“Moved them from where to where?” Evan demanded.
“From the place where they were… from where I was told to pick them up, to where I left them.”
“Jesus God, Joe, how could you?”
The two men began to struggle, and the startled bystanders intervened to subdue Evan and to surround Joe with questioning eyes.
“I didn’t kill them, I didn’t rape them. I never harmed those girls,” Joe said, looking from one man to the next, wanting them to understand that his role had been limited to taking care of the girls after the fact. “I tried to help them, see? I left them where they’d be found right away, I made them look like that other guy had done them, so they’d get some press, maybe someone would recognize them and they’d go back to their families. I tried to do the best I could for them…”
He turned to Evan, tears running down his face.
“I tried to do the best I could so they’d be found, so they wouldn’t be lying out in the rain. I couldn’t stand to think of them lying out in the rain, all alone like that…”
27
“Here. Catch.” Annie stood on the back steps of Evan’s townhouse and tossed him a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” he said, catching it in one hand. “The sun is brutal today.”
She looked up and squinted. “I don’t think this is a good time to be planting roses. We’re better off waiting until later in the day, when the sun drops down a little. I read someplace that you’re not supposed to plant in the heat of the day.”
“Hey, that works for me.” He jammed his shovel into the overturned dirt in the flower bed they’d spent the morning preparing and wiped his brow with the hem of his T-shirt. “I’d just as soon wait until it gets a little cooler.”
“We can still finish getting the bed ready, dig the holes, put in that stuff you bought that’s supposed to be good for the roots.”
“Or we could wait until later and do everything when it cools off.” He grinned hopefully.
“I say we dig now, plant later.” She walked to the side of the yard, where four rosebushes stood, still in their black pots, in the shade. “The poor rosebushes have already been waiting an extra week to be planted. It’s a miracle they’re still alive.”
“They look awfully comfortable there, in the shade. Are you sure we should move them?” Evan opened the water and took a long drink.
“It’s going to be overcast tomorrow morning, then rain for the rest of the weekend. Planting them tonight will be perfect.”
He took another drink, then replaced the plastic cap and set the bottle on the fence, between pickets, where it tottered unsteadily.
“I am worried, though, about them drying out while we’re in Santa Estela.” Annie frowned.
“Maybe I can get Amanda to stop out a few times during the week to water them.”
“Good idea.” Annie pulled her hair back behind her ears and looked for the container of root food she’d left near the fence.
“How do you think that’s going to go, meeting the girls’ parents?” she asked.
“I hope it goes okay, at least with two of the families.” He leaned on the handle of the shovel. “The police suspect that the third girl, the one who still hasn’t been identified, was probably sold by her family in the first place. They aren’t likely to come back now and claim the body.”
“Maybe by the time we get down there, they will have.” She pulled on her gardening gloves and tossed a handful of granules into the first hole Evan had dug.
“I still can’t get over John pulling all those strings, getting the locals down there to start showing the girls’ pictures around until they located the families. Arranging for the bodies to be transported back to Santa Estela, and for us to accompany them…”
“John understands how important it is for you to take them home, sweetie. And if you want to look beyond that, I think it’s important for the new government down there to assure the people that every effort is being made to find their lost children and to bring them home. It’s a brilliant PR move on the part of the new president of Santa Estela, and a goodwill gesture on the part of our government.”
“For whatever reason, I’m grateful. And I’m really happy that they’re sending Don Manley as well. He’s so grateful for the chance to go, to take his vics back. It was good of John to suggest it. If it weren’t for Don’s girl, and the little vial of bean seeds around her neck, we never would have been able to put this all together.”
“That’s what happens when everyone pools their info. Things get done.” She smiled and added, “I’m really looking forward to the trip. I just know this will be something I’ll always remember.”
“Yeah, real romantic vacation.” Evan stopped digging and looked at her almost apologetically. “Ten days in a hot, steamy, third-world country whose most lucrative export is its kids. With luck, maybe we’ll even get some mosquito netting for our tent. Maybe the piranhas will be migrating and we’ll be able to get in a swim.”
“It’ll be the best vacation either of us ever had, you wait and see.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “We’ll still be talking about this when we’re old and gray. You will always have the memory of having returned those children to their families, to be buried with love and respect. I’m proud of you, that you cared enough to take that on when no one else seemed to give a damn about them.”
“John said something like that when he offered me the job.”
“Are you still thinking about that?”
“No. Right now, I’m thinking about planting a garden with my best girl, and taking a trip with her through a snake-infested jungle. I’ll think about the job offer when we get back.”
“Fair enough.” She gave him a tap on the butt before getting back to work, measuring another spoonful of fertilizer and dumping it into the next hole.
“Two more,” she told him, pointing to the rest of the plot, where holes had not as yet been dug.
“Here?” he asked, the shovel poised to dig, and she nodded.
“Hey,” he said, “while I dig these last two holes, why don’t you plant those geraniums in that big planter at the end of the deck?”
“Wouldn’t you rather wait until you finish the deck?” She frowned. “If I plant this up now, you’ll have to carry it up onto the deck, and it’s going to be heavy.”
“No big deal.” He shrugged. “Just go on and plant the flowers, we’ll worry about moving it later.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
Annie carried the pot of geraniums and ivy to the large planter Evan had left at the foot of the deck, and poured in a bag of potting soil. Next she pulled the plants from their pots and started to transplant the ivy. When she started on the geraniums, he heard her exclaim, “Oh.”
She looked at him from across the small yard.
“There’s a little box in the bottom of the geranium pot.”
“Is there, now?” He stuck the shovel into the dirt and started walking toward her. “Well, maybe you should open it.”
She shook the small dark blue box from the pot and opened it.
“Evan,” she said softly, meeting his eyes as he walked toward her. “Evan.”
“What do you think, Annie?” he asked. “Think it’s time to make it legal?”
She nodded.
“Well then, let’s see if it fits.” He took her hand, then took the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger. “What do you think? Does it fit all right?”
“It fits perfectly.” She had not taken her eyes from his face.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it.”
“You haven’t even looked at it.”
She looked at her hand, at the simple gold band with the round diamond and nodded. “It’s perfect. I love it.”
“So, I guess this means yes?”
“This means yes.”
He gathered her in his arms and kissed her.
“Will this get me out of digging for the rest of the afternoon?”
“Probably not”-she laughed-“but it might get you a bonus at the end of the day.”
“I like the sound of that.” He kissed her again, then said, more seriously, “I’m thinking a Christmas wedding might be really nice, you know? All those red flowers they always put in the church-”
“Oh! Bad timing on my part. Sorry, guys.”
Annie and Evan looked up to see Grady Shields walking down the drive that ran behind the house.
“Hey, Grady,” Annie called to him. “This is a surprise.”
“Yeah, well, I just wanted to drop by to see you before I left. I wanted to thank you and Evan for what you did to bring that bastard Luther Blue in.” He turned to Evan. “The only thing I’m sorry about is that you didn’t blow his head off when you had the chance. He’s still trying to make deals, you know that? Still offering to give up other members of the kidnapping and trafficking ring in exchange for a reduced sentence.”
“Maybe the feds will offer him something on the kidnapping, but he’ll still have to face murder charges in Montana,” Annie assured him. “I spoke with Sheriff Brody a few days ago. I had promised I’d call if we found Melissa’s killer. He understands the situation very well, but he’s willing to wait his turn to prosecute Luther for Melissa’s death. He won’t be getting away with it, Grady. It may take a while, but he will stand trial in Montana.”
“That’s the first good news I’ve had since this started,” Grady said. “Maybe I’ll still be out there when that day comes.”
“You’re going to Montana?” Annie asked.
