Iris Johansen - Bonnie

“Unless he volunteered for a special mission. John’s smart and ambitious, and that would be a way for him to rise through the ranks.”

“Just what you’d do,” she said dully.

“That’s what I’ve been telling myself.” He shook his head. “It’s different when it’s someone else doing it.” His voice was husky. “I love that boy.”

She could see that he did. His eyes were moist, and his last words had been unsteady. “But you don’t know anything for certain. He could be fine.”

Ted nodded. “I’ve dropped from the radar any number of times, and here I am with nothing but a bad back. I’ve been doing a lot of praying lately.” He stood up. “I thought you should know in case you wanted to do a little praying, too.”

She was so stunned that she didn’t know how she felt. It was hard for her to believe that the John Gallo she had known could be in any danger. “I’m sure that he’ll be all right.”

Ted Danner nodded. “I thought you should know. But don’t worry too much. It wouldn’t be good for you.” He started down the walk toward the gate. “If I can do anything for you, let me know. It’s the least I can do. John would want me to stand by you.”

“You have your own problems. Your nephew would want you to take care of yourself.”

“You’re a good girl, Eve,” he said quietly. “I can see why John cared about you.”

She watched him walk stiffly down the street. Poor guy, he was really worried, and John was obviously all he had. But he was jumping the gun. She couldn’t believe that John Gallo was dead just because he was temporarily missing. He was so young and strong and tough. Men like him weren’t easily killed.

But perhaps, even though she couldn’t believe he was truly in danger, she should still pray for the father of her child.

EVE GAZED IN BEWILDERMENTat the sketch she’d just created from Catherine’s words and description, shaking her head in stunned disbelief. Was she mistaken? It seemed impossible that that gentle, wounded man could be a vicious killer. “He’s… older. But the age difference would be about right. But that’s about all that would be the same except his appearance. The Danner I knew was close to being crippled. He was sensitive, caring. He was no killer.”

“That argument doesn’t hold water. If he was a Ranger, he was trained to kill,” Catherine said.

“Joe was in the SEALs, you’re CIA. You were both trained to kill. That doesn’t mean you’re both murderers.”

“It means that we would pull the trigger if we had to do it. Maybe Danner went a step further.” She paused. “Some people get to like what they do.”

Eve knew that to be true. Joe had told her that the reason he had left the SEALs was that he had started to like it too much. He was afraid he was becoming what he was fighting. “Danner would have had to be twisted out of all semblance of the man I met in Atlanta.”

“You said you’d met him twice. The second time after Bonnie was born. Did he seem to have any animosity toward her?”

Eve felt a ripple of shock. She had been thinking of Danner in the context of his possibly killing Jacobs and his attack on Catherine at the bayou. But if he’d had reason to kill Jacobs, then he might be Bonnie’s killer. She thought back on that second encounter with Danner when she’d taken Bonnie for a walk in her stroller, going over every nuance, every glance.

“No, he was smiling. He chucked Bonnie under her chin. He said she was going to be pretty as a picture. He said Gallo would have been proud of her.” She paused, remembering that incredibly touching moment. “And then he told me that he’d received a notification that his nephew had been killed in Korea and his remains only discovered recently. He was bitter about it. He said that Gallo was only nineteen years old, and his life was hell from the minute he was born. He said the Army shouldn’t have let him die before he had a chance to live.”

“Bitter? Angry with you, too?”

“No, only sad. He asked if I’d mind if he kept an eye on me and Bonnie. He said he thought that his nephew would want him to do that.”

“So he became part of your life?”

She shook her head. “I invited him to come and see us. I felt so sorry for him. I could tell that Gallo had been all the world to him. He said he didn’t want to impose. He just wanted to make sure everything was going well for us. If he was looking after us, it was at a distance. I don’t remember ever seeing him again after that day.”

“I don’t get it,” Catherine said in frustration. “You’re certain that sketch looks like him? There are so many things that don’t add up.”

“The first is that Ted Danner is supposed to be dead.”

“That’s not bothering me too much. Deaths can be faked. Hell, the Army obviously faked Gallo’s death in Korea. Who told you that Danner was dead?”

“Gallo. When we were at the cabin on the property in Wisconsin, Gallo was telling me how his uncle had brought him up there when he was a kid. He told me that his uncle had died when Gallo was in prison in Korea.”

“And you thought he was telling the truth?”

Eve nodded. “I believed Gallo. It didn’t occur to me to interrogate him about his uncle.” She added slowly, “Though perhaps I should have questioned everything concerning him. Ted Danner would have done anything in the world for Gallo.”

“Questioning might not have done any good,” Catherine said curtly. “Gallo could have believed what he told you. Maybe he didn’t know that Danner was still alive.”

“Why wouldn’t he know?”

“How do I know?” She went still, her eyes narrowing. “Though it would explain why Gallo was practically in shock when he saw him on the bank. And, if they were as close as you say, he would have found it nearly impossible to try to take him out.”

Eve had been thinking about the reluctance to act that Joe had been so certain he’d seen in Gallo. Joe had assumed that it was deliberate, but Catherine’s explanation was also possible. She just didn’t know.

How could she know? She was still in shock from the moment she’d finished the sketch and recognized Ted Danner. Except it wasn’t the Danner she had known. That expression on the face she’d drawn during these past hours had been pure violence incarnate. “Yes, Gallo was very close to his uncle.”

“How close?” Catherine asked.

“I told you about their relationship.”

“Give me details.”

“I don’t know all the details. Gallo rarely talked about his feelings or the past.” She made a face. “We didn’t talk much at all. An exchange of thought or memories was last on our list of priorities. It was all about the physical.”

“Tell me what you do know.”

So that Catherine could put together all the pieces and come up with a defense for Gallo. Well, good luck to her. Eve wasn’t at the point where she could reason this out. “It’s pretty skimpy. John Gallo grew up in a housing development in Milwaukee that was probably a lot like the one where I lived. His family was dirt poor, and evidently his parents were terribly abusive. Gallo once mentioned that his father’s favorite form of punishment was putting cigarettes out on his back.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“That’s what I thought. Gallo’s only defense was to keep out of his way. It must have been hell on earth except for the times when his uncle came home on leave. When his uncle was medically discharged from the Army when Gallo was in his teens, they lived together, and I guess they took care of each other.”

“And they moved down to Atlanta to go to a VA specialist for Ted Danner’s back?”