Quinn - Iris Johansen [76]
“You were asking questions about me. You were pushing Eve in a direction I didn’t want her to go.” His smile faded. “Or maybe I did and wouldn’t admit it. She had been out of my life for so long that I didn’t think I had the right to have her know I was still alive. But you changed all that, you told her, and there was all hell to pay.”
Yes, all hell, she thought. Black’s death, Joe’s wounding, Eve’s agony. “I thought she had a right to know.” She added grimly, “Since you were my first choice for Bonnie’s killer. But you managed to convince Eve that I was wrong. You must be very persuasive.”
“Yeah, that’s me.” He met her gaze. “Can’t you tell? I can persuade the birds not to sing. I can persuade a wonderful little girl to step into my lair so that I can kill her.” He carefully put her down and sat back on his heels. “You’re blaming yourself for setting all this in motion.”
“Don’t you?”
“I don’t blame anyone but myself. I don’t have the right,” he said wearily. “I thought I did once, but that’s all gone.”
There was something about his words that were reaching her, touching her, she realized incredibly. Dear God, what was happening? “You’re right, you’re the only one to blame.” Move away from the terrible intimacy that was obscuring the facts and the way she should be regarding him.
“I’m glad we agree.” He moved back to his former position beside the fire. “Are you feeling any better now?”
“Yes.” Almost normal, almost ready to act. “Are you going to kill me?”
“I don’t think so.” His lips curved bitterly. “But we can’t be sure, can we? I’m not stable.”
“Then are you going to let me go?”
He shook his head. “I’m in something of a quandary. If I let you go, you’ll just go back on the hunt. I couldn’t be more sure of that. The next time one of us might die. Probably you, since you’re more honorable than I am, and you made a promise to Eve. That would upset me.” He tilted his head. “Unless you’d promise me not to try to hunt me down?”
She was silent.
“I didn’t think so.” He looked down at the fire. “So I don’t see any solution but keeping you here with me. It probably won’t be for too long. I imagine Eve and Joe will come looking for you if you don’t communicate with them.”
“No!”
“You’re thinking I’m setting you up as bait?” He shook his head. “Maybe I am, but not as you think. I’m the prize, not you. Joe Quinn has the same training and instincts I have. Eve may want to keep me alive to pump me, but Quinn won’t be able to resist giving me the coup de grace if I set it up right.”
“You want him to kill you,” she whispered.
“I can’t seem to do it myself. I don’t think she’ll let me. I don’t know why. I thought you would do it.” He looked back at her. “That would have been the most divine way to go. The journey was probably the most exciting one I’ve ever taken, and the destination would have been right. But you failed me, Catherine.”
He was telling the truth, and those simple words were shaking her to the core. It was too much. She shook her head. “Screw you. I won’t be used by you. You want to commit suicide? Get a couple of hara-kiri swords and go to it.”
He shook his head. “She won’t let me,” he said again. “I don’t know why. Maybe she’s saving me for Joe and Eve. But it’s not like her.”
“You’re nuts,” Catherine said curtly. “Now I do believe you’re crazy. You’re saying that Bonnie has come back from the grave to keep you from killing yourself? Bullshit.”
“Is it? Ask Eve if it’s bullshit.” He held up his hand as she started to speak. “There’s no use continuing on this vein. I know it’s bizarre and beyond belief.” His lips curved in a faint smile. “Chalk it up to another hallucination.”
“I will.” She paused. “You intend to keep me here all trussed up like this?”
“Yes.”
“Then will you loosen these ropes? They’re cutting into my wrists.”
He studied her expression. Then he slowly nodded and got to his feet. “I don’t like the idea of your being uncomfortable. It bothers me.” He knelt beside her. “Hold up your wrists.”
She lifted them and held them out to him.
“They