Bonnie

CHAPTER 14

“IT’S JOE.” CATHERINE PUNCHED the access on her phone and turned up the volume for Gallo. “What’s happening? Did you find out anything at the camp?”

“Enough. How close are you to Danner?”

“The signs are getting fresher. We’re moving fast. I’d say a few hours.”

“That’s too long. You have to get closer to him. There’s too much territory, and you could lose him.”

“What?” Gallo said. “We’re doing the best we can. What do you mean? You have an idea where he’s headed?”

“Almost certainly. I’ll give you the coordinates I know.” Joe rattled off the coordinates. “But this is where I am. He won’t come directly here. There’s a lot of wild country around here, acres and acres. Low hills, flatlands, and a giant ridge.”

“What ridge?”

“Something weird. I’ll send you a photo of the area I Googled that’s beyond the ridge I’m facing now.”

“Those coordinates put Danner and Eve about six hours away from you,” Catherine said. “And Gallo and I are about eight hours.”

“You’d better be right on top of him when he gets here. We could miss him, dammit.”

“Why? If we know the approximate-” Her phone pinged, and she cut over to look at the topographical photo Joe had sent her. “Holy shit.” She showed the photo to Gallo, then cut back to the call from Joe. “It looks like the Grand Canyon.”

“Not nearly as grand, much smaller, but it’s wild enough to cause us a problem. If that’s where he’s taking Eve, we could wander around there and not find them until it’s too late.”

“If?”

“Like I told you, that area is only one part of the area he could be headed for. There’s too wide a choice. Check Danner’s exact projected destination from where you are now. He should have to commit very soon.”

“A Grand Canyon in Georgia?” Catherine asked. “Have you ever heard of it, Joe?”

“I have a vague memory,” Joe said. “I’ve never seen it. It’s one of the natural oddities that appeal to some tourists.”

“And how much territory are we going to have to worry about?”

“Surrounding hills, flatlands. Too much. It’s enough to be fatal to Eve if we’re not close enough. We have to narrow it down.”

“We’ll be right behind him.”

“Call me,” Joe said curtly. He hung up.

Catherine flipped back to the Google overview. “This isn’t good enough for anything. I’ll call Venable and see if he can get a satellite image of the canyon and surrounding area so we’ll have an accurate map.” She started to dial. “After that, we’ve got to get moving.” She could feel the blood pumping through her veins as the adrenaline surged. At last, they had a chance to get ahead of the bastard. “We made up a lot of the distance between us in the last few hours. We can-” Gallo was shaking his head. “What’s wrong? We can do it.”

“I don’t doubt you for a minute. You can move mountains. Or at least a minor Grand Canyon,” he said. “But we might catch up with him just a little too late. We can’t afford to do that.”

Her gaze was narrowed on his face. “What are you suggesting, Gallo?”

“I’m suggesting you go after Danner alone. I’ll cut back straight east until I get to a farm or ranch and borrow a vehicle and take off on the nearest highway or road that will take me to this canyon. I’ll be much faster than you on foot. As soon as he gets close enough to the canyon area so that you can see where he’s heading, you call me, and I’ll be there to meet him.” He tilted his head. “Much more practical?”

She thought about it from all angles. “Yes,” she said slowly.

“Then I’ll take off.” He started to turn, then whirled back to her. “Don’t try to get him by yourself, Catherine. Wait until we get to the canyon.”

“It would be questionable whether I’d even be able to reach him by the time he gets to the canyon area. I doubt if I’d be able to get ahead and ambush him.”

“But you’d do it if you got the chance.” He shook his head. “Call me. Let me help you, dammit.”

She gazed at him for a moment. “I’ll call you… and Joe.”

His lips twisted. “Because you still don’t trust me.”

“No, I don’t,” she said bluntly. “No one knows how you’re going to react until the moment you see Ted Danner. Not even you, Gallo.” She turned her back on him. “I’ll see you at the canyon.”

She could feel his gaze on her back until she turned the curve in the path. What did he expect? She would not tell him that she trusted him. She had eyes and a brain and the experience to know that nostalgia from the past could twist motives and emotions in the present. She would not be anything but honest with him.

But for that brief instant, she had wanted to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Forget it. That impulse might have been okay coming from another woman. Not her. Her entire life had been based on being totally herself and not giving one bit of that self away to anyone to buy affection or respect or a haven from fear. It didn’t matter that Gallo had an effect on her that was both powerful and unusual. She would fight to give him a chance. She would stand beside him and fight the enemy.

If he realized who that enemy was.

She had been trying hard not to think how she would feel if someone she loved suddenly became the enemy. That would be strange. She loved so few people in this world. Her son, Luke, Hu Chang, who had been friend and teacher, Eve…

Why was she thinking about this? She had a job to do.

If Gallo held any resentment that she could not lie to him, then he could deal with it.

She had another problem to deal with.

How fast could she get to Danner and Eve?

And how could she take Danner out when she got there?

DANNER WAS GROWING tenser, edgier with every mile that passed.

And Eve could see that the tension was having an effect on his finely balanced stability. He had not reached for his knife again, but she had seen him staring at her with frustration and impatience. He wanted this over.

Well, so did she. But she could not chance Danner’s ending it without her finding Bonnie. What if he changed his mind and decided that Eve’s death didn’t necessarily have to take place at the site he had chosen? He had been close to that decision only a short time ago. She had been able to distract him then, but she couldn’t be sure of doing it again by confronting him. She had to change tactics… and try to get help on board.

Focus. She had to get Danner to focus on his original plan and reinforce it.

She turned to face him. “You said we were close. Were you lying to me?”

“We’re close.” He raised his head, staring at the top of the trees. “I can feel the chill.”

“Chill. You’re afraid?” She grimaced. “Oh yes, your demons. You take me to my daughter, and I’ll protect you, Danner.”

“You won’t be able to do that.”

He meant because she’d be dead. She felt a chill herself. Ignore it. Get him to focus. “How close are we?”

“An hour, maybe two.”

She moistened her lips. “And then you’ll kill me.”

He didn’t answer.

“Why are you waiting? Why drag me all the way down the state when you could have killed me at the church in Rome?”

“It’s… her place. I have to make sure that she knows I’m giving her what she wants.”

She was silent. “Yes, that would be important. You’re going through all this trouble, and you don’t even know if it’s what she wants.”

“I don’t know whether it makes a difference if I wait.”

She had thought that was the direction in which he was leaning. “It would make a difference.”

“How do you know?”

“She’s my daughter. You said that you saw us together and that you knew we were close. Wouldn’t I know her better than anyone?” She paused. “Don’t you think she’s the one who needs to make the decision?”

He shook his head. “She’s already made it. She led me to the church. It’s what she wants. I know it.”

Cross that argument out. His tone had been absolutely positive.

He thought that Bonnie wanted her to leave this life and cross over to the next.

Oh, Bonnie, it’s an argument that I’ve had with you all through the years, and I could never convince you. He has it all wrong.

Unless you’ve changed your mind.

“I’ll accept what you say,” she said quietly. “Perhaps you’re right. Because I do know that Bonnie wouldn’t want me to be murdered and thrown into a ditch somewhere like you did her.”

He flinched as if she’d struck him. “No. No. No. I didn’t.”

“You’re protesting too much. Why else would you be afraid of her?”

“She won’t leave me alone.”

“But she’ll leave you alone if you kill me?” Move carefully now. His eyes were glaring at her, and his hands were opening and closing at his sides. “So you take me to this ‘place’ and kill me to please my daughter. Am I going to be allowed to have some clergyman to bless my soul? What about calling your friend, Father Barnabas?”

“No,” he said hoarsely.

“No help to send my soul to heaven? Bonnie wouldn’t like that. Then what about letting me call the man I love to say good-bye? Joe and Bonnie have grown very close through the years. She wouldn’t be pleased that you’d deny me that final solace.”

“You’re trying to trick me.”

“You could listen to the conversation. I deserve to say good-bye. A short conversation, then I won’t ask anything else of you. What harm would it do? You’re taking everything else from me. Let me say good-bye.” She stared into his eyes. “If you do, I’ll tell Bonnie that you were kind to me, that you let me go with gentleness.”

His expression was tormented. Then he spun her around and gave her a push up the trail. “No, I won’t do it.”

Okay, no chance of communicating with Joe. But evidently she’d changed the focus, and Danner wasn’t going to kill her on the trail. She’d take what she could get.

“Wait.”

She stopped and turned to face him.

He thrust his phone into her hand. “Call him. I’m listening to every word. If you try to trick me, then it’s all over.”

Which is what he wanted anyway.

She looked down at the phone. What was she going to say?

Providence?

It was the only clue she had to give him, and she wasn’t even sure that it was a valid one. And how could she-

“Call him,” Danner said curtly. “It’s what you wanted. It’s what you say she’d want.”

Why was she hesitating? She knew that Joe was searching for her though she had no idea how close or far he was to her. She’d try to get him what information she could. If it wasn’t enough to help, then she’d still get to fulfill the purpose she’d given Danner. She had no idea if she was going to survive, and to be able to say good-bye to Joe was a gift that was without price. “That’s right.” She cleared her throat. “I’m just surprised.” She quickly dialed Joe’s number.

It rang three times before he picked up. “Quinn.”

Lord, it was good to hear his voice. “Joe.”

There was a silence. “Eve. My God, where are you?”

“I can’t talk about that, or he’ll make me hang up. Don’t ask questions. I don’t want to waste our time together.” She paused. “We don’t have much time left.”

“What do you mean? I’ll kill him.”

“Hush. Listen to me. I have to make every word count. We’ve been together so long that sometimes I’m afraid that I haven’t said the things that I should. There’s always been Bonnie with us or between us. I didn’t tell you that if you hadn’t come into my life that there would have been no life. You’ve been my friend, my lover, my salvation.” She had to stop as her voice broke. “Pay attention to what I’m saying, Joe, this is important. Fate brought us together that day when you came to my house to try to find my Bonnie. And it’s fate that’s tearing us apart right now. We’ve got to accept it.”

“The hell we do.”

“I’m not going to argue with you. You always do what you want anyway. But I just don’t want you to go through anything more for me. I love you, Joe. Thank you for being in my life.”

She hung up the phone. The tears were running down her cheeks, and she wiped them away on the sleeve of her shirt. She handed the phone back to Danner. Had he caught the word she had slid into the conversation? It had been subtle. Maybe too subtle for Joe, too.

Danner was studying her face. “You do love him. You didn’t love John like that.” His expression was thoughtful, almost sad, and completely without that hint of vague disorientation that seemed to come and go. In that moment, he reminded Eve of the man she’d met when Bonnie had first been born.

“No, and he didn’t love me. You have to be a grown-up to know what love’s about. We were just kids.” She drew a deep breath. “Thank you for letting me talk to him. I’m ready to go to Bonnie now.”

He didn’t move. “I have to do it. I can’t let you go.”

“I know you can’t.” She met his gaze. “But we made a bargain, and I’ve kept my end of it. I think you’ve been having second thoughts, and you can’t do that. It’s your demons that are making you think those thoughts. You take me to Bonnie, and when we get there, you tell me everything. That’s how it has to be. Do you understand, Danner?”

He reached out and gently touched her tear-wet cheek. “I have to do it, Eve.” Then he turned and moved through the brush.

JOE DREW A DEEP BREATH as he savagely punched the button to disconnect the call. He felt angry and helpless, and he wanted to tear the phone apart.

“Joe?” Father Barnabas was gazing at him across the campfire. “Eve?”

“Yes.” He had to think. But he was so torn up inside that he was having to try to calm down and try to be objective. Objective? Hell, no. “Danner let her make the call. It was a good-bye, have-a-nice-life call. I’m going to kill him. And there’s no way you’re going to stop me, Father.”

“No, that has to come from you.” He glanced at Ben, sleeping a few yards away. “You made him a promise.”

“I said I’d try. I didn’t say-” He closed his eyes. “I’m ready to explode. I can’t let him do this to me. I have to go over what she said. Eve’s smart and wouldn’t have wasted time just to tell me good-bye.”

“Was it a waste?” the priest said gently.

Eve’s voice telling him she loved him, telling him that their life together had given meaning to hers.

“God, no.” He opened his eyes. “But she would still have concentrated on finding a way to beat Danner if there was a way. She’d try to tell me where she was or where she was going.” He grabbed his notebook from his pocket. “Give me a minute. I want to put down everything she said word for word and see if I can see anything.”

You’ve been my friend, my lover, my salvation.

His hand was shaking as he wrote. Steady it. Don’t think of those words that meant so much, Eve who meant more than life. Search for something else.

“Anything?” Father Barnabas asked.

“Nothing. But there has to be-” He stopped. “Maybe… Here she said for me to pay attention, that it was important.”

Fate brought us together that day when you came to my house to try to find my Bonnie. And it’s fate that’s tearing us apart now. We’ve got to accept it.

“Accept what? Accept fate. That may be the key word.” Lord, he was reaching. But he was desperate, dammit.

“But to unlock what door?” the priest asked.

“I don’t know.” Okay, clear his mind of emotion and think coolly and analytically. Probe deeper. Investigate.

He grabbed his iPhone and pulled up the dictionary app. Meaning of fate. Destiny. Fortune. Chance. Providence. Luck.

He called Catherine. “Did you get Venable to zero in closer on that entire ridge area?”

“Yes, it just came in.”

“Give me the names of towns or tourist sites anywhere near it.”

“Narrow it down. What are you looking for?”

“Fate.”

She was silent. “No Fate. Americas, Lumpkin, Providence, Eufaula.”

“Providence?” His heart was pounding as he glanced down at his thesaurus list. “I think that’s it.”

“What?”

“I’d bet that Danner will be taking her to Providence.”

“Why? On what authority?”

“Eve.”

She inhaled sharply. “You talked to her?”

“She got Danner to let her call and say good-bye.”

“Shit.”

“Yes, but she’s still alive. And we know where she’s going.”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t need skepticism, Catherine. I’ve got to believe that’s what she was trying to tell me.”

“And I hope you’re right. I just pulled up the info on Providence. It’s your Grand Canyon area. Providence National Park. That’s a sizable acreage, and it can be entered from any number of directions. If we don’t get to him before he gets to it, we’re going to have a hell of a time. I’ll keep after Danner and hope to get a visual on him before or when he enters the canyon so I can call you and let you know an approximate location.” She paused. “And I’ll call Gallo and tell him that they’re probably heading for Providence.”

“Call? He’s not with you?”

“No, we split up. He was going to find a car and truck and drive to the area you told us about. He called me an hour ago and told me that he’d run across a farmer at an apple farm who sold him a dilapidated old Buick. It runs anyway, and he’s on the highway. I’ll let him know that you’ve zeroed in on an approximate location.”

“No.”

“Yes. We may need his help if we have to try to intercede with Danner to get Eve away from him. Danner still has affection for him.”

“I don’t need-” He muttered a curse. He was being stubborn. He should take any help he could get. “Do what you like.”

“I will.” She hung up.

“She helped you,” Father Barnabas’s gaze was on his face. “But you’re not pleased.”

“I’ll be pleased.” He sat back on his heels. “When I get in a position where I can control her. Catherine is used to running the show.”

The priest’s lips curved in a faint smile. “And you’re not?”

“But it’s my show. Eve is mine.” He got to his feet, went to the edge of the hill, and gazed out at the ridge. The moon was high and casting a glow over the trees and rocks. The area beyond the ridge still appeared dark and mysterious, but he finally knew what lay beyond it. Wildness and steep rocks and a canyon that shouldn’t have been there. A terrain Joe knew nothing about, across which he’d have to follow or ambush Danner, who was probably familiar with every inch of the canyon. “Six hours. That will make it about dawn when Danner gets here.”

“What are you planning?”

“Going down this hill.” He made a face. “I should say sliding down this hill and making my way to Providence. I’ll reconnoiter the area, then camp out with my binoculars and wait until he shows up.”

“I’ll go with you.” Joe turned to where Ben had raised himself on one elbow. He did not know when the boy had awakened, but he was staring gravely at Joe. “I have to go.”

“No, you don’t,” Joe said roughly. “The last thing I want is to have to take care of you, Ben. You stay here with Father Barnabas.”

Ben was shaking his head. “There’s something for me to do. I have to go.” He sat up and began to put out the fire. “I have to be with you when you find them.”

And Joe might have to kill Danner in front of the kid. What kind of guilt trip would that lay on Ben for bringing Joe here?

“It’s okay.” Ben was looking at Joe with a gentle smile. “Stop worrying about me, Joe. It’s going to work out as it should for me.”

Joe felt a sudden chill. The kid was comforting him, yet he felt-

“Let him go,” Father Barnabas said quietly. “You can’t stop Ben, and I’ll take responsibility for him.”

“I suppose that means you’re going, too,” Joe said jerkily. “Well, you’re right, I can’t stop you. But stay out of my way.” He turned and strode toward the path leading down the hill. He suddenly whirled back to where Ben was putting out the last of the embers. “Did you… sleep well?”

The radiant smile that Joe found so like Bonnie’s lit the boy’s face. “Yes, Joe.”

But that was all he was going to say, Joe realized with frustration and that same flicker of fear. He turned and started down the hill. “That’s good, Ben.”

“PROVIDENCE,” GALLO REPEATED, his grasp tightening on the phone. “It’s possible but not a sure thing, Catherine.”

“Joe doesn’t care that it’s not carved in stone,” Catherine said. “It’s all we have, and he intends to go for it. You make up your mind what you’re going to do. I’m close to Danner, but I may not be able to verify his precise destination until the last hour or so. By that time, you may not have time to position yourself.” She added without expression, “It might all be over by the time you get there.”

“You think I want that?”

“I didn’t say that. Call me from wherever you decide to enter the canyon.” She hung up.

Gallo pressed the disconnect. He wasn’t angry with Catherine’s suspicions. She had every right to doubt him. He had been fighting with everything within him to find a way to absolve his uncle of blame. But he couldn’t sacrifice Eve on the altar of his love for Ted Danner. He couldn’t forgive Ted if he’d killed Bonnie. And he could only prove himself by acts, not words.

Providence.

The old Buick didn’t have a GPS, so he had to access his phone. He dialed it into the apps.

Do something, anything. Ever since he’d gotten on the highway, he’d been bombarded by thoughts and memories of his uncle Ted.

His friend, his family, the first person who taught him to trust in a world that was devoid of it.

Eve. Bonnie. How had the three people he loved become entangled in this nightmare that was tearing him apart?

It had happened, and now he must deal with it.

His eyes were stinging as he checked the directions for Providence.

“ANY SIGN?” FATHER BARNABAS asked.

Joe lowered the infrared binoculars. “Nothing.” It was not dawn yet, but that shouldn’t have prevented him from seeing signs of life. They were inside the canyon area, and he could scan the area immediately outside. But it wasn’t as if there was a fence to seal off the canyon. The surrounding area was as porous as Catherine had said, and there were thickets of trees that could shelter any interloper, dammit. All he could do was keep a constant vigil and hope that Catherine could notify him when Danner approached.

If she had even been able to get close enough to Danner to give him that information. She would have had to escalate her speed, then make constant observations once she was within sight of Danner and Eve.

He lifted his binoculars again.

Nothing.

Come on, Catherine.

He glanced at Ben, who was sitting on the ground beside him. The boy was calm and hadn’t said a word since they’d left the hill.

“Okay?”

Ben nodded but didn’t look at him. “She’s near, Joe.”

He stiffened. “Who’s near? Eve?”

Ben shook his head.

And Joe wasn’t going to delve any deeper. Eve was the only one he had to worry about at the moment. He scanned the thickets.

His phone rang.

Thank God. Catherine.

“Do you have a visual on them?” she asked.

“No, what the hell are you talking about?”

“They’re in the canyon. They have to be. I finally caught sight of them fifteen minutes ago. They were on the trail outside the park, and a few minutes later, they disappeared.”

He muttered a curse. “We’re watching the area. I haven’t caught a glimpse of them. What were their coordinates when you lost them?” As she read them off, he checked them on the GPS. “That’s twenty minutes north of here, toward the ridge. He didn’t come all the way down to the main Providence area. It’s high country.” He jumped to his feet. “I’m on my way.”

“I’m following his trail from where he entered the canyon,” Catherine said. “I’ll call you if I spot him.”

Shit, Joe thought. “Twenty minutes.”

Too long.

Panic.

“Joe!”

He didn’t pay attention to the priest’s shout as he started to run.

Twenty minutes. Who knew what could happen in that time?

Eve…