Taking Eve

by Iris Johansen

  She looked up. “They look like empty light sockets.”

  “No.” He took out a small keychain with a rectangular emblem from his pocket. “There’s also one over the front door that works automatically when the door opens unless I disarm it. All I’d have to do is touch the emblem. I press the button, and it causes gas to spray down. Nothing lethal. Just enough to knock you out. But this time you’d have a giant headache. I’d hate that to happen.”

  “You could be bluffing.”

  “Yes.”

  “It would knock you out, too.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m familiar with this gas. I’d only get a little dizzy before I got outside. My son used it when he was in the Army, and he taught me how to take little whiffs until I built up an immunity to it.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “He loved me as much as I loved him. He wanted me to be safe.”

  “Safe?” She stared at him incredulously. “So you played around with knockout gas?”

  “It’s difficult to explain. What you have to know is that as long as you stay inside and don’t try to get away or attack me, you’re free to move around as if this is your home.”

  She gazed up at one of the empty light sockets. “I’m tempted to call your bluff.”

  “Demonstration?” He smiled. “Just a little squirt. Not enough to—” He gave the emblem the tiniest pressure. “Did you hear it? And it smells like carnations, doesn’t it?”

  “I heard it. But I don’t smell—” But her head felt suddenly light. Carnations. Definitely, carnations.

  “You’ll be fine in a minute. I did have to show you, didn’t I?”

  She shook her head to clear it. The dizziness was already dispersing. “And it made you feel all-powerful, dammit.”

  “Believe me, that’s not why I did it.”

  “I don’t believe you. Where is this bathroom?” She gazed around the huge room, which was sparsely furnished, with a chair, filing cabinet, desk, couch, and table. A small kitchenette occupied a corner of the area. She stiffened as her gaze fell on another corner that was very, very familiar.

  It was a worktable and dais and computer, identical to her lab at the cottage.

  “Yes, it’s just like your lab down to the last detail,” Doane said softly. “I had to tear out an old coin press anchored to the wall to give you light from the window but I wanted you to feel comfortable.”

  “Comfortable? Not likely. How were you able to reproduce it so exactly?”

  “Not totally exact. You can access your forensic sculpting programs on the computer but nothing else. I’ve been watching you for a long time. As soon as I decided that Kevin needed you, I naturally had to investigate everything about you.”

  “Investigate? Snooping? Electronic eavesdropping, maybe?”

  “All of the above, I’m afraid.”

  “How long?”

  “A little over two years.”

  She stared at him incredulously. It was hard to imagine that she had been under surveillance for that long and not become aware of it. It was even more amazing that Doane would have the patience to sit like a spider and weave his intricate web for over two years. “Why?”

  “You were worth it,” he said simply. “I had to have you.”

  “You don’t have me. I assume that lab you’ve set up means that you want me to do a reconstruction.” She looked him in the eye. “Screw you.”

  “We’ll talk about it later.” He gestured to a door to the left of the lab. “That’s your bedroom and bathroom. I’ll go and heat up a couple TV dinners. I’m afraid I’m a lousy cook. I’ve never learned the art. Kevin always cooked for us. He was a brilliant chef.” He added sadly, “He was brilliant at almost everything.”

  “I’m not interested in your son. All I want is for you to let me go.”

  He turned away. “We’ll talk over dinner. Don’t feel you have to hurry. I understand that you’ll need time to compose yourself.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Actually, I felt lucky that I remembered this old abandoned shack from my hunting trips with Kevin up here to the mountains. It’s perfect for my purpose.”

  “As my prison? What was it before? You mentioned tearing out some kind of coin press.”

  “Back in the gold rush days it was a coin factory. There’s a played out gold mine not far from here and the miners liked to turn their gold into actual money before they went to town and blew it.” He smiled. “Blick and I remodeled the storage area for your bedroom and bath. It’s a little dim in there, but you can turn on the overhead lights. It’s pretty small, but you’ll only need the bedroom for sleeping. We’re not going to do much of that. I’m in a hurry to have Kevin finished. I plan on having you work nonstop with only short breaks when you feel you absolutely have to rest for a few hours. I’ll lock you in the room during those rests and let you out afterward. I’ve put a rollaway bed in there that you can open. The walls are thin, and I can hear you very clearly. I’ll be napping on the couch in here, and I sleep lightly. You might keep that in mind. There’s only one door and no windows, so don’t think that you’ll have an opportunity to escape. I’ve planned this for a long time, and I wouldn’t be that foolish.”

  Eve’s hands clenched into fists at her sides as she watched him open the refrigerator in the kitchenette. Then she whirled on her heel and strode toward the door leading to the bedroom.

  She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it.

  Damn, she felt helpless.

  Get over it.

  So she was at a disadvantage. It was to be expected if what Doane had told her was true about the time he’d spent studying her.

  She made a face. And there was the small item that she was his prisoner, and he might be nuts. He was most certainly violent if he’d attacked Ben.

  Yet he didn’t seem crazy, and he’d been almost gentle in his dealings with her personally.

  Because he wanted something from her.

  She had a sudden memory of the blackened skull that had been staring at her when she woke.

  She was shivering, she realized.

  Why? Because that skull could be that of the son of this man who had been responsible for Jane’s shooting?

  Stop analyzing. She didn’t want to think of that skull right now.

  She drew a deep breath and turned on the lights. No furniture in the bedroom but a rollaway bed that was folded up and pushed against the wall. She went to the bathroom and found it to be equally small, with a single vanity and an enclosed glass shower a few feet away. Pristine white tiles on the floor and inside the shower. No window, as Doane had told her.

  But there was a small duffel resting on the closed lid of the toilet.

  She slowly unfastened the case and opened the lid.

  Underwear, pants, tunic tops. A plastic bag with shampoos, soaps and other personal items.

  A chill went through her. And every brand was the same as she used every day at the cottage. For the first time, the claim that Doane had made about those years of long surveillance actually hit home.

  She felt … violated.

  She zipped the duffel shut and turned and leaned against the vanity. This privacy invasion was such a small thing in the scheme of what Doane had done to her.

  No, it wasn’t. The very intimacy of the act loomed large indeed. It made her want to break something, anything. That’s right, do something stupid just to relieve her feelings. Put things in perspective and be a grown-up. It was the only way to—

  She had caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

  Her face was pale and dirty, her hair tangled. Her clothes were rumpled and mud-stained. She looked like a victim, dammit.

  She was not a victim.

  All right, pull yourself together and show that bastard he had not done anything to you that couldn’t be overcome, she thought. Use what he gave you and make it your own.

  She locked the door and turned on the shower.

  * * *

>   “I’M AFRAID THESE DINNERS ARE cold. You took longer than I thought,” Doane said, when Eve came out of the room forty minutes later. “I wasn’t expecting you to take a shower.”

  “No, you probably thought I’d hurry back out and let you make me jump through hoops.” She strode toward the chrome table in front of the kitchenette. “I won’t jump through hoops for you, Doane.” She sat down at the table and gazed at the pot pie on the plate. “You’re right, unappetizing.” She began to eat. “It doesn’t matter. I’m hungry.”

  “And you don’t want to become weak,” Doane said quietly as he sat down across from her. “Now I did expect that from you. You’re a strong woman, mentally and physically. You’d have a horror of losing that strength. I just didn’t expect you to bounce back so quickly.”

  “Why am I this hungry? How long was I unconscious?”

  “It’s been almost twenty-four hours.” He took a bite of his pot pie. “We had a long way to go.”

  “And where am I?”

  He shook his head.

  She hadn’t expected an answer. “I’ll get away from you, Doane. Don’t think you’re going to get away with this.”

  “I will, you know.” He smiled. “Things don’t go wrong when you plan as precisely as I do.”

  “Evidently, you didn’t plan on Blick’s shooting Jane. That went very wrong, Doane.” She added fiercely, “And you’ll suffer for it, you son of a bitch.”

  “I’ll just have to make adjustments.” His smile faded. “And I do regret causing you this upset.”

  “Upset? Massive understatement. What adjustment can you make that would make me less upset?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that while I waited for you.” He frowned. “You won’t be able to be reasonable until you know that Jane MacGuire and Ben Hudson are not permanently injured. I obviously need you to be put at ease on that score.”

  She tensed. “So what are you going to do?”

  “It’s difficult. You wouldn’t really believe any hospital or law-enforcement unit, would you? You’d think I managed to rig it.”

  “Since you’re so clever about your planning,” she said sarcastically.

  “I really am clever,” he said soberly. “I have a talent. But in this case, I believe I’m going to have to risk having you talk to Joe Quinn.”

  She inhaled sharply. “Is this a trick? You said it was too dangerous.”

  “We can work around it. You wouldn’t trust anyone but Quinn, and I have to have your mind at ease.” His gaze went to the skull across the room. “But we have to come to an arrangement.”

  “You want me to do a reconstruction,” she said flatly. “Why? You seem very sure that skull is that of your son, Kevin.”

  “I’m almost sure. They lied to me, but I know that he’s my Kevin. I feel it.”

  “Then check the DNA.”

  “That’s difficult.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not ready to share that with you yet.”

  “And I’m not ready to do a reconstruction on your son, Doane.”

  “But you’ll do it,” he said. “Because you want to talk to Joe Quinn, and I won’t let you do that unless I have your word.”

  She was silent. “That’s a high price.”

  “No, there’s something else.” His expression was troubled. “I’m having trouble with Blick. He wants to go back and finish the job he started. He said that Kevin would want him to do it. I need to tell him that you’ll cooperate.”

  “The job he started,” she repeated. A ripple of pure fear went through her. Don’t let him see it. “You mean Jane.”

  “It’s not my wish,” he said gently. “Blick lacks control, and he’s waited a long time. He needs hope, Eve.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit.” She was silent. “You’re saying that you’ll let him kill Jane unless I do the reconstruction.”

  “I’m saying that your lack of cooperation might prevent me from stopping him,” he corrected. “I can’t control him from this distance if he gets upset. It’s up to you, Eve.”

  His voice was soft, his expression kind … and regretful. It seemed impossible that those words held deadly intent.

  She mustn’t pay any attention to his expression. It was those words that counted, together with the actions of the past days. “And what will happen after I do the reconstruction?”

  “Why, then I’m out of your life,” he said. “That’s all I want from you. But I must have that one service from you.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “I can’t help that, but it will be easier if you do.”

  She stared at him, trying to think, weigh her options. She didn’t have any options but the one he was offering her. Not now. It would buy her time, and that was a gift in itself. The only gift. “I have to talk to Joe. I have to know that what you’ve said about Jane’s being alive is true.”

  “And then you’ll cooperate?”

  “As long as I have to do it. I don’t promise not to try to escape if the opportunity presents itself.”

  “That goes without saying. Of course, you’ll have to accept that it may be a danger to Jane MacGuire if you try and fail before you finish the reconstruction.”

  Eve felt a streak of pure rage sear through her. “I accept the fact that you’re a cowardly son of a bitch for threatening an innocent woman. This Blick may not have obeyed your orders when he shot Jane, but if he hurts her now, it will lie squarely at your door, and I will never stop until I punish you for it.”

  He nodded. “I understand. You’re naturally protective of your daughter.” He put down his fork and pushed his plate away. “I knew you’d be like this when I found you and started watching you. It’s natural with your background that you’d treasure and protect the family you’ve created to take the place of the one you never had. It must not have been easy to be illegitimate, with a mother who didn’t even know who your father was and on drugs all the time you were growing up.”

  “I made it through. Some people had it much rougher.”

  “Did they?” he asked softly. “I know all about Bonnie, the daughter you lost, and your search for her. That was very, very rough. We’re a lot alike, Eve.”

  “The hell we are.”

  “Oh, but it’s true. There’s no stronger bond in the world than that between a father and child. We both love our children more than life itself.” He added sadly, “And it’s the tragedy of that life that we can’t bring them back to be with us. I loved my Kevin the way you loved Bonnie. I feel your pain, Eve. I hope before this is over you can forgive me enough to feel mine.”

  His voice was sincere, and so was his expression. She could almost believe him. “You deserve any pain you feel, Doane. I never tried to victimize innocent people to find my daughter’s remains. And you’ve evidently found your son. Let him go.”

  “I can’t.” He cleared his throat. “It hurts me to see him like this. I want to bring him back the way he was. He had such a handsome face. Everyone who looked at him wanted to touch him, be with him.” His lips twisted. “And then they did that to him. I can’t bear it.”

  “Who are ‘they,’ Doane?”

  He shook his head. “You’re not ready to hear about Kevin. You’d only say you didn’t believe me. We have to become closer.”

  “Closer.” She stared at him in amazement. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Yes, it will. I knew when I found it was you that it was meant to be. You’re going to give me back my Kevin the way he was, and I’m going to give you what you want most in the world.”

  “I want Jane, Joe, and my friends safe.”

  “Yes, you wish that, too.”

  “Too?”

  He smiled. “You’re much more complicated than that, Eve. I told you that you’re like me.”

  “Stop saying that.”

  “Of course. I’m disturbing you, and that’s the last thing I want to do.” He pushed his chair back. “It’s time to take your mind off
it for a bit. Are you finished eating?”

  “Yes.” She leaned back in her chair. “But I’m not doing anything about your reconstruction until I talk to Joe.”

  Doane’s brows rose. “But that’s what I’m trying to help you do.” He reached in his pocket and brought out a pair of handcuffs. “But I have to ask you to wear these for a while.”

  She instinctively recoiled. “The hell I will.”

  “Shh. I don’t have any dire intentions. You can see I have to protect myself if I let you call Quinn. I’m going to allow you less than a minute of conversation. And you can’t call him from here. We’re going to take a little drive on the slim chance that he can trace the call even for such a limited time. I can’t let him trace it back to this place. I’m afraid I can’t trust you once we leave here, so you have to be secured. I’ll fasten the cuffs to the seat belt of the truck and as soon as I get you back here, I’ll take the cuffs off. Isn’t that reasonable?”

  She was silent a moment. “Yes.”

  “Then your wrists please.”

  She reluctantly extended her hands.

  “Excellent.” He quickly slipped the cuffs on and snapped them shut. “Now we’ll get this over so that we can clear the decks, and you can get to work. Shall we go, Eve?”

  She got to her feet. “Where is my phone?”

  “I’ve put it safely away with that gun I found in your jacket pocket. I have one that I made sure couldn’t be traced in the glove compartment of the truck.” He was leading her toward the door. “It’s a shame we can’t use your cell phone. I want this call over quickly, and he’d recognize your ID and pick up immediately. We can only hope he does that with my phone.” He opened the door. “You don’t mention where you are or give him any hint that he might guess. You ask your questions, tell him you’re safe, then good-bye. One minute, Eve.”

  “I don’t know where I am, dammit. How could I tell him anything?” But she had to find a way to give Joe something to go on, she thought desperately as she followed Doane from the factory. Where was she? Was there anything distinctive?

  Oh, yes. The mountains in the distance. Not soft, old mountains. New, sharp, craggy, reaching for the sky. Probably the Rockies. That meant she was somewhere in the West as she’d already suspected. The coin factory looked more like a large log cabin and appeared to be nestled in a hollow of some sort, no other houses were nearby. The ancient red truck was parked to the side of the factory beside a utility shed of some sort.