Read Online Quinn by Iris Johansen - Free Book Online Page A

took the cup and followed him out onto the porch. “I get too … upset. I didn’t used to be like this. You’re being very patient with me.” She leaned against the porch rail and lifted her gaze to the night sky. “Everything reminds me of her. We’d sit here on the steps and look up at the stars and I’d tell her stories about all the constellations and we’d try to identify the Big Dipper and Orion and…” She took a sip of coffee. “Sorry. I’ll shut up.”
    “Not for me. She’s part of you. And memories can save, not destroy, if you accept them.”
    “Can they? I only know I wouldn’t give up a single memory of her no matter how much it hurt.” She added, “My mother doesn’t feel that way. She loves Bonnie, but she’s trying to block the thought of her. I guess everyone handles grief differently.”
    “I haven’t seen your mother the last two times I’ve been here. Is she still staying in her room?”
    Eve shook her head. “She’s been going to church. She was never religious, but a local pastor came to visit and invited her to come to services. I think the congregation has taken her on as a project. They keep her busy. That’s fine, Sandra needs people. It may keep her off the drugs. She quit when Bonnie was born, but this is a dangerous time for her.”
    “What about you? She’s the only family you have. She should stay with you and give—”
    “Stop being so protective.” She smiled and finished her coffee. “The last thing I need is Sandra hovering over me. We’re both surviving in the best way we can. She has her congregation, and I have Joe Quinn.” She took Joe’s empty cup and turned toward the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Joe. It’s time I got to work.”
    “Good night. Lock your door.”
    “Why? I’m not worried about being in any kind of danger.”
    “I know. But I’m worried for you. It’s a violent world. Lock your door.”
    “Whatever.”
    He watched her as she entered the house and waited until he heard the click of the lock.
    No, she wasn’t worried. She couldn’t care less about her own physical safety. It had no meaning for her in comparison to her loss of her child. He realized that he was the one who was going to have to care for her.
    Another duty for him to assume in the emotional storm that had come to him.
    Protecting Eve.
    Watching over Eve.
    Loving Eve.
    That word was coming easier to him now. He was beginning to understand the elements that comprised it. Perhaps the fact that he had to block sexual desire made him more aware of what else he was feeling.
    But it also made him aware that the storm of feeling was growing stronger. He was no longer rejecting it. He wanted to go back inside the house and stay with her, be with her …
    Tomorrow.
    He turned and went down the porch steps and strode toward his car.
    *   *   *
    “COME IN,” EVE CALLED, when Joe rang the bell the next afternoon. She looked up impatiently from the papers she was working on as he opened the door. “For heaven’s sake, why are you still acting like a visitor? Just walk in.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. Have you gone to bed yet?”
    “For a couple hours. I had to get away from them.” She grimaced. “But they followed me. I decided I’d rather deal with them than dream about them. There’s coffee on the stove.”
    “Have you had any?”
    “Too much.” She nodded at the two piles of files that were in front of her. “I’ve divided the children into two categories. Male and female. Whoever took these children obviously preferred girls. There are nine cases here, and six of them were girls. But evidently he doesn’t entirely rule out little boys.” She leaned back in the straight chair. “I had questions. I wanted you here.”
    “I wanted to be here.” He poured a glass of orange juice and brought it to her. “What questions?”
    “You know about profiling and all that stuff. You were studying records of sexual molesters.” She moistened her