“Eve…” Margaret was behind her, her hand grasping Eve’s shoulder.
“I’ve got to help her,” Eve said unsteadily as she gently pushed up Elena’s shirt.
Elena’s eyes opened. “Who … are … you?”
“Eve. A friend.” She took Elena’s hand. She didn’t know if she could give her anything but comfort. “A friend to you and Cara and Jenny. We’re here to help you, Elena.”
“Eve … Cara said … Eve … Too late for … me. It’s Cara. Got to save Cara.” Her eyes were frantic. “So that God will forgive me. I told him. He kept stabbing me, and I told him. How could … I do it?”
“Walsh? You told Walsh?”
“God will never … forgive me. I told … Walsh, and he laughed. Then he stabbed me one more time. He picked me … up and threw me … down here. He … thought … I … was dead. I should be … dead. Don’t deserve … to … live. Told … him.”
“What did you tell him, Elena?”
“Where … Cara. The strip … seventeen-mile … I told him … about the cave.”
“What cave?”
“Spider’s nest … spider’s nest.” Her voice was fading. “She won’t have a chance…” Her hand tightened on Eve’s. “Please. Save … her.” A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. “So that God will forgive—”
“We’ll save her. I promise you.” Her throat was tight. “And God will forgive you. There’s no need. You’ve been a very good woman, and there’s nothing to—”
But Elena’s eyes were closed.
She was dead.
“Damn.” Eve sat back on her heels and drew a deep, shaky breath. “Damn him.”
“Yes.” Nalchek hung up the phone. “We can’t stay here. It would have taken Walsh a bit of time to stage the car accident to stall us, but he has at least an hour’s head start.”
Eve nodded jerkily as she got to her feet. “And we have no idea where we’re going yet. But we’ll find out. You go ahead in your car, Nalchek, and head back toward town and check the map and try to locate any reference to any caves near the seventeen-mile strip. I don’t remember ever hearing about any. Margaret and I will stop at the crash scene and question the local police and see if they know anything before we join you in Carmel. Local cops usually know their towns better than anyone.” She looked down at Elena. “And get someone to come and take care of her before those birds…” She started up the hill. “I’ll be in touch as soon as we get on the road. We’ve got to hurry. I made her a promise.”
Promises.
She had made a promise to Elena and to Jenny.
And the strongest, deepest promise was to herself.
She had to keep that little girl alive.
* * *
“We’re heading toward town right now,” Eve told Joe after she had filled him in on what had happened to Elena Delaney. “Margaret is checking Google, but I don’t think she’s finding anything. I talked to the police at the crash scene, and they’d never heard of a cave in that area. It must not be well-known. I thought I’d let you have a go at checking on it. We need all the help we can get.”
“And I’m so conveniently on the sidelines.” He followed immediately. “That’s not fair. I’ll get to work on it immediately. You’re right, we’re heading for the homestretch, and there’s no way Walsh will get there before us.”
“Thanks, Joe.”
“Is that all you need?”
“Yes.” She paused. “No. It was bad seeing Elena—I felt helpless. I’m missing you right now. I wanted to hear your voice. I wanted to be with you.”
“You’re always with me.”
“Yeah, I know. Keep in touch.” She hung up.
Joe slowly pressed the disconnect. Eve felt safe saying she wanted to be with him when she was almost two hours away, and she had arranged roadblocks to keep him here.
Sorry, Eve. Homestretch.
He sat up in bed and threw his sheet aside.
First, get to Carmel in the quickest way possible.
He was dialing his phone as he started dressing.
“Nalchek. I need you to do something for me.”
“Forget it,” he said curtly. “I don’t have the time. I’m driving toward Carmel and trying to—”
“I know what you’re trying to do. I need one phone call from you, then I’ll leave you alone.”
“You’ll not get it. I’m busy and—”
“I want you to set up a helicopter to bring me down there right away.”
“What? You think I can just blink my eyes and arrange for a helicopter?”
“Probably. You have connections. You did very well when you got those police helicopters so quickly to us in Tahoe.”
“That was different.”
“Then consider it a challenge.”
“No.”
“Yes. Or we’ll discuss Bryland Medical, and I don’t think you want to waste time on that at the moment.”
Silence. “You’ve been digging hard and deep.”
“And I’d just finished putting together the pieces before Eve called me. But I’m willing to put it aside until we take out Walsh.” Joe’s tone hardened. “Get me the helicopter. And while you’re at it, get rid of that guard in the hall, or I’ll do it myself.”
Nalchek didn’t answer for another moment. “I’ll get it for you. Why should I worry about you killing yourself? That’s Eve’s job, and she’ll probably kill you herself when she finds out what you’re doing.”
“I’ll be out of here and downstairs on the street in ten minutes. Call me and tell me where to pick up the helicopter.” He hung up.
Eve wouldn’t kill him, but she would probably find a way to punish him, Joe thought ruefully. But as long as he didn’t pull those stitches and bleed to death, she would eventually forgive him. It would be worth the risk.
Homestretch.
* * *
Eve, Margaret, and Nalchek pulled off the road and climbed out of the car. They were on the southern end of the scenic seventeen-mile drive, which offered some of the most stunning views of the Pacific Ocean Eve had ever seen. But now it looked anything but beautiful to her. The crashing waves were ominous, threatening. Jagged rocks jutted from the water like fingers clawing desperately upward. Dark clouds billowed offshore, pulsing with electrical energy.
Margaret pulled her sweater closer around her. “The birds have all gone. Look around.”
Birds. Eve’s mind went instantly to the vultures wheeling over Elena’s poor broken body.
Margaret knew what Eve was thinking and shook her head.
Nalchek turned toward Margaret. “And what does that have to do with anything?”
“There’s a storm coming, and they know it.” Margaret nodded to the clouds offshore. “It’s going to be a big one.”
Eve unfolded a map and spread it on the car hood. “One more reason to find Cara as fast as we can.” She ran her finger up and down the coastline. “The way I figure it, she could be anywhere along here. Most of the scenic road is close to sea level, and there aren’t many places to hide. It’s only here at this section, with all these cliffs and rocks, that offers a real possibility.”
Nalchek shook his head. “It’s still a lot of ground to cover. I’ll coordinate with the Coast Guard and local police to get some manpower out here.”
“Do that. But we’re running out of time.” Eve looked up and down the shoreline. “Walsh has a head start on us. I’m going down to the beach.”
“By yourself? That’s not a good idea.”
“No choice. Cara needs us.”
Nalchek shook his head. “And what if I ordered you to stay here?”
Eve folded the map. “I’d remind you that I don’t work for you.” She turned to Margaret. “What do you think?”
Margaret pointed up the scenic road. “I’ll head up this way on foot. I’ll call you if I see anything.”
“Sounds good.” She turned to Nalchek. “It’s a lot of ground for two people to cover. I hop
e you were serious about getting the cavalry on board.”
“Why, Eve, don’t you trust me?” he asked mockingly.
“Sometimes.”
“Margaret has obviously been exerting her influence on you.” He pulled out his phone. “The first wave should be arriving in just a few minutes. I’ll coordinate from here.”
Eve was already sprinting down the stone stairs toward the beach.
* * *
This had to be it, Walsh thought.
He stopped in the knee-deep water and gazed up at the jagged rocks before him. The opening wasn’t visible from the road, and he wouldn’t have even guessed it was there if that bitch hadn’t told him.
Stupid woman. She should have known better than to try to outsmart him. All that running and hiding, and it had come down to facing his knife on that hillside. It had been pure pleasure to force the information from her. She was surely dead now, and soon he’d have Cara.
He sloshed through the water toward the cave.
He stopped.
There was a sound echoing in the cavern.
Whimpering. Crying.
He smiled. Of course she was crying. She was only a kid and afraid of what was coming. Not like her sister, whom he’d not been able to break until that final blow. Cara was different, probably softer, and she should be afraid. Because once he had her, he’d make her pay for those years when he’d had to hunt her—
Wait.
He listened. It didn’t sound like crying. It sounded more like …
Laughter.
And it wasn’t coming from the cavern at all. It seemed to be all around him.
He swallowed hard. A trick of the wind, he told himself. The gusts were stronger now, whistling around the rocks. That had to be what he was hearing.
The laughter stopped.
He let out the long breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Time to end this. Time to end her.
He moved into the tall cave, then stopped just inside the entrance. It was much larger than he would have imagined, with its small opening quickly expanding to a gaping yawn of a cavern perhaps forty feet high. Sharp rock formations stabbed upward and downward, like teeth in the mouth of a giant monster. As he sloshed through the shin-deep water, the noise from the outside receded, replaced by the sounds of breathing and movements bouncing off the rock walls.
He smiled as he glanced around the dark cavern. Absolutely perfect. No witnesses, no one to keep him from what needed to be done.
“Cara?” he shouted.
No answer.
“I’m here to help you. Everything is going to be all right now.”
Silence.
“Elena sent me. She wants me to take you back to her. She’s waiting for us.”
Movement above him.
He looked up. The motion had appeared to be on one of several ledges that extended to the dark upper reaches of the cave. Could she really be up there?
His eyes adjusted to the darkness. He saw there were footholds in the craggy rocks, more than large enough for a child to climb.
“Cara?”
More movement up above.
She was up there.
Walsh grabbed hold of the rocks jutting out and lifted himself up.
* * *
The spider’s nest.
Eve gazed desperately around her as she hit the beach. What in the hell had the poor woman been trying to tell them? It might have meant absolutely nothing, of course. Elena had been out of her head, practically incoherent in her last moments on Earth.
But there was something about the way she had said those words with such conviction, such purpose.
The spider’s nest.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Eve looked at the dark clouds bearing down on her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard thunder on the West Coast. How strange …
Margaret was right. There was a big storm coming. Waves crashed violently against the shore, dragging large clumps of seaweed behind them. Eve stopped, surveying the rocks around her. If Cara was here somewhere, the child couldn’t stay for long. The tide was coming in.
“Cara!” Eve shouted. “Cara!”
It was no use. Her voice was lost in the roaring surf.
Her heart stopped. Just twenty feet ahead of her, she spotted a splash of red in the sand. Was it blood?
She ran forward. No. Not blood, she realized. Thank God.
It was a child’s crimson book bag.
Eve picked it up. It had been dropped here, probably in just the past few hours. It still looked new, unsullied by the elements.
Cara’s book bag? It was empty except for a few pens and Post-it notes, and she could only guess. Perhaps Cara had been in a hurry and hadn’t wanted the weight of the bag.
Perhaps.
Eve looked down. Whatever footprints there had been were gone, erased by the rising tide.
But she was on the right track, she knew it.
She started running again.
“Cara!”
* * *
“Thanks for the lift, guys. I appreciate it.”
Joe settled back in the rear jump seat of a San Francisco PD Bell 429 helicopter. Two police aviation officers were seated in front of him as they soared over the Bay and headed south down the coast.
The unit’s mechanic turned around to look at him. “The local police evidently wanted you pretty bad down there. But I gotta tell you, the way you climbed in here, I’m not sure you should be going anywhere.”
Joe grimaced. The mechanic was right. His wound hurt like hell. He glanced around. “Where’s your tool kit?”
“That bronze handle next to you. What do you need?”
“I can get it.” Joe pulled up on the handle and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for: a roll of silver duct tape. He slid out of his jacket and pulled the tape taut over his T-shirt. He wrapped it tight around his torso, pulling the roll around and around, creating a makeshift cast.
He turned in his seat, first to the right, then to the left. Better. Still not great, but definitely better.
He looked ahead. “How much farther?”
The pilot answered, “Just a few minutes, Detective Quinn. You should probably buckle up. It looks like we have some rough weather ahead.”
* * *
Margaret ran along the Scenic Drive, her gaze searching the beach fifty feet below her.
She shook her head. She’d always been known as being optimistic. But not right now. Now she was afraid there was little hope for that little girl.
She looked out at the rolling ocean. The animals’ desertion had unsettled her; it was almost as if someone had taken away her senses. Birds were especially sensitive to changing atmospheric conditions. She had long ago learned to follow their lead where the weather was concerned.
The sky had been growing darker by the minute, but the clouds above her parted momentarily, revealing a patch of blue sky and brilliant sunlight. Margaret turned toward the beach.
The sunlight speared past over half a dozen rock formations and cast long shadows on the shoreline below.
She gasped. She halted, transfixed.
The spider’s nest.
The formations’ shadowy tentacles did indeed look like the legs of a spider, extending over the tall rock features on the beach.
The spider’s nest.
That’s where she was.
Margaret pulled her phone from her pocket and punched Eve’s number.
“I know where it is!” Margaret said when Eve immediately answered. “I’m looking at it. The spider’s nest is right in front of me.”
“Margaret, slow down. What are you saying?”
“The spider’s nest. The shadow of those rock formations is the spider. Wait, I see you on the beach. It’s just in front of you, Eve. Look at the shadows. They’re the spider. And those rocks are the nest.”
Even from over two hundred yards away, Margaret could see that she had stopped Eve in her tracks.
?
??Oh, my God,” Eve said. “You found it.”
Margaret’s gaze was searching desperately as the sun once again disappeared behind the dark clouds. “There’s no way for me to get down there from here.”
“It’s okay. Margaret, run back to Nalchek. Tell him exactly where to send the police when they get here. I’m going to go over there.”
“Eve, no. You have to wait until—”
Eve cut the connection.
* * *
Eve ran faster as the giant shadow faded into the gloom.
The spider’s nest. Right in front of her eyes.
Only now could she see that the rocks surrounded a large cave that faced the open sea. Cara had to be in there.
She wanted to shout the girl’s name as she drew closer, but she stopped herself. There was every possibility that he was in there, too.
Walsh.
Thunder boomed, and lightning lit up the dark sky. Rain suddenly poured from the heavens, as if turned on by a giant spigot.
Eve stopped outside the cave opening. She knew what Joe would say right now.
Eve, dammit. Wait. Wait for the cavalry you know is on the way.
Bullshit.
That’s what he would say, but she knew damned well Joe himself wouldn’t wait. Not when the life of that little girl was at stake.
The thunder boomed again. Louder this time.
Eve’s clothes were drenched. Her hair was soaked and matted against the nape of her neck. She took one last look around before she slowly ventured into the cave.
* * *
Walsh pulled himself onto the dark ledge. It was quiet now, and he was beginning to think he was wrong about Cara’s being up here.
Then he heard rustling and the sound of feet moving across the rock floor.
Then he saw her. Cara had a red coat pulled tight around her, and she was now huddled against the far wall.
“Why, hello, Cara.”
She didn’t answer. She was frantically looking around, trying to find an escape route. There was none.
He stepped toward her. “Do you know who I am?”
She finally spoke. “Yes, Elena told me. El Diablo.”
He laughed. “Is that what she said? El Diablo? The devil?”
She nodded.
“Perhaps she was right. But the devil is nothing less than an angel. A fallen angel, perhaps, but an angel nonetheless. And I’m your angel, little girl. You’ll see. I’m here to end your suffering, all your pain, all your fear. You’ll never know what it is to be hungry or afraid ever again. Your angel will do that for you.”