Eve - Iris Johansen [48]
“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?”
“Initial reaction? Relief. A chance to get the son of a bitch who killed Bonnie.”
She was feeling relief, too, that his initial reaction had been so uncomplicated. “Yes, he could be the one.”
“Second reaction. I bristled. You didn’t want to talk to me about it, or you wouldn’t have sent Catherine.”
“I didn’t send her. I was going to do it.”
“But you didn’t want to do it.”
She wasn’t going to deny it. “I felt awkward, and I had to come to terms with it myself. She said she understood.”
“Yes, Catherine would understand. The two of you are a lot alike. But you didn’t think I’d understand. Third reaction. Curiosity and a touch of suspicion. Why not, Eve? Why would the possibility of John Gallo being Bonnie’s murderer make you not trust me after all these years?”
“I do trust you. What are you talking about? I’ve never trusted anyone as I do you.”
“Not even John Gallo?”
She gazed at him in disbelief. “I never trusted him. That wasn’t what our relationship was all about.”
“And what was it about?”
“Just sex.”
“And that’s supposed to fill me with confidence? You’d never have a sexual relationship with someone you didn’t trust.”
She didn’t answer. What could she say? The Eve Joe knew wasn’t the one who had been with Gallo.
But Joe’s gaze was on her face, and