“A few things. Not much. It looks as if they left in a hurry, and Elena just threw things in suitcases and took off.” She held up two yellow tickets. “Two expired bus passes. One adult, one child.” She handed Eve a small, tan book. “And this. It was in the drawer of the bureau. I think you’ll find it interesting.”
Eve slowly took the book and opened it. Two photos, faded with time. Two little girls, both evidently sisters with those very familiar features. Dressed in shorts and T-shirts, their dark hair wind-tousled. They were smiling at each other: love, closeness, warmth.… “Jenny and Cara,” she said softly.
Margaret nodded. “It looks as if the photo was taken on board a ship. Blue sky. Blue sea…”
“But where?” She looked on the back. “Not a professional shot. Maybe if Joe sends it to the FBI, we might be able to find out. They know all kinds of technical tricks.”
“We can try.” She studied the bus pass. “It’s a local pass. West route. Why would she have a bus pass there when her job is here in the southeast?”
“We’ll have to find out,” Margaret said. “Are you ready to get out of here? I don’t like this place.”
Eve could see what she was talking about. The apartment was neat and clean, and there were even rose and yellow colors in the pillows on the couch. But it was too neat, like a hotel room instead of a home, and there was a coolness about it. It looked … temporary.
“Yes, I’m ready.” She turned toward the door. “I need to get hold of a city map, compare it to those expired bus passes, and see if I can see anything.” She grimaced. “But heaven knows, it would help if I knew what I was looking for.”
* * *
The bitch was scared out of her mind, Walsh thought with malicious satisfaction. Elena Delaney had tried three times to lose him in the past hour, and now she was going faster, trying to escape through sheer speed. She’d be lucky not to be pulled over by the highway patrol.
Would she be tempted to tell them she was being followed?
No, she knew what would happen to her family if she did. She would be polite, accept the ticket, then get back on the road. But that would give him his chance to catch up to her.
No matter what she did, he would eventually have her.
And after a short but very painful time for her, he would also have Cara.
* * *
Eve didn’t call Joe again for another two hours. “I’m on my way back to San Francisco. Margaret and I went to the bus company and asked a boatload of questions but came up with zilch. The passes were paid for in cash and no one remembers Elena Delaney. It would have been too much to hope that she had a cozy conversation with the clerk about where she was going and why she needed a pass.”
“Sometimes it happens like that. Not often. Where does that bus go?”
“On the Pacific Highway, then into some of the subdivisions in the suburbs. I asked to talk to the bus driver who drives the route, but they had to check their records.” She added wearily, “And probably my credentials before they give me his telephone number. It’s been a question of hurry up and wait all day. I’m not getting anything done. I thought I’d start again tomorrow morning.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself. It’s a suspicious world. You know that no one wants to give out information unless forced by authority.” He paused. “Sounds like you need a cop.”
“Joe.”
“Just a thought.”
“Not a good one. You have two more days.”
“Maybe.” He said, “In the meantime, I’ve been looking into Nalchek.”
Eve glanced at Margaret next to him. “Building scenarios?”
“It’s hard to build any case against him. He was in Afghanistan when Jenny was killed. He came back over a year later and worked with his grandfather at his vineyard until his death. His father resigned as sheriff eighteen months later, and Nalchek ran for office himself and was elected by a sound majority.” He added, “No hint of corruption, and he won the Silver Star when he was in the service.”
“So he’s clean?”
“I didn’t say that. I’ve seen pastors who seemed above reproach turn out to be serial killers. I said that on the surface it appears it’s going to be difficult to dig up anything derogative.”
“I don’t want derogative. I want the truth.”
“And that’s what you’ll get. But not in a few hours,” he said. “I’ve got a call coming in from Sonderville. I’ll talk to you when I know something.” He hung up.
Eve glanced at Margaret. “You heard him. Nalchek evidently appears eminently respectable.”
Margaret looked away. “I heard him.”
“But you don’t believe him.”
“If Nalchek was a holier-than-thou type like that pastor Joe was talking about, I’d have more trouble. But he’s very human, and people make mistakes. I believe Nalchek’s capable of everything and anything. Just as we all are if the circumstances fall into line.”
Eve’s brows rose. “You appear to have made a study of him.”
Margaret shook her head. “Sometimes, I don’t think I know him at all. But I do know he’s very human.”
CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER
Joe opened his eyes when Eve pulled back the sheet and slipped into the hospital bed. “Hi, I wasn’t sure that you’d be coming back here tonight. I thought you’d go to your hotel.”
“You thought wrong. I dropped Margaret at the hotel and came to you.” She kicked off her shoes and pulled the sheet over both of them. “And if the nurse tries to kick me out, I’ll tell her I’m in dire need of therapy, and you’re the only one who has the qualifications.”
“What type of therapy?”
“Not the one you’re thinking about. I’m not an exhibitionist. Though I would never be ashamed of anything we do together. It’s all good. Would you?”
He pulled her close and cradled her head against his shoulder. “Hell, no,” he said gruffly. “I feel sorry for anyone who’s missing out on what we have.” He brushed his lips against her temple. “What therapy?”
“It’s hard being away from you. It’s harder not to be able to say yes, to not give you anything you want.”
“You didn’t show it.”
“But you knew it. If you didn’t after all this time together, then we’d have a serious problem.”
“And the therapy you require?”
“Just this. Just to know that no matter how much we disagree, in the end, this is the only thing that’s important.”
He was silent. “You’re not going to get your way if I see a danger, Eve.”
“And I’ll do exactly what I told you I’d do.” Her voice was low. “And tomorrow night, I’ll come back to you like this and you’ll hold me and everything but what’s between us will fade away. Isn’t that true?”
He was silent again. Then he chuckled. “Who am I to deny you therapy? I seem to need it myself.”
“Say it, Joe.”
“Words?” His voice was silken soft. “Yes, it’s true. In the end, everything else just fades away…” He kissed her, then abruptly sat up in bed. “Turn on the lights.”
“What?” she said, startled.
“Do it. In the end everything else fades away. But this isn’t the end, and I have to fill you in.”
She was gazing at him in bewilderment as she got up and turned on the lights. “What are you up to?”
“Doing the only thing you allowed me to do. Pull up that chair.” He took his yellow pad from the bedside table. “I think I’ve got most of it figured out.” He showed her a pad full of notes and crossed-out sentences and questions. “Though there are a few things that didn’t make sense.”
“I can’t make sense of any of it.”
“Okay, take it from the beginning as I did. Walsh. What do we know about him? Yes, he’s a child killer, but what else?”
“You know the answer. Burglar, murderer, human trafficker, drug dealer, and who knows what—”
“Stop right there. Human trafficking. That’s the only crime most likely to connect to Jenny or any other child if you rule out serial killer. We’ve both noticed that Walsh is different; he’s in control, and though he enjoys the kill, he doesn’t let it rule him. He’s an enforcer, and he lived a good life obeying the Castino family. He wouldn’t let a careless, self-indulgent kill interfere with that life.”