Shadow Play Read Online Free

and maybe you help a little.” She leaned back in her chair and gazed thoughtfully at the delicate skull. “One last thing. I always name my reconstructions. No offense. You can have your own name back once that sheriff finds out who you are. But I have to call you something besides ‘Hey, you’ when I talk to you or about you. It’s just the way I work.” She tilted her head. “What name … Linda? Penny? Samantha is a good name. It’s got substance. Do you like it? Maybe too heavy. How about Carrie? Short and sweet. I kind of like that for—
    Jenny. I … think … my name is Jenny .
    Eve went still. Out of the blue, out of the darkness, those words had come to her. Weird. Imagination? Or had she been concentrating so hard on this little girl that the name had just popped into her head, and she’d mentally couched it in terms that the child might use. It didn’t matter. The name was there, and she might as well use it. “Jenny. I like it. And it seems to suit you. Much better than Samantha.” She opened the drawer of the desk and drew out her measuring tools. “And now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to get to work. Let’s see if we can get the basic stuff done before I have to leave you and get to bed…”
    *   *   *
    Ringing.
    Her cell phone was ringing, Eve realized vaguely with annoyance. She wished she’d turned it off before she’d started working as she usually did. She had just begun the mid-therum section of—
    Shit! Jane! Three and a half hours had passed, and she hadn’t even realized it.
    She grabbed her phone from her pocket and punched the access. “Jane! Hello. Has your flight landed?”
    â€œYes, I’m in a taxi on the way to my apartment. It took you long enough to answer. I was beginning to worry.”
    â€œI was working. I just received a new reconstruction, and I was doing the preliminary measuring.”
    â€œI should have known. You cut down your schedule while I was there recuperating, and you probably had to make up for lost time.” She paused. “I was a bother. I’m really sorry, Eve.”
    â€œI’m not.” She got up from her worktable and moved across the room to the couch. “I loved every minute of having you with us. I wish you’d stayed twice as long. No, I wish you’d never go away.” She added quickly, “But I know that’s not practical. You have a career. So do I. We’ll work it out.” She changed the subject. “Good flight?”
    â€œSmooth as glass. So is your new reconstruction a little boy or girl?”
    â€œA little girl. Nine. Found in the vineyard country in California.”
    â€œAnd what did you name her?”
    â€œJenny.” She looked back at the skull on her worktable. “I called her Jenny.”
    â€œPretty name. I’ve always liked it.”
    â€œSo have I. I guess. It just sort of fits her.”
    Jane chuckled. “How can you tell? It’s a skull, for heaven’s sake.”
    â€œI can tell.” She added, “She definitely wasn’t a Samantha.”
    â€œSamantha? Where did that come from?”
    â€œYou’d have had to have been here.”
    â€œAnd I’d just as soon not.” Jane paused. “I don’t know how you do it. So sad … Never being sure what you’re doing is going to help those children’s identities to be discovered.”
    â€œI’ve had a good percentage over the years.”
    â€œI know, and I admire you more than I can say. I call myself an artist, but it’s you who are the true artist, Eve. You create life from death.”
    â€œOnly the semblance. But sometimes that semblance can cause the bad guys to be caught and revenge exacted.” Her lips tightened as she looked at the reconstruction. “This little girl is so fragile-appearing. It makes you