Sleep No More

CHAPTER

4

“WHY DIDN’T YOU PICK UP?” Piltot snapped when Pierce answered. “I’ve been calling you for the last four hours.”

“I was busy.” Pierce pushed away from Stella and sat up in bed. “And I believe you should be a little more courteous, Piltot. You can be replaced.”

“No, I can’t. You wouldn’t like it if someone else was handling your patient records, would you? And I’m tired of your bullshit. You’re not leaving me to handle this mess alone.”

Piltot was genuinely upset, and that didn’t bode well, Pierce thought. Piltot was usually subservient and easily handled. “I didn’t mean that as a threat. I was joking. You’re right, we’re in this together.” He gave Stella a poisonous glance as she laughed. “Now, what’s the problem?”

“I received a call from a Detective Joe Quinn with the Atlanta Police Department asking questions about Beth Avery’s disappearance from the hospital. Atlanta? How the hell did they even know about her?”

Pierce muttered a curse as he swung his legs to the floor. “How do I know? What did he say?”

“That they’d received a report that an inmate had wandered off, and they were asked to follow up.”

“Report from whom?”

“Quinn said it was confidential. But he was damn persistent. I think we’ll hear from him again.”

“That’s not an emergency. Troublesome, but not a danger. I’ll take care of it in the morning.”

“The only way you’ll be able to take care of it is to find that damn woman and bring her back here. It’s been three days. Why haven’t the police been able to do it? It’s not as if it should be that difficult. I’ve seen her, and she’s almost a vegetable.”

“I said I’d take care of it.” He tried to keep the edge out of his voice. “Keep calm and let me know if you hear from him again.” He hung up, then dialed Drogan. “We’ve got a problem. How close are you to finding her?”

“She took a bus from Santa Barbara and got off in San Francisco.”

“Great,” Pierce said sarcastically. “Since San Francisco is such a tiny city, you should be able to locate her with no problem at all.”

“She took another bus from the same station south again. She’s doubling back for some reason.” He paused. “And where did she get the money for that bus? Could she have stolen it?”

“Maybe from one of the nurses. No one is careful around her. She’s harmless.”

“She’s not harmless. Find out where she got the money. If it wasn’t stolen, then someone had to have given it to her. If that’s the case, then we may be in luck if you can zero in on her source.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“I never count on anything. Just furnish me with a list of the people who had the opportunity to help her, and I’ll do the rest.”

“I’ll see about getting it for you. But you said you’d find her yourself, do it.” He added, “Keep in touch. I may have another job for you. Things are coming apart here at the hospital.”

“And you want me to fix it for you. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He hung up.

Son of a bitch.

“Trouble?” Stella was smiling maliciously. “You always seem to be having trouble with Drogan. You can’t handle him, can you? I’d like to meet him. I bet I could handle him.”

“I might send for him and let you try. I couldn’t lose either way.” He was thinking. “Tomorrow, drift around and see if any of the nurses have been missing any money from their purses or the petty-cash drawer in the desk. Be tactful.” He grimaced at the thought of “tactful” and “Stella” in the same description. “Or at least don’t throw up any red flags.”

She nodded. “Are you going to tell Nelda about the call from this cop?”

“Not if I can help it.” He was beginning to feel the same panic he had heard in Piltot’s voice. They had kept the story of Beth Avery’s escape very quiet, with absolutely no media coverage. How had the story leaked to a cop in Atlanta? Keep cool. He’d manage to do damage control. “Tomorrow I think I’ll pull one of the women patients out of the ward and put her in a solitary room. I’ll tell the police it’s Beth Avery, and she came back on her own.”

“And you’ll have me taking care of her and covering for you. Boring.”

“You’ll do what you’re told.” He frowned. “I’ll tell Nelda the same thing I’ll tell the police until I actually find Beth Avery. Though I may still have to break down and tell her that the situation isn’t contained. It may be necessary to have Nelda check into who filed that report in Atlanta. She has the political clout to do it.”

“But that would annoy her, and she’s already angry with you.” She lay back down on the bed and stretched lazily. “Maybe she’ll hire Drogan to take care of you, too. I think I envy her. I’ve often wondered how it would feel to be able just to lift a finger, and someone dies.”

“Well, you don’t have that power,” he said roughly as he came over her. “I’m the one who is in control.”

“And you want to show me right now,” she said. “Go ahead, I don’t mind. Screw me. Hurt me. But no matter how many times you do it, I’ll still know I’m the one who is really in control.” She smiled up at him. “Someday, you’ll realize that, Harry. If you live long enough…”


8:15 A.M.

Charleston, South Carolina

“PIERCE.” NELDA AVERY’S LIPS TIGHTENED as she hung up the phone. “He said they’ve found Beth, but the situation is too volatile to take any final action now. He was assuring me that he had everything under control.” She threw her napkin down on the breakfast table and stood up. “Fool. He’s probably lying to me. Does he think I don’t have my hand on the pulse of the situation out there?”

Her husband, George, looked up from his newspaper. “I’m sure that Pierce won’t make any more mistakes. He’ll be careful. He has too much to lose.”

“Not as much as we do.” She gave her husband a contemptuous glance as she headed for the French doors. He was as much a fool as Pierce. Lazy and foolish and unable to function properly in a world where every step was watched and criticized. Why couldn’t she have married a man who had brains as well as money? “I’m going to the carriage house to see Rick. Remember that we have an appointment with the campaign publicity manager at ten.”

“I know.” He was reading his paper again. “You reminded me an hour ago.”

Because she had to be the one to keep all their ducks in a row. They were close, united in purpose, but she wouldn’t allow him to pull her down after all her hard work. “We need this campaign manager. He’s the best in the business. Be charming.”

“Tell that to Rick. That’s not my job.” He glanced up at her. “I’m the moneyman.”

There was a distinct coolness in his expression that made her hesitate. Had she pushed him too far? She forced a smile. “You can be charming. Why else would I have married you? And Rick may be totally charismatic, but you have a steadiness and sophistication that he’ll never possess.” She opened one French door. “If you don’t want to be involved in the campaign, I’ll take care of it. You’re such an asset that I wanted to show you off.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Nelda,” George said. “I’ve never felt good about this, but I just let you do what you wanted because I love my son. But it’s getting dirtier and dirtier, and I don’t like being in this deep.”

Because he was a coward and couldn’t see that you had to risk everything if you wanted to reach your goals. “You say you love Rick. We have to fight for him, don’t we? He can climb so high. That’s what we both want for him. How many parents can give the Oval Office to their sons? But we have to protect him.”

George wearily nodded his head. “Yes, I guess we do. I’ll meet with this campaign person.”

“I knew you would.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll do most of the talking. You’ll only have to deal with him on a minor level.” She left the room and headed for the carriage house.

Ken Spoder, Rick’s bodyguard, was lying in a lounge chair by the pool and smiled at Nelda as she approached. Muscular, tanned, and completely assured. “Good morning. You don’t look as if it’s a good day for you, Mrs. Avery. Maybe I can brighten it up for you. The town-hall meeting went great last night. Everyone loved Rick.”

“Everyone always loves Rick,” Nelda said. “That’s not one of his problems.” She paused. “How has he been, Ken?”

“Good. I told you that I could take care of it. I don’t let him make any missteps.”

Because she paid him a small fortune to make sure that he watched Rick like the proverbial hawk. “You’d better not. I wouldn’t like that. I haven’t come this far to have him brought down now.” She met his gaze. “I’m not pleased about a situation in California. I may need someone I can trust to take care of it.”

“Trust. You? I’m flattered. But I can’t watch Rick from California. Since his wife took off for Florida a few weeks ago, I’m the only one who can keep him … stable. And we both know that it would only take a few hours to blow everything.”

He was right. Rick was the most important part of the entire equation. She thought about it. “It might not take long, and I can control Rick if I’m with him. I’ll have to see if I think—”

“Mother, what are you doing here?” Rick strolled out of the carriage house. He was dressed in bathing trunks and looked fit and handsome, and his smile was as bright and warm as the sunlight. She felt a surge of love as strong as it was fierce as she gazed at him. He had been the center of her life since the minute he had been born. And George was quibbling about everything they had to do to realize the potential that Rick possessed? “I thought I wasn’t going to see you until dinner tonight.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You look wonderful. That suit has to be from Paris.”

“New York.” Nelda smiled. “We have to have everything made in the U.S.A. The time of Jackie Kennedy and her Camelot doesn’t resound in this climate.” She took his arm and drew him a few yards away from Ken Spoder. “I just wanted to tell you that everything is going well with poor Beth. She’s safely back at the hospital.”

Rick smiled with relief. “That’s good. I was worried.”

“But you let me take care of everything.” She added meaningfully, “And that’s why things turned out as they should. If you’d gone out there as you wanted, it would have ruined everything. After all, there was no reason. You haven’t even seen Beth since the accident.”

“You told me that she wouldn’t even know me.”

“That’s right, and it would have upset her.” She put her hand on his arm. “And she’s much worse now, Rick.”

“I know.” He shook his head. “Sad … she means so much to me, Mother. I didn’t get to see her very much when she was little but later I grew to know and love her. And I think she loved me, too.”

“And we’re going to take care of her just as we always have.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now go in for your swim. Ken tells me you were wonderful last night. You’re so good with handling people.”

“It’s fun. The speeches are almost the same every time, but most of the people who attend those rallies are pretty cool.” He was still not smiling. “I’ve been thinking about Beth a lot lately. I’m glad that she’s safe.”

“I know you are. But you have to forget about her now. We have too much to do.” She stepped back. “Bye, Rick. Have a good day.”

She was halfway back to the house when she heard a splash as he dove into the pool. A moment later, she heard him laugh and say something to Ken. Hopefully, she had stopped him from dwelling on the Beth problem. Thank God he was usually easy to distract. Though he had been very stubborn about Beth, and she hadn’t been able to budge him, dammit.

Beth had been a problem for years, and Nelda had always known she could be a threat to her plans for Rick.

She wouldn’t allow it.

If Pierce had bungled it, she would take care of eliminating that threat herself.


Seventeen Mile Drive

11:40 P.M.

IT WAS RAINING AGAIN.

She was wet to the bone, Beth realized as she ran down the beach toward the big house. It had been raining hard all day, and that wasn’t bad as far as she was concerned. This was California, where rain was probably not that common, and people tended to stay inside, not tempted to ask questions if they saw her on the road or beach.

She liked the rain on her face. It felt good. She had never been permitted to go outside when the weather was nasty or threatening. The doctors had to keep her well and free from germs or disease. Why? Why be so careful to keep her well, then try to kill her?

Don’t think. Just keep moving. She could puzzle everything out later.

Now she was climbing the dunes toward the house on the hill. All she had to do was reach the front door and enter the security code. Billy had given her the code, and there weren’t supposed to be any guards on the beach side of the property at this hour. She’d go inside and dry off and be safe for a little while.

But only for a little while. Billy had told her that she couldn’t trust anyone, that she had to figure out things for herself once he got her away from the hospital.

She felt a tingle of fear. Figure out things for herself? No one had let her think at all during these years. It was like a cripple learning to walk with no one standing beside her to hold her up if she fell.

But she wasn’t a cripple. She would not fall. Memories were coming back to her all the time about her life before the hospital. She had not been weak then, and she would not be weak now. Billy had told her she was to take this time to remember and find the answers he couldn’t give her.

“Hey, there! This is private property. You’re trespassing.”

A man in a security uniform was coming toward her! Dammit, Billy had told her there would be a guard, but she’d forgotten.

She whirled and stumbled back down the dune toward the beach. Go away and hide and come back later.

She heard his shout behind her. “Wait. What are you doing here? I want to talk to you.”

He was skidding down the dune behind her.

No!

Run.

Keep on running.

He was cursing.

Was he gaining on her?

Run …

* * *

RUN.

The phone on Eve’s nightstand was ringing as she struggled out of the depths of sleep and the tentacles of the dream …

Joe. She had been expecting him to call all evening. “What’s happening, Joe?” She tried to control the harshness of her breathing. “I thought you were going to call me before I went to bed.”

“Sorry. I’ve been on the phone most of the afternoon and evening. I wanted to know more before I filled you in.” He paused. “You okay? You sound kind of blurry.”

Rain and sand and a security guard chasing her down the beach.

“I’m fine. You woke me. Why have you been on the phone?”

He was silent. “Because I don’t like what’s going on here. When I went to the local police station this morning, I was told that the case was closed. Beth Avery had wandered back to the hospital last night during a rainstorm and was now safe in the hands of Dr. Pierce and his staff.”

“Just what you said you hoped would happen. But it’s a curious coincidence. Beth wandered away and just wandered back?” She added dryly, “That’s a lot of ‘wandering.’”

“It could have happened. But I went to the hospital to check it out and see Beth Avery. I saw Piltot, the human resources manager, I saw Dr. Pierce, but I didn’t see Beth Avery.”

“Why not?”

“According to Pierce, she was exhausted and disturbed and was to be kept in seclusion for the next few days until she recovered.”

“They wouldn’t let you see her?”

“They showed me a woman huddled in a bed, obviously drugged and out of it. They said to come back on Friday, and they’d see about letting me talk to her.” He paused. “But that wasn’t Beth Avery unless she’s changed beyond imagining. When I got back to the hotel, I called the records office of the private school she’d attended in Geneva and got them to send me a photo of her. I’ll forward it to you. Yes, she was younger and vibrant back then, but other than the dark hair, I couldn’t see any resemblance to the woman in that hospital bed. I’ve been calling that detective, Herman Dalker, but I haven’t been getting an answer. I’m trying to track him down.”

“And I’m going to call the school and see what I can find out about Beth. I want to talk to someone who knew her before she went into that hospital.” She added grimly, “And I want to know what happened that led her to run away from it.”

“I’m going to give you the answer that the hospital or a psychiatrist would give you: imaginary fears, schizophrenic delusions, or some other mental problem. And we couldn’t argue, Eve. We don’t have the facts.”

Heart pounding, sand beneath her shoes, rain on her face. Don’t let them catch me. Figure it out. Why …

“Speak for yourself. I can argue,” Eve said fiercely. She hadn’t even known the words were tumbling out until they were said. “You may have to have the facts because it’s your practical nature. I think she ran away because she was afraid. And not imaginary fear, Joe. She doesn’t know why, but she knows they want to kill her.”

He was silent. “Would you care to explain?”

“I don’t have an explanation. Not a reasonable one. I just think…” She drew a deep breath. “That dream the other night? I think it was Beth. It was the night she ran away from the hospital. I think I was running away with her. There was an ocean, a hospital … I was a part of her, feeling what she felt. I know it doesn’t make sense. Or maybe it does. I didn’t even know Beth existed when I had that dream. But perhaps she wasn’t meant to be alone any longer. Maybe God or fate or someone else decided that Beth deserved a break and needed a little help.”

“Someone else?” He paused. “Bonnie?”

“It’s possible.” Even probable. She could see the loving spirit of her Bonnie trying to arrange Eve’s life to suit herself. “Bonnie’s come to me in dreams before.”

“I know she has. From about a year after you lost her.”

Yes, Joe knew and accepted the fact that the ghost of Bonnie was still with Eve, which was a blessing beyond price. “It could be she just gave me a little push in Beth’s direction. Oh, I don’t know, dammit.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “But I was dreaming about Beth again when you called tonight. She was still running, but she was on the beach. There was a big house where she thought she’d be safe…”

“You’re sure it was Beth?”

“Yes, it was much clearer than the other dream. I know all this is weird as hell, Joe.”

“A little. But we’ve gone down that road before and survived. I trust you. If you believe it, then I’ll go along with you.”

“I believe it. Beth was thinking about someone named Billy. Billy had given her the security code to the house.” She was thinking. “So this Billy will know where we can find her. Someone at the hospital?”

“If I can get the password, I can check the personnel records on the computer without letting the staff know.”

“Which won’t be easy.”

“Not for us. But I know someone who might be able to get it for me.”

“If they can get into the personnel office.”

“That goes without saying. But if I can convince her to take the job, I’ll worry about access later. She can be stubborn as hell.”

“She?”

“Kendra Michaels.”

“A detective?”

“No. Yes. Sort of,” he said. “She kind of writes her own ticket.”

“But we need her?”

“We need her. She’s unique.”

“Then we’ll get her,” she said grimly. “I’m taking the next flight out.”

“I thought that would be your reaction. But take that flight to San Diego. That’s where she lives and works. I’ll meet you there.”

“San Diego,” she repeated. “I’ll let you know which flight. Bye, Joe.” She hung up and, a moment later, heard the ping as the photo Joe had promised her was transmitted. She accessed the photo of Beth Avery.

She felt a ripple of surprise.

“Vibrant,” Joe had called her. That was an understatement, the face of the girl in the photo was glowing and eager and so alive that it was like an electric shock. A thin, triangular face with full lips and brown eyes beneath winged dark brows. Her shoulder-length hair was also dark brown and wildly curly.

Like my Bonnie’s hair, she thought. Not red-brown, like her daughter’s tousled curls, but it looked to have the same shining texture and wild buoyancy. For some reason, she had not expected to see any family resemblance in Beth Avery. Eve still couldn’t think of Beth in that context. She saw no likeness to either Sandra or herself, but that cap of curly hair had given her a start.

And that vibrance and sheer love of life in Beth’s expression had touched … and angered her. No one who loved life that much should have it taken away from her.

Cool it. She was jumping to conclusions. She couldn’t be absolutely sure that Beth had been a victim of anything but a terrible accident. Because Eve had believed she’d shared the thoughts of that woman in those crazy dreams didn’t mean that those thoughts were sane and coherent.

Bullshit. Don’t back away now. There had to be some reason that she’d had that first dream of Beth. Some reason that Sandra had come to them with her confession about Beth at just this time. Life wasn’t always fair or kind, but she’d learned from Bonnie that there was an order to it that couldn’t be denied.

* * *

“I’M GLAD YOU LEARNED that much, Mama.”

Bonnie.

She was sitting in the rocking chair by the window, dressed, as usual, in her Bugs Bunny T-shirt, with her leg tucked beneath her. The moonbeams streaming through the window were touching her curly hair with light.

Eve felt a rush of pure love as she gazed at her. “Well, it’s about time you came around. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

“No, you didn’t. You know better.” Her smile lit her small face. “I told you that I wasn’t going to be around as often as I was before. You don’t need me as much now.”

“The hell I don’t. I always need you.”

“You love me, you don’t need me. You’re free of me now that you know where I am and who was to blame for my death. Now we can just enjoy the love.”

All that wisdom and maturity in one small spirit. Bonnie had told her a long time ago that she couldn’t remain the seven-year-old little girl she had been before she died. Souls matured and became what they were meant to be. But Eve wasn’t about to let Bonnie talk her into letting her drift away from Eve. “That doesn’t mean you can’t come around more often.”

Bonnie threw back her head and laughed. “Mama, you never give up. Admit that you didn’t miss me as much as you did before.”

“I will not.” She added grudgingly, “Okay, I didn’t feel as sad and hollow, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss you. I was just thinking of you a minute ago.”

“I know. Me and Beth.”

She stiffened. “What do you know about Beth?”

“Not a lot. I know she’s afraid. I know she’s strong like you. So strong.”

“Even now? In her photo, she looked very strong, but that was when she was a teenager.”

“She’s stronger now. She’s had to fight, and that makes you develop all kinds of inner strength. You don’t know how hard it was for her.”

“I can imagine.” She paused. “I’ve been dreaming about Beth. Was it—” Bonnie was shaking her head. “No?”

“I can’t do that kind of thing. Dreams aren’t easy. I have a hard enough time contacting anyone myself in a dream state. I sure can’t link anyone else up.”

“Then what happened?” Her lips tightened. “I didn’t imagine it, Bonnie.”

“Don’t be defensive. I’m not the only one around who cares about you … and Beth.”

“But that’s why you came, isn’t it? It’s Beth.”

“No, it’s you,” she said gently. “You need her. I want to build a wall around you of people you love and who love you. That way you won’t want to come to me too soon, Mama.”

“I don’t love Beth. I don’t even know her.”

“It will come. All the more reason to go help her.”

“I was going to do that anyway. I promised Sandra.”

Bonnie tilted her head and smiled.

“Okay, there’s something wrong going on,” Eve said. “It needs to be fixed. But I can’t promise I’ll love this woman just because she’s my sister. It doesn’t work that way.” She frowned. “And I don’t need any walls of people around me. I have Joe.” She had a sudden rush of panic at a sudden thought. “I do have Joe, don’t I? Nothing’s going to happen to Joe.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I can’t promise, but I think Joe is going to be fine.”

“What do you mean, you can’t promise? You scare me and tell me about surrounding me with people so I won’t try to come to you, then you won’t guarantee—” She stopped. “I know. I know. No guarantees.”

“That’s right.” Bonnie leaned back in the rocking chair. “All I can guarantee is that we have a little while together right now, and that feels very good to me. Do you really think that Beth has hair like mine?”

“Sort of. It’s darker, of course.” Eve slowly curled up against the headboard, her gaze fastened on Bonnie. Any time with Bonnie was good time. “I like yours better.”

“She’s my aunt, isn’t she? How strange…”

The words took Eve off guard. “Yes.” Yet the idea of Beth having a bond to her Bonnie was even more jarring than the knowledge of her own relationship.

Beth and Bonnie … together.

“Are you trying to make me more aware of the family connection?”

Bonnie smiled. “Yes, it worked, didn’t it?”

“Maybe.” She smiled back at her and shook her head. “We’ll have to see, won’t we? You’re not at all dumb, baby.”

“Neither is Beth, Mama. She’s just lost…”

* * *

EVE’S PLANE LANDED IN SAN DIEGO at 12:17 P.M. the next day, and Joe met her at baggage claim ten minutes later.

“You look rested.” His gaze was searching her face as he took her bag. “You managed to get some sleep?”

“Enough.” She followed him through the doors to the parking lot. “Where are we going?”

“To the studio of Dr. Kendra Michaels.”

“Studio? She’s an artist?”

“Definitely an artist at what she does. Though she doesn’t paint, she’s a musician. I understand during her wild days she traveled the country singing and playing her guitar to earn her living in coffeehouses, on street corners, wherever.”

“‘Wild days,’” she repeated as she got into the passenger seat of the rental car. “Okay, talk to me. Who is this Kendra and how can she help us find out what happened to Beth at that hospital? She sounds like a colorful character, but we don’t need color, we need efficiency.”

“I’ll let you judge whether she can produce after you meet her.” He drove out of the parking lot. “But I’ll fill you in on her background. And, yes, she’s definitely colorful. She was totally blind until she underwent an operation when she was twenty. She had a number of years after that operation in which she tried to make up for lost time in ways that were sometimes not socially accepted.”

“The wild years?”

He nodded. “When she got tired of sowing wild oats, she settled down and completed two advanced degrees. She has a doctorate in psychology and a master’s in music theory. From what I understand, she’s done a lot of important research in the field of music therapy. She also sees clients, mostly special kids, at her studio.”

“Well, that’s a switch. I can’t see any connection between a wild-ass street entertainer and the educator she’s become.”

“Evidently, Kendra made one.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, you can’t tell what drives her. You have to go along for the ride.”

“And how far is that ride going to take us to finding Beth?” She frowned. “I still don’t see her value, Joe. And how did you come across her?”

“Do you remember I was out here a couple years ago trying to track that serial killer, Tim Vick? The local police were cooperating, but we were coming up with zilch. One of the detectives had used Kendra on another case the previous year and suggested I try to get her to help.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, she’s not a psychic or something?”

“No.” He chuckled. “Though your horror is a little misplaced, don’t you think? It’s not as if you don’t believe that there are legitimate psychics.”

“But they’re very rare, and phonies abound. If Kendra wasn’t a psychic, why did the police call on her for help?”

“She has a rare talent. She was born blind due to a degenerative corneal disease in the womb. She’s totally brilliant and developed all of her other senses to a phenomenal degree. She compensated by using her hearing, smell, touch, every sense she had. Then, when she was twenty, a stem-cell procedure gave her sight. She applied that same discipline she had learned when blind to everything that crossed her field of vision. Now, nothing gets past her. She can walk into a crime scene or indeed any other scene and pick up on things no one else can see. Often, she can put together those impressions and come up with answers. An agent at the FBI San Diego field office told me that she once cracked a case by walking into a room and hearing that its echo had a different quality than the rooms next to it.”

“It sounds kind of spooky.” She grimaced. “Shades of Sherlock Holmes.”

“Exactly.” He grinned. “I knew you’d be skeptical. I was, too. You have to meet her.”

“Which we’re obviously going to do. I’ll have to decide if I think we should use her after I talk to her.”

“Use her?” His smile widened. “That may not be the way it works out. We’ll have to ask her nicely, then try to persuade her when she tells us to go to hell.”

“What?”

“Kendra doesn’t like being taken away from teaching her kids. Or her research. Every now and then, she’ll do a job for the police or FBI, but it’s rare. She turns them away all the time.”

“But you said she took the Tim Vick case?”

“Not at first. She turned down the local police when they asked her.”

“But she didn’t turn you down?”

“I was more persistent. After I decided that maybe she could help, I analyzed her refusal and went back to see her and attacked her weakness.”

“And what was her weakness?”

“The kids. She was devoted to teaching special kids. She’s one tough lady, and I don’t think she lets many people under her guard. But Tim Vick killed six children during his rampage in Atlanta. I just brought it to her attention that if we didn’t catch him, he might kill more in San Diego.”

Clever, Eve thought. Joe was always thinking, always searching for the answers, and he usually found them. “She gave in?”

“Grudgingly. She likes her own way and doesn’t like to be involved in police work. She wasn’t pleased that I’d found a way to manipulate her against her will.”

“Was it worth your trouble?” She was trying to remember the details of the case. “Did you get Vick?”

He nodded. “And, yes, Kendra was definitely worth the trouble. She’s fairly incredible. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I hadn’t thought she could get us the information we need.”

“Then we’ll find a way to get her to go along with us.” She wrinkled her nose. “But this time, we have no children in danger to dangle before her to get her to help us at that hospital. Is she really that difficult?”

He pulled into a strip mall. “In a few minutes, you’ll be able to judge for yourself. I called her from the airport, and she said she didn’t want to see me, but she’d give me thirty minutes so that I wouldn’t keep bothering her.”

“Did you tell her I was coming with you?”

“No, she knows nothing about you. She saw to it that we didn’t get chummy enough for confidences while we were working on the Vick case. She did her job, but she definitely resented my pulling her into it.”

“That doesn’t sound promising.”

He shrugged. “She’s tough.” He checked his watch. “She’s probably still busy with an appointment. She told me that I’d have to wait in the viewing room until she was finished.”

“Viewing room?”

“Some of Kendra’s students are autistic or have big-time emotional problems, and she likes to work with them alone and without interference. But she gives the parents the opportunity to watch the lessons from an observation room with one-way glass if they prefer.” He nodded at a small brick building. “Her office is right over there on the left.”