“That’s what she said. I believe she wants to ask a favor.” She added quickly, “But you don’t have to do it. I told her that I’d bring her here, but I wouldn’t recommend you help her. I wouldn’t have even gone that far if Hu Chang hadn’t been putting pressure on me. He’s been giving me a guilt trip.”
“What does she want me to do?”
Catherine shook her head. “She won’t tell me, and I don’t know if I really want to be clued in. I’d just as soon keep my distance and not influence you in any way. She just said you were the only one who could help her.”
“I’m as confused as hell and I wouldn’t mind a little outside influence at the moment.” Eve shook her head. That was an understatement, she thought. Diane Connors was a complete stranger to her these days, and she preferred to keep it that way. What she remembered about Joe’s ex was very sketchy, and the few times they’d met, they’d had nothing in common. She could vaguely recall stilted conversations and finding excuses to leave. “The whole situation makes me uneasy. And why would Hu Chang be involved with her?”
“Who knows why Hu Chang does anything?” Catherine asked curtly. “I only know he cared enough to pull me into the mess and ask me to take care of her. So do I go out and bring her in?”
“Of course you do.” Eve knew she was being foolish to feel this sense of panic. “You just caught me off guard. I only hope that I’ll be able to get rid of her before Joe and Michael get home. We’ve never spoken to Michael about Diane. It might be…awkward.”
“I think Michael can handle it.” Catherine turned toward the door. “I’m sure that many of his school friends have parents who are divorced.”
“Yes, but that’s not us. We’d have to…prepare him.” She had a sudden memory. “Take care of her? Why would you have to do that? What do you mean?”
“Hu Chang appears to think that Diane is in some kind of danger. She said he sent her to me because he wants to keep her alive.”
“Now I know I don’t like this,” Eve said. “Is she involved in drugs?”
Catherine held up her hand to stop the questions. “I don’t know. Ask her yourself. Hu Chang wouldn’t tell me anything else.” The next moment she was out the door and running down the porch steps.
Eve followed her out onto the porch and stood watching as Catherine opened the car door and spoke to the woman in the passenger seat. Then Diane Connors got out of the car and was starting toward the steps.
She was as beautiful as Eve remembered, and it came as a shock. Perhaps more beautiful…Slim, graceful, and yet there was a strength and vitality that hadn’t been there when she was younger. Her face was thinner, and that made her high cheekbones even more interesting.
Then she looked up and met Eve’s eyes. She stopped short, then smiled and nodded before starting up the steps. Confidence, boldness, yet also a kind of wry acceptance were all there in that smile. Eve took an involuntary step back as she approached. She wasn’t feeling either confidence or boldness herself in this moment.
“It will be okay, Eve,” Diane said quietly, studying her as she climbed the rest of the steps. “Don’t be nervous. You’re the one in control.”
“I’m not nervous,” Eve lied. “It’s just an unusual situation and I’ve no idea what you want from me. Let’s get this over.” She held out her hand as Diane reached the porch. “You’re looking well. Would you like to come in?”
Diane shook her hand. “Please.” She hesitated, her gaze on Eve’s face. “But you are nervous.” She turned and called down to Catherine: “Come and join us. She’ll feel better if you do.”
Catherine shrugged and started up the stairs.
“I told you I wasn’t nervous,” Eve said. “And I don’t need Catherine to chaperone us.” She forced a smile. “I can handle you.”
“She won’t interfere,” Diane said. “But she’s your friend and she’ll be your support team. If I’m going to have my chance of getting what I want, I’d prefer you to be in the best possible mood.”
“Have it your way.” Eve headed back inside the house. She gestured to the couch. “Sit down. You’ll excuse me if I don’t offer either one of you coffee? I take it this isn’t going to be a social occasion. I prefer to have the discussion over before my son and Joe return.”
“Your son…” Diane repeated. “Michael.” She looked at a photo on the wall of Joe and Michael dressed in T-shirts, hair mussed, grinning at each other as they worked on a jeep. “He looks like a fine boy.”
“Extraordinary,” Eve said. “You have no idea.”
“I believe I do. It’s all in that wonderful expression. And he looks like Joe.”
“He looks like both of us. Yes, he does have Joe’s eyes.” She dropped down in an easy chair. “But you didn’t come here to talk about Michael.”
“No, I didn’t. I’m sure Catherine has told you I need a favor.”
Eve nodded. “And you should know that I don’t feel any duty to oblige you. I barely knew you when you were married to Joe. We were practically strangers. I just tried to be polite to you because Joe was a friend with whom I worked, and I didn’t want to offend him.”
“Yes, I remember how polite you were.” Diane smiled wryly. “So polite at times, it was difficult for me to keep from slugging you. You didn’t realize that, did you?”
Eve blinked. “No, you were always very courteous.”
“That was because I was also smart enough to realize what side my bread was buttered on. I knew better than to antagonize you in any way. It would have been a mistake. But it still rankled.” She made a face. “And it seems I didn’t learn anything, because here I am doing just that after all these years. I guess I couldn’t resist. I must have been holding it in some deep, secret place waiting for it to break free.”
Catherine cleared her throat before saying sharply, “Knock it off, Diane. I didn’t bring you here to upset Eve. Do what you came to do or I’m going to leave.”
“I’m not upsetting her.” Diane’s gaze switched to Eve. “Am I? You’re very tough these days. Though I guess you always were. Everyone was so sad you’d lost your little girl, Bonnie, that they treated you with kid gloves. But the steel was always there.”
“Is this going somewhere, Diane?” Eve asked sharply.
“As far as you’ll let it. But I decided that I need to be as honest with you as I can, and I wasn’t back then. I didn’t learn about honesty until I found out how to balance it against a very selfish nature that no one had seen fit to curb.” She added quietly, “Not even Joe, and I suppose I cared more about him than anyone else. Though it was hard to tell until I learned what that really meant.” She looked her directly in the eyes. “I did learn eventually, and if we make a deal, you’ll find I keep my word these days. I won’t hurt you; I won’t cheat you or anyone who matters to you. And if you help me, you’ll be doing something that Hu Chang regards as extraordinary.” She grimaced. “I believe that, too, or I wouldn’t be here. But all I can think about now is getting what I need from you. I’m obviously still pretty selfish. Right?”
“One would assume that’s true.” Eve was getting impatient, but she was also curious. “I won’t know until you stop this sales pitch and let me know what the hell you’re talking about. What do you want me to do, Diane? Tell me.”
“Amen,” Catherine murmured.
Diane shrugged. “I want you to perform a reconstruction on the skull of a man who is supposed to be buried somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Nevada and help me identify him.”
“Somewhere? That’s a little vague.”
“I might be able to pin it down. But I have to locate the grave first. The area was supposed to be a virtual killing field. Legend has it that there are graves all over the mountain.”
“Legend?”
“For the last five years, there was cartel drug running and immigrant trafficking from Mexico through Nevada to Central California. The cartels brought the migrant workers in by the truckload and sold them to the richest
farmers in the area. If they couldn’t get rid of them fast enough or there was trouble with the border patrol, the migrants were sometimes left locked in the trucks on the side of the roads until they starved. They were buried later but there was doubt if all of them were ever found.”
Eve shivered. “Monsters.”
Diane nodded. “But the authorities have located a good many of the victims. And the cartels are very careful about their disposal these days.”
“How charming,” Eve said. “And this reconstruction you want me to do was of one of those poor Mexican victims brought across the border by the cartels?”
She nodded. “Jose Morales was having family problems with his elder brother and thought it would be best to flee from both his brother and the family entirely. He paid the Ramez cartel to smuggle him across the border into Nevada to start a new life. But once there he completely disappeared from view.”
“Then why would you believe he was one of the people buried in that killing field? He could have run away, gone to another state.”
“Yes, he could. But I received information from one of Hu Chang’s sources that he left the group, went on the run, and was killed in cold blood by one of the cartel’s gunmen.” She shook her head. “Maybe not-so-cold blood—evidently they were very thorough. When they found him, he’d been butchered and his remains scattered over the mountain. They located what they thought was his skull, but it had been burned and almost completely destroyed.”
“And I’m supposed to put Humpty Dumpty back together again?” Eve asked. “Your best bet is to find the body and skull and then bring in a DNA expert.”
“There might not be enough left to gather DNA,” Diane said bitterly. “I said they were thorough. They were common thugs, but they’d clearly been given orders and carried them out. It was almost as if they’d tried to avoid leaving even a hint of DNA.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps the same reason that Morales fled Mexico,” Diane said.
“Perhaps?” Eve’s eyes narrowed. “But you’re not going to tell me?”
“Not at this time. It would only be a guess and I don’t want to speculate.” She paused. “I recall that you prefer the truth and nothing but the truth when it comes to your work. You were like that years ago when I was with Joe, and according to what I’ve learned about your reputation since then, you’re still a stickler.”
“I’m a professional,” Eve said. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t speculate. As a forensic sculptor, that sometimes comes as part of the territory.” She added, “However, I’ve no intention of playing guessing games on this project. It would be a waste of my time.”
Diane nodded. “I wouldn’t want to do that. I realize you want to spend that time with Joe and Michael. I’ll just finish up and let you make your decision.” She leaned forward. “Hu Chang’s source swore that the background info I was given was accurate and also that he could supply the location of the area where Morales’s remains were scattered. As you can see, that portion of the situation isn’t as hopeless as you might think. If I can deliver the skull to you, then all you’d have to do is the reconstruction.”
“Simple. Providing I choose to do it.” She stared her in the eye. “And I’m supposed to trust you? Hu Chang has always been an enigma in spite of Catherine’s closeness to him. Now she tells me that you’ve been working with him? You could be a smuggler or a thief or drug dealer. Anything or anyone.”
“True.” She nodded at Catherine. “That’s why Hu Chang brought her into the mix. You do trust her, and you know she’d never let you be hurt by some scam artist. Isn’t that right?”
Eve nodded reluctantly. “But she still doesn’t know why you’re asking me to do this. I want answers or I’m waving you goodbye.”
“I knew it would come down to this.” She hesitated. “It’s because I made a bargain with the Morales family in Mexico to have him found and identified.”
“What?”
“His parents suspected that his brother was responsible for them losing their son, but they wanted to know for certain what happened to Jose. If it was a Cain-and-Abel situation.” She shrugged. “And I desperately needed some information from them I couldn’t get anywhere else. We struck a deal.”
“And used me as a pawn? I don’t think so. Whatever made you believe I’d consider it?”
“I told you, I was desperate.” Her voice was suddenly shaking. “No way on earth would I want to go begging to you. It took me too long to get over what you and Joe did to me. But I knew you had the skill to do this and I had to try. If you wouldn’t do it, I’d just find another way. He’s worth it.”
Eve went still. “We did nothing to you. You talk as if I was the other woman in your divorce. Joe and I didn’t get together until you were long gone.”
“Really? It didn’t appear like that to me. It seemed as if you were always together. Though I admit I did some things that weren’t exactly honorable, too.” She waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. I was determined to be civilized and I’m blowing it.” She closed her eyes for an instant and drew a breath. Then she opened her eyes. “Look, if you help me get this done, I’ll pay you back in ways that most people would consider to be fantastic. You were always different, but you love your son and Joe and the gift I give you would also be for them. I promise you won’t be sorry.”
“You’re trying to bribe me?” Eve asked in disbelief.
“You’re damn right. Any way that I can,” she said recklessly. “Hu Chang says that I’m to do anything I can to stay alive, but I’m not the only one I have to worry about. If I don’t come through for the Morales family, then the bargain will be broken. The idea scares the hell out of me. That can’t happen.” Her hands clenched into fists. “I can probably get my hands on any amount of money you want as a down payment. Just trust me and give me a little time. But we should move forward right away if you’ll please do this for me.”
“I probably will not,” Eve said. “I can’t see any reason why I should. What you’re asking, if not illegal, is likely dangerous. Besides, I just got back from Maldara, Africa, and I want family time here. Joe and I promised each other that we’d stay home for a while.”
“How cozy.” Diane’s tone contained equal amounts of wistfulness and bitterness. “Promise you’ll consider it. I should take a flight out of here tomorrow night, but I don’t want to. Think about your son. You have no idea what I’m offering you.”
“No, I don’t,” she said dryly. “You haven’t been very explanatory, and Joe and I would probably turn it down anyway. We have enough to live quite well without taking bribes.”
“I can see that. You don’t need anything. But promise you’ll consider it.” She got to her feet. “I’ll give you anything you want. Catherine will contact me if you change your mind.” She headed for the porch door. “Thank you for allowing me to see you, Eve. I know I disturbed you.” She glanced at Catherine. “Are you ready to go?”
Catherine nodded and got to her feet. “After I apologize to Eve. You did disturb her.”
“Right.” Diane nodded grimly as she went out the door. “I’ll wait in the car.”
CHAPTER
3
Jock spent most of the next hour examining the videos of the cameras aimed at the twelfth floor and the lobby. Meanwhile, Joe checked the register and phone records for anyone checking in or out between five and eleven in the morning.
Joe’s phone rang fifty-five minutes after they’d reached the security office. He glanced at the ID. “Kimble.”
Jock tensed. His gaze zeroed in on Joe’s face for any hint of expression. No expression, dammit.
“Thanks, Kimble.” Joe hung up and turned to Jock. “The blood in the suite is AB-positive,” he said. “Cara is type O.”
Jock closed his eyes. “Thank God.” Then his eyes were open, and he was gazing back at the videos. “We’ve got a chance then. He could have just killed her in the suite and smuggled the body out of the hotel. He didn’t do that
, he had something else in mind. She could still be alive.”
“But why the blood?”
“How the hell do I know? He wanted to confuse the issue? Make us look for a corpse instead of a captive?” He was flipping through the video shots. “Nothing suspicious in the halls.” He went rigid as he checked another area. “Wait. The stairwells. The cameras were disabled between the twelfth floor and the valet parking lot in the basement.” He was quickly checking the video feeds from the basement parking lot. “Blank,” he said savagely. “But only from that stairwell to the exit to the street. Nothing to trigger anyone to come down and check on it.” He got to his feet. “But someone might still have seen something. I’m going down there and question everyone who came near that—” He stopped as his gaze was caught by something else on the video. “What the hell?” He bent over the machine, his entire body galvanized, focused on the figure in the shadows several yards from the stairwell. Then his fingers were flying over the keys, magnifying the image.
“What is it?” Joe leaned forward, his gaze narrowed on the video. “It’s still not clear enough. What do you think you’re seeing?”
“It’s clear enough for me. You can get your experts to make the details pop even more, but I don’t need it.” He was checking the time on the video. “It was 6:40 A.M. And he’s heading for that stairwell. Very smooth. Completely professional.” Then the shadowy figure reached the zone near the stairwell where the cameras had been disabled. He abruptly disappeared.
“You know him?” Joe asked harshly. “Who the hell is it? If you don’t tell me who the son of a bitch is in two seconds, I’ll break your neck.”
“I do know him.” Jock was running the time forward on the video. “And so do you. Though not nearly as well as I do. I’ve had time to study him. We’ve had several encounters over the years.”
“Who?” Joe bit out. “Now!”
The Bullet Page 4
