“I know.” She went into his arms. Caleb had said there would be comfort, but that was not true. There was love but not comfort. The world was still barren. She had the horrible feeling it would always be barren. “I’ve always told people that I’d know if anything ever happened to Eve, that I’d feel it. But now I’m not sure. Maybe that’s what I’m feeling now.” The tears were running down her cheeks. “Is it, Joe?”
“No, because it’s not true. I won’t let it be true.”
“Jane.” Trevor was beside her. Warm, kind, loving. “There’s a chance. Don’t lose hope yet.”
“That’s what Caleb said you’d tell me. He said go to Trevor, and he’ll comfort you.” She said, “He’s getting to know you very well, Trevor.”
“Because I won’t give up until we get an ID.” He said gently, “And, give me the opportunity, and I’ll wrap you in all the comfort that this world provides. It would be my privilege.” He turned away. “I’ll leave you two alone. You don’t need anyone else right now. I just talked to a Howard Stang, who said he could get a doctor here right away. I think we need to get you looked at, Quinn. You may have some cracked ribs.”
Joe wasn’t listening, Jane realized. He was staring—stunned, numb—at the blazing firestorm that seemed to be growing in intensity by the moment, feeding on itself.
Devouring air, devouring life, devouring hope.
Eve went into that saloon and never came out. Dozens of witnesses. Jane, all focused in hopes that Eve would walk out of there.
Dozens of witnesses …
Give me a miracle, Eve. All my life with you you’ve made every day a miracle. I need a miracle now.
But the panic was starting, piercing the numbness, and desperation as she stared into the searing depths of that fire.
Oh, God, no miracle this time, Eve?
* * *
“I’M SORRY, JANE.”
She looked up to see Venable standing a few feet away.
He looked genuinely sorry, she thought dully. Too late. Everything was too late.
“That’s nothing to how sorry you’ll be if Joe finds out that it was one of your damn bullets that caused the saloon to blow.” She gazed at Joe, sitting beneath the trees several yards away and being bandaged by the doctor that Stang had somehow managed to get down here. “He’s in shock right now, but he’ll go crazy once it hits home that Eve is dead.” She moistened her lips. Joe wasn’t the only one who would go insane. She was barely holding herself together now. “Caleb said he was going to go talk to you. Did you see him?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t want to ask the question. Her glance shifted to the flames. The fire had spread, jumping from house to house. Soon, the entire town would be ablaze. The final death of a ghost town, she thought.
As if in response, she heard the mournful wail of a wolf somewhere in the foothills. Mourning the end of a town. Mourning the end of Eve …
She braced herself, then looked back at Venable. “What did you tell Caleb?”
“That I wouldn’t stage any attack without attempting to determine the location of the people in the house. Standard operating procedure. We had infrared scopes trained on the building.” He was standing very straight, looking her directly in the eye. “There were two people inside that saloon when it exploded.”
She couldn’t breathe. She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach.
“Jane.” He stepped forward with hand outstretched. “I can’t tell—”
“Don’t touch me.” She jerked back from him. “I don’t want anyone to touch me.” No one but Eve. But Eve was somewhere in that hideous firestorm that was taking over the town.
Or maybe not. It could be that her Bonnie was beside her, taking away that horror. I never believed that she came to you, Eve. I wish I could believe it now. God, I want to believe it.
But Joe believed that Bonnie was always with Eve. Maybe if Jane went to him, touched him, stayed with him, he would make her feel it, too.
She got to her feet. “You’ve told me what you had to say. I don’t want to talk to you any longer, Venable.”
“I realize we had a disagreement about the way to free Eve, but it wasn’t any of my men who set off that explosion. I want you to know that. It’s going down in my report as a probable murder-suicide.”
“Very tidy.” She shook her head. “But I’m wondering how anything as chaotic as what went on here could be that tidy. Are you covering your ass, Venable?”
“I’m just doing my job. It’s the truth and—”
“I don’t want to hear any more,” she interrupted. “Not now.” She started across the distance to Joe. “I’ve got to tell Joe what you just told me, and I’m not looking forward to it.”
Put one foot in front of the other. Look straight at Joe. He was staring at her. Did you see me talking to Venable? Are you hoping against hope?
There’s no hope, Joe.
Except perhaps the hope that there’s a little girl somewhere who will love and take care of our Eve when we cannot.
She reached Joe and sank down on the ground beside him. “Hi.” Hold on. Don’t cry. Then he’d feel as if he had to comfort her. She leaned against his shoulder, touching, trying to give warmth when there was no warmth. “I have something to tell you, Joe.”
* * *
“YOU TOLD HER?”
Venable turned to see Zander standing in the shadows behind him. “Hello, Zander. Why are you lurking around here? Doane is dead. Your hunt is over.”
“You told Jane MacGuire about the infrared?”
“Yes. How did you know about that?”
“I was up the mountain talking to your tech guy five minutes after the saloon blew. I had him show me the recording. I needed to know.”
“Because you had to confirm the kill?”
He smiled faintly. “Of course, why else? You know what a stickler I am.”
“But you’re still here.”
“Because I have a feeling things aren’t quite right. You’re not quite right, Venable.” He glanced at Jane and Joe Quinn. “And I’m … disturbed. So I believe I’ll stick around for a while.” His glance shifted to the burning wreckage of the town. “She managed to create quite a stir, didn’t she?”
“Eve?”
“Yes, who else is this about? She’s the one who appears to reach out and touch everyone. Even you, Venable. Which is why I’m surprised that you’d risk her like that.” He added softly, “Perhaps she even reached out and touched me the faintest bit because I find I’m angry that you’d do that to her.”
Venable stiffened warily. “Is that a threat?”
“I don’t threaten. You wouldn’t even see it coming.” Zander turned away. “But my curiosity is flaring as high as this bonfire of a town. You’ll have to satisfy it, Venable. Or I’ll do it myself.”
The next moment he had faded once more into the shadows.
* * *
THE WOLF WAS HOWLING again.
Margaret lifted her head and looked away from the blazing fire to the foothills.
At first, she had thought that the cry sounded mournful, but that was not the case. There was distress and anger and something else in that lonely howl.
And why was the wolf sticking so close to this hellish firestorm? she wondered curiously.
She glanced at Jane, sitting with Joe and trying to hold away the horror that was already upon them. Jane did not need her right now. She probably wouldn’t even know that Margaret was gone.
The wolf howled again.
I’m coming. I’m not the one you want, but I have to know …
She started to walk toward the trees.
By the time she reached the foothills, she realized the wolf was a male, and he was not alone.
Careful. Go slowly. A wolf pack was very dangerous. She could sometimes reason or soothe a single wolf if he proved intelligent. She had also even dealt effectively with packs. But the pack mentality often overcame everything else … and left only carnage.
Where are you? I won’t hurt you. Let me come close, and I’ll show you.