“I’m glad you realize that,” Kendra said gently. “We have to have an exact location and know what our best chance is to get her away from him before we move. No blundering around and showing our hand before we have a firm plan.”

“Just listen to us,” Jane said. “We haven’t even found her yet. I’m hanging up and getting to work. You do the same.” She paused. “Thank you, Kendra. Tell Margaret that there are no words to tell you both how much I appreciate what you’ve done.”

“She hears you. You’re on speaker. There’s no way I’d shut her out.” She chuckled. “There’s no way she’d let me shut her out. We’ll get back to you.” She hung up.

“She was happy,” Margaret said. “That’s good.” She grinned. “And I’m glad you realize that I’m far too valuable not to be in the center of any important dealings and decisions that are taking place.” Her smile suddenly vanished as she turned to look up at the mountains. “Is that where Eve is?”

“I think so. We won’t know until we check maps.”

“You were very serious when you were talking to Jane about moving too fast. It’s happened before to you?”

She nodded. “An FBI kidnapping case. We tried to do everything right, but we still lost two children. You never know what a murderer will do when he’s cornered. They panic and they kill.”

“That can’t happen to Eve. We can’t let it.” Her gaze never left the mountains. “It looks forbidding from here, doesn’t it? The picture on my mug is so pretty but there’s a kind of darkness…”

Kendra could see what she meant. Psychological? Perhaps. But she wouldn’t deny the chill she was experiencing. “Then we need to get up there and chase all those shadows away.” She turned back to the souvenir store. “And we can start by talking to your friend Bill Johnson and getting him to set up a meeting with his daughter and her artist friends.”

CHAPTER

15

“TEARS?” TREVOR GLANCED at Jane from the driver’s seat. “But, from what I caught of the conversation, not bad tears.”

“I’m not crying.” She touched her cheek. “Or maybe I am. But definitely not bad tears.” She handed him her phone. “Kendra and Margaret struck it rich in the best possible way at that gold camp.”

Trevor gazed at the photo and gave a low whistle. “If that mural weren’t so crude, I’d think that you painted it from your sketch.”

“May I?” Caleb reached over from the backseat and took the phone. He studied it for a moment, then returned the phone to Jane. “Okay, how do we follow up?”

“Kendra and Margaret are going to find out as much as possible about the area where the mural was painted. But they do know that a coin factory is located somewhere near the played-out mines in those mountains.”

“Any recognizable point of reference?” Caleb asked.

“An abandoned ghost town. The original Drakebury Springs. It’s in a valley that can be difficult to reach, and the coinery was some distance away in the mountains. But we may be able to locate it on the map and check roads going out of it into the mountains. The miners would have had a direct route from the mines and the coinery to the town.”

Caleb opened his computer. “I’ll start on that.”

Jane nodded. “And I’ll call Joe and Venable and tell them that we may be getting close to an answer.” She closed her eyes for an instant. “God, that sounds wonderful. Now that we can give Venable a general direction, he’s got to zero in on that coin factory.”

“Anything I can do?” Trevor asked. “Or am I just a chauffeur? I admit I’m a little impatient with the role. I’m finding it less demanding than I’d like.”

“It’s a very important job. Just get us to Mineral County. Get us to those mountains.”

Trevor glanced at her face, then slowly nodded. “Okay, I’ll play any game you want me to play. It doesn’t matter what I want to do. There’s no way I’d let ego get in the way when there’s a chance of getting this close to Eve.” He added quietly, “Let me know if I can do anything else.”

She smiled. “I will.”

Caleb made a sound somewhere between a groan and a chuckle.

Trevor’s brows rose. “You said something, Caleb?”

“No, just expressing my appreciation. You’re really exceptional, Trevor.”

“I wasn’t trying to be. You just don’t recognize sincerity.”

“I recognize it. That’s what’s so difficult. Many times you do mean exactly what you say even when it sounds all noble and self-sacrificing.”

Trevor grimaced. “Good God, I’m not noble. Are you being sarcastic?”

“I don’t think I am. You irritate the hell out of me, but I’m beginning to understand you. That doesn’t mean I won’t try to undermine you if I get a chance. I don’t have the same sterling qualities you seem to possess.”

“And I understand you, Caleb. Much to my dismay,” Jane said as she started dialing the phone. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d get to work.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled as he bent over the keyboard. “No nobility, but I’ll slave nonstop.”

“Which might be termed nobility,” Trevor murmured as he stepped on the accelerator. “If one wasn’t picky about definitions.”

*   *   *

KENDRA STARED DOWNAT THE map spread out on the picnic table next to the gift shop, anchored by Margaret’s coffee mug and Kendra’s rolled-up jacket. Bill Johnson, the shop’s proprietor, was on the phone with his artist daughter.

“Are you sure, hon? Your mural is showing us the valley just west of the old town, not east?” Johnson took the thick Sharpie pen from Kendra’s hand and drew a large circle over a hilltop. He glanced at Kendra and nodded.

Kendra studied the map, trying to establish the location in relation to the town they now occupied. She turned to speak to Margaret, but the young woman had suddenly vanished. Where had she gone? she wondered impatiently.

Johnson finished the call and pocketed his phone. “That’s the spot. It’s several miles from the old town, up in the mountains. The ghost town sits in a sort of bowl surrounded by mountains.” His finger traced a line on the ridge of the mountain slope. “Coming in from this direction, you can use this road above the old town to get to the area where she made the mural.”

“Can we drive through the town itself?”

“Depends. The roads aren’t the best up there, and with the storm we just had, some could be impassable right now. That’s why we don’t get a lot of tourists up that way. The town itself was always a muddy swamp after a heavy downpour.” His finger traced a line on the map on the ridge of the mountain slope. “Coming in from here, you can use this road above the old town that bypasses the town and connects to the road that leads to that area my daughter painted.”

“And where the coin factory is located?”

He shrugged. “Never been there myself, but I believe it’s over this ridge.” He pointed to a string of hills. “In any case, I wouldn’t recommend going there right now.” He checked his watch. “It’ll be dark soon, and it can be dangerous trying to navigate those roads at night.”

“Good advice.” She grimaced. “Not welcome, but good. Thank you. You’ve been a huge help.”

Johnson awkwardly gestured toward the map. “Uh, that’ll be six dollars for the souvenir map.”

“And worth every penny.” Kendra paid him, and Johnson tipped his hat toward her and strolled back into his store. She immediately pulled out her phone and called Venable. “I’ve contacted the artist, and I believe we’re on track.” She filled him in on the new information Johnson had given her. “I don’t like the idea of waiting until morning.”

“It’s the smart thing to do,” Venable said quickly. “By that time, I should have an exact location for the coin factory and will be able to send up an attack team.”

“No!” Kendra said. “What are you talking about? You show up with a show of force, and Eve is a dead woman. You know that Doane is crazy.”

“Don’t get upset,” Venable said soothingly. “I know what I’m doing. I’ve dealt with Doane for years.” He paused. “And it might be best if you let me handle the entire retrieval. You’ve done a fine job of gathering information, but it’s time I took over. You could get in my way, Kendra.”