“I don’t have time to—” Eve looked up from the skull she was charting and saw that Jane was so pale her freckles stood out. “What’s wrong? Is it Toby?”

“Toby’s fine.” Jane moistened her lips. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought about telling Joe, but it’s really you… I tried to fix it, but I couldn’t. And then I didn’t want you to go up and see—I had to tell you.”

“What are you talking about, Jane?”

“Will you come with me?” Jane moved toward the door. “You have to see—”

“See what?”

“Bonnie…”

“What do you mean—”

Jane was gone, running down the porch steps and down the path.

“Jane!”

Eve ran after her but didn’t catch up until she was almost up the hill. “Why are you—”

Then she saw it.

“I didn’t know what to do.” Jane’s voice was uneven. “I tried to clean it up.” Blood smeared, dripping over the headstone.

Eve shuddered. “What did you—What happened here?”

“I don’t know. I came up today to clean off the weeds and it was like this. No, not like this. I made it worse. I’m sorry, Eve.”

“Blood.”

“No, I don’t think so. At first, I thought… But it’s paint or something.” She edged closer to Eve. “I couldn’t get it off.”

“Paint?”

Jane nodded. “Someone drew a big X through Bonnie’s name and everything else on the tombstone.” She took Eve’s hand. “Who would do this to you?” Eve couldn’t imagine who would commit a horror like this. She felt… bruised. “I don’t know.” It was hard to think. “Maybe some kid who thought it was funny to desecrate a grave.” But not her Bonnie’s grave. Not her Bonnie. “I can’t think of anyone else.”

“I’m gonna get him,” Jane said fiercely. “Maybe he’ll come back. I’ll wait here and when he does, I’m gonna get him.”

Eve shook her head. “It would only make it worse.” She turned away. “Come on, we’ll get back to the cottage and see if we can find something to clean it off with.” Jane fell into step with her. “We’ll tell Joe as soon as he gets home. He’ll get him.”

“Not until we clean up the tombstone.”

“You’re afraid he’ll be so mad, he’ll do something to him. He should do something. I’ll help him.”

Jesus, she couldn’t handle this right now. Eve knew very well Joe’s response would be just as violent and protective as Jane’s, and she was too shaky to play peacemaker. Besides, she didn’t want to be a peacemaker. Shock was quickly being replaced by anger. She wanted to wring that sicko kid’s neck. Not a good example for Jane. And Joe was an ex-SEAL and would think little of doing just that. “Just go to the shed and see what you can find. There may be some turpentine left from last spring when we painted the porch.”

“Having trouble?”

George Capel glanced impatiently at the man in a blue Saturn who had cruised to a stop beside him on the side of the road. What a stupid question, when he was standing here with his head under the hood of the Mercedes. “Not unless you’re a mechanic. It’s dead as a doornail.”

“Sorry. I’m a computer salesman.” The man in the Saturn grimaced. “And believe me I’ve had my share of breakdowns. I remember once in Macon, it was the middle of the night and I—” He stopped. “But you’re not interested in that. What about a jump?”

“We can try.” Capel glanced at the man’s neat blue suit. “Better be careful. I’ve already got grease on my shirt.”

The man smiled. “I’m always careful.”

Ten minutes later Capel was cursing a blue streak when the car still failed to start.

“Piece of crap. For God’s sake, it’s a Mercedes. Do you know how much this car cost me?”

“A bundle. New?”

“Last year.”

“Sorry I couldn’t help. Maybe you’d better call for a tow truck.”

“When my car’s dead, my car phone’s dead, too. Do you have a cell phone?” The other man smiled. “You seem to be having trouble with mechanical objects. I remember a Stephen King book about machines gone amok. I listened to it on Books on Tape when I was driving through Iowa.”

Capel tried to keep his temper. “Do you have a phone?” he repeated.

“Sure, but it’s back at the motel on the charger. I was only going to go out and find a restaurant to have dinner.” He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. “But hop in and I’ll give you a lift to the nearest service station. I’m new in this area. Do you know where one is?”

“There’s a Texaco two miles ahead.” Capel hesitated, gazing at the Mercedes.

“I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”

“That’s for sure. Piece of lousy junk.” Capel strode over to the passenger side of the Saturn and got in. “Let’s go. I didn’t need this. I left the office early because I’ve got tickets to the basketball game tonight. And then this has to happen. Damn, I hate car trouble. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

“That’s what I think. I hate unpleasantness.” Jules Hebert got into the driver’s seat. “Let’s get it over with.”

Joe turned away from the grave. “We’ll replace the headstone.”

“I’ve got almost all the paint off.”

“But every time you look at it, you’ll remember. We’ll get a new headstone. I’ll see to it when I go into work tomorrow.” He looked at her. “You haven’t seen anyone around the place in the past few days?”

Eve shook her head.

“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”

“It’s a big property. It’s hard to keep trespassers off it.”

“It won’t happen again,” Joe repeated. “Go on back to the house while I take a look around.”

She looked at him warily.

“Hey, I’m a cop. Let me do my job.”

But this wasn’t a cop standing before her. He was in protective mode, and Joe could be lethal when he was this angry. “I don’t want you to do your job too well. It was vandalism.”

“It hurt you,” Joe said flatly. “I won’t allow that. Never again.”

“And I won’t allow you to kill some kid who thought this was just one big giggle.”

He was silent a moment. “If it’s a kid, he may get by with learning a lesson he won’t forget. Satisfied?”

“No.” But it was all she was going to get from him. Eve was beginning to hope they’d never find out who did this awful thing. “You can’t call a forensic team out here to solve a case of vandalism.”

“I’m pretty good on my own.” Joe turned away. “Go on back to the cottage. Jane needs you. She’s pretty shook up.”

“Not anymore. She wants to do the same thing as you. She said she was ‘gonna get him.’ ‘

“Good. Smart girl. But she doesn’t have to bother.” Eve watched in exasperation as Joe disappeared into the bushes. He was on the hunt, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

She turned and went down the hill.

Joe found the footprints almost immediately.

Not running shoes or mountain boots like most kids wore in this area. Regular shoes. Size eight or nine, and the imprint was shallow so the wearer wasn’t very big.

And he hadn’t tried to brush the footprints away. It was stupid enough to be a kid. Joe followed the prints down the hill.

Car tracks.

It was getting dark. Joe turned on his flashlight as he knelt down and looked at the tracks. He didn’t know enough about tire imprints to identify them. He’d go back to the cottage and get some plaster to make a mold, and then run it through the database at headquarters.

He didn’t like any of this. His hand clenched on the flashlight as he thought about the grave and Eve’s expression when she’d told him about the defacement.

He was going to get that son of a bitch.

Hebert’s phone rang as he was getting back in the car.

“I hadn’t heard from you,” Melton said. “Do I have to remind you that time is of the essence?”

“No.”

“The situation may be escalating. Have you thought any more about getting Dupree?”

“Forget Dupree.” Jules wearily leaned back in the seat. “That may not be necessary.”

“Why not?”

“Things are looking up. I want you to wait one day and then call Eve Duncan again and make her the same offer.”