And standing on the hill beside the cottage she saw Eve, with Joe beside her.
She kept her gaze fixed on Eve as she started to climb the hill. The agony and numbness were still present, but the love and warmth of all their years together was suddenly there before her, within her. All the death and sorrow surrounded her, but Eve was alive, and that was enough for right now.
Eve stepped away from Joe and held out her arms. “Jane?”
And Jane went into her arms and laid her head on her shoulder.
Are you watching, Trevor? It’s what you’d want for me.
Yesterday … Today … Tomorrow …
* * *
THE SUN WAS RISING IN A GLORIOUS, blinding burst of orange over the ocean, and Eve stood on the beach, lifting her face to the morning breeze.
Freedom.
It seemed so long since she had felt this sense of freedom from threat and ugliness. She had held that smothering fear at bay, but it had always been there in the background, waiting to pounce and take her down. Now she was almost afraid to lower her guard.
But if she didn’t embrace freedom, then Doane would win.
She would not let him win.
She glanced back at the hillside, which was crawling with police and forensic teams digging up those driftwood graves. They had already found one poor little victim from the directions she’d given them. They were still searching for the other child.
“You don’t have to stay here.” Joe was walking down the beach toward her. “Let the police do their work.” He slipped his arm about her waist. “I want to take you home.”
“And I want to go home.” She leaned back against him. “But I need to finish it, Joe. I can’t walk away.” She looked at Jane, who was sitting on a craggy rock down the beach. “But she shouldn’t be here. She’s hurting, Joe.” She shook her head. “And she’s changed.”
“Yes.” He brushed his lips against her temple. “And so have you.”
“What? No, I haven’t.” She frowned. “How?”
“You’re stronger. I can see it, feel it.”
She was silent. “I thought maybe I was just getting harder. I hated Doane for having the power to do that to me.”
“Not harder. It’s just that everything that’s not essentially you has been peeled away. What’s left is strong … and beautiful.”
She tried to laugh. “You’re prejudiced, Joe.”
“I’ve studied every nuance and quality that makes you who you are. No one is a better judge.” He suddenly whirled her around in his arms and buried his face in her hair. “And I love every single bit of who you are.” His voice was hoarse with feeling. “God, I’m glad to have you back. I was going crazy.”
The pain and passion in his voice was thick with intensity, and it shook her to her core. “Me, too.” Her arms tightened around him. “Doane and Harriet caused so much pain … and maybe the worst thing they did was giving birth to Kevin. All the evil in both of them seemed to be embodied in him. Even after he was killed, the evil seemed to grow. It reached out to me and you … and Jane. Oh, God, Jane.”
“Give her time. She’ll survive.”
“No choice.” She paused. “Trevor has no family. I offered to have him buried at the lake on that hill beyond the woods. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course it is. Is it okay with her?”
“I think so. She’s hurting too much to make many decisions. I’ll broach it to her again after we get home.”
“That’s a good idea.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “Zander wants to speak to you. He asked me to tell you.”
“He’s still here? I thought he’d gone. He disappeared after all the police and CIA agents got here.”
“That shouldn’t surprise you. He’s uncomfortable with law enforcement.” His lips twisted. “And they’re uncomfortable with him. Most of them would prefer he not be around for them to worry about.”
“You included?” she asked quietly.
“I would have said yes several hours ago. The arrogant bastard runs his own show, and he took a big chance with you.”
“And now?”
“He saved you. We might not have gotten here in time, and he saved you. What the hell am I supposed to say? I’m still pissed off at the way he did it, but he did do it. So that means I have to be in his corner.” He pushed her back away from him. “So go up and talk to him. He said to take the path that goes behind the cottage.”
She nodded and turned away. “Why don’t you go up to those rocks and sit with Jane? She won’t want to talk, but she’ll like it that you’re there.” She didn’t wait for an answer but started across the beach toward the hills.
The path wound behind that driftwood graveyard down the hill and around to the next hill. It was only as she turned the last bend that she saw the smoke curling from a small fire.
Zander was sitting cross-legged in front of the fire, and he looked up as he saw her. “Does this remind you of that campfire we shared in Colorado?” He smiled. “That seems a long time ago, doesn’t it?”
“Not really. Not to me.” She sat down opposite him. “And I don’t think you asked me to come here to reminisce. That’s not your style, Zander.”
“And why do you think I did want to see you?”
“I don’t know. But I know why I wanted to see you.” She paused. “You saved my life. I wanted to thank you.”
“Don’t be maudlin.”
“Gratitude is not maudlin. And you’re not accepting it at all graciously. But, then, I didn’t expect anything else. It’s too human and probably makes you feel uncomfortable.”
“Very perceptive. You’ve gotten to know me entirely too well. It’s time we parted company.”
She stiffened. “By all means, don’t stay around anyone who might make you feel something besides curiosity and boredom.”
“My thought exactly. That could be very dangerous for me. Look what happened with you. I got a busted arm and almost ended up dead.”
“I never asked anything of you.”
“I know,” he said softly. “That’s the problem.” He looked across the fire at her. “You make me ask it of myself. How much more dangerous that is, Eve.”
She couldn’t look away from him. He had become so close to her. How could that be when she still didn’t understand him? He was an enigma that she wasn’t sure she could ever solve. But she wanted to solve it, she realized with sudden desperation. She wanted to understand him. “So you’re telling me that you’re leaving? I didn’t expect anything else. It’s not as if you have anything to keep you here.”
He nodded. “That’s right. Nothing at all. Nothing has changed.” He smiled. “And I didn’t bring you here to bid you a fatherly farewell. As you said, not my style.”
“Why did you bring me?”
“I have a good-bye gift for you.”
“What? Now that’s truly maudlin, Zander.”
“No one would ever describe this gift as maudlin.” He reached behind him into the tall grass and brought out a leather case. “I don’t think you would either.”
She stiffened. She knew that case too well. “Is this your idea of humor?”
“Would I be that cruel? Well, I would, but not to you, Eve.” He unfastened the case. “No, this is a true gift. You’re never going to forget these days with Doane, but you have a chance of its gradually blurring. But not if you know this is somewhere in the world.” He drew out the reconstruction of Kevin and studied it. “You did a magnificent job on him. He’s been with you every minute, in your mind, under your fingers. The stuff of nightmares…”
“Yes.” She forced herself to look at the reconstruction. Is it over, Kevin? Has your power to silence vanished? Have you faded back to the hell from where you came?
No smothering sense of evil.
No reaching out to grasp and take.
Has he gone, Bonnie?
“He frightened you?” Zander’s gaze was narrowed on her face. “Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” But the fear was gone, she realized. Bonnie’s answer?