“I’ll accept that my wishes aren’t of importance to you,” Eve said. “And I don’t give a damn. I just want to keep my promise and have this over.” She followed Beth as she opened a tall, mahogany door and entered a large room lined with bookshelves. “Sit down, Newell. She’s right, you’re not looking so good.” She moved toward a desk in the center of the room. “You don’t want to end up back in the hospital.”

“No, I don’t.” He dropped down in a leather easy chair. “And you might not help to spring me next time. After all, you’ve got what you want from me.”

“I’m not that callous.” Eve leaned forward and turned on the desk light. The library was suddenly flooded with soft light. “And I wouldn’t want to set you up for Pierce. I’ve taken a great dislike for him.”

“Not callous, tough.” Newell turned to Beth, who was still in the shadows outside the pool of light. “Will you put that gun down now? Eve’s not going to attack you.”

“I couldn’t be sure.” She came forward to put the revolver on the desk. “She could have been fooling you.”

“And I told you not to trust anyone.” He made a face. “It was a good idea, but I’m beginning to rue the day I said it.”

“You shouldn’t,” Beth said as she came toward him. “It’s as bad out here as you told me. Look what that monster did to you.” She gently touched the stitched wound on his cheek. “I’m sorry, Billy. Why didn’t you run away when I did?”

“It wasn’t the right time. I didn’t know enough. I was trying to learn more about the bad guys.” He shrugged. “But the bad guys found me instead. Or one bad guy, Drogan.”

“And just who is Drogan?” Beth asked.

“I couldn’t trace him. But we should know soon.” He nodded at Eve. “Her significant other, Joe Quinn, is a detective and he’s checking him out.”

“Joe Quinn?” She whirled toward Eve. “If he’s a detective, will they make him take me back to the hospital? Pierce knows all the police at— What are you staring at?”

“Nothing.” Eve was staring at Beth Avery. The soft lamplight surrounded her sister, and Eve couldn’t take her eyes off her. Her slender body was dressed in gray slacks and a cream blouse that she wore with simple elegance. Her dark hair resembled the curls and textures of Eve’s Bonnie, and her face …

Beautiful? Yes, a fascinating face with large dark eyes set wide in a triangular-shaped skull with beautiful bone structure. The wonderful vitality Eve had noticed in the photograph was no longer there, and she felt a sudden anger that Beth had been robbed of that lust for life. Instead, there was a … watchfulness.

And Eve noticed something else.

Beth was two years older than Eve, but she looked much younger. Her face was perfectly smooth and glowing, as if she were a child who had only just woken from a nap. No wrinkles or lines that were the usual signs of emotional or physical stress.

Sleeping Beauty.

The words popped into Eve’s mind out of nowhere. The fairy tale of the princess who had pricked her finger and fallen asleep while the world went on without her. A garden of thorns had grown up around her castle to make sure that no one got close enough to wake her, to save her.

“You’re not telling me the truth,” Beth said curtly. “I know when people lie to me. God knows, those doctors and nurses did that enough. I can tell the difference. I’m not stupid because they had me on all those drugs.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid. You want the truth? I was thinking you look very young, like Sleeping Beauty coming out from behind the wall of thorns.”

“That’s silly.” She frowned. “I don’t belong in any fairy tale. I’m just trying to understand and survive.”

Newell gave a low whistle. “I believe you’ve hit it, Eve.” He touched the cut on his throat. “Right down to the sharp thorns.”

“You can think what you wish,” Eve told Beth. “You asked me, and I told you. Look in the mirror sometime and think about it.” She took out her phone. “Now I’m going to call Joe and tell him that you’re safe and ask if he’s noticed anything suspicious while he was reconnoitering the grounds. If you want to be useful, you can find a first-aid kit in this place and rebandage any of Newell’s cuts that need it.”

She didn’t move. “Joe Quinn? That detective Billy mentioned? He’s here?”

“Yes, and you’re lucky that he is. His presence ups your safety quotient about 70 percent.” She saw that Beth wasn’t moving, and she was suddenly impatient. “You can trust him, dammit. You can trust me. We’re all here to help you.”

“Are you?” She looked Eve directly in the eye. “Then why are you angry with me? Is it because I hit you when you tried to take my gun? I’d do it again. You don’t care anything about me. I didn’t know you even existed. I don’t like you, and I don’t want you here.”

“I’m not angry.” But she was lying, Eve realized. There had been a smoldering resentment connected with Beth since the moment Sandra had told her about her. Resentment, pity, shock, curiosity had all been there, and now there was this deep frustration that she had to bury all those feelings and just find a way to rescue Sleeping Beauty. And, added to that barrage of emotions, an instant antagonism between them had flared at their first encounter.

To hell with it, she thought recklessly. She would be honest and direct and forget about pity. It was the only way that she could deal with Beth Avery. She had an idea that Beth could take whatever she had to take. “Maybe I am angry. I don’t need a sister, and I don’t want one with all the baggage you’re bringing into my life. But I promised our mother that I’d make sure you’re safe, and I’ll do it.”

“My mother? I don’t know anything about her. I never wanted to know. They told me she gave me up when I was a baby. She didn’t care about me then. Why should I believe she does now?” She drew a deep breath. “So you can call your Joe Quinn and get him to take you out of here. I don’t need you.” She turned to Newell. “I’ll be right back, Billy. There’s a first-aid kit in the kitchen.” She turned on her heel and strode out of the library.

“She does need you,” Newell said quietly. “The cards are stacked against her. It has to be the Averys who gave the kill order. That’s a hell of a lot of power for Beth to have to go up against. She can’t even go to the police. Just the fact that she’s been in a mental hospital all these years will make it difficult for anyone to believe her. She’d end up back in the hospital, and, in a year or two, they’d find a way to kill her.”

“I’m not going to leave her.” She shrugged. “Even if she tells me to do it. It’s not totally my fault, you know. It appears that she’s taken a dislike to me.”

He smiled. “I noticed. It’s a little strange. I actually think it’s healthy. I’ve never seen her react like that toward anyone. She’s always been sweet and docile. It could be that the drugs are totally out of her system now. Or it could be spending this period alone, she’s had time to think, and her personality is beginning to assert itself.”

“Or it could be a natural antipathy.” She reached up and gingerly touched her jaw. “For any reason you choose to call it, her personality is definitely present and accounted for.” She turned away and dialed Joe. “Everything is fine here. Drogan was in contact with Beth, but he hasn’t shown up here. Anything suspicious out there?”

“No. How is Beth Avery taking all this?”

“Not tamely. Scared, but she’s no timid rabbit.”

“Do I detect an edge?”

“Probably. But I’m trying to work through it. Are you ready to come in? I’ll unlock the front door.”

“Not yet. I’ll call you. I’m going to drive back the way we came and check to make sure we weren’t followed.”

“I didn’t see anyone tailing us on the freeway.”

“Neither did I. But Newell said Drogan was a professional who knew what he was doing. He might have been good enough so that we wouldn’t have been able to notice him. It won’t hurt to take a little time to be sure.” He hung up.