CHAPTER

6

New Orleans

“PULL OVER HERE,” EVE SAID suddenly. “Now, Catherine.”

Catherine looked at her in bewilderment, but she slowed the car. “Why? This is only Canal Street. We’re in the French Quarter. I thought you wanted to go downtown to the police department to meet Joe.”

“Pull over.” Eve put her hand on the knob. “I have to get out. Now.”

Catherine muttered a curse as she pulled to the curb, ignoring the blaring of horns of the cars behind her. “Dammit, what’s happening?”

Eve grabbed her suitcase and jumped out of the car. “I have to go after Gallo. You try to work through Venable, but I think Gallo is the key.”

“Then we’ll both go after him. Don’t you leave Joe and me out of this, Eve.”

“I won’t. I’ll be in touch.” She moved toward the alley beside a souvenir shop, ducking past a mime who was performing on the street. “But I have to contact Gallo on my own. He’s on the run, and Joe and you aren’t going to be able to make him stop and listen. He’s on guard. If he knows that you’re with me, he may not listen to me either.”

“And you’re sure he’ll stop and listen to you?”

“No, I’m not sure.” She looked over her shoulder. “But he may decide to listen to me. I have a weapon that you don’t have, a card that I can play. I’ll call you.” She vanished into the alley and headed for the door of a restaurant with a wrought-iron balcony on the far end of the street.

Would Catherine follow her? She wouldn’t have been surprised if Catherine abandoned the car and ran after her. But Catherine was smart and would know that if she did try to intercept Eve, she’d just find another way to handle this on her own.

Eve ducked into the restaurant and moved past a jazz quartet on the small stage to the left of the door. Move fast. Weave in and out of the stores of the Quarter until she was sure Catherine had decided not to search for her. Then stop and make the call.

Fifteen minutes later, she had left the Quarter and was in the coffee shop of the Marriott Hotel. She dropped down in a booth and took out her phone.

Would Gallo answer her? He would know from the ID that it was her, and he might choose to ignore it. And, for all she knew, he might be on an airplane. He had driven away from the house hours before she and Catherine left.

Stop wondering and make the call.

She quickly dialed the number.

It rang three times before he picked up.

“I don’t want to talk to you, Eve.”

“Yes you do, or you wouldn’t have picked up the call. You might not want to make explanations or answer accusations, but you do want to talk to me. Even if you don’t, you’ll do it anyway. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to lose Catherine and Joe so that you’ll feel comfortable about this. I’m not going to let you turn away from me.”

“I’ve already done that. I turned away from you a long time ago, when you were only sixteen.”

“But before you did that, I conceived Bonnie. That changed everything between us. You told me once that no matter what happened, there would always be a bond we couldn’t break. Bonnie. Neither of us can get away from that, John.” She paused. “You ran away, and whatever you’re going to do now you want to do it alone. I can’t let you do that.”

“The hell you can’t. You don’t have a choice,” he said roughly. “Everything has changed. Look, there’s been nothing but trouble for you since I came back into your life. I never meant that to happen. I did enough damage to you when I was a nineteen-year-old kid who didn’t care about anything but getting you into bed.”

“You tried to protect me then.”

“Not hard enough.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about the past.” She added, “But you’re wrong: I do have a choice. Because I won’t accept it any other way. It has to be you and me, John. Joe and Catherine will try to help, they’ll support and do everything they can. But in the end, it goes back to what we did together when we were those kids back in Atlanta. Everything else that happened had to have rippled out from that time like a rock thrown into a lake.” She hesitated, then said quietly, “And one of those ripples was Ted Danner.”

Silence. “You finished that damn sketch. I thought it would take you longer.”

“Or hoped I’d do a lousy job.”

“No, that wasn’t a possibility. Not you.”

“You told me he was dead.”

“I thought I was telling you the truth. That’s what I was told when I got out of the hospital in Tokyo. I even saw the death certificate signed by the doctor at the VA hospital.”

“He looked pretty healthy to me when he was running to jump into that bayou. He’s not a young man, and I remembered him to be almost crippled.”

“He had a bad back injury that he got in Syria.” He added impatiently, “Look, it might not have been him. I have to find out.”

“So do I.”

“No,” he said sharply. “My uncle is my business. I’ll take care of it.”

“It stopped being your business when he killed Jacobs because he didn’t want Jacobs to talk to us. If what he was trying to hide had to do with Bonnie’s death, then it’s my business.” Her voice was steely. “And that means I’ll take care of it. Did he, John?”

Silence. “Oh, God, I don’t know, Eve.”

The agony in his voice hurt her, but she had to push it away. “Then we have to find out. Where do we start?”

He was silent, then finally said, “The death certificate. I’m going to Atlanta to see the doctor who signed it.”

“Then I’m going with you. Where are you now?”

“New Orleans airport.”

“If I join you there, I run the chance of Catherine or Joe being there to intercept us. Get a car and pick me up. I’m at the Marriott in the French Quarter. We’ll leave from Mobile.”

“You’re avoiding Catherine and Joe?”

“Only for the time being. I don’t know what’s coming down with all this business, and I don’t want to deal with conflict. How soon can you get here?”

“I didn’t say I’d take you with me.”

“No, you didn’t. But if you think about it, you’ll know I’m right. How soon?”

Silence. “Thirty minutes. Be outside the entrance on Canal Street.” He hung up.

It was done. She had isolated herself from everyone but Gallo, and she couldn’t be sure that his allegiance would ever be as strong toward her as it was to the uncle who had been his savior as a child. Eve slowly pressed the disconnect and leaned back in the seat.

Are you happy, Bonnie? This is going to cause me all kinds of turmoil with Joe and Catherine. Is this what you wanted?

No answer. No feeling either way that Eve had done the right or wrong thing. She would have to rely on herself … and John Gallo. But Gallo wasn’t Joe, who had never failed her. There had never been trust between her and Gallo. All they had shared was sex.

No, they had also shared Bonnie.

She would just have to trust in Bonnie.

But she would not run away and leave Joe without talking to him.

She braced herself and quickly dialed Joe’s number.

“I was waiting for your call,” Joe said when he picked up the phone. His voice was tight and she could sense the effort at control. “Catherine just phoned me and filled me in. What the hell are you doing, Eve?”

“Gallo has to be in this. Danner is his uncle, and I have to work with him. And he wouldn’t cooperate if you or Catherine were involved right now.”

“Then tell him to go screw himself.”

She was silent. “I can’t do that. It has to be this way.”

He didn’t speak for a moment. She could almost hear the mental wheels clicking. “Bonnie?”

“He’s her father. She wants him to stop hurting,” she said wearily. “Do you think I want it to be this way? I want you with me. I want to hold you. But I told Gallo that the two of us had started all of this, and we had to face the results together. That was the truth, Joe.”

“You’re shutting me out.”

“No, how could I do that? You’re always with me. I thought you’d realize that we’re way past that now. I’ll bring you into this as soon as I can. Help me, Joe.”

“I hate this.”

“I know you do. So do I.” She repeated, “Help me. From the moment you came to my house after Bonnie was taken, you’ve made my life worth living. There hasn’t been an hour that I haven’t felt that I could get through anything if you were there to help me.”

“But I won’t be there, dammit.” She could sense the struggle that he was going through. For an instant, she thought he was going to lose it. “Okay, I’ll give you a little time to work this out with him and try to find out about Danner. But that’s not going to stop me from going forward on my own. To hell with Gallo.”

She felt a rush of relief. She had not been sure that she could persuade Joe to agree to what she was doing. It was a testament to the way that their relationship had grown in the last weeks that he trusted her to such an extent. When Gallo had first come back into her life, there had been an element of jealousy in his resentment of Bonnie’s father. There might still be a little competitive emotion in the way he viewed Gallo. Hell, that was Joe and the way his character worked. If he cared about something or someone, he wanted to be first. But he now knew there was no question about that truth. “I’ll let you know where I am and what I’m doing.”

“You’d better. Or I’ll hunt you down.” He paused. “Be careful, Eve. I know that you think Gallo had reason to hesitate when he should have acted at that bayou.” His voice was sour. “Catherine says he was in shock. Screw that. Catherine almost died. If he cares so much about Danner, how the hell do you know he won’t act the same way if it’s your life in the balance?”

“I don’t. I won’t give you any arguments as Catherine did. I only know I have to do this.”

“Then do it, but don’t be surprised if I’m right behind you.” He hung up.

She wouldn’t be surprised, she’d be grateful to have Joe hovering over her. He’d probably be even more concerned if he knew the love that existed between Danner and Gallo. How could you fight an affection a victim had for his savior? It was a tie so strong that it was nearly unbreakable.

Stop sitting here and thinking about all the problems ahead. Be grateful that Joe understood even if he hadn’t approved. She wouldn’t dwell on it, taking one step at a time. She would just do what she had to do. She checked her watch. It was time to meet Gallo.

She got to her feet, grabbed her suitcase, and headed for the Canal Street entrance.

That was easier than I thought, Bonnie. I wonder … did you give me a little help?

*   *   *

“YOU HEARD FROM EVE,” Catherine said the moment she pulled up in front of the police station. Her gaze scanned the grimness of Joe’s face as he got into the passenger seat. “Where is she? Did you talk her into—”

“I didn’t talk her into anything.” Joe slammed the door shut. “She’d made up her mind, and there wasn’t anything I could have said that would have shifted her even an inch. She thinks that she has to work with Gallo and that we’ll cause him to shy away.”

“She may be right,” Catherine had to admit. “Though it surprised me that she managed to persuade him to let her go with him.” Yes, she’d been surprised, and there was a touch of some other emotion she refused to identify. “She said that she had a card he wouldn’t refuse. I guess it’s that they have a history.”

Joe shook his head. “Maybe, in a way.” He was looking out the window. “But that’s not what she meant.”

“Don’t tell me.” Catherine pulled away from the curb. “Bonnie, again.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you. But that’s what this is all about.”

“I know what this is all about. Bonnie’s murder, Bonnie’s killer. I can accept both of those things as the prime motivators. It’s the rest of the other baggage that I have problems with.” She held up her hand as Joe started to answer. “And I don’t need to accept what you believe or what Eve and Gallo believe. All I have to do is do my job and let the rest of you worry about all that mystic stuff.”

Joe smiled faintly. “It’s a deal. Do you know, you sound like me a few years ago. I promise I won’t try to ram any of this weird bullshit I feel down your throat.”

“You’d better not.” She smiled back at him. This was the Joe Quinn she knew and respected, her friend, her partner. “So, I take it that we’re not going to sit around and wait for Eve to call for help? You can’t count on her doing that.”

“I think I could. She realizes that we’re part of the equation. She’s just trying to strike a balance, and right now, Gallo is on the upswing.”

“You’re being very reasonable.” She gazed at him appraisingly. “I’m not sure why.”

“Maybe getting so close to the hereafter had a sobering effect on me.” He grimaced. “Nah, near-death experiences give you an appreciation for life. And maybe a glimmer of what people are all about. That may be it. I thought I knew Eve before, but it’s different now. When I have time, I’ll have to analyze what I went through. But I don’t believe it made me any more reasonable.”

But there was a difference in him, Catherine thought. It was the first time she had been with him for any length of time since he had gotten out of the hospital. He was familiar, yet there were … depths. Good God, she was thinking like someone from a soap opera. “I’ll take your word for it. But I still don’t believe you won’t go after Danner.”

“Of course I will. That’s what I told Eve. Only I’ll give her space.” He leaned back in the seat. “But not too much.”

“What did you find out about the fingerprints?”

“What I suspected. No prints on the truck from anyone but the kid he stole it from. But I think we might have gotten a couple from the storeroom at the alligator farm. The minute you told me about the sketch of Ted Danner, I asked Julian to run a match check through the National Database. He’ll call me as soon as he gets the report.”

“And then we’ll know for sure if Danner is alive.”

“Presumably,” Joe said dryly. “Ghosts don’t leave fingerprints. Now let’s head for the airport.”

“Where are we going?”

“You tell me. You said Venable was supposed to start checking on Ted Danner. Get on the phone and see what he’s found out.”

*   *   *

GALLO WAS TEN MINUTES late pulling up before the Marriott in a gray Mercedes.

“You know this isn’t a good idea,” he said, as she got into the car. “Can I talk you out of it?”

“You know you can’t. We’ve already discussed it. Drive.” She leaned back in the seat. “And tell me everything you know about Ted Danner. You can bet that Catherine will have a report from Venable anytime now and will be sharing it with Joe.”

“And will he share it with you?”

“If there’s anything that might threaten me. Otherwise, he’ll probably try to beat me to the punch.”

“To protect you.”

She nodded. “To protect me. Since Danner almost killed Catherine, I have to assume that he has reason to think it’s needed. Tell me about your uncle.”

He glanced away from her. “You know he’s supposed to be dead. We’re not sure that he’s not.”

“You’re sure,” she said. “No one knows Danner better than you do.”

“I only got a glimpse of his profile.”

“And it shocked you so much that you couldn’t move.” She paused. “I didn’t see his face at all. I only saw him moving toward Catherine. That was why I couldn’t even make a connection with Danner until I saw the finished sketch. That man at the bayou moved like an athlete, a young man. There was a springiness to his step. The Ted Danner I met was almost crippled. He moved slowly, like an old man.”

“Yes, he did.”

She was studying his face. “But you still recognized him.”

He nodded jerkily. “He wasn’t always crippled like that, only after that last mission. All the time I was growing up my uncle was strong as a bull and could beat me in any race. When we were up in the woods, he was so quiet, so good, that he could get within a yard of any forest animal before it knew he was there. I watched him do it any number of times.” He paused. “Just as I watched him when he was coming up behind Catherine. It was as if he’d turned back the clock.”

“Or had an operation on his spine that turned it back for him. Was that on the books before you left for basic training?”

He shook his head. “He said they had to do all kinds of testing.”

“I saw him when Bonnie was six months old, and he still looked crippled. That’s a long time to wait for surgery.”

“Maybe they weren’t sure they could do it.” His lips tightened. “He had spells when he was in terrible pain.”

“You told me once he was on prescription drugs.”

“But he kicked the habit. He wouldn’t let himself fall into that hole.” He glanced at her. “You’re trying to build a case for his being a drug addict, and that would be a reason for his killing Bonnie.” He shook his head. “He hated drugs. He told me he’d rather have the pain than mess up his head like that.”

“I don’t know what I’m trying to do,” she said wearily. “Yes, drugs were a possibility. They can turn men into monsters. I thought your uncle was a gentle man, but the man who almost stabbed Catherine wasn’t gentle. He was a monster. So I’m trying to make a connection.”

“He’s not a monster. Killing Jacobs doesn’t make him a monster. Jacobs was a total son of a bitch. You don’t know why he did it.”

“Catherine,” she reminded him. “Why would he hurt Catherine? He could have just avoided her.”

“The truck. She was standing next to it. He needed the truck to escape.”

“You’re reaching.”

“I know,” he said jerkily. “I don’t know why he would do any of this. Uncle Ted was a good guy. Nobody better. None of this makes sense.”

He was in pain. She could see it in the tenseness of his every muscle, the set of his mouth.

Well, she couldn’t help him. Not now. She said again, “Tell me about Ted Danner. When did you get to know him? Was he your mother’s brother?”

“My father’s half brother. They were nothing alike. Ted was younger, and they grew up together in the slums. My father became an alcoholic by the time he was twenty and went straight downhill. Uncle Ted joined the service at seventeen and got out of there. They didn’t like each other, and I don’t know why Ted visited him when he came back on leave.” He shook his head. “Yes, I do know. I think it was me. He wanted to help me. He always tried to step in and keep them from hurting me. He even used to tell me what I should do to keep them from getting angry.” He grimaced. “Though that didn’t work so well after I got older. I hated them as much as they hated me, and I let them know it. I was lucky I survived.”

“Why didn’t your uncle persuade them to give you into his custody?”

“He was in the Rangers. He only had his pay. He didn’t have a home or a family. He couldn’t take on a kid. He tried to be a friend to me. I couldn’t expect anything else from him.” He added, “He came home on medical leave when I was seventeen, and we got to spend some time together. It was great, like I had real family. My parents were killed in a house fire about four months after he came home. My father fell asleep in bed smoking a cigarette. My uncle and I moved into a flat together. I was planning on going into the Army when I finished high school, but I took off with a couple buddies to see some of the country first. When I came back to Milwaukee, I found out that Uncle Ted was worse and had to go to Atlanta for treatment. I decided to go with him and get him settled before the treatments began.” He glanced at her. “You know the rest.”

Yes, she knew the rest. She had met John Gallo, and they had gotten caught up in a sexual maelstrom that had altered both their lives and produced Bonnie. “You told me that the death certificate was signed by a doctor at the VA hospital. What was the cause of death?”

“Pneumonia contracted after surgery.”

“And what was the name of the doctor who signed the certificate?”

“Lawrence Temple.” He paused. “I called the hospital, and he’s no longer at the facility. He’s now in private practice somewhere in San Antonio. I tried to check on any record of surgery being performed on a Theodore Danner, and they refused to give me any information on the phone.”

“So you want to go and question them in person?”

“No, I think we should go find Temple in San Antonio.”

She nodded slowly. “We’d do better to contact that doctor and find out why he falsified the death certificate. Catherine can dig out the information about the surgery. We can count on her.”

“Yes, Catherine won’t let anything stand in her way. She’s relentless.”

Her gaze narrowed on his face. There was something in his tone … “Do you resent that?”

“God, no. I admire it.” He grimaced. “It’s just that when her determination is turned on me, it becomes a force to be reckoned with.”

“You should be grateful that she’s on your side.”

“Do you think I’m not?”

“I don’t know what you feel about her,” she said quietly. “But she’s my friend, and for some reason, she believes in you. You’d better be damn grateful.”

“Or you’ll take me out?” His lips twisted. “You’re as fiercely protective of Catherine as she is of you.”

“Catherine doesn’t trust easily. She’s had a rough life. I won’t have her hurt.” Her gaze was searching his face. She was remembering bits and pieces, phrases, expressions that she’d ignored because of the urgency of the situation. But protecting Catherine had its own urgency. “Just what do you feel about her, John?”

He didn’t answer directly. “You don’t have to worry about her trusting me. She’s too smart for that.”

“Dammit, answer me.”

“What do you want me to say?” he asked harshly. “That I admire her, that I’m grateful to her for helping me when I didn’t deserve it. That I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I’d let her be killed.”

“That’s quite a bit. Noble sentiments.”

“Noble? You know me better than that. There’s nothing pure or noble about me.” He met her gaze. “All that stuff pales beside the fact that I want to screw her so much that I ache with it. I haven’t wanted a woman like this since I met you all those years ago, Eve.”

She stiffened. The words were raw and his expression intense, reckless. Yet she shouldn’t have been so surprised. She had sensed … something when talking to Catherine, but neither Catherine nor Gallo would let down their guard enough to reveal an emotion this intimate.

“Are you satisfied?” Gallo asked. “No, I can see I’ve upset you. You shouldn’t have pushed if you didn’t want me to tell you the truth.”

“You did upset me.” Her gaze was searching his face. “I think you wanted to upset me, or you wouldn’t have just come out with it like that. Why, John?”

“Why? Good question.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “I think I felt guilty. Maybe I wanted absolution.”

“Absolution?” She frowned. “What on earth are you talking about? Because Catherine is my friend?”

“No, because I felt … unfaithful.”

She stared at him, stunned.

“Yeah, I know,” he said roughly. “It’s crazy. But then, everyone knows that about me.”

“Unfaithful to me? That doesn’t make sense. Good God, how many women have you had over the years?”

“That’s different. They didn’t matter. I didn’t feel … It wasn’t anything like what was between us.”

“And what you’re feeling for Catherine is like what we felt?”

“Yes. No. It’s different, but it … means something. I don’t know what.”

“That’s clear as mud. And so is your reasoning. There’s nothing between us, John. Whatever we were together vanished when you left me. Why the hell should you feel guilty?”

“I shouldn’t. You and I tried to keep what we felt from meaning anything but sex.” He added hoarsely, “You may have succeeded, but even back then I wasn’t so sure that I did. And after I was thrown into that prison, the memory of you stayed with me.” He paused. “And then there was Bonnie. I told you once that she’d bind us together forever.”

And Eve couldn’t argue with him on that score. Why else was she with him?

“You were special to me,” he said. “You’ll always be special. I know you’ve moved on. Hell, I’m beginning to think I’ve moved on, too. God knows, it took me long enough. So maybe next time I want to screw Catherine, I won’t feel as if I—” He drew a deep breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to let all this loose on you. Forget it.”

“I can’t forget it.” She stared at him in frustration. “And I can’t ignore it. This is nuts. You were not unfaithful to me because you want to go to bed with Catherine. We both know that.” Her lips thinned. “Absolution? John Gallo, that’s the height of absurdity.”

“Yes.” He smiled. “And I’m beginning to feel better with every word you’re hurling at me. What’s between us is so damn complicated that it’s good to get it out in the open. Now I can try to seduce Catherine and not worry about anything but having a good time.”

“I didn’t say that,” she said, exasperated. “You don’t have any responsibility to me, but you’d better act responsibly with Catherine.”

“You know I don’t have a history in that direction.” His smile faded. “But I’ll try to change my ways if it will please you, Eve. I guess I could try this pure, noble crap.”

“Bullshit,” she said bluntly. “You like your way too much, and I never remember you not trying to take it.”

“Not if you said no.”

But she had never said no to him. She had been too dizzy and hot and completely involved with her first sexual experience. And she doubted if Catherine would say no to him either. Not for long. He still possessed the sensual magnetism that had drawn Eve to him, but now it had matured and become even more potent. Eve could see it, feel it, but it didn’t touch her. As he’d said, she had moved on.

But to Catherine, Gallo’s charisma would be fresh and stormy and strike sparks.

“Don’t hurt her, John.”

“You flatter me.” He moved into the lane that led to the Mobile airport. “Catherine is probably tougher than either one of us. She wouldn’t let me hurt her.”

Eve hoped that was true. It was true that there was no one more wary than Catherine. But her friend had never met a man like John Gallo.

He glanced at her when she didn’t speak. “I’m trying to be good, Eve,” he said quietly. “I know I’d be rotten for her. That’s one of the reasons that I took off and put some distance between us. Catherine has the misfortune to believe in me.” His lips twisted. “Even after I came within a heartbeat of letting her be killed.” He shrugged. “So instead, I let you come along for the ride. Here we are together again, Eve.”

“Only until we find Ted Danner. It’s all about—” Her phone rang, and she glanced at the ID. “It’s Catherine.” She pressed the button and turned up the volume. “What’s happening?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Catherine said. “I didn’t like the way you left me, Eve. It wasn’t fair.”

“I know. I didn’t want an argument, and you would have given me one.”

“You’re damn right I would have.” She paused. “Is Gallo listening?”

“Yes.”

“You take care of her, Gallo. If you don’t, I’ll cut your heart out.”

“Always to the point,” Gallo said. “I have no intention of letting anything happen to Eve.”

“Intentions don’t always translate to the final product. Joe wants to talk to you, Eve. But I wanted to make sure you heard about the fingerprint tests that Joe had New Orleans PD run on the prints found in the gift shop at the alligator farm. The results just came in.”

“Danner?”

“Absolutely positive.”

Gallo muttered a curse as his grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“I heard that,” Catherine said. “It’s too bad you don’t like it, Gallo. Face it. He’s a murderer.”

“There could have been reasons.”

“And what reason did he have for tossing that night security guard to the alligators?”

“Self-defense. Quinn said there were signs of a struggle. He could have been surprised and acted instinctively.”

“Maybe. I’m not counting on it. I’m handing the phone to Joe, Eve.”

“Right.” She braced herself. “Where are you, Joe?”

“At the gate in New Orleans waiting for a flight to Atlanta. We’re going to go check out Danner’s records at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.”

“Gallo tried to do that. The administrative office wouldn’t give him any info. I knew you and Catherine would be able to find out about him.” She paused. “Gallo and I are going to San Antonio to check out the doctor who signed the death certificate for Ted Danner. I’ll let you know what we find out.”

There was a silence. “You will?”

“Joe, for Pete’s sake, I told you I wasn’t trying to close you out. It’s just not possible for me to work with you right now.”

“Because of Gallo,” Joe said harshly.

“No, because of Bonnie.” She added quickly, “I’ve got to go, Joe. I’ll call you when I have an update.” She hung up and turned to Gallo. “You heard it. There’s no doubt any longer. It’s Danner.”

“But how?” he asked through set teeth. “Why?”

“That’s what we have to find out.”

“You told Joe we were going to San Antonio,” Gallo said. “How do you know that they won’t be there before us?”

“I don’t. But it wouldn’t be smart of them now that I’ve explained my position. And Joe and Catherine are both very smart. They don’t like it, but they trust me.” She added quietly, “And I won’t violate that trust, John. They’ve gone through hell, and they deserve to see the end of this. You set the rules, and I had to go by them.” She shook her head. “No, I wanted to go by them. You scared me. I know how you feel about your uncle. I’m not sure how you’d respond if it came to a choice.”

“I didn’t let him hurt Catherine.”

“But Joe said you took a chance on a risky throw. Why?”

“I wasn’t thinking, dammit. I couldn’t believe it was happening. I meant to aim for his back.”

“But you aimed for his hand.”

“It was too late to—” He drew a deep shaky breath. “I could have killed him with that bowie if I’d struck his back. I couldn’t kill him, Eve.”

“I know. And that’s why I don’t want to expose Joe and Catherine if you’re faced with that choice again.”

“But you’re willing to risk yourself,” he added mockingly. “It appears you’re not as smart as Joe and Catherine. Where’s your sense of self-preservation?”

“You’ll do what you have to do. I’m not afraid no matter what choice you make.”

“How fatalistic,” he said. “I’m not sure I like your attitude. You were always a fighter, Eve.”

“Who says I’m not now?” She shrugged. “But I guess I am a fatalist in this. I’ll do everything I can to survive, but this time I may not have any say in it.” She stared him in the eye. “And you might not either. It could be that’s why we’re supposed to be together.”

“Don’t be melodramatic. We’re not going to die,” he said. “I won’t accept any of that bull.” He was silent a moment. “I don’t want to die. There was a time, when I thought I might be the bastard who had killed Bonnie, that I didn’t want to live. I thought I should burn in hell. Then Catherine came along and told me in her less-than-gentle way that I was an idiot to take Black’s word, anyone’s word, without positive proof and kicked me into high gear. She said she’d learned a hell of a lot about me when we were playing cat and mouse while she was stalking me in those woods in Wisconsin. If she didn’t believe I was capable of killing Bonnie, why should I? She convinced me. I’d fight to live now.” He frowned. “If I’m not to blame for it after all. I’ve just remembered something Jacobs said when I was questioning him. He was blaming everyone but himself for Bonnie’s death. Including me. He said it was my fault.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t latch on to the blame before this,” she said in exasperation. “Dammit, you said he was blaming everyone. Why should it be your fault if you didn’t kill Bonnie?”

“But it was my uncle who killed Jacobs. Who might have killed Bonnie.”

“Then it was his crime.”

“Maybe.” He pulled onto the entrance ramp for Mobile airport. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”