Silencing Eve

want. I can’t … do it, love…” His eyes were closing. “Maybe … Ever After…”

 
    CHAPTER
    18
     
    “THE MEDICAL EXAMINER IS HERE, Jane,” Caleb said gently. “There are things to do. You have to let them take him.”
    She looked up at him dully. She’d been aware of the flashing lights and the techs, but it was as if they had been on another planet.
    She didn’t want to let go of Trevor’s hand even though she knew he was no longer in that body. It would be the final parting, and she didn’t think she could bear it.
    “Jane,” Caleb said. “Dammit, what can I do? I’ll do anything you want me to do. Tell me.”
    He was angry. No, that wasn’t it. His eyes were glittering with moisture. Strange …
    “Jane.”
    They were all waiting, she realized. Waiting for her. She had to do what the world judged right and normal.
    She had to let him go.
    She closed her eyes. It’s not really good-bye, Trevor. You said I was strong, and I’m not right now. But I have to be strong for you. They’re right. It’s not finished, not for you, not for me. She opened her eyes. She tried to steady her voice. “I heard you, Caleb.” She put her lips for the briefest moment on Trevor’s hand, then slowly, slowly released him. Stop the tears. They would only get in the way. “I’ll see you later … Trevor.”
    Later, my love.
    She got to her feet and turned away. She couldn’t stand to see them take him away from her. “It’s okay, Caleb.” It was a lie. Nothing would ever be okay again. “Tell them to do their job.”
    She stood there, vaguely aware of Caleb’s voice, the voices and movement of the ME ambulance techs, and the slamming of the ambulance doors.
    “Jane.” Margaret was standing beside her. Jane had been vaguely aware of her reaching out in silent sympathy from the moment she had run down to the beach when she had heard the shots. But she had been careful not to intrude on Jane’s grief until now. “I’m not going to talk about Trevor right now. You’re not ready. But there are things I have to tell you. I think Venable knows what happened here. You said he’d be monitoring what we were doing and would step in if he thought he should.” She made a face. “I’d say death and Harriet on the loose would qualify. The police didn’t bother you when they got here, but they started to question me and Caleb. Then the detective got a telephone call, and they suddenly backed off and just started the forensic stuff. I think Venable pulled strings to keep them off us until he could get here.”
    “You’re probably right,” she said dully. She had to concentrate on what Margaret was saying. “And that should be pretty soon.”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s not good.” She forced herself to turn and look at the flashing lights of the ambulance as the driver got back in the vehicle.
    “They’ll be gone in a minute,” Caleb said quietly as he came back to her. “Hold on, Jane.”
    She was holding on. It’s better now, Trevor. I can do it.
    “Go with them, Caleb. You, too, Margaret.”
    He turned to face her. “We’ll follow them in the car with you.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not going with him. Not right now.”
    He went still. “Why not?”
    “I have something else to do.” Keep your voice even. Don’t break down. Every minute that passed, she was getting stronger. You were right, Trevor. I can get through this. I can do what has to be done. “You said you’d do anything. Well, I’m asking you to go with Trevor, take care of him, and do all those things that have to be done. I can’t stand the thought of his being alone.”
    “He’s dead, Jane. I know you can’t think straight, but try, try.” Caleb cursed beneath his breath as he saw her expression. “I know what you think you have to do. You want that bitch dead? You go with Trevor and let me do it.”
    She shook her head.
    “My God, look at you, you’re a basket case. Trevor wouldn’t want you to do this. You know that, Jane.”
    “He would want me to be strong. She killed him, Caleb.”
    “Let me do it.”
    “I can’t do that. Evil. She’s so evil. She killed him to get to me. She didn’t care that he was good and fine and everything that her monster of a son could never be. She just … destroyed him because he was in her way.” She gazed at the ambulance. “She’s never going to kill again. I’m going to send her to hell to join her son.”
    “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of