find both Bonnie’s killer and her body had tipped the balance, and he’d had a few moments of disorientation. It would never happen again.
And it had probably had something to do with working with Megan Blair to find Kistle. All that psychic stuff had seemed too damn authentic. Now he was back in the real world, and he’d be just fine as soon as he could shake off that—
His cell phone rang. Eve. He hesitated before he answered. It had been crystal clear she had been aware of his disturbance this morning. How could she help it? Not only had he behaved irrationally, but they were too close not to be conscious of every nuance of each other’s feelings. That was why he had practically fled the cottage. There was no way he was going to worry her about that weird hallucination.
But he couldn’t ignore her call.
“Everything okay?” she asked when he picked up. “I couldn’t get you.”
“I got a call to go directly to a crime scene at Lake Allatoona.”
“Then I won’t keep you.” Eve paused. “Jane found something sort of macabre on a shelf in the bottom of the refrigerator. A very intricately carved gold goblet. You don’t know anything about it, do you?”
“What? Hell, no. What’s macabre about it?”
“It has blood in it. I don’t know if it’s human blood. Would you send someone out to pick it up for testing?”
Joe tensed. This was the morning for weird, but blood was real and more chilling than any hallucination. “As soon as I get off the phone. And I’ll send someone out to watch the place. Be careful until he gets there.”
“Oh, I will. I don’t like any of this. Particularly now that Jane’s here,” Eve said. “The goblet had to have been placed there while we were at the swamp. It could just be some nut who read about me and my work and wanted to freak me out. But whoever did it was able to get around the alarm system. I’m calling the alarm company and getting them to come out and go over it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” She paused. “Montalvo called. He said that his investigators traced a credit-card receipt for Kevin Jelak to a town across the border in Alabama.”
“Montalvo didn’t let any grass grow under his feet,” Joe said sarcastically. “Kistle is barely dead, and he’s scrambling to keep you on the hunt.”
“Montalvo wouldn’t manufacture evidence,” she said. “It’s just a strange coincidence that Jelak is suddenly making an appearance.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.” He turned down Kellogg Creek. “I’ll check out this Kevin Jelak lead.” He paused. “I was a little curt with you this morning. I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little on edge.”
“More than a little. Are you ready to tell me why?”
He ignored the question since there was no way he would tell her what she wanted to know. “Call me if you have any more problems.”
“I hope I don’t,” Eve said dryly. “We’ve had quite enough to start off the day. It’s barely eight in the morning.” She hung up.
Yes, the day had started with explosive disturbance and was continuing in the same vein, Joe thought. From the moment he had gotten out of bed at five and put the coffee on while he was waiting for Eve and Jane to get home from the airport. But that memory of what had come after was rushing back to him and he was trying to keep cool and calm.
Everything had been normal until he had gone out on the porch. He had been gazing out at the lake and thinking about Eve.
See.
Hear.
Open.
What on earth was happening to—?
“Hello, Joe.”
He whirled toward the porch swing,
A little girl was curled up on the swing. “I’ve wanted to come to see you so many times, but I couldn’t do it. I’m so happy I can do it now.”
In the dimness of the porch she was only a blur, but she couldn’t be more than seven or eight. The nearest house was miles away. How had she gotten here? “Who are you?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be here. Where’s your family?”
“Coming. But you’re my family, too, Joe. You closed me out for so long, but something . . . happened. You’re open to me now.”
Hear. See. Open.
“Yes, that’s right, Joe.”
“No, it’s not right. None of this is right. You should go home. Your parents must be worrying.”
She shook her head. “You know that won’t happen. You know who I am.”
“The hell I do.” The dawn rays were gradually banishing the pool of darkness surrounding the swing, touching the little girl’s curly red hair and small face with light. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. This was crazy. Yet he didn’t feel crazy. He felt a weird sense of . . . peace. “Who are you?”
“It’s going to be all right, Joe. I promise you.”
“Who are you?”
The sunlight was now surrounding her as had the darkness before, revealing the Bugs Bunny T-shirt she was wearing.
