“No, we don’t have the time.” She reached the bathroom and held on to the jamb for a moment to steady herself. “Two days. Harriet wants it over in two days. That means Eve could be dead in two days. I can hold out until all this is over. Please don’t argue with me, Trevor.”
He muttered a curse and was across the room in seconds. “Argue with you?” He drew her into his arms, cradling her. “God, all I want to do is hold you, love you. Can’t you see that? If that’s what you want, then I’ll make it work for us.” He was rocking her gently. “There’s never going to be a time that anything I do will hurt you. I’ll never leave you or lie to you. The only person you trust is Eve, and I can understand that. But give me a chance, and you’ll find that I’m worth trusting, Jane.” He drew a shaky breath and pushed her away from him. “You don’t need this right now. Hell, I don’t know if you’re clearheaded enough to realize that I mean every single word.” He opened the bathroom door and gave her a little push. “Wash your face. I’ll do a video checkout and we’ll be out of here.”
She stood before the vanity for a moment, staring at her reflection before she turned on the water.
Trevor was wrong.
She was confused, and her emotions were in a tumult of panic and joy and fear. Yet it was as if she were seeing a brilliant sunrise breaking through darkness.
Because with all her heart, she did believe every word Trevor had said to her.
Woodstock, Illinois
“KENDRA?” MARGARET SAID when the other woman answered. “Hey, I’m on a bus heading for Chicago, and I thought I’d catch up on what you’re doing. Talk to me.”
“You do pick the most convenient times for conversation,” Kendra said dryly. “It’s after midnight here, Margaret.”
“But you weren’t asleep. I gave you a puzzle to solve and a gigantic challenge.” Margaret chuckled. “I knew you’d be burning the midnight oil when I e-mailed you those letters. Have you found anything interesting?”
“Other than corruption, evil, sadism, and a hint of incest?”
“All of the above.”
“No, there are a few references that might have some meaning. I’m going back to the journal to see if I can connect the dots.”
“What references?”
“Harriet evidently installed a healthy respect in Kevin for both her and her profession as an expert on English Literature. There are a few mentions of places they’ve visited that seem innocent but may not be. I’m working on it.”
“You may not have much time.”
“I’ve been working on that assumption since Quinn first called me. Now you throw these letters at me and make that ticking clock go into overdrive. It’s not as if—” She suddenly broke off. She was silent a moment. “Maybe…”
“Kendra?”
“I’ve just thought of something. I’m going to hang up now, Margaret.”
“How rude. You’re just going to leave me hanging?”
“That’s right, until I figure out if what I’m thinking has any potential.” Her tone was still abstracted. “And what are you doing on a bus headed for Chicago anyway?”
“Now you ask me. Doane’s wife is on the lam, and I was left to make my way there on my own. Well, actually, Jane would probably have found a way to bring me to Ground Zero, but I chose to do it my way.”
“You and Sinatra. Why?”
“I wanted Jane to be a little worried about me and take it out on Trevor and Caleb. They deserve it.”
“Wicked, Margaret.”
“Justice, Kendra. I’ll let you go now. I can tell you’re only half listening to me. That mind of yours is going into high gear now that you’ve managed to make a leap.”
“Not a leap. Not yet. Just a baby step.”
“But you think you’re onto something. You’re excited.”
“Cautiously excited.”
“I don’t think that’s a concept I understand.” She chuckled. “But I don’t understand a hell of a lot of what makes you tick, Kendra. I just accept and enjoy.” She paused. “Will you call me when the caution is gone, and you’re just plain excited?”
“Of course. Don’t be silly,” she said. “But I wish I was there. I hate being out of the action.”
“You may be initiating action on a grand scale if you’ve found the key to that journal. So get to work.” She added mischievously, “And I’d dearly love to be the one to hand Jane a clue that Caleb and Trevor couldn’t give her. It would prove just how wrong they were to leave me behind.”
“As I said, wicked.” Kendra was laughing as she hung up.
Perhaps a little wicked, Margaret thought, as she leaned back in the seat. But all actions had consequences, and Caleb and Trevor had to realize that any action taken against her would be paid in full. She owed a debt to Jane, and that meant she had to give her what she wanted most in the world.
Eve.
She looked out into the darkness at the countryside passing outside the window. She had never met Eve, but she had caught a glimpse of her strength and endurance at that horrible explosion at the ghost town in Colorado. She deserved to live, dammit. Margaret was feeling a strange closeness to her, as well as to Jane.
It’s going to be okay, Eve. Things are happening. We’re all working to get you back. And we’re not going at this blind any longer. Kendra is onto something …
Lakeside Marriott
“YOU LOOK TERRIBLE,” CALEB SAID bluntly to Jane when he opened the door of his hotel room. His glance switched to Trevor. “Couldn’t you get her to rest? What good are you?”
“Shut up, Caleb.” Jane came into the room. “I did rest. And you should be concentrating on Harriet and not on me. Did she have any other calls?”
“No. By the sound of her breathing I think she’s asleep.” He watched Jane as she dropped into a chair by the table across the room. “She was out on her balcony for a while, then went inside to bed. I’m still monitoring her.” He nodded at the two machines on the table. “One is a motion machine that allows me to be certain she’s still in the room, and the other will record any phone calls.”
She looked at the two machines on the table beside her. “So small. Snooping is definitely hi-tech these days. Are they difficult to operate?”
“No, in this day and age, everyone spies on everyone else. They have to make it simple. Piece of cake.”
“Good.” Trevor closed the door and moved across the room. “Then I’ll take over the monitoring. You have something else to do.”
“What?” Caleb’s eyes were narrowed on Trevor’s face. “You’re very … tense. What are you up to?”
“I am tense.” He met Caleb’s gaze. “You have no idea.”
Caleb stiffened. “No, but I can sense a certain animosity. What did I do?”
“Nothing.” Jane was suddenly noticing that same crackling animosity Trevor was emitting. She had been so hazy that she had been oblivious to it before Caleb’s question. “Absolutely nothing. Back off, Trevor. I can’t cope with this right now.”
“I know,” Trevor said harshly. “You can’t cope with a damn thing at the moment, and that’s what’s driving me crazy.” He turned back to Caleb. “You’re right, she looks like hell, and I think she has a fever again. She won’t go to the emergency room. Not with that two-day deadline Harriet gave Doane. But she’s sick and getting sicker. I can’t take that.” His hands clenched into fists. “I can’t watch that happening to her.”
“So you’re blaming me?” Caleb said. “I was able to use touch to cause the blood flow in her body to have a temporary healing effect on that wound. But I told her at the time that what I did to her wouldn’t last if she didn’t get rest. She knew that, Trevor.”
“I know you did.” He was silent, then said through his teeth, “So do it again.”
Caleb’s eyes widened. “Did I hear you right?”
Jane gazed at Trevor in total shock. It was the last thing that she had expected.
“Oh, yes,” Trevor said. “This blood thing you did with her worked on the wound before. You told her it would work again. Were you lying?”
“No, it will do the job. Because she also has my blood due to the transfusion, I could probably do it several times before it proves without value.”