Eve Duncan - 03 - Body of Lies by Iris Johansen

Author:Iris Johansen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Forensic anthropology, Detective and mystery stories, Eve (Fictitious character), Mystery & Detective, Women sculptors, Horror, Duncan, General, Literary, American, Baton Rouge (La.), Mystery fiction, Women Sleuths, Facial reconstruction (Anthropology), Suspense, Fiction, Louisiana
ISBN: 9780553582147
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Published: 2003-03-04T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

He was leaving, thank God.

Eve watched Joe walk up the staircase. She had always loved the way he moved. There was a sort of sensual grace, an alertness so different from the stillness of Joe at rest. Yet even that stillness was never passive. She could always sense the intelligence, the emotions that were going on behind that almost expressionless face.

"I didn't bring cream," Nathan said from across the room. "You take your coffee black, don't you?"

"What?" She quickly picked up the cup Nathan had put on the worktable beside her. "Yes, I take it black."

She heard the door at the head of the stairs close behind Joe.

"I thought I remembered right."

"It will be fine." Everything was fine. Joe was gone now. She could work.

She pulled her gaze back to Victor. Concentrate, dammit.

"Go to bed," Eve ordered Nathan. "It's almost midnight, and you've been sitting there all day."

"When you go to bed, I'll go to bed. I haven't disturbed you, have I?"

"No, you've been very quiet." Eve took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "But it's nonsense for you to hover over me. I'm beginning to feel guilty every time I look over there at you."

Nathan smiled faintly. "You've been so absorbed, you haven't even known I was here for the last six hours. How's it going?"

"Okay." Eve's glance shifted back to Victor. "He's coming along."

"You're excited. Will you finish tonight?"

"I'd like to, but I'm too tired. I should stop." Her fingers longingly touched the cheek of the reconstruction. "But I'm so close, dammit."

"May I look at it now?"

"No, you couldn't recognize anything yet. It's the final stage that tells the tale." She wiped her hands on a towel. "But by the end of tomorrow, he'll be done."

"Good." Nathan's gaze was fixed on the back of the skull. "Why are those last hours so important?"

"It's the time when instinct takes over. Sometimes I feel as if the subject is guiding me, telling me." She made a face. "Weird, huh?"

Nathan shrugged. "I've heard crazier things. The whole process is a mystery to me. I don't understand how you do it."

Eve smiled. "First, you have to want to do it with your whole being. After that, it's a piece of cake."

"Yes, sure. That's why you work your ass off. Because it's so easy."

"No career is easy if you want to be the best. You're pretty driven yourself, or you wouldn't be going after that Pulitzer."

"It's the peak of a journalist's career. I've never wanted to be anything else but a reporter. Maybe someday I'll write a book or two. I'm a simple soul."

"Yeah, sure."

"You're the one who chose a career that's considered macabre at best."

"Everyone believed I should have had enough of death after Bonnie died. But you go where you're led." She cast a final glance at Victor before turning away. "And I'm being led to bed so that I can get up early tomorrow."

"What time?" Nathan got to his feet. "I want to be here for the great unveiling.

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