'I don't want you to be alone for a while. I want to bring someone up to stay with you.'
She looked at me blankly for a moment; then, unexpectedly, she laughed. 'You have to be crazy,' she said. 'I'm the person with two
'No,' I said. 'Eva Nouvel is all those things. Eve Colgate is a farmer. She's the least sentimental person I've ever met. She makes decisions and doesn't look back. And she's scared.'
The laugh had subsided into a smile; now the smile faded. She looked away. 'I don't want this,' she said.
'I know you don't.'
We watched the forsythia sway with the wind. She said, 'You don't think it's vandalism. You don't think it's coincidence.'
'No, and you don't either.'
'No.' She tried a small smile. 'But I was hoping you did.'
'If there hadn't been a murder,' I said, 'if Mark Sanderson's daughter hadn't been fencing your things from a truck that rolled over the ravine last night, if everybody I met weren't so anxious to get his hands on Jimmy Antonelli, then I'd say sure. I'd say someone stole the paintings, then got curious about where they came from. They came back to have a look. Maybe they were drunk or stoned and found they could make a hell of a mess and were just getting into it when I came around.' I lit another cigarette, cupping it against the wind. 'And maybe that's what happened. Maybe the only thing that's tying all these things together in my head is my inability to mind my own business.' I turned, faced her. 'I don't think so, but of course I wouldn't. Make your own decision; but I can tell you it will affect what I do from now on.'
'How do you mean?'
'If you don't let me get you some protection, I'll spend a lot more time and energy keeping an eye on you, and concentrating on the people I think might be a threat to you. That might not be the same thing as solving your case, or figuring out what the hell is going on around here.'
'What if I don't want an eye kept on me?'
'Fire me.'
That one dropped to the ground between us.
'Maybe the police will figure out what's going on,' she said.
'Maybe they will. But they'll only figure out what they need to know to solve the crime they know about.'
'You would feel more free to act,' she said slowly, 'if I had a baby-sitter?'
'Bodyguard.'
'I can't even bring myself to say that. It's so ridiculous.'
I didn't answer that. She thought silent thoughts and I smoked and the forsythia danced.
'Who?' she asked me finally.
'Lydia.'
'That same detective? The one who snooped into Ulrich's accounts? Living in my house?'
'She's good,' I said. 'She's done this kind of thing before. She can stay by your side and keep out of your way at the same time. You'll like her.'
'I don't think so.'
'Eve, remember, when she checked out Sternhagen, she didn't know who my client was. She still doesn't.'
'You didn't tell her?'
'No. I told her the client had lost six uncatalogued Eva Nouvels. That's all she had to go on. She was trying everything she could think of, and your gallery was a smart idea.'
She stood, hands in her back pockets, and paced. Stopping, she said, 'How long?'
'I don't know. I hope not long. I can't tell, Eve.'
She paced some more, but not much. 'All right,' she finally said. 'All right. Because I
'Good. Let's call her now.'
She hesitated. 'I've lived alone for thirty years. Now you want me to have someone with me twenty-four hours a day. I won't be good at it.'
'Lydia will.'
We went back inside. Eve lit the fire in the stove, put on water for coffee. I dialed Lydia's number. I said a prayer, keeping in mind the danger of answered prayers, and when the phone was picked up I got what I'd prayed for: it wasn't the machine and it wasn't her mother.
'Oh,' Lydia said coolly, once she knew it was me. 'Hello. I wasn't expecting you to call until later. I got Velez, but he's only just started. Should I call him and call you back? In case he has something already?'
'No, that's not why I called.'
'Why did you?'
'There's trouble up here, and I need help. Can you come?'
The ice in her voice thawed a little, probably in spite of herself. 'What do you mean, trouble?' she asked
