Iris Johansen - Bonnie

“Talk to me,” Gallo said. “Who gave you the money to declare my uncle dead?”

He hesitated. “You’ll protect me? It’s not as if I did anything really wrong.”

Gallo put his hand on Temple’s throat and squeezed. “Talk.”

Temple gasped, and Eve could tell that the lethal danger of the situation had finally become real to him. “You’re crazy. Jacobs told me that this wouldn’t happen. He said nobody cared about Danner.”

“Then you should have asked him why he was trying to cover his tracks.” Gallo’s grasp loosened. “It was Thomas Jacobs? How? Why?”

“I don’t know why. It didn’t matter to me.” He added bitterly, “Just because I was near the bottom of my class at med school, I was stuck in that hospital treating a bunch of vets. Do you know how much I made there? Guys I went to school with had jobs on easy street. I deserved better.”

“Those vets deserved better,” Eve said. “I’m beginning to be glad Jacobs bribed you out of there.”

“Jacobs didn’t mention why he wanted Danner declared dead?” Gallo asked.

Temple shook his head. “He just said he wasn’t important, and no one would follow up if there was a certificate that stated Danner was dead.”

“He was a patient at the hospital? You were his doctor?”

“No, he had been discharged after he’d been treated for pneumonia. I’d never met him.” His hands clenched. “At first I thought maybe Jacobs had helped Danner to cross to the other side because of insurance or something. I was scared I’d be an accomplice. But I checked the hospital records, and Danner didn’t have insurance. So I thought it was safe to take Jacobs’s money.”

“Pretty flimsy,” Gallo said. “There are other reasons than money to kill a man.”

“I wanted that money. I had to have the money. It was my chance.”

“So you scrawled your name and took the cash.”

“I didn’t hurt Danner. I didn’t hurt anyone. Jacobs promised me that Danner was safe, and he just wanted to disappear. He said it was sort of like the witness protection program. After all, Danner was an ex-Ranger. It could have been true.”

“And you didn’t give a damn if it was or not.”

“No.” His lips curled. “But if Danner’s still alive, as you said, then maybe Jacobs was being up-front about it after all. Go find Jacobs and ask him.”

“I found him. So did Danner. Jacobs ended up with a knife in his chest.”

“Oh, shit.” Temple moistened his lips. “That’s not good.”

“Yes, it might interfere with your political plans.”

Temple recovered immediately. “You can’t prove I had anything to do with it. Jacobs paid me in cash and told me that it wouldn’t be smart for me to mention his name again. I never saw him after that. Why would I? I had what I wanted.”

“But maybe you wanted to eliminate a possible roadblock in your political plans?” Eve suggested. “The police might be interested in your-”

“No!” His chest was rising and falling. “You can’t do this to me. I never saw Jacobs after the night he gave me the money.”

Eve was not sure that they hadn’t plumbed the extent of Temple’s knowledge. “You said you checked the hospital records. Was there anything in them that-”

“I was only checking for insurance. I didn’t care about anything else. I’ve told you everything I know.” His teeth bit into his lower lip. “Jacobs is really dead?”

“Very. Did Jacobs tell you where this witness protection program was going to send Danner?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Of course you didn’t. You wanted to erase him from your mind. Just a signature, then off you went. No forwarding address in Danner’s records?”

“No.”

It was like pulling teeth. “Who were his doctors at the hospital?”

“That was years ago. You expect me to remember? I didn’t care who was treating him. Probably some loser. What difference does it make to you? He’d been released.”

“But he might have kept in contact with his doctor or nurse if they had developed a relationship.”

“With our caseloads, we didn’t have time to develop relationships. We had to get them in and out.”

At least, that had been Temple’s philosophy, Eve thought. “Nothing struck you as unusual in his records?”

He shook his head. “I keep telling you. It didn’t matter. He was just another vet. None of them mattered.”

And it didn’t matter that those vets had given their bodies and lives to keep parasites like this walking the earth, she thought bitterly. She didn’t know how Gallo was keeping his temper. He had spent seven years in that prison in Korea because he’d thought it was his duty as a soldier to protect his country.

“Pull over, Eve,” Gallo said softly. “Temple and I need to take a walk together.”

Her gaze flew to his reflection in the rearview mirror.

He was not keeping his temper as she had thought, she realized. His dark eyes were glittering in his taut face.

Shit.

“I’ll pull over,” she said. “But Temple is the only one who takes a walk. We’re through with him, and I won’t let him interfere with what we have to do.”

Gallo’s gaze never left Temple’s face. “He wouldn’t interfere. I’d be very quick.”

“No, John. He’s scum, but I’m not letting you leave a trail of bodies behind us. He’s not worth it.”

“I agree. That’s exactly why we should take a walk.”

“Body?” Temple’s eyes had widened in alarm. “You’re talking about killing me? Why? I only told you the truth. Everyone knows that you-”

“Shut up.” Eve pulled to the side of the road. “Get out and get moving.”

Temple scrambled out of the car. “I’m going. Keep him away from me.” He took off at a trot. “Think about it. No one has to know about that past history. Name your price.” He saw Gallo get out of the car. “Anything you want,” he said panicked as he started to run. “Money is what it’s all about. Everyone knows that.”

Eve saw that Gallo’s muscles were tensed, and his gaze was fixed on the fleeing Temple. He was very close to having that tension explode into action.

“Don’t go after him,” she said quietly. “Get in the car, John.”

“He’s a weasel,” Gallo said tightly. “But sometimes weasels can be dangerous when they’re in the right position. How careful do you think he was when he was a resident at that hospital? Those guys were helpless, and they deserved someone to tend to them who would at least give them adequate care. Hell, they should have let those patients keep their guns before they turned doctors like Temple loose on them.”

“He’s not in that position any longer. I’m sure there are good doctors at that hospital, too.” Distract him quickly. “We have to find out who treated your uncle and see if we can get a lead. Is there anyone else you can think of who might know anything about him? You once mentioned to me he was engaged at one time.”

“She married someone else when he was overseas, and he never saw her again.”

“You’re sure?”

He shook his head. “I would have said yes if you’d asked me that a few days ago. I’m not sure of anything about him any longer.”

“Did he have any close friends?”

“No, he was pretty much of a loner. Occasionally, one of his Army buddies would come to town, and he’d go out for a drink.”

“One of them might still know something. Get in the car and make a list of the ones who you remember.”

His glance shifted back to Temple, who was still running and was almost out of sight. “You’re trying to throw a red herring in front of me.”

“Yes, but it’s a necessary red herring.”

He glanced back at her. “Catherine would have let me take him down.”