Shattered Mirror (Eve Duncan #23)(3)

“No, I make him think about it.” Her arm tightened around him. “I was wondering if it was my fault. I didn’t know about his father. Maybe I should go talk to his mother.”

He shook his head. “It would only make her feel bad. Sometime, Gary will let me talk to him about you. Then it will be okay.”

“But it’s not okay now. And what can you say to him that will make it okay then?”

“I’ll tell him that you work on those skulls to bring those people home. That they’re lost, and you have to help them.” He looked up at her. “That’s what you told me that first time I asked you. Remember?”

“I don’t remember you asking me.” She smiled. “But maybe you did. You always seemed to understand my work and why I was doing it.” She did remember Michael coming close to her worktable when he was only a couple years old and touching the skull of a young girl she was reconstructing. There had been such gentleness, such intensity of thought in his expression that she had been stunned. Then, after a moment, he had smiled and gone back to his toys across the room. “I don’t like the idea of waiting around until this Gary comes to his senses on his own. I may have to take action if you won’t.”

He nodded. “I know. But I think it’s going to be okay. He doesn’t like what he’s doing to me. It scares him almost as much as the stuff he won’t ask me about your skulls and the people who are dead like his dad.”

And how had Michael realized that? Eve just had to accept that he did. She had stopped trying to understand where those flashes of deep understanding came from. Even before the moment of his birth she had known that Michael possessed a kind of psychic connection with her, and who knew what other depths he might have? She didn’t believe he wanted her to know, or maybe he didn’t know himself. Either way, most of the time Michael appeared to be just a bright, happy six-year-old who was perfectly content in his life. It was only with her and Joe that he let his guard down and was totally honest.

She hoped. There were moments when she wasn’t certain that Michael was entirely open even with them. It didn’t matter as long as she knew that Michael loved them both, they could work on everything else. “It’s bad for Gary to think he can hurt you. I don’t want him to turn into a bully or you a victim. So you’ll try one more time, then I’ll have a talk with him.” She held up her hand. “Not his mother. Okay?”

Michael nodded. “He’s close to it, Mama. It’s the death thing. He’s missing his dad. It scares him.”

“Then we’ll try to explain and make the fear go away.” She gave him a kiss on the forehead and got to her feet. “Now go take your shower and get to bed.”

He grinned as he jumped to his feet. “Soon as I say good night to Dad.” He headed toward the back of the house. “And tell him that you didn’t yell too much at me. He’ll want to know.” He turned back. “Did Cara send me that CD of her last concert that she promised me last week?”

She nodded. “Morning mail. It’s on your nightstand. You can play it through once. Just once. Then you turn it off and go to sleep.”

“Once is enough. After that, it will play in my head until I fall asleep. It does that to you, too, doesn’t it, Mama?”

“Yes.” Cara Delaney was Eve and Joe’s ward and one of the most magnificent violinists Eve had ever heard. She was only eighteen and a student at Carnegie Tech in New York, but she had already been a guest artist at several venues, and this CD was the one from a benefit concert at the university in Phoenix. She had been with them since before Michael was born, and Eve could not have wanted a more devoted or loving sister for her son. The two talked every week on the phone, and when Cara managed to come home, they were practically inseparable. “She texted me and said she might have a break next week or the week after.”

“She’s coming home?” His face lit up. “That would be great. When will she know?”

Eve shrugged. “Soon. She’s trying to arrange things. We’ll know when she does. She asked if Jane was going to be able to get away at the same time. She might be trying to coordinate her time with Jane’s.” But Jane MacGuire, her adopted daughter, had a schedule that was almost tighter than Cara’s. She was an artist and her agent had her constantly making public appearances at galley exhibits in London. “I don’t think she has a chance. Jane’s supposed to be in Paris all this month.”

Michael looked disappointed. “Maybe.”

Eve nodded. “Maybe. But at least we’ll have Cara. You know Jane gets here whenever she can.”

“Yes. I just miss her.” He turned and started back down the hall. “It would be nice…”

More than nice, Eve thought. She believed in family and having Jane and Cara out in the world and not being able to see them as much as she’d like brought a constant ache. But she was being selfish, she couldn’t have everything. Life was so incredibly good these days with Joe and Michael, and the occasional visits from Cara and Jane were like additional jewels in the crown. So she would accept what she was given with thanks and enjoy every single minute.

She flipped open her computer on the coffee table and checked for recent requests from police departments around the country. She usually did that on the day she sent the latest reconstruction back to its originator. She had a tremendous backlog of requests, but if anything appeared urgent that couldn’t—