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see them all the time. The first one was my first cousin, Edgar, about ten years ago. Then there was my neighbor, Josh Billiak, who was killed in an automobile accident in the next block. After that they just seemed to keep coming. It made me nervous at first, but then I got used to it.” She lifted her chin proudly. “I decided that I must be special or something. That’s why it didn’t surprise me to look out my window and see your Bonnie. No sirree, you’re not going to find her alive. She’s dead as a doornail.”
    Joe wanted to strangle the woman. “Thanks for your time.” He nudged Eve toward the door. “We have to go now.”
    “No thanks?” Nedra Tilden stepped forward and grabbed Eve’s arm, her dark eyes greedily searching Eve’s face. “You didn’t want to hear what I had to say, did you? But I did you a favor. You have to come to terms with the grim reaper.”
    “You come to terms.” Joe opened the door. “We’ll wait until we have more evidence.”
    “Wait.” Eve pulled away from him and looked at the woman. “You hurt me. Why did you want to hurt me?”
    “I only did my duty,” Nedra Tilden said righteously. “You have all these cops and FBI people running around and spending taxpayers’ money. I barely manage to get by on Social Security, and they’re pouring out cash trying to find a lost kid. You should accept that your Bonnie has been butchered and let everybody go about their business.”
    Eve turned pale. “But I can’t accept that.” She turned away and walked out of the house. “Any more than I can believe that if she was dead, she’d make an appearance to someone who is as vicious as you.”
    Joe followed, but stopped to bite out to the woman who was starting to scurry after Eve out on the porch, “Say one more word and I’ll have you taken in for a psychiatric evaluation.” He slammed the door in her face and ran down the steps after Eve. “Vicious is right.” He opened the car door for her. “I told you she wasn’t stable.”
    “That’s very close to saying I told you so, Joe,” she said dully.
    “No, it isn’t. I’m just reminding you that you shouldn’t pay any attention to anything the bitch said.” He ran around and got in the driver’s seat. “None of that bullshit was in the police report. Evidently she was saving it for you.”
    “How kind.” She was rigid, staring straight ahead. “I wanted to hit her.” Her hands were clenching on her lap. “No, I wanted to kill her. I’ve seen cruelty before, but not like that. I couldn’t understand why she’d do it. I’d never done anything to her, and yet she was drinking in my pain … she liked it.”
    Joe nodded. “That’s why I wanted to get you out of there.”
    “Thank you.” She looked back at the porch, and Joe could see her start to shake. She was sitting so straight, struggling desperately for control, but her body was betraying her. “I couldn’t understand…”
    And Joe couldn’t take it any longer. He reached over and pulled her into his arms.
    She stiffened. “No.”
    “Shut up,” he said hoarsely. “You’re hurting, and I’m offering comfort. That’s all this is about.” It was a lie. But God, he hoped she believed him. He had to find some way to help her, or it would kill him.
    She was still, frozen. Then she slowly, tentatively, relaxed against him. “She said ‘butchered.’” Her words were muffled against him. “She said my Bonnie was butchered.”
    “Because she’s a crazy woman.” His hand was in her hair. He loved the feel of her, the textures of her. Ignore them, help her. “And you handled her; you told her the way it is. I was proud of you.”
    “I couldn’t let her words hurt me, hurt my Bonnie.” She gave a long, shaky sigh. “I wouldn’t believe the police or you. I had to talk to them myself. And now look at me. I’m acting like a child.” She started to push him away.
    Not yet. Another minute. Another hour.
    Another lifetime.
    His arms