“It’s very pretty. You’re very pretty.” Her smile faded as a thought occurred to her. Had Jenny been killed in this white eyelet dress? Bonnie always appeared to Eve in her jeans and Bugs Bunny T-shirt she’d worn when she was taken. Forget it. Accept that Jenny had appeared in an outfit that she’d worn while alive to please Eve and let any sadness go. “Thank you for being so thoughtful.” She lifted her cup to her lips and took a sip of coffee. “I just wish that you could remember a few other things besides that dress.”
“I’ll try.” Jenny was smiling eagerly. “Things are coming back to me all the time. But this did please you, and it’s easier than the rest. There are all kinds of confusing stuff that I don’t think I’m supposed to know yet.” She tilted her head. “Maybe we’re supposed to find out together.”
“I don’t think so, Jenny. Sheriff Nalchek has better ways than I do to find out what happened to you. I’m sending your reconstruction back to him today.”
Her smile faded. “I know that’s what you said. I thought maybe you’d change your mind.” She lifted her chin. “But that’s all right. I know you’re busy, and you have Joe. I’m sure everything is going to work out fine. I just don’t know how right now.”
And Eve was having that now-familiar urge to comfort and hold her. “Neither do I. But I’ll be in contact with the sheriff, and he’ll give me progress reports on what’s going on with you. He’s a good man and he cares what happens to you.”
Silence, then a wistful, “But he’s not you, Eve.”
What was she supposed to say to that?
“I’ve upset you. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Jenny added quickly, “There’s always the music.”
The music again. It seemed to be Jenny’s safe haven when she was upset or afraid. “Yes, you told me it was always there. What kind of music?”
“All kinds. I like Chopin best. He makes my heart sing. Though Brahms soothes and takes away the pain.”
And it was breaking Eve’s heart that she was the one who had caused that pain. She moved toward the reconstruction. “I have to do the computer program on the reconstruction now. But you might remember something else, that there are always the memories of you that are held by the people who loved you.” She added, “Who still love you, Jenny.”
No answer.
Jenny was gone.
And Eve was looking down at the reconstruction of that little girl who had worn her pretty white dress to please Eve and make her happy.
She blinked back the stinging moisture and started to set up her computer.
It’s the right thing to do, Jenny.
12:40 P.M.
“Sorry, I was a little late, Ms. Duncan. I know you requested a morning pickup.” Ted Donner, the FedEx driver, was entering her package onto his computer. “The company had me pick up a few packages on another route.”
“No problem. I had some computer work to do anyway.” She smiled. Donner had been covering this route for the last four years, and he’d always been reliable. “Just so it gets to California tomorrow. I have a sheriff out there who will be on my case if it doesn’t.”
“We’ll get it there.” He turned and ran down the steps. “Have a nice day.”
“You, too, Ted.”
Eve stood there watching the FedEx truck drive away from the cottage and down the road. Usually, she felt relief and satisfaction at a job well-done when she saw her reconstructions depart her custody.
Not this time.
She was feeling sad and a nagging sense that she had failed Jenny.
Nonsense. She had done exactly what Nalchek had asked of her. It was possibly the best reconstruction she had ever done. Any emotional backfire had to be caused by the fact that she had begun to be too close to the little girl. It had been logical and practical for her to send that skull and the other information to law enforcement, who had the means to take the search a step further.
Logical.
Almost from the beginning, there had been nothing logical about her approach to Jenny’s reconstruction. She had that in common with Nalchek. They had both been swept away by the mystery that surrounded Jenny. That might have been a good thing because it had caused both of them to exert all their efforts to solve that mystery.
But now her part was over, and logic had to rule. She’d feel better after she called Nalchek and told him that Jenny was on her way to him.
She turned and went back into the cottage.
Empty.