forget every now and then. I’m glad that you aren’t angry.”
“I’ll be mad as hell if I examine that skull and find that those shards don’t match exactly.”
“They’ll match.” She added quietly, “I’m never wrong, Eve.”
“And modest, too.”
She shook her head. “They tested me so many times. I hated it. But even when it seemed I might be wrong, in the end it always turned around. After a while, I refused to do it anymore. I didn’t want to know more than anyone else about what could happen.”
“Why not?”
“It could be…sad. Some patterns don’t lead to good endings. I didn’t want to think about it.” She glanced down at the bone fragments. “This wasn’t a good ending, but I can’t do anything about it. Except maybe give you something that you want. You were kind to me. I wanted to please you. I’m sorry it didn’t work out well.”
“It didn’t work out terribly either.” She smiled. “Now get to bed and get a few hours’ sleep. Joe has to leave for the precinct in an hour, and I’d like you to be asleep by the time he has to come through here.”
“I’m causing him trouble, too.”
“Inconvenience,” Eve corrected. “‘Trouble’ is too strong a word. It takes a lot for Joe to consider it trouble. He just can’t get a handle on the situation, and it makes him upset. Now jump into that fine bed I made up for you and try to keep yourself from working on Cindy’s bones.”
“Okay.” Kelly headed for the couch. “Are you going to tell Catherine?”
“Yes. I could hardly keep it secret once she saw the progress you’ve made.” She pulled up the blanket around Kelly’s shoulders. “It’s pretty clear you-” She stopped and gazed down at the girl. “Or is that the aim of this exercise? Did you want to give a little demonstration of how much you can help Catherine?”
Kelly stared up at her. “Maybe. Partly.” She shook her head. “No, probably. I didn’t think it through, but I wanted her to know that I wouldn’t be a burden.”
“Kelly, Catherine was telling you the truth,” Eve said gently. “It’s the wrong time for you to be with her. Why can’t you understand that? I know that she saved your life, but you have to stand back.”
She was silent a moment, then looked away. “I can’t do that. Ever since they found out my brain could do this weird stuff, they’ve been telling me that it was a good thing. That I could be another Einstein or help people in a hundred different ways. But when Daddy and I were in Munoz’s camp, I tried to put together what might happen, what we should do to keep alive.”
“And you couldn’t do it?”
“No, I could do it,” she whispered. “Munoz kept threatening Daddy, talking about how he was going to rape me if the government didn’t do what he wanted. Daddy nearly exploded whenever he’d do that. He got so angry…” She shook her head. “It was going to happen. Munoz’s anger and threats, Daddy’s anger. Something bad…I could see it coming. It was a pattern, and I was in the middle of it.” Her eyes were glittering with tears. “I tried to talk to Daddy and tell him that nothing Munoz did to me would matter, that he mustn’t ever fight him. He wouldn’t listen. I tried to think of a way to get away, to break the pattern, but I couldn’t.” Her voice was shaking. “They kept telling me how smart I am, but they lied. I’m stupid. Stupid. I couldn’t think of any way to stop it.”
“Stop this.” Eve’s hand covered Kelly’s on the blanket. “You were in a no-win situation. Just because you can see patterns doesn’t mean that you can change them.”
“Then what good is it?” she said fiercely. “I can’t turn it off. It’s with me all the time. There should have been a way that I could have stopped Daddy from trying to-”
“What way?” Eve asked. “He loved you. You help people you love.”
“I couldn’t help him.”
What can I say? Eve thought helplessly. There was no arguing with that statement. The girl had obviously wrestled with this painful truth since her father’s death, perhaps even before. “No.” She paused, seeking for a way to soothe that pain. “He didn’t want your help. He thought he was doing the right thing. It wasn’t your responsibility. You might just as well say it was Catherine’s fault because she didn’t get there in time.”
Kelly shook her head.
“She doesn’t want your help, Kelly.”
“She has to take it. I have to know-”
“Know what?”
“First, I wanted to go to Catherine because I felt as if she understood-but the minute Venable told me about Catherine’s son, I knew that I might have another chance.” She moistened her lips. “If I help her, if I can work out her pattern with her son, then maybe this quirk I have isn’t stupid and worthless. Maybe I’m not worthless.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind.”
“There’s doubt in mine.” Her hand tightened on Eve’s. “I should have been able to save Daddy. Will you help me convince Catherine to let me stay with her?”
“No, that’s up to you.” She straightened and turned away. “The most I’ll do is tell her what you’ve told me and let her judge.” She turned off the light. “Good night, Kelly. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Good night.” In the darkness, Kelly’s words were a breath above a whisper. “I was wondering…”
“Wondering what?”
“As you work on those skulls, do you see a pattern, too?”
A pattern of darkness and murder and violence. A puzzle that she hoped to solve every time her fingers touched the skulls. “Only in my imagination, Kelly.”
Kelly rolled over and huddled under the blanket. “You’re lucky.”
It was after ten o’clock when Catherine got out of the shower, dressed, and strode into the living room. The couch was neatly made up, and Eve was sitting at the bar drinking a cup of coffee. “Where’s Kelly?”
“Out on the porch. I told her to go get some sun.” She poured Catherine a cup of coffee. “I wanted some time alone with you.”
“Why? I told you when you came to my room last night that I couldn’t be either a sister or psychologist to Kelly. Not now.”
“You were upset then, and you didn’t want to deal with her.” She lifted her cup to her lips. “But I think you’re going to find that you have no choice.”
“I have a choice.”
“Go over to the worktable and look at that work she did on Cindy’s skull last night.”
“I don’t want to look.”
“Are you being stubborn?”
“Yes.” She was silent a moment, then burst out, “Dammit, I’m not like you. I’m harder, more ruthless. Even though I don’t want her involved, I’m capable of ignoring what’s good for her if I decide she could help me find Luke. I don’t want to make that decision.”
“You could limit her input, find ways to keep her on the sidelines.”
“Anyone close to me may be a target if Rakovac decides to make a move. She’s fourteen years old.” She shrugged. “Besides, all that pattern business could be crap. I prefer to believe that it is.”
“And I prefer to believe that it’s not. You have to face the possibility. Stop hiding your head in the ground. Go look at Cindy.”
Catherine hesitated, then turned and strode across the room to the work desk. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you are as ruthless as I am. I thought you-Oh, shit.” She was gazing down at the skull fragments put together by Kelly. “She did this in a couple hours?”
Eve nodded.
“Hell, I know how difficult-I nearly went blind straining to tell those pieces apart.” She murmured, “Incredible.”
“Two hours.”
“But this was a physical puzzle, it doesn’t mean she’d be that good at anything more abstract.”
“Like finding a lost boy?” Eve nodded. “That’s right. We have no proof. Other than Venable thought she was promising enough to be interesting to the CIA.”
She shook her head. “Too vague.” She studied Eve’s expression. “Why are you trying to convince me to use Kelly? I thought you’d be against it.”
“I want you to bring your Luke home.” She smiled. “I’ve grown attached to him. It doesn’t seem to me that you
