Silencing Eve

yet,” Stang said. “And I’m not looking forward to the time that you do. You seem sincere about wanting to help Eve Duncan.”
    “And are you sincere, Stang?”
    “Oh, yes. And, like you, I’ve run a few risks because I wanted Zander to be more involved.” He turned at a knock on the door and moved to answer it. “That must be your tea. I’m sure that you can spare time to drink it before you go about saving Zander…”

 
    CHAPTER
    7
    Starlite Motel
Casper, Wyoming
    “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO FINISH?” Doane asked impatiently as he watched Eve’s hands carefully smoothing the clay down one cheek of Kevin’s reconstruction. “I thought you’d be done by noon today. Are you stalling?”
    “Why should I be stalling? Do you think that I’m particularly fond of this tiny room? The sooner we get on the road, the better.” She glanced at him. “If somebody recognizes you, I’ll at least have a chance of getting away from you.”
    “But I’m a dead man.” He smiled. “No one is looking for me … or you.”
    “That’s right.” She looked back at the reconstruction. “How could I forget? Hope springs eternal.”
    “He looks almost done. I’m tired of waiting.” He was gazing at the skull in discontent. “I’ll get the eyeballs. I have them safely tucked in a handkerchief in my suitcase.”
    “Forty more minutes.” She met his eyes. “Do you believe I enjoy working on him? This is the third time I’ve had to make repairs on your Kevin’s skull. And this time you didn’t even salvage enough clay for me to do the job right. That makes it twice as hard to fill in and smooth.” She had to turn his impatience into anger, so that he’d seek a release. It was the only way she could to think to get him out of the room. “Did it ever occur to you that it’s a bad omen, and your son’s skull should just be tossed in the nearest garbage can?”
    “Bitch.” His hand dug into her hair and he jerked her head back.
    Pain.
    “No?” she asked. “Well, he’ll be just as much a piece of garbage if you don’t let me finish him properly.” She glared up at him. “But what do I care? You want trash, I’ll give you trash.”
    He cursed and gave her hair one more vicious twist before he released it. “It’s your fault you had to keep doing him over. You showed him no respect. You could have done him permanent damage by tossing that skull off the cliff while we were in the mountains.”
    “I can but try,” she murmured.
    He took a step toward her, then stopped. “Finish him. I’ll give you thirty minutes.” He handcuffed her right wrist to the chair. “I’ve got to get gas for the car at the motel gas station. I can keep an eye on the door of this unit from there. When I come back, you’d better be finished, or I’ll beat you unconscious.”
    She looked down at the handcuffs. “This will be awkward working.”
    “Finish him.” The door slammed behind him.
    She drew a deep, relieved breath.
    Okay, get to work.
    She took some of the clay from the skull’s reconstruction, not too much or Doane would know it was missing. She’d been telling the truth about the scarcity of materials. Then she flattened the clay out on the table. She took her spatula and started to write on the clay.
    Not too deep or it would break apart.
    A capital S, small e, and then WA . No room for anything else.
    Seattle, Washington. Would it be clear to anyone looking for a direction? It was as close as she could come.
    The S looked more like an eight. She’d have to do it over.
    It broke apart when she tried to alter it.
    Keep calm.
    Only ten minutes had passed.
    She still had time.
    She carefully meshed the clay together and started over again.
    *   *   *
    STANG RUSHED INTO THE sitting room.
    “We’ve got another hit.” He threw a map of Wyoming down on the desk in front of Zander. “Casper, Wyoming.”
    “Where?” Catherine jumped up from her chair and was across the room in three strides. “What part of the city?”
    “Outskirts.” Stang was looking at the computer 3-D map of the city. “Weiner says the camera was across the road at a tire store.” He pointed at the building. “But it still photographed the motel gas station across the way.” He pointed at four pumps. “There.”
    “Has Weiner verified?” Zander asked.
    “Yes, he says it’s the same vehicle he saw at the Colorado border. But we only got a visual for about ten minutes. Then it moved on and out of camera