“So you scrawled your name and took the cash.”
“I didn’t hurt Danner. I didn’t hurt anyone. Jacobs promised me that Danner was safe, and he just wanted to disappear. He said it was sort of like the witness protection program. After all, Danner was an ex-Ranger. It could have been true.”
“And you didn’t give a damn if it was or not.”
“No.” His lips curled. “But if Danner’s still alive, as you said, then maybe Jacobs was being up-front about it after all. Go find Jacobs and ask him.”
“I found him. So did Danner. Jacobs ended up with a knife in his chest.”
“Oh, shit.” Temple moistened his lips. “That’s not good.”
“Yes, it might interfere with your political plans.”
Temple recovered immediately. “You can’t prove I had anything to do with it. Jacobs paid me in cash and told me that it wouldn’t be smart for me to mention his name again. I never saw him after that. Why would I? I had what I wanted.”
“But maybe you wanted to eliminate a possible roadblock in your political plans?” Eve suggested. “The police might be interested in your—”
“No!” His chest was rising and falling. “You can’t do this to me. I never saw Jacobs after the night he gave me the money.”
Eve was not sure that they hadn’t plumbed the extent of Temple’s knowledge. “You said you checked the hospital records. Was there anything in them that—”
“I was only checking for insurance. I didn’t care about anything else. I’ve told you everything I know.” His teeth bit into his lower lip. “Jacobs is really dead?”
“Very. Did Jacobs tell you where this witness protection program was going to send Danner?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Of course you didn’t. You wanted to erase him from your mind. Just a signature, then off you went. No forwarding address in Danner’s records?”
“No.”
It was like pulling teeth. “Who were his doctors at the hospital?”
“That was years ago. You expect me to remember? I didn’t care who was treating him. Probably some loser. What difference does it make to you? He’d been released.”
“But he might have kept in contact with his doctor or nurse if they had developed a relationship.”
“With our caseloads, we didn’t have time to develop relationships. We had to get them in and out.”
At least, that had been Temple’s philosophy, Eve thought. “Nothing struck you as unusual in his records?”
He shook his head. “I keep telling you. It didn’t matter. He was just another vet. None of them mattered.”
And it didn’t matter that those vets had given their bodies and lives to keep parasites like this walking the earth, she thought bitterly. She didn’t know how Gallo was keeping his temper. He had spent seven years in that prison in Korea because he’d thought it was his duty as a soldier to protect his country.
“Pull over, Eve,” Gallo said softly. “Temple and I need to take a walk together.”
Her gaze flew to his reflection in the rearview mirror.
He was not keeping his temper as she had thought, she realized. His dark eyes were glittering in his taut face.
Shit.
“I’ll pull over,” she said. “But Temple is the only one who takes a walk. We’re through with him, and I won’t let him interfere with what we have to do.”
Gallo’s gaze never left Temple’s face. “He wouldn’t interfere. I’d be very quick.”
“No, John. He’s scum, but I’m not letting you leave a trail of bodies behind us. He’s not worth it.”
“I agree. That’s exactly why we should take a walk.”
“Body?” Temple’s eyes had widened in alarm. “You’re talking about killing me? Why? I only told you the truth. Everyone knows that you—”
“Shut up.” Eve pulled to the side of the road. “Get out and get moving.”
Temple scrambled out of the car. “I’m going. Keep him away from me.” He took off at a trot. “Think about it. No one has to know about that past history. Name your price.” He saw Gallo get out of the car. “Anything you want,” he said panicked as he started to run. “Money is what it’s all about. Everyone knows that.”
Eve saw that Gallo’s muscles were tensed, and his gaze was fixed on the fleeing Temple. He was very close to having that tension explode into action.
“Don’t go after him,” she said quietly. “Get in the car, John.”
“He’s a weasel,” Gallo said tightly. “But sometimes weasels can be dangerous when they’re in the right position. How careful do you think he was when he was a resident at that hospital? Those guys were helpless, and they deserved someone to tend to them who would at least give them adequate care. Hell, they should have let those patients keep their guns before they turned doctors like Temple loose on them.”
“He’s not in that position any longer. I’m sure there are good doctors at that hospital, too.” Distract him quickly. “We have to find out who treated your uncle and see if we can get a lead. Is there anyone else you can think of who might know anything about him? You once mentioned to me he was engaged at one time.”
“She married someone else when he was overseas, and he never saw her again.”
“You’re sure?”
He shook his head. “I would have said yes if you’d asked me that a few days ago. I’m not sure of anything about him any longer.”
“Did he have any close friends?”
“No, he was pretty much of a loner. Occasionally, one of his Army buddies would come to town, and he’d go out for a drink.”
“One of them might still know something. Get in the car and make a list of the ones who you remember.”
His glance shifted back to Temple, who was still running and was almost out of sight. “You’re trying to throw a red herring in front of me.”
“Yes, but it’s a necessary red herring.”
He glanced back at her. “Catherine would have let me take him down.”
“Would she? I don’t believe you know her well enough to assume that.” But Catherine might have understood that black-and-white philosophy where evil was instantly punished. She had lived in the same deadly world as Gallo. “At any rate, Catherine and I are different in that respect. Get in the car, John.”
He gave one last glance at Temple and turned away. “We didn’t find out as much as I hoped from him.” He got into the car. “Other than it was Jacobs who was the payoff man. Jacobs often did the dirty work when he and Queen needed a job done. But how the hell did Uncle Ted become involved with Jacobs?”
Eve shrugged. “I have no idea. And we may not know until we catch up with Ted Danner. So why don’t you start making a list of possible people your uncle might have contacted?”
“I don’t think it will do much good.” He took her computer, opened a document, and started to type. “But I’ll try to remember.”
She reached for her phone. “And I’ll try to get in touch with Catherine and see if she’s managed to tap into the hospital records.”
* * *
“I’M AT THE RECORDS OFFICE now,” Catherine said when she picked up Eve’s call. “Joe and I just got here. Venable was having trouble accessing records because the confidential aspect is sometimes doubled at a VA hospital. Some of these guys were special ops, and it’s best that no one gives al Qaeda a chance to ID who they are. They always have bull’s-eyes painted on them.”
“But you think you’ll be able to get them?”
“I’ll get them. Give me another twenty minutes. The records clerk isn’t a bad guy, he’s just careful. What do you want to know?”
“Temple was a bust. The only information he could give us was that Jacobs was the one who paid him for falsifying the records. He doesn’t know why. He also has no idea where Danner is now. We’re looking for any contacts we can find who will give us a lead. Nurses, doctors, therapists.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Catherine paused. “What did Gallo say when you told him that Danner was definitely alive and raising general hell?”
“What would you say if the only person you’d loved from the time you were a kid was turning out like this? Denial. Bewilderment. Even guilt toward you because he couldn’t force himself to kill Danner when he threw that knife.”
“Idiot. He stopped him, didn’t he? That’s all that’s important. I’ll call you when I get through these records.” Catherine hung up and turned to Joe. “Temple told them that Jacobs was the payoff man for the bogus death certificate. No other information. They want to see if we can find a possible contact with someone in the hospital who could tell us where Danner is now.”