"Have you?"

"I'm sorry if that's your little girl they found up there."

"I've known for a long time that there was no hope. I just want to bring Bonnie home so I can lay her to rest."

He nodded. "My dad was MIA in Vietnam and they've never found the body. Even when I was a kid I used to worry about where he was. It didn't seem right that he was lost there."

"No, it doesn't." She glanced away from him. "And my daughter wasn't in a war."

"No? Seems like there are wars everywhere. You can't even send a kid to school without worrying if one of his classmates has an attack rifle. Somebody has to stop it. That's why I joined the FBI."

She smiled. "Charlie, I do believe you're one of the good guys."

He made a face. "I sounded pretty hokey, didn't I? Sorry. I know I'm green as grass compared to Spiro. Sometimes I get the feeling he thinks I'm still in kindergarten. Demoralizing as hell."

Eve could see how it would be. She supposed a person aged quickly in a job like Spiro's. "Are you married, Charlie?"

He nodded. "Last year. Martha Ann." A sudden smile illuminated his face. "She's pregnant."

"Congratulations."

"We should have been sensible and waited. But we both wanted kids. We'll make out."

"I'm sure you will." She was feeling better. Life wasn't all graves and monsters. There were people like Charlie and Martha Ann and the baby on its way. "Want some more coffee?"

"I've almost emptied your thermos. I'd better not--"

"Open the window." It was Joe, his face pressed against the fogged glass.

She rolled down the window.

"They found them," Joe said. "At least they found bones. They're bringing them up to the command center now."

She got out of the Jeep. "Children?"

"I don't know."

"Two?"

"There are two skulls."

"Intact?"

Joe nodded.

"Then I'll be able to tell. Take me there."

"Can I talk you out of it?"

She was already climbing the cliff. "Take me there."

THE STRETCHER WAS rigged on a pulley and Eve watched as it was hoisted up slowly. On the stretcher were two blanket-wrapped bundles.

"You're trying to keep the bodies separated?" she asked Spiro.

"As best as we can. I wouldn't bet on the bones not being mixed up. It looked like the mud slide washed them down."

The stretcher reached the top of the cliff and was settled on the ground. Spiro knelt beside it and opened one blanket. "What do you think?"

"Give me some more light." She knelt next to him. So many bones. Splintered. Broken. Like the bones of an animal after carnivores had--

Get a grip. Do your job. The skull.

She took it in her hands and examined it. No teeth. Joe had told her the other skulls didn't have teeth. Ignore the horrifying image of the murderer pulling them. Concentrate. "It's a child. Preteen male. Caucasian."

"You're sure?" Spiro asked.

"No. Anthropology isn't my specialty, but I'd bet on it. I've done hundreds of reconstructions on children this age." She gently put the skull down and opened the other blanket. It held fewer bones and the skull was staring up at her.

Bring me home.

Lost. So many lost ones.

"Anything wrong?" Spiro asked.

"Leave her alone, Spiro," Joe said.

Could anything be more wrong than a world that could destroy children? "No, nothing's wrong. I was just studying it." She picked up the skull. "Another male. Preteen Caucasian. Maybe a little older than the other." She put the skull down and got to her feet. "You'll have to get a forensic anthropologist to confirm." She turned to Joe. "I'm ready to leave now."

"Hallelujah."

"Wait," Spiro said. "Joe told me about the telephone call. I need to talk to you."

"Then come to my cottage to see her." Joe was already pushing Eve down the cliff. "We're out of here."

"I want to see her now."

Joe looked back over his shoulder. "Don't push it," he said softly. "I won't have it, Spiro."

Spiro hesitated and then shrugged. "I guess it can wait. God knows, I have enough to do here."

EVE SETTLED INTO the passenger seat. "You didn't have to make an issue of it. I could have talked to him."

"Yeah, I know." He stomped on the accelerator. "And you could have stayed up on that ridge, staring at those bones. Or gone back to look at that little girl's grave. How about leaping over tall buildings in a single bound? You don't need any more punishment to prove you're Superwoman."

She leaned back on the headrest. God, she felt tired. "I'm not trying to prove anything."

He was silent a moment. "I know. It would be easier if you were."

"He told me the truth. There were two other children up there. He could have been telling the truth about Bonnie."