Iris Johansen - Quicksand

"You're beginning to annoy me, Eve." He paused. "But when I think about it, you're right: my present ill fortune is due entirely to you. You started it and evidently you're trying to make sure I remain uncomfortable. But I don't mind because it's something fresh and different in a world of sameness. But I do mind you unearthing that little boy. I had him all settled. Now when I think about him he won't be in that vat any longer."

"I wish we could throw you in that vat with him."

"How cruel. When it's so very painful."

Anger seared through her. "You'll never do it again, Kistle."

"But I will. The vat is such a clean and anonymous method of disposal." He added softly, "Do you want to know how I got rid of Bonnie?"

She started to shake. "No, I wouldn't believe you."

"It wasn't the vat. That's a fairly recent solution."

"Where is she?"

"Far away. You'll never find her."

"You thought that about Bobby Joe."

"That's true. Perhaps you might be able to find her if I gave you enough clues. I'll have to think about it. I might find it very entertaining. But to make it worth my while you'd have to be actively involved, none of this sitting on the sidelines."

"Tell me where she is."

"Are you begging me? Then you mustn't sound so demanding."

"I'm not begging you." She tried to control her temper. "And I have no proof you killed my daughter. Tell me something that you couldn't find out from the newspapers."

"I don't have to do that." He was silent. "But maybe I will anyway. She had a favorite little song. It was something about wishing on a star. I made her sing it over and over to me. Towards the end she was crying so hard I couldn't make out the words."

Bonnie cuddling close to Eve. "Can we go out on the porch tonight and sing the song about the wishing star, Mama?"

The shock and pain were so intense she couldn't think for a minute. "You son of a bitch. That may not have been in the police reports, but there were so many sob stories written about Bonnie that it could have been in one of them."

"But you're not sure, are you? I'm going to hang up now. I hear someone in the brush behind me. Quinn? No, of course not, I wouldn't hear him. He's too good. Just one of the local searchers. Shall I circle around and take him out?"

"No!"

"I think I will. Good-bye, Eve." He hung up.

Would he do it? He might have been bluffing because he was annoyed with her. That could also be the reason he had begun to talk about Bonnie. It was the only surefire way that he could upset her.

If he wasn't bluffing, she could do nothing about it. As he had said, she was sitting on the sidelines.

And Joe was in the thick of the game. If what Kistle had said was true, he'd been close to killing Joe. It was probably a boast. Joe was too good to become prey to that monster.

But she had to call Joe and tell him about Kistle's call. She couldn't think of anything that would help them, but they could go over the nuances and that might make them more familiar with Kistle himself. She began to dial Joe's cell.

PHILLIP MET MEGAN AS SHEcame up the escalator at the airport.

"You didn't have to meet me." She gave him a quick hug. "Stop frowning. I'm fine, Phillip."

"You look like hell." He pushed her back and his gaze raked her face. "What did they do to you?"

"I did it to myself. I had a choice and I made it." She started for the exit. "It wasn't easy."

He took her duffel and medical bag and fell into step with her. "Was the little boy murdered?"

She nodded. "And tortured."

"God in heaven, why didn't you back away?"

"It was too late. Bobby Joe had me. I couldn't leave him until it was over." She looked away from him. "Do you mind if we don't talk about it, Phillip?"

"No." He smiled gently. "How about the two of us going home and letting me fix you a hot chocolate? Then we'll watch that new Robin Williams DVD."

"Sounds good." Hot chocolate was Phillip's remedy for almost everything. Hot chocolate, understanding, and love. Lord, she was glad she had him. "I told you on the phone that Eve Duncan was there. She was kind to me, Phillip. I liked her." She made a face. "Though she didn't like me much in the beginning. She thought I was a phony and she didn't try to hide it. She's one tough cookie."

"So I've heard. Did she make it difficult for you?"

"At first. It didn't matter. I was too upset to care."

"Dammit, you were doing them a favor."

"Stop being so protective. She was almost as tense as I was. She thinks Kistle may be the one who killed her daughter. I can see how she'd be impatient with some so-called psychic coming on the scene. Later it was okay. Though she did ask me a lot of questions."

"Did you answer them?"

"Most of them. But I ducked the one about why I hadn't wanted to touch anyone. I was surprised she remembered that, after everything else that went on."

"Damn, I forgot that being that upset might be a trigger."

"I didn't. I can't forget it. It's with me all the time now." She shook her head. "But I think it was all right. I tried to be careful."

"Well, it's all over now." Phillip opened the car door for her. "You won't have to see any of them again."

"Yes, it's over." She got into the car. She hoped she sounded convincing. She kept remembering Eve's face as she'd sat there asking her questions. She'd been deeply intent and yet curiously receptive to everything Megan had told her. Megan had said good-bye to her when she'd walked out of that hotel room, but she had a feeling it was not a final farewell. She hadn't told Phillip the truth.

It wasn't over.

"HE KNEW ABOUT BONNIE'Ssong, Joe," Eve said when she'd finished telling him about Kistle's call. "I told him he could have read about it somewhere, but it's such a little thing."

"I'll call the office and have them go back and check all the news stories written about Bonnie. It will take a while to go through them. If he was as obsessed as Montalvo said, then it could be in an out-of-town newspaper."

"And do you think Kistle was bluffing? Do you think he was going to kill that man he heard in the bushes behind him?"

"Who the hell knows?" Joe said. "I'd say he was bluffing, but there's no telling. And there are so many men here that there would be no way to know which one he's targeting. I can't go and find him."

"Then we just have to wait and see." Her hands tightened on the telephone. "I hate it, Joe. I'm tired of sitting here and waiting. I want to do something." She paused. "He wants me there. That's why he called me. He's getting bored with long-distance harassment."

Joe cursed. "I knew that was coming. No. Hell, no. If he wants you there, all the reason for you stay where you are."

"You wanted me to stay in Atlanta, now you want me to stay here at the hotel. You're smothering me in the name of safety. Kistle is my business, Joe. If he wants me in that forest, then my being there will make it easier to trap him."

"And easier for him to kill you," he said harshly. "I'm not letting him put a stake through your heart. You'll get in the way. You got what you wanted. By morning Cassidy will have this place crawling with agents. Now let them do their work. Let me do my work."

She didn't speak for a moment. "I'll wait a little while, if he hasn't killed another man. But not long, Joe. He wants me, and, by God, I want him." She hung up.

CASSIDY ARRIVED AT THEcommand site at five-thirty the next morning. He was obviously not pleased. He came immediately over to where Joe was standing. "Let's get this over with. I've sent a forensic team to the grave site and I have agents coming in from Atlanta and Chicago. They should be here by noon. What areas have you already searched?"