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for him to stand there and watch her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, ease that terrible tension.
    She glanced up at him. “What are you waiting for? Go on. We need to get started checking these right away.”
    And the chances that they’d come up with anything new were poor at best. The sad thing about that knowledge was that in her heart, Eve knew it as well. But he’d be damned if he’d voice it. He turned away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll call you if I get delayed.”

CHAPTER
    3
    7:15 P M.
Stone Mountain, Georgia
    “MRS. NEDRA TILDEN. IT’S THE last name on your list,” Joe said quietly. “Are you sure you want to talk to her?”
    “You mean because the other so-called witnesses were such disasters? I can see why the police didn’t want me involved,” Eve said. “Facing the mother of a victim must be difficult for anyone. Two of them were embarrassed about their mistake when I pinned them down to a description of her. The other man was belligerent and just wanted me to go away and leave him alone.” Eve was gazing at the cedar-shingled gray house at the end of the block. “At least you haven’t said I told you so.”
    “I’ll never say that to you.”
    “I’ll hold you to that.” She opened the passenger door. “Let’s go see, Mrs. Tilden.”
    “Eve,” he said hesitantly. “According to the police report, she’s not quite rational.”
    “You mean she’s nuts?” She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean that I should ignore the chance that she may have seen something. Maybe the police didn’t question her thoroughly because she seemed unbalanced.” She glanced at him before she stopped at the front door. “I’ll go in alone if you think you’re wasting your time.”
    “I didn’t mean that,” he said. “I just don’t want you to be punished unnecessarily.” He punched the doorbell. “By all means let’s talk to the lady.”
    It was opened immediately by a small, plump woman somewhere in her seventies or eighties whose eyes were bright as an inquisitive squirrel’s. “You’re Eve Duncan.” Her dark eyes were fixed eagerly on Eve’s face. “Come in. Come in. I’ve been waiting for you. It’s about time you came to see me. If I’d wanted the police to come knocking, I would have called them.” She glanced at Joe. “You police?”
    “FBI.” He put his hand on Eve’s elbow. “Thank you for seeing us, Mrs. Tilden. We’ll try not to take too much of your time.”
    “I’m seeing her, not you.” She gazed back at Eve. “You’d think you didn’t want that little girl back. You should have come sooner.”
    “I’m here now,” Eve said. “You said you saw my daughter the night after she was taken? Where?”
    “Right in front of my house,” the woman said. “It was a full moon, and I saw her walking down the street beside a man. She was wearing that Bugs Bunny T-shirt that the newspapers said she was last seen in.”
    “What did the man look like?” Joe asked.
    “I couldn’t make him out. Sort of dark. Tall. The little girl was skipping to keep up with him. She looked like she was trying to tell him something.”
    “She didn’t seem frightened?” Eve asked.
    “No. She seemed kind of … worried. But not scared.” Nedra Tilden nodded. “Why should she?”
    Eve gazed at her in disbelief. “She was kidnapped, Mrs. Tilden. Of course, she would be frightened. Perhaps it was another little girl you saw.”
    Her lips tightened. “Don’t you tell me who I saw. It was that Bonnie Duncan. I may be getting a little up there in years, but that only makes me see things clearer. I’m closer to the other side.”
    “Other side?” Eve repeated.
    “Do you think your daughter is still alive?” She shook her head. “It was a spirit I saw. You might as well stop looking for her. It was her ghost that I saw running beside that man and trying to get his attention.”
    Eve inhaled sharply as if the breath had been taken out of her. “A spirit?”
    “I