“I didn’t bring cream,” Nathan said from across the room. “You take your coffee black, don’t you?”

“What?” She quickly picked up the cup Nathan had put on the worktable beside her. “Yes, I take it black.”

She heard the door at the head of the stairs close behind Joe.

“I thought I remembered right.”

“It will be fine.” Everything was fine. Joe was gone now. She could work.

She pulled her gaze back to Victor. Concentrate, dammit.

“Go to bed,” Eve ordered Nathan. “It’s almost midnight, and you’ve been sitting there all day.”

“When you go to bed, I’ll go to bed. I haven’t disturbed you, have I?”

“No, you’ve been very quiet.” Eve took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “But it’s nonsense for you to hover over me. I’m beginning to feel guilty every time I look over there at you.”

Nathan smiled faintly. “You’ve been so absorbed, you haven’t even known I was here for the last six hours. How’s it going?”

“Okay.” Eve’s glance shifted back to Victor. “He’s coming along.”

“You’re excited. Will you finish tonight?”

“I’d like to, but I’m too tired. I should stop.” Her fingers longingly touched the cheek of the reconstruction. “But I’m so close, dammit.”

“May I look at it now?”

“No, you couldn’t recognize anything yet. It’s the final stage that tells the tale.” She wiped her hands on a towel. “But by the end of tomorrow, he’ll be done.”

“Good.” Nathan’s gaze was fixed on the back of the skull. “Why are those last hours so important?”

“It’s the time when instinct takes over. Sometimes I feel as if the subject is guiding me, telling me.” She made a face. “Weird, huh?”

Nathan shrugged. “I’ve heard crazier things. The whole process is a mystery to me. I don’t understand how you do it.”

Eve smiled. “First, you have to want to do it with your whole being. After that, it’s a piece of cake.”

“Yes, sure. That’s why you work your ass off. Because it’s so easy.”

“No career is easy if you want to be the best. You’re pretty driven yourself, or you wouldn’t be going after that Pulitzer.”

“It’s the peak of a journalist’s career. I’ve never wanted to be anything else but a reporter. Maybe someday I’ll write a book or two. I’m a simple soul.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’re the one who chose a career that’s considered macabre at best.”

“Everyone believed I should have had enough of death after Bonnie died. But you go where you’re led.” She cast a final glance at Victor before turning away. “And I’m being led to bed so that I can get up early tomorrow.”

“What time?” Nathan got to his feet. “I want to be here for the great unveiling.”

“Whenever I wake up. But he’ll still take several more hours’ work.”

“I’ll be down at six.” Nathan moved toward the staircase. He paused at the top of the stairs to gaze back at Victor. “Are you sure I wouldn’t recognize him now?”

“I’m sure.” Eve followed him up the stairs. “Now forget about him and get some sleep.”

“Have you heard from Galen?”

Eve shook her head. “But it’s only been two days. He’ll let us know if he finds out anything.” She flipped the wall switch that controlled the lights in the scullery. “And we’ll call him tomorrow if I finish Victor.”

She took one last look at the dim shape of the skull on the worktable below.

We’re nearly there, Victor. You’re almost home.

BOCA RATON, FLORIDA

October 23

“It’s a waste of time, sir,” Jennings told Rusk. “I’ve checked in with the agents in our Miami office, and there’s not even a hint of anything happening down here except drugs, confidence schemes, and money laundering. I might as well come back.”

“If you’re sure.” Rusk’s voice was disappointed. “I was hoping you’d get lucky.” He hung up the phone.

It would have taken more than luck, Jennings thought. He leaned back in his chair and gazed out the hotel window at the gray-blue Atlantic. Everything on the surface in this city was all small-time. Maybe below the surface, too. There was nothing like the ugliness of that anthrax scare.

As he had told Rusk, it had been a waste of time. He hadn’t accomplished anything here; he should go back and try another path.

Yet why did he have this nagging sense that he had missed something?

What the hell? One more try.

He flipped open his portfolio to the notes on Bently and the Cabal that Joe Quinn had given him that first night he had called him. Beside it, he placed the notes he’d made since he’d arrived in Boca Raton.

It was fifteen minutes later that he suddenly stiffened in his chair.

Holy shit.

The little girl looked a little like Eve Duncan, Galen thought as he watched her running through the park after the pup. Strange. He knew the two were not related, but that red-brown hair was almost the same shade. She didn’t have Eve’s wariness, though. This was Galen’s second afternoon of watching her, and she was blissfully unaware of anything but that dog.

“She reminds me a little of my daughter. My Cindy’s that age.” Hughes sat down beside Galen on the bench. “Cute kid.”

“Yes.” Galen watched Jane pick up a stick and toss it for Toby. “No sign at all of Hebert?”

“No. Maybe you’re barking up the wrong tree.” He suddenly chuckled. “Like that dog of hers. He doesn’t seem to know that you have to concentrate on one tree and not the whole park when you’re on the hunt.”

“Maybe I am wrong.” But Galen didn’t think so. “No one hanging around the condo?”

“Nope. We checked out all the vehicles and questioned a few people who seemed to be loitering. Everyone on the street belongs there.” He grinned. “Here she comes, running after the pup again. Better open your newspaper.” Jane was careening toward them after Toby. Galen lifted his copy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution in front of his face.

“Who are you?”

He lowered the paper to see that Jane had stopped, and was standing in front of them.

“I beg your pardon.”

“What’s happening?” The child was staring him belligerently in the eye. “Why are you watching me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t lie to me. You’ve been here for two days. Are you a plainclothes detective like Joe? If you are, I want to see your ID.”

“No, I’m not a detective like Quinn. And you shouldn’t confront strangers in the park.”

“The squad car will be driving by any minute, and a plainclothes detective is trailing behind Grandma. I’m not supposed to know about them, either.” Her lips tightened. “I’m not supposed to know about anything. What’s your name and why are you here?”

And he’d thought this kid was lacking Eve’s wariness, Galen thought ruefully.

“My name is Sean Galen. This is David Hughes. We’re here to make sure you’re safe.”

“You’re Logan’s friend. I’ve heard about you. You’re supposed to be with Eve now.” She glanced at Hughes. “But I don’t know anything about him. Send him away.”

Hughes hurriedly got to his feet. “I’m out of here. See you later, Galen.” She turned back to Galen. “Let me see your ID.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He handed her his driver’s license.

She glanced at it and then handed it back to him. “If you’re Galen, you must know my dog Toby’s mother’s name.”

“The beautiful, bad-tempered Maggie. Satisfied?” Jane relaxed. “No.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Here comes Grandma. We have to be quick. Why are you here?”

“I’m sure that if you ask your grandmother, she’ll tell you anything you should know.”

“Don’t give me that bull. Grandma doesn’t want to worry me. If I asked her anything, she’d only lie to make me feel better. It’s something to do with Eve, isn’t it?

Is she in trouble?”

“We’re trying to keep her out of trouble.”

“I could tell something was wrong when I talked to her on the phone a few nights ago. She said everything was fine with her, and that Joe was with her.”

“He is.”