“I’m not with David. It changes nothing, but I didn’t want you to think I’d lied to you.”

He nodded hard. “I’ll be in touch. Lock your door.”

Monday, February 22, 10:20 p.m.

David was on her land line when she got back. “A cop brought her home.” He gave her a stern look. “It’s Ethan.”

She winced. “Ooh. I forgot to call him back.”

“Yeah. You did.” He handed her the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”

“Do you know how worried I’ve been?” Ethan’s words were thundered in a whisper. Which meant he still hadn’t told Dana. At least there was that.

“I’m sorry. Ethan, I just finished with the police and I haven’t eaten all day. Can I call you in a little while? I’m going to need some advice on hacking anyway.”

Ethan’s sigh was weary. “Call my cell, not the house phone. All the kids are in bed.”

David was buttoning his shirt when she hung up, his eyes narrowed. “I’ll make you dinner while you tell me what the hell is going on.”

The sight of David in a kitchen brought back memories. “You used to cook for me.”

He stilled, then resumed his search of her fridge. “While we waited for Dana to come home from the bus station,” he said quietly.

Eve’s guardian had picked up many a terrified woman from the bus station in the middle of the night, risking the ire of the abusive husbands that had driven them to flee. David had worried about Dana all the time, but that hadn’t stopped him from supporting her efforts. Anything that needed doing around their shelter, David had attended to.

He’d been in love with Dana. Probably still was. To Eve’s knowledge he’d never said a word. And then Ethan had come along and Dana had fallen like a rock. It had to be hard for David, watching Dana’s family grow.

He set peppers and onions on a cutting board. “Where are your knives?”

“On that top shelf in the lockbox. Key’s taped to the bottom of the box.”

He looked over his shoulder, concerned. “You still dreaming?”

She shrugged, not wanting to talk about that. “Now and then. How did you know to call Ethan?”

“I was scared shitless. I did a redial on your phone and who should answer but Ethan, totally frantic. You were sitting in a police car and some woman was dead.”

“I should have called him.”

“Yeah, you should have. But I guess you were a little busy.”

Eve watched David dice vegetables faster than a chef. “Why are you here? Really?”

“Dana used to climb on the roof. I didn’t want you doing the same and breaking your fool neck. I dumped all the water out of your pots, by the way. They were overflowing.”

“Thanks. For emptying my pots and for dropping everything to come out and help me. But a phone call would have sufficed. I probably wouldn’t have gone on the roof.”

“I had a few days off. Thought I’d get away. I’ll start patching tomorrow.”

Her eyes fell on the calendar on her fridge, with the big circle around Thursday. “Dana’s baby shower is Thursday night,” she said quietly. “At your mom’s house.”

His wide shoulders sagged and she knew she was right. Dana’s family and David’s were close. Major holidays and special occasions were spent together. To Eve’s knowledge Dana had no clue how David had felt all these years. It must have been torture for him.

“So,” she said briskly, “what do you know about a game called Shadowland?”

He slid the vegetables into a skillet. “Sometimes you wanna go where no one knows your name,” he said, then turned to her with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.

She was genuinely shocked. “You play?”

“Here and there, between calls at the firehouse. It passes the time.”

“Well then, David, dear, do I have a story for you.”

Chapter Eight

Monday, February 22, 10:45 p.m.

Micki and Jack were in Abbott’s office when Noah got back. Jack and Micki were reviewing case notes and Abbott was absorbed in his computer screen. “What’s with Abbott?”

“He’s playing the game,” Jack said. “Shadowland sucked him in.”

“I am not sucked in,” Abbott retorted. “I am investigating Ninth Circle.”

On Abbott’s screen a male avatar mingled. “That’s you?” Noah asked

“It is. I’ll never attract a looker like Eve’s Greer, although that’s probably for the best. My wife wouldn’t like that too much.”

“Where did you get the avatar?” Noah asked.

“Bought it from Pandora’s website in the game.”

Noah blinked. “You? I thought you were clueless.”

“I wanted Eve to think so. But everything she told us was spot on. Our killer doesn’t have to have a lot of technical know-how. It is an amazing place, though.”

Shaking his head, Noah went back to the table. “That’s too weird,” he murmured.

“I know,” Micki whispered. “I think he’s been playing dumb all these years, making me explain things. I’ve got his number now.”

“I can hear well, too,” Abbott called and Micki rolled her eyes.

“What do we know?” Noah asked.

“We found the snake,” Jack said with a grimace. “What was left of it.”

“Timber rattler,” Micki said. “Outside in the snow. The head had been shot off.”

“I thought the timber rattler was endangered,” Noah said.

“It’s threatened,” Micki said. “Rarely found this time of year. They hibernate in the wild. I’m thinking this was likely a specimen. We’re making calls to the zoos and universities. So far nobody’s missing one, but hopefully we’ll be able to track it down.”

“But why?” Noah pressed. “Everything else was the same, except the snake bite.”

“Because he’s fucking nuts?” Jack asked.

“Fucking nuts and knows forensics,” Micki said. “So far no prints, hairs, nothing.”

The phone rang and the three of them went silent when Abbott picked up.

“Olivia,” he said, then sighed as he listened. “They got the Siren Song employee list,” he said when he hung up. “Cassandra Lee was cooperative when she heard the news.”

Noah sighed. “Christy and Samantha weren’t on the list, were they?”

“No. Web, get the list of participants in Eve’s study and figure out how Samantha Altman links. Micki, do we have anything from Martha’s hard drive?”

“Not yet,” she admitted. “Whoever wiped it, did good. It’s like she never used it.”

Noah went still. “Mick, do you have those photos of Martha’s messy apartment?”

“In my folder.” Micki spread the photos on the table.

“Dammit. She had two monitors on her desk before,” Noah said, tapping one of the photos. “We only found one. And her computer in the picture is high end. We took a cheap one. I wondered why a consultant would have such a cheap PC.”

Micki scowled. “I’ve wasted time searching the hard drive of a decoy computer.”

“This guy is very good,” Jack said thoughtfully. “Very smart.”

“He took Martha’s computer because he knew we’d find evidence of Shadowland on her hard drive and in her Internet cache,” Micki said. “We’d be able to follow her movements and maybe even who she talked to in the World.”

Abbott looked grim. “Then it’s important. We need access to Martha’s and Christy’s game files. Someone altered their avatars. We find out who, we find our man.”

“You want to hack or ask to be admitted through the front door?” she asked.

“Front door,” Abbott said. “Jack, kick up the search for the panty pervert, Taylor Kobrecki. Right now he’s the closest thing we have to a suspect. Noah, get a list of Eve’s test subjects and everyone meet back here at 8:00 a.m.”

Monday, February 22, 11:15 p.m.

“You can go home, you know,” Eve said to Callie, who’d arrived with Eve’s keys shortly after Noah Webster had departed. “David’s back from the corner store.”

“Yes, he is.” Callie watched David whipping a cream sauce with a wire whisk. “I’m hoping when he finishes dinner he does something that makes him hot and sweaty.”