Iris Johansen - Blood Game

“Then don’t close me out, and you won’t be so busy.”

“Montalvo, I won’t have you out here disturbing Joe. He has enough problems. Keep out of it.”

He was silent a moment. “Very well. I won’t be on your doorstep, but I do want to help. Tell me how I can do it.”

He wasn’t going to give up. She tried to think. “My mother. Sandra Duncan. She lives in a condo downtown. I don’t believe she’d be a target for Jelak, but we should have some protection for her. Will you do that for me, Montalvo?”

“Your mother. You’ve never talked about her very much. You’re not close?”

“It’s been an up-and-down relationship. I don’t see much of her these days. At one time, we were very close.”

“When your Bonnie was alive?”

“Yes. Will you make sure she’s safe?”

“You can be sure of it.” He paused. “You can always be sure of me, Eve.” He hung up.

Eve turned away as she hung up the phone. “I guess I’d better call Sandra and tell her that she’s going to be under surveillance for a while. Or maybe not. Montalvo will be careful, and I don’t want to alarm her.”

“I’ve never gotten used to you calling her Sandra.”

“It was her choice when I was growing up. It made her feel younger. It still makes her feel young. That’s important to her since she’s on her fourth marriage.”

“You never called her Mother?”

“No, but Bonnie called her Grandma. She didn’t mind. She didn’t mind anything Bonnie did.” She looked down at the card Caleb had given her. “And now I guess I’d better make that call to Caleb.”

“I’ll do it. You probably want to get to work.” Jane took the card. “I think I’ll go out on the porch. I need to relax for a few minutes. It’s been quite a morning.”

Eve watched her as she went out the door before she turned to the reconstruction. She did want to get to work, but she was feeling on edge and distracted.

Montalvo?

No, not Montalvo. It had been talking about her mother and Bonnie. It had brought back too many memories. From the day Bonnie was born, it had been a golden time for Eve and her mother. Her little girl had seemed to bridge all the bitterness and resentment that Eve had felt toward a mother who had been a crack addict from the time Eve could remember. It had been Bonnie who had held that fragile relationship together by the sheer love they had both felt for her. It was Bonnie who had spurred her grandmother to suffer through painful withdrawal just so she could be with her grandchild. Even on that last day in the park, Eve could remember how Sandra had glowed with happiness while she was pushing Bonnie in the swing.

“Enough.” Sandra stood back and wiped her forehead. “I’m getting too old for this. Go get your mother to push you, Bonnie.”

“That’s okay. I’m ready to get down.” Bonnie slipped out of the swing. “Thanks, Grandma.” She ran up to Eve, who was sitting on the bench. Her cheeks were blazing pink with happiness, and her eyes were shining. “Did you see how high I went? We should make up a song about swings and going up, up, up.”

“I’m sure someone already did. But we could make up another one.”

“And about the sunshine, and the trees, and… oh, everything.”

“That will be a very long song. But we’ll take a stab at it tonight. It’s almost time to go home, baby.”

“Not yet.” She threw herself into Eve’s arms. “Ten more minutes, Mama. Please. Please. Please. I want to go and get an ice cream.”

“Where?”

“Right over there. That booth by that big tree.”

Eve caught a glimpse of a white stand with red lettering through the shifting crowd of parents and children. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“I can go by myself.” Bonnie was already running toward the ice-cream stand, darting in and out of the crowds. “Grandma already gave me the money. I’ll be right back.”

Eve smiled at Sandra. “Grandma already gave her the money? Grandma is spoiling her rotten.”

Sandra shook her head. “Not possible. What’s an ice cream?” She smiled. “I love her in that Bugs Bunny T-shirt. I was wondering if maybe we could afford to take her to Disney World this year.”

“I’m pretty strapped for cash.” But the thought of Bonnie’s face when she was confronted with all that magic was very tempting. “Maybe if I could get a second job…”

“Only for a little while. I know you’re working hard at school too,” Sandra said. “But she’d love Cinderella’s Castle.”

Not only love it, but be dazzled. A dazzled Bonnie was too much to resist. “We’ll work it out.”

“I can’t wait to tell her,” Sandra said, her gaze going to the ice-cream stand that had once again come into view as the crowds shifted. “Will you let me do it, Eve?”

She was as childishly excited as Bonnie had been when she’d dashed for the ice-cream stand. “Okay, but don’t give a date. I have to see what I can-”

“Where is she?” Sandra interrupted. “I don’t see her.”

“What?” Eve frowned, her gaze flying to the ice-cream stand. “But she was right there. I saw her a minute ago in front of the stand.”

But she wasn’t there now. No little girl in a Bugs Bunny T-shirt and wild red curls.

Eve jerked to her feet in a panic.

“Bonnie!”

KEEP CALM. EVEN NOW THE MEMORYof that moment of terror was bringing back all the horror of the nightmare.

Get busy. Eve whirled toward the reconstruction of Matt on the pedestal. She began to work swiftly, frantically. “Help me, Matt.” Her fingers started smoothing the clay. “And I’ll help you.”

“WE’VE GOT IT PATCHED.”The burly Georgia Power repairman was coming toward Patty with a clipboard in his hand. “Sorry it took so long.” He held up the wire. “I had to cut it and splice in a new wire.”

“No problem.” Patty couldn’t take her gaze from the remains of the wire coiled in his hand. “You did a neat job.”

“That’s not my work. It was severed where it reached the house.” He shook his head. “It was cut through.”

She stiffened. “How?”

“Don’t ask me, lady. Whoever did it knew what they were doing, or they would have been electrocuted.”

“Someone cut it?” She shook her head. “I thought it was caused by the storm.”

“We didn’t have any outages last night in this area.”

“That’s what they told me when I called your office to report the power loss,” she said absently, her gaze on the wire.

“You should have believed them.” He handed her the clipboard and a pen. “Sign there.”

She signed her name and handed him the board. “You’re sure? Couldn’t something have fallen on it? Maybe a branch that would tear it and-”

“It was snipped clean as a whistle,” he repeated. “It might not be a bad idea to call the police and make out a report on this.” His gaze went across the street to the park. “Some bad things are happening around here lately.”

“I may do that.”

“Do you want this?” He held up the coiled wire.

“No.” Good God, it was actually reminding her of a serpent. Silly. That wasn’t like her. No one was more practical or less imaginative than she. “Just throw it in the garbage can on your way out.”

“Right.”

She watched him go out the gate before she slowly followed him. She should get back to Granddad. She’d already been away from him too long. There was little doubt she’d be in for one of his tantrums.

The coiled wire was on top of the trash as she reached the front of the house.