New York to Dallas

monster, again.”
    “She thought he was still alive. Richard Troy. I brought him up, testing, I guess. She thought he was still alive. I let her think he’d given us information on her.”
    “Well played,” Roarke commented, then lifted his eyebrows at her frown. “Sorry, was that cold? Am I supposed to feel otherwise?”
    “No.” Eve looked down at her wine. “No.”
    “I wish she were alive, that’s the God’s shining truth. So I could imagine her in a cage for the decades to come. But we live with disappointment.”
    “You hate her. I can’t.”
    “I’ve enough for both of us.”
    “I feel disgust, and—God, I wish I had the words. I feel a little shame, and there’s no point getting pissed off because I feel what I feel. I’d rather feel hate. If she’d lived, I might’ve gotten there. So maybe I feel a little cheated as well as relieved. I don’t know what that says.”
    “In my professional opinion?” Mira crossed her fine legs. “It says you have a very healthy reaction to a very unhealthy situation. The two of you have been scraped raw by this, yet here you are. With your cat.”
    Eve let out a weak laugh while Galahad continued to snore at her feet, all four legs in the air.
    “You need sleep. If you want medication, I can arrange it.”
    “I’d rather not.”
    “I’ll be here if you change your mind.”
    “It’s good to have a doctor on tap in case I bloody him again.”
    “For now I prescribe food and rest.”
    “I could eat,” Eve realized. “It’s the first time I’ve actually wanted to all day.”
    “That’s a good sign. I’m just next door if you need me.”
    “Stay, have a meal with us,” Roarke began.
    “Another time. I think the two of you should just be together awhile. If anything breaks on the case, I’d like to be informed.”
    “Sure.” Eve stepped forward when Mira rose. “It helped, a lot, you coming. Listening.”
    Mira brushed a hand over Eve’s hair. “Maybe it’s the influence of my daughter—the Wiccan. While I think we have to make the most out of our life while we’re here, I believe we get more than one chance. When we get another chance, there are connections, people, recognition. I recognize you, Eve, and always have. That’s unscientific, and absolute truth. I’ll be right here.”
    Roarke walked her to the door, then, leaning down, kissed Mira softly on the lips. “Thank you.”
    After closing the door, he turned to Eve. “You’re loved. One day, I hope when you think of ‘mother’ you’ll think of her.”
    “When I think of good I think of her. That’s something.”
    “It is.”
    “I’m sorry. I made this harder on you than I needed to.”
    “That goes both ways.”
    “It’ll probably still get screwed up before it’s over.”
    “Oh, almost certainly. So why don’t we eat before it does?”
    “Good idea.” But she walked to him first, wrapped her arms around him. “I’d rather be screwed up with you than smooth with anybody else.”
    “Again, both ways.” He drew her back, traced his finger over the dent in her chin. “What do you say to spaghetti and meatballs?”
    “I say yay.” She hugged him again, then let out a genuine laugh as Galahad wound between their feet. “In a dead sleep he hears you say spaghetti and meatballs.”
    “Three plates, then. If you can’t spoil your cat, who can you spoil?”
    “But no wine for him. He’s a mean drunk.”
    She held on another moment, taking comfort, giving it back. “I want to say just one more thing about it, then set it aside, at least for now.”
    “All right.”
    “When I was a kid—after, I mean. When I was in the system, I used to imagine somebody stole me from my parents. They’d find me, take me home. Somewhere nice, with a yard and toys. And they’d be great, perfect. They’d love me.”
    She closed her eyes when he tightened his grip. “After a while I had to deal with what’s real. Nobody was coming for me. There was no house and yard and toys. I did okay, and one day I did a whole hell of a lot better. I found you.”
    She stepped back, gripping his hands in hers. “I got really lucky because, Roarke, you’re my what’s real.”
    He brought her hands to his lips. “Always.”

20
     
    H e expected she’d go back to work after dinner, and she didn’t surprise him. But Mira was right. He understood her.
    She needed the work, the forward motion again. She needed to connect with Peabody again, like a touchstone, no matter how