Neither was Eve. It had always been a complex relationship and, now that she knew there might be a possibility of his involvement in Bonnie’s death, that complexity had deadly overtones. “Do you mean am I going to be sentimental about dealing with him? It was sex all the way. He kept me dizzy the entire time we were together.” She smiled coldly. “No, I won’t hesitate just because I was a teenage kid who couldn’t control her hormones. And if I find out he killed my Bonnie, I’ll cut his heart out.”
Catherine blinked. “Well, that certainly defines the situation. It’s hard for me to picture you like that. I’ve never had that experience.”
Eve knew that to be true. Catherine was the widow of a May-December marriage. She had been seventeen when she married her sixty-two-year-old mentor. “I can’t picture myself like that any longer, either. That girl doesn’t exist anymore.”
“I just hope that Joe realizes that she doesn’t,” Catherine said.
Joe.
Eve had been so whiplashed by her feelings about Catherine’s news, which had blown her away, that she had not thought of how it would affect Joe. She could only hope it wouldn’t be a springboard to more tension between them. Catherine was right; she had never spoken to Joe about John Gallo because he was already far in her past when she and Joe had met. Their love affair had become a passionate relationship that had gone on for years, with no other interest for either of them.
Except for Bonnie. She had always been there between them.
And John Gallo was Bonnie’s father.
“You’re going to tell Joe about Gallo?” Catherine asked.
“Of course I am. How could I do anything else? Joe has been searching for Bonnie as long as I have.”
“Just inquiring.” Catherine paused. “Would you like me to tell Joe? After all, I’m the one who opened this can of worms.”
“I’ll do it.”
“But you don’t want to do it.” Catherine’s shrewd gaze was fixed on Eve’s expression. “I’m going to go and break the news to him. You’ll have enough aftershocks from that quarter to deal with once you pull yourself together.”
“I’m okay now.”
“You’re angry at the moment. That’s keeping all the other emotions at bay.” She headed for the door. “You can’t stay mad forever.”
“Yes, I can. If I find out that Gallo had anything to do with Bonnie’s death.”
She smiled. “I know how you feel. Hold on to it. You may need it.” She opened the door. “I’ll check with Venable and see if he’s heard anything, then go and talk to Joe.”
The door closed behind her.
Hold on to it. Hold on to the anger. She would have no problem doing that. She had thought she was done with John Gallo, but he had erupted back in her life in the most painful way possible.
All right, sit here and think back. Try to find any reason why John would commit such a terrible crime.
How could she do that when she didn’t really know him?
She had to know something that would make this madness clear. Catherine had said that there were precedents for a father killing his child. Eve knew that to be true from her own professional experiences.
Start at that point and analyze.
* * *
JOE WAS STANDING ON THE TOP step of the porch, gazing out at the lake, when Catherine went in search of him.
“Hello, Catherine.” He turned to face her. “Venable wants you to call him. He couldn’t reach you.”
“I’ll call him back later.”
“Do that.” He met her eyes. “Now what’s the story with Eve?”
Catherine should have known that Joe would sense something. Joe Quinn had the sharpest instincts and the keenest intelligence of anyone she had ever met. She had worked with any number of CIA agents over the years, and she would have jettisoned them in a heartbeat for a partner like Joe.
And perhaps not only in the field.
She remembered the first time she had become aware that she was attracted to Joe. They had been down by the lake, and a storm had been coming up. The wind had been blowing his brown hair, and his tea-colored eyes were glittering recklessly. She had looked at him and thought he was like the storm, full of danger and power and yet with the maturity to be able to leash his lightning. She had not been conscious of being physically aware of a man since her husband had died, and it had come as a shock.
But she had rejected the thought immediately. Eve was her friend, and she wouldn’t violate that trust. Besides, she had known from the instant she had met him here at the cottage weeks ago that there was only one partner he would accept in his life.
Eve was his center. Catherine would be content to be his friend as well as Eve’s, and she had already started to lay the foundation.
“Why do you think there’s a story?” She came over and stood beside him at the rail. “What a suspicious man you are, Joe.”
“Body language. I saw the two of you standing here on the porch over an hour ago. Pure tension. I was tempted to come and interrupt you, but I decided Eve wouldn’t like me barging in if I wasn’t invited to begin with. So I’ve been waiting. I don’t have to tell you that I wasn’t waiting patiently. It’s not one of my virtues.” He smiled recklessly. “Hell, I’m much better at the barging part, followed immediately by investigation and disposal.”
“I remember.” And her latest memory was of Joe in the Ivanova marshes in Russia, aiming at a gas tank and blowing up the car that was pursuing them. Damn, he had been good. Hell, he had been magnificent. “But you restrained yourself this time. Could it be that you’re acquiring diplomacy?”
“No way.” His smile faded. “I just know Eve. We have to walk very carefully around each other every now and then.”
“When it concerns Bonnie.”
He looked out at the lake. “Bonnie rules our lives. The moment she was taken, she stopped being Eve’s daughter and became her obsession.”
“I know that. Can you blame her?”
“No, but I did after a while. God knows we did our best to find her. I couldn’t see why she wouldn’t let go. I loved her, I ached for her pain, but I needed for that pain to stop.” He glanced down at her. “I’ve never told anyone that before. But you guessed, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “I care about Eve. I’m concerned about her happiness. You make her happy, Joe.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“Do you still resent her fixation on Bonnie?”
“Resent isn’t the right word. There are times when I love Bonnie and want to find her as much as Eve. But I never knew her, so it’s harder for me. I want Eve as well as Bonnie to be at peace and it’s like a constant open wound. So I hurt, and I get tired and angry.” He grimaced. “But it comes and goes. Other times, I try not to trigger anything that might upset the balance.”
“Like not barging in where Eve doesn’t want you? In this case, you don’t know that’s true.”
“Don’t I?” He smiled tightly. “Then tell me I’m wrong, Catherine. Then tell me why we’re here talking about Eve and Bonnie. Tell me why you turned your phone off so that even Venable couldn’t reach you. You’re a professional, Catherine. You’d have to have a pretty good reason. And then, instead of calling him back immediately, you decided to stay out here and chat with me. Am I that fascinating?”
Yes, he was. The combination of tough spirit and brilliant brain was totally fascinating. “I suppose you’ll do. But no, that’s not the reason I’m out here.”
He leaned back against the rail and crossed his arms across his chest. “So I repeat, what’s the story, Catherine?”
* * *
“CATHERINE’S GONE,” JOE SAID when he came into the cottage thirty minutes later. “She said to tell you that she’d call you.”
His voice was quiet, too quiet. Eve’s gaze flew to his face.
No expression. That wasn’t good.
“She told me she’d get back to me as soon as possible.” Eve turned to the kitchen bar. “We still have steak from the barbecue. Would you like a sandwich?” Cripes, that was a dumb thing to ask. It just went to show how nervous she was feeling. This was Joe. She had nothing to be nervous about. Just try to get him to open up about it. She turned back to face him. “Catherine told you about John Gallo. How do you feel about it?”