Iris Johansen - Chasing the Night

“He’d better get used to it. He gets enough tender loving care from the rest of you. He doesn’t really understand it. Having to argue and fight with me will be good for him.” She followed Eve down the steps. “I guarantee it.”

“He’s been very quiet, Eve.” Catherine’s gaze was on Luke, who had just finishing eating his barbecued steak and was sitting beneath a tree beside the lake. Joe motioned to him from the barbecue pit, and Luke jumped up and went to help. “He hasn’t spoken to Kelly all afternoon.”

“Are you blaming Kelly?”

“For Pete’s sake, no. Kelly did what she thought was right. And I am overprotective. I can’t bear the thought of losing Luke again.” She made a face. “And you can’t even call Kelly’s attitude tough love. She’s just doing what Kelly does.”

“You’re still going to take her with you?”

Catherine gazed at her in astonishment. “Of course I am. I meant what I said to her. Do you think because she and Luke are having differences that I’d change my mind? I love them both. They can work it out for themselves. She told you that she’d be the buffer, but that may end up being my job.” She looked out at the lake, now bathed in a golden twilight sheen. “It’s getting dark. Kelly!” she called to the girl who was sitting at a picnic table a few yards from the barbecue pit. As usual, Kelly was working on her computer, with notebooks scattered around her. “How can you see? Come up here where you can turn on the lights.”

“Just a minute,” Kelly called, her eyes on the computer screen. “I think I’ve found-”

“Eve wants you to come.” Luke was suddenly beside Kelly. “You’re her guest. Do it.”

Eve stiffened. Almost the exact words Kelly had spoken to Luke. What was happening?

Kelly looked at Luke. “You’re right.” She closed down her computer. “I’m coming, Eve.” She started to gather her notebooks.

“I’ll help you.” Luke was stacking the notebooks in a neat pile. He picked them up and started for the porch.

“Wait for me.” Kelly grabbed the computer and ran to keep up with him. “What is this?”

“I’m interested.” He looked straight ahead. “Venable thinks this pattern stuff can help catch Rakovac’s partner? I want to see how you do it. I’ll watch you while you’re working.”

“I don’t like to be watched.”

“I’ll watch you.” He paused as they reached the porch. “You said you had to start at the beginning with me. Is that what you’re doing with Dabala?”

“Yes.” She added quietly, “Watch me. You’ll see. That’s the way it has to be. The beginning, Luke.”

For an instant, pain flickered over his face. Then it was gone. “I’ll watch you. I may…As I said, it will be…interesting.”

They disappeared into the house.

“Bless Kelly,” Catherine said huskily. “I think she’s going to pull it off. I can’t tell you how desperately I wanted to clean all that poison stored up inside out of him.” She reached up and wiped her eyes. “Another victory, Eve. It may take a long time, but we’re going to bring him back to the boy he was.”

“He’s already on his way.” Eve leaned back in the swing. “I’m so glad you brought him so that I could see for myself. How long are you going to stay with us?”

“We’re leaving tonight.” She glanced at the door through which Kelly and Luke had disappeared. “Probably late tonight now. I want Kelly to have her chance at luring Luke into her web.”

“She’ll do it. The process is fascinating, and she knows exactly what she’s doing,” Eve said. “But why not leave in the morning?”

“We’ll discuss it later.” She got to her feet and went to the porch rail. “We’ve done nothing but talk about Luke and Kelly and all my problems. I don’t want to inconvenience you any more than I have to. You’ve done enough for me, Eve.” She paused, her gaze on Joe, standing below them at the barbecue pit. “Let’s talk about you and Joe. Is everything all right between you?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just thought I caught some vibes from him today.” Her gaze was still on Joe. “You’re very lucky, you know. He’s pretty fantastic.”

“Yes, he is.” She added, “And I know you think he’s special. You’ve told me.”

“Yes, I’ve always been honest with you. I always will be.” She turned to face her. “I’m no threat to you, Eve.”

“You could be, if you wanted to be. You’re an incredibly magnetic woman, Catherine.” She gazed steadily at her. “But in the end, the threat would come only from Joe. He’s the only one who can hurt me.”

“I’d never hurt you.” Catherine’s voice was passionate. “I’ve never had a friend like you before. At first, I was only concerned about what you could do for me, but that changed. You changed my life. I felt…close to you.”

“And I feel close to you.” Eve smiled. “So stop agonizing about it, Catherine.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Eve’s smile faded. “Are we still talking about Joe?”

“No. Yes. I guess in a way we are.”

“Speak up. It’s not like you to be inarticulate.”

Catherine turned back to look down at Joe. “Did you finish the reconstruction on Cindy?”

“Of course, she was done a week after I came home. It wasn’t that difficult.” She smiled. “Not after I had a little help from my friends doing the initial prep work.”

“Was she a pretty little girl?”

“Yes.”

“Like your Bonnie?”

A tiny disturbance rippled through Eve. “She didn’t look at all like Bonnie. Why are we talking about Bonnie, Catherine?”

“Because I think Joe is jealous of your obsession with Bonnie. Not of your daughter. Just of your feelings for her. He’d have to be a saint not to feel a little put in the shade by the way you feel. Isn’t that true?”

She didn’t speak for a moment. “Yes. But friend or not, I don’t want to discuss this with you, Catherine.”

“I have to discuss it with you. Do you think I want to do it? I was even thinking of walking away and forgetting about it. But I can’t do that, Eve.”

Eve frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Joe have a giant problem, and I don’t want to make it any bigger.”

“How could you do that?”

“Easily.” Her lips twisted. “I’m good at what I do. I’m an expert. I just set my mind to it and cause the sky to fall.”

Eve slowly rose from the swing and went to stand beside Catherine. “Talk to me.”

Catherine looked away from her again. “I told you I’d pay you back, remember. I was so grateful, I wanted to give you what you wanted most in the world.”

“And I told you to forget it.”

“That’s not in my makeup.” She was silent. “What you want most in the world is to bring your Bonnie home. To do that, you have to find her killer. When I came home from Hong Kong, I had lots of time to concentrate on thinking about your problem. Luke didn’t want anything but his books. I tried to look at the crime from an objective and fresh point of view. Then I started to dig. I used every contact and information-gathering unit I had at my disposal and at Venable’s disposal. We even tapped the NSA.”

Eve could feel her chest tightening. Don’t hope. The search had gone on too long for Catherine to just step in and perform a miracle. “Joe was FBI at the time Bonnie was taken. We didn’t exactly stop at local law enforcement.”

“But all the information wasn’t available then.”

“I know that. My friend Montalvo has recently given me a list of three new suspects. Two didn’t pan out, but I still have the third one to investigate. Paul Black. Is that the name you ran across?”