"CASSIDY WILL BE BACK tomorrow morning," Montalvo told her. "He'll be kicking and screaming, but it's difficult to refuse a case involving a murdered child. The media would have a field day. Attacks on children arouse a community to fever pitch. My bet is that he'll bring a truckload of agents and trackers to get this business over with in a hurry."
"Let's hope he does."
"How is our medium doing?"
"Gone. She didn't want to risk being connected with the case."
"She's not like the psychics you were previously exposed to, is she?"
"No, she's nothing like that."
"It was a weird experience. I didn't know whether to believe her or not. When we had to dig so deep to get to that vat, I thought we'd been taken in. But there it was. Did you talk to Quinn?"
"Yes. He thinks she's a phony."
"And he was mad as hell."
"Yes, but I'm not talking about Joe to you, Montalvo."
"Right, I'll back away."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Go back to the forest and try to find our man."
"He's not a man, he's an animal. What he did to that little boy…"
"Then I go after the beast. But I'm having trouble keeping Miguel on the sidelines. It would help if you'd let him do something for you to keep him out of trouble."
"I've got work to do. I can't babysit Miguel." She had a sudden memory of the young man's bandaged hands. "Okay, I'll think of something."
"It would be a kindness. Good-bye, Eve."
After she hung up she moved across the room to the reconstruction of Carrie. In another day if she concentrated she might finish her. Heaven knows, she needed to concentrate on something to keep her mind off what Kistle had done to Bobby Joe. The horror had been with her all day. She couldn't ignore it, but perhaps she could submerge herself and it might fade to the back of her mind.
Yet even while she was working on Carrie, it wouldn't leave her alone. Carrie had been found buried in that shallow grave in Kentucky. If Megan went to that spot, would she hear Carrie's voice and that of her murderer? Would she be able to identify the person who had done this? Megan had not been able to tell them the name of the man who killed Bobby Joe because the boy had not known him. But would that be the same in every case? Surely the victim would sometimes know the killer.
Yet bringing Megan into a case would not save a life and it could do serious damage to her if she was frequently exposed to that degree of punishment. She shivered as she remembered the look on Megan's face before she had collapsed. No one with any humanity would ask that of her.
Good heavens, she was debating this with herself as if she had already made the decision to believe in Megan's gift.
Because, admit it, she had made that decision. She wasn't sure she understood what was happening, but she did believe that Megan had not cheated or lied when she had led them to find that little boy. And that meant that she could-
The phone on the end table rang and she wiped her hands on an alcohol towelette before picking it up. Joe? God, she hoped it was Joe.
"How are you, Eve? Did they tell you about your presents?"
She went rigid with shock. Kistle. "They told me. Did you think that I was going to get upset because you killed those men? I didn't even know them."
He chuckled. "And you're trying to keep me from doing it again. Oh, yes, you did get upset. I knew you would. You have a tender heart and you respect life. You don't know that most of those guys here in the forest are just bugs to be stepped on."
"You're still in Clayborne Forest?"
"Why not? I'm king here. They can't touch me."
"They'll get you. The FBI will be all over those woods tomorrow. Why don't you give up?"
"Give up? Why? They'll never get me and I'm still enjoying myself."
"How are you able to call me?"
"I still have my phone, but at the moment I'm using Sheriff Jedroth's again. It's the last time. It's so easy to trace a cell these days if it's not protected. If they try to trace the sheriff's phone they'll find it at the bottom of the bog. From now on I'll have to change phones with every kill. I had to think for a moment where to call you, but the Brown Hotel is the best hotel in this little burg and they wouldn't put you up anywhere else."
So he had just decided to call her out of the blue. He was on the run and the cocky bastard had to show her it meant nothing to him. "You must have gotten to know Bloomburg very well."
"I make sure I do. I can never tell when it might come in handy. By the way, I saw your Joe Quinn day before yesterday. I was considering handing you his head, but I decided to keep to my original plan and just give you an easy kill."
A chill went through her. "You're lying."
"No, I'd lie if it suited me, but there's no reason to lie. I recognized him immediately. I followed your life very closely for a long time after Bonnie."
"Why?"
"You were so pathetic. It amused me. And then you became this hotshot forensic sculptor and it made me angry. You meddled and you shouldn't have interfered. You became a threat. I take great care in disposing of my kills so that no one will ever find them."
"Like in that vat of acid where you put Bobby Joe?"
There was a silence. "There's no way you found him. You'll never find him. I planned it all out and I was very careful."
"Evidently you're not as clever as you thought."
"They couldn't have just stumbled over the place where I buried him. I was too careful. I've never had a body recovered."
"Is it bothering you? I'm glad."
"If I believed you it might. I'm proud of my disposals. It takes intelligence and care to keep a kill secret. Fame and glory are tempting, but I don't need them. I know what I've done, how I've fooled them all."
"No? Then why do you sound bitter? Perhaps you'll realize that it's all falling apart. Things aren't working out for you, are they? All these years you've had it your way, but everything's changed. You killed that sheriff and had to go on the run. You've had to go to earth like a weasel. And we did find Bobby Joe, you bastard. Tomorrow or the next day, we'll find you."
"You're beginning to annoy me, Eve." He paused. "But when I think about it, you're right: my present ill fortune is due entirely to you. You started it and evidently you're trying to make sure I remain uncomfortable. But I don't mind because it's something fresh and different in a world of sameness. But I do mind you unearthing that little boy. I had him all settled. Now when I think about him he won't be in that vat any longer."
"I wish we could throw you in that vat with him."
"How cruel. When it's so very painful."
Anger seared through her. "You'll never do it again, Kistle."
"But I will. The vat is such a clean and anonymous method of disposal." He added softly, "Do you want to know how I got rid of Bonnie?"
She started to shake. "No, I wouldn't believe you."
"It wasn't the vat. That's a fairly recent solution."
"Where is she?"
"Far away. You'll never find her."
"You thought that about Bobby Joe."
"That's true. Perhaps you might be able to find her if I gave you enough clues. I'll have to think about it. I might find it very entertaining. But to make it worth my while you'd have to be actively involved, none of this sitting on the sidelines."
"Tell me where she is."
"Are you begging me? Then you mustn't sound so demanding."
"I'm not begging you." She tried to control her temper. "And I have no proof you killed my daughter. Tell me something that you couldn't find out from the newspapers."
"I don't have to do that." He was silent. "But maybe I will anyway. She had a favorite little song. It was something about wishing on a star. I made her sing it over and over to me. Towards the end she was crying so hard I couldn't make out the words."
Bonnie cuddling close to Eve. "Can we go out on the porch tonight and sing the song about the wishing star, Mama?"
The shock and pain were so intense she couldn't think for a minute. "You son of a bitch. That may not have been in the police reports, but there were so many sob stories written about Bonnie that it could have been in one of them."
"But you're not sure, are you? I'm going to hang up now. I hear someone in the brush behind me. Quinn? No, of course not, I wouldn't hear him. He's too good. Just one of the local searchers. Shall I circle around and take him out?"
"No!"
"I think I will. Good-bye, Eve." He hung up.
Would he do it? He might have been bluffing because he was annoyed with her. That could also be the reason he had begun to talk about Bonnie. It was the only surefire way that he could upset her.
If he wasn't bluffing, she could do nothing about it. As he had said, she was sitting on the sidelines.
And Joe was in the thick of the game. If what Kistle had said was true, he'd been close to killing Joe. It was probably a boast. Joe was too good to become prey to that monster.
But she had to call Joe and tell him about Kistle's call. She couldn't think of anything that would help them, but they could go over the nuances and that might make them more familiar with Kistle himself. She began to dial Joe's cell.
PHILLIP MET MEGAN AS SHE came up the escalator at the airport.
"You didn't have to meet me." She gave him a quick hug. "Stop frowning. I'm fine, Phillip."
"You look like hell." He pushed her back and his gaze raked her face. "What did they do to you?"
"I did it to myself. I had a choice and I made it." She started for the exit. "It wasn't easy."
He took her duffel and medical bag and fell into step with her. "Was the little boy murdered?"
She nodded. "And tortured."
"God in heaven, why didn't you back away?"
"It was too late. Bobby Joe had me. I couldn't leave him until it was over." She looked away from him. "Do you mind if we don't talk about it, Phillip?"
"No." He smiled gently. "How about the two of us going home and letting me fix you a hot chocolate? Then we'll watch that new Robin Williams DVD."
"Sounds good." Hot chocolate was Phillip's remedy for almost everything. Hot chocolate, understanding, and love. Lord, she was glad she had him. "I told you on the phone that Eve Duncan was there. She was kind to me, Phillip. I liked her." She made a face. "Though she didn't like me much in the beginning. She thought I was a phony and she didn't try to hide it. She's one tough cookie."
"So I've heard. Did she make it difficult for you?"
"At first. It didn't matter. I was too upset to care."
"Dammit, you were doing them a favor."
"Stop being so protective. She was almost as tense as I was. She thinks Kistle may be the one who killed her daughter. I can see how she'd be impatient with some so-called psychic coming on the scene. Later it was okay. Though she did ask me a lot of questions."
"Did you answer them?"
"Most of them. But I ducked the one about why I hadn't wanted to touch anyone. I was surprised she remembered that, after everything else that went on."
"Damn, I forgot that being that upset might be a trigger."
"I didn't. I can't forget it. It's with me all the time now." She shook her head. "But I think it was all right. I tried to be careful."
"Well, it's all over now." Phillip opened the car door for her. "You won't have to see any of them again."
"Yes, it's over." She got into the car. She hoped she sounded convincing. She kept remembering Eve's face as she'd sat there asking her questions. She'd been deeply intent and yet curiously receptive to everything Megan had told her. Megan had said good-bye to her when she'd walked out of that hotel room, but she had a feeling it was not a final farewell. She hadn't told Phillip the truth.
It wasn't over.
"HE KNEW ABOUT BONNIE'S song, Joe," Eve said when she'd finished telling him about Kistle's call. "I told him he could have read about it somewhere, but it's such a little thing."
"I'll call the office and have them go back and check all the news stories written about Bonnie. It will take a while to go through them. If he was as obsessed as Montalvo said, then it could be in an out-of-town newspaper."
"And do you think Kistle was bluffing? Do you think he was going to kill that man he heard in the bushes behind him?"
"Who the hell knows?" Joe said. "I'd say he was bluffing, but there's no telling. And there are so many men here that there would be no way to know which one he's targeting. I can't go and find him."
"Then we just have to wait and see." Her hands tightened on the telephone. "I hate it, Joe. I'm tired of sitting here and waiting. I want to do something." She paused. "He wants me there. That's why he called me. He's getting bored with long-distance harassment."
Joe cursed. "I knew that was coming. No. Hell, no. If he wants you there, all the reason for you stay where you are."
"You wanted me to stay in Atlanta, now you want me to stay here at the hotel. You're smothering me in the name of safety. Kistle is my business, Joe. If he wants me in that forest, then my being there will make it easier to trap him."
"And easier for him to kill you," he said harshly. "I'm not letting him put a stake through your heart. You'll get in the way. You got what you wanted. By morning Cassidy will have this place crawling with agents. Now let them do their work. Let me do my work."
She didn't speak for a moment. "I'll wait a little while, if he hasn't killed another man. But not long, Joe. He wants me, and, by God, I want him." She hung up.
CASSIDY ARRIVED AT THE command site at five-thirty the next morning. He was obviously not pleased. He came immediately over to where Joe was standing. "Let's get this over with. I've sent a forensic team to the grave site and I have agents coming in from Atlanta and Chicago. They should be here by noon. What areas have you already searched?"
Joe shook his head. "He's moving around. You're not going to be able to zero in on him that way."
"Have you brought in dogs?"
"The second day. No luck. He killed squirrels and spread false blood trails. They were completely distracted."
"I'm bringing in the trackers from North Carolina we used for the Rudolph operation."
"Good." Joe rubbed the back of his neck. God, he was tired. "But they didn't find Rudolph, did they?"
Cassidy immediately bristled. "That was an impossible mission. Knock it off, Quinn."
"No offense. I'm just telling you that you may run into the same problems." He looked Cassidy in the eye. "And I think you know that, or you wouldn't have had the good sense to go back to St. Louis. Now you're stuck with us, but you'd better realize that it's not going to be a slam dunk." He turned and headed for his car. "Now I'm going to go get a shower and some breakfast and at least four hours' sleep. Dodsworth is a good man and you'll find that Deputy Pete Shaw is smart and eager to learn. Don't step on his toes. Call me if you need me."
As he got into the car, he saw Montalvo coming out of the forest. He looked wet and dirty and as tired as Joe was feeling. He had passed him coming and going in the last few days. Needless to say, they hadn't exchanged more than a curt nod of recognition. But today Joe was feeling a sort of odd kinship with him after talking to Cassidy. Montalvo knew the difficulties and frustration of chasing that bastard, and whatever other emotions he felt toward Montalvo, the man knew what he was doing in that forest. He had as good a chance as Joe at snagging Kistle.
And if he did, Joe would take Kistle away from him. There was no way he was going to let the authorities take over Kistle until he got some answers from him.
He looked back at the forest that was still shadowed with night. Are you there, Kistle? Are you sitting there watching us run around trying to find you? Enjoy it. It's not going to go on for much longer.
NEW BLOOD, KISTLE THOUGHT, as he watched the man in camouflage garb kneel to check which way the blades of grass were bending. An experienced tracker, and he was traveling with another tracker who was about a hundred yards north. They would find nothing, but their presence made things more difficult. The woods had been teeming with searchers all day and night. At first he'd regarded it as an escalation of the challenge, but it was beginning to annoy him. These men were like Quinn, they knew what they were doing. They were hobbling him and taking the joy out of the night.
And they were stopping him from going after Quinn. If he couldn't have Eve Duncan, then Quinn was the obvious next choice. Quinn had been relentless and he would never stop. It would be smart to take him out and accomplish the dual purpose of hurting Eve and ridding himself of a threat.
But how could he do that when he was being kept busy just surviving?
No, it was time he thought about the alternate plan. Things were not going his way at the moment. He had been furious that Eve had managed to find Bobby Joe. It had hurt his pride and made him want to strike out hard and deep. It was bad enough that he was unable to take credit for the splendor of his kills. Now his skill at concealment was in question. But he must handle any response very efficiently and with style. He mustn't let anyone think he was desperate or afraid.
He looked up at the night sky. It was a full moon and he could feel the excitement start to build inside him. It was almost like the time when he was a boy and he had pretended that the full moon transformed him into a werewolf. He could feel the strength flow into his muscles and his heart was beginning to beat harder.
He was ready.
EVE'S PHONE RANG AT THREE – THIRTY in the morning.
"He's killed another man," Joe said baldly. "Sometime tonight. Cassidy just found him. It was one of his trackers."
Eve stiffened as the shock ran through her. "A note?"
"Yes, I don't know what it said yet. I've just notified the forensic boys and now I'll be on my way to him as soon as I hang up."
"No. Meet me at the command site. I'm going with you."
"Is there any way I can talk you out of it?"
"No." She swung her legs to the floor and stood up. "I'm on my way. I should be there in twenty minutes." She hung up.
Another dead man with another note. Dammit, would it never stop?
Miguel was waiting for her in the hall when she came out of the hotel room five minutes later. "Your car or mine?"
"Who called you? Joe?"
"No, Montalvo. But Quinn evidently told him to do it. He didn't like you driving to the forest in the middle of the night alone. Neither did Montalvo."
"You mean they actually agreed on something?"
Miguel smiled. "They are more alike than they would like to admit, but they always agree on keeping you safe. Me too. My car or yours?"
"Mine. You shouldn't even be driving with those hands."
"It's not easy. I feel like a polar bear trying to knit."
"And you still want to go hunting in the forest with Montalvo?"
"I would not be knitting if I were chasing down Kistle." He punched the elevator button and then flinched with pain. "Ouch. But I'm becoming hopeful. I've been ordered to watch over you and you're edging closer and closer to Kistle. That means I'm closer."
"I'm glad someone is happy about it."
"Not happy. Just looking on the positive side. Montalvo and Quinn both want to give you Kistle. Wouldn't it be amusing if I did it instead?" He chuckled. "I wonder if I could do it. Montalvo would probably want to break my neck."
"This isn't some kind of contest, Miguel. A man died tonight."
His smile faded. "And I'm truly sorry. But it's natural for men to compete against each other. We've been doing it since the cave days. Why else do we have wars? Wars are competition, no matter what the politicians call them. All those searchers in the forest who are going after Kistle are instinctively vying with each other to be the one to get him."
"Miguel, I don't want a discourse on why men believe this kind of horror is a game."
He nodded understandingly. "I'll shut up. I didn't mean to upset you." He followed her into the elevator and then shook his head and frowned as he faced the elevator panel. "I'm strong as an ox, smart as a fox, and I'd fight like a tiger to protect you. But would you please press the button for the lobby? Buttons are hard for me right now."
THE COMMAND SITE WAS BRIGHTLY lit and a medical examiner's SUV was parked beside the road when Miguel and Eve arrived.
Joe strode over to the car and opened the door. "Okay, you're here. Let's get on the move."
"Excuse me, Eve," Miguel said. "I believe Quinn considers me de trop now." He jumped out of the car. "I'll go try to find Montalvo."
Eve got out of the car. It was the first time she'd been here and the bustle and number of searchers amazed her. "It's like a military camp."
"They liked their sheriff in this town," Joe said. "And with every death more volunteers poured into the area. More doesn't necessarily mean better. It's hard to keep track of everyone. I think it's out of control, but it's not my show. The town is up in arms and the interim sheriff is trying to satisfy them." He took her arm and led her toward the woods. "And now we've got the FBI to stumble over and Cassidy is going like a steamroller."
"I still think it was right to bring them in."
"Except that he killed one of the trackers Cassidy brought in, to thumb his nose at us." Joe shrugged. "But it doesn't make much difference. A kill is a kill to him. It would have been someone."
"I'm not sure. His pride was hurt because we found Bobby Joe. He had to make the kill different. He had to make certain that we knew he was superior, that we couldn't stop him."
He gave her a glance. "You're talking as if you know him."
"I'm on my way. He wants me to-" She stiffened as they came out of the brush into a small clearing. There were several people milling about, but she barely noticed them. Her gaze went immediately to the man dressed in camouflage who was propped against a pine tree. He was staring straight ahead, blue eyes wide open. She could barely see the note staked through his heart, for the blood covering his chest.
"Steady," Joe said quietly. "You wanted to see him. It's not pretty, is it?"
"I didn't expect it to be." It seemed terrible referring to this man who had been alive only hours ago as "it." "What's his name?"
"Ellis."
She moved forward. "And who is that red-haired man kneeling in front of him?"
"Cassidy."
"He's looking at the note." And so was she, trying desperately to make out the words on the bloodstained note.
Cassidy looked up as Eve and Joe approached. "You're Eve Duncan? I was going to come to the hotel and talk to you. Why the hell is he doing this?"
"Back off. I've told you what connection he has with Eve," Joe said. "There's no reason to bother her."
Eve shuddered as she looked at the dead man. "The note. Can you make out what it says? Is it the same?"
Cassidy shook his head. "It's longer than the others. But it's still addressed to you."
"What does it say?"
His gaze went back to the note. "Look for yourself."
She was looking, staring, making out word by word until she had the entire message.
Go home, Eve, Bonnie's waiting.
She flinched back. "My God."
Joe's arm slid around her in support. "Will you get away from here now? Have you had enough?"
She nodded numbly. "I'll go." She turned and started back through the woods.
Joe was silent for a moment. "It's just his way of putting a stake through your heart, Eve. Don't let him do it."
"Only partly," she said. "By killing that man he was taunting the searchers, but he was also sending me a message. He's gone. He's left the forest, Joe."
His gaze narrowed on her face. "Why do you think that?"
"He told me to go home. He's luring me away with the one bait he knows I can't resist. And he's impatient and doesn't want to have to wait until all of these searchers decide that he's no longer here. He wanted to tell me that if I go home he'll be waiting for me."
"It's possible," he said slowly.
"No, it's more than possible. He's telling me to go home to Atlanta where Bonnie was taken. He's teasing me with the idea that he might lead me to where he buried her."
"He'll never do it."
"Not if he can help it. But I told you what he said about giving me clues about where to find her. He could have decided to open a new game. But if he's left this forest, then we may never find him if he disappears as he's done in the past. We know more about him now and he's going to be even more careful. This may be our only chance."
"A chance to have him butcher you."
"A chance to bring Bonnie home."
"What if he decides it's not safe to leave the forest with all the guards around the perimeter?"
"You told me once you thought he'd be able to break through."
He started to curse. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"
"Why even ask? You know I will." She opened the door of the car. "I'm going home, Joe."