Quinn - Iris Johansen [23]
“And my nightmare is your having a nervous breakdown and leaving me without someone to help me find this bastard.” He took a pile of files from her. “So we’ll both go over these files and make notes and talk about them for another two hours. Then I’ll keep on, and you’ll take a nap on the couch.”
“I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Then I’ll call a doctor and get him to give you a shot. Take your choice.”
“We’ll talk about it later.” She went back to the file in front of her. “What are we looking for?”
“Circumstances surrounding the disappearance. Similarities, indications of any common traits in the victims or family members.”
“Family members?”
“It’s possible revenge was taken against the child for a perceived slight by the parents.”
“Why wouldn’t he just kill the parents?”
“It could still be on his agenda. He might want them to suffer first.”
“Yes, that would do it.” She opened the first file. “That’s a lot of things to look for, Joe.”
“And better done with a clear head.”
She ignored the jab. “How can you continue to work on cases like this? Doesn’t it make you sick?”
“Sometimes. But it makes me sicker to know that some arrogant son of a bitch is out there killing whoever he pleases and thinking no one is going to catch him.” He was scanning the files in front of him. “Seasons don’t seem to make any difference to him. In some instances, killers only murder in certain seasons or time of the month. Here we have victims in summer, fall, winter…”
“Maybe they’re not all dead,” Eve said. “We keep talking about killings. Maybe some of them were runaways or taken by relatives. Maybe they’re not— But I have to think of them as victims, don’t I? I have to look at these damn reports and think that a monster grabbed them and how and why he did it.”
“You don’t have to do it. Let me bundle up all these reports and take them away. No one is forcing you but yourself.”
“I know that.” She focused her gaze on the report in front of her. “Linda Cantrell.” The picture of the girl showed a child with dark hair and eyes and a wide white smile. “She was Hispanic, but that didn’t seem to have anything to do with her being chosen. The other children were black, white … no Asian…”
* * *
“I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS.” Eve glared up at him even as she lay down on the couch three hours later. “I can keep on going. I don’t want to sleep. You have no right to threaten me with your damn doctor.”
“No, I don’t. But might is always right, and I have the advantage.” The sun had gone down an hour ago, and he turned off the lights in the living room. “So go to sleep.” He sat down in a chair across the room. “Four hours at least. Then I’ll let you work a little longer before I leave and go back to my place.”
“Go now. I don’t want you sitting there in the dark like a guard at an asylum.”
“Asylum. Strange choice of words. Why not a guard at a jail?”
She didn’t answer.
“Unless you’re worried because you might have a nervous breakdown. Do you think about it?”
“No, I don’t think about myself at all. I don’t matter. That just came out. Now stop trying to dig into my psyche.”
“Naturally, you’re distraught, and all kinds of crazy ideas are going through your mind. You’re walking a fine line, but we’ll get through it.”
“We? I’m the one who is walking that line. You’re strong and sane, and everything is in control in your world.”
“I’ll walk the line with you. If you think you’re going to fall, reach out, and I’ll be there.”
She was silent. “Why are you being so kind to me? You’re tough and cynical and … I don’t think that you’re one of those do-gooders who want to save the world.”
“The world is too big a project. You’re damn right I’m not a do-gooder. I usually run the other way. But every now and then, I run across someone who it bothers me to see struggling. I want to see you come out on top of this. It will make me feel good. It’s purely selfish.”
“Well, that relieves me,” she said dryly. “I’d hate being someone’s project.”
He chuckled. “No chance. You