Eve - Iris Johansen [51]
“I noticed. After I laid everything out for him, he got very quiet. It was clear I wasn’t wanted, so I made my exit.” She paused. “But I don’t believe he was quiet with you, was he?”
“That’s the way it started. It didn’t stay that way. Before it was over, he was on the phone with Venable getting his own update and making sure that he wasn’t being closed out.”
“Smart. Joe has great instincts.”
“I don’t want to close him out.”
“But you’re going to do it. It’s only a matter of time. He could see it coming, and so could I.”
She didn’t deny it. “I can’t risk Joe. Not this time. Not with John Gallo.”
“Because he was close to you, and you have some idea that closeness may have put all this madness into motion? That closeness is the very reason Joe will see that he’s involved. He’s taking this very personally. I knew he would.”
“Well, I’m taking this personally, too. How the hell could I help it? Bonnie’s my daughter, and John Gallo was my—”
“Lover?” Catherine asked softly.
“No, we weren’t lovers. That implies an emotion other than sexual. We were two kids whose hormones were so charged we couldn’t control them.”
“And that’s all?”
“He was a lot of firsts. He was my first sexual experience, the first who taught my body pleasure, the first for whom I was willing to postpone my ambitions and enjoy the moment.” She paused. “And the first and only man to give me a child.”
Catherine gave a low whistle. “That’s a pretty impressive list. Do me a favor and don’t go over that list with Joe.”
“But it all has one common denominator. Sex. I have so much more with Joe.”
“But he’s a guy. He may have a brilliant mind, but I’d bet sex is as important to him as it was to that kid, John Gallo. Particularly a possessive man like Joe, who is absolutely nuts about you. Those ‘firsts’ may blow him away.”
Eve wasn’t going to argue. Joe was mature and sophisticated on most planes, but their relationship had a potential for moving him toward much more basic responses. “Just find John Gallo. Maybe we’ll be able to get to him before Joe goes into high gear and tries to wrap it up himself.”
“As soon as I hear myself.” Catherine hung up the phone.
CHAPTER
9
“I NEED MORE INFORMATION about Paul Black,” Eve said as soon as Montalvo picked up the phone. “You said you’d try to find out more about him after we crossed the other two suspects off our list.”
“Ah, you’re back on the hunt? I was wondering how long you’d be able to resist temptation.”
“There was no question that I was resisting anything. I’ve just been busy.”
“And Joe Quinn had nothing to do with your hiatus?” His voice lowered silkily. “I’d never keep you from trying to find Bonnie. I’d be there by your side. I know what it is to lose someone.”
Yes, the skull that Eve had done the forensic reconstruction on had been Montalvo’s wife. That loss had been one of the things that had bound them together. “Joe isn’t keeping me from trying to find Bonnie. He always helps me.” She changed the subject. “When I got the initial reports, you told me that Paul Black was off the radar, and you didn’t know where he’d disappeared. What else do you know about him? Why was he on your list?”
“He was in jail in Atlanta on a DUI charge and told another inmate, Larry Shipman, he’d kidnapped and killed Bonnie Duncan. He was still drunk at the time, and when he sobered up, he told Shipman that if he told anyone, he’d cut his throat. Shipman wasn’t going to run a risk when he didn’t give a damn about anything but himself. Years later, when my investigators got hold of him, a nice amount of cash persuaded him he should care after all.”
“But was he telling the truth?”
“We won’t know until we find Black. Shipman believed him.”
“Did Shipman know anything else about Black? Can we go back and ask him questions?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Why not?”
“Six months after Shipman talked to my investigators, he was sent to prison on a drug