Eve - Iris Johansen [117]
He glanced back over his shoulder. “Yet you were always the complete realist as a young girl.”
“I still am a realist.” She smiled. “I just accept that no one can be sure of just what reality is. Your reality may not be mine … or Bonnie’s.” She changed the subject. “I’ll wash these dishes, you dry. Okay?”
“Okay.” He turned to face her. “I guess you’re aware you scared me a little.”
“I know. You’ll get used to it.” She started the water running. “Bonnie will help.”
He smiled. “Oh, and what—”
His cell phone rang.
Eve stiffened, her eyes flying to where he was standing.
John was tense, too, but he shrugged as he checked the ID. “I don’t recognize it.” But he put it on speaker anyway. “Gallo.”
“It’s been a long time.” The voice was deep and faintly mocking. “And we scarcely exchanged anything but a few words. Do you recognize my voice, Gallo?”
“Black?” Gallo asked curtly. “I could hardly forget you since you tried to kill me the first time I saw you. If you hadn’t been an incompetent, I would have been a dead man.”
“I wasn’t prepared for you.” The mockery was gone, replaced by venom. “It was Queen’s fault that I blundered. He should have told me that you were some kind of freak of nature. I knew I’d gotten my knife in you, but I couldn’t stop you. It was his fault that I ended up with my guts spilling out of me. I’ve never forgiven him for that.” He paused. “Nor you, Gallo. It’s been a constant twisting fire inside me that I couldn’t move on you.”
“You moved on me.”
“The little Bonnie? Yes, I did, didn’t I? And that was very satisfying, but it’s not like being able to get at you face-to-face.”
“Then why didn’t you do it, you son of a bitch?” John asked harshly. “Why not come after me instead of a helpless seven-year-old?”
“One takes pleasure where one can. I was … hesitant about confronting you at the time. No one had ever taken me down before. I was faced with the possibility of my own mortality. I found I had to rebuild my confidence. Now, of course, I realize that you were no real threat. I would have killed you years ago if Queen hadn’t kept me away from you because he was afraid that ledger would get in the wrong hands.”
“Then if I’m no threat, come and get me.”
“But there’s the question of little Cara Clark. It’s not that simple any longer.”
“You’re using her as an excuse as you did Bonnie. Threaten a kid because you don’t have the nerve to go after me. Did Queen tell you that you needed a negotiating tool for the ledger?”
“No, the little girl was my idea. I like to deal with children.”
Eve’s hands closed into fists at her sides at the smug satisfaction in his voice.
“I thought that Cara could possibly be a good bargaining chip. You might have expended all your sentiment on your little girl. Such a tragic loss. But you’d recently reestablished a connection with Bonnie’s mother, who has a reputation for embracing all lost children. Is she there with you, listening?”
“Yes,” Eve said. “Is Cara Clark still alive?”
“Oh, yes. She’s right here on my lap. She’s a little stiff. She won’t cuddle with me. I think that I scare her. What do you think?”
The horror of that little girl being forced that close to Black made her sick. “I think you should let her go.”
“That’s my intention. But not just yet.”
“When?”
“After we get together. Now to business. Gallo, you’ve been talking with Queen and trying to get him to persuade me to let my pretty Cara go.”
“Have I?”
“Yes, and I imagine that you’re trying to get him to set a trap for me. Is that true?”
“You mean Queen didn’t tell you that, too?”
“No, he probably isn’t sure which one he’s going to betray. Right now, you’re top of the list. You must have realized that you couldn’t trust him. Why did you decide to draw him in?”
“Like you, I recognize the end of the game. I want Queen dead. I don’t care whether I do it or you have the pleasure.”
Black chuckled. “But that’s exactly how I feel. We’re so much alike, Gallo.”
“I’d cut my throat if I thought that was true.”
“But