“Oh, yes, Heather.” Elena looked away as she got down the plates. “She seems nice, but a little … spoiled. What do you think, Cara?”

“I like her.” She drank her juice. “Is that what this is about? You want to talk about Heather? Is that why you’re working the night shift tonight?”

“I told you that you were smart,” Elena said. “It’s just that I have to leave you alone a lot, and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t—”

“I don’t break the rules,” Cara said quietly. “Sometimes I want to, but I don’t.”

“Good. That’s a relief. It’s so easy to just…” Elena gave her a quick hug. “But those rules are important. We both know that, don’t we?”

Cara nodded. “I know it.” She stepped back and hesitated. “But maybe I could just bend … Heather wanted me to walk home with her today.”

“No,” Elena said sharply. “You can’t do it, Cara. The bus is safer.”

From the safe bus, to the locked door of the apartment that Cara was never to open. “Maybe it is safe now. Maybe something has changed.” She whispered, “Maybe he’s not out there anymore.”

“And maybe he is,” Elena said gently. “I know what your life is like. I wish I could tell you that you could take the chance. But I can’t do that.” She looked her in the eye. “Think about those nightmares you have. Do you think it’s worth the risk, Cara?”

Running through the darkness.

Blood.

Screams.

Jenny!

She jerkily shook her head. “No.” She turned and went to the cutlery drawer. “I’ll set the table.”

“Cara.”

“It’s okay.” She didn’t look at her. “You’re right. Heather is spoiled. I don’t need her to tell me what I should do. She doesn’t understand…”

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

“I shouldn’t be long, Eve. I just want to question a few detectives and check out the records on Walsh.” Joe pulled up in front of the Sacramento Police Department precinct. “Do you want to come in with me?”

“No, I’ll leave that to you. I want to check the forensic records on Jenny to see if it triggers anything.” She grabbed her computer and got out of the car. “But I’ll go across the street to the park and find a bench with a bit of sunshine. I’ve had a chill from that wood where Jenny was buried ever since we went there. I want to see sunlight and hear birds singing.”

He nodded. “I’ll call you when I finish. Then we’ll go to the apartment where Walsh lived for a while and question the neighbors.”

“Right.” She nodded. “I doubt if we’ll find anything. You said he had a fairly clean record here.”

“Which means he’s being very careful. Or that he was incompetent while he was in the U.K.” He added grimly, “But he wasn’t clean while he was in Mexico. Maybe that was his training ground.” He turned and walked toward the front entrance. “But everyone slips, we’ve just got to find where Walsh made his.”

Eve watched him disappear into the precinct before she turned to cross the street. She knew he was right, but so far, Walsh had not made a slip. He had killed that officer from the Sheriff’s Office and the FedEx driver. He had stolen Jenny’s reconstruction.

He had killed Jenny.

And, as far as she could see, there had been no errors.

That didn’t mean they didn’t exist.

She entered the stone park gates and dropped down on a green bench several yards down the path. There was a fountain sparkling a few feet away, and she could see a children’s playground in the distance.

Two good, bright things to balance the darkness.

So don’t think negative.

*   *   *

“That’s right, Mama. You always find a way to get around the bad things.”

Bonnie.

Eve felt a surge of pure joy as she saw her little daughter sitting on the edge of the fountain, dressed in her usual jeans and Bugs Bunny T-shirt, the spray in the background framing her riot of red curls. She hadn’t realized until this minute how frightened she’d been that Bonnie hadn’t appeared to her for so long. “It would be easier not to be negative if I’d had a little help from you, young lady. You’re not a very reliable ghost. Where have you been?”

“Here and there.” Bonnie’s small face lit up with her brilliant smile. “It’s hard to explain since you haven’t been here. You know that I can’t be with you all the time.”

“And I accept it.” She paused. “But you scared me the last time you came to me. You said that you might not be able to come to me again. I’m glad you came to your senses.”

Bonnie chuckled. “And you told me you wouldn’t have it. As if you could do anything about it.”

“I can be very persuasive. Maybe somebody up there likes me.”

“Everybody likes you, Mama,” she said gently. “That’s why I got to come to you in the beginning.”

“Well, there’s no reason why you can’t keep up with the status quo. Why change anything?”

“It wouldn’t be my choice. And it may not happen. But things are going to change, and I don’t know how that’s going to affect us.”

“Not at all,” Eve said flatly. “Go tell them that.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Bonnie’s eyes were twinkling. “I’ll do my best. But I haven’t been here long enough to have much influence.”

“Then tell them that I need you. You told me that the reason they sent you is that they knew I needed you. That hasn’t changed. I was just thinking the other day that I needed you to come and help me understand—”

“Jenny,” Bonnie said. “You’re having trouble understanding what’s happening to you.”

“So is she. She’s not like you. You have trouble now and then with blanks. But Jenny doesn’t seem to know anything about who she was or what’s happened to her. At least not the details.”

“It’s coming back to her. Soon she’ll know everything. I think they wanted a blank slate when she came to you.”

“Why?”

Bonnie shook her head.

“Does that mean you don’t know?”

“I’m getting glimpses now and then. I don’t know everything.”

“And you don’t want to tell me.”

“I always want to tell you everything.” She added gently, “Sometimes I can’t do it.”

“Then tell me why Jenny. I’ve never before had a reconstruction who actually appeared to me. Why Jenny?”

“She needs you.”

“And those other poor children didn’t?”

She shrugged. “Choice.”

“You’re being very unsatisfactory. Evidently, you didn’t come to answer questions.” She held up her hand. “And that’s okay. You know that’s not what I need from you, what I want. You’re what’s important. Love is what’s important.”

Bonnie nodded. “You always knew that, Mama,” she said softly. “From the moment I was born, I knew you would always love me. It’s your special gift.”

“Not unusual. Most parents love their children.”

“But not the way you do. You glow with it. And Jenny’s parents didn’t love her. She was cheated of it. Maybe that’s why she was sent to you for help. There’s a certain balance. Not all the time. But sometimes, it’s there for us.”

“How do you know Jenny’s parents didn’t love her?” She shook her head. “No more questions. I remember Jenny said that she didn’t remember her parents. I’d hope she’d remember them if there was love between them.”

Bonnie nodded. “Love should always be there.”

Eve swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “It always is for us. And I don’t know why her damn parents wouldn’t love Jenny.”

“I know you don’t,” Bonnie said. “I told you, that’s why she was sent to you.”

“To punish that bastard who killed her, to bring her home.”

Bonnie was silent. “Yes, to bring her home, Mama.”

“We’ll find a way. Joe is working on it now. And Margaret will be a help.” She paused. “There’s another child involved. Can you help us find her?”