The Face of Deception (27 page)

Logan believed him. Quinn was lying wounded in that bed and should have looked helpless. He didn't look helpless. He looked strong and contained and enduring. Logan remembered when he had judged Quinn one of the most intimidating men he'd ever met. Now he realized the protective side of Quinn was even more dangerous. “I'll be very good for her.” He couldn't resist a tiny goad as he moved toward the door. “Of course, you may not be able to judge. We may be too busy to see much of you in the future.”

“Don't try to stand between us. It won't work. We have too much history.” He stared straight into Logan's eyes. “And all I have to do is tell her that I have a new skull and need her and she'll come.”

“The hell she will. What kind of bastard are you? You want her to heal, but you're ready to pull her back into that world.”

“You've never understood,” Quinn said wearily. “She needs it. And as long as she needs it, I'll give it to her. I'll give her anything in the whole damn world she needs. Including you, Logan.” He turned his head away. “Now, get out of here. She's waiting.”

Logan wanted to tell him to go to hell. He did understand Eve and he was going to be good for her. All he needed was the chance, and Quinn was giving him that chance.

Quinn? What the hell? He was acting as if Quinn was some powerful figure standing behind the scenes, pulling all the strings.

Bullshit.

“Eve is waiting.” He opened the door. “She's waiting for
me
, Quinn. In three hours we'll be on board that flight that will take us a world away from you. Have a nice day.”

He was grinning as he sauntered down the hall toward Eve.

Damn, that last jab felt good.

“She was here.” Diane stood in the doorway. “The nurses are all talking about it at the desk. Why did Eve come?”

“Why not? She wanted to see me.” Joe's gaze narrowed on her face. “She was worried because she couldn't reach me by phone. The hospital wouldn't put her through.”

An almost indiscernible emotion flickered across her face. “Really?”

Guilt, he recognized wearily. He'd been hoping it wasn't true. Or maybe he'd been hoping she had done it. It would give him an excuse to do what he should do.

“You know, don't you?” Diane said bitterly. “I broke the rules. I interfered.” Her hands clenched at her sides. “Well, dammit, I had a right to do it. I'm your wife. I thought I could go on watching the two of you together, but she's interfering with our life and I won't have it. Do you know what people are saying about the way she drew you into this mess? It's not fair. It's bad enough for me to know how little I count. You've shown the whole world that you don't give a damn about—”

“It's true,” he said gently. “Everything you say is absolutely true, Diane. I've not been fair and you've been very patient. I'm sorry I got you into this. I was hoping it would work.”

She didn't speak for a moment. “It can still work.” She moistened her lips. “You just have to— Maybe I lost my temper and said some things I didn't mean. We just have to talk this out and come to a fair compromise.”

But she was asking for the one compromise he couldn't make. He had disappointed and hurt her enough. He wasn't going to keep on doing it. “Shut the door and come and sit down,” he said quietly. “You're right, we do have to talk.”

“Are you okay?” Logan stood beside Eve, who was looking out the window from her airplane seat. “Your hands are clutching the arms of that chair as if it were going to take off without you.”

She released her grip. “I'm fine. It just seems strange leaving home and going so far away. I've never been out of the country.”

“Really?” He sat down beside her. “I didn't know that. But then, there are a lot of things I don't know about you. It's a long flight. Maybe we could talk?”

“You want me to confide all my girlhood dreams, Logan?”

“Why not?”

“Because I don't remember having any girlhood dreams. I've always thought they were sappy fairy tales made up by Madison Avenue.”

“Adult dreams?”

“No way.”

“God, you're a difficult woman.” His gaze went to the metal case on the floor beside her. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Mandy.”

“It's a good thing we have a private charter. You would have scared airport security if that had passed through X ray.” His gaze was still on the case. “I'm afraid I'd forgotten about her. But, of course, you wouldn't have forgotten.”

“No, I don't forget.”

“That's both promising and terrifying. I hope you're not planning on working on her during the flight?”

She shook her head. “It wouldn't be safe. Turbulence.”

“What a relief. I could see bones flying about like shrapnel. I'm glad you're waiting until you get to the island. Okay, since you're not working and you won't tell me your innermost secrets, maybe we could play cards?”

He was smiling at her and trying to make her feel at ease. A little of her loneliness and tension ebbed away, and she felt warmth ripple through her. He was right. The flight was going to be long. The time they'd spend together before she would have to come back to the real world was going to be even longer. So make it as easy for him as he was trying to make it for her. “Maybe we could.”

“A first break in the armor,” he murmured. “If I'm lucky, you'll even smile at me by the time we reach Tahiti.”

“Only if you're
really
lucky, Logan.”

She smiled at him.

EPILOGUE

“This beach isn't like the one near Pensacola,” Bonnie said. “It's nice but I think I like the water better there. This surf is too smooth.”

Eve turned her head to see Bonnie building a sand castle a few yards away. “It's been a long time. I thought maybe I wasn't going to dream about you again.”

“I decided to stay away awhile and give you a chance to let me fade away.” Bonnie put a finger into the side of her castle and began to make a window. “It was the least I could do when Joe was making such an effort.”

“Joe?”

“And Logan too. They both want the best for you.” She made another window. “You've been having a good time here, haven't you? You're much more relaxed than when you came.”

Eve looked out at the light shimmering on the blue ocean. “I like the sun.”

“And Logan has been real nice to you.”

“Yes, he has.” What an understatement. During these months she had tried to keep Logan at a distance, but he wouldn't have it. He had drawn closer and closer both mentally and physically until he had become firmly entrenched in her life. The development filled her with a mixture of comfort and uneasiness.

“You're worried about him. You don't have to be. Everything shifts and changes with time. Sometimes things start out one way and become something else down the road.”

“Don't be ridiculous. I'm not worried about him. Logan can take care of himself.”

“Then, why are you so restless?”

“I guess I feel as if I'm marking time.” She made a face. “And I have to go back next month and give my testimony against Lisa Chadbourne in court. I'm dreading that. Detwil has made a deal to testify against her, but she's still fighting.”

“I don't think you'll have to testify.”

“Of course I will.”

Bonnie shook her head. “I think she's already decided it's time to give up. She's done all she could for Ben. She won't want it all to come out in court.”

“She's going to confess?”

Bonnie shook her head. “But it will be over.”

I'll know the moment to quit and step aside . . . just like Ben did,
Lisa had said
.

“Don't think about it,” Bonnie said. “It makes you sad.”

“It shouldn't. She did terrible things.”

“You're having a hard time because she wasn't like Fraser. It frightens you to know that the best of intentions can spawn evil. And what she did was evil, Mama.”

“I think she would have found you, baby. I think she would have kept her promise.”

“And killed you.”

“Maybe not. Maybe I could have found a way . . . I'm sorry, Bonnie. Maybe if I hadn't wanted so badly to trap her, I could have done something to—”

“Will you stop it? I keep telling you that's important only to you. It doesn't matter.”

“It does matter.” She swallowed. “I thought when you didn't come to— I mean when I didn't dream of you that you might be angry. Because I hadn't chosen to bring you home when I had the chance.”

“For goodness' sake, I was glad you didn't knuckle under to her. But all that agonizing you did afterward was a great disappointment to me. Joe's right, you've taken your first step. You chose life instead of a pile of bones, but you still have a long way to go.”

Eve frowned. “I haven't heard from Joe lately.”

“You will soon. I think he's located Timwick.”

“Another court case.”

Bonnie shook her head.

“What do you mean?”

“He's not going to want you upset, Mama. Timwick will probably just disappear.” She tilted her head and studied her. “You're taking that very well. You've accepted that side of Joe.”

“I don't like it, but it's better than blinding myself to it.”

“I think you'd accept almost anything if it means keeping Joe in your life. Everyone else could slip away, but Joe has to be there. Have you ever asked yourself why?”

“He's my friend.”

Bonnie laughed. “Good heavens, you're stubborn. Well, I think your ‘friend' will soon be here.”

She smothered the leap of excitement. “And how do you know? You heard it on the wind, I suppose. Or maybe it came to you in a clash of thunder in that storm we had last night.”

“You know, Joe is a little like a storm. Full of lightning . . . He kind of swoops sometimes and then he quiets down again. Interesting. Aren't you glad he's coming?”

Glad? Oh, God, to see Joe again . . . “How can I be glad about something I don't know is true? I'm prob-ably just doing guesswork about why I haven't heard from Joe.”

“It's true.” She frowned down at her castle. “I wish I had a flag for the battlements. Remember that tiny flag you made for my castle in Pensacola? You tore a piece off the red beach towel.”

“I remember.”

“Oh, well, I guess it's fine as it is.”

“It's a wonderful castle,” she said unevenly.

“Now, don't get soppy.”

“I'm not getting soppy. Actually, your castle could use at least one more turret. And where's your drawbridge?”

Bonnie threw back her head and laughed. “I'll do better next time. I promise, Mama.”

“You're going to stay here?”

“As long as you stay. But you're already getting bored.”

“I am not. I'm perfectly content.”

“Have it your own way.” She jumped to her feet. “Come on, I'll walk partway back to the house with you. Logan's planning a wonderful evening for the two of you.” Her eyes were twinkling. “It should make you very . . . content.”

“If I'm napping beneath this palm tree, how am I going to stroll back to the house with you?”

“You can do anything in a dream. I'm sure you'll rationalize it as sleepwalking or something dumb like that. Come on, get up, Mama.”

Eve got to her feet, brushed the sand off her shorts, and started down the beach. “You are a dream, baby. I know it.”

“Do you? Tomorrow when you come back here the tide will have washed away my sand castle.” She smiled at Eve. “But you won't risk coming back tonight before that happens, will you?”

“I might.”

Bonnie shook her head. “You're not ready. But I'm beginning to have hope for you.”

“Is that supposed to thrill me? I'd really be bad off if—”

“Look at that sea gull.” Bonnie's head was lifted to the sky; a radiant smile lit her face, and her red hair shone in the sunlight. “Have you ever noticed how their wings seem to move as if they're hearing music? What song do you think he's hearing?”

“I don't know. Rachmaninoff? Count Basie?”

“Isn't he beautiful, Mama?”

“Beautiful.”

Bonnie picked up a seashell and hurled it far out into the water. “Okay, ask me the question so we can get it over and enjoy ourselves.”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“Mama.”

“It's not right. I have to bring you home.”

“You know what my answer will be. Someday you'll not ask me and I'll know you're healed.” She tossed another shell into the sea before turning to smile lovingly at Eve. “But I realize you have to do it now, so ask me, Mama.”

Yes, ask the question.

Ask a ghost. Ask a dream.

Ask of love.

“Where are you, Bonnie?”

About the Author

IRIS JOHANSEN
has more than twenty million copies of her books in print and is the bestselling author of
Fatal Tide, No One to Trust, Dead Aim, Final Target, Body of Lies, The Search, The Killing Game, The Face of Deception, And Then You Die, Long After Midnight,
and
The Ugly Duckling.
She lives near Atlanta, Georgia.

Bantam Books by Iris Johansen

FATAL TIDE

DEAD AIM

NO ONE TO TRUST

BODY OF LIES

FINAL TARGET

THE SEARCH

THE KILLING GAME

THE FACE OF DECEPTION

AND THEN YOU DIE

LONG AFTER MIDNIGHT

THE UGLY DUCKLING

LION
'
S BRIDE

DARK RIDER

MIDNIGHT WARRIOR

THE BELOVED SCOUNDREL

THE MAGNIFICENT ROGUE

THE TIGER PRINCE

LAST BRIDGE HOME

THE GOLDEN BARBARIAN

REAP THE WIND

STORM WINDS

THE WIND DANCER