Yes, she wanted to go back to bed. "If you promise to tell it. I've never had much luck in getting you to confide in me."

He chuckled. "You wouldn't this time either. We don't have any time." He stepped back and handed her the towel. "Get dressed. I'll wait outside for you."

"Now you tell me to get dressed. Why the hell did you come busting in here and make me--"

"I wanted to make sure you knew I wasn't going to let you make me a one-night stand." He smiled. "You're not going to be able to focus on me for a little while, but I'm going to be around every minute of your day. Don't forget it."

She stared at the door as it closed behind him. How was she supposed to focus on anything else but him? He had brought sensuality back into her life.

She was acting like some nympho. She would not be controlled by either her body or Joe Quinn. She could forget everything but what was important. It would just take will and determination.

She tossed aside the towel and began to dress.

JOE WAS SITTING in the chair beside the bed when she came out of the bathroom. His gaze searched her face and he slowly nodded. "I was expecting that reaction. No problem." He got to his feet. "Let's go down and get you some breakfast."

She had been girded for battle, and it was frustrating to have him sidestep before she could even say a word. "I'm not hungry."

"Okay, then you can watch me eat." He held out his hand and she realized he was holding her digital phone. "But first turn your phone back on. Dom may call and you'll need to talk to him."

Her gaze flew to his face.

"It's time to face him again," he said quietly. "Yes, I want to protect you, but I can't protect you from someone I can't see. We have to bring him out into the open."

"That's what I've been telling you all along."

"I was too scared for you to listen. Now I'm too scared not to listen. You're not going to stop, so I can't stop. We have to finish it. Turn on the phone."

She took the phone and pressed the on button.

It was silent.

Joe smiled. "Now, how's that for anticlimax? I think we both expected an ominous clash of cymbals." He gently pushed her toward the door. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Spiro was waiting in the living room when they came downstairs. "Where's the doll?"

"I put it in a box and slid it behind some books on a shelf." Joe crossed the room to the built-in bookcases. "I didn't want Jane to run across it."

"I can't see her flinching," Spiro said dryly. "Your Jane let me in when I rang the doorbell and she gave me the third degree. She even called security to make sure I hadn't leaped over the electric fence."

"Where is she?"

"After grudgingly allowing me to sit down, she said she was going to the kitchen to fix you something to eat." He took the box and glanced at the doll. "Ugly. It must have scared you."

"No. It made me mad."

"Did he make a follow-up call?"

"Yes, I hung up on him."

Spiro looked up. "That might not have been smart."

"I'm tired of being smart and cautious. What about the photograph? Can I see it?"

"Not before it's logged in."

"Can I get a duplicate?"

"Not before it's logged in."

Eve had very little patience left. "What about this Kevin Baldridge?"

Spiro smiled. "According to Charlie, Mrs. Harding remembers Kevin Baldridge and his brothers very well. Kevin was closemouthed about where they were from, but one of his brothers mentioned Dillard."

"Where is that?"

"A small town in northern Arizona."

"Small enough to trace Kevin Baldridge?"

"Maybe. We have to hope the townsfolk have long memories."

"What about his brothers? Even if Kevin Baldridge has moved on, perhaps they might have gone back home."

"It's possible." Spiro stood up. "We'll soon find out. Charlie will call and check on birth and school records after he gets back with the photograph. And I'm heading up to Dillard today."

"Could we come along?"

He shrugged. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. And if Dom is Kevin Baldridge, seeing you invade his turf might trigger him to act." He glanced at Joe. "I'm surprised that didn't arouse a reaction from you. No objections? No accusations that I'm using her?"

Joe ignored the mockery in Spiro's voice. "How soon can we leave?"

"Later this afternoon. I have to go back to the precinct, wait for Charlie, and make sure the photograph is logged in." He paused. "Mark Grunard came to see me at my hotel this morning. He said you were still cooperating with him." His lips tightened. "I told him that doesn't mean I'm cooperating. I've never approved of your involving him."

"He helped me," Eve said. "I owe him."

"I don't owe him and I don't like how he's been hanging around Charlie."

"He could have turned Jane and me in to the police a dozen times and he didn't do it."

"Why not?"

"Because I promised him an exclusive when we get Dom."