Dear God, she hoped she would have known. “That’s right. I’ve ruled it out.” She started drawing. “Be quiet, Trevor. I’ve got to remember everything she was thinking. She didn’t even know who or what was after her. I’m trying to remember if she had any other impressions other than force and darkness when he took her down.”

“Force and darkness,” Trevor repeated speculatively as he got up from the bed. “It sounds like a demonic experience.”

“That describes Doane.” She steadied her hand as it flew over the pad. Don’t give in to weakness. Eve had not given in to the cold or terrible aloneness.

“That scream was piercing. There’s going to be a nurse in here any minute yelling at you for not trying to sleep.”

“Then you’ll take care of her. After all, you’re irresistible. Ask anyone.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“No, it’s one of the assets you use whenever necessary. It’s part of your character. When I first met you, I thought that was all there was to you, but you still made me dizzy.”

“You were only seventeen, and I was fighting like hell not to prey on a teenager. It was hard to walk away from you.”

“But you came back.”

“You were older and I—”

“Never mind. I don’t want to talk about our time together. It’s over.” She had found herself drawn toward those memories because they were also part of the search for Cira’s story. No, be honest. Trevor had only to be near her, in the same room, and memories flooded back to her. “Just keep the nurse away from me. I want to call Kendra Michaels.”

“Venable filled me in about her. She sounds intriguing.”

“She’s pretty sharp. Joe called me and told me she’s at Goldfork. I need to talk to—”

“What are you doing awake, Ms. MacGuire?” A nurse in a red plaid jacket that displayed a J. RUDIN badge was standing in the doorway, frowning. “Do you need a sedative? Are you in pain?”

“No, I’m not in pain. I feel—”

“But she does have a problem.” Trevor moved toward the nurse. “I’m glad you came by.” He smiled. “I need you to answer a few questions for me, Nurse Rudin. Jane doesn’t like drugs, but emotional and psychological problems can be hell, can’t they? Will you step into the hall so that we can discuss it?”

“Who are you? She shouldn’t—” Then she smiled back at him. They always smiled back at Trevor, Jane thought. “I’ll be glad to help,” the nurse said. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

“I knew I could count on you.” He swept her from the room.

Irresistible, Jane thought. Never patronizing, just making you believe you were the most important person in his world. It was hard to fight that kind of magnetic star power. She had never been able to do it.

Until she realized that she was coming too close to surrendering herself totally to him. It had frightened her and sent her running away from him. She had never admitted even to herself that fear existed. Until now. Until she had faced the fear of losing Eve. As long as she didn’t give herself, entrust herself, to anyone completely, she was safe.

But she’d had no choice with Eve. She’d made that commitment as a child, and the fear was growing with every passing minute. Her options were still open with Trevor, and she could send him away and save herself from that vulnerability.

Enough of soul-searching, the only searching she should be doing was for Eve.

Who was alive and well, she told herself fiercely. She would not believe anything else.

Kendra. She quickly dialed her cell number. She was half hoping it would go to voice mail. She didn’t want the awkwardness of explaining why she wanted to—

“Jane?” Kendra had picked up the phone in two rings. “Are you all right? Where are you?”

“Still in the hospital. I’m fine, better all the time. I can’t wait to get out of here. I’ve had enough of hospitals.”

“I suppose you want a report. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have anything definite yet.” Her tone was suddenly urgent. “And, look, I’m involved in something right now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“It does disappoint me. And I’ll only be a minute.” She stopped, then went for it. “I’m going to send a few sketches I’ve drawn to your phone. I’ve been trying to locate the exact location. It appears to be in the mountains, somewhere in the wilderness. That’s all I’m guessing.”

“What the hell?”

“Just study them and see if you can identify them from anything you’ve seen.”

“And why am I doing this?”

“Because I think that’s where Eve might be. I believe she may have escaped Doane and she’s—” Jane stopped. She could almost feel Kendra’s skepticism, and who could blame her. “I don’t know why you’re doing this. Just do it, okay.”

“Jane, do you still have a fever?”

“No, dammit, listen. And there’s a house, only Eve thinks of it as a factory. I thought a factory in the middle of that wild country was peculiar enough to give you something to go on.”

“Is that all?”

“Except that I don’t think Eve has much time. Something happened to her.” End the call. She had said all she had to say.

And hope that Kendra didn’t think she’d completely lost her mind. “Don’t shrug off what I’ve said. Please. Just keep it in mind and let it percolate. I’m hanging up now. You said you were busy. Good-bye, Kendra.”

“Wait. I am busy, but you’re not going to leave me like this. How? Where did it come from?”

Jane had been afraid that Kendra wouldn’t let her escape without that question. She knew that in the same situation she would have jumped on her with both feet. “Nothing that you’ll accept. Hell, nothing that I really accept. I just have to cling to it because I don’t have anything else.” She paused and then forced herself to say the words. “A dream, Kendra. Just a dream.” She hung up.

She half expected a call back, but none came. Kendra probably was humoring her. Or calling Joe and telling him that Jane had lost it. Well, Joe knew the story, and she’d let him tell it. Maybe that would persuade Kendra to put aside logic and reason and at least accept tolerantly the information Jane had given her.

Yeah, sure. Not likely.

But she’d put a few seeds in Kendra’s fine mind that might bear fruit.

And she’d make sure she threw a few other items at her to stumble over.

She took her phone and took photos of the sketches in her pad. Then she sent them to Kendra’s phone.

She heard the familiar whistling sound. “Deal with it,” she murmured. “I wish I was out of here and doing it instead.”

“But you’re not,” Trevor said as he came back in the room. “And that kind nurse was tempted to come in here herself and stay with you until you went to sleep. After she gave you a shot.”

“But you took care of it.” She started to draw again. “She didn’t have a chance.”

“Sure she did. We all have a chance. We just make choices.” He sat down in the chair. “Did Kendra choose to believe you?”

“Probably not. But I hung up before she could argue with me. I can only hope that I’m right about her and that she finds it impossible to discount any information even if it doesn’t make sense to her. I believe she stores everything away and brings it out when she needs it.”

“Efficient. I approve. Most of us store away only what is most important to us.” He leaned back in the chair, watching her sketch. “You’ve stored away everything about Eve since the moment she came into your life when you were a kid. Have you stored away anything about me?”

Passion. Heat. Laughter. Golden hours with a golden man.

“Some things.”

“But not the things I wanted you to store away and save.” He smiled. “That’s still to come. Sex is all very well. Sex is fantastic. It’s also very powerful, and I’m having a few apprehensions about Seth Caleb. You’re feeling a little too erotic where he’s concerned. He taps that in you.”

She didn’t answer.

“But I’ll handle that, Jane. I’ve just got to show you how much more there is to what we have together.” He picked up his computer. “Now back to business. That library visit was no good at all yesterday. I’m going to send photos of your sketches to a few forestry friends I have in the park service and see if it will ring a bell.”