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Authors: Iris Johansen

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BOOK: The Killing Game
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“Could I go?” Charlie asked.

“No, you may not,” Spiro said. “You stay here and guard Ms. Duncan. I don't want you out of sight of the cabin, and you make sure those other perimeter guards are on their toes.”

“Eve,” she said dryly. “Formality is pretty silly under the circumstances.”

“Eve.” Spiro smiled. “I suppose you're right. We all may become more intimate than we'd like before this is over. Good-bye. I'll let you know if I find out anything else.” He paused at the door. “Stay inside, Eve. I evidently have more faith in my guys and your friend Quinn than you do.”

As soon as the door closed behind Spiro, Charlie grinned. “I'd better get outside. I could see Spiro wasn't pleased with me for going over his head. It will take a little groveling and strict obedience for me to redeem myself.”

She smiled back, then returned to her bedroom to shower.

Phoenix, Arizona. Two bodies.

Eleven at Talladega. Two in Phoenix. How many more had Dom killed? How could a man murder that many people and remain human?

Was he human? How much evil could he commit without his soul becoming twisted and—

She was cold and starting to shake. Stop it. It didn't matter what manner of monster Dom had become. All that was important was that they catch him and keep him from murdering again.

The hot water poured out of the showerhead onto her body.

But it didn't banish the chill.

         


FOR HEAVEN
'
S SAKE,
stop prowling, Joe,” Eve said. “It's after midnight. Why don't you go to bed?”

“You go to bed. I'm a little tense, okay?”

“You don't have to bite my head off.”

“Yes, I do. It's one of the few things that I'm allowed. There's damn few of them that I can—” He stopped. “Sorry. Maybe I'm getting cabin fever waiting for something to happen.”

So was she, and she didn't feel like being sweet and generous about Joe's nerves. “If you won't go to bed, make yourself useful and go out and give Charlie a cup of coffee.”

“Maybe I will.”

She drew a deep breath as the front door shut behind him a few minutes later. She had never seen Joe this explosive. Ever since that afternoon he'd been—

Her phone rang.

“Did I wake you?” Dom asked.

Her heart was pounding. “No, I wasn't asleep.”

“Oh, yes, you must have slept after you finished working on little Johnny Devon. It was him, wasn't it?”

“I told you I wouldn't tell you anything.”

“Defiant. That means I guessed right. I knew you'd do a fine job. You take great pride in your work.”

“Why are you calling me?”

“It's important that I stay in touch with you, that we get to know each other better. I'm sure that's what Agent Spiro told you. Draw the bastard out. Find out everything you can for the FBI profile. Isn't that right?”

“Something like that.”

“I'll cooperate. But you have to give me something too. I want a profile on you, Eve.”

“You already seem to know a great deal about me.”

“Not enough. For instance, do you believe in reincarnation?”

“What?”

“Reincarnation. Millions of people do, you know. Such a comforting belief.” He chuckled. “As long as you don't come back as a cockroach.”

“What are you talking about?”

“But I don't think God would let your Bonnie come back as a cockroach, do you?”

“Shut up.”

“That hurt, didn't it? I could almost feel it myself. Pretty little Bonnie . . .”

It had hurt. The bizarre idea had stabbed her. Stupid to let him hurt her. Even stupider to let him know he'd hurt her. “It didn't bother me. Why should it? I don't believe in reincarnation.”

“You should consider it. As I said, it could be very comforting. I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Are you familiar with the Bible?”

“Some.”

“It's not my favorite tome, but there are some unique ideas in it. I found one particularly amusing. Genesis 2:22.”

“I don't know what that is.”

“I'll tell you. But first go to the front door and get my present.”

“Present?”

“It's on the left edge of the porch. I couldn't just come up to the front door and leave it with that FBI agent watching you so closely.”

She moistened her lips. “What kind of present?”

“Go get it, Eve. I'll hang on.”

“I'd be dumb to go outside just because you tell me to. You could be waiting for me.”

“You know better. You know I'm not going to hurt you yet.” He paused. “But I won't promise not to hurt Quinn if you call him. This is just between us. Go get the present.”

She moved toward the door.

“Are you doing it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, let's see. They say that the souls of victims of violence are troubled and return to earth as soon as possible. So Bonnie would have been reincarnated immediately.”

“Bull.”

“I killed her ten years ago, didn't I? That means we're looking for a ten-year-old child. Either a boy or a girl.” He chuckled. “Since we've ruled out cockroaches. Are you at the front door yet?”

“Yes.”

“Check the window and you'll probably see your stalwart guard sitting in his car by the lake. That's where he was when I left your package a few hours ago.”

She glanced out the window. Charlie wasn't in the car, he was standing by the front fender, talking to Joe.

“Are you on the porch yet?”

“No.”

“Are you afraid of me, Eve? Don't you want to know what's in the package?”

“I'm not afraid of you.” She opened the door. She was wearing only an old T-shirt, and the cold wind struck her bare legs. “I'm on the porch. Where's the damn package?”

“You'll see it.”

She did see it, a small brown cardboard box on the very left edge of the porch.

“Quinn would say you're foolish to go near it. It might be a bomb or maybe I put some kind of gas or poison in the box. But you know I don't want you injured or dead.”

She did know it. She moved toward the box.

“Or maybe I do. I could be waiting in the shadow of the porch right now. Do you see any suspicious shadows, Eve?”

“No, where are you?”

“But it's so dark on the porch you can't see shadows, can you?”

She stopped in front of the box.

“Eve?” Joe had turned away from Charlie and had seen her.

“Or I might be in my car, miles away. Which do you think is true?”

She knelt beside the box.

“Eve!”

She opened the box.

Something hard and white gleamed inside.

Dom's voice was soft in her ear. “‘And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.' Genesis 2:22.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Joe was beside her, trying to draw her away from the box.

She shoved him. “Leave me alone.”

“God and I have a lot in common. If you believe in reincarnation, then by killing your Bonnie I, like God, created a brand-new human being. Though I didn't actually create her from Bonnie's rib, I thought you'd appreciate the symbolism.” He paused. “By the way, her name is Jane.” He hung up.

The phone dropped from her hand. She stared down into the box.

“Don't touch it,” Joe said.

“I'll call Spiro and get a team down here to check it out.” Charlie ran down the steps toward his car.

“Dom?” Joe asked.

She nodded.

“Did he tell you what this is?”

She nodded again.

So small . . .

She reached down and touched it with one finger. Smooth . . .

Tears began to run down her cheeks.

“Eve.”

“It's Bonnie. It's Bonnie's rib.”

“Shit.”
Joe picked her up and carried her inside. “Son of a bitch. Bastard.”

“Bonnie.”

“Shh.” He sat down on the couch and rocked her. “Dammit, why didn't you call me?”

“Bonnie's rib.”

“It could be an animal bone. He could have lied to you.”

She shook her head. “Bonnie.”

“Listen to me. He wanted to hurt you.”

And he had succeeded. God, how he had succeeded. Pain was searing through her. She had told herself only last night that he had no real weapon against her, that she could control—Dammit, she couldn't stop crying.

And she couldn't stop thinking of that little fragment of Bonnie in that box.

“Go bring it in.”

“What?”

“It's . . . cold out there.”

“Eve,” Joe said gently. “It's evidence. We can't move—”

“Do you think he'd leave any evidence? Go get it.”

“Even if it's Bonnie, she can't feel—”

“I know I'm not being reasonable. I just don't want her out in the cold if I can help it. It . . . hurts me. Bring her in.”

Joe muttered a curse and got to his feet. A moment later he came back with the box. “You're not looking at it again.” He crossed the room and slid the box into a drawer of her worktable. “And it's going to the lab for analysis.”

“Okay.”

“And stop crying, dammit.”

She nodded.

“Oh, shit.” He dropped down beside her and gathered her in his arms. “You're killing me. Please. Stop crying.”

“I'm sorry. I'm trying. It was the shock. I didn't expect—” She swallowed. “He got the response he wanted from me, didn't he?”

“What did he say?”

She shook her head. “Not now. Give me a minute.”

His arms tightened around her. “Take all the time you need. I'll give you ten years if you need them. Why not? Hell, I've already given you one decade.”

What was he talking about? She didn't have a decade. She might not have any time at all. She buried her head in his shoulder, trying to get past the horror of the box and face an even greater horror. “He said that—” She couldn't go on. Not yet.

Her name is Jane.

         


IT
'
S ALL BULLSHIT,
” Joe said flatly. “Reincarnation?”

“Did he sound as if he believed in it?” Spiro asked Eve.

“Not really.”

“Then he could have been manipulating you.”

“He'd like me to believe it.” She smiled bitterly. “That could make it very entertaining for him.”

“He knows you're too intelligent to fall for that crap,” Joe said.

“He also knows I care about children.” Her hands clenched on her lap. “And bones aren't enough for him. What if he's chosen his next victim? What if he can make me a part of the kill, make me the cause of it?”

“Clever,” Spiro murmured.

“It's nice to be so detached,” Eve said unevenly. “I'm not finding much to admire in the bastard.”

“I'm not admiring him, merely assessing his capabilities. And this is all supposition on your part.”

“He went to a great deal of trouble to bring me that box.”

“And it gave you a great deal of pain. He may regard that as enough return.”

She shook her head. “It's just the opening gambit. He hit me with Bonnie. He hit me with the threat to another little girl. And he tried to tie the two together in my mind.”

“And did he succeed?” Spiro asked.

“Of course not.”

Spiro's gaze narrowed on her face. “Not even a little?”

She looked down. “I wouldn't let him do that to me.”

“I hope not.”

“We have to find her. We have to find that little girl.”

“She may not even exist,” Joe said.

“She exists.”

“If she did exist, he may already have killed her.”

She shook her head. She wouldn't believe that. “I don't think so.”

Spiro said, “I'll rush the analysis of the contents of that box and get back to you.” He turned to Joe. “I want to know how Dom got that close to the house.”

“Don't you think I've asked myself the same question a million times? It shouldn't have happened. But it did. Eve needs more guards.”

“This lake curves around like a snake. There's nothing to stop anyone from taking a canoe into one of the inlets and making his way to the cabin. I'd have to set up a two-mile chain of agents to monitor all that lakefront.”

“At least get a truckload of equipment out here and trace his calls to Eve.”

“I don't know how much good it will do,” Spiro said. “But I agree that—”

“No,” Eve said.

They both looked at her.

“If he finds out we're trying to trace the calls, he may not call again. I have to talk to him.”

Joe muttered a curse.

“You know I have to do it, Joe.”

“Oh, yes, he's got you, dammit.”

“And what if he doesn't call you?” Spiro asked.

“He'll call again. Soon.” She lifted her head. “He wants me to know who the girl is.”

“You know who she is. He already told you her name and her age.”

“That was just a tease. Enough to make me worry but not enough for me to find her. We
have
to find her.”

“Then it's your responsibility to convince Dom to tell you more,” Spiro said.

Her responsibility. That was what Dom wanted, for her to be responsible for the life of that child. For her to try to save a little girl she didn't even know.

Her name is Jane.

And she was only ten years old. Too young to know how to fight the monster stalking her.

Just a little girl. She'd be helpless. . . .

         

JANE
'
S FIST LANDED
squarely on Chang's nose and blood spurted. “Give it back.”

Chang screamed and clutched his nose. “Fay, Janie hit me. I didn't do nothing and Janie hit me.”

“Jane, stop it,” Fay called from the kitchen. “And, Chang, quit tattling.”

“Give it back,” Jane said through gritted teeth.

“Thief. Crook.” Chang backed away. “I'm going to tell Fay and she'll have you put in jail.”

“Give—it—back.” She punched him in the stomach and then grabbed the apple that dropped from his hand. She was halfway across the room when Fay said, “Stop right there, Jane.”

Sighing, she stopped in her tracks. Bad luck. A few seconds more and she would have been out the front door.

“She stole an apple from the fridge. She's been stealing stuff for the last two days.” Chang smiled maliciously. “You gonna have her arrested, Fay?”

“What kind of stuff?” Fay asked.

“Food. I saw her put a sandwich in her schoolbag yesterday.”

BOOK: The Killing Game
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