him? Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. If he’s within two miles, and there’s low interference, I can feel him, track him. Otherwise, I’m blank.”
“Some hunter.”
“Shut up, Quinn. I could call Renata and see if she could send someone who can do the touchy-feely stuff. But it will take her a while.”
“And by that time Jelak will have moved on.” He was gazing at the huge car. How many times had Jelak used it to stuff bodies in that trunk or in the backseat? “Those forensic boys are probably getting a hell of a lot of fiber evidence.”
“For the trial,” Caleb said. “Which is never going to happen. He used that car when he kidnapped Nancy Jo Norris, didn’t he?”
Joe nodded. “He picked her up in it at Perimeter Mall.” He stiffened as a thought occurred to him. “Are you sure you can’t trace him?”
Caleb nodded, his gaze on Joe’s face. “I told you, I’m not touchy-feely. Why?”
Joe didn’t answer. He turned on his heel and strode back to his car.
“Answer me, Quinn.” Caleb was standing by his driver’s seat as Joe started his car. “You’re up to something, and I’m not going to be left out in the cold.”
“Then follow me. I don’t give a damn.”
“Where are you going?”
Joe backed up the car. “To find someone who’s touchy-feely.”
THE YELLOW TAPE WAS GONE from the crime scene at Allatoona. There were no longer media trucks parked out down the street.
Thank God, Joe thought. It was broad daylight, and the last thing he needed was for some reporter to come running up to him with a barrage of questions.
He got out of the car and started across the glade toward the woods.
He looked over his shoulder as he heard a car pull in behind him.
Caleb.
“Stay there. You’re not invited.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Right.” He had almost reached the woods, and he dismissed Caleb from his mind. He didn’t care if Caleb camped out there all day as long as he didn’t get in his way. The reason he was here was absurd and slightly mad, but it was on a par with the way the rest of his life was going.
He stopped inside the shadowy confines of the trees and looked around. No one. No slim, blond girl in a red sweatshirt. Hell, she had said that Bonnie had told her to get away from the place where she had died. She might not even be around here. But he didn’t know what else to do.
Okay, go for it.
“I’m here, dammit. Where the hell are you?”
No answer.
“If you think I’m going to stay out here yodeling for a damn ghost, you’re mistaken. Either show up, or I’m out of here.”
“You don’t have to be rude.”
He whirled to see Nancy Jo only a few yards away. “I feel rude,” he said curtly. “And like a blasted idiot. How did I know you weren’t tripping the light fantastic in the Great Beyond?”
“I told you I wouldn’t leave Daddy. He needs me.” She was gazing searchingly at him. “And I think you need me too. Or you wouldn’t be here. Is it something to do with Margaret Selkirk?”
“No.” He added, “Though I’m not surprised you know about her. You belong to the same club.”
“Yes, we do,” she said sadly. “My heart aches for her.”
“But evidently she decided to cross over and not stick around. I wasn’t honored by her presence.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. She’s still here.”
“Then thank God I don’t figure in her afterlife. I didn’t see her.”
“If you’d gone upstairs with Seth Caleb, you’d have seen her. She was with the children.”
Joe felt as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. The idea of walking into that room where the children were grieving and seeing their mother with them was shocking even in retrospect. “How do you know?”
“I was there too. I was trying to help her. I know how lonely and scary it is at first,” she said. “But she wouldn’t listen to me. She kept trying to get through to the children. Then Seth Caleb came and it got a little better. But she can’t leave them until she knows they’re going to be all right.”
“Another woman with a mission,” Joe said.
“Stop trying to be hard,” Nancy Jo said. “I know that you’re hurting for her just as I am. Daddy will survive if I can get him through this. But those children will be scarred.”
“Hell, yes, I’m hurting.” Joe’s hands clenched into fists. “And I’m confused and sorry and scared shitless. I’ve got to get Jelak before he does this again.”
