Chasing the Night - Iris Johansen [32]
“I’d never risk Luke. You’ve told me enough times what you’d do to him if I tried anything.”
“Perhaps. Sometimes one can become calloused and numb to a constant threat.”
“I’m not numb.”
“No, I keep you raw and bleeding, don’t I? But I find it interesting you chose Duncan to do the age progression. Her fame lies in another direction.”
“She’s very good.”
“But she’s better with her skulls. I’ve decided that it must have been fate that led you to her.”
“Fate?”
He said softly, “You’ll have need of a reconstruction, not an age progression.”
Catherine inhaled sharply. “You’re lying.”
“No, I killed Luke when he was five years old. Venable was getting too persistent about releasing him, and I grew angry. No one can tell me what to do. I shot your son in the head and buried him in the woods. He was frightened and crying. He knew about guns and what they could do. I’d had him taught about them from the time I took him.”
Catherine closed her eyes. “I don’t believe you. You’ve told me you’ve killed him before, then said you were lying. You’re just trying to hurt me.”
“It’s a possibility.” He added maliciously, “But you can’t be sure. You haven’t talked to him. You have only me to rely on for any information about Luke. I control him. I control you.”
“He’s alive. I know it.”
“He’s buried in the woods. If it suits me, I may dig him up and send his skull to Eve Duncan. I’ll have to think about it.”
“You bastard,” Catherine whispered.
“Or send word to Venable where he can find him. Why shouldn’t he do the work? He and his cohorts in Washington have been irritating me lately.”
“You’re lying.”
“What if I’m not? I think you’ll have nightmares tonight envisioning Luke scared and crying right before I shot him.” He chuckled. “Go ahead. Work on that age progression. But don’t take it past five years. It would be totally futile.” He hung up.
Eve reached out. “Catherine, I know—”
“Don’t touch me. Not yet.” She huddled sidewise, leaning on the arm of the porch swing. “I’m…hurting.” Her voice was shaking. “I’m sorry. I don’t like you to—Give me time…”
Good Lord, she was hurting, Eve thought. Her back was arched, and Eve could almost feel the vibrations of the agony she was emitting.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No.”
“Screw it.” Joe was suddenly kneeling before Catherine, taking her in his arms. “I will touch you. Stop trying to handle it on your own. You need us.”
“I don’t—” She suddenly collapsed against him, her arms clinging desperately. “I’m sorry.” Her voice was muffled against him. “You’d think I’d be able to handle it by this time. But he knows just where and how to—I’ve got to stop this. It’s what he wants, what he expects.” Her voice was shaking. “He was lying, you know. Every now and then, he’ll tell me he’s killed Luke. I think he saves it for when he’s feeling in the mood for a particularly savage turn of the knife. But he has to be lying, doesn’t he? But I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“No, you don’t know,” Eve said quietly. “But you have a chance of its not being true. He’s such a bastard that I can’t imagine that he’d give up the value of a live hostage with whom he can taunt you for the momentary pleasure of a kill.”
“That’s what I tell myself. Sometimes I believe it.” She drew a long, shaky breath and pushed Joe away. “I’m okay. I’m sorry I fell apart like that. Thank you.”
He leaned back on his heels. “You’re welcome.” He gazed searchingly at her face. “You’re pale, drained. I think you need to drink that coffee.”
“I agree.” She picked up her cup. “Or something stiffer.” She glanced at Eve. “He was particularly ugly tonight. He didn’t like me coming to you.”
“Tough. I don’t know how you kept from blowing up at him.”
“Think about it. He taught me well to hold my tongue. Every time I’d grow angry and say something he didn’t like he’d threaten Luke. That was one of the hardest things to bear.” She took a long drink of coffee. “And one he enjoys the most. He told me once that as long as he holds Luke, I’m his slave. He loves the control over me.”
“And he evidently embroiders his stories of Luke in detail,