Silencing Eve

Blick’s footprints then. He was wearing different boots, but the stride was unmistakable. He swung his legs in such a way that the right and left prints were directly in front of each other, almost single file. Fairly unique. And the footsteps sunk about three inches deeper after he walked around to the back of the truck.”
    “You think he took a body into that saloon. But there were two bodies in there.”
    “I believe the second corpse could be Blick himself.”
    Catherine slowly nodded. “Doane killed his own partner?”
    “Blick’s footprints went in, but never came out. But the off-road vehicle was driven out of the town. I’d bet Doane charged Blick with securing a woman’s corpse, but he needed a second one, a male. So he killed him. He went outside in the street with Eve and showed us all that she was there, then went back inside. He slipped out the back and jumped, either dragging or carrying Eve with him, into the cavern before Venable’s team arrived with their infrared gear. He had a raft down there and rode the stream about three miles away, where he had Blick’s vehicle parked. I saw the prints on the bank. The tire tread belonged to a set of Super Swamper TSL. That meant it was almost certainly the same 4 × 4 off-road vehicle that Blick drove into the ghost town. Doane took Eve away while the town was still burning.” She smiled bitterly. “Quite a distraction.”
    “How long did it take you to piece this together?”
    “Too long. Hours. Doane could have taken Eve anywhere by the time we figured out that they were still alive. It might have taken me even longer if Margaret hadn’t—” She broke off and leaned back against Eve’s workbench. “I should have seen it all sooner. But I couldn’t see anything clearly that night. All I could think about was that moment when the saloon blew only minutes after I’d seen Eve dragged through that door. We were all in shock.”
    “I can understand that.”
    “Well, I don’t understand. I should have been thinking, acting, not feeling.”
    “It’s amazing that you figured it out at all. Eve was right to be so impressed with you.”
    “Fat lot of good it’s done. She’s still out there … with him.”
    Catherine glanced at the funeral guests outside. “Why this charade? Why not let on that you know they’re still alive?”
    “Venable supposedly has an army of agents searching for Doane and Eve as we speak. We thought we might have better luck if Doane didn’t know we were still looking for him. He was evidently counting on the fact that DNA on those skeletal fragments could take weeks to come back and allow him to proceed with his plans.” Her lips twisted. “According to Venable, Doane is very proud of his ability to concoct his nasty little plans. This particular plan was very intricate, and he clearly wanted us to think they were both dead, so that he’d be free to go forward.”
    “And do what?”
    “He has a target. Lee Zander, the man who killed his dirtbag of a son, Kevin. Not an easy target. Zander is probably one of the foremost assassins in the world.”
    “And what does Eve have to do with his damn target? I thought that she’d been taken to do a reconstruction on the son.”
    “That’s what we all thought. But it appears that wasn’t Doane’s primary motive. Doane thinks Zander is Eve’s father. Since Zander killed his son, he wants to see him bleed as he kills his daughter in front of him.”
    Catherine went still. “Father? And is he?”
    “I don’t know. Venable seems to think that he is.” She shook her head. “But what does matter is that Doane thinks it’s true.”
    Frustrated, Catherine said, “There are too many unknowns. What the hell is happening here?”
    “I don’t know. Ask Venable. Though I’m not sure he’ll tell you.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t like the way he was trying to run the show at the ghost town.” She paused. “I thought he was being stupid by bringing in an attack team to go after Doane in that saloon. But now I’m not sure if he was stupid or a little too smart.”
    “What are you saying? You think Venable’s crooked?”
    “I think he has an agenda, and Eve’s not at the top of it.” She met Catherine’s eyes. “And why didn’t he let you know about what was happening to Eve? You’re her friend, and I’d judge you’re fairly lethal. Why not bring you into this chaos of a situation?”
    “That’s what I asked him.”
    “Were you