Not will you, Eve thought. Can you. "I don't know. I don't know," she repeated.
Mira reached out, touched her husband's hand. "Dennis" was all she said, and he unfolded the gangly length of him and got to his feet.
"If you ladies will excuse me, I've got something or other to do. You were right about her, Charlie." He leaned over to touch his lips to the top of Mira's head, then stroked a long, narrow hand over the sweep of her glossy brown hair. "But then, you always are. Nice seeing you, Eve. Don't be a stranger."
"You didn't have to send him away," Eve said when he wandered out of the room. "This isn't about me."
"Look at me. Look at me, Eve." Mira set down her glass, gripped one of Eve's hands in both of hers. "If you're not ready to go back to Dallas, send for him. Have him come here."
"I've got no cause and no authority to bring Jake Parker to New York."
"Then do the interview via 'link or holographies."
"You know it has to be done face-to-face if I'm going to push him to tell me what happened, how it happened, what she did, who she was. He's not going to want to go there. There's also a possibility from data I gathered today that he may be a target. I have to go, and I don't know if I can handle it."
"I'll go with you."
For a moment Eve could only stare, and as she stared her vision blurred. She had to stand up, turn away. "Jesus."
"I can help you, Eve. I want to. For a long time you wouldn't let me get close; you resented me. But that's changed."
"I didn't resent you. You scared the shit out of me. People who scare me piss me off."
"I'm glad I don't scare you anymore."
"Sometimes you do." She swiped the back of her hand under her nose, then turned back. "I'm not ready, or not willing to take all that was into what's now. It comes in pieces, and the pieces are getting bigger. 1 don't know what's going to happen to me when the picture's all there. But when I'm ready, I'll come to you. Okay?"
"Yes."
"Anyway." She had to take a couple of steadying breaths. "Like I said, this isn't about me. Feeney and I went to Dockport today."
She sat again, filled Mira in on the rest of the details.
"You think she may target Roarke. I wish I could tell you your instincts are wrong."
A fist jammed in Eve's throat, another clenched in her gut. "Why would she? He doesn't fit her target profile."
"Because he's yours. What Dennis said about men not being her opponents is accurate. But women are opponents, companions, tools, competitors. Her feelings toward them would have been enhanced and refined over her time in a women's correctional facility. Of the primary officers who brought about her arrest, you were the only female. The only one she asked to speak with personally. You bested her, and that impressed her. She wanted your respect and you refused to give it. It's logical that given the opportunity, she'd want a rematch, not just because you stopped her, but because you dismissed her. It answers why New York."
"And why she's still here. I know she's still here. She's cut out a step in her past procedure. She doesn't bother with the affair, the marriage. She won't try to seduce him. But if she is sighting Roarke, she'll be working out a way to get to him."
She pushed out of the chair again, jammed her hands in her pockets and paced. "Damn it, you know what's going to happen now. I'm going to go home, tell Roarke, demand he increase security and add police protection. He'll balk, tell me he can protect himself. Blah, blah, blah. Then we'll have a fight." She sighed. "Well, we haven't had a fight in a while. I guess we're due."
"If you're afraid for him, let him see it."
"I know he can take care of himself. But it doesn't stop me from worrying about him."
"I imagine he has the same conflict about you, every time you walk out of the house with that weapon strapped to your side. Whether or not you fight about it, you'll find a way to work through it together. That's marriage."
"A lot of marriage is a pain in the ass."
"Oh, it certainly is."
"You fixed his buttons," Eve murmured.
"What?"
Surprised she'd spoken aloud, Eve stopped and very nearly flushed. "Nothing."