Shadow Play by Iris Johansen

amusing. I’ve told Jenny what I need from her. I’ll just have to see if she can do what I asked.” She took out her phone. “And I have a few calls to make myself.”
    â€œNalchek?”
    â€œThat’s one of them.” She started to dial. “And the other is to a friend who came through for me a few months ago. I’ve just got to hope she’s still in California…”
    *   *   *
    â€œI’m not sure where you can find Margaret Douglas,” Kendra Michaels said. “I think she’s still in California, but you never know with Margaret. She’s something of a gypsy.”
    â€œI thought she went to California because you were there,” Eve said. “But she’s not answering her phone. I was hoping that you might still be in touch.”
    â€œI tried, but Margaret marches to her own drummer.”
    â€œLike several other people in our circle,” Eve said dryly. Including Kendra Michaels, who was sometimes a music therapist and sometimes worked with the police and FBI. She was truly an original since she had been blind until her twenties and had learned to use all her senses with incredible accuracy. “No idea where Margaret could be?”
    â€œShe worked as a volunteer at the San Diego Zoo,” Kendra said. “But it wasn’t challenging enough, so she moved on. Maybe she went back to Summer Island to work with those dogs in that experimental program.”
    â€œI’ll check with them and see if they’ve heard from her. But it would be difficult for Margaret to go back there when she has no papers.”
    â€œThat’s never stopped her before. Margaret is an expert at jumping over obstacles like a lack of ID.”
    So Eve had been told. But she had never questioned Margaret about it, and neither had Joe. They had been too grateful for Margaret’s help in finding Eve when she had been kidnapped months ago. Jane, who had brought Margaret into their lives when she had taken her dog, Toby, to Summer Island to be treated for ingesting a rare poison, had told them that Margaret was incredibly gifted with animals. It hadn’t mattered to Jane that Margaret apparently skipped around the world under the radar and no one knew anything about her. All she cared about was that Margaret had saved her dog because she had the ability to bond with animals.
    And Margaret might have saved Eve’s life because of that same gift.
    â€œAm I allowed to ask why you want to get in touch with Margaret?” Kendra asked. “And why I can’t help instead?”
    She had known this was coming. “You have many talents but not the one I might need. Margaret lived for years in the woods near her home as a child after she ran away from her father. That makes her uniquely qualified since I need someone who is woods savvy.”
    â€œThat’s not me. But I’m told I make it up in other ways that are—”
    â€œNo,” she said firmly. “This is my problem. I’m grateful, and if I need you, I might call on you. But not unless I run into a blank wall.”
    â€œYou just did,” Kendra said.
    â€œNot yet.”
    Kendra was silent. “I’ll make a few calls. Margaret made a lot of friends while she was here. She might have mentioned something to someone. How much time do I have?”
    â€œWe need her as soon as possible. Joe and I will be arriving in Sonderville tonight.”
    â€œSonderville. That’s wine country.”
    â€œIt’s the woods north of town, not the vineyards that I’m concerned about.”
    â€œI’ll see what I can do.”
    â€œThank you, Kendra.”
    â€œDon’t thank me until I find her. Why do you have to have someone who is woods savvy?”
    â€œI need to find something that was lost or hidden in the woods eight years ago.”
    â€œEight years.” Kendra gave a low whistle. “Definitely not my area of