Shadow Play Read Free Page A

hands of the medical examiner. “She’s not a bone lady. You’re thinking of that TV show. She’s a forensic sculptor and probably the best in the world.”
    â€œAnd she’s rushing to give that kid a face just because you asked her to do it?” Ron dropped down in the visitor’s chair. “Hell, then she couldn’t be that good. We’re small potatoes out here in the boonies.”
    â€œShe’s that good,” Nalchek said. He tossed the Eve Duncan dossier to Carstairs. “Take a look for yourself.” He pointed to the photo of Eve Duncan. Red-brown shoulder-length hair, hazel eyes, features that were more interesting than beautiful. “She was illegitimate and born in the slums of Atlanta and had a baby of her own by the time she was sixteen. She named the little girl Bonnie, and the kid turned her life around. The kid became her whole life. She went back to school and then on to college. Then when the little girl was seven, she was kidnapped and killed. It was a terrible blow, and Duncan went into shock. But then she rallied and started to rebuild her life. Duncan went back to college to study forensic sculpting. Since then, she’s become the most sought-after artist in forensic sculpting. She works for police, FBI, and private parties.” He pointed to the dossier underneath Eve Duncan’s. “That’s Joe Quinn, ex-SEAL, ex-FBI, currently a detective with ATLPD. They’ve been living together for years.”
    Ron only glanced at the dossier. “I’ll look at them later. Nice looking woman. Not my type. Too intense.”
    â€œShe’s my type. I want her intense.” He grinned as he leaned back in his chair. “Though I’ll probably stay away from Joe Quinn. His reputation is a little too lethal for me.”
    â€œYou said he was a cop.”
    â€œThere are cops, then there are cops. You know that as well as I do. He’s supposed to be totally bonkers about Eve Duncan and very protective.”
    â€œWell, you shouldn’t have to deal with either one of them now that you’ve turned the skull over to Duncan.”
    Nalchek’s smile faded as he looked back down at the dossier. “Yeah, you could say that.”
    â€œHey.” Ron was shaking his head. “Drop it. Let it go, Nalchek.”
    â€œI have let it go. It’s out of my hands.”
    â€œBut not out of your mind. There’s a lot of talk around town about how weird you’ve been behaving since we found that kid’s skeleton. We all felt bad about what happened to that little girl, but you overreacted.”
    â€œHow can you overreact to the murder of a kid?”
    â€œShe’s been dead over eight years. What are the chances we’ll ever find her murderer?”
    â€œDamn good if we try hard enough.” He got to his feet. “And I’m trying hard, real hard. I’ll find the son of a bitch. I’ve got Eve Duncan, and soon I’ll have a face.” He moved toward the door. “And right now, I’m going back to that grave site and take another look to see if I can find anything more.”
    â€œYou’ve been out there five times. Don’t you think it’s a little excessive?”
    â€œNo.”
    I felt like she was calling to me.
    He had said that to Eve Duncan, and he was still hearing that call even though the bones were long gone from that crime scene.
    â€œYou can never tell what you’ll find if you look hard enough. Want to come along?”
    â€œWaste of time.” Ron grimaced. “Oh, what the hell.” He got to his feet, grabbed the Duncan and Quinn dossiers, and followed him toward the door. “Why not?”
    *   *   *
    â€œAre you still going to wait up for that call from Jane?” Joe asked as he paused before going back to their bedroom. “Want company?”
    Eve chuckled. “I’ve got company.” She moved across the