“What do you think?”
“Maybe. I’ll talk to you about it when I get home tonight. Do me a favor. You and Jane stick close to the cottage today. Is the squad car there?”
“Yes, he’s parked down the road.” She was silent a moment. “I thought I might be overreacting. You’re really worried about that goblet.”
“Damn right. And you’re not overreacting, Eve. Just stay close to the house, okay?”
“Okay. Jane and I have some catching up to do anyway.”
“I’ll be home soon as I can. By the way, why did you phone me?”
Joe was so blessedly normal Eve felt foolish that she had yielded to the temptation to call him. “I just wanted to talk to you. Is everything all right with you?”
He didn’t answer directly. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“No reason. I’ll see you tonight.” She hung up. Lord, she was relieved. He sounded much better than he had earlier. She had told Megan that she and Joe talked, but she had slid away from telling Joe about Megan’s call. He would have just laughed and made some kind of derogatory comment about Megan’s voodoo.
You were afraid, Mama.
But there’s nothing to be afraid of, baby. Joe is doing just fine.
“I’M ON MY WAY BACK TO THE precinct,” Schindler said as he watched the M.E. vehicle pulling away from the curb carrying Nancy Jo Norris to the morgue. “You too?”
Joe nodded. “Right away. I want to take a look at that goblet they pulled from her hand.” He was moving toward Johnson, who had placed the goblet in a clear plastic bag and was sealing it. “I won’t be long.”
“Better not. They’re going to want our reports in a hurry. Everything is going to have to be in a hurry. The captain will need answers.”
“She’s not going to get them. Forensics is swearing that the killer didn’t leave much for them to work with. He cleaned up the site.
“Except maybe that goblet . . .” Joe took the plastic bag from Johnson and held it up to the light. The sun was going down, but the rays pierced the plastic, and he could make out the carving. It looked like an ancient dining hall, a long table at which sat several men. All the men had goblets sitting in front of them, and one man was standing with a goblet raised in his hand.
“I’ve got to get that to the lab, Quinn,” Johnson said. “My boss has been on my ass for the last hour.”
“I know. The big push.” Joe handed the bag back to him. “I’m pushing too. Get it done fast, Johnson.” He turned away. “And I want a report every step of the way.”
He started for his car, then turned and looked back at the place by the river where they’d found Nancy Jo Norris. The chalk outline gleamed in the fading light. Too neat for a murder—
What?
See.
Hear.
Open.
He stiffened. What the hell?
There were four uniformed officers guarding the taped-off crime scene. Forensics had gone. Two TV trucks were down the street. The words hadn’t come from there.
See. Hear. Open.
He moved slowly toward the trees beyond the place where Nancy Jo Norris had been murdered.
See. Hear. Open.
He was now in the twilight shadows cast by the trees. He stood still, listening, waiting for it to come again.
“I don’t like it here. It scares me.”
He whirled to the left and saw her.
She was standing only a few yards away. Long blond hair, jeans, red University of Georgia sweatshirt, a face that he’d been staring at all day, blue eyes wide with fear and bewilderment.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked hoarsely.
“I’m Nancy Jo. Who are you?”
Joe felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. He could feel the small hairs rise on the back of his neck. Get a grip. There had to be an explanation.
“You’re some relation to the dead girl? A sister?”
“I don’t have a sister. Dead girl.” She whispered, “You’re talking about me, aren’t you? I don’t understand. How can that be? Why?”
“How did you get here? Why didn’t the policeman on duty stop you at the tape?”
“I’ve been here all day, watching you.” She shuddered. “You kept talking about that girl as if she was me. She’s not me. She used to be, but that was before he—”
He had to stop this craziness. Get everything back to reality. “You’re saying that she’s not Nancy Jo Norris?
