Bonnie

Ben shook his head. “He told me not to talk about him.” He turned and went into the tent.

“Very deftly handled. You were more diplomatic than I thought you’d be,” Father Barnabas said. “I’m impressed.”

“I’m not, I didn’t get what I needed. You thought I’d tear him up just to get what I want? Fate and life have done enough to that kid. For an instant, I was actually in full sympathy with Da

Father Barnabas shook his head.

“I didn’t expect you to agree,” Joe said. “But you’ll admit that Ted Da

“I’ll admit that Ted Da

“That’s what I’ve been hearing from everyone,” Joe said. “But maybe Ben didn’t represent a threat to him.” He remembered the boy’s luminous smile, which had reminded him of Bo

The priest smiled. “You’re analyzing. Would it be too difficult for you to accept that God might have brought them together for a reason?”

“But then that would mean that God wanted Da

“I don’t. God has many faces, and I wouldn’t presume. I just believe that it’s easier to look at the big picture than try to take it apart. Though I’ve noticed you have a mind that tries to decipher at every turn. Since God gave you that brain, it would follow that He wants you to use it.” He glanced back at Ben’s tent. “So what’s your next step?”

“I go after him, I keep after him. There’s not much time. I have to find out where Da

“You’ll be careful?” His gaze never left the tent. “I have a … feeling about him.”

And Joe knew what he meant. He’d been fighting that same protective instinct that Father Barnabas was experiencing. It was weird as hell. Ben was … unusual, like a light shining in the darkness. You wanted to make sure that light was never dimmed. In a way, that instinct was incomprehensible. The rough life the boy had evidently lived had never managed to extinguish that i

Dammit, he didn’t want to worry about this kid. He had to find a way to use him to find Eve.

“I’ll be as careful as I can be.” He followed Ben into the tent.

The boy was cutting lengths of suede and didn’t look up when Joe stopped before him. “Go away.”

“I can’t do that. But I won’t try to persuade you to do what’s right. I’ll let Eve do that.” He reached in his pocket and drew out his wallet. “It’s hard to think of people if you only have a name. I thought you should have a face, too. This is one of my favorite photos of Eve.” He thrust the photo in front of Ben’s face. “It was taken at our home on the lake. She looks a little dreamy but there’s nothing really dreamy about her. She’s always thinking, always feeling. She had the dreams blown away a long time ago. I guess that’s why I like this picture. I want to give her back those dreams.”

“Dreams? I have dreams.” His gaze was on the photo. “They used to be bad. But now it’s different.”

“Is it? Because your father went away?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He put down the strip of leather and took the photo and stared at her. “She looks … nice. I think I know her.”

“You’ve probably just seen a photo of Eve. She’s in the papers a lot. She helps find lost kids.”

He shook his head, his brow knitted with a puzzled frown. “No, that’s not right. I know her.” He gave Joe back the photo. “I’ll remember. Sometimes I forget things, but I always remember.”

“You said she looked nice. She is nice, Ben. You don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Ted wouldn’t hurt her.”

“But he won’t let her go. What if she fights him? What if she can’t persuade him that she—”

“You said that you wouldn’t talk about it.” He reached down and turned on his portable radio, and music suddenly blared. “I’m not listening to you.”

“Then I’ll wait until you decide to do the right thing for Eve.” Joe set the photo on the bench beside the boy. He dropped down on the floor and crossed his legs. “But there’s not much time, Ben. Accidents can happen very quickly.”

“I want you to go away.”

“I can’t do that. She needs me. You have to help the people who need you. You have to do what’s right.”

“Then stay. I don’t care.”

“I believe you do, Ben,” Joe said gently.

Ben lowered his eyes and began to work on his weaving.

Would the photo of Eve do it?

It was possible that it would. That photo moved Joe every time he looked at it. But Joe loved Eve, and she was a stranger to this boy.

Yet he had said she was not a stranger. Who knew what went on in the mind of a boy like Ben? Joe could only hope and risk a little time. Far better than using force and brutalizing the boy as his father had done.

But, as he’d told Ben, time was ru

CHAPTER

13

“TAKE THE PHOTO AWAY,” BEN SAID.

It was the first time Ben had spoken in the last two hours. He had worked steadily, not looking at Joe, but Joe had seen his eyes wander several times toward the photo beside him on the bench.

“Does it bother you?”

“It mixes me up. You mix me up.”

“Then talk to me. Ask me questions. Maybe I can straighten it out.”

The boy didn’t speak, but his expression held a kind of helpless anguish.

“Okay,” Joe said. “I’ll ask the questions and try to work it out. You want to keep your word to Ted Da

“He won’t hurt her.”

“But you’re afraid of the accidents, aren’t you?”

“I don’t like accidents. They scare me.”

“Then the best thing to do is get her away from him. Then there won’t be an accident. But he won’t let her go, we’ll have to take her. To do that, we have to know where he’s going with her.”

“I don’t know that.”

“But you know where he went when he left the camp on weekends. I think he’s probably taking her there. Don’t you, Ben?”

“He … likes it there sometimes. Sometimes it scares him.”

“Why would it do that?”

No answer. Skip the questions before they caused him to skitter away. “We agree that it’s best that Eve doesn’t stay with him. Now we have to find a way to find her.”

He shook his head. “I promised him.”

Blank wall.

“You’re afraid I’ll hurt him.”

Ben raised his eyes and met his gaze. Joe was once again aware of the gentle clarity that seemed to see beyond and through him. Piercing vision. Knowing vision. “You want to do it,” he said. “No matter what you say, you want to hurt him. Because of the woman. Because you’re afraid for that woman in the photo.”

Joe couldn’t lie. If he did, the boy would see right through him, and he would lose any hope of cooperation. “You’re right, I want to stop anyone who would hurt her. And I would hurt Ted Da

“I wouldn’t like it. I couldn’t do it.”

“No one is making you do it.” Ben was close, but Joe had an overwhelming barrier to overcome. “Suppose I do everything I can not to hurt Ted Da