As he watched, another drop fell from the hanging basket to the floor.

“Blood?” she whispered.

“Go back inside,” he repeated. He was remembering the details of Janey Bristol’s crime scene. He took a step closer and took out his flashlight. “You may not want to see this.” He shined the beam up to the bottom of the basket.

The earth at the bottom of the basket was soaked with blood that dripped steadily downward.

His beam traveled upward.

“Hair!” Eve’s eyes were focused on the patches of blood-soaked hair clinging to the head that had been shoved into the basket. “Oh, my God.”

“Easy.”

“Who is it? Another child?”

“I can’t tell. It could be Bramwell. I’ll have to move around to the other side to see the face.” He said through his teeth, “Have you had enough? Or do you want to see that, too?”

“No, but I’m not going to leave you out here to do it alone.” She braced herself, and said unevenly, “And it could be Bonnie. He told me he killed her right after he took her.”

“There wouldn’t be all this blood.” He moved around to get another view of the skull. “This is a fresh kill.”

“You said it might be Bramwell?”

“Maybe.” He was now shining the beam directly into the face. “No, it’s not Bramwell.”

She was suddenly beside him. “Then who is—” Her back arched as if struck. “McVey!”

Sandy hair soaked in blood, blue eyes staring at them, lips open in a silent scream.

“Dear God…” Eve ran to the rail of the porch, bent over, and threw up. “Brian…”

“I told you to go inside.” Joe was beside her, his hands on her shoulders. “Will you do it now? Lock the door. I need you to call Slindak and get him out here. I have to find Bramwell.”

“Yes…” She staggered toward the door, then, clinging to the jam, she turned to face him. “No. You can’t go without me. What if it’s some kind of trap? What if he kills you like he did Brian? I can’t—”

“What’s going on?” Bramwell was running up the porch steps. “Why are the lights—” He stopped short as he saw the bloody head. “What the hell?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Joe said grimly. “I have a lot of questions to ask you, Bramwell.” He turned back to Eve. “I evidently don’t have to go hunting him down. Now will you call Slindak?”

She nodded jerkily and disappeared into the house.

“Who is it?” Bramwell was looking up at the basket. “Pretty gory, huh?”

“Brian McVey.”

“The reporter? He doesn’t look much like the photo that runs with his byline.” He grimaced. “That was stupid. Of course he doesn’t. Poor guy.”

“How did he get here without you seeing it?”

“It wasn’t here before I made my rounds thirty minutes ago.”

“And why did it take you thirty minutes to make those rounds?”

“I saw something funny. The flowers in the border were all crushed, and the back gate was open. I was looking around to see if I could find the reason.”

A red herring, Joe thought, to give Zeus enough time to deposit McVey’s head in the hanging basket, get away, and make his phone call to Eve.

“And you saw nothing suspicious before you started your rounds. A car? A pedestrian?”

“The Simmonses, that young couple who live in that duplex down the street, drove in and went into their house, but that’s all. I was on the job and watching close, Agent Quinn.” He looked again at McVey’s head. “But evidently not close enough. Slindak is going to kick my ass.”

“Probably. I may help him.” He turned and went down the porch stairs. “Stay here and guard Eve Duncan. If you screw up, I’ll put your head in that basket with McVey’s.”

Five minutes later, Joe was looking down at the broken lock on the trunk of the Simmonses’ Saturn. It would have had to be held shut from inside so that it wouldn’t fly open as the car was driven. He carefully lifted the lid of the trunk.

Drops of dark blood on the black plastic interior.

He tensed as the smell wafted up to him.

And something else …

CHAPTER

8

“SLINDAK SHOULD BE HERE ANYTIME,” Eve said, when Joe walked into the house. “He said to tell you that he can’t wait until you go back to Washington, so that he can sleep through the night.” Her lips were trembling, as she added, “Of course, he had a few words for me as well. He holds me to blame for all of this.”

“Did he say that?”

“No, don’t go on the attack. He didn’t have to say it. It couldn’t be clearer, could it?”

“He’s lucky to have your help. At least, we have a chance of bringing Zeus down now. They were running around in circles a few weeks ago. He can stuff his damn blame where the sun doesn’t shine.”

“Lucky?” Her lips tightened. “And was McVey lucky to have my help, too?” She shuddered. “I must go out on the porch and tell him how lucky he is.”

“I knew this was coming.” He pulled her to her feet. “We’re going into the kitchen. I’ll make you a cup of coffee, and we’ll talk.” He pushed her down at the kitchen table. “Sit there and block out everything.” He turned to the cabinet and got down the coffeepot. “That shouldn’t be hard. You have plenty of practice.”

“I do, don’t I?” Her smile was bitter. “Only I think that the blocks are beginning to crumble. What do I do when the flood rushes in and overwhelms me?”

“No problem. I’ll be there to pull you out.” He heard the sirens. “You’ll have to finish making this. I have to go out and report in to Slindak. It’s probably better for you to be busy anyway.”

“Yes.” She got to her feet and reached for the tin of coffee. “Go on. I don’t need you to coddle me.”

The coffee was ready, and Eve was sitting at the table with a cup cradled in her hands when he came into the kitchen thirty minutes later. “Is he … gone?”

He knew she didn’t mean Slindak. “Yes, they took him a few minutes ago.” He poured a cup of coffee. “But forensics is still working on the porch and the backyard and the Simmonses’ car.”

“The car?”

He nodded. “Zeus hid in the trunk of the car of the young couple down the block. He couldn’t just walk down the street carrying a bloody head under his arm. He was watching and knew that you were guarded. He waited in the trunk until he saw Bramwell go toward the backyard, then got out and placed the head in the basket. He’d already gone around back and arranged a suspicious scenario for Bramwell to investigate to keep him from coming back too soon.”

“And then he made the call to me.” She shook her head. “Zeus had it all planned.” Her lips twisted. “I thought he’d go after me. But I should have known that I wouldn’t be enough. He couldn’t get to me easily, so he went after Brian.” She shook her head. “And I called him stupid.”

“He’s cunning.” Joe sat down across from her. “But he took a big chance. It’s clear he’s still as arrogant as he ever was. McVey was no fool. He wouldn’t have been an easy mark.”

“But Brian wasn’t expecting to be targeted. Maybe if I hadn’t set myself up in the aggressive role, he might have suspected. But we both thought that the setup would lead Zeus straight to me.”

“It did.”

“And I dragged Brian along with me.”

“Bullshit. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.” He held up his hand as she opened her lips. “Yes, I know that you think that I’m biased. You’re right. I wouldn’t have wanted McVey killed, but I did blame him for letting you set up that scenario at the lake house. I can’t deny it. But I’m not letting you think that anyone but Zeus is to blame for McVey’s head being in that basket.”

Eve was silent. “He was only twenty-six, Joe. He told me he was going to have a Pulitzer by the time he was thirty.”

“He told me the same thing. Too bad. He was smart and had enough drive to make it. But you have to remember, he was nagging you to let him come here and make another try at Zeus as late as yesterday morning. If you want to blame something besides Zeus for McVey’s death, then hang it on McVey’s ambition.”