Free 16 Taking Eve by Iris Johansen Page B

picked up the line. “Have you done it?”
    “Not yet. There are problems. I’ll work them out. MacGuire’s attention is still focused on the dog?”
    “Yeah, the doctors seem to be busy. I don’t know what’s going on.”
    “You don’t have to know. Just keep her there and away from here. That’s your job. You understand?”
    “I heard you.”
    “Good. Then do it.” He hung up.

CHAPTER
    4
    “HOW’S HE DOING?” CALEB ASKED, as Jane came out of the examination room.
    “Good. Very good.” She smiled brilliantly. “Devon doesn’t think there’s any internal organ damage from the poison. That means that once we get the poison totally out of his system, he has a chance for total recovery.” She looked at the computer on his lap. “That’s my laptop. What are you doing with it?”
    “Nothing criminal. That’s not saying I couldn’t have made you a cybervictim if I’d chosen. It was ridiculously easy to access anything I wanted to see.” His brows lifted. “And your password? Eve/Joe. It took me all of three minutes to decide what you’d use.”
    “So? It’s not as if I really cared. Nothing is top secret on my computer. Technology is not my life.” She added, “Though you might have asked permission if you wanted to use it.”
    “You weren’t around, and I have a tendency to be impatient. I didn’t go into your Facebook account or anything. I was just checking your e-mail to see if you got an answer from that Nedra woman at your luxury pup day-care center.”
    “And did I?”
    “Yes.” He turned the computer around. “Shocked disbelief. And then abject apologies. When they checked, they found their cameras caught this man with Toby.” He paused. “Syringe in hand.”
    “What?” The next moment, she’d snatched the computer from him. One glance, and she could see it was true. It was taken in the outdoor play area, and the short, stocky man with curly, red hair had his back to the camera, and she couldn’t see his features. But she could see that he was standing over Toby and she could see the syringe he was slipping back into the pocket of his jacket. For an instant she could feel the rage run hot before she got it under control. “The son of a bitch. Who is he? Did Nedra know? Everyone has to check in at the front desk.”
    “She said his name is Herbert Connors. He’d brought a boxer to the day-care center three times before that day. He said he was dropping the dog off for his next-door neighbor at his flat. She says he appeared to be a nice man and was very friendly with all the dogs. She can’t believe he would do something like this.”
    “Well, he did.” Her hands tightened on the laptop. “And she’d better check out the other dogs he had contact with.”
    “That was her first thought. She said she’d get on the phone immediately with all her clients and see if any other dogs are sick.” Caleb tilted his head. “But somehow I don’t think she’s going to find any. I think that Toby was the only target.”
    Her gaze flew to his face. “And why do you think that?”
    “She said Herbert Connors hadn’t been back since that day he’d evidently given Toby the poison. I think he’d gone the other three times to set it up. He was waiting for you to drop off Toby so that he could finish his job.”
    “For God’s sake, you’re making it sound like some diabolic scheme instead of a vicious crazy preying on a helpless animal.”
    “Haven’t you noticed?” He smiled faintly. “I tend to think on diabolic lines.”
    “True. But you’re very clever, and sometimes you’re right. So tell me what you’re thinking.”
    “That you’re a target. That this Herbert Connors used Toby to nudge you in the direction he wanted you to go.” He paused. “And he wanted you to leave London and come here to Summer Island.”
    “You’re crazy. How would he even know about Summer Island?”
    “I’m sure there are several messages from Sarah Logan in your e-mail. If he