A chill went through her. And every brand was the same as she used every day at the cottage. For the first time, the claim that Doane had made about those years of long surveillance actually hit home.

She felt … violated.

She zipped the duffel shut and turned and leaned against the vanity. This privacy invasion was such a small thing in the scheme of what Doane had done to her.

No, it wasn’t. The very intimacy of the act loomed large indeed. It made her want to break something, anything. That’s right, do something stupid just to relieve her feelings. Put things in perspective and be a grown-up. It was the only way to—

She had caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

Her face was pale and dirty, her hair tangled. Her clothes were rumpled and mud-stained. She looked like a victim, dammit.

She was not a victim.

All right, pull yourself together and show that bastard he had not done anything to you that couldn’t be overcome, she thought. Use what he gave you and make it your own.

She locked the door and turned on the shower.

*   *   *

“I’M AFRAID THESE DINNERS ARE cold. You took longer than I thought,” Doane said, when Eve came out of the room forty minutes later. “I wasn’t expecting you to take a shower.”

“No, you probably thought I’d hurry back out and let you make me jump through hoops.” She strode toward the chrome table in front of the kitchenette. “I won’t jump through hoops for you, Doane.” She sat down at the table and gazed at the pot pie on the plate. “You’re right, unappetizing.” She began to eat. “It doesn’t matter. I’m hungry.”

“And you don’t want to become weak,” Doane said quietly as he sat down across from her. “Now I did expect that from you. You’re a strong woman, mentally and physically. You’d have a horror of losing that strength. I just didn’t expect you to bounce back so quickly.”

“Why am I this hungry? How long was I unconscious?”

“It’s been almost twenty-four hours.” He took a bite of his pot pie. “We had a long way to go.”

“And where am I?”

He shook his head.

She hadn’t expected an answer. “I’ll get away from you, Doane. Don’t think you’re going to get away with this.”

“I will, you know.” He smiled. “Things don’t go wrong when you plan as precisely as I do.”

“Evidently, you didn’t plan on Blick’s shooting Jane. That went very wrong, Doane.” She added fiercely, “And you’ll suffer for it, you son of a bitch.”

“I’ll just have to make adjustments.” His smile faded. “And I do regret causing you this upset.”

“Upset? Massive understatement. What adjustment can you make that would make me less upset?”

“I’ve been thinking about that while I waited for you.” He frowned. “You won’t be able to be reasonable until you know that Jane MacGuire and Ben Hudson are not permanently injured. I obviously need you to be put at ease on that score.”

She tensed. “So what are you going to do?”

“It’s difficult. You wouldn’t really believe any hospital or law-enforcement unit, would you? You’d think I managed to rig it.”

“Since you’re so clever about your planning,” she said sarcastically.

“I really am clever,” he said soberly. “I have a talent. But in this case, I believe I’m going to have to risk having you talk to Joe Quinn.”

She inhaled sharply. “Is this a trick? You said it was too dangerous.”

“We can work around it. You wouldn’t trust anyone but Quinn, and I have to have your mind at ease.” His gaze went to the skull across the room. “But we have to come to an arrangement.”

“You want me to do a reconstruction,” she said flatly. “Why? You seem very sure that skull is that of your son, Kevin.”

“I’m almost sure. They lied to me, but I know that he’s my Kevin. I feel it.”

“Then check the DNA.”

“That’s difficult.”

“Why?”

“I’m not ready to share that with you yet.”

“And I’m not ready to do a reconstruction on your son, Doane.”

“But you’ll do it,” he said. “Because you want to talk to Joe Quinn, and I won’t let you do that unless I have your word.”

She was silent. “That’s a high price.”

“No, there’s something else.” His expression was troubled. “I’m having trouble with Blick. He wants to go back and finish the job he started. He said that Kevin would want him to do it. I need to tell him that you’ll cooperate.”

“The job he started,” she repeated. A ripple of pure fear went through her. Don’t let him see it. “You mean Jane.”

“It’s not my wish,” he said gently. “Blick lacks control, and he’s waited a long time. He needs hope, Eve.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.” She was silent. “You’re saying that you’ll let him kill Jane unless I do the reconstruction.”

“I’m saying that your lack of cooperation might prevent me from stopping him,” he corrected. “I can’t control him from this distance if he gets upset. It’s up to you, Eve.”

His voice was soft, his expression kind … and regretful. It seemed impossible that those words held deadly intent.

She mustn’t pay any attention to his expression. It was those words that counted, together with the actions of the past days. “And what will happen after I do the reconstruction?”

“Why, then I’m out of your life,” he said. “That’s all I want from you. But I must have that one service from you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I can’t help that, but it will be easier if you do.”

She stared at him, trying to think, weigh her options. She didn’t have any options but the one he was offering her. Not now. It would buy her time, and that was a gift in itself. The only gift. “I have to talk to Joe. I have to know that what you’ve said about Jane’s being alive is true.”

“And then you’ll cooperate?”

“As long as I have to do it. I don’t promise not to try to escape if the opportunity presents itself.”

“That goes without saying. Of course, you’ll have to accept that it may be a danger to Jane MacGuire if you try and fail before you finish the reconstruction.”

Eve felt a streak of pure rage sear through her. “I accept the fact that you’re a cowardly son of a bitch for threatening an innocent woman. This Blick may not have obeyed your orders when he shot Jane, but if he hurts her now, it will lie squarely at your door, and I will never stop until I punish you for it.”

He nodded. “I understand. You’re naturally protective of your daughter.” He put down his fork and pushed his plate away. “I knew you’d be like this when I found you and started watching you. It’s natural with your background that you’d treasure and protect the family you’ve created to take the place of the one you never had. It must not have been easy to be illegitimate, with a mother who didn’t even know who your father was and on drugs all the time you were growing up.”

“I made it through. Some people had it much rougher.”

“Did they?” he asked softly. “I know all about Bonnie, the daughter you lost, and your search for her. That was very, very rough. We’re a lot alike, Eve.”

“The hell we are.”

“Oh, but it’s true. There’s no stronger bond in the world than that between a father and child. We both love our children more than life itself.” He added sadly, “And it’s the tragedy of that life that we can’t bring them back to be with us. I loved my Kevin the way you loved Bonnie. I feel your pain, Eve. I hope before this is over you can forgive me enough to feel mine.”

His voice was sincere, and so was his expression. She could almost believe him. “You deserve any pain you feel, Doane. I never tried to victimize innocent people to find my daughter’s remains. And you’ve evidently found your son. Let him go.”

“I can’t.” He cleared his throat. “It hurts me to see him like this. I want to bring him back the way he was. He had such a handsome face. Everyone who looked at him wanted to touch him, be with him.” His lips twisted. “And then they did that to him. I can’t bear it.”