The Killing Game (4 page)

Bonnie giggled. “No way. Joe wouldn't let them.”

Eve smiled and nodded. “He'd cause a ruckus. I'd rather avoid the entire scenario if you don't mind.”

“I don't mind. It's probably better that you don't tell anyone about me.” She tilted her head. “It's kinda nice having these times all to ourselves. Like a very special secret
.
Remember the secrets we used to have? The time we surprised Grandma on her birthday with that trip to Callaway Gardens. We made her get in the car and then we took off. The flowers were so pretty that spring. Have you gone there since?”

Bonnie running around Callaway Gardens, her face alight with joy and excitement . . . “No.”

“Stop that.” Bonnie frowned. “The flowers are still beautiful, the sky is still blue. Enjoy them.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“You say it, but you don't mean it.” She gazed back out at the sea. “You're glad to be leaving the island, aren't you?”

“I have a job to do.”

“You'd have left the island soon anyway.”

“Not necessarily. It's been very peaceful here. I like the sunlight and the tranquillity.”

“And you like Logan and didn't want to hurt him.”

“I did hurt him.”

“He'll be sorry to see you go, but he'll be okay.” She paused. “I knew Joe would come for you, but I didn't know—I don't like this, Mama.”

“You've never liked the idea of me searching for you.”

“No, I mean . . . I have a feeling . . . there's a darkness.”

“You're afraid I won't be able to survive working on your skull.”

“It's going to be bad for you, but that's not what . . .” She shrugged. “You'll go anyway. You're so stubborn.” She leaned against the wall. “Go back to sleep. You have all that packing to do. You did the age progression very well, by the way.”

“Thank you,” she said mockingly. “Talk about self-praise.”

“I can't compliment you about anything,” Bonnie said plaintively. “You think you're doing it yourself.”

“Since you're a dream, that's the logical conclusion.” She was silent a moment. “Libby's father was supposed to be a violent man. He took her as a revenge kidnapping. Is Libby still alive? She's not with you?”

Bonnie lifted her brows. “In your dreams or the other side? You can't have it both ways, Mama.”

“Forget it.”

A smile illuminated Bonnie's face. “She's not here with me. You have a chance of bringing her home.”

“I knew that.” Eve turned over on her side and closed her eyes. “I wouldn't have done all that work if I hadn't known there was a good chance.”

“A logical supposition?”

“Exactly.”

“Not instinct?”

“Sorry, I hate to pop your bubble, but these dreams of you are the only foolishness I'll lay claim to.” She paused. “Are you coming with me?”

“I'm always with you.” A silence and then haltingly, “But it may be difficult for me to get through. The darkness . . .”

“Is that skeleton you, baby?” Eve whispered. “Please. Tell me.”

“I'm not sure. I can't tell if the darkness is for you or for me. . . .”

WHEN EVE WOKE,
the palest glimmer lightened the horizon. She stayed in bed for another twenty minutes, watching the dawn creep over the ocean. Strange, she didn't feel as rested as she usually did after dreaming of Bonnie. She was a little uneasy. A psychiatrist would say the dreams were a catharsis, a way of handling her loss without going insane—and he'd probably be right. The dreams had started about a year after Fraser was executed, and their effect was positive. So she'd be damned if she'd go to some shrink to try to rid herself of them. A memory of love never did anyone any harm.

She swung her legs to the floor. Time to stop brooding and get moving. She had to pack and meet Joe at the house at eight.

And say a final good-bye to Logan.

“
YOU LOOK LIKE
you're visiting a dying friend.” Logan was coming down the stairs when she reached the hall. “Are you ready to go?”

She braced herself. “Yes.”

“Where's Quinn?”

“Waiting in the Jeep. Logan, I never—”

“I know.” He waved dismissively. “Come on, let's get going.”

“You're coming with us?”

“Don't look so wary. Only as far as the heliport.” He took her elbow and nudged her toward the door. “I won't be left here like a forlorn lover. That's bullshit. I'm hereby kicking you off my island. Don't ever come back.” He smiled crookedly. “Unless it's tomorrow, or next month or next year. Come to think of it, I might accept you if you hurry back in the next decade. Otherwise, forget it.”

She smiled with relief. “Thanks, Logan.”

“For making it easy for you? Hell, there's no way I'd taint your memory of our time here. We were too good together.” He opened the front door. “You're a special woman, Eve. I don't want to lose you. If you don't want me as a lover, I'll be your friend. It will take a little while for me to adjust, but it will happen. I'll make it happen.”

She reached up and kissed his cheek. “You're already my friend. I was a mess when I came here with you. No one could have been more generous or done more for me than you during this last year.”

He looked down at her and smiled. “I haven't given up, you know. I want a hell of a lot more. This is just the first stage of a sneak attack.”

“You never give up. That's one of the things that's so wonderful about you.”

“See, you're already appreciative of my sterling qualities. I intend to capitalize on that and move forward.” He pushed her toward the Jeep, where Joe waited. “Come on, you'll miss your helicopter.”

THE HELICOPTER WAS
already sitting on the tarmac when Joe pulled into the heliport.

“May I speak to you a moment, Quinn?” Logan asked politely.

Joe had been expecting it. “Get on board and buckle up, Eve. I'll be right with you.”

She gave them both a wary glance but didn't interfere.

When she was in the helicopter Logan asked, “It's not Bonnie, is it?”

“It could be.”

“You son of a
bitch
.”

Joe didn't respond.

“Do you know how much this is going to hurt her?”

“Yes.”

“But you don't care. You wanted her to come back and you used Bonnie to do it.”

“She wouldn't have thanked me if I hadn't told her about the skeleton.”

“I could break your neck.”

“I know. But it wouldn't be the intelligent thing to do. You've done a good job of making Eve grateful as well as sad. The last thing you want is for her to leave on a sour note. That would make it much more difficult to draw her back.”

Logan drew a deep breath. “I'll be coming back to my office in Monterey next week.”

“I thought that would be the next move.”

“I'm keeping an eye on you. You won't be able to blink without me knowing it. If this reconstruction does any damage to Eve, I'll decimate you.”

“Fine. Are you finished now?”

He started the Jeep. “I'm just beginning.”

Joe watched him drive away. Logan was a tough bastard, but he genuinely cared about Eve. He had many qualities Joe admired—intelligence, fairness, loyalty. If things were different, if he weren't an obstacle, Joe might have liked him.

Too bad.

He was an obstacle and Joe had learned when he was in the SEALs that there were three things you could do about an obstacle. You could jump over it. You could go around it.

Or you could pound it into the ground until it didn't exist.

THE PLANE FROM
Tahiti had scarcely reached optimum altitude when Eve asked Joe about Talladega. “I want to know everything.” She grimaced. “And don't tell me I'm overwrought again, or I'll sock you.”

“No, I believe I'll avoid that word in the future,” Joe murmured.

“You said she was the only child?”

“Unless they've found more bodies while I've been gone. But I doubt it. They scoured the area pretty thoroughly.”

She shuddered. Nine lives gone. Nine human beings buried in the earth and abandoned. “Have you been able to identify any of them?”

“Not yet. We don't even know if they're native to Rabun County. We're combing missing persons records statewide. Then we'll see if any of the DNA profiles on our possibles match our skeletons. It's doubtful that they were all buried at the same time. It looks like someone was using the bluff as his own private cemetery.”

“Fraser,” she whispered.

“Eight adults, one child,” he reminded her. “Fraser confessed to killing twelve children. He never mentioned any adults, and he had nothing to lose after he was convicted.”

“That doesn't mean anything. Who the hell knows what he did? He would never tell us anything that might help the parents find those children. He wanted us to suffer. He wanted the whole world to suffer.”

“It's a long shot. You've got to be prepared to find out this is another killer.”

“I'm prepared. No clues?”

“The rib cages of three victims showed signs the deaths were probably caused by knife wounds. We're not sure about the others. But the killer might have left a signature. There was wax residue in the right hands of all the skeletons.”

“Wax? What kind of wax?”

He shrugged. “They're analyzing it.”

“They should be done by now. Why are they moving so slowly?”

“Politics. The mayor doesn't want another serial killer to make Atlanta look bad and Chief Maxwell doesn't want to take the flak. The city's already had Wayne Williams and Fraser. The chief would just as soon keep this case in Rabun County. Unfortunately, Rabun doesn't have our facilities and she's having to offer limited assistance. The FBI Behavioral Science Unit is also lending a hand. They're already at Talladega to examine the site and the skeletons.”

“Then how did you get permission for me to do the reconstruction?”

“Well, actually, I had to twist a few arms. The chief's afraid there'll be a media circus if they find out you've been brought in.”

“God, I hope not.” She had fled thousands of miles to escape the publicity, and now she was confronted with it again.

“We'll keep them away. I've set up a lab for you at the lake house.”

“They'll still find us. There are always leaks.”

He smiled. “I have a few ideas on how to circumvent them. Trust me.”

She couldn't do anything else. She leaned back in the seat and tried to relax. It was going to be a long flight, and she had to rest to be ready for the work that lay ahead.

A child's skull to bring to life.

Bonnie?

“
COME ON.
”
JOE
grabbed her arm after they'd cleared Customs. “We can't go out in the waiting area. There's a mob of reporters out there.” He smiled at the red-coated customer service representative beside him. “Right, Don?”

“Enough to cause you a big problem. This way.” He led them toward an emergency exit. “A skycap will bring the bags.”

“Where are we going?” Eve asked as they went down a stairway.

“Employees entrance leading outside the North Terminal,” Joe answered. “I thought there would be a leak and called Don to help us.” Don ushered them through a long hall and out into the street in front of the terminal. “Thanks, Don.”

“No problem.” Don waved over the skycap who had just come out the door. “I owed you a favor, Joe.”

Eve watched Don disappear back into the terminal. “Okay, now that we're away from—What are you doing?”

Joe was in the middle of the street. “Hailing your own personal cab.”

A gray Oldsmobile pulled to a stop beside them. A woman was at the wheel.

“Mom?”

Sandra Duncan smiled. “I feel like an undercover agent or something. Were there reporters at Customs?”

“So I was told,” Joe said as he and the skycap loaded the luggage into the trunk.

“I thought there would be when I saw the newspaper this morning.”

Joe tipped the skycap. Eve jumped in the front seat and Joe got in the back. A few seconds later her mother was driving down the street toward the airport exit.

“Joe called you?” Eve asked.

“Somebody had to do it.” Sandra grinned at her. “Since my own daughter didn't see fit to let me know.”

“I would have called you once we were settled.”

“But now I have you to myself until we get to Joe's place.” She gave her an appraising glance. “You look good. You may have put on a pound or two.”

“Maybe.”

“And you have freckles.”

“That's what Joe said.”

“You should have worn your sunscreen.”

“Joe said that too.”

“Joe has good sense.”

“You look wonderful.” It was true. Her mother looked young, chic, and glowing with health and vitality. “How's Ron?”

“As good as can be expected.” Her eyes were twinkling. “He says I exhaust him. I do lead him a pretty strenuous dance. But what the hell. Life's too short not to enjoy it.”

“How's your job?”

“Fine.”

“This is a weekday. Am I making you miss work?”

“Yep, but they were glad I didn't come in. After the story in the paper this morning, they knew reporters would be all over the courthouse if I showed up.”

“I'm sorry, Mom.”

“It doesn't matter. I'm the best court reporter they have, and they know it. All this uproar will die down again just like it did the last time.” She glanced over her shoulder at Joe. “I'm heading up north toward your cottage. Do you want to stop anywhere?”

Joe shook his head. “No, but I want you to drive around the city a little to make sure we're not followed.”

“Right.” Sandra glanced at Eve, her expression sobering. “Joe says the chances aren't good, Eve. It may not be Bonnie.”

“A lousy chance is better than none at all.” She smiled. “And stop fretting, Mom. It's going to be okay. Whatever happens, I can handle it.”

“You know I don't approve of this. You've got to let her go before you tear yourself apart. I loved Bonnie too, but I had to come to terms with reality.”