Eve's gaze flew up to Joe's face. 'He's still doing it. It's Clayborne Forest all over again. He's still doing it.'
'Easy. We don't know that yet. He didn't send us a body part. He sent us a ribbon.'
'With blood on it. That stain has got to be blood.'
Joe was checking the envelope. 'There's a piece of paper here.' Joe pulled it out and glanced at it before handing it to Eve. 'He evidently wants to drag this out.'
'The evening news,' she repeated. 'What time is it?'
'Three-thirty. Channel two has news starting at five.'
She looked at the other picture, of the pine and rock. 'And what the hell is this?'
'A clue?'
'Where he buried Bonnie?' She shuddered. 'Or where he buried that little girl, Laura Ann?'
'We'll have to wait and see.' Joe headed for the kitchen. 'In the meantime I'll make a pot of coffee. You're pale as a tombstone. You can use it. Hell, I can use it.'
Pale as a tombstone.
Only Bonnie had never had a tombstone. She was lost, and so might be this other little girl.
Watch the news. Five o'clock. It was going to seem like forever.
ELEVEN
NINE-YEAR-OLD LAURA ANN Simmons was the first story on the news. She had not shown up at home the day before and her mother, Nina Simmons, had at first thought her ex-husband might have picked her up at school. He had denied it when she managed to contact him. Laura Ann was still missing and the police were now considering foul play.
'Foul,' Eve repeated. 'Oh, yes, no one could be fouler than Kistle.' She felt sick as she looked at the photo of the little girl on the television. She was small for her age and had long, dark brown hair held back by a ribbon. Her blue eyes were wide and bright and her eager smile lit the screen with warmth. 'Can you find out anything more from the department, Joe?'
'I can try.' Joe pulled out his cell phone. 'But it sounds like the investigation is just beginning. We probably don't know much.'
'Wait.' She looked at the blue ribbon in the box sitting on the couch. 'Don't tell them about this yet. There may be a chance that-'
'I wasn't going to tell them anything. One way or another Kistle is going to use that little girl. Until we know how, I don't want to rock the boat.' The precinct answered and he started talking and went out on the porch.
She looked at the snapshot of Laura Simmons. The little girl wasn't smiling, but she didn't look frightened either. Maybe the picture was taken before she realized she had something to fear from the man taking her picture.
Her cell phone rang. She looked down and saw the ID. John Spacek. She wasn't surprised that it was Kistle when she picked up. She had been expecting him. 'Who is John Spacek? How did you get his phone?'
'The usual manner. He and his wife won't need it any longer. Did you see the news?'
'Have you hurt her?'
'Laura Ann? Not yet. I've been too busy making plans to welcome you.'
'Let her go. This is between you and me. There's no reason to involve a child.'
'There's every reason. It will add spice to the pot. For you, the prize of a dead girl's bones would be enough. But what about Quinn and Montalvo? I'm sure keeping Laura Ann alive would be more of an incentive.'
'We don't even know if she's alive now.'
Joe had come back into the house and stopped short at the door as he saw her expression.
'She's alive,' Kistle said.
'Let me talk to her.'
'Not yet. I'll do that when I think you need encouraging. Besides, she's sleeping now. I had to keep her quiet. But I'm moving her out in a few hours and it won't matter if she screams.'
Eve's hand tightened on the phone. 'Send her home.'
'No. Laura Ann will be near Bonnie's resting place. If you find one, you find the other. If I win and you die, then Laura Ann dies. And though you'll no longer care if her body goes back to her parents for proper burial, I'll guarantee that will not be the case. They'll never find her. Just as they've never found Bonnie.'
'Why involve her at all? She'll just get in your way. Let her go.'
'Oh, I'll never let her go. That's part of the game. The only way that she's going to stay alive is if you take her away from me. Now for the rules. You've got two days to find Bonnie and Laura Ann. I sent you a clue. Use it.' He hung up.
'Is she alive?' Joe asked as he watched her press the disconnect.
'I don't know. He says she is. He wouldn't let me talk to her. He said she was unconscious.'
'He's using her as bait?'
Eve nodded. 'He thought it might be a stronger motivation for you and Montalvo. He wasn't sure I'd care. For God's sake, what does he think I am? Of course I care.' She drew a deep, shaky breath. 'We have two days. Laura Ann is near where Bonnie is buried. We have to find Bonnie to find Laura Ann.' She looked down at the picture of the pine tree and massive boulder. 'And I guess this is our so-called clue.' She got to her feet. 'Dammit, it could be anywhere.'
'But the chances are it will be either Chattahoochee National Forest or Okefenokee Swamp. He'll have figured out who must have tipped us off about him and will know we know about his old haunts.'
'And what are we supposed to do? Flip a coin?'
'It may end up by us doing that.' Joe took the photo and headed for the door. 'But I'm banking on Kistle leaving us a little stronger clue. I'm going down to Montalvo's camp and look through those books Miguel unearthed. You start packing and call Patty and ask her to take Toby again. If we've only got two days, we'd better make tonight count.'
'Wait.'
He looked back over his shoulder.
'I want to go see Laura Ann's mother. Can you arrange it so that no one knows about it?'
'It will be difficult as hell. Her telephone lines will be monitored in case there's a ransom demand.'
'Can you do it?'
'It would be smarter not to try, Eve.'
'I don't care. I know what that woman is going through. Any information is better than none at all. She needs to know someone is doing something to help Laura Ann, that there's a chance of getting her back.'
'Not the greatest chance.' He lifted his hand as she opened her mouth to speak. 'Okay, I'll set it up. I'll go over to her house and ask the captain if I can question her alone. Nina Simmons lives in a rental house in Marietta, right outside the Atlanta city limits. You follow me and I'll try to bring her outside and away from everyone else.'
She nodded. 'Thanks, Joe. I only want a few minutes.'
'If she gets hysterical it may be a few minutes too long.' He opened the screen door. 'But we'll deal with that if it happens. You're right; she deserves any comfort we can give her. You're not the only one who remembers how those first days when Bonnie was missing tore you apart.'
THE SUN WAS LOW IN THE SKY when Eve saw Joe and Nina Simmons walk out of the house on Meadow Place Drive and down the porch steps. Laura Ann's mother was a pretty woman in her thirties with brown hair cut in a breezy style and the same blue eyes as her daughter. Those eyes were swollen from weeping and she looked totally devastated.
Eve got out of her car and waited on the corner as Joe walked with her down the street toward her. Now that she was here, she felt helpless. She didn't know enough to give comfort.
But she could give hope.
Joe stopped and let Laura Ann's mother go the last few yards alone.
'Nina Simmons?' She stepped forward and took the other woman's hand. 'I'm Eve Duncan. I won't keep you
