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  “Yes.” It was in the file, and he could see why the photo was one of the reasons the media were being so tenacious. The child’s smile seemed to light up the world, and it had completely touched and captivated the public. “I know that cases like this almost always end with a corpse. But do you have anything concrete?”

  “No. Except that there have been several similar disappearances over the last few years in this area. We found one child’s body six months ago, a little boy. Butchered.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  “Yeah. That’s what we thought. And the killings have gotten enough media attention so that Eve Duncan must know about them. She has to be trying to close her eyes and block them out.”

  “Wouldn’t you?”

  “No question. I have a four-year-old boy myself, and I nearly threw up when we found that murdered kid.”

  “You have a boy? Are you married?”

  “No, you know me and commitment. But it may end up that way. She’s a nice woman, and we all get lonely.” He added, “Except you, Joe. You never needed anyone, did you?”

  Not until now. Not until I walked into that house and saw her.

  He didn’t answer the question. “No clues? No info? He didn’t leave any evidence?”

  “Oh, we have evidence. He was pretty careless with the disposal of the body, or we wouldn’t have found it. But we can’t connect it to anyone to make it work for us. We think he’s a local since he’s been working exclusively in the Atlanta area. We’ve checked nearby cities, and they have no similar cases during the time span of the Atlanta kidnappings.”

  “But a big city is better hunting grounds for predators. If he lived in a small town, he wouldn’t necessarily do his killing there. Not if he was smart.”

  “You think he commuted to do his kills?”

  “I’m just not ruling it out. I’m not ruling anything out. What about a killer close to the family? Bonnie’s father?”

  “She was illegitimate, and Eve Duncan never put his name on the birth certificate. She said the father was a John Gallo, who was killed while he was in the Army. It all checked out. Her mother was a possibility since she was into drugs for years, but she was with Bonnie’s mother when the little girl was taken.”

  Think like a professional. Stop trying to protect her. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe they were in it together and protecting each other. Neither one of them has to be a monster. It could have happened in a moment of anger, when the child was struck, and it ended in death. Then they had to scurry to make up a story to keep themselves from being charged.”

  Slindak was silent. “You think that’s likely?”

  Hell, no, everything within him was rejecting the scenario he had put forward. “I’m just saying nothing should be ruled out.”

  “I think you’d have ruled it out if you’d seen Eve Duncan after the kid was taken. I was one of the detectives who came to the park where the kid disappeared that day. Eve Duncan was terrified. And angry. And ready to take on the world to get her daughter back.”

  “Then maybe we’ll be able to erase her name from the suspect list after we investigate a little further. You’ve made inquiries of neighbors and teachers?”

  “The kid was bright and friendly and loved the whole damn world. Everyone said that Eve Duncan was totally dedicated to Bonnie. She was respected, even admired, by everyone we questioned. She worked two jobs, was finishing college with a 4.0 average, and still managed to be a great mother.” He paused. “I like her, Joe. Though she’s given our department nothing but grief since her daughter was kidnapped. Who could blame her? I’d do the same. Don’t give her a hard time.”

  “I’m not trying to hurt her. I generally don’t like to become involved with the families of victims.” That was the truth. “And I can see why you’d admire her and want to protect her.” And God knows that was the truth. “If everything checks out, we’ll assume that we have a serial killer. I’ll check into a hotel, then come down to the precinct and go over the case files on the missing children.”

  “I’ll be here,” Slindak said. “We’re all working extra hours on this case.” He hung up.

  Joe stood there for an instant longer after he’d replaced the receiver, thinking about what Slindak had said. Everything that Slindak had recounted about Eve had been exactly what his own senses had told him. She was a victim who refused to be a victim. How could you help but want to come to her rescue? Slindak had obviously had that same response to her.

  No, it hadn’t been the same for him. No one but Joe could have had this crazy, wild reaction when he’d seen Eve Duncan. It was too bizarre. He remembered what Slindak had said about him.

  Cold as ice?

  Never in this world. Not where Eve Duncan was concerned.

  Two Weeks Later

  “YOU SAID YOU’D HELP me,” Eve said, when Joe picked up the phone. “All those fine words, and you’re not doing a damn thing. Why haven’t I heard from you?”

  Because he’d been trying to forget that first interview, divorce himself from his reaction to Eve herself, and concentrate on the case. He wasn’t about to tell her that concentration had been centered on going through all the files of known child molesters in the Southeast. “I haven’t had anything to report to you.”

  “Well, I have something to report to you. Come and see me.”

  He stared at the phone after she’d hung up. He could send Slindak.

  But he knew he wasn’t going to do it.

  He pushed back from the desk and stood up. He was feeling alive, eagerness mixed with a low, simmering excitement. This was what he had been waiting for no matter what he had been telling himself.

  It was starting …

  * * *

  EVE THREW OPEN THE DOOR before he could ring the bell. “You took your time. Come in.” She turned her back and strode toward the kitchen. “I have something to show you.”

  She was the same and yet not the same, he thought as he followed her. She was dressed in khaki slacks and a loose white shirt. The fragile restraint that was so difficult to watch was still there, but she was more forceful. The vitality that had so drawn him was burning high. She was not even quite as pale.

  “What are you looking at?” She had turned at the kitchen table.

  “You,” he said quietly. “You look better. You’re still too thin, but you appear to have been eating. That’s good.”

  “I told you that I wouldn’t neglect myself. And I’m always thin.” She raised her brows. “You probably don’t like skinny women. Most men don’t. They like boobs and ass.”

  He was surprised at her bluntness. “I find that thin women usually have a grace and elegance that’s appealing.”

  “Very tactful. Very polite. But I understand that your tastes are definitely on the voluptuous side. So don’t be tactful. All I want is the truth from you.”

  “About boobs and ass?” His brows rose. “And just how do you understand anything that intimate about me?”

  “I called your office at Quantico. I told them I wanted to know everything there was to know about you. They tried to put me off and sidetrack me, but I kept at them. I called five times and got different agents. I finally found one who gave me what I wanted.”

  “And why did you do that?”

  “Because you made me believe you.” She stared him in the eye. “And I had to be sure there was something to believe in.”

  “I see. And what did they tell you?”

  “More than I thought they would. The person I talked to didn’t give me much of an argument. He seemed to be taking a kind of malicious enjoyment from telling me about you. I don’t think he was your friend.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. Who was it?”

  “An Agent Rick Donald.” She saw his expression. “He doesn’t like you?”

  “We’ve been in competition a few times.” And Donald had not come out on top. “No one can please everyone. What did he tell you?”

  “Part of it was okay. That you
’ve only been with the Bureau for a few years and have already solved three difficult cases. That you were a SEAL and decorated twice. Harvard graduate. Rich boy. Parents dead. You inherited a potload of money and don’t need to work.” She paused. “I didn’t like that. I have no use for a dabbler. But they said when you were on a case that you were totally dedicated. So I guess that’s all right.”

  “I’m glad I don’t have to divest myself of all worldly goods,” he said mockingly.

  “This isn’t funny,” she said. “I have to have someone who will take Bonnie seriously. You talk the talk, but I have to know.”

  “And you evidently had to know about my private life as well. I’m not surprised he told you everything you wanted to know about me. He was probably as amused as hell. I’m just surprised you thought it important.”

  “It’s important. You’re good-looking, you’re tough, you have a sort of virile magnetism that would be appealing to women. If you liked them too much, then they’d distract you.” Her lips tightened. “I grew up in the projects, and I know all about vices. Sex can be as addictive and distracting as any drug. I don’t want you screwing around when I need you. When Bonnie needs you.”

  He looked at her in disbelief. “My God, I feel as if I’m applying for a Secret Service job.”

  “And you’re probably pissed. I can’t help that. I have to do whatever needs doing. If you don’t like it, go back to Quantico and have them send me someone else.”

  “I don’t like it,” he said coolly. “But I’m not pissed. I’m considering the source. But stay out of my private business, or I’ll start delving into yours.”

  She looked surprised. “Really?” Then she shrugged. “But my private business couldn’t be more boring. Delve away.”

  “I’ll do that. So I assume I’ve passed muster if you called me here to chew me out.”

  “That’s not why I wanted you here. I just had to be honest with you.” She moistened her lips. “And I had to be sure you’ll be honest with me. The police won’t tell me the truth. They just make soothing noises and look away. And you said you’d help, but then you disappeared and pretended I wasn’t there.”

  “Oh, I knew you were there.” Every minute. Though he’d tried his best to block her out. Now he realized there would be no blocking her out, and they would just have to learn to deal with each other. But this bolder, blunter Eve Duncan was easier to accept than the woman who had touched him so deeply that he’d wanted to scoop her up and heal every wound. He could handle this woman, and it was better for him to keep this aspect of her in the forefront. “I was busy.” He added with deliberate rudeness, “I didn’t know I was supposed to be here to hold your hand.”

  She instantly flared. “I never asked you to—I don’t want pity. I want help.”

  “Then tell me how you want me to start. Isn’t that why I’m here?”

  She nodded. “Yes.” She drew a deep breath, obviously struggling to control herself. She looked down at the box of papers and envelopes on the table. “I need you to look at these. I want every one of them to be investigated.”

  “What are they?”

  “Letters. I’ve received a lot of letters since Bonnie was taken.” She tapped one pile. “These are the ones that are from people who say they’ve seen her alive and well in different locations.” She tapped the next pile. “These are the sick ones. Some of them say I’m to blame and should go to hell for letting Bonnie be taken.” She moistened her lips. “Some of them are from people who say they took Bonnie and describe what they did to her before they killed her. There are only three of those. Two of them I got the first week, and I turned them over to the police. They checked them out and said that they were nutcases and actually had alibis for the day that Bonnie was kidnapped. The last one I received yesterday. I held it to give to you. I was careful about fingerprints.” She gestured to the box. “Take them all.”

  “You said that you’d told the police about them? The ones where Bonnie had been sighted?”

  “Of course, I did,” she said harshly. “They said that they’d checked those out, too. I don’t trust them. I want you to do it again.”

  He carefully opened the last letter she had received yesterday and was scanning it. Incredibly ugly. Sickeningly explicit. It must have been pure torture for Eve to read it. “Didn’t Detective Slindak tell you to just give the unopened letters to him?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t do it. They were addressed to me. She’s my daughter. I had to be part of what happened to her.”

  “These aren’t part of what happened to her. These are just a bunch of hyenas crawling out of the woodwork and trying to tear you apart. I’ve seen it before in these cases.”

  “Have you? Well, I haven’t. It’s all new to me. So I have to treat everything that comes my way as if it had never happened to anyone else before. Maybe you and the police are taking it too much for granted because you don’t have the same perspective as I do. Maybe you’re not careful enough.”

  “I’m careful.” He carefully put the letter back in the box. “I’ll check these out again for you.”

  “Particularly the ones where Bonnie was seen alive.”

  “Particularly those,” he said gently.

  “I want to go with you.”

  “That’s not procedure.”

  “To hell with procedure. You said we’d search for Bonnie together. Was that bullshit?”

  “No, but I didn’t think you’d be this proactive.”

  “I was supposed to sit here and wait for you all to do everything according to ‘procedure’?” Her eyes were glittering fiercely, her hands clenched. “I can’t do that. I’ve waited for her to come home. I’ve waited for you to tell me you’ve found her.” Her voice was uneven. “I’ve waited for you to tell me my baby is … dead. I can’t wait any longer. I have to find out for myself.” She took a step closer to him. “Can’t you see that? I won’t behave like some hysterical female. I won’t get in the way. But I have to help bring her home.”

  She was tearing him apart. What she was asking was strictly against the rules and procedures. He’d be handed a reprimand and could even be taken off the case.

  To hell with it. He couldn’t deny her the chance she wanted.

  He turned away. “I’ll drop this last letter off at ATLPD for processing. Then I’ll come back and pick you up, and we’ll go interview those four people who say they’ve actually seen your Bonnie.”

  “I could go with you now,” she said eagerly. “I’ll just get my—” She slowly nodded. “You don’t want to be seen with me while you’re investigating. You’ll get in trouble. I don’t want you to lose your job.”

  “I won’t lose my job. I just want to avoid difficulties.” He smiled faintly. “But what would you do if you thought that I would?”

  “You’ve got plenty of money. It wouldn’t hurt you like it would some people. Still, it wouldn’t be good.” She hesitated. “But it wouldn’t change what I had to do. I’d just call your boss and tell him that I’d go to the media and tell them how uncooperative the FBI was being with a bereaved mother. I don’t think they’d like that.”

  He chuckled. “Lord, you’re tough.”

  “I told you, I grew up in the projects. I had to fight every day of my life in one battle or another.” She turned away. “Go to the precinct and see if they can start the process of finding out anything from that poison-pen letter. I can wait.” She sat down at the table and opened one of the envelopes. “I’ve gone over these letters dozens of times to see if I could find anything in them that would offer me any hope or insight as to where Bonnie might be.” Her hands were shaking as she spread out the first letter. “It won’t hurt me to go over them again. Maybe I’ll notice something more this time. Then I’ll phone the people who wrote the letters and ask them for permission to come to see them.”

  She was sitting very straight, her lips tight, and her gaze fixed on the letter. Her concentration reminded Joe of a painting he’d once seen of An
ne Boleyn in a London museum, staring at the sword that was going to take her head. The same fascination, the same resolution, the same tortured bewilderment. It was incredibly painful for him to stand there and watch her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, ease that terrible tension.

  She glanced up at him. “What are you waiting for? Go on. We need to get started checking these right away.”

  And the chances that they’d come up with anything new were poor at best. The sad thing about that knowledge was that in her heart, Eve knew it as well. But he’d be damned if he’d voice it. He turned away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll call you if I get delayed.”

  CHAPTER

  3

  7:15 P M.

  Stone Mountain, Georgia

  “MRS. NEDRA TILDEN. IT’S THE last name on your list,” Joe said quietly. “Are you sure you want to talk to her?”

  “You mean because the other so-called witnesses were such disasters? I can see why the police didn’t want me involved,” Eve said. “Facing the mother of a victim must be difficult for anyone. Two of them were embarrassed about their mistake when I pinned them down to a description of her. The other man was belligerent and just wanted me to go away and leave him alone.” Eve was gazing at the cedar-shingled gray house at the end of the block. “At least you haven’t said I told you so.”

  “I’ll never say that to you.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.” She opened the passenger door. “Let’s go see, Mrs. Tilden.”

  “Eve,” he said hesitantly. “According to the police report, she’s not quite rational.”

  “You mean she’s nuts?” She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean that I should ignore the chance that she may have seen something. Maybe the police didn’t question her thoroughly because she seemed unbalanced.” She glanced at him before she stopped at the front door. “I’ll go in alone if you think you’re wasting your time.”

  “I didn’t mean that,” he said. “I just don’t want you to be punished unnecessarily.” He punched the doorbell. “By all means let’s talk to the lady.”