Quinn - Iris Johansen [89]
“It still makes sense.” His lips twisted. “It’s difficult to discard it and look in any other direction. Why else would Queen go to all that trouble to make Black a decoy?”
“Unless he killed Bonnie himself.”
“And why would he do that? He had no reason. Black might have had revenge as a motive, but Queen was still using me to do his dirty jobs all over the world and had no idea that I was beginning to suspect him.”
“I don’t know why, dammit.” Every question had a roadblock, and her frustration level was climbing. “And we can’t even ask the bastard. Black killed Queen.”
“Back to square one,” Gallo said. Then suddenly an indefinable expression flickered over his face. “Or maybe not. Jacobs.”
Her gaze flew to his face. “Queen’s assistant?”
He nodded. “You could call him that. Lieutenant Thomas Jacobs. He’d been joined at the hip with Queen at Army Intelligence for years. And he was partner in Queen’s various crooked enterprises. He was with Queen from the beginning. He was always there in the background, even in that first meeting when I was sent into North Korea. I never considered him a factor because Queen always dominated.”
“But he might know something?”
Gallo nodded. “It’s a possibility. Just because he was in the background doesn’t mean that Queen didn’t trust him. It was a long-standing relationship. Maybe Queen even found Jacobs more valuable because he was the invisible man.”
Invisible. Yes, Catherine had not considered Jacobs important when she’d been investigating Nate Queen and trying to trace Gallo. He’d been completely overshadowed by Queen. But now he was standing alone and might be the key. “Where is he? How can we get to him?”
“He was still at INSCOM the last time I talked to Queen weeks ago. But a lot has happened since then. After Black was killed, the ledger that held proof of Queen’s and Jacobs’s smuggling and drug dealing must have been discovered by the local police. There’s no indication in it that it had anything to do with Army Intelligence, but they would have had Eve’s statement about that. And the book had to be on Black’s body at the time I killed him. If the sheriff followed up on it, then Jacobs has to be in big trouble.”
Catherine shook her head. “The sheriff didn’t mention any ledger to me when I was on the search for you those first few days. But then we weren’t concerned about anything but finding you.”
“Yes, I felt very important,” Gallo said. “I would have felt still more important if I’d known you’d joined them on the hunt. You were much more interesting.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” she said bluntly. “You didn’t care a damn about whether I was after you or not. You were too busy trying to get yourself killed.”
“And you’ve already remarked on that particular idiocy.”
“It bears repeating. Why didn’t you—” She stopped, and added with exasperation, “If you have this intimate relationship with Bonnie, why didn’t she just tell you that you hadn’t killed her?”
“I don’t know. I was in torment. There were moments when I didn’t even believe Bonnie was actually there.” He shook his head. “I just knew that I couldn’t take my own life.”
“Then your daughter is the most unsatisfactory spirit in the universe. What good is she?” She turned away. “And it makes me doubt even more that she actually exists. If you and Eve weren’t two of the most intelligent and grounded people I’ve ever met, I’d be sure of it.”
“But you’re not sure.” He smiled faintly. “And it’s bothering the hell out of you.”
“I’ll get over it.” And she’d get over the effect Gallo was having on her. She just had to block those parts of her mind and body that seemed to be acutely and exquisitely attuned to him. “After I find out what happened to Bonnie and I can put you behind me. Then I’ll be able to move on with no looking back.” She took out her phone. “Put out the fire while I call the sheriff and see what I can find out about that ledger. Then we’ll get on the road and try to