and absence of manipulation you can stand.” He grimaced. “Which is completely wrong for the situation. I’m surprised Novak is letting her do it. I guess he thinks she deserves it. She paid the price.”
“Who is Novak?” Then she remembered. “CIA. Jill gave me his name to pass on to Joe. What has he got to do with this?”
“You can ask Jill. I don’t know how honest she’s going to be. If she tells you about Novak, then you’ll probably have the entire picture.” He moved toward the door. “Now it’s time I went into protection mode again. This time for Jill. She wants to make sure that Robaku isn’t being watched. She doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s coming to see you tonight. I’ll see you later, Eve.”
He left the museum.
What the hell?
Eve put her coffee cup down and leaned back against the cabinet. Her knees were still shaky, and she hadn’t needed those enigmatic words from Gideon to make her any dizzier. She hadn’t understood what he was talking about, but she didn’t like the sound of it.
Well, she would soon find out and handle it. She just wished that Jill Cassidy hadn’t picked a night when she was feeling this weak and vulnerable to spring something of which even Gideon seemed to disapprove.
Forget it. Stop dwelling on something she couldn’t change until she was confronted with it. She went back to her stool and began to prepare Amari for his final trip to Hajif and Leta tomorrow.
Then she stopped as she realized what she was doing. Not questioning, just accepting what was happening to her no matter how strange she thought it. Meekly going back to this work she had chosen to do.
Or that had been chosen for her to do.
And Jill would be coming in that door soon, and, in spite of what Gideon had said, the reporter might try to manipulate her once again.
No way.
Clear your head and get ready for her, dammit.
* * *
“It’s wonderful,” Jill said quietly from the doorway behind Eve, her gaze on the Amari reconstruction. “Or should I say he’s wonderful. Your Amari seems almost alive again.”
Eve looked over her shoulder. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You wanted him to come alive so that Hajif and Leta would have something besides a DNA report to file away? That’s what I wanted, too.” She turned on the stool to face her. “And I did it. But that isn’t all you wanted, is it, Jill? That isn’t why Gideon is outside cruising around in his ‘protective mode’ to be sure no one will know you’re here. By the way, you’re twenty minutes late. He must have been worried. Or maybe he isn’t as efficient as he told me he was.” She added coolly, “But what can you expect when you choose an errand boy who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth?”
Jill went still as she studied Eve’s expression. “Gideon did his job. It was my fault. I had to make sure I wasn’t followed.” She crossed the room toward her. “I didn’t want to ruin everything because I was having an attack of conscience. There was still a possibility that I could salvage bits and pieces even if you socked me, then threw up your hands and took the next flight out.”
“You seem to think that a possibility. I probably will, too. Particularly since Gideon was talking about honesty, which was clearly lacking, and manipulation, which was obviously present. Though I’m not surprised he brought them up. I’ve known since the day I met you that you were very good at luring people into doing what you wish.” Her lips tightened. “And yet I didn’t realize that you were lying to me. I consider myself a good judge of character, and when you answered my questions, I would have sworn that you were telling me the truth.”
“I was telling you the truth. I just couldn’t tell you everything.” Jill shook her head. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come, and we had to have you here.” She continued in a desperate rush: “And I thought it would be okay. I was sure we could keep you safe. I didn’t expect this to happen. There was no reason.”
“You mean that the food poisoning was no accident? I tried to tell myself that it didn’t make sense that anyone would want to hurt me. But I’ve been sitting here waiting for you and trying to put everything together from what Gideon