“No, I’ll leave that to you. I want to check the forensic records on Jenny to see if it triggers anything.” She grabbed her computer and got out of the car. “But I’ll go across the street to the park and find a bench with a bit of sunshine. I’ve had a chill from that wood where Jenny was buried ever since we went there. I want to see sunlight and hear birds singing.”
He nodded. “I’ll call you when I finish. Then we’ll go to the apartment where Walsh lived for a while and question the neighbors.”
“Right.” She nodded. “I doubt if we’ll find anything. You said he had a fairly clean record here.”
“Which means he’s being very careful. Or that he was incompetent while he was in the U.K.” He added grimly, “But he wasn’t clean while he was in Mexico. Maybe that was his training ground.” He turned and walked toward the front entrance. “But everyone slips, we’ve just got to find where Walsh made his.”
Eve watched him disappear into the precinct before she turned to cross the street. She knew he was right, but so far, Walsh had not made a slip. He had killed that officer from the Sheriff’s Office and the FedEx driver. He had stolen Jenny’s reconstruction.
He had killed Jenny.
And, as far as she could see, there had been no errors.
That didn’t mean they didn’t exist.
She entered the stone park gates and dropped down on a green bench several yards down the path. There was a fountain sparkling a few feet away, and she could see a children’s playground in the distance.
Two good, bright things to balance the darkness.
So don’t think negative.
*
“That’s right, Mama. You always find a way to get around the bad things.”
Bonnie.
Eve felt a surge of pure joy as she saw her little daughter sitting on the edge of the fountain, dressed in her usual jeans and Bugs Bunny T-shirt, the spray in the background framing her riot of red curls. She hadn’t realized until this minute how frightened she’d been that Bonnie hadn’t appeared to her for so long. “It would be easier not to be negative if I’d had a little help from you, young lady. You’re not a very reliable ghost. Where have you been?”
“Here and there.” Bonnie’s small face lit up with her brilliant smile. “It’s hard to explain since you haven’t been here. You know that I can’t be with you all the time.”
“And I accept it.” She paused. “But you scared me the last time you came to me. You said that you might not be able to come to me again. I’m glad you came to your senses.”
Bonnie chuckled. “And you told me you wouldn’t have it. As if you could do anything about it.”
“I can be very persuasive. Maybe somebody up there likes me.”
“Everybody likes you, Mama,” she said gently. “That’s why I got to come to you in the beginning.”
“Well, there’s no reason why you can’t keep up with the status quo. Why change anything?”
“It wouldn’t be my choice. And it may not happen. But things are going to change, and I don’t know how that’s going to affect us.”
“Not at all,” Eve said flatly. “Go tell them that.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bonnie’s eyes were twinkling. “I’ll do my best. But I haven’t been here long enough to have much influence.”
“Then tell them that I need you. You told me that the reason they sent you is that they knew I needed you. That hasn’t changed. I was just thinking the other day that I needed you to come and help me understand—”
“Jenny,” Bonnie said. “You’re having trouble understanding what’s happening to you.”
“So is she. She’s not like you. You have trouble now and then with blanks. But Jenny doesn’t seem to know anything about who she was or what’s happened to her. At least not the details.”
“It’s coming back to her. Soon she’ll know everything. I think they wanted a blank slate when she came to you.”
“Why?”
Bonnie shook her head.
“Does that mean you don’t know?”
“I’m getting glimpses now and then. I don’t know everything.”
“And you don’t want to tell me.”
“I always want to tell you everything.” She added gently, “Sometimes I can’t do it.”
“Then tell me why Jenny. I’ve never before had a reconstruction who actually appeared to me. Why Jenny?”
“She needs you.”