Iris Johansen - Quicksand

" Is that why you came tonight? "

" Maybe. But it's been a while since I was with you. I was missing you. "

" And I always miss you, Bonnie. "

" Yes, but you have Joe and Jane. You love them too." She looked back at the lights of the cottage. "Jane is waiting for you to come back. She's worried about you. She wanted to come with you, but she decided to give you your space." She paused. "She knows about me, doesn't she, Mama? "

" Yes. It was accidental. I didn't even know she knew. "

" But you've still not told Joe?"

" I will someday. He's a realist. It would be… difficult."

Bonnie smiled. "You're being defensive. "

" And you're being pushy. I'll tell him when the time is right."

" Well, this isn't the right time. He'll be getting off that plane in Bloomburg soon and he's not even going to be able to take a breath before he's pulled down into the quicksand." She lifted her head. "Jane's answering the phone. You'd better go back to the cottage. "

Eve's gaze followed hers to the cottage. "Quicksand. What do you mean, quick -"

BONNIE WAS GONE.

Eve didn't need to look back at the oak tree to know that that small, beloved figure would no longer be there. She felt the familiar rush of sadness that seemed to fill the world. Yet with the sadness she could feel a sort of serenity and healing that was always present after Bonnie came to her. From the time a year after Bonnie's death when Eve had first begun to dream, or fantasize, or whatever term she could find to use for seeing Bonnie, it had been the same. No matter what she called the experience, it had saved Eve's sanity and perhaps her life. She had been spiraling downward into deep depression and had not been able to fight her way out. Then Bonnie had been there and life had begun to be bearable.

"Good-bye, baby," she whispered. "Come back soon."

Even if it meant dire warnings about a madman and a lethal woman with a box. She didn't care if Bonnie's visits were the outpouring of the mental ramblings of her own mind. She would cling with all her strength to these moments, since she could no longer cling to Bonnie.

She turned and started back up the path. "Come on, Toby." She whistled for the retriever. "Let's go back and see if Jane's heard anything."

JANE HANDED HER A POST-ITnote when she walked into the cottage. "Luis Montalvo."

Eve stiffened. "What?"

"I said that he could call you on your cell phone, but he said after consideration it was better that he leave you a message. He wants to talk to you." She paused. "But only if you want to talk to him. He said to tell you he's going to be boarding a plane for Bloomburg in the next thirty minutes."

"Bloomburg," Eve repeated. "Dammit, of course I want to talk to him. He leaves a message like that and he wouldn't expect me to do anything else. Crafty bastard."

"He sounded very… sincere."

"Oh, Montalvo is very sincere." She started to dial the number. "When it suits him. You just have to be careful what he's sincere about. He never gives up. It can be anything from attacking a drug king's stronghold to stealing a skull from a grave." His phone was ringing. Answer me. Don't you dare leave me hanging. He finally picked up. "What the hell do you know about Bloomburg, Montalvo?"

"Hello to you too, Eve," Montalvo said quietly. "I'm glad you called."

"You knew I would."

"Only if you were aware of what was going on in Bloomburg. There was a possibility that Quinn might not have told you that he'd located Kistle. He's very protective of you." He paused. "But he did tell you?"

She ignored the question. "The deputy said that they would be catching Kistle soon. Why are you going?"

"Why is Quinn going? He is on his way, isn't he?"

"Yes. But how do you know he isn't there already?"

"Miguel would have told me."

"Miguel's in Bloomburg? Is he all right? How are his hands?"

"Not good. He's going to have to have at least one more operation. But I couldn't keep him from going when we found out Kistle had surfaced. He likes you, Eve."

And she liked Miguel. The young man was a law unto himself and she'd had problems with his complete devotion to Montalvo, but no one could help liking him. "You should have told him to stay in that hospital."

"Tell him yourself… when you get to Bloomburg." He paused. "You are going, aren't you?"

"Yes. But you didn't answer me. Why are you going when the sheriff's department is sure he's going to be caught anytime now?"

"My life hasn't given me much faith in anyone but myself. And I've been unearthing some additional information lately about Kistle that's made me uneasy."

Her hand tightened on the phone. "What information?"

"I have to board my plane. We'll get together in Bloomburg."

"I don't want to get together with you. I want to know now."

"But Quinn probably uncovered the same facts and shared them with you." He added, "Just as he told you about Bloomburg."

"Damn you."

"I'll see you soon. I did want to tell you I'm calling Venable with the CIA and asking him to get the FBI on site in Bloomburg. Kistle has been crossing state lines for years and even a suspicion that he's a child murderer should give them an excuse to intervene."

"It won't be easy. There's no evidence yet."

"I can bargain with Venable. I'm a storehouse of information about the underbelly of crime in Colombia. And he owes you, Eve. That should be enough for him to be very persuasive with the FBI."

"Why are you so determined to get the FBI involved?"

"I want all the help I can get. The best, most experienced help."

"You really don't believe the sheriff's men are going to get Kistle, do you?"

"I hope they do. I have to go now. I'll see you in Bloomburg." He paused and then said softly, "I would have told you, Eve. It's your right. I would have taken you with me. I'd take you with me now if you'd come."

"Good-bye, Montalvo." She hung up.

It had been months since she'd seen Montalvo and yet it seemed like only yesterday. Their time together in Colombia had been fraught with danger that had bred a closeness that had dominated her life for that short period. The intimacy that had grown between them while she was working on his wife's skull had been too strong, too sensual, and she'd shut him out of her life.

"My God." Jane's gaze was on her face. "No wonder Joe doesn't like Montalvo."

Eve was jerked back to the present. She should have been more guarded. She hadn't wanted Jane to be aware of the fallout from that reconstruction she had done for Montalvo. "That's putting it mildly."

"Did you have an affair with him?"

Eve felt a ripple of shock. She wanted to back away, change the subject, but she wasn't going to lie to Jane. "No, it wasn't like that."

"It might have been better if it had been. He disturbs the hell out of you."

She couldn't deny that either. "I love Joe. Joe is smart and sexy and we… mesh. We complete each other. I know how lucky I am. He's everything I want." She moistened her lips. "Montalvo is just…" How could she explain it to Jane when she had trouble understanding it herself? "He knows me. Maybe it's because he went through the same pain with his wife that I did with Bonnie. Maybe it's just that there are some people who are instinctively in tune. He said we were mirror images of each other."

"And do you believe it?"

"Sometimes. We shared pain and obsession. No one can actually understand how that feels unless they've been there."

"Joe said Montalvo plays you like a song."

"He tries. And he's good at it." She stared Jane in the eye. "That's why I told him that I didn't want his help finding Bonnie's killer. We made a deal when I did his wife's reconstruction, but now that he's given us a lead, Joe and I can find Kistle by ourselves. I value the life I have with Joe and I won't have it turned upside down."