start work early over here. I leave for Atlanta at nine.”
Bartlett smiled. “You said you'd get him. Do you want me to go with you?”
“Not now.” He got up and headed for the closet. “I'll call you if I need you. Dig out that file on Quinn and Eve Duncan for me while I pack. I've got to be prepared for them. I need to know them inside out.”
Bartlett had already retrieved the file and was glancing through it. “You may have a problem. They're both pretty complicated. Eve Duncan grew up in the slums with a drug addict for a mother. She had an illegitimate daughter as a teenager and it turned her life around. She went to college and worked at straightening out her mother. Her daughter, Bonnie, was taken and presumably killed by a serial killer when she was seven. The body was never found. It was thought that Bonnie was recovered a few years ago, but it was discovered later that it was another child.”
“And Quinn?”
“Born of privileged parents and was an FBI agent for a while before becoming a detective for the ATLPD. He owns a lake cottage and extensive acreage near Atlanta. That's where Quinn and Duncan live.” He glanced up at Trevor. “He's tough and smart and tenacious as a bulldog.”
“Weakness?”
“Eve Duncan. No doubt about it. He's been with her from the time of her daughter's death and he may have stayed in Atlanta instead of continuing with the FBI to be near her.”
“A button to push.”
“Not unless you want to set off a chain explosion.”
“Sometimes explosions are necessary.” Trevor smiled recklessly. “I'll risk it.”
“You always do.” Bartlett's smile faded. “They're tough. Both of them. Be careful that explosion doesn't take you out.”
Trevor snapped his suitcase shut. “Why, Bartlett, I believe you're worried about me.”
“Nonsense. I'm just too lazy to look for a new contact. Are you taking this file with you?”
“Not if you've covered the high points.” He set the suitcase on a chair. “I'll just glance at the MacGuire file while you go downstairs and hail me a taxi.”
“Again? You should have it memorized by now. There's not much there. Jane MacGuire's only seventeen, grew up in foster homes, and she's been with Duncan and Quinn since she was ten. She's an honor student and never been in trouble. But she's too young to have much experience or history.”
“I disagree. Look at her face. She's young, but there's a world of experience in that face. And he'll see it. It will draw him like a magnet.” He gazed down at the face of the girl staring boldly out of the photo. “The taxi, Bartlett.”
“Right away.”
Trevor barely heard the door close behind him. Excitement was soaring through him and he had to suppress it. He had to think coolly and clearly if he was to win this battle. And he
His finger delicately touched the cheek of the girl in the photo. She was close. Remarkably, marvelously, close.
“Close enough, Aldo?” he murmured. “Cira?”
THREE
Ruth really looked like me?” Jane gazed in disappointment at the empty pedestal. “I wish I could have seen the reconstruction before Joe whisked it away. May I go down to the precinct and take a—”
“No, you may not,” Eve said firmly. “You can see the photograph. You're sticking close to home for a while.”
“Because of that creep?” She shook her head. “I'll stick around here today but I've got a trigonometry test scheduled for Monday and I'm not going to let him stop me from taking it.” She went to the doorway and gazed at the patrol car parked down the road. “He'd be crazy to make a move when he can see Joe has me under surveillance.”
“He
Jane turned to look at her. “You're really scared.”
“You're damn right I am. I'm not having anything happen to you even if I have to tie you to your bed.”
Jane studied her expression. “You're remembering Bonnie. I'm not Bonnie, Eve. I'm not an innocent little girl who can be lured to her death. I intend to have a long, good life and I'll go for the jugular of anyone who tries to take that away from me.”
“You may not get the chance. This man has killed at least six women that we know about. All of them older and more experienced than you.”
“And they probably weren't suspecting anything. I'll be suspicious of everyone.” She smiled. “You know I'm not the most trusting person in the world.”
“Thank God.” Eve drew a deep breath. “I'm scared, Jane. Don't make me more scared by defying this monster. Please.”
Jane frowned. “I hate letting him keep me from doing what I need to do. Bastards like him shouldn't be able to control us.”
“Please,” Eve repeated.
Jane sighed. “Okay. If you're really going to worry.”
“I am going to worry. Count on it. Thank you.”
Jane's eyes twinkled. “Come on, I didn't have much choice. You threatened to tie me down.”
Eve smiled. “Only as a last resort.”
“How long do you think it's going to take to catch him?”
Eve's smile faded. “I don't know. Soon, I hope.”
“I'm not going to hide forever, Eve.” She glanced back at the patrol car. “Do you believe in fate?”
“Sometimes. Most of the time I think we're in control of our own destiny.”
“So do I. But this is a funny coincidence, isn't it? First Bonnie and then me. What do you think the odds are that you'd be faced with this kind of situation again?”
“Astronomical. But I am.”
“Then maybe . . .” She paused, working her way through it. “If there is some kind of fate, this might be a second chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it's like . . . a circle and comes around again and again if it goes wrong the first time.”
“You're getting too deep for me. I don't know what the devil you're talking about.”
Jane shook her head as if to clear it. “Me, either. It just occurred to me that—” She started for the door. “All that thinking is giving me a headache. Let's go for a walk.”
“I have to be back in time to meet with Trevor.” She glanced at her watch. “An hour.”
“I don't think he'll leave if you're not on the doorstep. From what you said he wants to cooperate. Besides, he's probably one of those proper, methodical, slow-moving types.”
“Just because he's Scotland Yard? They're very efficient, from what I hear.”
“They didn't catch Jack the Ripper, did they? Joe would have caught him. He thinks out of the box.” She nudged Toby with her foot as she started down the steps. “Come on, lazy. Just because you like to run at night is no reason you get to sleep all day.”
Toby yawned and then got to his feet.
“You know those policemen in the car will be trailing us,” Eve said as she followed Jane down the steps.
“The exercise will do them good.” Jane smiled at Eve over her shoulder. “And it will do you good, too. You've been stuck in the house working on Ruth for days. You need fresh air and a change of scene. The sun's shining and there's not a cloud in the sky.”
She was wrong, Eve thought. There was a terrible, dark cloud hovering over them. But Jane's expression was
