Bonnie

CHAPTER 5

“ANSWER ME.” EVE TRIED TO STEADY her voice. “Is this the man who tried to kill you?”

“Yes.” Catherine took the notebook and gazed down at the sketch. “Congratulations. I had no idea you could come this close. It’s him.”

“You’re absolutely sure?”

“I told you, it’s him. That chin is the-” She broke off as she raised her eyes and saw Eve’s expression. “What’s wrong? You’re pale as this notebook paper.”

“I just have to make sure you’re positive this is the man. I have to know that I didn’t make him up out of some subconscious memory.”

Catherine stiffened. “Memory?”

Eve took the sketch back and looked at it again. The eyes, the facial features, the brows were all the same. Only the deep wrinkles at the corners of the eyes and the ferocity that was imprinted in every line of that face was different.

“What memory, Eve?” Catherine asked. “You’ve seen this man before?”

“I think I have. But it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Who is it? Give me a name.”

Eve shook her head. “But he’s a dead man. Gallo told me that he was dead.”

“Dammit, who is it?”

“His name is Ted Danner.”

“And you’ve seen him before?”

Eve moistened her lips. “A long time ago. And only a couple times. He’s John Gallo’s uncle.”

“What?”

“Ted Danner is Gallo’s uncle. He was the reason John Gallo came to Atlanta. I would never have met Gallo, never had Bonnie, if it hadn’t been for Ted Danner.” She looked down at the sketch. “He was an ex-Ranger who had been injured in the Army. He had been sent down to the Veterans’ Hospital in Atlanta from Milwaukee so that he could go to a specialist there. I remember that he could hardly walk.”

“Then they must have performed a miracle,” Catherine said dryly. “He moved like an Olympic athlete at that bayou this morning. Providing the athlete had all the instincts of a serial killer.”

Eve shook her head in bewilderment. “I don’t understand it. I liked Ted Danner. I felt sorry for him. Gallo told me that he was the only good thing in his life. Gallo grew up in the slums, as I did, and his parents abused him terribly. His uncle was the only bright spot in a pretty lousy life. He took him away on trips, interceded between him and his parents, taught him everything he knew about being a Ranger. That’s why Gallo wanted to go into the service.”

“And ended up in that prison in North Korea.” She shook her head. “Look, this doesn’t seem like it could be the same man. Could you be mistaken? You said you only saw him a couple times.”

“That’s right, the first time I saw him was when he came to see me months after John Gallo had left me and joined the Army. The other time was after Bonnie was born.” Could she be mistaken? She had been only sixteen, and when you were young, you saw everything and everyone differently. A pregnant sixteen-year-old who was just trying to survive those months and get on with her life.

“There’s a man downstairs who wants to talk to you,” her neighbor, Rosa, said, when Eve opened the door. “I left him on my bench in the yard. Nice man. He said he’d come upstairs, but he has a bad back.”

“Who is he? Salesman?”

“I don’t think so.” Rosa frowned. “He doesn’t have that slick look. I didn’t get his name. He sort of reminds me of someone.”

“That’s a help.” She came out on the landing and started down the steps. “Look, Rosa, you were supposed to be studying with me this morning and not sitting with your baby on that bench.”

“But he needs the sunshine.”

“And you need your GED. And you’re going to get it. I want you here tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” She made a face as she leaned over the railing and called, “You didn’t use to be so bossy. Your baby is going to come out of you cracking a whip.”

Eve grinned as she opened the front door. “I’ll take the chance. That will be two of us to nag you.”

She was still smiling as she turned to the man sitting on the bench. “Hello, I’m Eve Duncan. What can-” She inhaled sharply.

He sort of reminds me of someone.

He was a thin man in his late forties or early fifties, with thinning gray-brown hair and olive skin and dark eyes.

John Gallo’s eyes.

“How do you do? I’m Ted Danner.” The man got to his feet with an effort. “I’m sorry to make you come down. I just couldn’t face those flights of stairs. John may have told you that I have back problems.”

“You’re his uncle Ted.” She moistened her lips, trying to recover from the shock. “Yes, he said you injured it while you were in the service.”

“I thought he’d tell you about me. We’re very close.” He smiled gently. “He’s like my own son. He’s a good boy.”

“Why are you here?”

“He asked me to come.”

Another shock. “What?”

“Well, actually, he asked me to keep an eye on you when he left for basic training. He said that I shouldn’t approach you, that you’d resent it.”

“But you’re here.”

“I tried to keep myself from coming. But I had to talk to you.” He looked at the front of her maternity smock. “I saw you on the street three weeks ago, and I was… surprised. How far are you along?”

“Eight months.”

“And it’s John’s child?”

“No, it’s my child.”

“But John fathered him?”

She nodded. “But you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to claim him as the father.” She paused. “I prefer he not know. You should agree to that. John said you were eager that he have a career in the military. A baby would just get in his way.” Her lips tightened. “Don’t tell him.”

Ted Danner shook his head. “You poor child. You’re so alone.”

“The hell I am. I’m doing fine. Don’t tell him.”

“I don’t have a choice at the moment. I can’t write to him. I don’t know where he is.”

She stared at him, stunned. “What?”

“Right after basic and Ranger training, he was sent overseas. I heard from him from Tokyo right after he arrived, then nothing.”

“That doesn’t make sense. You have to be able to trace him. You’re military yourself.”

“Unless he volunteered for a special mission. John’s smart and ambitious, and that would be a way for him to rise through the ranks.”

“Just what you’d do,” she said dully.

“That’s what I’ve been telling myself.” He shook his head. “It’s different when it’s someone else doing it.” His voice was husky. “I love that boy.”

She could see that he did. His eyes were moist, and his last words had been unsteady. “But you don’t know anything for certain. He could be fine.”

Ted nodded. “I’ve dropped from the radar any number of times, and here I am with nothing but a bad back. I’ve been doing a lot of praying lately.” He stood up. “I thought you should know in case you wanted to do a little praying, too.”

She was so stunned that she didn’t know how she felt. It was hard for her to believe that the John Gallo she had known could be in any danger. “I’m sure that he’ll be all right.”

Ted Danner nodded. “I thought you should know. But don’t worry too much. It wouldn’t be good for you.” He started down the walk toward the gate. “If I can do anything for you, let me know. It’s the least I can do. John would want me to stand by you.”

“You have your own problems. Your nephew would want you to take care of yourself.”

“You’re a good girl, Eve,” he said quietly. “I can see why John cared about you.”

She watched him walk stiffly down the street. Poor guy, he was really worried, and John was obviously all he had. But he was jumping the gun. She couldn’t believe that John Gallo was dead just because he was temporarily missing. He was so young and strong and tough. Men like him weren’t easily killed.

But perhaps, even though she couldn’t believe he was truly in danger, she should still pray for the father of her child.

EVE GAZED IN BEWILDERMENT at the sketch she’d just created from Catherine’s words and description, shaking her head in stunned disbelief. Was she mistaken? It seemed impossible that that gentle, wounded man could be a vicious killer. “He’s… older. But the age difference would be about right. But that’s about all that would be the same except his appearance. The Danner I knew was close to being crippled. He was sensitive, caring. He was no killer.”

“That argument doesn’t hold water. If he was a Ranger, he was trained to kill,” Catherine said.

“Joe was in the SEALs, you’re CIA. You were both trained to kill. That doesn’t mean you’re both murderers.”

“It means that we would pull the trigger if we had to do it. Maybe Danner went a step further.” She paused. “Some people get to like what they do.”

Eve knew that to be true. Joe had told her that the reason he had left the SEALs was that he had started to like it too much. He was afraid he was becoming what he was fighting. “Danner would have had to be twisted out of all semblance of the man I met in Atlanta.”

“You said you’d met him twice. The second time after Bonnie was born. Did he seem to have any animosity toward her?”

Eve felt a ripple of shock. She had been thinking of Danner in the context of his possibly killing Jacobs and his attack on Catherine at the bayou. But if he’d had reason to kill Jacobs, then he might be Bonnie’s killer. She thought back on that second encounter with Danner when she’d taken Bonnie for a walk in her stroller, going over every nuance, every glance.

“No, he was smiling. He chucked Bonnie under her chin. He said she was going to be pretty as a picture. He said Gallo would have been proud of her.” She paused, remembering that incredibly touching moment. “And then he told me that he’d received a notification that his nephew had been killed in Korea and his remains only discovered recently. He was bitter about it. He said that Gallo was only nineteen years old, and his life was hell from the minute he was born. He said the Army shouldn’t have let him die before he had a chance to live.”

“Bitter? Angry with you, too?”

“No, only sad. He asked if I’d mind if he kept an eye on me and Bonnie. He said he thought that his nephew would want him to do that.”

“So he became part of your life?”

She shook her head. “I invited him to come and see us. I felt so sorry for him. I could tell that Gallo had been all the world to him. He said he didn’t want to impose. He just wanted to make sure everything was going well for us. If he was looking after us, it was at a distance. I don’t remember ever seeing him again after that day.”

“I don’t get it,” Catherine said in frustration. “You’re certain that sketch looks like him? There are so many things that don’t add up.”

“The first is that Ted Danner is supposed to be dead.”

“That’s not bothering me too much. Deaths can be faked. Hell, the Army obviously faked Gallo’s death in Korea. Who told you that Danner was dead?”

“Gallo. When we were at the cabin on the property in Wisconsin, Gallo was telling me how his uncle had brought him up there when he was a kid. He told me that his uncle had died when Gallo was in prison in Korea.”

“And you thought he was telling the truth?”

Eve nodded. “I believed Gallo. It didn’t occur to me to interrogate him about his uncle.” She added slowly, “Though perhaps I should have questioned everything concerning him. Ted Danner would have done anything in the world for Gallo.”

“Questioning might not have done any good,” Catherine said curtly. “Gallo could have believed what he told you. Maybe he didn’t know that Danner was still alive.”

“Why wouldn’t he know?”

“How do I know?” She went still, her eyes narrowing. “Though it would explain why Gallo was practically in shock when he saw him on the bank. And, if they were as close as you say, he would have found it nearly impossible to try to take him out.”

Eve had been thinking about the reluctance to act that Joe had been so certain he’d seen in Gallo. Joe had assumed that it was deliberate, but Catherine’s explanation was also possible. She just didn’t know.

How could she know? She was still in shock from the moment she’d finished the sketch and recognized Ted Danner. Except it wasn’t the Danner she had known. That expression on the face she’d drawn during these past hours had been pure violence incarnate. “Yes, Gallo was very close to his uncle.”

“How close?” Catherine asked.

“I told you about their relationship.”

“Give me details.”

“I don’t know all the details. Gallo rarely talked about his feelings or the past.” She made a face. “We didn’t talk much at all. An exchange of thought or memories was last on our list of priorities. It was all about the physical.”

“Tell me what you do know.”

So that Catherine could put together all the pieces and come up with a defense for Gallo. Well, good luck to her. Eve wasn’t at the point where she could reason this out. “It’s pretty skimpy. John Gallo grew up in a housing development in Milwaukee that was probably a lot like the one where I lived. His family was dirt poor, and evidently his parents were terribly abusive. Gallo once mentioned that his father’s favorite form of punishment was putting cigarettes out on his back.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“That’s what I thought. Gallo’s only defense was to keep out of his way. It must have been hell on earth except for the times when his uncle came home on leave. When his uncle was medically discharged from the Army when Gallo was in his teens, they lived together, and I guess they took care of each other.”

“And they moved down to Atlanta to go to a VA specialist for Ted Danner’s back?”

Eve nodded. “And rented a place in a development a couple blocks from where I lived. That’s all I know. I’ve told you everything, Catherine.”

“You’re right, it’s damn skimpy.”

“I know.” But then everything about those weeks had been fast and volatile as the flicker of a motion-picture film. She had been so caught up in the sexual frenzy with Gallo that everything else had been as ephemeral as the fog outside.

And then there had been Bonnie, and nothing else had seemed important.

“And the only person who can tell us anything else is Gallo,” Catherine said. “And where is he, dammit?”

“It depends if Ted Danner is really alive,” Eve said. “And whether Gallo knew it. He’s either going to join him, or he’s going to try to find him.” She shrugged. “And what if Jacobs’s killer is just a Danner look-alike? It’s possible, isn’t it?”

Catherine just looked at her.

“Okay, it would be too coincidental.” Eve threw the sketch down on the table. “But I wanted to explore every possibility before I made a giant leap.”

“You made it,” Catherine said. “Now let’s go tackle the fact that Ted Danner is probably alive and not the tame pussycat you thought him to be all those years ago. We need to find out why Danner was said to be deceased and where we can find him.”

“And where he was when my Bonnie was taken.”

“That goes without saying,” Catherine said quietly. “Bonnie is always first, Eve. We just have to find the way to her. It will be-” She broke off and raised her head. “I hear a car. That’s probably Venable and his cleanup team.” She went to the window. “Yeah, that’s Venable. I’ll go out and meet him. I want to get him in and out as quickly as I can do it. It may not be easy. It just depends on what he wants and how badly he wants it.”

“You think he has an agenda?”

“Oh, yes, Venable doesn’t interfere with me unless he has reason. He knows me too well.” She went to the door and threw it open. “On the bright side, at least, he brought the cleanup crew. We would have had problems disposing of Jacobs’s body. After all, he was in the military and supposedly served his country.”

“He was a crook, a smuggler, and possibly an accomplice to murder.”

“We’d still have problems explaining him away. Military bureaucracy is almost as bad as congressional bureaucracy. It’s better that he just disappear.” She strode out of the house and called, “Venable, you took your time. We’ve been waiting for-”

“Don’t go there, Catherine,” Venable said sourly as he got out of the car. “I’m a little fed up with this fog and crawling along on these less-than-wonderful highways. Be polite. Be very polite.”

EVE WATCHED CATHERINE and Venable together for a moment before she turned away. They were sparring with the easy familiarity that spoke of a longtime association. Venable was a powerhouse, but Catherine was having no trouble keeping up with him. Catherine had no trouble keeping up with anyone.

She glanced at the Danner sketch again and suddenly shivered. How could kindness become malice? Or had the malice always been there, hidden and waiting to break free? She had a sudden memory of Bonnie in her stroller and Danner bending down to pick up a toy rabbit she had dropped while Eve and he were talking. No, it seemed impossible. She had sought out killers before whom she had thought might have killed Bonnie, but they had been monsters. Ted Danner was not a monster.

But the expression Eve had drawn of the face of the man who had attacked Catherine had been that of a monster. She pulled her eyes away from the sketch and tossed it on the table before she went out the front door. She needed to get away from the house and Jacobs, who was still lying dead in the bed upstairs. She had to think. The recognition of Ted Danner had come as a tremendous shock, and she was both bewildered and uncertain which path was best. Catherine might know what direction she was going to follow, but she had never met Ted Danner. It was Eve whose life had been the backdrop for this horror of pain and sadness to play out. Catherine had only her own experience and instincts to help her make conclusions.

And that seductive wild card that was John Gallo. Eve knew what confusion he could bring to any woman.

“Eve?” Catherine turned away from Venable as Eve strode past them.

“I needed some air.” She nodded at Venable but didn’t stop. A moment later, she entered the trees that bordered the bayou.

That was better. She drew a deep breath. Silence, except for the sounds of the bayou. The fog was a mere wisp drifting over the waters. Peace. No pushing and prodding for action from Catherine. She could relax and try to get her thoughts together.

“SHE ONLY WANTS WHAT’S best. Catherine doesn’t know any other way.”

Bonnie.

Eve stiffened, gazing out at the bayou, remembering the wisp of a spirit that she’d seen on the waters as she’d approached the house. Sad. Bonnie had been so sad, and it had frightened Eve.

“No, I’m over here.” Bonnie was leaning against a tree, dressed in her jeans and Bugs Bunny T-shirt, her curly red hair blazing against the gray bark. “I’m sorry I scared you, Mama. I was scared, too. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want it to happen.”

“Jacobs? Then why did you let it happen? Don’t you have any influence?”

Bonnie shook her head. “What do you expect? I’m kind of new here.” She smiled. “I know it seems a long time since I left you, but it was really only the blink of an eye.”

Bonnie always sounded so adult when she came to Eve. It was one of the reasons why Eve had had problems for years believing that she was anything but a dream. In spite of the fact that Bonnie had scoffed at her and told her that she shouldn’t expect her to be the same seven-year-old child when she had crossed over. “Blink of an eye. Don’t tell me that. It’s been an eternity,” she said unsteadily. “And I want it over. Catherine almost died. She shouldn’t have been caught up in this nightmare. It’s not fair. If someone has to die, it should be me.”

“Not you, Mama. We can’t be together yet.” She sighed. “How many times have I told you that everything has its time?”

“I don’t care what you told me.” She paused. “And you’ve been saying that we’re reaching the end, that’s what you told Joe when he was in that coma. He didn’t imagine that, did he?”

“No, it’s the truth.” Her luminous smile lit her face. “And I had to give him some reason to come back. It’s very difficult turning anyone around when they’ve gone that far. But I was betting that if he knew that you’d soon need him, I could do it.”

“I thought you meant that you were talking about… I was wondering if the end you were talking about was-”

“Dying?” Her smiled faded. “It could be, but I don’t know if that’s coming. I only know that the path is leading somewhere now, and we all have to walk it.”

“And it’s making you sad. You scared me when I saw you before.”

“I was scared, too. I didn’t want it to happen, but I couldn’t stop it.”

“Jacobs’s killing?”

She didn’t answer. “I have to leave you now, Mama. I only came because I knew that you were worried about me.”

“Don’t you dare go away.” Her voice was unsteady. “You’ve told me before that you can’t tell me about the person who killed you, that it’s lost in darkness. But I think that’s changing, isn’t it? Tell me who did it.”

“It is changing. I don’t believe I was meant to know everything before. It’s as if I’ve been moving back and forth on two levels, and neither of them is clear. One has to be with you here and the other one is somewhere else with…” She shook her head. “It’s gone. Once I leave one level, it’s forgotten, yet something lingers, and I know I’ll be going back. I’ve been wondering if the reason there’s no recollection is that it’s a kind of trade-off for letting me come to you. That I’m not allowed to have everything. But lately I’ve been getting glimpses, memories, and I think maybe the two levels are coming together.”

“That’s confusing as hell.”

Bonnie smiled. “I’m sorry, Mama. It’s confusing for me, too. I just have to trust that it’s how it should be. Everything else seems to have a wonderful order.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem very orderly to me. All I want to know is one thing. Ted Danner. Was it Ted Danner?”

Bonnie didn’t speak for a moment. “I don’t… I’ve been getting glimpses of him. He has something to do with…” She shook her head. “I get a little wisp, but then it goes away.” Her face was grave. “But there’s so much anger and darkness in him. I think that’s part of the reason that he won’t come clear. But he’s part of that other level, and he’s coming closer and closer to you. You have to be careful with him. Watch him.”

“Closer and closer. Oh, yes, he was pretty close to Catherine today. He almost killed her.”

“Watch him,” Bonnie repeated. “The levels are coming together. There’s some reason why I have to know now. Some reason why you and my father have to know.”

“Gallo?”

“He’s my father, Mama. Of course he has to know. And he’s not like Joe. I’m having trouble leading him. He’s too alone. He’s hurting too much. You may have to help me.”

“Me? You have more influence on him than I do, Bonnie. You have more influence on all of us. All we want to know is how to find the man who killed you.”

“I’ll do what I can.” She gazed out over the bayou. “The darkness is getting lighter, and soon I’ll be able to see everything. Maybe I should have seen it already, maybe I’ve been hiding away.”

“Then don’t look,” Eve said quickly. “Not if it’s going to hurt you, baby. Let it go.”

“You never wanted me to hurt. When I scraped my knees or I got a cold, I think you felt it more than I did,” she said gently. “And you blame yourself that you weren’t able to keep me safe. No matter how many times I tell you that you did everything you could to make my life everything that it should be.” Her glance shifted back to Eve. “You gave me such love, Mama. Love doesn’t die. It can change, strengthen, become something more than it was in the beginning, but it can’t die.”

“No, it can’t die.” Eve’s eyes were stinging. “I love you, Bonnie. I’ll always love you.” She swallowed and tried to smile. “But I think someone made a major mistake in taking you away from me before I could spend a lot more years showing you.”

“And I can’t stop you from being bitter, no matter how hard I try. I don’t know why it happened,” Bonnie said soberly. “Maybe we’ll find out soon. I think I know when I’m on that other level. I’m going now, Mama. Look out at the bayou. You don’t want to see me leave.”

“Because it would make me remember those years when I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating when you came to me? I’ve accepted you for what you are now, Bonnie.” She made a face as she looked out at the bayou. “Though Catherine is going through a major case of skepticism where you’re concerned.”

“I know. But you’re handling it well. Maybe someday…”

BONNIE WAS GONE.

Eve didn’t have to look back at the tree where Bonnie had stood to know that her daughter had left her. She could tell by the emptiness, the loneliness, that always came when that small figure disappeared.

She drew a deep breath and turned away. This visit from Bonnie had not been like any other she could remember. Yes, in one way it had been the same. Bonnie had come to her because she had sensed that Eve was disturbed and unhappy and had wanted to comfort her. That was how the first visits had started about a year after she had lost Bonnie. She had been spiraling downward and would probably have died before she had begun to dream of Bonnie. At least, she had told herself they were dreams. She had not been able to accept that Bonnie was a spirit at that time. Eve was a realist, and ghosts were not acceptable in her life.

But Bonnie kept visiting her, healing her, and gradually Eve began to believe. Through all the searching that had taken place in the years that had followed Bonnie’s kidnapping, Eve had been able to cling to those visits. Because every visit had been filled with love, and there had been nothing frightening or strange about them.

Until Bonnie’s appearance when Eve and Joe had been driving up here. It had just been an eerie glimpse, shimmering in the bayou. That had been strange because of the sadness and frightening because in that moment Bonnie had not been the daughter Eve had known.

But surely it was going to be all right. Bonnie had come back to her and been as loving as always. She had known of Eve’s disturbance and wanted to soothe her and give her peace.

Soothe her? Not likely. Not when Bonnie’s murderer was out there. Not when Bonnie herself had said that the years of searching were coming to an end.

Bonnie’s murderer. Bonnie had not really answered her about the possibility of Ted Danner’s being that killer. For a moment, Bonnie had seemed to be on the verge of being able to tell Eve something about Danner. But as usual, Eve had backed away from talking about the details of Bonnie’s actual killing as she had done in the past. She couldn’t bear to bring that terror back to Bonnie. Her daughter had spoken of the darkness surrounding her death more than once and how could Eve ask her to try to pierce that darkness and remember?

But that darkness was coming closer. Bonnie had said that those two levels, two paths, where she existed were coming together. Eve could feel it and so could Bonnie or she would never have said that she might need Eve’s help.

That was strange in itself. Bonnie had never asked Eve for help before. She had been the healer, the one who came and gave and drifted away.

Perhaps to that other level where she could not take Eve?

You may have to help me.

Could that request for help be the real reason why Bonnie had come to her?

“Eve!” It was Catherine, waving at Eve to come to where she was still standing and talking to Venable.

Eve shook her head to clear it. The darkness might be coming, but this was the real world intruding and she had to deal with it. She’d talk to Venable, then get Catherine to go with her to New Orleans and take the first step toward finding Ted Danner.

If he was alive. If he was truly the man who had tried to kill Catherine and murdered Thomas Jacobs. That was still not a certainty.

Is he alive, Bonnie? Is he the one?

But there were no answers from the darkness.

“YOU WERE TALKING TO VENABLE for a long time.” Eve turned to Catherine, who had just started the car and was driving away from the house. “Were you right? Did he want something from you?”

Catherine nodded. “A job in South America. The director is pressuring him. Venable doesn’t take pressure well. He tends to explode like that BP well that caused all the havoc down here. It surprised me that he even bothered to come. He knows I won’t go back there now that I have Luke home. He was just feeling me out to see if there was any way he could manipulate me.”

“You don’t resent that?”

“Why should I? It’s what he does. It’s what makes him valuable to the Company. You just have to learn how to ignore it and do your own thing.” She shot Eve a glance. “But we may be able to use him. He knows he doesn’t have a chance with me until I find Bonnie’s killer. He’s willing to put manpower on it just to clear my decks.”

“I don’t know if manpower will do it,” Eve said. “We need information first.”

“I’ve already told him I need to know when, where, and if Ted Danner died. That’s a start.”

She should have known that Catherine would already have been on top of things. “Yes, that’s a start.”

Catherine’s gaze narrowed on Eve’s face. “You’ve been very quiet. Are you okay?”

Eve nodded. “I’m having a few problems with the idea of its being Ted Danner out there this morning.” She grimaced. “It doesn’t compute. Not with the Danner I met when I was a teenager.”

“I don’t have that disadvantage,” Catherine said. “I only know the bastard who wanted to cut my throat. You say he looked like him, and he had Ranger training. Gallo had trouble putting him down, and there has to be a reason for that. That’s enough for me to go on.”

It should be enough for Eve, too. Why wasn’t it?

Because there was something else bothering her, nagging at her.

The darkness, looming, impenetrable.

I may need your help.

Help with Gallo. It was Gallo whom Bonnie wanted Eve to help.

Why?

He’s hurting too much.

What could she do? She thought in frustration. For some reason Bonnie wanted both her and Gallo to be together in this. It wasn’t enough that Eve had her own problems with Gallo.

What the hell do you want from me, Bonnie?

“You’re scowling,” Catherine said. “I’m sorry, I can’t feel the same way you do, Eve. I have to go with reason, and Danner is the logical suspect.”

Catherine thought Eve was still brooding about Ted Danner, she thought. It was just as well that Eve didn’t set her straight. It would only disturb her if she began talking about Bonnie and this frustrating realization that she wanted Eve to help Gallo. Catherine wasn’t ready to embrace concepts like that one. Hell, she’d start to close up and edge away from Eve if Eve even gave her a hint. No, she’d keep her own confidence. She didn’t need to cope with anything else right now.

Not with the darkness closing in around her.

And the beginning of the realization of the steps she would have to take to find her way through it…