Silencing Eve

right there, waiting. Death can’t hold him.” His eyes were glittering. “But I’m sure he’s enjoying being so close to your Bonnie. You know how he needs little girls. They’re together, you know. Only a little more power, and he’ll be able to scoop her up.”
    “You’re crazy.” She tried to smother the panic. Keep calm. Doane’s hallucinations regarding his son were infectious. While working on Kevin’s reconstruction, she had actually wondered if that demon spirit was reaching out, trying to merge with his father to take back the life that Zander had stolen. Not only reaching out to Doane but to her … and, maybe, Bonnie. “I don’t know anything about what happens in the afterlife. But my Bonnie would never be anywhere near that monster. She’s light to his darkness.”
    “A light to warm his hands when he stretches out to—”
    “Shut up!” Get control. He often taunted her, but she didn’t usually let him get to her like this. It was the strain of working on this damn reconstruction that she only wanted to crush and destroy. They had been holed up in this tiny motel since Doane had brought her here the night of the fire. He had given her an injection, and she had not regained consciousness until just a little while before they had reached this seedy motel. It was the smallness of their quarters that she found nerve-wracking. Their motel room had two full-size beds and one bathroom; he’d converted the round dining table to use as her workbench, and the proximity with Doane was suffocating. He’d watched her like a hawk, handcuffing her whenever he left the room, sniping, trying to hurt her at every opportunity. Usually, she could handle it, but not when he talked about Bonnie. She whirled and headed for the bathroom. “I can’t listen to you right now.”
    “I didn’t say you could stop working and leave.”
    “I need to go to the bathroom and wash my face. I haven’t had a break in hours, and my eyes are getting blurry. You wouldn’t want me to make a mistake with your Kevin.” She slammed the door behind her and leaned back against it.
    She had been telling the truth about her stinging eyes, and she closed them for a moment. She’d shown weakness to Doane, and she mustn’t do that again. He knew that to strike at Bonnie was to strike at Eve’s heart. Her little seven-year-old daughter, who had been killed and taken from Eve so many years ago.
    No, not really taken. Eve had not found Bonnie’s body until recently, but she had been aware that Bonnie’s spirit was still with her from about a year after Bonnie’s death. She had first been conscious of her in what she had thought were dreams but had gradually begun to believe the wonderful truth. Bonnie was being permitted to come back to her from that place beyond. The knowledge had kept Eve alive when she’d only wanted to die and join her Bonnie.
    Where are you, Bonnie? My God, how I need you.
    But Bonnie couldn’t come to her. She had managed to reach Eve only once since this nightmare had begun. That had been at the Colorado house to which Doane first brought her after he had kidnapped her. But then she had been in a deep-coma state, and Bonnie had told her that was the only reason she had been able to reach her, that Kevin was keeping her back.
    Why was it so difficult for Eve to believe in a demon of supreme evil like Kevin trying to breach the border between life and death? She knew that her Bonnie had done it.
    Because evil should be contained and destroyed, and goodness should live forever.
    “I don’t mean to complain, Bonnie,” she whispered. “I know you’re doing your best. But I’d really like to just have you come once, so I know that you’re all right, and all of Doane’s poison are just lies.”
    She straightened and opened her eyes. Just this tiny box of a bathroom. No endearing little figure in her Bugs Bunny T-shirt.
    Of course not. So stop whining and go back and face Doane again.
    No, she’d rest for just a little while before she had to go back to face Doane … and Kevin. She took a few minutes, then went to the sink and started to run the water.
    The volume of the television in the other room was suddenly turned down.
    She stiffened. Another telephone call? The walls in this fleabag of a motel were paper-thin. Twice before when she’d gone into the bathroom, she’d heard Doane talking on the phone. The first call had been barely audible, but she’d caught a name. Cartland. The