“Merge? Is that what you do?”
“Sort of,” Margaret said vaguely. “It’s difficult to explain.”
“Like Seth Caleb. I’m asking you to take my word for it that he had nothing to do with hurting Toby and not start questioning him.”
She was silent a moment. “I’ll take your word. And I won’t question him … anytime soon.” She added brusquely, “But if he has nothing to do with it, then all this has to be about you.” Her tone was no longer amused or speculative. “Find out who did it and keep him from doing it to Toby or some other dog.” She put up her hand as Jane opened her lips to speak. “I can’t talk any more now. I have to get back to Toby.” She started back up the path toward the hospital. “I just had to tell you what you have to do. You say you’re grateful to me. Prove it. Keep Toby safe from that ugly man.”
“Was he ugly? How do you know?” Her brows rose quizzically. “Did Toby tell you?”
“No, Toby thinks all humans are beautiful. But he doesn’t know about ugly souls.” She stopped at the door and looked back at Jane. “You’ll do this for me?”
“No,” she said quietly. “I’ll do it for me and for Toby.”
“Good.” Margaret’s face lit with a luminous smile. “That’s how it should be.” The harsh bulb above her surrounded her with a glow that should have been stark and unflattering but somehow wasn’t. She looked soft and young and appealing, as if even that unkind glare couldn’t alter that essential effect. “Why don’t you come in and stay with Toby and me? He’s still under sedation, but I think he’d like to have you with him.”
“Think? You don’t know?”
“Of course not. He’s out cold.” Margaret giggled, and suddenly she looked more like sixteen than twenty. “You’re making fun of me.” She opened the door and stepped aside for Jane to enter. “Because I make you a little uncomfortable, and you don’t know how to treat me. You half believe I helped Toby, but you’re not quite sure. Devon was like that for a long time.”
Close. Except how could Jane be uncomfortable with the kid in leather sandals and jeans who could accept being the butt of jokes and suspicion and giggle about it? “How do you want me to treat you?”
“As a friend.” Margaret’s voice was wistful. “That would be nice. The other trainers and techs like me, but they think I’m kind of strange.”
“You are strange.” Jane smiled. “But I know a lot of strange people, and it doesn’t get in the way. We could work through it if you don’t mind me asking you questions. I’m very curious.”
“Sure.” She grinned. “I don’t have to answer all of them. I probably won’t. Everyone deserves their privacy.” She added impishly, “Even Seth Caleb.” She turned to Devon as she came into the room. “You go rest and get a cup of coffee. Jane and I will watch over Toby. I’ll call you if I see him doing anything that worries me. You know you can trust me.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” Devon wearily rubbed the back of her neck. “Thirty minutes. No more.” She headed for the door to the waiting room. “And yes, I can trust you.”
“See?” Margaret murmured as the door closed behind Devon. “No one knows more than Devon how strange I am, but she still thinks I’m okay.” She went over to Toby and stroked his head. “And this one agrees with her.”
Jane was beginning to see that Margaret was a strange and somehow wonderful mixture of strength and vulnerability. She was beginning to wonder what experiences had created that unique blend. “I can see that he does.” She smiled and tapped her own breast with her index finger. “This one agrees with her, too.”
Lake Cottage
Atlanta, Georgia
A BANGING ON THE DOOR.
Eve was abruptly jarred from sleep.
What the hell?
She sat upright in bed and looked at the clock.
Don’t open the door.
Joe’s words came back to her even as she swung her feet to the floor.
But what if it was the policeman who had been cruising the area?
The banging increased in volume.
One way to find out. She checked her phone and retrieved the telephone number for the policeman Joe had hired. Ron Hughes. She dialed quickly.
He answered on the first ring. “Hughes. Is everything okay, Ms. Duncan?”
“You tell me. Is it you that’s been banging on my door?”
“Hell, no. I’m about six miles from your place making the circle from the highway. I’ll be right there. Don’t answer the door.” He hung up.
And she had no intention of opening that door. But she wasn’t going to cower in this bedroom, either. There was desperation, maybe even violence, in the force with which those blows were being struck against the front door. If it was desperation, it could be that someone had had an accident in this torrential rain and needed help. If it was violence, she wanted that violence to have a face she recognized. The person on the porch might very well take off when he saw the patrol car coming down the road. For good or ill, she had to know who it was out there.
No problem. The two picture windows on either side of the door had drapes that she could pull a little aside so that she could see who was standing in front of the door. She thrust her feet into slippers, shrugged on her robe, grabbed her gun from the bedside table, and left the bedroom. The next moment, she had reached the front door.
The banging continued.
She moved to the far right side of the door and carefully drew the red drapes the tiniest bit away from the window.
She stiffened with shock.
The next moment she was at the front door, turning off the alarm.
She thrust her gun in her robe pocket and threw the door open.
“Stop that banging. What are you doing here?”
“You need me,” Ben Hudson said simply. “So I came, Eve. May I come in? I’m all wet.”
“For heaven’s sake, of course you have to come in.” She took his arm and pulled him into the cottage. “Just look at you.” She grabbed a dish towel from the kitchen cabinet and handed it to him. “You look like you’ve been swimming in the lake.”
“Do I?” He smiled his warm sweet smile as he wiped his face. “I guess so. After all, it’s all just lots of water.” He dried his sandy hair until it stood up in spiky tendrils. “But kind of different.”
She shook her head as she gazed at him. Here he was on her doorstep smiling at her as if he had just dropped in to say hello. Wide-set blue eyes stared at her from beneath that ridiculously spiked hair, and he was obviously pondering the difference between lake and rainwater. He was the same calm, sweet, slow boy she had grown to know all those months ago when he had helped Joe and her find Bonnie’s body. The counselors at the charity camp where he worked had told her he was twenty years old but had the mental capacity of a child of ten. She had never been sure that was true. He was indeed special, but that uniqueness seemed far beyond the easy pigeonhole where they wanted to put him. When she had first seen him, his joyous smile had reminded her of Bonnie’s. It still did. She wanted to hold him, take care of him, shake him for wandering outside in this storm.
“Sit down. I’ll get you some hot chocolate.”
He shook his head. “No, I have to go back outside. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She was already at the counter putting in a chocolate K-cup under the drink dispenser. “So you decided to bang down my door and make sure.”
He nodded gravely. “I thought that would be the right thing to do. I had to be sure. She said Joe wasn’t with you.”
She stiffened as her hand closed on the cup of chocolate. “She?”
“I had a dream last night. She said that I had to try to help you.”
She. He had to mean the dream had been about Bonnie. Bonnie had reached out to Ben in the past in dreams. Perhaps she recognized and bonded to his clear, simple soul, which was so like that of the child she had been when she had been alive. The fact that Bonnie had chosen to come to this boy made Ben
all the more close to Eve.
She crossed the room and handed him the cup, and said very carefully, “Let’s go slowly. You had a dream about Bonnie?”
“Sort of.” He frowned. “It was more about you. She said she couldn’t get through to you. She said the darkness was holding her back.”
“Darkness?”
“Bad darkness. She said it was coming toward you, and I had to try to help.”
“Because Joe wasn’t going to be here?” She felt a sudden chill. “Were you at the vocational camp when you had this dream?”
He nodded. “She came almost as soon as I went to sleep. So I started out right away.”
“All the way from the camp in south Georgia? You don’t drive.”
“I woke up Kenny. He brought me. He’s a counselor, too, and sharing my tent right now. But he was afraid his Honda would get stuck in the mud and wouldn’t bring me past the highway and I had to walk.” He made a face. “I think he was kind of mad at me for waking him up. But it was nice of him to bring me, wasn’t it?”
“It would have been even nicer if he’d gone the extra couple miles,” she said dryly. But it didn’t surprise her that he’d been able to persuade this Kenny to drive over a hundred miles when Ben had asked him. Ben was special, and everyone he touched seemed to realize that. “You’ve got to get out of those clothes. I don’t suppose you brought anything with you?”
Ben shook his head.
“Then I’ll get something of Joe’s for you to wear.” She started to turn, then saw a spear of headlights outside the window. “That’s the patrol car. I almost forgot he was coming.” She headed for the front door. “Stay here. I’ll talk to the officer.”
But Ben was at the door before her. “No, I have to be with you.”
She looked at him in exasperation. “Ben…”
He shook his head. He wasn’t going to be persuaded.
She drew back the drape and glanced out the window and saw the uniformed officer coming up the porch stairs. She opened the door before he had a chance to knock. “I’m sorry, Officer Hughes. I didn’t have time to call you. It was a false alarm. It was only my friend at the door.”
“At this hour?” He was looking beyond her at Ben. “May I come in for a moment?”
It was clear he wanted to check Ben out and make sure she wasn’t being coerced. Why not? It would be the quickest way to reassure him. No one would believe Ben would be a threat once they’d spoken to him. She opened the door wider. “Of course.”
“Thanks. I’ll only be a minute.” He showed her his ID as he came into the house. “Detective Quinn wouldn’t like it unless I did everything by the book.” He looked at Ben. “Your name?”
“Ben. Ben Hudson.”
“And your purpose here?”
“To help Eve.” He smiled. “Like you. Right?”
“Right.” Officer Hughes smiled back at him. It was hard not to smile at Ben. “But from now on call her and tell her you’re coming. It will save all of us a lot of trouble. You don’t want to scare her.” He turned back to Eve. “I’ll be on my way. If you need me, just call. I’ll be on duty for another two hours, and I think Detective Quinn has arranged for Pete Dolanelli to take over.”
“Thank you for being so prompt.” She went with him to the door. “I hope it’s the last time I’ll have to call you.”
“So do I.” He grinned. “But it broke up the duty a bit. Monotony is always best, but it gets boring.” He started down the steps and looked back over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “No offense, ma’am, but I’d rather you rely on me or Dolanelli. Mr. Hudson seems like a nice guy, but there’s no … edge.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Eve said. “Ben has no edge at all. But he’s very loyal and has a good heart. When I need edge, I’ll definitely call you.” She went back in the house, locked the door behind her, and turned back to Ben. “You see, I have that very nice and competent policeman to protect me. I don’t need you, Ben. Go back to the camp.”
He shook his head. “I have to stay with you.”
She nodded. She hadn’t thought that she’d be able to convince him. “I’ll go and get Joe’s clothes. The bathroom is the first door on your left. Why don’t you take a hot shower?”
He shook his head. “I’ll only get cold and wet again when I go back outside.”
“Outside? Why should you go outside again? You want to protect me? Do it from the living-room couch.”
“I just wanted to make sure that the cottage is safe. That Officer Hughes is in a car. I’ll be able to see more if I move around on foot.”
“Ben, there’s no solid proof that I’m even in danger. It’s all fog and mirrors.” She met his eyes. “And dreams. And that dream of yours was very vague.”
“Because of the darkness,” he said gravely. “But it wasn’t vague that Bonnie sent me here. She wanted me to come.”
“And park yourself out in the rain?”
“Maybe the rain will stop.”
“And maybe it won’t.” She gazed at him for another moment and turned on her heel. She wasn’t making a dent in that solemn determination. “I’ll get those clothes. Do you have a cell phone?”
“Yes, but I keep doing things to it that make it go wonky.”
“Well, don’t do anything tonight, dammit. I want you to call me every hour, and I want to be able to reach you.”
He smiled. “Yes, Eve.”
“And I’m going to give you Joe’s slicker, and I want you to keep beneath the trees and out of the rain as much as possible.”
“Yes, Eve.”
“And if you see something you don’t like, then call me, and I’ll call Officer Hughes. Don’t try to deal with it yourself.”
His smile widened. “Yes, Eve.”
“And stop saying that and grinning at me. I mean it.”
“I know you do. But it’s hard not to smile. You’re worried about me, and that means that you like me. That makes me happy.”
She felt a melting within her. “Of course I like you. I’ve always liked you, Ben. Don’t you know that?”
He shook his head. “I thought it was because I helped you with Bonnie. It was okay that it was all about her, but it’s nice that you like me, too.”
She went back and gave him a quick hug. “Don’t you ever say that again. Bonnie was the beginning, but you’re very special to Joe and me on your own. Because you’re who you are.” She turned and strode toward the bedroom. “So you have to take care of yourself and don’t do anything foolish.”
“Some people think I am a fool, Eve,” he said quietly.
“Then they’re stupid. Are you different? Yes. But we’re all different, and we just have to accept each other. Finish that chocolate and dry your hair.”
“Yes, Eve.”
“Now you’re making fun of me.”
“I think I am.” He thought about it. “Do you mind?”
“No. Just don’t make a habit of it.” She slammed the door behind her.
Dammit, she didn’t want Ben to go out there.
But he had said that Bonnie had told him to come here. Surely she wouldn’t have sent him if she’d thought there was any danger. Or would she? Bonnie had shown that she wasn’t above weighing her choices as to whom she wanted to protect. She loved Eve as much as Eve loved her. Eve would always be first where Bonnie was concerned. From the moment she had given birth to Bonnie, Eve had realized her little girl was very special, and they would always have a bond that would last forever. But forever had lasted only seven short years when Bonnie had been kidnapped and died. Eve couldn’t bear the agony of living without her and had been spiraling downward to follow her through that final door when she had started to dream of Bonnie. It wasn’t until years later that she would admit to herself that she believed Bonnie was no dream but a spirit who had come to show her that forever was still possible if they were patient and didn’t break the rules. It had been difficult because Eve always had been hardheaded and practical, and gho
sts were not acceptable in her vision of life … and death. But those visits from Bonnie were so real, so right, that she had gradually realized that Bonnie was alive for her no matter what anyone else thought.
And when she was searching for Bonnie’s body to bring her home, she had come across Ben, who was as special in his way as Bonnie. Somehow, it had hardly surprised her that he, too, dreamed about Bonnie. Nor that he loved her as much as Eve did.
No, that wasn’t true. No one could love her that much.
Good God, was she a little jealous that Bonnie had come to Ben and not to her?
She said the darkness around you was holding her back.
So Bonnie had sent Ben to try to keep Eve safe.
And now Eve had to find a way to keep Ben safe.
* * *
THE RAIN WAS LESSENING, Doane noticed. That was too bad. The rain was his friend right now.
“It will still be fine, Kevin.” He looked down at the skull in the chest beside him on the seat of the truck as he pulled out his earphone. “I’ll just have to make a few adjustments here. I kind of thought Venable might send that man who was watching us at the lake. But I wasn’t expecting Ben Hudson to show up. Fate seems to be putting obstacles in our path. But you always said the victory was sweeter if it wasn’t easy.” He opened his computer. “Everything has to be ready to go like clockwork when I put it in motion. Let’s check on Blick.”
Text or Skype?
No, he wanted to see Blick’s face, make certain that there was no hesitance or lies. He trusted the man as much as he trusted anyone. He had been Kevin’s friend and worshipped him. Besides, he liked money. Between the two, he had a chance that he wouldn’t betray him. Or that he wouldn’t move too soon and trigger a response that would make it difficult for Doane to initiate his plans for Eve Duncan. Blick had never had Kevin’s coolness and was prone to panic. He had to keep him calm and on track.
He pressed the button and waited for Blick to pick up the line on Summer Island.
“Is everything okay?” Blick’s face was tense as he picked up the line. “Have you done it?”
“Not yet. There are problems. I’ll work them out. MacGuire’s attention is still focused on the dog?”