“Brad and I finished in the basement, and I don’t know where anyone went after that. Actually, I was in a hurry to leave. Nikki and Adam aren’t here for very long.” She gave him a broad smile. “At least tonight you can go home and get some sleep. I won’t be alone.”
He accepted that, though he didn’t seem to be much happier. He went on to ask Adam if he was also from New Orleans.
“Adam owns a company in Virginia called Harrison Investigations,” Eileen inserted.
Leslie fought hard to keep her eyebrows from shooting up. Did Eileen know exactly what Adam did?
“I see. Historical investigations?” Joe asked.
Leslie lowered her head, smiling. She was coming to know Joe. By tomorrow, he would know everything about Adam, Nikki and Harrison Investigations.
At last the evening ended. They waited on the sidewalk with Eileen while her driver brought the car around, and then they started walking back to Hastings House. Leslie pulled back a bit, linking her arm through Joe’s.
“What’s going on?” she asked him.
He looked down at her. “Tell me more about what you were doing in Virginia.”
“What?”
“Virginia. When you were working down there. You left New York City after you were released from the hospital, and you started working in Virginia. Were you working with Laymon and Brad from the beginning?”
“Yes. It was Laymon’s project. He approached Brad, and Brad approached me. Where is this going, Joe?”
“The work was intense?”
“We worked fairly intensely, yes, but it was that kind of dig, a major project. An entire burial ground, an old churchyard. We made all kinds of finds. Civil War weapons and bullets, canteens…and Revolutionary artifacts, as well. It was slow-going, because there were so many separate layers to sift through. Which we’ll find here, too, but—”
“Did you take days off?”
“Of course. No one works endlessly.”
“Did you have weekends off?”
“Depending on what was going on. Joe, please, what are you getting at?”
They had reached the house; Adam and Nikki were waiting politely ahead on the sidewalk.
“You can say anything in front of them,” Leslie said. “Trust me, Adam has had government contracts that far outweigh our problems.”
Joe stared at her for a minute, then reached into his jacket pocket. He unfolded a large color photograph.
She frowned at him, then looked at the photo. She instantly recognized Genevieve O’Brien, and her heart fluttered. She hadn’t said anything to Eileen or anyone else about the image that had sprung into her mind when she had touched Eileen’s hand, but now…seeing Genevieve’s face, she felt a swell of empathy. She’s alive and she’s suffering, but she’s fighting. She’ll never give up, never.
“It’s Genevieve,” she said. “I don’t know who the other woman is.”
“A prostitute—one of the women who disappeared.”
“And who is the man?”
“Look closely, Leslie.”
She couldn’t complain that the light wasn’t good, because they were standing directly under a street lamp. She stared at the photo, then gasped. She stared back at Joe.
“It’s Brad.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“Whatever it is, I intend to get it from him,” he said firmly.
She shook her head uncomfortably, suddenly aware that Adam and Nikki had walked over to stand by them and were looking at the photo, too. “This is Eileen’s niece.”
“Genevieve, yes,” Adam said.
“And she’s with your partner,” Nikki added, having apparently recognized Brad more readily than Leslie herself had.
“There has to be an explanation. I mean, you can’t assume someone is guilty of something just because he’s in a photograph,” Nikki said.
“It’s enough for me to get the police to bring him in for questioning,” Joe said.
“Joe, don’t do that. Talk to Brad yourself first, please. It’s just ridiculous to assume that he’s been abducting women just because of a photograph, and even more ridiculous to think he blew up Hastings House. Or that he’d try to hurt me or Matt. He’s not like that, Joe. He’s a good guy. Really.”
Joe clearly wasn’t convinced. Adam and Nikki kept silent on the subject.
Leslie set a hand on Joe’s arm. “Please, go slowly with this. Don’t…I don’t want to create a problem while the dig is going on.”
“The dig. Right,” Joe said disgustedly. “Amazing that a chunk of ceiling fell down just when you were there. Was Brad around when it happened?”
“I’ve told everyone. I had been in the crypt alone,” Leslie said.
“Had been. Who exactly was there after the collapse?” Joe demanded.
She looked at him, blinking. She thought back, remembering.
“A number of people—including you,” she said meaningfully.
“I arrived later, I had to shove through a crowd to get to you. Who was there when you opened your eyes?”