His hands tightened, jerked, and he broke Drogan’s neck.

He jumped to his feet and didn’t look back as he moved toward the trees.

Newell was running toward him. “Quinn, did you find Eve?”

“No. She wasn’t in the shack, was she?”

“No.”

That would have been too much for which to hope. Drogan had been far too sure, too malicious.

“But Beth was in the shack, still alive,” Newell said. “She was crawling out the door when we got there. She’s hurt, but Kendra’s with her. Did Drogan tell you where—”

“No. She may be somewhere in this stand of trees. You go to the left. I’ll go to the right.”

Drogan had said he hadn’t heard anything from Eve for ten minutes. That meant she must be close.

Find her.

And pray Drogan had been lying or wrong.

*   *   *

“EVE!”

Footsteps.

Frantic cursing.

Joe’s voice.

Eve’s heart leaped into her throat, but she couldn’t even scream to him because it would have caused vocal-cord vibration.

“Eve.” The lid was torn off the coffin and thrown aside.

Joe. The bright beam of a flashlight. “Oh, my God.” He drew a long, ragged breath. “Stay perfectly still. I can’t shoot it. I have to grab the snake quick and throw it out of the coffin and away from you.”

He bent closer and moved with painstaking slowness. “He’s lifting his head out of your hair. I think he senses me.”

And would strike at him … or her, as soon as he was sure there was a threat, Eve thought.

Be careful, Joe.

Of course he would be careful. Joe would be careful, and sure and fast.

But things could go wrong, Bonnie had said.

Joe pounced, grabbing the snake behind the head. The next moment he had flung it far away from the coffin and across the yard. He grabbed Eve out of the coffin and up into his arms. “Shoot it, Newell.”

“No, let it go. Bonnie wouldn’t—” She was clinging desperately to him. He felt so good. Safety. Strength. Joe. “She said the snake was only scared, like me.”

“Bonnie,” he repeated. He was cupping the back of her head and rocking her back and forth in an agony of relief. “Hallucinations, Eve?”

“Maybe. I was scared enough. I desperately wanted her there. No, I don’t think so.” She looked beyond his shoulder to see the flames devouring the shack. “Beth! We have to get her out.”

“She’s out. She was crawling out the door when we got here. Kendra dragged her away from the house and is checking her over. Newell said she was hurt.”

“Drogan hit her with the butt of his gun.” She looked at Drogan’s body a few yards away. “He would probably have let Beth burn to death. It must have been the oil lamp. I didn’t think the fire was that bad.”

“Bad enough.” He held her closer. “Or good enough. The fire led us to the shack. It might have taken us a good deal longer if we hadn’t seen it blazing in the distance.”

“Drogan killed Rick Avery. I guess you know that.”

“Yes.” His hand was probing her side. “Are you bleeding?”

“I don’t think that—” She had a sudden memory of the instant when Drogan had thrown the snake down into the coffin. The faintest sting … “It may be a snakebite from the first couple minutes. It’s probably nothing. I didn’t even notice that it had gotten me.”

“It got you all right.” He was examining the two tears in her shirt. “Looks like a superficial bite, but we’ll take you to the hospital to have it treated.” He lifted her to her feet and shouted to Newell. “We’re heading for the nearest hospital. Tell Kendra to bring Beth.”

“I’ll tell her. I need to see her.” Eve was running toward the shack. “Drogan hit her twice, and it was—” She stopped beside Beth and Kendra, who were a few yards from the burning house. “How is she, Kendra?”

“Not great.” Kendra was bathing the deep cut on Beth’s temple. “But she comes in and out of consciousness. She asked about you a minute ago.” Kendra’s gaze raked Eve’s face. “And how are you?”

“Okay.” She fell to her knees beside Beth. “I have to go to the hospital to have a bite checked out. Beth’s in much worse shape than I am. When she threw that glass into Drogan’s eye, I thought he’d kill her. We have to get a doctor to look at—”

“No … hospital.” Beth had opened her eyes and was staring up at Eve. “Not again.”

Eve’s hand closed tightly on Beth’s. “This time it will be different. I’ll be there with you, and I won’t leave until you go with me.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, believe me, Beth. I’ll never let anything happen to you again.”

Her eyes closed. “I do believe you. Is the little girl … safe?”

Eve stiffened. “Little girl?”

“The little girl in the shack. When she came, the fire kept growing and leaping and she was right in the middle of it. It was swirling around her … She kept telling me to crawl, to get out the door. Is she safe?”

Eve looked back at the blazing shack.

I may be able to do something inside the shack.

Evidently, Bonnie had found a good deal she could do in the shack.

“You’re not answering me.” Beth’s eyes were open again. “She’s just a little girl. If she’s not safe, we have to help her.”

Eve smiled as she brushed the hair back from Beth’s forehead. “It’s okay, don’t worry,” she said softly. “She’s not in danger any longer. The little girl couldn’t be more safe now.”

*   *   *

“GET OUT OF HERE, EVE. The doctor said Beth’s going to be fine,” Kendra said as she came into Beth’s hospital room. “You’ve been hanging out here for the last thirty-six hours. You should go to a hotel and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll stay with her if you like.”

Eve shook her head. “I promised I wouldn’t leave until she did.”

“I should have expected that.” Kendra smiled. “I did, really. And, of course, Joe won’t leave you.”

“He’s busy anyway. He’s trying to get a permanent release for Beth from the mental hospital. It’s not easy. The board is all in a turmoil because of Pierce’s death, and they hate the idea of saying they were criminally negligent.”

“In this age of lawsuits, you can’t blame them.”

“I do blame them,” she said fiercely. “I blame everyone for not paying attention to what was happening to her. They just drifted along, and time passed. There should have been tests and reviews of Pierce and his staff.”

“Hindsight.” Kendra put up her hand to stop her protest. “I agree. I’d feel the same if I were you.”

“Eve…”

Eve’s gaze flew down to Beth’s face. Her sister’s eyes were open, and she was looking up at Eve. “Back with us? How do you feel?”

“As if I’ve been hit by a gun butt,” she said hoarsely. “And most of the time, I haven’t been sleeping. I’ve just been lying here thinking. I’m sorry, Eve. I’m to blame for everything. And I wasn’t much help to you.”

“What are you talking about? You almost took Drogan’s eye out. If I’d been faster, we’d have stopped him in his tracks.”

“I should have done something before that. It was just that I felt as if I was in some kind of terrible fog.” She drew a deep breath. “But that’s an excuse, and I don’t have the right to try to excuse myself when I should have been there for you.” Her gaze fell on Kendra. “You were at the shack. You helped me.”

Kendra nodded. “I’m Kendra Michaels. I’m glad you’re better.” She smiled and turned toward the door. “And now I’ll go try to find Joe and see if I can help him. My mother is wonderful at cutting bureaucratic red tape. She gets a vicious pleasure doing it. We’ll have you out of here in no time.”

Beth looked at Eve when the door closed behind Kendra. “Red tape?” She moistened her lips. “Trouble, Eve?”

“Nothing we can’t handle.”

“I won’t go back there.”

“I’d never let you go back.” She smiled as she clasped Beth’s hand. “So stop worrying and start thinking about what you want to do with the rest of your life.”

“Live.” Her face was suddenly lit with an emotion that was amazing in its intensity. “I want to do everything, see everything. There’s not one experience I don’t want to explore. I told you that the first night I met you.”