Iris Johansen - Quicksand

Eve did feel sick with horror. She could visualize that monster with that poor little boy. "I had to hear that part. I had to be sure." She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "Montalvo called ten minutes ago. They uncovered a large covered metal vat. When they took off the lid, they found a child's bones floating in acid. It's just a skeleton, so they can't determine if it's Bobby Joe. They'll have to check DNA."

"It is Bobby Joe."

"I know." Eve opened her eyes. "I think I knew when Montalvo told me. Could you tell if it was Kistle who killed him?"

"Not by name. He was a stranger to Bobby Joe." Megan shook her head. "You knew about the acid, yet you had to test me. Why? Why should it matter to you?"

"Because I was wrong, and if I was wrong, I have to understand this. May I ask you questions?"

"I don't talk about it." Megan studied her. "It really means something to you, doesn't it? It's not just curiosity."

"No, it's not just curiosity. I don't quite know what it is yet. But I have to know what happened out there."

Megan was silent a moment. "Very well, but I may not know all the answers. I'm new at this."

"Not as new as I am." Eve got to her feet. "But I'm not going to interrogate you right now. I'll let you get up and take a shower. I'll call room service for you. What would you like to eat?"

"Nothing. Coffee." She shook her head. "No, I know I have to eat something. A chicken sandwich." She swung her legs to the ground. "And I have to call my uncle. I promised I'd call him when it was over. He'll be worried about me."

"I can see why." She watched as Megan got slowly to her feet. She was still obviously shaky, but a little of that wonderful vitality Eve had noticed when she'd first seen her had returned. "How do you feel?"

"Drained. Terribly sad." She headed for the bathroom. "Afraid of the nightmares about Bobby Joe I may have for the rest of my life. Angry at the bastard who did that to him. That's how I feel." The door closed behind her.

Nightmares of Bobby Joe. Eve might have nightmares just from hearing about the way he died. What would it be like for Megan, who had experienced the full horror of that death? She could imagine that agony.

Because Eve had also had her share of nightmares over the years.

Her cell phone rang. Joe.

She picked up the phone. "You've heard about Bobby Joe."

"Yes, my phone was turned off while I was in the woods, but the sheriff called me a few minutes ago. It would have been better if I'd heard it from you," he said curtly. "Before the fact."

"He was killing those men, Joe. It had to stop. The FBI can help."

"I know why you did it. You couldn't stand not being in on the action and you knew what I'd think about a harebrained scheme like this. I don't like the way you did it. And I don't understand how the hell Montalvo talked you into this psychic bullshit."

"She found the little boy, Joe."

"You actually believe that she did it?"

"Yes, you should have been there."

"Hell, yes, I should have been with you, but not to watch a phony psychic pull the wool over your eyes."

It was no use arguing. She would have had the same response before she'd met Megan Blair. "And Montalvo didn't bring her, Venable sent her."

"Because Montalvo made a deal with him."

"Probably. It doesn't matter. If we have enough competent men searching, we may catch Kistle before he kills anyone else."

"And Kistle may decide that it's too dangerous, leave the forest, and take off somewhere else. Right now we know where he is."

"They're watching the roads around the forest."

"We're not going to agree about this, Eve. And I'm too pissed to argue with you. I've been in those damn woods for ten hours and I'm cold and wet and tired. I'll say something I don't want to say."

"Say it."

He hung up.

She pressed the disconnect. She had known Joe would be angry and she couldn't have been more right. She didn't know if it was principally because of Montalvo or the fact that a psychic had been involved. He'd been with her during those episodes after Bonnie's disappearance and seen what she'd gone through. He must think she was nuts to let herself in for that disappointment again. She couldn't blame him. She had gone to that river with the same attitude Joe had just shown her. And what did she believe now? She just didn't know.

She went to the phone on the end table to call room service for Megan.

THE ROOM SERVICE ORDERarrived a few minutes before Megan came out of the bedroom. She was carrying her duffel and medical bag and appeared tired but composed.

"You look better," Eve said as she poured her a cup of coffee. "Did you call your uncle?"

She nodded. "He chewed me out. He said I should have called him before this."

"Did you tell him you were unconscious?"

"No, I skirted that. Phillip would have been on the next plane here." She took the coffee and sat down on the couch. "I told him it took longer than I hoped it would." She made a face. "That was certainly true."

"He's seen you do things like that?"

"No, but his wife was a Listener before she died and he knows what it can do to you."

Eve frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. I can see it's hard for you to understand any of this." She rubbed her temple. "It's hard for me to understand. I just have to accept it."

"How can you accept it? It nearly tore you to pieces."

"I can block it most of the time. I didn't block Bobby Joe. I let him in." She took a drink of coffee. "And I don't usually run around letting myself in for this kind of punishment. I made a deal with Venable." Her lips twisted. "Did you think I'd given up medicine to go to crime sites? No way. I couldn't take it."

"You're still practicing medicine?"

She looked away. "Not at the moment. I have some things to work out."

"What?"

"I told you, I'm new at this." She reached for her sandwich. "A few months ago I had no reason to be bitter like you, but I was definitely a disbeliever. Then a few things happened that changed all that. I had to accept that I was a Listener or that I was crazy as a loon. I preferred the former."

"I can see how you would." Eve looked down into her coffee. "Do you see… ghosts?"

"Lord, no." She went still, her eyes narrowed on Eve's face. "Do you?"

"Of course not." Eve lifted her cup to her lips. "I just thought it might be a package deal with you. Do you know anyone who does?"

"I don't have a wide acquaintance with any other psychics, but I don't know anyone who sees ghosts." She finished her sandwich. "Is that all?"

Eve nodded. "Thank you."

"But you still don't know if you believe me, do you?"

Eve didn't answer for a moment, trying to piece together the exact truth. Megan had been open with her and she had to be open in return. "What you did was very impressive. But it's out of my realm of comprehension. I don't know if I want to believe in those echoes, that they exist but that most of us can't hear them. It's disturbing. Life is difficult enough without worrying about things that go bump in the night."

"Yet you deal with them every time you do a reconstruction," Megan said. "I read an article once about you that said your similarity ratio was astonishing, almost unbelievable. Instinct? Or something else?"

It was strange that Megan had sensed how she felt when she was working on her reconstructions. "Maybe a little of both. But you can say that about any creative endeavor, can't you?"

"But you don't create; you actually bring back the reality." Megan paused. "I remember when I first heard about you a few years ago, I thought how difficult that must be. I admire you." She got to her feet. "And that's the only reason I've been sitting here trying to explain something I find nearly as bewildering as you do. Now I'm going to go downstairs, get a taxi, and go to the airport. I want to go home."