Quinn - Iris Johansen [94]
“And Catherine said just because Black thought he was telling the truth was no sign it was the truth.” Eve shook her head. “I wanted to help Gallo. But I may have pushed him over the edge.”
“Stop it,” Joe said roughly. “Gallo can take care of himself. And now, evidently Catherine is watching out for him, too. And I’ve never understood why you’ve always believed he loved Bonnie.”
Because she’d never told him. The relationship between Joe and Gallo had been too strained. But she had to tell him now. “Because … Bonnie comes … to him, too.”
“Shit.” Joe muttered a curse. “He could be lying to you.”
She had tried to tell herself that lately. “He told me things … that song about the horses that she loved so much. I don’t think he was lying, Joe.”
Joe gazed at her for a moment. “Then what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. But would that mean that Bonnie loved him, too?” She shook her head. “And if that was true, how could she love him if he was the one who killed her? None of it makes sense.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Joe shook his head. “Never mind. I know why. I was jealous as hell, and you didn’t want me to think that even Bonnie was against me.” He met her eyes. “Maybe the question should be why are you telling me now?”
“Because you told me that you know Bonnie now, that she brought you back. For years, no matter how we tried to overcome it, she’s been between us. But something changed.” She whispered, “I don’t want to close you out of any part of my life. And she’s such a big part, Joe.”
He was silent, gazing down at their joined hands. “That’s damn obvious. And spreading into all kinds of directions and little nooks. I never thought that she’d take me to John Gallo.”
She waited, feeling the tension grip her.
“But you have to hand it to the kid. She’s always throwing down a challenge.” He looked up and met her eyes. “So I think we have to ride with her.”
Relief surged through her. “And Catherine.”
“And Catherine.” He took the pad and pencil from the table beside him. “She may be wrong. Gallo may be the premier con man of the millennium. But I don’t want you hurting for the bastard if there’s a mistake. We might as well check it out. I’ll call Milwaukee airport. You phone O’Hare. It will help if we can figure out where they’re going.” He reached for his phone. “And then we’ll do what Catherine said and start putting together a scenario of ‘what if it wasn’t Gallo.’”
* * *
JOE WATCHED EVE IN THE hall talking to Jane, and he didn’t envy her. They had chosen to keep Jane from going with them when they went after Catherine, and Eve had volunteered to break it to her.
Eve had wanted to protect him from the inevitable explosion. She had been protecting him constantly in big ways and small since he had come out of the coma. Ordinarily, it would have frustrated him, but in this instance, he welcomed it. He needed to think, and no one could reason logically when Jane was upset. She would be hurt as well as angry, and it was terribly hard to hurt someone you loved.
He got to his feet and moved across to the window and looked down at the hospital parking lot.
Okay, Catherine had said to assume Gallo wasn’t guilty and figure it out from there.
But he didn’t want to assume Gallo wasn’t guilty. He was still having problems with the antagonism he felt toward him. Jealousy? Maybe. He had always been possessive of Eve, and he didn’t like the idea of any other man in her life, past or present. Or maybe it was the fact that Gallo had endangered Eve since the moment he had come back into her life. Either way, the antagonism was present, and he had to deal with it.
So deal with it. Use intelligence, not emotion. He was an investigator. That was his chosen profession and he did it damn well. This could be the most important case he’d ever been given.
Is it Bonnie? This was a strange twist in the path that he’d been on since he’d come back with her from death’s door. Strange or not, he could only do what he could, be what he was. Think. Concentrate. Look over the possibilities and see how the