He didnt manipulate me. I havent made any decision yet. She finished her orange juice. Ive got to get to work. Youll let me know?

That I will.

She hung up the phone and rinsed out her glass.

Coffee?

No, shed make a pot at the lab. On weekends Mom usually came down in the middle of the morning and had coffee with her. It was a nice break for both of them.

She took the lab key from the blue bowl on the counter, ran down the porch steps, and started for the lab.

Stop thinking about Logan. She had work to do. She had Mandys head to finish and she had to go over that packet the LAPD had sent her last week.

Logan would call her today or come to the house. She hadnt the slightest doubt. Well, he could talk all he pleased. He wouldnt get an answer from her. She had to find out more about

The lab door was ajar.

She froze on the path.

She knew she had locked it the previous night as she always did. The key had been in the blue bowl, where she always threw it.

Mom?

No, the door jamb was splintered as if the lock had been jimmied. It had to have been a thief.

She slowly pushed open the door.

Blood.

Sweet Jesus, blood everywherehellip;

Blood on the walls.

On the shelves.

On the desk.

Bookcases had been hurled to the floor and ap-peared to have been chopped to pieces. The couch was overturned, the glass on all the picture frames had been shattered.

And the bloodhellip;

Her heart leapt to her throat.

Mom? Had she come to the lab and surprised the thief?

She strode forward, panic making her heart race.

My God, its Tom-Tom.

Eve whirled to see her mother standing in the doorway. Relief turned her knees weak.

Her mother was staring at a corner of the room. Who would do that to a poor little cat?

Eves gaze followed hers and her stomach lurched. The Persian was covered with blood and barely recog-nizable. Tom-Tom belonged to their neighbor but spent a lot of time in their yard chasing the birds at-tracted by the honeysuckle.

Mrs. Dobbins is going to be heartbroken. Her mother stepped into the room. That old cat was the only thing she was close to in the world. Why would Her gaze had moved to the floor by the side of the desk. Oh, Eve, Im sorry. All your workhellip;

Her computer had been smashed, and beside it lay Mandys skull, shattered and destroyed with the same cruelty and efficiency that had been used on everything else in the room.

She fell to her knees beside the pieces of the skull. It would take a miracle to put it together again.

Mandyhellip; lost. Maybe forever.

Was anything taken? Sandra asked.

Not that I can tell. She closed her eyes. Mandyhellip; They just destroyed everything.

Vandals? But weve got such nice kids in the neighborhood. They wouldnt

No. She opened her eyes. Will you go call Joe, Mom? Ask him to come right away. She looked at the cat, and tears rose to her eyes. He was almost nineteen and deserved to have a kinder death. And get a little box and a sheet. While were waiting, well take Tom-Tom to Mrs. Dobbins and help her bury him. Well tell her he was run over by a car. Its kinder than telling her that some mindless savage did this.

Right. Sandra hurried outside.

Mindless savage.

The destruction was savage, but it was neither mindless nor random. Instead, it was thorough and systematic. Whoever had done this had wanted to shock and hurt her.

She gently stroked a piece of Mandys skull. Vio-lence had touched the girl even in death. It shouldnt have happened to her any more than brutality should have ended the life of that poor little cat. Both were wrong. So wrong.

She carefully gathered up the skull pieces, but there was no place to put them. The pedestal across the room was smashed like everything else. She laid the pieces on the blood-smeared desk.

But why was the skull on this side of the room? she wondered suddenly. The vandal had deliberately carried it over before smashing it. Why?

Then the thought flew out of her mind as she saw the blood dripping from the top drawer of the desk.

Oh, God, more?

She didnt want to open the drawer. She wouldnt open it.

She did.

She screamed and jumped back.

A river of blood inside and, in the middle of the sticky pool, a dead rat.

She slammed the drawer shut.

Ive got the box and sheet. Her mother had reappeared. Do you want me to do it?