“I was using the computer in the library to see if I could check out background info on Drogan. I need to get to know everything I can about him.” He met her gaze. “Because I believe that Beth isn’t going to be his only target from now on. I made him very, very angry.”

She slowly sat back down on the bed. “Why? Talk to me, Joe. Everything.”

“I was about to do that. But I thought I’d take a shower and change first.”

“No way.”

“Whatever you say. But it will take a while. There have been developments.” He leaned back on the headboard. “And then we’re going to have to make a few decisions.”

*   *   *

“NASTY.” WHEN JOE HAD FINISHED speaking, Eve got to her feet and went over to the window to look down at the surf pounding against the beach. “Three innocent people, Joe?” She shook her head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after what he did to Beth and Newell, but I am. He’s even worse than I imagined.” She turned to look at him. “What decisions?”

“One, we have to leave here and find somewhere safe for Beth. We probably won’t be able to leave the area safely until evening. It’s a break that the Lamborghini was ditched outside the drive, but they’ll still do a cursory search since his rental car was found down the street. I’ll have time to make some calls to contacts I have in Los Angeles and set up a safe house.” He made a face. “But I guarantee it won’t be as luxurious as this one Newell arranged for her.”

“What else?”

“Dr. Hans Gelber.”

She nodded. “The psychiatrist Pierce brought in to do the hypnosis on Beth when she first arrived at the hospital. But that was years ago. He may not even still be alive.”

“He’s alive. After I checked out Drogan, I went on the Net and verified Gelber. He moved from Germany the same year he was involved with Beth’s therapy. Evidently he earned a nice fat fee from Pierce and was able to set up offices in Beverly Hills. We won’t be able to squeeze any information out of Pierce, but Gelber may cave if we put some pressure on him. He’s the only one besides Pierce who knows the story behind why Beth was supposedly so traumatized. If his job was to make her forget that episode, he must have known exactly what happened.”

“That fat fee was probably supposed to guarantee Gelber’s silence. And, if there was anything criminal behind it, he’s not going to incriminate himself.”

“Unless we can scare him. And I’m willing to do my damnedest.” His lips tightened. “I hate the idea of anyone’s circumventing a person’s will, and for anyone to deliberately twist Beth’s psyche pisses me off royally.”

And she had no doubt Joe would be able to do it. He could be extraordinarily intimidating when he chose. And seeing his expression at that moment, she knew that he would choose. She wasn’t going to try to dissuade him when she felt the same way. Pierce might have been the guiding hand behind his tool, Gelber, but the doctor had let himself be used and kept his silence for many years. Years when Beth was being held prisoner. “Do you have his address?”

“Oh, yes. I figured I’d pay him a visit once I got you and Beth settled again.”

She shook her head. “Not this time. I’m going with you. Newell can stay with Beth.”

He lifted his shoulders. “I thought that would be the way it would go.” He was silent. “Shall we tell Beth?”

“Of course; it’s her right to know what we’re doing. She was that bastard’s victim. Hell, she’ll probably want to go with us.”

“If she believes that he actually hypnotized her. It’s all a blur to her. I think she’s having trouble believing that there was any plot against her by the Averys. She’d rather think that Pierce was the sole guilty one who kept her at the hospital so he could milk the family for money.”

“It’s easier than having to believe Rick Avery had anything to do with it.” She wrinkled her nose. “She clearly adores the man. I don’t see how she could— Yes, I could. She didn’t have anyone else. Everyone needs someone to love, and he evidently has a certain charisma.” She added, “She can ignore the truth if she wishes, but we’ve still got to give her the opportunity to face her demons. Maybe she’ll remember something from the therapy sessions if she sees him again.”

“Perhaps.” Joe got up from the bed and moved toward the bathroom. “And maybe she’ll close her mind and refuse to see anything. I’m heading for the shower. I left Beth in the library. If you want to discuss this with her, I’m sure that she’ll still be awake. I suggested that she take a nap, but I dangled the possibility of finding out more about you by tapping the Internet. Considering that she has a boundless curiosity about the world in general and you in particular, which suggestion do you think she’d choose?”

“You’ve learned a good deal about her.”

“I like her. She’s very human. And I can see similarities with you. That automatically puts me on her side.”

“We’re nothing alike.”

“Wrong. You’re both mentally and physically tough but have a certain vulnerability. Physically, there’s little resemblance, but every now and then, I see her tilt her head in a certain way…” He smiled. “And I can see Bonnie in her.”

She stiffened. “Her hair … it’s curly like Bonnie’s.”

“No, that’s not it. I can’t put my finger on it but it’s there.” The door of the bathroom shut behind him.

Crazy. Beth was really nothing like Bonnie. Beth was stubborn and wonderfully vital and as changeable as quicksilver.

But would there have been a character resemblance if Bonnie had grown up in the same environment as Beth? Bonnie had been taken from Eve when she was only seven, and she had been so special. But she had always been surrounded by love. Beth had not had that advantage and had grown wary. Would the years have changed Bonnie if she’d had to live a life like Beth’s?

No, not Bonnie. Eve could not imagine Bonnie wary or afraid to give love.

And it was ridiculous standing there and mentally trying to compare them just because Joe had made that comment. She was already feeling the start of a fierce protectiveness toward Beth. Which was completely ridiculous. The woman had threatened to shoot her, been completely rude, then suggested that she would like to sleep with Joe.

Yet Beth had managed to touch her in a way that was completely mystifying.

They were approaching each other tentatively, half-afraid to commit, unsure of what they would find. Beth was surrounded by lies and terror and death, and Eve was beginning to feel as if she had entered into that suffocating cocoon with her.

Forget it. All this emotional fretting was getting her nowhere. Do what Joe suggested and go downstairs and discuss Hans Gelber with Beth and give her the chance to say yea or nay.

She threw on a robe and ran a comb through her hair. She’d shower later, when Joe was finished, but she wanted to get this talk over and done with. She ran down the stairs and down the hall to the library and threw open the door.

Joe was wrong.

Beth was not still awake.

But she was not curled up on the couch. She was sitting in front of the computer, her head cradled on her arm on the desk. Eve moved quietly across the room and looked at the computer screen.

A newspaper photo of a skull and Eve herself in her old blue work shirt, her hands caked with clay as she worked on a reconstruction. The skull had been that of little Marty Brodwin, Eve remembered. She didn’t like to give interviews, but the reporter had promised that if Eve cooperated, she’d see that photos of the completed reconstruction would be circulated throughout Ohio, where his body had been found in a shallow grave. It had been worth having her privacy invaded. Marty had been identified within a month after Eve had completed the reconstruction, and his murderer arrested six months later.

She looked down at the pad beside the computer. Web sites. Four of them crossed off, ones that Beth must have accessed before she dropped off to sleep.