And what a hell of a dichotomy that was.
But she’d have no trouble at all disliking him if he did anything but tread delicately in his attempt to manipulate Jane. She’d go after him with guns blazing.
“I’M ON MY WAY TO DAHLONEGA,” Joe said when he called Eve. “They’ve found Nicole Spelling.”
“Dead?” Eve asked.
“Yes. She was found in the examining room in a doctor’s office there. Dr. Baker was killed too. Jelak probably forced him to treat him, then murdered him. Nicole was clearly a ritual murder.”
“Sixteen. So young . . .”
“Yes. Just a kid.”
“It just goes on and on. When are we going to be able to end it?”
Joe didn’t answer. “I’ll call you from Dahlonega and let you know what’s happening there.” He hung up.
She had been expecting that Joe would tell her Nicole was dead from the time she’d gotten the call from Jelak. It didn’t make the news any less shocking.
When would they be able to end it?
Joe hadn’t answered her. How could he? Jelak seemed to be able to go on forever. He thought he was some kind of Monster Superman, and the way he was running roughshod over the world she could almost believe it.
“Bad news?” Jane had just come in the front door.
Eve nodded. “Nicole Spelling. Her body was found in Dahlonega at a doctor’s office. Joe’s on his way there now.”
Jane shook her head. “Ever since I heard about her disappearance, I’ve been hoping . . .”
“Me too,” Eve said. “Hoping doesn’t seem to do any good.” She turned to face her. “But that’s all we have unless we try to do something about it.”
“No,” Jane said sharply. “I can see where this is going.” Her eyes narrowed on Eve’s face. “Caleb’s been talking to you.”
“Yes.”
“Dammit, he should have left you alone.”
“But he didn’t. Just like he didn’t leave you alone. Did he?”
“No. I would have told you, but I didn’t want—”
“You didn’t want to involve me, you wanted to protect me. For heaven’s sake, Jane, we’ve always worked through things together. You let Caleb convince you to close me out.”
“It was your life,” Jane said. “Caleb couldn’t have convinced me of anything if I hadn’t been scared shitless.” She shrugged. “And he didn’t make me commit to anything. It was just a sort of oblique suggestion.”
“That you allow yourself to be used as bait.” She added, “Yes, ‘oblique’ is the word.”
Jane’s gaze flew to her face. “That son of a bitch. You?”
“Divide and conquer,” Eve said dryly.
“I’ll cut off his balls,” Jane said.
“He’s obsessed. He wanted bait. He didn’t care which one of us he had to use.”
“Well, I care,” Jane said. “You’re out of it, Eve.”
“You’ve already decided that you’re going to let Caleb use you.” She shook her head. “What on earth did he do to you? He said that you’d ‘experienced’ something together.”
“It has nothing to do with that,” Jane said. “If I thought it had, I’d really be after his balls.”
“He’s very persuasive.” She added quietly, “No, Jane.” She held up her hand as Jane opened her lips to protest. “I won’t let it happen. I know how you feel.” Her lips thinned. “But I won’t let him push either one of us into something until we decide it’s right. Though God knows that news about Nicole Spelling is a pretty big push on its own.”
Jane nodded soberly. “Jelak just keeps coming.”
Should she tell Jane about the call from Jelak? At first, she had wanted to protect her from that ugliness, but she couldn’t keep silent after reprimanding Jane for not confiding. They had to face everything together as they had since Jane had come into their lives.
“And he’s coming nearer to us all the time.” She paused. “He called me today.” She held up her hand to stop Jane’s flow of questions. “Sit down. I’ll tell you all about it. Everything has got to be out in the open. Even a few things I was waiting for Joe to tell you.”
NICOLE SPELLING WAS STRETCHED out naked on an exam table in the cold, sterile room. Her hands were crossed on her breasts. There was no goblet in her hand.
Schindler shook his head. “God, I was hoping we weren’t going to have to tell her folks that son of a bitch had done this to their kid.”
Joe nodded. “I know.” He had known that this job was going to be rough. He had dreaded it all the long drive to Dahlonega. And it appeared that the case was still squarely in their laps. He had talked to the local sheriff, and they were more than eager to turn over jurisdiction of the case. It was too ugly for this quiet town. “The authorities here are going to send Dr. Baker to their own county morgue. They want to keep him here. He’s served this town for nearly forty years. But after forensics gets through here, we’ll have Nicole Spelling taken to the morgue in Atlanta.” His lips twisted. “And then we get to talk to her parents and get a final ID. I guess we should feel lucky that the
