow comforting. She slowly nodded. “I think that would be very kind. Thank you, Agent Quinn.”
BUT HOW COULD SHE HAVE ever dreamed how long Joe would have to stay with her to get her through that search for Bonnie, she thought as she stared into the darkness. He had been everything to her during that period when her life had been pure hell: friend, brother, a constant support when her world was falling apart around her. He’d marshaled everyone to search for Bonnie, then kept Eve sane when the realization had come that her daughter was dead, murdered, and buried away somewhere Eve might never find her.
Yes, she owed him more than he’d ever know. No matter what was wrong in Joe’s life, she had to help him put it right.
____________________
IT WAS ALL BULLSHIT, JOE thought as he switched on the coffeemaker. Forget it. There weren’t any ghosts. No mystic psychic powers.
So he’d believed in Megan for that brief period in the swamp. He’d come to his senses after he’d come back to Atlanta.
Until he’d thought he’d seen Bonnie Duncan. Until Nancy Jo Norris had paid him a visit.
And if those had been hallucinations, then he was left with the realization that he was going off his rocker. He’d trot to the department’s psychiatrist and let the bastard talk soothingly to him about work-related stress and how he should take time off.
He couldn’t take time off. It was his work that kept him balanced.
Some balance.
At least, it kept him busy and full of purpose. He reached for his phone and dialed the M.E.
“Tim Brooks.”
It was one of the M.E.’s assistants. Joe had talked to him before. “Quinn. Is the autopsy finished?”
“Hell, no,” Brooks said sourly “This one will take days. Every test in the book.”
“What’s the preliminary?”
“Loss of blood due to the severance of the jugular.”
“Anything else?”
“Presence of ether and fiber fragments in the nostrils. He evidently knocked her out before he killed her.”
Joe stiffened. “Ether?”
“You heard me. Look, I’ve got to get back. You know I shouldn’t talk to you before we get a final.”
“Thanks, Brooks.” He slowly hung up.
He attacked me and stuffed a handkerchief over my face. It smelled sweet. Then he brought me here and slit my throat.
Nancy Jo’s words during his hallucination earlier today.
But why would he have had that particular detail in that hallucination?
Guesswork from a hundred similar cases?
But there was no case similar to this one. God help him. He was becoming increasingly convinced that was true. And if it wasn’t guesswork, he was left with a choice.
Go to see the department shrink or jump headfirst into the river of no return?
He spun on his heel and strode toward the bedroom.
EVE WATCHED JOE DRIVE down the road before she reached for her cell phone and dialed Megan’s number. Megan answered after three rings. “I’m sorry to call this late. Did I wake you?”
“That doesn’t matter. I told you to call me if you needed me.” She paused. “And do you need me?”
“I might. Joe may be on his way to see you. I thought I’d prepare you.”
“ ‘May’? You don’t know?”
“He said he’d found out something from the Medical Examiner’s Office that he had to check out. It could be the truth or at least part of the truth. It’s a rough case, and we may be personally involved. But I have a hunch that whatever he has to check out, he wants to do it with you.”
Silence. “You’re telling me that Joe Quinn is behaving… irrationally?”
“I’m telling you that for the first time since I’ve known him, Joe is doubting his-” She took a deep breath. “There’s no one more solid or confident than Joe. That’s not what I’m seeing right now. I don’t know if it has anything to do with you or not, but I tried to steer him in your direction. It was the only thing I could think to do.”
“You didn’t talk to him?”
“Dammit, he would have backed away from me. If he is having any kind of weird reaction, it’s not the kind of thing he would admit, much less discuss. He calls it all bullshit. I did my best. It has to come from him.” She paused. “I’m worried. I feel helpless. If he does come to you, help him, Megan. Please.”
“You don’t have to ask,” Megan said. “I’ll do what I can, though I don’t know what that will be. But I can tell you that it doesn’t always turn out badly.”
“You mentioned insanity and death. I’d say that’s pretty bad.”
“But it may have something to do with the strength of the individual character.”
“Well, Joe has plenty of that. And it may not have anything to do with you. I just had to hedge every bet.”
“I’ll let you know.” Megan hung up.
Eve gazed out at the lake. Had she done the right thing? She had guided Joe toward Megan even though she wasn’t sure that she believed that Megan’s talent was at the bottom of Joe’s problem. She had been afraid to do anything else.
She could only hope that there was a solution and that Megan would find it.
MEGAN TURNED TO HER UNCLE as she hung up the phone. “We may have a visitor, Carey. Better put on the coffee while I throw on some clothes.”
“At this hour? Who?”
“Joe Quinn.”
He frowned. “What the hell? After all the sarcastic bull he was throwing at you down at the swamp? I wanted to sock him.”
“So did I. But you can’t blame him for being cynical about me. Sometimes I don’t believe in this psychic crap either.” Her lips twisted. “Or wish I didn’t believe it. It would make life easier.” That was the understatement of the century. “And I don’t have any right to blame him for anything now.” She whispered, “I may have hurt him, Carey.”
“The facilitating thing?”
“Eve thinks he’s not behaving normally. And that would be hard for her to admit. She’s very protective of him.”
“I don’t remember him needing protection. You were the one being attacked.”
“And that cynicism would make it even more difficult for him… if something did happen.” Megan turned and headed for her bedroom. “Maybe Eve’s wrong. She wasn’t sure. Maybe it’s something else.”
Joe Quinn rang the doorbell forty minutes later.
His gaze raked her up and down as she opened the door. From the top of her dark hair to her feet. “You’re dressed. Were you expecting me?” His lips twisted. “Maybe some psychic premonition?”
“I don’t have premonitions. I have only two psychic talents of which I’m aware. That’s more than I want. Come in, Joe.” She stepped aside. “We might as well go into the kitchen and have a cup of coffee.”
“I don’t want to sit down and have a cozy chat. That’s not why I’m here.”
“No, there’s nothing cozy about you at the moment.” She doubted if that word would describe him at any time. He was all hard, lean strength and keen intelligence. “You’re angry, and you want to strike out at someone. Be my guest. I probably deserve it.” She turned toward the kitchen. “But we’d better pretend to be on good terms. My uncle is very defensive, and you’re not on his list of favorite people.”
“That doesn’t bother me.” He followed her into the kitchen. “I can handle him.”
“If you do, you’ll have me to deal with. He’s my only family, and I’m defensive too.” She sat down at the table and gestured for him to sit down across from her. “I tried to tell him you have a right to be angry, but he’s not buying it.”
He sat down but his posture was as stiff as his expression. “And why should I be angry with you?”
“Because I may have done you harm.” She poured coffee into their cups from the carafe on the table. “Have I?”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “I don’t believe all that stuff you told Eve. It’s something from a sci-fi movie.”
“More like a horror film.” Megan shrugged. “And not only for me.” She looked up to meet his eyes. “Is it, Joe?”
His lips lifted in a sardonic smile. “Are you reading my mind?”
“No, your body language.” She lifted her cup to her lips. “Tell me, can you read minds now? Did I do that to you?”
“Hell, no.”
“Good. I imagine that would be a nightmare.”
“Don’t you know?”
“I’m an amateur. I’m new at this. I do know that I caused that in one man. He went insane.”
“I’m not insane.” His lips were tight, his eyes glittering.
“But you’ve been wondering.”
He didn’t speak for a moment. “I’ve had a few doubts. But I came to the conclusion that I either accept that you may not be the charlatan I thought you were, or I accept the fact that I may be heading for the funny farm. I find the former far more palatable. So I’m here to ask questions. So far, you’re not being very reassuring.”
“Tough. I don’t think you want reassurance. You want answers. I may not be able to give them to you, but I’ll try to help you find them. Ask your questions.”
“Ghosts. You hear the dead. Do you see them?”
Her cup stopped on the way to her lips. “No, and I never considered them ghosts. More like echoes of what happened at a given time and place.” She gazed at him for a moment before she put the question to him. “Do you see them?”
He didn’t answer for a moment. “Maybe.” He scowled. “Damn, that was hard to say.”
“Do you know who they are?”
“Bonnie. I thought at first that I was having a hallucination because of the stress of the years of trying to find her.”
“How many times have you seen her?”
“Once.”
“Then you could be right.”
“I wasn’t trying to find Nancy Jo Norris, and I saw her.”
“The girl who was murdered? I saw the story on the evening news.” She frowned. “How do you see them? Is it just a fleeting glimpse?”
“No, they talk to me. Like you, like anyone.” He started to stand up. “I’m done. I’m getting out of here. I sound like the nutcase I probably am.”
“Wait. Why did you come? What tipped the scales and made you think that maybe I could help you?”
“Nancy Jo told me that the man who killed her had grabbed her from behind, held a handkerchief over her nose, and knocked her out. The autopsy showed she’d been dosed with ether. It was slim evidence, but I grabbed at it.”
“I would have done the same,” Megan said. “And that’s not so slim.”
“Yes, it is. I’d say it’s wishful thinking, but I don’t like either option.”
“But you’ve already accepted one of them, or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Any port in a storm. If you did this to me, can you undo it?”
She shook her head. “I think you’re stuck with it. But I’ll try to find out.”
“For God’s sake, don’t you know?”
“Dammit, I told you. I’m new at this. I didn’t even know I had any so-called psychic talents until a few months ago. I’m certainly no authority, for heaven’s sake. But I’ll call my friend Renata Wilger in Munich, and see if she knows someone who can help you.”
“Another psychic voodoo priestess?”
She shook her head. “Not really. Renata is a distant cousin, and she’s sort of an agent for a family business. But she has contacts.”
“What family? It sounds like the Mafia.”
“No. It’s the Devanez family.” She hesitated. She’d have to tell him. She owed him the whole truth. “It’s a very old family and some of the members have certain… talents.”
“A whole family of freaks? What the hell am I getting into?”
“Look, I know this is difficult for you. Well, it’s not easy for me.” She didn’t blame him for being impatient. Her explanation would probably not make it any more acceptable. “I found out I was a member of the Devanez family at the same time I learned I was one of these ‘freaks’ you’re talking about. The Devanezes were originally landholders in southern Spain. In 1485, they fled Spain to escape the Inquisition. The local peasants had gone to their priests and accused the family of every form of witchcraft from predicting the future to shape changing. Some of it was sheer superstition, but there was no doubt the family had certain talents. The family scattered to practically every corner of the civilized world and went into hiding. But Jose, the head of the family, believed in strength in Unity, and didn’t want the family to lose contact with each other. He created a ledger that listed names, addresses, even talents, of family members, and sent it out of the country with his brother, Miguel. Since then there’s always been a keeper of the ledger who visits around the world and keeps track of the family.” She paused. “And problems that we might be having because of any gift we might have.”
“And Renata Wilger can contact this damn keeper of the ledger and find me help?”
“Renata is the keeper of the ledger.” She added quietly, “And she’s my friend. She’ll do whatever she can.”
“I hate having to rely on you, or her, or anyone else.” His tone was edged with frustration. “I don’t want this. I’m clutching at straws. I don’t want anything to do with your mumbo jumbo.”
“Then walk away from me. Go to a psychiatrist. I’m sure that he’d tell you that after a few hundred sessions you wouldn’t see any more spirits. Or maybe you’ll just learn to ignore them.”
He was silent. “Do you think I’m imagining them?”
“No, I think you’re too hardheaded to imagine anything.” She made a face. “I think I zapped you.”
He shook his head in disgust. “It just shows how far gone I am that that statement fills me with relief.”
She got to her feet. “I’ll call Renata. I need someone a hell of a lot more knowledgeable than I am to tell you what to do. I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’ll tell you where to start,” Joe said. “I want you to come with me to Allatoona.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“I want you to tell me if you hear Nancy Jo Norris and what she tells you about what happened to her. As long as I’m able to extract information from a victim, I might as well make use of her.”
“Very professional. Is that all?”
“No.” He hesitated, then said bluntly, “This weirdness scares the hell out of me. I don’t know how to handle it. I want company.”