Iris Johansen - Bonnie

“How can I be sure?” Gallo shrugged. “The man you tell me he’s become isn’t the Ted Danner I know. You’re looking at this with an objectivity that I don’t possess.”

“Objectivity?” She shook her head. “What the hell do you mean? This is about Bonnie. There’s no way I could ever be objective about Bonnie’s murderer.”

“Listen to you, you’ve already convicted him,” he said fiercely. “You’re wrong. He wouldn’t have killed a child.”

“I hope not, for your sake.” She glanced away from him. “But we have to figure out a few things before we can even delve into what he’d do or not do. How did he make a connection with Jacobs and Queen? Did you write to him and tell him that you’d been contacted by them to go into North Korea on a special mission?”

“No. As you know, Jacobs and Queen were in Army Intelligence, and they told me it was top secret.” His lips twisted. “I had no idea what a dirty secret it was going to turn out to be. Drugs and smuggling instead of saving the world from nuclear proliferation. I was a fool.”

“How could you know Jacobs and Queen were criminals? They deceived the Army for years.” She went back to the main subject. “If you didn’t tell him about Jacobs, how did he find out about them?”

“I don’t know. My uncle was sharp. He’d been a Ranger for years, and he had contacts with all kinds of brass in different departments of the Army. People liked him, trusted him. Maybe he found out that Jacobs and Queen sent me on that mission.”

“And that would make him angry. He was very protective of you, wasn’t he?”

“Of course he was,” Gallo said curtly. “He got used to trying to keep me safe from my dad. But that doesn’t mean he’d go after a superior officer just for sending me on a dangerous mission. Why would he? He knew being a Ranger was risky. When I told him I wanted to join the service, he tried to talk me out of it.”

“But you wanted to follow in his footsteps. He must have felt terribly responsible when he thought you’d been killed on your first mission.”

“And you’re saying that sent him off his rocker?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe not. I remember when Danner told me that you’d been killed, he was very bitter against the Army and anyone else who might have been guilty of contributing to sending you to your death. So he might not have been as philosophical as you think about accepting the risks of your being a Ranger.”

Gallo was shaking his head.

Lord, he was stubborn. But how could she blame him when she was forcing him to look at his uncle in a completely different way than he ever had before. Tough. “It’s true. He loved you, and he was bitter. That’s all I know. I thought it was perfectly natural. I had no idea he had a mental problem.” She had a sudden chilling memory of Danner smiling down at Bonnie and telling Eve that her daughter looked like Gallo. She had not looked any deeper than the obvious in any of Danner’s actions. She had felt sorry for him. But had there been something ugly and twisted of which she hadn’t been aware in that contact with Bonnie? “All we’re doing is guessing. We have to get Donnelly’s records of his therapy sessions with Danner.”

“And we have to find Donnelly before we can do that.” He turned away. “And I’m not going to wait around for Quinn or Venable to locate this cousin in Dublin. I’m going to start making phone calls myself.”

“Because you want to be two steps ahead of them?”

He gave her a cool glance. “Does that surprise you?”

“No, right now for you it’s all about getting to Ted Danner before any of the rest of us do. But it’s not going to happen. I’m sticking with you all the way. I’m not letting you out of my sight, John.”

“Really?” He tilted his head. “You’re still so sure that Bonnie wants us to be together?”

“Yes.” She met his eyes. “I thought it was because she knew you were in pain and needed to be here when we found out what happened to her.”

His smile was twisted. “And you don’t feel like that any longer?”

“Another reason occurred to me. Perhaps she wanted me to be with you to make sure that everything went as it was supposed to go. That you didn’t try to stop me from finding Bonnie and the man who killed her.”

“You believe I’d do that?”

She couldn’t read his expression. There was hardness in the curve of his lips, and his dark eyes were glittering with a hint of recklessness. Yet she was still aware of the underlying pain that lay beneath that hardness. In which direction was he headed? Eve knew that he loved Bonnie. But he also loved his uncle and was very grateful to him for years of protection and affection in a barren world. “I don’t know what I believe right now. But I’m not going to take a chance. We’re joined at the hip until we find your uncle.” She smiled wearily. “So you can call information in Dublin and see if we can locate Donnelly’s cousin if you like. Do you know how many O’Learys there will be in that city? I’m going to call Catherine back and see if Venable or Joe can narrow down the odds. We’ll see which method will get us what we need the quickest.”

IT TOOK OVER AN HOURfor Catherine to get back to Eve about O’Leary’s phone and address.

“I found him,” Catherine said. “O’Leary owns a pub outside Dublin.”

“What’s his phone number?”

Catherine rattled off the number. “But you don’t need it. I talked to him. He was belligerent as hell and drunk as a skunk, but he did finally answer a few questions. He hasn’t seen Donnelly since he visited him after he left the hospital. He stayed with O’Leary for about three months, then went back to the U.S.”

“Does he have an address?”

“Not a current one. He hasn’t heard from him since about a year after he left Dublin. It appears they didn’t get along too well. O’Leary likes his pints a bit too much, and his cousin was always trying to make him cut down his drinking. Actually, from what Venable tells me, O’Leary is an alcoholic. I can see a psychiatrist trying to help him with his problem, but O’Leary didn’t appreciate Donnelly’s interfering in his life.”

“Where was Donnelly’s last address?”

“A university town near Valdosta, Georgia.”

“What? He’s not practicing any longer? He’s teaching?”

“He wasn’t on the staff as far as we can tell. Joe and I are going down there to ask some questions. Do you want to meet us there?”

Gallo was shaking his head.

“Maybe not,” Eve said. “We’re in the car on our way to the airport to catch a flight for Atlanta. And I imagine Gallo wants to talk to O’Leary himself. Let us know what you find out.” She hung up, and said to Gallo, “Though I don’t know what you think that you can find out from O’Leary that Catherine didn’t.”

“Probably nothing. But there’s no use all of us converging on that university town. I’m my uncle’s next of kin, and maybe the hospital would tell me something they wouldn’t tell Catherine and Quinn.”

“And you don’t want to get too close to Joe or Catherine,” Eve said shrewdly. “They might get in your way.”

“Very perceptive. I don’t deny that could be part of it.” He gazed at Eve. “When we get to the airport, I’m going to try to call O’Leary and see if I can catch something that Catherine didn’t find out. She said he was drunk. But after I make that call, I’m boarding the first flight to Atlanta.” He paused. “But you might prefer to catch a flight to Valdosta to meet Catherine and Quinn. You might find it more profitable.”

“Forget it,” Eve said grimly. “I’m not leaving you, John.”