“I’m used to boring,” Cara said. “Unless Elena wasn’t working, I had to stay by myself in the apartment and not invite any of the kids over to visit.”
“Pretty lonely?”
“I didn’t mind. I had the music.” She wrinkled her nose. “Well, sometimes I did mind, but I knew she was only doing what she thought best. She wanted to keep me safe.”
“And she did,” Eve said. “She gave up her life to do it.”
Cara nodded. “One minute she was there, and then she was gone. I still feel as if she’s out there somewhere, waiting for me.”
Eve could see how that was possible. Cara had only been told that her friend Elena was dead, and it would have been difficult for her to accept the reality. Eve had avoided going into any details, hoping to spare the child. Now she could see that it had not been a kindness. “You know Elena was murdered. The police had to do an autopsy, and they haven’t released the body for burial. After that happens, we’ll arrange a suitable service for her.” She hesitated. “But we may wait for the service until we’re certain you’re safe. I’m sure you understand why.”
“You think they’ll use her as a trap,” Cara said flatly.
Eve nodded.
“Anywhere can be a trap.” Cara looked around the lake and woods. “Even this beautiful place.”
And it was incredibly sad that Cara had found that out, Eve thought. “I won’t deny that’s true. Our friend Margaret was trying to persuade us that Elena was right to run and hide and not settle in any one place. We may decide that they’re both on the right track.” She started up the steps. “But while we’re here, Joe will make sure we’re safe. That’s why he insisted on going into the house first to check it out. Stop frowning, you don’t have to worry.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking about,” Cara said as she followed her. “I was thinking that he was right.”
“He?”
“That guy at the hospital. Kevin Roper.”
Eve’s gaze flew to her face. “That kid?”
“That monster.” She added soberly, “He told me so many lies but there was truth in some of them. He said that I should go to church and pray for Elena’s soul. He only meant to lure me away from Joe, and I would have gone. Because it seemed right. I tried to pray for her, but I— It wasn’t what— I want to go to a church. Could I do that?”
“Of course. After we get you settled, I’ll arrange for it. You choose the church, and I’ll see that you get there tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” She looked out at the lake. “Though this is so peaceful, it’s kind of like a church, isn’t it? I just think that Elena would like me to go to church to pray for her. No matter where we settled, she made sure that she took me to confession and Mass.”
“Whatever you like,” Eve said gently. “A prayer is a prayer. It’s the thought and the love behind it that matters.” She opened the front door. “Now come in and let’s get you settled. Joe is going to want to take you around and show you the property.”
CHAPTER
3
Eve smiled as she watched Joe and Cara stroll down the path that led around the lake. It reminded her of the many times she had watched Joe and Jane over the years. Cara wasn’t speaking, and her attitude was reticent, but that was how Jane had been in the beginning, defensive, wary. It had taken months for her to accept Joe after they had taken her off the streets. She and Eve had an instant rapport, but Joe was different. Jane had been in so many foster homes that she didn’t trust anyone. But Joe had changed that, Joe always managed to change everything.
She turned away and went back into the house. It was good to be home, but she had things to do. She had to check her messages and see if there was anything pressing. She had put her other assignments on hold to do the reconstruction of Cara’s sister, Jenny. There were probably several impatient messages asking when she was going to complete their projects.
She got a cup of coffee and picked up her phone to start going through them.
She’d just begun to scroll down when her phone rang.
Jane.
She hadn’t heard from her since before she left for California, when Jane had arrived back in London.
A little odd that she was calling her the minute Eve returned?
“Hi, Jane. What’s been happening? Have you been settling into—”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in the hospital?”
Apparently not odd at all. “It wasn’t important. A little knock on the head. I’d have been in and out of the ER except Joe overreacted.”
“Joe tends to do that with you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have called me.”
“I was hoping you would never know about it. For heaven’s sake, you’re in London. Why worry you about nothing?” She added grimly, “However, someone evidently saw fit to do that. Should I guess?”
“Margaret.”
“That was my first guess.”
“She thought I should know. She said that you’d sent her on her way, and she didn’t think that you and Joe should be left without reinforcements. Good God, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“I’m certain Margaret told you in detail.”
“Of course she did. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She paused. “What about this little girl? How is she doing?”
“As well as can be expected. Cara’s very strong, she reminds me a little of you.”
“I haven’t been very strong lately. No wonder you didn’t trust me. I practically fell apart on you before I left Atlanta.”
“You had a right. Trevor was shot and killed before your eyes. And you knew it was because he was trying to save you. It takes a long time to get over a trauma like that. I don’t believe you ever really get over it. You just learn to live with it.”
“Yes, and it’s a tough lesson. But I didn’t have to worry you as I did.” She changed the subject. “But that’s my problem. We’re talking about yours. How do you want to handle this? Do you want me to come back there? Or do you want to come here?”
“Neither.”
“It’s one or the other. I’m not leaving you to face this without me.”
“Back off, Jane. We’ll handle it.”
“Like you always back off when I’m in trouble? We’re family, and you know I can’t do that. Choose.”
“Jane.”
“I’ll go along with whatever you say, but I really think you’d be better off coming across the pond. I agree with Margaret that you should be running and hiding rather than staked out for Salazar in a cave where he can corner you.”
“It’s a very nice cave, and you spent a number of years holed up here.”
“I loved it. If I didn’t think I’d cling too much to you and Joe, I’d be back there right now.” She went on brusquely, “But as I said, you’d be safer here. Well, not here in London, but I’m planning on meeting MacDuff and Jock in Edinburgh in a few days, then we’ll go directly to the Highlands.”
“Oh, yes, the great treasure hunt. Your friend, Lord MacDuff has been trying to talk you into looking for Cira’s gold for years.” Cira was the ancestress who had come to Scotland from Herculaneum centuries ago and had founded the MacDuff dynasty. There had been legends that she had brought with her a chest of gold coins that would have astronomical value today, but it had never been found. MacDuff and his best friend, Jock Gavin, had been searching for it for years, and MacDuff had reasons to believe that Jane might be able to help them. But Jane had only agreed in the past weeks because she needed the distraction to cope with the depression, Eve knew. “And I believe it’s a great idea. Is Seth Caleb going along?”
“No, I haven’t seen him since I got back to London from Atlanta.” She added flatly, “And I certainly didn’t invite him.”
Jane’s tone was distinctly cool, Eve noticed. But that didn’t surprise her. Caleb and Jane’s relationship had been volatile since the moment they had met years ago. Caleb was an enigma, and Eve never knew which way he was going to tu
rn. She did know that he probably felt something for Jane that he didn’t feel for anyone else on earth. “Since when did Caleb require an invitation?”
“I’m trying to change the status quo in that regard. Look, that’s not important. This whole idiotic treasure hunt isn’t important. I’ll put it off if you want me to come back. Otherwise, you come here, and we’ll get lost in the Highlands while Joe is trying to set up a way to make Cara permanently safe from Salazar.”
“And I’m supposed to involve you in this mess? No way.”
“I’m already involved. The minute Margaret told me what was going on, I was involved. Accept it.”
“I won’t accept it.”
“Yes, you will, maybe not this minute, but it will happen. I’ll hang up, and you’ll think about it. And you’ll realize that we’re family, and what happens to one happens to all of us. That’s what you taught me when I was growing up, and nothing has changed.”
“A lot has changed. You’re grown-up, you have a career, you have a life outside—”
“We’re family. Make a choice. Call me tomorrow. Or I’ll be on the next plane back to Atlanta.” She hung up.
She sounded totally determined, Eve thought in frustration. Once Jane made up her mind, there was no changing it. She listened, she looked at the problem from all sides, then she came to a conclusion and forged ahead. This time she had not indulged in the usual analyzing but jumped in with both feet when she’d heard Eve might be in danger.
Which was exactly what Eve would have done.
Family. Because family was everything.
Eve wanted to strangle Margaret. She had probably known exactly what effect recounting what had happened would have on Jane. Eve had known that, too, which was the reason she hadn’t been in contact with her since she had left here for California.
And now she had to find a way to deal with Jane as well as everything else that was going on in her life.
Her hand instinctively went to her abdomen.
See, I told you it was crazy out here. And sometimes the craziness comes from the people you love the most. And if Jane knew about you, she’d be more difficult than ever.
But she didn’t know, and Eve wasn’t about to tell her. She had a better chance of dealing with the situation the fewer disturbing elements that were present. The presence of this child in her life was definitely disturbing.
Disturbing and yet comforting in a strange way. It was a sign that there were wonderful things in a world where darkness always seemed to be present.
But she still had to fight that darkness, so stop standing here and brooding about what Jane might or might not do. She had until tomorrow to make a decision, and she’d have to talk to Joe anyway.
She sat down on the couch and started to go through her messages.
* * *
“You two were gone a long time.” Eve looked up from the Hamburger Helper she was stirring on the burner when Joe and Cara came into the cottage. “I hope you worked up an appetite.”
“She had a lot of questions,” Joe said. “And yes, I’m hungry. What about you, Cara?”
She smiled and nodded. “What are you fixing?”
“Just Hamburger Helper.” She made a face. “I’m not much of a cook. Joe and I are working most of the time. We do a lot of takeout.” She smiled at Joe. “But Joe is great on the barbecue grill. He’ll have to demonstrate soon.”
“My pleasure,” Joe said. “But we may be a little too busy in the near future.” He looked at the simmering skillet. “How soon will that be done?”
“Thirty minutes or so. As usual, I tossed everything in it to make it more palatable. I’m letting it simmer.”
“It usually turns out pretty good.” Joe turned toward the door. “I have an errand to run. I should be back by then.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have something to pick up.” He opened the door. “Lock up behind me and don’t go out on the porch. Okay?”
Her gaze flew to his face. “Was everything all right out there?”
He nodded. “No signs. But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.” The door closed behind him.
“You’re afraid someone would be here waiting for us?” Cara asked.
“No.” She shrugged. “But Joe is right, it doesn’t hurt to be careful.” She moved toward the door and locked it. “Are you tired from that long walk?”
“You’re trying to distract me.” She was smiling. “I’m used to locked doors. It was a rule at the apartment.” She moved over to the stove. “I sometimes put cheese in the Hamburger Helper. Did you try that?”
“Not this time.” She looked curiously at her. “You cook?”
“I did most of the cleaning and cooking at the apartment. We divided up the jobs. It was only fair. Elena was working most of the time just to pay the bills.” She looked in the refrigerator and got out some Brie cheese. “Okay, if I put some of this in it?”
“Be my guest.” Eve watched her as she carefully cut up some cheese, then blended it in the mixture. “What else did you cook?”
“Oh, hamburgers, lasagna, stew, spaghetti, mostly easy stuff.” She put down the ladle. “But I learn fast. If you want anything else, I’ll make it for you.”
She chuckled. “We didn’t bring you here because we wanted a chef.”
“I don’t expect you to keep me unless I make myself useful. Why would you? You don’t owe me anything.” She said soberly, “And I have to stay with you. You might need me.”
“Because you had a dream, and Jenny told you that you had to do it? I know you told me that.” Eve shook her head. “We want you to stay with us but not because you think you have to do it. Jenny isn’t with us any longer. She died a long time ago.”
“But I still love her,” she whispered. “I’ll always love her.” Her gaze was clinging desperately to Eve’s. “And I think she loves you, too, Eve. I told Margaret I thought you dream about Jenny, too. Do you?”
“No.” What could she tell her? Certainly not that she actually had experienced the spiritual presence of her sister, that she’d seen her, talked to her. It would be too much for her to handle. She was only eleven years old. “But I became very close to Jenny while I was working on her reconstruction. I felt as if I knew her very well.” She paused. “I still do.”
“The reconstruction,” Cara repeated. “Margaret told me about what you do. It sounds … strange.”
“I thought so, too, before I started to learn about it. Then I realized it wasn’t strange at all. It was a way that I could bring the lost ones home to the ones who loved them. I just had to be taught that everything was there waiting to be brought out and how to do it.” She met Cara’s eyes. “And that’s what I did with Jenny. In the end, I brought her home to you, Cara.”
“Yes, you did.” She smiled. “And Margaret told me how wonderfully it turned out. May I see it?”
“I don’t have it. It’s still being held by the Sheriff’s Department in California.” And actually seeing the skull from which she’d sculpted the reconstruction might still possibly have a negative effect. She thought that Cara understood but she preferred to introduce her slowly to her work and not on such a personal level. She shook her head. “And I don’t think you should see it anyway. Memory is always better.”
“You worked on it here?”
Eve nodded at the worktable across the room. “Over there.”
Cara walked over to the worktable and touched it with her fingertips. “I think you’re right. I don’t need to see that reconstruction. She’ll always be with me.” She looked across the room at Eve. “She saved me, you know. Elena had managed to get Jenny and me away from Walsh, but he almost found us in that forest. We heard him coming. Jenny told me to be quiet, and everything would be okay. Then she ran away from Elena and me toward Walsh. I didn’t know what was happening. But Elena did and grabbed my hand and made me run and run and run. She was crying…” She swallowed. “Did you know that?”
“Yes,” Eve sa
id gently. “But I didn’t know that you did.”
“Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn’t. I didn’t want it to be true. So I tried not to remember.” She moistened her lips. “But then the nightmares came, and it would all be there again.”
“Do you still have the nightmares?”
She shook her head. “No. For the past few weeks, I’ve just seen Jenny in my dreams and not that night in the forest. She talks to me and smiles, and I’m not afraid anymore.”
“That’s wonderful. She wouldn’t want you to be afraid. She was very brave herself.”
“It seems as if I’ve been afraid all my life. But I have to get over it. Being afraid didn’t keep Elena from being killed. It won’t keep Salazar from trying to kill me. I have to be like Jenny.”
“No, fear never helps, but it’s hard to fight. We’ll work on it together.” She paused. “You remember that night when Jenny died. Do you remember anything else? Did Elena tell you anything about who kidnapped you? Or why you couldn’t go to the police?”
“Elena didn’t know what happened that night. She thought maybe we’d been given something in the food we had for supper, and when she woke up, we were in a truck with a group of workers … and Walsh.”
“Did she recognize Walsh?”
Cara shook her head. “Elena worked and lived in our house. She didn’t know anything about any of the men who belonged to the Castino or any other cartels. But she could tell Walsh was in charge and that he was … bad.” She moistened her lips. “Her only thought was to find a way for us to escape. But her family had raised her to know that going to the police was an automatic death sentence. She wouldn’t risk it. Any more than she’d risk taking me back to Mexico. She said that if my father’s enemies had been able to reach me once, they could do it again.”
“And how do you feel about your mother and father?”
“I don’t remember them. Sometimes I have a vague memory of a woman with dark hair and a lovely smile. But she smiled more at Jenny, than at me.” She added simply, “And Elena was my family. I didn’t need anyone else.”
“You were lucky to have her.” She added gently, “I hope you can be as happy with us.”