Eve - Iris Johansen [88]
Paul Black? Black had had time to get there from San Francisco. Queen knew how terrifying he could be. Yes, that might be it. Perhaps Gallo wasn’t as invulnerable as Queen had thought. He felt a rush of relief. Black had made his choice, and that choice wasn’t Queen.
And if Gallo had gone on the run, there was no chance that he would have left the ledger at the house. He would have taken it with him. He could only hope that Black was on Gallo’s trail.
“What do we do now?”
It was probably too late to do more than cover all the bases. “Go to the library and take every file you find and load the computers in your vans and bring them back here.”
“Anything else?”
Queen had a sudden memory of Gallo sitting in that luxurious library, taunting him. He’d acted like some kind of snooty English lord of the manor instead of the vicious, murdering bastard Queen knew him to be. And Queen had been forced to listen and choke on his fury.
But the situation had changed, and that meant the rules had changed. Screw Gallo.
“Burn the damn house down to the ground.”
* * *
JOE, EVE, AND CATHERINE HAD reached their car and were on their way down the mountain when Catherine looked up at the rearview mirror. “My God.”
Eve glanced at the mirror, then quickly over her shoulder. Gallo’s beautiful mountain house was burning, the flames licking the surrounding trees and leaping for the sky. “Why?” she whispered. “It was such a lovely house.”
“Frustration,” Joe said. “Revenge. It was evident that Queen hates Gallo.”
Yet it seemed strange to Eve that Gallo, who had been the clear victim of Army Intelligence, would be so hated. “They wanted to hurt him. I wonder what they would have done if they’d found Hanks or Judy in that house.”
“Queen isn’t stupid. He’d be careful of any move that might draw attention.”
Eve shook her head. “And that fire doesn’t draw attention?”
“They’d find a way to do it so that it looked like an accident,” Catherine said. “It’s not difficult.”
And Catherine would be adept in those methods of destruction, Eve knew.
“You’re upset.” Joe’s gaze was on her face. “It’s just a house, Eve.”
“No, it was a home. I think it meant something to John. He told me he’d had it for ten years. How would you feel if someone burned down the lake cottage?”
“Mad as hell.”
“And I’d be sad.”
“And you think Gallo would feel as you do. You’re identifying with him.”
She shrugged. “I think it would mean something to him. I think he’s been hurt enough.”
“You’ll forgive me if I’m a little lacking in sympathy. I went through hell imagining everything he could be doing to you. I can’t identify with him at all.”
That was very clear. The entire situation was complicated and barbed with emotion on both their sides. “I’m not saying it wasn’t wrong of him to do what he did. I’m saying that what he went through may have contributed to his making the mistake.” She changed the subject. “Where’s the plane waiting, Catherine?”
“At a private airport about thirty miles from here,” Catherine said. “You should be back in Georgia in about four hours.”
“That’s good.” She leaned back in the seat, her gaze once more on the flaming ruin in the rearview mirror. So much ugliness and destruction. It was beginning to touch everyone and everything around her. Tonight, Joe had been wounded, and it might have been horribly more serious.
And it had been her fault that he had been hurt. He had come to the rescue as he always did, as he would always do. Because Eve would not stop, could not stop, as long as Bonnie and her killer were out there.
And someday Joe’s selfless giving would end tragically. It was only a matter of time.
She could feel the tears sting her eyes as her every emotion vibrated in rejection of that thought.
No.
She couldn’t let it happen.
* * *
PAUL BLACK STOOD ON THE north slope and gazed at the flaming fury of the burning house.
Pity. It had been a nice house, and now Black would have no chance to go in and search it. It appeared