“In this case, impatience is definitely a virtue,” Eve said as she ran through the opening.

Seventeen Mile Drive

SAFE!

Or maybe not, Beth thought as she tossed and turned on the couch. She should be safe. The lights of the kitchen had gone out. Water was pouring down inside the kitchen of the hospital.

Water? Not rain?

And how had she gotten back to the hospital when she had thought she was free?

She was still free. She was running down the hill toward the rental car. Her heart was beating wildly, and she could hardly breathe. They had gotten out of that place, and she only hoped Sam had managed to get the records before he had set off the sprinklers.

Sam? Who was Sam? Beth didn’t know any Sam. Maybe he was one of the security guards from the hospital.

No!

Beth’s eyes flew open in panic, and she jerked upright on the couch. She wasn’t back at the hospital, she realized with relief. It had only been a nightmare.

She was in this spacious, beautiful study, lying on a brown leather couch and covered with a soft throw. There was a portrait of a woman and a dog over the fireplace. She had been afraid to use one of the bedrooms. They had seemed too large and intimidating.

She drew a deep, shaky breath, and slowly lay back down. She supposed she was lucky that she hadn’t had any nightmares about the hospital since she’d been on the run. She wasn’t used to bad dreams. The pills made her sleep too deeply for dreams. Or maybe she had dreamed, then not been able to remember. Perhaps that was another thing she had lost.

Go to sleep. She was safe here. Billy had said that she would be given a chance to heal and make her plans at this deserted house.

But evidently she was not safe from dreams.

She had been so afraid …

No, the fear had been there, but it had not been Beth’s, she realized drowsily. She had been dreaming of someone else, feeling someone else’s fear …

Who?

It didn’t matter. After all, it was only a dream.

But the name came to her just before she drifted back asleep, perhaps to prove just how much it didn’t matter. Because it was a name she didn’t know, a stranger she had never met.

Eve …

Seahaven Behavioral Health Center

EVE COULD HEAR THE GATES clang shut behind Kendra and Sam as they all hugged the shadows and ran down the hillside road to where Eve’s rental car was parked. They deliberately parked some distance away, and they were all breathing heavily as they climbed in the car.

As soon as she caught her breath, Eve turned toward the backseat and looked at the USB thumb drive still in Sam’s hand. “Please. For God’s sake, tell me you were able to get Beth’s patient files on that thing.”

“Sorry, Eve, no time. There was just too much. A couple gigs at least. It looks like they have interview notes, hours of audio and video of her sessions, maybe some photos…”

“Dammit.” Eve’s fist pounded the steering wheel in frustration. “All this for nothing?”

Sam smiled. “Hey, remember who you’re talking to here. I took care of you.”

“Took care of her how?” Kendra asked.

Sam pulled a pen from his pocket and scribbled something on a fast-food hamburger wrapper. “Your sister’s entire file is uploading as we speak. It’ll take an hour or two, but it’s all going to a secure Web site that I set up. You can access it and download the whole kit and caboodle anytime you want. And after it’s done, my program will delete itself. No one will ever know. Here’s the Web site’s address and password.” He tore a piece from the bag, handed it to Eve, then leaned back in his seat. “Hey, all this spiking adrenaline is making me hungry. Anyone in the mood for pancakes?”

CHAPTER

8

“PECAN PANCAKES,” SAM SIGHED BLISSFULLY as he took the first bite of the stack of pancakes at the IHOP at the edge of town. “Almost as good as sex on the right occasion.” Then he made a face. “What did I just say? Crazy. I must be working too hard.”

“You certainly worked hard enough tonight,” Eve said quietly. “And I’m very grateful, Sam.”

“I enjoyed it.” He lifted his cup of coffee in a mock salute to Eve and Kendra. “We make a good team. Call me anytime.”

“I hope that won’t be necessary. If we can find out enough from those records, we might be able to find out everything we need to know about Beth. As soon as I get back to the hotel, Joe and I will start plowing through them.”

“Plow is right,” Kendra said. “It may take a long time to pull everything together.”

“We’ll begin by trying to find out how she escaped from the hospital,” Eve said. “And if someone helped her. That could be a lead for us to locate her.”

Kendra nodded. “But you don’t have to waste a lot of time on that. You have Sam.”

“She does?” Sam put down his fork. “More work?”

“You’re the expert. It won’t take you any time. Your pancakes won’t even get cold. Boot up your computer and tap into the list of people who surrounded Beth Avery during the last few weeks.”

He shrugged and slipped his computer from its case. A few moments later, he turned the laptop around so that it faced Kendra and Eve. “There’s the list. About twenty people.”

“But only one of any importance,” Kendra said softly, her gaze focused on the list. “Bingo. I thought it would be there, but I had to be sure I was right about how Beth got away that night.”

Eve’s gaze flew to Kendra’s face. “You knew?”

“I told you, I didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. I needed confirmation. We were too busy today to get it earlier.”

Eve’s gaze shifted back to the computer list. “Who?”

Kendra pointed to the twelfth name on the list.

Jessie William Newell.

Eve frowned. “Who is—” Then the memory came back to her. “The orderly?”

Kendra nodded. “That nice young man who was conveniently on the same floor as we were while Piltot was showing us around.”

“That doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“No, but your sister had to have help from someone. You’ve seen the security measures there.”

“It would be hard even with help.”

“Yes, I saw only two outdoor areas that weren’t covered by security cameras, both out back. It would take someone who could have scouted the entire facility—as we did—to know that. Both of these areas have long drops to the hillside below, which is probably why cameras aren’t covering them.”

“You think Beth jumped from one of them?”

“She was lowered from the north side of the rear walkway. There are tiny pieces of white stucco on the hillside below that spot. Nowhere else. The pieces probably came off when she braced her feet against the wall as she was lowered.”

“Lowered? You believe someone lowered her down?”

“Not someone. Jessie William Newell. He had light abrasions on his knuckles and upper arms, all of the size and character consistent with the sharp stucco on that wall. They’re especially apparent on his left hand.”

Eve had a sudden memory of the orderly reaching out to shake Kendra’s hand. “You used your left hand. I thought it was awkward at the time.”

“It was awkward, but I had to get a better look. I’m sure he leaned over the walkway with a rope and helped lower her. If you’d bothered to look up there, you would have seen places where the stucco wall was obviously marked from a rope with a weight on it.”

“I did glance up there,” Eve said dryly. “But I obviously wasn’t seeing.”

“Concentration.” Kendra was smiling. “It has many applications. Some less pleasant than others.”

“Are you through with me?” Sam asked. “Are you satisfied that Kendra is right about this dude, Eve?”

Eve looked at the list of names again.

Jessie William Newell.

Billy had given her the security code for the house.