Bonnie - Iris Johansen [69]
Gallo stopped short as the media crews poured down the aisle on either side of him and ran toward the priests and police.
Not good.
No Eve.
Father Barnabas looked up and saw him and fought his way through the ring of reporters and strode toward him down the aisle. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “I tried to stop him.”
“My uncle?” Gallo said jerkily. “Eve? What the hell happened? I thought she was safe. I was gone less than two hours. Did he hurt her?”
The priest shook his head. “I don’t think so. He wanted her to go with him. He threatened me to make her do it.” He smiled ruefully as he rubbed his temple. “As I said, I tried to stop him. Eve Duncan hit me on the head to keep me from rushing him. I wasn’t expecting that. She was evidently trying to protect me.”
“Yes, Eve can be unpredictable,” Gallo said absently. Unpredictable and brave and strong. Dammit, he should never have left her. “Did he give you any idea where he was going to take her?”
Father Barnabas shook his head. “When I woke up, they were gone, and Father Dominic was standing over me.”
“He didn’t say anything?”
“He said that he knew Eve wasn’t a demon.”
Gallo muttered a curse. “Is that supposed to be good?”
“Yes, Danner thought he was surrounded by demons, particularly of late. The last time I saw him, I even wondered if he included me in that group.” He paused. “And he believed he had to destroy demons. It’s a good thing that he doesn’t think Eve Duncan is one of them.”
Gallo felt a chill. But what if his uncle changed his mind? “Then why did he want her to go with him?”
Father Barnabas hesitated, then said, “He said the little girl was waiting for her.”
The little girl.
Shit. The chill he was feeling became pure ice.
“You believe he was speaking of Bonnie Duncan?” the priest asked quietly. “And the little girl who is waiting is dead?”
“Yes.”
“And that would mean he’s going to—”
“It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he knows who killed Bonnie. There might be some other explanation.” No, he wouldn’t believe it. But it still scared the hell out of him. “Listen, you’ve got to tell me where you think I can find him.”
“I don’t know. If I did, I’d tell you.” He met Gallo’s eyes. “I’m not a fool. I know that she’s in danger. Danner has gone over the edge. He wouldn’t listen to me.” He paused. “But I may be able to help you find him. I don’t want to be left out of this. I know him very well.” He paused. “Better than you, Mr. Gallo.”
“You know him as some kind of sicko. That wasn’t the man I knew while I was growing up.”
“Then we’ll have a complete picture, won’t we? But I never considered Danner a sicko. All I knew was a man in torment, trying to find solace for his pain.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Those detectives will be getting restless. I was planning on asking them to allow me a few moments alone with you to break the news about Eve Duncan’s kidnapping. But you were lucky that you came in with that horde of reporters, and the police were too busy to pay any attention to you. But I’d better get back to them.”
“Did you tell the police who I was?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t lie to them. I skimmed over your connection with Eve, but as next of kin of her abductor, they’ll be very interested in talking to you.”
The last thing he needed was to have the police interested in him, Gallo thought in frustration. He was still wanted in Wisconsin for questioning, and there was no way he could waste time being grilled by the local police when he had to find Eve.
“I have to get out of here.”
The priest nodded. “I thought you would. Go on. You’d better be very quick. As I said, I won’t lie to them.” His lips tightened. “But I believe that the people who know Danner best have the best chance of catching him before he does something…” He trailed off as he turned. “Go. I’ll be very slow getting back down that aisle to them. Call me if you run across anything that I can help you with. I’ll be