He nodded slowly. “Knowledge of your own value is important. We all have to realize what’s important to us.”

“What’s important to you?”

“My kids, my job.”

“How old are your children?”

“Henry, twelve, and Carolyn, seven. Great kids.” He made a face. “I wish I were as great a father. I haven’t seen them for over four months.”

“Why not?”

“I’m divorced and she has custody. It was the fair thing to do. I’m freelance and I specialize in environmental stories, so I travel all over the state. I couldn’t make a stable home for them. My ex-wife lets me see them when I can. She’s a nice woman.

She put up with my job for longer than she should have before she bailed.” He made a face. “In a way, I’m like you. I’m kind of obsessive about my work. I wish I could have put her and the kids first. You know, journalists get a bad rap. But often we’re the guards who keep the public safe from the bad guys.”

“My experience hasn’t been too positive, but I’ve known a few reporters I respect.” Eve had a sudden thought. “And what I’ve just said is strictly off the record.

I don’t like hearing myself quoted by the press.”

“You won’t. You have my promise.”

She believed him. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for letting me come down and keep you company.” He grimaced.

“It’s pretty obvious that all of you are pretty skeptical where the Cabal is concerned.”

“Jennings seems to put some stock in it.”

“But you don’t.”

“I think there’s a possibility.”

“It’s more than a possibility; it exists. Etienne was telling me the truth. I know it in my gut. These days, every time I hear about another Bosnia or Sarajevo, I wonder if the Cabal decided it was politically to their advantage to use a war to move their agenda forward.”

“Now that I have trouble believing. Starting wars is on a different scale from manipulating economic policies.”

“Wars are economic tools. Look beyond the rhetoric and idealism, and you find the money pot. War scares me. The Cabal scares me.” His lips tightened grimly.

“And not knowing what’s going to happen in Boca Raton scares me most of all. It must be something pretty nasty to shake Etienne enough to make him bring me into this.”

He believed what he was saying, and he was making her believe it, too. And belief brought her the same uneasiness Nathan must be feeling. Jesus, she didn’t need this disturbance. She instinctively pushed it away, her gaze fixed on the skull before her.

“Maybe Etienne was telling the truth. Maybe the Cabal is everything he says it is. But dealing with them is the FBI’s job. Mine is to reconstruct Victor. I know Hebert is out there killing people and that Melton is probably in it up to his neck. That’s as much as I need to know right now.”

“It must be comforting to be so focused.” Nathan stood and arched his back.

“God, I’m stiff. I must be getting old. Oh, well, it’s time I took a look around the grounds and stretched my legs, anyway.” He headed for the stairs. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes with coffee.” A moment later the door at the top of the stairs slammed behind him.

He was a strange and complicated man, she thought as she turned back to Victor.

At first, she had been torn between exasperation and amusement at his interchanges with Galen, but since he had parked himself in her workroom, she had begun to like and respect him. He was smart and perceptive, and his rueful honesty was appealing.

“Nathan asked me to come down and stay with you.” It was Joe at the top of the stairs. “No, he didn’t ask, he ordered me to come. He didn’t want you to be left alone.”

Eve tensed and then forced herself to relax. “He’s being overprotective. He seems to think I’m helpless. But I can take care of myself.”

“I know. I taught you.”

Yes, he had. He’d taught her self-defense in those first years after Bonnie had been killed. She had felt helpless and angry, and he had empowered her. She looked away from him at Victor. “Then you shouldn’t have paid any attention to Nathan.”

“Give me a break. I’m overprotective, too. You know that.” He paused. “If you don’t want me to come down there, I’ll just stay here.” She didn’t want him to stand there at the top of the steps. She didn’t want him anywhere near her. She was acutely conscious of him whenever he was in the same room. All the comfort of their relationship had vanished. Well, she’d have to get used to it. She had promised Galen to cooperate because it had made sense. She wasn’t a child who hid her head under the bedclothes.

“You might as well come on down.” She kept her gaze fixed on Victor. “You’ll be less distracting sitting by the fire than hovering up there like a gargoyle.”

“Heaven forbid,” he said as he came down the steps. “After that comparison, I guarantee I won’t hover.” He settled down in the chair. “I know the routine.” Yes, he had sat on the couch in the lake cottage for hundreds of hours, reading, doing paperwork, helping Jane with her homework while she worked on her reconstructions. He had rubbed her neck and shoulders when she was tired and stiff.

He had forced her outside for walks when she had become so obsessed she wouldn’t leave the cottage.

“Those times weren’t so bad, were they?” Joe asked softly.

Dammit, he knew the memories that last sentence had brought to mind.

She didn’t answer, and continued to work on Victor. How the devil could she close him out when he was only ten feet away and she was aware of every breath he took? He wouldn’t be here long. Nathan would soon be coming in that door with coffee, and Joe would leave.

Just keep working.

“Good to see you, Mr. Galen.” The red-haired young man was at the gate when Galen’s flight arrived from New Orleans. He shook Galen’s hand. “David Hughes.

Welcome to Atlanta. I’ve heard a lot about you. Bob Parks gave me a picture of you and asked me to meet you and extend all courtesies. Do you have any more luggage?”

Galen shook his head. “I’m traveling light. Have you put the kid under surveillance?”

“As soon as you called last night.” Hughes walked down the corridor with him.

“The police squad cars Quinn arranged for surveillance are on the job, and he has at least two plainclothes officers hovering over her. The cops and the FBI guys you called us about seem to be working together. My guys have had a few problems avoiding them.”

“They’re not there to check out the squad cars. Have you seen any sign of Jules Hebert?”

“Not yet. I made copies of the photo you sent us and distributed them. Maybe he’s not here.”

“And maybe he is. It’s where I’d be if I wanted to flush out someone. You always try to hit them where they hurt the most. What’s the kid’s routine?”

“Her grandmother takes her to school every day and picks her up. The kid takes the dog for a walk in the morning, and they all go for a run in the park after school.

The kid doesn’t leave the condo after she gets back.” He checked his wristwatch.

“They should be in the park in about fifteen minutes. Do you want to go there?”

“Yes.” He wanted to see the child and her grandmother and make sure he’d be able to recognize them. “Let’s go.”

“I’m surprised Quinn isn’t with you.”

“He has another priority.” Massive understatement. Eve was clearly an obsession with Quinn. “And he thinks the kid is safe. He trusts his police buddies.”

“But he knows you’re here?”

Galen nodded. “He thinks I’m wasting my time.” Maybe Quinn was right.

Everything seemed to be fine on the surface, but he was uneasy and he’d always trusted his instincts. “Let’s hurry, okay?”

Chapter 12

« ^ »

HE WAS LEAVING, THANK GOD.

Eve watched Joe walk up the staircase. She had always loved the way he moved.

There was a sort of sensual grace, an alertness so different from the stillness of Joe at rest. Yet even that stillness was never passive. She could always sense the intelligence, the emotions that were going on behind that almost expressionless face.