“And then when I come back, you’ll do as I say?”
He nodded. “I’ll talk to Eve. I’ll mention something we did together that only we know about. She’ll know that you didn’t kill me. Wasn’t that your complete list?”
“That covers it. Yet how do I know you’ll keep your word after I let Mary Lou go?”
“There would always be another Mary Lou, wouldn’t there? I’m not stupid enough to think that you’ll not keep on playing now that you have a winning hand.”
“Yes, you’re not stupid at all, Quinn. Just exceptionally stubborn.” He stood looking down at the girl. “It’s a pity. I’ve never failed to complete a kill when I was this close.”
“But you said she wouldn’t do you any good.”
“No, but it’s the principle.” Then he shrugged and reached in his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. He knelt. “Just a tiny whiff, you said?”
The deal was struck, and Mary Lou would live. Now Joe had to make sure Eve would have ammunition to fight back.
And pray that Nancy Jo would help them after her panic subsided.
Neither one of those priorities was looking promising at the moment.
EVE’S CELL PHONE RANG TWO hours later.
“I’ve solved my problem,” Jelak said. “I know you were biting your nails worrying if Quinn was alive. Yet I must say you deserved a little anxiety since you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I would have been mad to believe you.”
“Yes, but you’ve wasted a good deal of my time. After all the years I’ve been waiting, I resent even a little delay. That’s over now. I’m going to hand the phone to Quinn now, then we’ll negotiate.”
Her hand was shaking on the phone.
“Eve?” Joe said. “God, I’m sorry.”
It was Joe. Relief surged through her. She hadn’t been absolutely sure until this minute that he was alive. “Don’t be crazy. You have nothing to be sorry about. Are you okay?”
“A little sore in places but otherwise fine. I wasn’t given a choice that either one of us could accept. He decided that grabbing a twelve-year-old kid would force my hand. He was right.” He paused. “He wants you to be absolutely certain that he has me before he starts his damn negotiations. He said to mention something in our past that wasn’t known to anyone else.” He paused. “Several years ago you went to Louisiana and you worked on a reconstruction at that big mansion that looked like Tara. I followed you down there, and we had a fight. Do you remember?”
She hesitated. “Yes, I remember,” she said slowly.
“Okay, then I’ve complied with Jelak’s damn bargain. He wants the phone back. Don’t deal with him. Tell him to go to hell.”
Jelak’s voice came on the line. “Very noble. But you will deal, won’t you? I didn’t think there would be any question about that once you were sure I had him.”
“I’ll deal.” She made a motion as Jane opened her lips. “But I’m not the suicide junkie you seem to think. I don’t want to die. I’m not going to come to you and meekly present my neck for the sword like Anne Boleyn. I want a chance. Tell me how I can get it and still free Joe.”
He chuckled. “If I hadn’t known you were the perfect finale for me before, I would now. Let me think . . .” He was silent a moment. “Allatoona. No one would repeat a crime in the same place only days after the first one was committed. Go into the woods and wait for me. I’ll bring Quinn, but I’ll keep him bound. If I see that you have a weapon, and you try to ambush me, then I’ll kill him. If you escape me and can get back to him, then you can release him. If you don’t escape me, then I’ll go back and cut his throat. Will that give you enough incentive? And, of course, if I see police or media, he’s dead.”
“When?”
“It’s almost midnight now. Three in the morning? That’s truly the dead of night.”
“Yes.”
“I can hardly wait. It’s been too long.” He paused. “And I wasn’t wrong about you, Eve. You may be trying to hide it from the people who love you, but you do want this.” Jelak hung up.
“Did you hear?” Eve hung up the phone. “Three o’clock. That doesn’t give us much time.”
“To get to Allatoona?” Caleb asked.
“No, to find Joe before he takes him there.” She flipped open the computer. “You earmarked that area where you said you sensed Jelak, didn’t you?”
“Yes, why?”
“Pull it up.”
“Why?”
“Because that reconstruction I worked on down in Louisiana wasn’t at a Tara-like mansion. It was a church.”
Caleb gave a low whistle. “Holy shit.” He bent over the computer. “Let’s see how many churches we can find in that quadrant . . .”
“SEVEN,” JANE SAID AS SHE looked up from the computer thirty minutes later. “Three Catholic—St. Mark’s, St. Francis, St. Catherine; two Baptist—Trinity Baptist, Peachtree Baptist. One Methodist, Jacob’s Ladder. And even a
