“Then why don’t you catch him?” The man who had spoken was coming down the stairs. George Bristol was a man in his early forties, with a high forehead and blue eyes that were glittering with moisture. “Why did you let him do this to us? Why did you let him do this to Janey?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Bristol,” Slindak said quietly. “I don’t wish to intrude on your grief, but I wonder if I could speak to you regarding the call? It would help us to track him.”

“I didn’t talk to him. Ellen was the only one—and she can’t talk to anyone right now. It nearly drove her into hysterics telling me what he said. You’ll have to make do with my report.” He had reached the bottom of the stairs, and his glance fell on Eve leaning against the wall. “You’re Eve Duncan.”

“Yes.”

“Last night, when I heard they’d found a little girl in that cave, I hoped it was your daughter. Terrible, isn’t it? But I hoped it was anyone’s daughter but mine. Anyone but Janey.”

“I understand,” Eve said unsteadily.

“Yes, you would understand.” He closed his eyes for an instant, then opened them. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to help. I didn’t know about—I wanted to help.”

“Thank you. But you can’t help us. No one can. You can’t bring my baby back. You can’t stop those foul things that monster did to her. Do you know what he said when Ellen asked for his name? He said to call him Zeus because he was as powerful as a god. He could reach out and take and destroy and no one could ever stop him. And then he started to tell my wife what he meant. Ellen said he sounded as if he liked it, that he was proud.” He shook his head in wonder. “He’d have to be Satan to enjoy hurting a sweet little girl like Janey. Maybe he is Satan. Do you think that could be true?”

“I don’t know,” Eve said. “Whoever he is, I hope we can catch and punish him.”

“I want him punished. I’d like to kill him myself. But it’s too late for Janey.” He turned back to Slindak. “If you’ll send someone, I’ll give a statement, but I can’t leave my wife.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Slindak said gently. “I’ll have someone here later today if you think you won’t be too tired to do it.”

“I can do it.” He started back up the stairs. “It doesn’t matter if I’m tired. It has to be done.”

“One question, Mr. Bristol,” Joe said. “Was there any accent, any indication of where the caller might be from? Southern accent? Midwest? New York? Did he sound like anyone to whom she might previously have spoken?”

“I think Ellen would have told me if she’d recognized the voice. And she wasn’t concerned with accents. She was listening to what he was saying.” He was going slowly up the stairs. “I believe that’s all she’ll ever remember.”

“If you get the opportunity, would you ask her?” Joe asked.

“Don’t expect anything anytime soon. The doctor is going to keep her unconscious for a while, then bring her back very slowly. He’s hoping to keep her from having a complete breakdown.” He looked back over his shoulder at Eve. “I’ll pray for you. I can afford to do it now. But I don’t think it will do any good.”

“If I can help you…” Eve broke off as George Bristol turned the corner of the stairs and was lost to view. She turned to Joe, her eyes swimming with tears. “Why? Why would he call and taunt them?”

Joe didn’t answer. He turned to Slindak. “Did the newspaper or TV station he called manage to tape or trace the call?”

“No, the calls were made one after the other with no advance notice. They weren’t expecting it. He asked for the program director at CNN. At the newspaper he asked for Brian McVey, who wrote the article in this morning’s paper. McVey tried to put him on hold and stall, but he hung up.”

“Damn. But at least we can talk to them and ask the questions we can’t ask Ellen Bristol.”

“If they’ll answer,” Slindak said sourly. “They may want to protect their story.”

“They’ll answer,” Joe said grimly. “They’ll tell me everything I want to know.” He turned back to Eve. “Come on. I’ll check you into my hotel. Those reporters may be camped out in front of your house.”

He took out his car keys and tossed them to Slindak. “Get one of your officers to drive my car outside the subdivision to the gas station on the corner and leave it there. Eve and I will go out the back door, cut across the yard, and try to lose ourselves in the subdivision.”

Slindak nodded. “It’s your best shot. You’ll probably be seen, but we’ve ordered the media not to trespass on the Bristols’ property.” He made a face. “Not that they don’t break the rules when the stakes seem high enough. But it will give you a little time.” He gave the keys to the officer guarding the door. “You heard him, Dunigan. See if you can’t lose them if they follow you. Then report back here.” As the door closed behind him, he turned back to Joe. “This is nasty. But it may be a break for us. At least we’re not dealing with a phantom any longer.”

“No, I think that the Bristols would agree that it wasn’t a phantom that savaged them today,” Joe said.

“I’ll go out in front and give a statement,” Slindak said. “That should distract them until you get out of here.”

“Thanks.” He took Eve’s arm. “Let’s see if we can find that back door.”

She nodded. “The kitchen.” She was already moving down the hall. “There it is to the right.”

A moment later, they were on the deck outside the kitchen door. A chain-link fence. No back gate.

“We go over the fence,” he said. “Then cross the backyard next door and keep on moving. At the end of the block, we turn north one block and double back toward the subdivision entrance. Okay?”

She nodded and ran down the steps. “Stop planning and start moving.”

He glanced around, but couldn’t spot any media. That didn’t mean they weren’t under observation. But Slindak might have drawn them away. They might get lucky. He followed Eve, who was already across the yard and had entered the bed of daffodils bordering the fence.

She slipped and almost fell. “Be careful. Mud.”

He nodded. “Irrigation. There’s a price for these nice lawns and landscapes.” He helped her across the fence and climbed after her. “Run!”

*   *   *

JOE GLANCED OVER HIS shoulder as he opened the car door for Eve at the gas station. “I think we made it. I’ll drive around for five or ten minutes to make sure that we’re not being followed.”

“I feel as if I’m in some Alfred Hitchcock movie. Jumping over fences, dodging from yard to yard,” she said as she got into the car. “This isn’t right. It’s not the media that we should be afraid of.”

“We’re not afraid.” He drove out of the gas station onto the street. “We’re just avoiding an unnecessary annoyance. And getting you to a place where you’ll not be hurt by their questions. You looked like a butterfly being stabbed by a dozen pins when they surrounded you.”

“You got me away from them.” She was gazing out the window. “I’m used to the reporters now. I was more shocked by what had happened to the Bristols than I was about being attacked by them. I was just too stunned to react. It was the last thing I expected.” She looked at him. “You didn’t answer me. He called those poor people and the media. He hadn’t done anything like that before. Do you have any idea why he would do it now?”

“Maybe. Ellen Bristol said that he sounded proud when he told her about killing Janey.”

Eve shuddered. “Horrible.”

“Yes, but it may be the key to why he made the call. He’s proud of his cleverness, he’s proud that he’s managed to kill and never been close to being caught.”

“Then why would he be this reckless and risk everything?”

“But you see, no one knows how clever he is. No one knows what power he has. It may have been enough for him to have this delicious secret for all these years. But now that his confidence has grown, and he thinks that no one can touch him, he’s ready to be admired by one and all. He even gave himself a name, Zeus, so that there’s no question of anonymity.”