On the other hand, she just might want to shut them out. Tomorrow shed be with Joe again. Logan had used her and she had no confidence he wouldnt do it again, but she could trust Joe. Theyd been a team for a long time, and together they could work their way through anything, including Timwick and Lisa Chadbourne.

Lisa Chadbourne. Did the fact that her name had come so easily to Eve mean shed accepted Lisa Chad-bourne as the prime conspirator? The signals she had used with Detwil indicated complicity but didnt nec-essarily mark her as the kingpin.

But the woman shed studied in the videotapes was not the type to accept second place. She exuded confidence and charisma.

And Gils description of Timwick had not been of a man who would be able to pull off a deception of this magnitude. It would take nerves of steel and the ability to think on your feet. According to Gil, Timwick was a man who might crumble under pres-sure.

If Lisa Chadbourne was the prime player, then Eve had better study her very carefully.

She went to her handbag and pulled out the tapes she had stuffed in it before leaving Barrett House. She popped one in the VCR and settled on the sofa in front of the television.

Lisa Chadbournes smiling face appeared on the screen. Beautiful, intelligent, and, yes, fascinating. Eve felt tension ripple through her, and she leaned forward, her gaze never leaving Lisa Chadbourne.

What are you doing? Logan asked when he walked in on her two hours later. Lisa Chadbourne?

Eve flipped off the VCR. Nothing. I was just studying her.

Her signals to Detwil?

Some. Mainly body language. Expressions. They tell a hell of a lot.

Do they? Logans gaze narrowed on her face. I wouldnt think theyd tell you anything. Im sure shes very good at disguising her emotions.

She shrugged. Im an artist and Ive made it my business to learn a lot about facial expressions. When I first became a forensic sculptor, I even took a course in expressions and body language and how they re-late to psychology. Expressions can make all the dif-ference in identification. A face without expression is like an empty slate.

And what did you learn about Lisa Chadbourne?

Shes a little arrogant, bold, but wary too. Per-haps a little vain. She frowned. No, not vain. Shes too confident to be vain. She just knows who she is and she likes herself.

Smug?

Eve shook her head. No. She hesitated. Sheshellip; intensely focusedhellip; and maybe a little lonely.

Quite a crystal ball you have, Gil said.

Some of its guesswork. Maybe a lot of it. People can usually control most of the muscles of the face. Except the ones around the eyes. Theyre very diffi-cult to manage. But even a lack of expression can sometimes tell a story. She returned to Lisa Chadbourne. Id bet she has a very small circle of friends and shed keep everyone but those few at a distance.

Logan raised his brows. That wasnt my impres-sion when I met her. I assure you no one could be warmer or more gregarious, and she handles people better than anyone I know.

And shes good enough to fool you. She turned on the charm and focused the full force on you. Men still rule the world, and shes made it her business to get along with them. Its probably second nature to her now.

But shes not good enough to fool you?

Maybe, if you hadnt provided me with the tapes that spotlight her every move and expression. Shes quite wonderful and almost never steps out of character. When it happens its for only a split second and then shes back in character again. She shrugged. Thank God for freeze-frame. It can be very illuminating.

So youve decided shes just a lonely, misunderstood woman who became innocently involved? he asked mockingly.

No, I think she could kill a man. She projects de-termination and intensity as strong as an atomic blast. I think she could do anything she needed to do and theres no way shed be a pawn. It would be her way all the way. She switched the television set back on. Im afraid I was too busy to watch the news for you. You can catch up on it yourself.

Youre assuming a lot from just looking at those videotapes.

Believe me or not. I couldnt care less.

Oh, I believe that body language and facial ex-pressions can be a dead giveaway. Studying them is one of the key courses in the negotiating seminars I send all my corporate executives to. Its just that we have to be very careful about assuming anything about Lisa Chadbourne.

We have to be careful about everything con-nected with her. She headed for the front door. Im going down to the pier.

May I go with you? Logan asked.

No, I dont remember being invited when you and Gil wanted to talk.

Ouch, Gil said.

She ran down the porch steps. The beach was de-serted except for a few children playing volleyball several hundred yards from the pier. She supposed she should be worried about being recognized. CNN had probably shown a photograph of the crazy pyromaniac who had killed Logan.

Crazy. She flinched from the word. Damn Lisa Chadbourne. Shed had to use the part of Eves life that could still bring pain. She could almost see her going over the possibilities and then striking like a black widow spider at the heart of

Why was she so sure it was Lisa Chadbourne who was responsible for the attack on her? She could be wrong. It could be Timwick.

She wasnt wrong. Lisa Chadbourne would never underestimate another woman. She had too much re-spect for herself.

She sat down on the pier and looked down into the water.

Youre assuming a lot just from looking at those videotapes.

She was assuming a lot. She could be imagining the subtle nuances she thought shed caught while watching Lisa Chadbourne.

The hell she could. She had trained herself to recognize and portray expression.

And her observations were more than clinical. She had felt the same gut instinct she experienced in the last stages of sculpting.

She knew Lisa Chadbourne.

Fraser.

She shivered as she looked down into the water. Lisa Chadbourne and Fraser were nothing alike. So why was she thinking of them as one?

Because the fear was back a second time. It had returned the day her lab had been destroyed so vio-lently and she had thought of Fraser. Lisa Chad-bourne had been the guiding hand then, just as she was now.

Fraser had been tainted with a madness that Eve had not seen in Lisa Chadbourne, but they both pos-sessed the assurance that came with power.

The pleasure derived from power was a strong motivator. Frasers power had come from killing. Lisa Chadbournes motivation was obviously more com-plicatedhellip; and possibly even more deadly. The thirst for power on a global scale could be far more dam-aging than on a smaller personal scale.

To hell with global scale. Nothing could be more damaging than what had happened to Bonnie. The world was made up of personal stories, personal tragedies, and the brutal acts that Fraser had com-mitted were every bit as evil as the killing done by Lisa Chadbourne.

Murder was murder. They had taken a life and life was sacred. She wasnt sure that Detwil was the danger Logan saw him to be. She didnt know about politics or plots or diplomatic implications, but she knew about murder. She had lived and eaten and slept with it.

And, God, how she hated it.

Keep watching the mother, James. Lisas brow knit as she gazed at the Duncan dossier in the computer. Duncan obviously has a soft spot for her. I think we can find a way to use her.

I am watching her, Timwick said. Ive never stopped. We believe Duncan placed a call to her mother this morning. She was on a digital phone, but we had stationed a man with an amplifier outside the house. We got only snippets of the conversation, but Id bet shes trying to remove her mother from the equation.