“I was hoping as much as he was that it wouldn’t be Bendy,” Eve said. “From what I’ve heard of him, he was a very good man. I didn’t want him to have died like this.” Her eyes were filling with tears, too. She blinked them back. “But it never does any good. So many more of the good die than the bad. They trust. They have no defenses. Like Bonnie…”

“Shh.” He pulled her into his arms. “Jesus, you’re so tired you can hardly stand up. Listen to me, you did a good job. You brought this poor guy home. Isn’t that what’s important?”

“Yes.” Comfort surrounded her, keeping out the cold and the loneliness as it always did when she was close to Joe. “That’s important. But not right now.”

“It will come.” He rubbed the exact spot between her shoulders that always bothered her. Her knees went weak with relief. “Your muscles are all knotted. Go on to bed and try to sleep. I don’t guess you’d let me give you a massage?”

“No.” She shouldn’t even be standing here like this. There were reasons, good reasons, why she should be pushing him away, but they didn’t seem to matter right now. “I’ll be okay.”

“You’d be better than okay with me. I’d make sure you were.” He shrugged. “But that’s not in the cards. Come on, I’ll help you up to bed and tuck you in.”

“I’m fine.”

“Stop arguing. You’re about to fall over. I know you’re vulnerable right now, and I’d love to take advantage of you. But I won’t.” He slid his arm around her waist and half led, half carried her toward the stairs. “Why are you fighting it? It’s no big deal.

How many times have I done this after you’ve finished a job?” So many times she couldn’t remember. Sometimes it seemed as if they’d been together all her life. Ten, twelve years? She couldn’t think. Everything was a blur right now. “Now that Victor’s done, I guess it’s time to call Jennings. The FBI should probably…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“I really didn’t want it to be Bently, Joe.”

“I know. Never mind. It will seem better in the morning.” Eve was barely aware of Joe helping her up to her room and pushing her down on the bed. He took off her shoes and pulled up the coverlet. “I’ll be right back.” He went into the bathroom and came back with a damp washcloth. He carefully wiped the clay off her hands. “That’ll do for now. You can hit the shower when you wake up.”

“Thanks, Joe.”

“I’ve always liked doing things for you. It makes you more mine. Next to sex, I liked it better than anything. Didn’t you know that?” She shouldn’t be listening to this. It was… intimate, and everything was wrong between them. It was hard to remember why. She didn’t want to remember why. Not now. “No, I didn’t know…”

“And you don’t want to think about it. That’s okay. I’ll settle for you not scuttling away from me.” He sat down beside her and took her hand. “That’s good enough.” Her hand tightened around his. “It shouldn’t be…”

“Shh. Go to sleep.”

She was already half asleep. She curled up on the bed and closed her eyes. “It’s…

so sad… Poor man…”

Chapter 13

« ^ »

EVE WAS ASLEEP.

Joe stared down at her face. Christ, he wanted to ease her pain. Fat chance. Ever since Bonnie’s death, Eve had been dealing with this pain. Giving her mind and skill and heart to bringing both the living and the dead home. Well, she had found another lost one and, as usual, he could only stand on the sidelines and help when she would let him.

Hell, he felt pretty lost himself right now. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. She doesn’t need that, too. He released Eve’s hand and bent down to press his lips to her forehead. “Sleep well, love,” he whispered.

He didn’t want to leave her, but he forced himself to stand up and head for the door. When she woke, they’d probably be back to square one, but maybe he’d made a tiny inroad tonight. He hoped to hell he had.

His phone rang as he reached the hall.

The side of the high-rise had exploded in a ball of flame and concrete.

Galen gazed up at the flames erupting out of the windows. It could have been worse. The bomb had been placed so that it only affected the west side. Jane MacGuire’s grandmother’s condo was on the west side of the building.

“Grandma’s scared. You get that creep.” Jane MacGuire took a step closer to Galen. “A lot of people could have been hurt if those sprinklers hadn’t gone off. Did you do that?”

“It was the only thing I could think of that would get everyone up and out of the apartments in time. I disconnected the fire alarm bell that might have set off the bomb, and sent Hughes’s men to knock on doors as long as it was safe. The water flooding their apartments saved a lot of arguments.” His glance wandered over the dimly lit street filled with men, women, and children in all stages of dress huddled together. Dogs ran around barking at cats held tightly in their owners’ arms. “I hope they all got out.”

“Me, too.” Jane pulled at Toby’s leash to keep him at her side. “Grandma didn’t want to go when that man came to the door. It was only when the sprinklers went off that she ran out.”

He could hear the sirens of fire trucks in the distance. “Where’s your grandmother?”

“Over there trying to calm down Mrs. Benson. She just had a baby and she’s pretty shook up.”

“I’m surprised she’s letting you talk to me.”

“I just told her who you were. Maybe I should have done it before. Grandma’s usually pretty cool.” She looked back at the fire. “He did all this to kill us?” Galen nodded.

“And he did it to get Eve out of hiding?”

“Yes.”

“Then you tell her to stay put.” She moistened her lips. “And you’d better do it fast. The first thing Grandma did when she got down to the street was call Joe.”

“What?”

“Joe told her to call him if there was a problem.” She looked at the burning high-rise. “He’s going to think this is a big problem.”

“How long ago?” He’d wanted to call Quinn himself.

“Five minutes. He told her to stay with me and he’d send a black-and-white.” She glanced at a squad car careening around the corner. “There it is.”

“Maybe.” A police car appears and whisks Jane and her grandmother away? No way. Not until he’d checked it out. He moved toward the car. “Stay here.”

“What the hell is happening?” Joe demanded when Galen answered his phone ten minutes later. “I just got a hysterical call from Eve’s mother, and she was talking about you and the condo blowing up and the sprinkler—”

“Jane’s safe. The squad car you sent picked her and her grandmother up and took them to a safe house. That’s what’s most important.”

“You went there to protect Jane. How did that bastard get so close to her?”

“She’s safe. That’s all that’s important.” Galen looked at the high-rise, which was still in flames. “I’ll tell you about the rest of it later.”

“The hell you will. I need to know what—”

“Wait a minute.” Hughes was trying to get Galen’s attention. “There’s something going on.”

“Sorry,” Hughes said. “I just heard about that telephone truck. Bell South says they sent no truck to that area.“ He paused. ”And the truck is gone now.“

“Jesus.” Galen’s hand tightened on his phone.

“What’s happening?” Joe demanded. “Is Jane okay?”

“Jane’s fine.” Galen was thinking, going over the possibilities. He didn’t like any of them. “But Hebert may have gotten what he wanted.”

“Then what do you mean Jane’s okay?”

“Calm down. I think Hebert hedged his bet. There’s a good chance he had a surveillance truck parked a few blocks from here tonight. There was no question of him intercepting phone calls from the high-rise, but once Eve’s mother was out of the building he’d have no trouble.”

“And she called me right away.”

“If the bomb killed them, you’d come out of hiding. If the bomb didn’t kill them, she’d call you and give him a chance for a trace. Get out of there, Quinn.”