He shrugged. I had to be prepared. I had Gil get IDs for everyone who was at Barrett House. I thought it might come down to this.
Damn him. He had not only known the trouble he was involving her in, he had planned on it. And I suppose you had Gil set up phony credit cards for all of us too?
He nodded. But I brought enough cash to see us through most situations.
Youre absolutely incredible.
I had to be prepared, he repeated.
She had to get out of the room, or shed do some-thing violent.
Call Margaret. She headed for the bedroom. Im going to phone my mother and tell her to be ready to go.
Her phone will be monitored, you know.
Im not an idiot. I know theyll be watching my mother. Ill be careful, but Ive got to warn her. Ill use my digital phone and call her on hers.
She has a digital too?
Of course. Joe got them for us. He says there are all kinds of creeps out there listening in on cellulars. Digitals are almost foolproof.
I should have known it was the ubiquitous Mr. Quinn, Logan murmured. Is there anything he doesnt think of?
No, hes a good friend and he keeps us safe. She gave him a cool glance over her shoulder. I can guess why you wouldnt understand that concept.
THIRTEEN
Sandra had seen the morning news, and it took Eve ten minutes to get past her exclamations of relief and deflect her barrage of questions to tell her that Mar-garet was coming.
What do you mean, I have to leave? Sandra said. Whats going on, Eve?
Nothing good. I cant talk about it.
Is John Logan really dead?
No. Look, Mom, its going to be nasty, and until I get it cleaned up, I want you somewhere safe and out of public view.
Safe? Im safe here. Joe stops by every other day, and that black and white is parked out in front every night.
Mom hellip; She had to find a way of convincing her. Do what I ask. Please. Its bad. Trust me. Im scared of what may happen.
Scared? Sandra was silent. I believe you are scared. I havent seen you act like this since Fraser She broke off and then said, I want to see you.
I cant come there. It would only endanger you.
What are you mixed up in, Eve?
I cant tell you that either. Will you do this for me?
I have a job. I just cant run off
Theyll kill you, she said baldly. Or theyll use you to kill me. Is that what you want? For Gods sake, tell the office you have a family emergency. Believe me, its true.
Kill you, Sandra repeated, and for the first time Eve heard fear in her voice. Im going to call Joe.
Im going to call him myself. But he may not be able to help you. Dont leave the house and dont open the door to anyone but the person I send after you.
And who is that?
Christ, what if they found a way to monitor the conversation? She couldnt have Margaret a target. Theyll have ID. Ill fax a picture No, her fax machine had been destroyed along with almost everything else in the lab, and besides, a fax might not be safe. Ill get a photo and information to you somehow. She paused. And, Mom, dont go any-where with anyone else, no matter what kind of ID they show you. Not the police, not the FBI or Secret Service. No one.
When will this person be here?
I dont know. Soon. I dont even know how theyll contact you. They may not want to come to the house. Just do what they say. Okay?
Im an adult, Eve. I dont go blindly where Im led. God knows, I did enough of that when I was growing up. She sighed. Okay, okay, Ill go along with this. But I wish to hell youd never heard of John Logan.
Me too, Mom. Me too.
And you take care of yourself.
I will. She paused and then said impulsively, I love you.
My God, now I am scared. You dont get sappy very often. She said awkwardly, I love you too, Eve. She quickly hung up the phone.
Eve pressed the end button on her phone. Ex-pressing affection was still never easy for either of them. There had been too many years of noncommu-nication during Eves childhood.
But Sandra knew she loved her. She didnt have to say it.
She braced herself. Now Joe.
She quickly dialed Joes private digital phone number.
He picked up immediately.
Joe?
A silence, and then his voice came low, hard. What the hell are you up to?
Can you talk? Is there anyone around?
Im walking out to the parking lot. Why didnt you call me? Why the hell didnt you return
I was busy. Stop yelling at me.
Im not yelling. It was true, but every word was laden with anger. I could strangle you.
You may have to stand in line.
Is that supposed to be funny?
No. Im in trouble, Joe.
Thats pretty clear. Did you kill Logan?
Her hand tightened on the receiver. What?
Did you kill him?
Are you nuts?
Answer me. Look, if you did it, I know it was self-defense, but I have to know so I can fix it.
Why would you think Of course I didnt kill him. Hes not dead. Its all a lie.
Silence. Then Id say youre in very deep shit. Have you seen CNN?
About Barrett House burning? Yes, I know about that.
No, the latest bulletin. The one that mentions you as a suspect.
Me?
Novak, that hotshot lawyer of Logans, was in-terviewed, and he said you were staying with Logan at Barrett House. He paused. He said you were Logans lover and he had been concerned about the relationship because you were unbalanced.
Son of a bitch.
They know about Lakewood, Eve.
She stiffened. How could they know? How could anyone know? You buried the records. You promised me that I
I dont know how they found out. I thought I had it covered.
You should have been more Christ, she was blaming Joe for something that wasnt even his re-sponsibility. They mentioned Lakewood?
Yes. He paused. I told you that there was no reason to hide it. Theres nothing wrong about
It seems there is reason.
Joe cursed softly. Tell me where you are. Ill come to you.
She tried to gather her wits. I shouldnt see you. As long as youre not involved youll be
Tell me. I am involved. Tell me or Ill hunt you down. Im damn good at hunting.
She knew better than anyone else how deter-mined Joe could be. Im coming to Atlanta. I need to see Kessler. Ill meet you at the Hardees parking lot out in Dekalb at ten tomorrow morning. Thats about six blocks from Emory.
Right. He didnt speak for several seconds. How bad is it, Eve?
Big-time. It couldnt be any worse.
Sure it could. You couldnt have me to help fix it.
She smiled shakily. Thats true. That would make it worse. She thought of something. Will you dig up a picture of Logans assistant, Margaret Wilson, and run it over to my mother? Tell her that Margaret is the one whos going to help her.
Help her do what?
Shes going to see that Mom gets to somewhere safe.
Im taking care of her. There was an edge to his tone. You dont need any other help.
Dont do this to me, Joe. I need all the help I can get. Will you get the picture to her?
Of course Ill do it. But youd better have a damn good reason for not trusting me.
I do trust Maybe hed understand when she explained everything to him. She thought of some-thing else. And will you find a picture of James Timwick and a man called Albert Fiske, who works for him? Bring it with you tomorrow.