Bonnie - Iris Johansen [34]
“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