“And so? Can you figure out who he was?”

“Not directly. He made these changes using his victims’ user IDs. But both avatars have been changed the same way. If you dig deep enough, the graphics are just lines of code. The code gets kind of clunky, where he changed it.”

“Clunky.” He gave her an amused look. “So he’s an amateur?”

“Perhaps. The code he wrote gets the job done-the avatar’s face changed. But a professional programmer would have done it more elegantly.”

“Now you sound like Ethan,” David commented blandly. “He likes to say ‘elegant.’ ”

“Ethan taught me a lot,” she said cautiously. To love Dana could have meant David had to hate Ethan, but Eve knew that wasn’t true. Still, she was careful not to lavish too much praise on the man who’d made her guardian happy and her friend miserable.

“Like how to break and enter, virtually. Which can get you arrested in the real world.”

“Now you sound like Noah.”

“Whose hat is no longer on your bookshelf.”

Irritated, she kept her eyes on the screen. “You get the stuff to fix my roof?”

“Ordered it. I pick it up after three. I can take you up to get your car on the way.”

“Thank you. I’ll pay you for all the supplies.” She had enough put aside. She hoped.

“Miss Moneybags,” he scoffed gently. “I’ll pay for it. You do know you’re ultimately helping your landlord? Once he kicks you out, he’ll have an improved roof at no cost.”

“But he’ll learn that he can’t kick people around. That he can’t kick me around.” Then she understood. “You’re helping because you don’t want him kicking me around, either.”

“Too many people have,” he said quietly. “You’ve pulled yourself out of something that would have broken most people. I’m proud of you.” Her throat closed, her eyes filled. There were no words, but she knew he understood. “Get back to your virtual B &E. But I want you to give Webster a chance. That’s my price for fixing your roof.”

He left her alone, but Eve couldn’t focus. She saw Noah’s face reflected in the window, worried and understanding. That’s why I drink tonic water. She wondered what journey had brought him to the place of a recovering alcoholic.

She chided herself for being so selfish that she hadn’t seen, or cared for, his feelings. And for just a second she let herself remember how he’d tasted when she’d kissed him. How good she’d felt when his arms wrapped tight around her.

But giving him a chance? No. Not even for David. Because in the end she didn’t want to hurt Noah Webster or any other nice guy who was looking for a future, because in the end, there would be none. Not with me. That was Eve’s reality.

She blinked, clearing her eyes so that she could see her screen. For Noah, she had to be careful. After he’d left, she’d called Ethan and at his direction had taken precautions, routing through a dozen proxy servers to make tracing her online movement difficult. But ShadowCo could still find her, and the blame might fall on Noah.

And that wouldn’t do at all because Noah was a good man. There had to be a way to stop this monster. Just knowing he’d been in Shadowland, messing around with avatars, wasn’t good enough. She had to use what she knew to make him show his face in the real world. It wouldn’t be easy. Noah’s monster was very smart, so far staying one step ahead of them. I’ll just have to be smarter.

Tuesday, February 23, 2:30 p.m.

Liza sneaked out the ditching exit, the first time she’d ever ditched class. It wasn’t like it was real class, just a stupid assembly with a stupid jock. It was making her crazy, sitting in a stupid assembly when she could be looking for Lindsay. So she left.

“Hey, girl, you gotta light?”

She jerked around, startled. A kid was standing by the door, hunched over, hands in his pockets. “No. I’m sorry.” Unsteadily, she kept going. Too little sleep and no food had her light-headed. She had only a few dollars left and she needed them for bus fare.

The city bus stop was up a block, so she put her head down against the wind and started walking. The next thing she knew she was on her butt, her bookbag spilled, and her papers blowing away.

“I’m so sorry. Let me help you.” It was a really tall boy. No, older. College maybe. He gathered her papers and brought them to her. “Some of them got a little dirty.”

“It’s okay. Thank you.” She shoved the papers back in her bag and stood, stumbling at the next little dizzy spell. Note to self. Need to eat.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up. Way up. Liza was five-ten, so this guy had to be six-six. “I’m fine.”

He frowned, studying her face. “You don’t look fine. You look pale.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Then she huffed, frustrated as the city bus pulled away. “Except now I’ve missed my bus. The next one isn’t for twenty minutes.” Wasted time. Dammit.

She started walking fast and he walked beside her, ambling easily. “Did you come out of the smoker’s door?” he asked.

She glared up at him. “Are you gonna turn me in?”

“No. But, well, why are you ditching? You don’t look like the type.”

“And what type is that?” she asked between her teeth, thinking of the way that officer had dismissed Lindsay as a missing person because she was a… prostitute.

“The type to take AP English. Your paper on Heart of Darkness,” he added. “Most advanced students I knew would never ditch class. Plus, your eyes are red. You’ve been crying.”

“Allergies,” she snapped.

“In February?” He shook his head. “Try again.”

“I have someplace to go.” She glared up at him again. “Do you mind?”

“Where are you going?”

Liza rolled her eyes. “None of your business.”

“Well, I feel bad that you missed your bus. Can I give you a lift?”

She stared up at him, appalled. “No. If you don’t leave me alone, I’m going to call the cops. In fact, I’m going to the police station now and I’ll just report you.”

“Are you going to the police station because of your sister?”

Liza stopped short. “How did you know that?”

“Just guessed. One of the papers I grabbed was a police report. Barkley, Lindsay. The name on your English paper was Liza Barkley and you look like the mug shot.”

Liza shook her head. “What are you? Some kind of CSI wannabe creep?”

He smiled. “No, but you look like you need help and I feel bad that I’ve kept you from where you’re going. You can take a cab to the police station from here.”

“Yeah, right.” She started walking again, muttering under her breath, “Can’t even afford lunch and this idiot wants me to get a cab.”

“No, I’ll pay for it.” He was walking beside her again, holding out a twenty. “Get yourself something to eat while you’re at it. You don’t look so good.”

Liza stopped again and stared at the money in his hand. “You scare me.”

“Tell you what,” he said when she didn’t move. “There’s a sandwich place across from that bus stop. I’ll buy you some food and you can wait for the bus where it’s warm.”

She hesitated. “I don’t want your charity.”

“But you’re hungry. Come on.” He took the bag from her hand and started walking.

“Hey.” She stumbled trying to catch up. “That’s my bookbag.”

“Liza, trust me as far as that sandwich shop, okay?”

“Like I have a choice?” she asked, and hurried behind him.

True to his word, he went into the sandwich shop and put her bag on the table. “Sit. I’ll be back.” She obeyed, and a few minutes later he brought two sandwiches and fries. “Eat,” he said. Again, she obeyed, ravenous. “Slowly. How long since your last meal?”

“An egg this morning. Before that, lunch yesterday.” She said nothing more until she’d eaten her sandwich, fries, and his fries, too.

He was impressed. “Girls usually pick at food like it’s a disease. I’m Tom Hunter.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Tom. Thank you for the food. I was hungry.”