Iris Johansen - Quicksand

She drew a deep breath, turned, and went back to Montalvo and Megan. Megan was sitting up and Montalvo had pulled her into the circle of his arm. She was pale and her lips were set and tight.

Montalvo glanced up at Eve as she was coming toward them. "She's not good. She's shaking like a leaf in a windstorm."

"I'll be all right," Megan said. "I was able to close out the voices." She quickly straightened away from Montalvo. "Thank you. I shouldn't have let you do it, but I needed someone. I think it will be all right."

"You're very welcome," Montalvo said. "And I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm sure all will be well."

"There's nothing sure about anything in this world." Megan's eyes lifted to watch the sheriff coming toward her. "I have to find Bobby Joe. It's going to hurt me. I don't know what will happen, what I'll do. Sheriff Dodsworth is a nice man, but he might do something he thinks will help me that wouldn't be… smart. Will you come with me?"

Montalvo nodded. "But I don't believe you're capable of hurting our strapping sheriff. You were weak as a kitten a few moments ago. Will this be worse?"

She moistened her lips. "Much worse." Her gaze shifted to Eve. "I'll understand if you want to stay here. Just thinking about the little boy will hurt you, and you believe nothing will come of it."

Eve stared at her. She was right, the thought of the suffering and death of a child was almost unbearable. But she could see it was unbearable to Megan too. "Give it up. You're just imagining all this."

Megan shook her head. "I have to find him now. It's not that I promised Venable. Whoever killed him didn't want him found. I'm not going to let him get what he wants." She gave Eve a ghost of a smile. "You should understand that. You've spent years identifying lost children." She got to her feet. "But I've got to do it now. I don't know if I'll have the courage later."

"And where are we going?" Montalvo asked.

"East." She looked out at the woods. "He was with him here, but the voices were only a whisper. There was no fear. He led him deeper into the woods."

"Those woods had to have been searched. Couldn't he have moved the body?"

"Yes, but I don't think he did."

"Why?" Eve asked.

"It was part of the pain." Megan swallowed. "And I can't talk about it right now." She started forward to meet the sheriff.

Eve watched her as she talked to the sheriff. Megan's back was very straight, her shoulders squared, but there was still an air of fragile vulnerability about her.

"Are you going?" Montalvo asked her.

She should stay here. The entire scenario had not gone as she had thought it would. She had started out as resentful and completely disbelieving, and somehow she had been swept up into bewilderment and pity. Of course, Megan would find nothing in those woods. But if she thought she did, would she collapse as she had here by the river?

And if she did, Eve suddenly knew she wanted to be there to help her through it.

She started walking toward where Megan and the sheriff were talking. "Yes, I'm going."

"WE'VE GONE OVER TWO MILES,"the sheriff said. "Are you sure were going in the right direction, Dr. Blair?"

"I'm sure." Megan increased her pace. She was getting near. Even through the block she could hear the echoes. "It's not far."

Mama, hurts .

No!

She could feel tears stinging her eyes. If it was this bad now, what would it be like when she lifted the block?

She went another two hundred yards before she heard the shriek of agony.

Please. Hurts. Please .

Bastard. Stop doing it to him. Stop.

But she couldn't place where the voice was coming from. She braced herself and lowered the block.

Another shriek.

Hot. Burning. Please .

Mama, make him stop .

Megan fell to her knees. "Here. He's burning… The acid." She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe through the sobs. "Help him. Somebody help him."

Eve was beside her, trying to draw her into her arms.

"No." She fought to get free. "Don't touch me. Not now."

Make him stop!

I can't, Bobby Joe. I can't make him stop.

She pitched forward in a dead faint.

"HOW IS SHE?" MONTALVO ASKEDwhen Eve answered the phone in her room at the hotel. "Still unconscious?"

"Yes, it's been four hours now. The doctor said that she should be okay, but I don't like this. Are you still with the sheriff?"

"Yes. He called in a forensic team and we've been digging. If the boy is buried here, Kistle went deep."

"She could be wrong."

"Yes." He paused. "Somehow I don't think so."

Neither did Eve. "Call me if you find anything."

"Have you talked to Quinn?"

"I reached his voice mail. He's probably still in the forest." But he had to know by now. Everyone at the command center at Clayborne Forest must have known after the sheriff called for the forensic team. "I asked him to call me."

"I'll go back to digging. We have to go very slow because of the possibility of disturbing existing evidence." He paused. "It's all a very curious business, isn't it? I've always been a complete realist. But it makes one wonder." He hung up.

Yes, it made one wonder, Eve thought, as she moved across the room to the bed where Megan Blair was lying. Watching Megan in those woods had shaken her.

She had always tried to convince herself that the visits from her Bonnie were dreams because she couldn't bear the thought that she was unstable enough to believe in spirits. Like Montalvo, she was a realist. Only desperation had led her to try those psychics years ago, and she had been bitterly disappointed.

Perhaps Megan Blair would also be a disappointment. Eve admired her courage and endurance, but that didn't mean that she wasn't a nutcase. Schizophrenics sometimes heard voices too.

But what if Bobby Joe was found where she had led them? What was Eve to believe then? Coincidence? Truth? The first would be a scramble for rationalization. Truth would be an admission that she had to realize that reality was not what she thought it to be.

She sat down in the chair beside the bed and leaned back to wait until Megan woke.

MEGAN OPENED HER EYESan hour later.

"How do you feel?" Eve asked. "Would you like some water?"

"Please." She looked around her. "Where am I?"

"My hotel room." She helped her sit up in bed and poured her a glass of water from the carafe on the nightstand. "I thought you'd feel better than going to a hospital. I had a doctor to see you. He said he thought you'd be okay and to call him if you didn't wake in eight hours." She glanced at her watch. "You just made it. I'd say that was one hell of a case of shock."

"It… hurt." She took a drink of the water. "I was afraid I would do that. It happened before. I thought about it later and I think it may be a kind of hibernating to heal, or maybe I just can't take it and have to go away."

"You were in agony."

Megan smiled faintly. "Are you sure I wasn't pretending?"

Eve nodded slowly. "You weren't putting on a show. If you were, you're a complete masochist. I've never seen anyone in that much pain."

"It was Bobby Joe," Megan said simply. "It's not only the echoes of sound, it's the echoes of emotion."

"God in heaven," Eve said. "And the little boy was dying?"

"Kistle was very slow. It took a long time," she said unevenly. "You don't want me to talk about this."

No, she didn't. But she had to ask one more thing. "You said he was burning, the acid. What did you mean?"

"Kistle had a large vat of acid he'd buried ahead of time in the ground. Bobby Joe could see it bubbling. Kistle had tied him down and was dripping the acid on him." Megan finished the rest of the water. "Feel sick? Me too. I told you that you didn't want to hear it."