Eve looked over her shoulder to see Bonnie curled up on the window seat. "You had a lot of friends." She went back to measuring the child's skull for depth markers. "And if I'd remembered her, I certainly wouldn't have named this poor kid after her."
"Why not?" Bonnie giggled. "You're superstitious. You think it might be bad luck."
"I'm not superstitious."
"Yes, you are."
"I've just learned not to take chances, brat."
"Sally's fine. Her daddy gave her a car and she almost died in an auto accident last year. But she's getting well."
"I don't call that exactly fine."
"Well, she would have been happier on this side, but she's still fine."
"And I can't relate to your notion of a happy little afterlife, either."
"I know. It's out of your realm of experience. That's why you're so determined to find me."
"Don't be patronizing. I'm still your mother."
"Yes, you are." Bonnie smiled lovingly. "And I understand why you want to bring me home. It's just that I don't want you to hurt yourself doing it. You almost lost Joe this time."
"We're working it out."
"Yes." Bonnie leaned her head back against the window. "I can feel it in you."
"Feel what?"
"A sort of glow, a serenity..."
"Oh, give me a break."
"Have I embarrassed you? Serves you right for being such a cynic." Her glance shifted to Sally. "I hope you're able to bring her home. She's been lost a long time."
"How long?"
"Longer than me. Have you heard anything from Galen?"
"No, have you?"
"Do you mean, is he dead? I don't think so."
"I shouldn't have asked. I don't know why it even bothers me. He's a law unto himself. I refuse to worry about him."
Bonnie chuckled. "You'll worry." She was silent a moment. "I have to leave now. Jane and Toby will be coming up the porch steps in a few minutes. She's going to show you a trick she taught him."
"Is that supposed to prove you're clairvoyant? She teaches him a new trick every other day."
"Well, I thought I'd try. You're a tough sell. By the time they come in that door, you'll have persuaded yourself that you've just woken from a nap and started working on Sally again."
"Which is probably what happened." She could hear Toby scrambling up the porch steps and then shaking his coat. "He sounds like he's been in the water. We can't keep him dry. He refuses to stay out of the lake. The rascal's full of the devil."
"He's full of life. You could learn from him. Let life in, Mama."
The door was opening, and Eve knew if she glanced at the window seat Bonnie would no longer be there.
"Eve, you've got to see this!"
Bonnie was gone, but life was here, joyously bounding into the room with Jane and Toby.
"I can't wait." Eve wiped the clay from her hands and went forward to meet it.
About the Author
IRIS JOHANSEN, who has more than eight million copies of her books in print, has won many awards for her achievements in writing. The bestselling author of The Search, Final Target, The Killing Game, The Face of Deception, And Then You Die, and The Ugly Duckling lives near Atlanta, Georgia, where she is currently at work on a new novel.
Body of Lies Page 27