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“You’ll get through this and come out on top. Eve and Joe are good people, and they’re very smart.” She grinned. “So smart that I know they’ll call me to help as soon as they realize what a mistake they’re making not to let me run this operation.”
    â€œWe’ll keep that in mind,” Joe said dryly. He crossed the room and shook Margaret’s hand. “And you may be right about cozy traps. I’ll have to think about it. But there are elements in play of which you have no knowledge. All I want to do right now is to get Eve home. She may need that cozy trap for a little while.”
    â€œReally?” Margaret’s tone was speculative. “Interesting.” She turned to Eve. “I’d like to go into this, but we should get you and Cara away from here. Come on, I’ll walk you down to your car.” She linked her arm through Cara’s and headed for the door. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way around this.”
    â€œWhat way?” Eve asked warily as she followed Margaret from the room. “It’s not like you to give up so easily.”
    â€œMaybe I’m getting resigned to being pushed to the side.” She winked. “Or maybe I’m trying to keep you off guard while I figure out a way to get my own way.”
    *   *   *
    There are elements in play you don’t know about.
    Margaret stood watching as Joe drove out of the hospital parking lot.
    What elements, Joe?
    She turned and walked slowly back toward the hospital, thinking. She’d been aware of something odd in Eve’s behavior earlier. Joe’s words just confirmed it.
    Eve may need that cozy trap for a little while.
    She went over the events of the last day and tried to put together a reasonable answer.
    Nothing.
    Forget reasonable. Try reaching out beyond reason.
    A few possibilities, some actually interesting.
    One or two that were fascinating.
    She stopped short in the parking lot.
    Yes, incredibly fascinating …
    But if there was even a chance of its being true, there was no way she could let Eve go off without her help.
    Help she’d refused already with great firmness. How to get around it?
    She couldn’t act herself, so pull the strings. Find someone Eve wouldn’t be able to refuse. Not that easy. Eve was a workaholic, and that dictated a fairly solitary life. She had Joe Quinn, her half sister, Beth Avery, a few close friends, Catherine Ling, Kendra Michaels.
    And her adoptive daughter, Jane MacGuire.
    Margaret would have chosen Jane first except for the fact that she had been suffering from the tragic loss of her fiancé and was only now recovering.
    Jane …
    Margaret and Jane had grown very close during the past year. She knew Jane would not think twice about jumping into the situation no matter how risky to help Eve.
    She also knew that Eve would not want Jane to know about that danger.
    She thought about it.
    Â â€¦ elements in play you don’t know about.
    What the hell? Why was she being so hesitant? She always ended up going by instinct anyway.
    She reached for her phone and dialed quickly. It rang four times before it was picked up. “Jane? It’s Margaret, do you have a few minutes? No, that’s not right, maybe longer than that. I’m in Carmel, California. I need to fill you in on something that’s been going on out here and then ask you to—”
    *   *   *
    â€œI almost had her,” Ramon Franco’s voice was tense with excitement. “A minute more, and I’d have had her in the elevator, then one needle, and she’d—”
    â€œI told you not to make a move yet.”
    â€œI wasn’t going to do it, but you wanted her dead. Wasn’t that the primary goal? There she was, and Quinn had ducked into the administration office. I could tell by the way she looked that she’d be easy if I took her right then. I was