Iris Johansen - Chasing the Night

“Come on, Catherine.” Eve was already moving through the marsh as she hung up. She adjusted the straps of her backpack. “Quick.”

“I’m coming.” Catherine was running after her. “Your backpack is bigger than mine. Do you need any help? What’s in it?”

“Just that small shovel Kelsov gave all of us.”

“Then why is it-”

“I had to bring something else.” Catherine wasn’t going to give up. Eve added, “My tools and forensic case.”

Catherine was silent a moment. “Of course, you might need them. I guess I didn’t want to think about them. Not connected with Luke. It seemed…cold.”

And Eve hadn’t wanted to bring it up either. Scalpels and forensic cases to deal with the dead were necessary but chilling to anyone who didn’t work with them every day as Eve did. “Truth is often cold. But it has to be faced.”

Four minutes later, they’d reached the twisted tree.

And that mound of dirt heaped before it.

Catherine stopped, took a deep breath, then strode toward it. “You keep watch. I’m stronger. I’ll do the digging.”

“Hell, no.” Eve ran after her. “Joe said we had to move fast. I’ll help.”

“Rakovac didn’t even try to disguise that mound of dirt,” Catherine said as she took the shovel from her backpack. “Why should he? He wanted us to find it.” She started to dig. “It shouldn’t take long. The earth is soft, damp…”

Eve remembered how soft and damp that earth had appeared in the photo. How hard and brittle the child’s bones had looked in contrast.

Blank it out. She would be seeing those bones soon enough. She dug into the earth. “Be careful.”

“Give me that.” Joe was beside her taking the shovel. “Catherine and I can do this. Your job begins when we reach the skeleton.”

Joe was being protective as usual, but it made Eve feel helpless as she watched them work together. They were both so strong and quick and decisive. Even though they were digging cautiously, every motion had purpose and meaning.

She needed to be part of that purpose. She took a step closer to take back the-

“I think I’ve reached something,” Catherine said. “The bastard must have tossed just enough dirt to cover him.” She was slowly moving the earth now. “Be careful, Joe.”

“I’m not going to damage him,” Joe said gently. “But we have to move fast, Catherine.”

“I’ll help.” Eve was kneeling beside the grave and shifting the wet earth away from the bones with her bare hands.

Damn Rakovac.

Poor child.

Lost child.

Let this child not be Luke.

“We can’t reach Calbre,” Russo said as he came into Rakovac’s office. “Ten minutes ago he tried to phone in but was cut off.”

“Calbre was in charge of guarding the grave at Svedrun?”

Russo nodded. “There’s been no trouble since we left there.”

“Evidently there’s trouble now.” Ah, clever Catherine. He hadn’t expected that she would be able to put together the pieces quite so soon. “Have you been able to contact any of his men?”

“We’ve made the attempt.”

“That means you’ve failed.”

“I can have someone there in the marsh in thirty minutes. We have people we can call on in a small town just outside the marsh.”

“You haven’t done so?”

“I was waiting to ask our position in the matter. It has to be Catherine Ling. Your reactions haven’t been predictable where she’s concerned.”

“Our position is to kill Catherine Ling if we can, as well as anyone who is helping her. I expect that she has very good help if they’ve been able to get this far along.” Joe Quinn. Eve Duncan. Who else? Kelsov had been a thorn in his side since he had been released from prison and had helped Catherine in the past. Yes, Kelsov was probably with her, too. “Is that clear enough, Russo? Now I’d suggest you make that call.”

He smiled as Russo left the room. The man didn’t understand the subtleties of the game. No, Rakovac didn’t want Catherine to die yet, but there would be no satisfaction in the finale if the threat was not genuine. Let her run from the hunters, and he would accept it if he was cheated.

But he would not be cheated. He believed in fate. It was meant that she be killed by him in the most painful way possible.

He looked at the photo of her on the desk.

“Run, Catherine,” he said softly. “Run until you drop. I’ll be there to pick you off as you fall.”

His cell phone rang.

He glanced at the ID. It was the call he’d been waiting for.

Lima, Peru.

So small, Eve thought. The bones of a child were so delicate, so easy to break. Her Bonnie was only a little older when she’d been taken. Had her body been flung carelessly into the ground to become-

“Eve.”

She tore her eyes from the little boy’s skeleton to look at Joe.

Empathy.

Tenderness.

“I know,” he said. “But we need you to hurry.”

Yes, no time for pain. No time for memories or comparisons. She jerked her attention back to the task she had to do. “I need more light. Catherine, get the lantern out of my backpack.” She crawled closer to the skeleton. The pelvis and teeth definitely indicated a male of four or five. Bones appeared aged and weathered, but probably preserved by being buried near the peat marsh. The skull…Rakovac had said that he’d shot the child.

“The light,” she said impatiently. “I have to examine the skull, Catherine.”

“Sorry,” Catherine said hoarsely. “Here it is.”

The lantern was shaking as she gave it to Eve. No, it was Catherine’s hand that was shaking. Her gaze flew to Catherine’s face. It was pale in the lanternlight, and her lips were trembling.

“Sorry,” Catherine said again. “I didn’t think I’d fall apart like this. He’s so little.”

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking.” And Catherine had the additional heartache of thinking this might be her son. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

She shined the beam of light on the skull. “Bullet hole. Very clean. More clean than the photo indicated. It’s lucky it didn’t shatter the skull or we’d be spending a lot of time just in the initial reconstruction. It should be a relatively easy job.”

“You’re going to do it?” Catherine said.

“That’s why I came, isn’t it? The boy is four or five years old. I can’t determine exactly how long he was buried here because of the marsh preservation, but that could be correct, too.”

“He lied. It’s not Luke.”

“I hope you’re right. But it could be Luke. Are you going to walk away and never be sure? I’m not. Joe, get my case.”

“You’re going to take his skull,” Catherine said. She drew a deep breath. “Okay, what can I do to help you?”

“Nothing,” Joe said. He pulled Eve to her feet. “Go to the car. Both of you. Yeah, I know. You want to be professional and do your job. And Catherine wants to prove that she can take it and help you. Well, it’s bullshit. You can’t be careful about taking that kid’s head. We don’t have time. I’m the only one who won’t agonize over doing what has to be done.” He took her lantern and case. “Now get the hell out of here. I don’t want you remembering how I did it.”

She hesitated.

“Go.” He turned back to the skeleton. “And take Catherine with you. I don’t want her stabbing me in the back when she sees what I have to do to this poor kid.”

Oh, no, he was so tough. He wouldn’t agonize the way she and Catherine would.

The hell he wouldn’t.

But he was right, she’d take too long because she couldn’t bear to be rough. She took Catherine’s arm and pulled her toward the road. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I have my orders. I have to protect Joe’s back.”