“Who are ‘they,’ Doane?”

He shook his head. “You’re not ready to hear about Kevin. You’d only say you didn’t believe me. We have to become closer.”

“Closer.” She stared at him in amazement. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Yes, it will. I knew when I found it was you that it was meant to be. You’re going to give me back my Kevin the way he was, and I’m going to give you what you want most in the world.”

“I want Jane, Joe, and my friends safe.”

“Yes, you wish that, too.”

“Too?”

He smiled. “You’re much more complicated than that, Eve. I told you that you’re like me.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Of course. I’m disturbing you, and that’s the last thing I want to do.” He pushed his chair back. “It’s time to take your mind off it for a bit. Are you finished eating?”

“Yes.” She leaned back in her chair. “But I’m not doing anything about your reconstruction until I talk to Joe.”

Doane’s brows rose. “But that’s what I’m trying to help you do.” He reached in his pocket and brought out a pair of handcuffs. “But I have to ask you to wear these for a while.”

She instinctively recoiled. “The hell I will.”

“Shh. I don’t have any dire intentions. You can see I have to protect myself if I let you call Quinn. I’m going to allow you less than a minute of conversation. And you can’t call him from here. We’re going to take a little drive on the slim chance that he can trace the call even for such a limited time. I can’t let him trace it back to this place. I’m afraid I can’t trust you once we leave here, so you have to be secured. I’ll fasten the cuffs to the seat belt of the truck and as soon as I get you back here, I’ll take the cuffs off. Isn’t that reasonable?”

She was silent a moment. “Yes.”

“Then your wrists please.”

She reluctantly extended her hands.

“Excellent.” He quickly slipped the cuffs on and snapped them shut. “Now we’ll get this over so that we can clear the decks, and you can get to work. Shall we go, Eve?”

She got to her feet. “Where is my phone?”

“I’ve put it safely away with that gun I found in your jacket pocket. I have one that I made sure couldn’t be traced in the glove compartment of the truck.” He was leading her toward the door. “It’s a shame we can’t use your cell phone. I want this call over quickly, and he’d recognize your ID and pick up immediately. We can only hope he does that with my phone.” He opened the door. “You don’t mention where you are or give him any hint that he might guess. You ask your questions, tell him you’re safe, then good-bye. One minute, Eve.”

“I don’t know where I am, dammit. How could I tell him anything?” But she had to find a way to give Joe something to go on, she thought desperately as she followed Doane from the factory. Where was she? Was there anything distinctive?

Oh, yes. The mountains in the distance. Not soft, old mountains. New, sharp, craggy, reaching for the sky. Probably the Rockies. That meant she was somewhere in the West as she’d already suspected. The coin factory looked more like a large log cabin and appeared to be nestled in a hollow of some sort, no other houses were nearby. The ancient red truck was parked to the side of the factory beside a utility shed of some sort.

“Wait.” Doane stopped her as she was getting into the truck. “One other safeguard.” He pulled a scarf from his pocket and blindfolded her. “We’ll be passing a few landmarks and signs.”

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll look a little strange to anyone who even casually glances at us?”

“Not much danger. I’ll take the back roads. I know all of them.”

Then this was Doane’s home stomping grounds. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it. She had to gather as much information as she could. She might not be able to use it in this conversation with Joe, but there might be another time, another opportunity.

“I know the blindfold probably makes you feel helpless.” He was lifting her into the truck and fastening the cuffs to the seat belt. “I’d hate it. We’ll take it off as soon as I get where we’re going.”

She did feel helpless, but she wasn’t going to admit it to Doane. He was once again pointing out how similar they were, and she wouldn’t admit that either.

Kevin? Bonnie?

Not the same. Never the same.

Or were they?

CHAPTER

9

“IT MAY BE THE RIGHT TRUCK,” Venable said to Joe as he came out of the farmhouse. “It was an old red Ford, parked down by the barn, and Mrs. Hallet, the farmer’s wife, thought she saw a late-model blue Chevy parked in the woods. It looks like he changed vehicles, but he didn’t leave the Chevy. He must have come back for it for some reason. I got the license-plate number of Hallet’s truck from her.” He handed Joe a slip of paper. “Call your headquarters and put an APB out on it.”

“If he hasn’t already changed cars again.” Joe reached for his phone. “And why ditch a late-model car for a truck that’s much older? All he’d have to do would be to change the license plates.”

“Which he probably did.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Unless he wanted to fit into the background of the countryside at the lake house. He appears to be very careful of details. And what about Hallet, the farmer who is missing? Did his wife hear anything about him yet?”

Venable shook his head. “The neighbors and a couple deputies are searching the woods now.”

“No one saw the thief?”

“I would have told you if they had.”

“Would you?” Joe asked bitterly as he started to dial the precinct. “I’m not sure that—” His phone signaled an incoming call. He glanced impatiently down at the ID.

Unknown.

He punched the access. “Quinn.”

“Joe.”

“Eve.” He froze. “My God.”

“Yes, listen, Joe, he’s only giving me a minute.” Eve was talking softly, urgently. “And I’m having to pay for that.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t talk about that now. Jane. He says Jane is still alive? Is it true?”

“Yes, she’s at a hospital in San Juan. The wound wasn’t serious. How are you? Did he hurt you?”

“No. Drugs. He appears to be good at drugs. Ben? He said he dropped Ben at an urgent-care clinic. How is he?”

“Concussion. He’s as good as can be expected considering that he also suffered from exposure because the clinic didn’t find him for several hours.”

“But he’ll live?”

“He’ll live. What can you tell me about that bastard? Is he going to—Tell him if he hurts you, I’ll kill him … slowly.”

“He can hear you. I’m not in immediate danger, Joe. He wants something from me.”

“What?”

“The usual. What most people want from me. He’s trying to convince me that he has a heart of gold. I’m not buying it. But he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I can’t talk about that right now. If you want to keep me safe, make sure that there’s no way anyone can touch Jane. Because my cozy little deal with the bastard is off if they do. I’d kill him myself.”

“No, you won’t. My privilege. I’ll hunt him down and castrate him before I cut him into small pieces. Do you hear me, you son of a bitch?”

“He hears you. And he’s not pleased,” Eve said quickly. “I have to go now.”

“Listen, Eve. Don’t let him use us to make you do anything. I’ll take care of Jane and myself. You do what you have to do to get away from him.”

“And he didn’t like that either. My time is up. I love you.”

“And I love—” But she had already hung up. He pressed the disconnect and turned to Venable. “Call up one of your whiz-kid satellite units and see if you can trace that call.”

“I’m already on it,” Venable said. “I started when you picked up the call. I’ve just gotten through to the department. I don’t know if we can do it. She didn’t give us much time.”

“She didn’t have any choice,” Joe said. “Try, dammit.” He turned and started back toward the car.