Shattered Mirror (Eve Duncan #23)(42)

Imagination? Probably. After all, Eve was the one who had created this sculpture.

No, if she had created it, she would have considered she had failed. She had merely helped Sylvie come home …

Her cell phone rang, and she reached into her pocket.

Joe? He had left only a short time ago. It wasn’t likely that he’d call before he was on his way back.

Not Joe. She didn’t recognize the number. “Eve Duncan.”

“Hello, Eve. Are you ever going to send that skull to the police department?” The man’s voice was deep, mocking, and with a distinct Irish accent. “I know I should be flattered that you like my work so much, but there’s no way it should take you all this time.”

Forensics? “What? Who is this?”

“Of course, I did offer you a challenge.” His voice lowered to silky softness. “But I never thought you’d keep her this long when I gave her to you.”

She couldn’t breathe. She stiffened in shock. “You gave her to me.”

“Did you like the packaging? I took a long time figuring out just what to put together to make it meaningful. After all, I had to intrigue you. There wasn’t any chance that I’d let you ignore her and walk away from her, too.”

“Too?”

“You’re so much in demand, Eve. World-renowned, the one forensic sculptor everyone wants to hire to take those poor, broken skulls and give them some semblance of life again.”

This was madness. But he knew too much. And the accent was definitely Irish. She was beginning to believe him. Her hand was trembling as she pressed the record button on her phone. “That’s not what I do. I just want them identified.”

“But what you want and what’s needed can be entirely different,” he snapped, and she could sense the barely leashed anger.

“I’m not talking to you about how I work,” she said curtly. “Who are you?” She paused. “And why did you bring me Sylvie Jordan’s skull?”

“I think you must know who I am.” His voice was calm again. “Between your Joe Quinn and Gavin, you’ve made great progress. But that’s fine with me. I was only waiting for you to get this far along before I indulged myself by talking to you. It’s going to be a great game, Eve. I was barely holding myself in check until I had all the pawns in place so that I could start the first move. But that’s done now. Quinn will tell you all about it. Actually, I thought I’d have a little more time, but you have such efficient people surrounding you, don’t you?”

She braced herself to say it. “Norwalk?”

“Oh, yes. And if you know my name, you must know a good deal more about me.”

“I know you killed Sylvie Jordan and her mother. I know you’re a murderer and a monster.” She looked down at the reconstruction of Sylvie. “Why did you do it? What did they ever do to you?”

“Nothing. They were merely a means to an end.”

“Means to an end? What end?”

“Why, to you, Eve. It all ends with you.” He chuckled. “At least, this part of it does. All that horror and disbelief in your voice at what happened to poor Sylvie. But it was really all your fault. I might have gone another way to get to Kaskov if I hadn’t been so angry with you.”

“My fault? You’re crazy. I don’t know you. I never met Sylvie or her mother.”

“But everyone chooses to reach out or not. You chose not to reach out to me.” His voice was suddenly harsh. “So that’s why I decided that you had to be punished. First, it was only going to be the girl, Cara. She was the only one who was important to Kaskov. But then I realized that you were sitting there on your pretty lake thinking that you were some kind of goddess. And you’d not only cheated me, you’d helped Kaskov by taking in his granddaughter and protecting her.”

“Helped Kaskov? He’s nothing to me. Cara is the only one who’s important to me.” She drew a deep breath and tried to control herself. “Why did you call me? What are you going to get out of telling me this?”

“Why, satisfaction. I want you to know what’s coming. My brother, Sean, never knew, and I’m grateful.” His voice was low, intense, bullet fast. “But you’re going to know, feel it, taste it, as, one by one, your family dies. Did you know I almost took your son that first night? But I had to keep to the plan. I wanted you to see it happen.”

“Michael.” She felt a bolt of pure panic. “Don’t even speak his name. I’d kill you before I’d let you touch him.”

“I will touch him. And you’ll see it, Eve. I’m going to hang up now, but I don’t think I’ll be able to resist phoning you again. This has been such a very satisfactory call even though I’m sure you recorded it. But that’s okay, I like to think of you playing it over and over. I was feeling very much alone. I feel that way all the time now. It’s good to know that I can reach out, and suddenly you’re right here with me.”

“Wait.” She had to keep him talking. She had to know more. Everything was terrifying and crazy, but he was a threat who had to be stopped. “If this is all about me and Kaskov, why Sylvie? Why did you kill Sylvie?”

He laughed. “You weren’t listening. Means to an end, Eve. Tit for tat. I needed a twin.” He cut the connection.