Iris Johansen - Stalemate

"Dammit, Joe. I don't care if he's a crook. Maybe he was trying to change if he was working with the CIA. What do we know? What will it hurt me to make the attempt to stop him from being killed?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know."

"Don't do this." Her hand clenched into a fist on the table. "There's too much pain in the world. I don't want anyone hurt or killed if I can prevent it. It's only a phone call, Joe."

He hesitated and then took out his phone and dialed. "It had better be only a call." When Soldono answered the phone, he said curtly, "Tell Montalvo she'll talk business to him if he wants to call her back."

"Jesus, you cut it close enough. I've only got fifteen minutes."

"Then get off the line and talk to him." Joe hung up. "This is a mistake, Eve. He'll take it as a sign of weakness."

"I don't care." She picked up her coffee cup and cradled it in her hands. The warmth felt good to her. "I don't want to enter into a battle of wills with the bastard. I just want to buy a little time to save a life." She looked at the telephone. "I suppose I should expect a call from him tonight."

"Yes." Joe stood up and pushed his chair back. "And I want to hear every word. Put him on speaker."

She nodded. "I'd record it but I don't imagine he'll say anything incriminating. You said he was smart."

He nodded curtly. "I wish you'd have been as smart."

"Would you really have let Gonzales die if I hadn't pushed you to tell me about Soldono?"

"What do you think?" He took the plates to the sink. "You know the answer. I don't give a damn about a son of a bitch like Gonzales. Hell, I probably wouldn't have cared if he was a priest instead of a crook. Not if it meant trouble for you." He put the plates into the dishwasher. "Now go in and make yourself comfortable on the couch and wait for the slimeball to call."

"It's the right thing to do, Joe."

Montalvo didn't call.

One hour passed.

Two hours.

Three.

Joe called Soldono's number and got only the voice mail.

Four.

Five.

"Come to bed." Joe pulled her to her feet. "He's playing games with you."

"Why would he do that?"

"How do I know?" He put his arm around her waist and led her toward their room. "But we didn't hear from Soldono either, and he would have called if he hadn't been able to reach Montalvo with the message."

"Why don't you call Soldono again?"

"As soon as I get you tucked into bed."

"You're treating me like a child."

"Not a child." He pushed her down on the bed. "There's nothing childlike about you. Sometimes I wish there were." He lay down beside her and pulled up the covers. "I'd celebrate the child in you. I'd give a party every day with red balloons and firecrackers." He pulled her close. "Now relax and try to sleep. You did what you could and now it's up to Montalvo."

"Call Soldono again."

"Nag." He took his cell phone out and dialed the number. "Still voice mail." He put the phone on the nightstand. "It could be that Montalvo gave Soldono orders not to talk to us before he did."

"Maybe." She didn't know what to think. Her nerves and expectations had been screwed up to face Montalvo and then there had been nothing. She felt flat and anxious at the same time.

And tired. Very, very tired.

She nestled closer to Joe. "This isn't what I was anticipating for tonight." She had a sudden thought. "Or were you trying to distract me?"

"You think I was trying to lure you with my manly body."

"You would have succeeded."

"Past tense."

"If you-"

"Hush." He pressed his lips to her temple. "Neither one of us is going anywhere. It can wait. I can wait. Love isn't only sex." He chuckled. "Though it's a damn entertaining part of it, isn't it?"

"Yes." She cuddled her cheek into the hollow of his shoulder. "I can't be a child for you. That part of me isn't alive any longer if it ever existed, but I still like the red balloons and the firecrackers. There are celebrations and then there are celebrations. Sex is a celebration. So is lying here close to you."

His arm tightened around her. "God, you're easy to please. Go to sleep, Eve. The celebration will still be going on when you wake up…"

Don't go, Mama." Eve opened her eyes to see Bonnie sitting in the rocking chair across the room. She was dressed in jeans and the Bugs Bunny shirt Eve had last seen her wearing that day she was taken. "I'm not going anywhere, baby. I just have to see if I can help that man."

Bonnie shook her curly red head. "Joe's worried. He's afraid you may go."

She looked at the indented pillow next to her. "Where is Joe?"

"He's on the porch trying to call Soldono again. He waited until you were asleep. He doesn't want you to know. He doesn't like it when things scare you."

"I'm not scared."

"You should be. You will be."

"Okay, Miss Know-It-All. You'll forgive me if I take your predictions with a grain of salt. Your crystal ball doesn't always work."

"I don't know it all. Sometimes I just get a feeling. Usually when it concerns you." She leaned back in the chair and tucked her leg beneath her. "Joe's not the only one who worries about you, Mama."

Eve cleared her throat to ease it of the tightness. "No, Jane does too."

Bonnie chuckled. "You never give up. Me, Mama."

"Which probably means that I'm worrying about myself, since you're undoubtedly a figment of my imagination."

"Not 'undoubtedly.' You have plenty of doubts and we both know it. You're just afraid to admit it."

"That you're a ghost? You're damn right I'm afraid to admit it. I told Joe that I was a wacko, but that would put me beyond the pale. "She stopped, frowning. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because you're worried because you said 'damn' in front of a kid."

"I am not." But she'd had a fleeting moment when that thought had crossed her mind. "It's all part of the fantasy. They could probably write a textbook on me."

"It shouldn't bother you," Bonnie said gently. "I'm not a kid anymore, Mama. Not really. I couldn't stay seven forever. It doesn't happen like that."

She had told Eve that before but to Eve she looked exactly the same: curly red hair, bright eyes, luminous smile.

Her Bonnie…

"I am your Bonnie. I'll always be with you."

Bonnie hadn't been with her during that year after that monster had taken her away and killed her. Eve had gone almost insane herself and was spiraling ever closer to the step that would have given her peace. Then she had begun to have the dreams of Bonnie. They had saved her and helped her to start living again. "You haven't come in a long time."

"I have to give you a chance to go on without me. It's a rule. You've been happy with Joe."

"I think you make up the rules as you go along." She quickly corrected, "Or I do."

"You slipped. "Bonnie's freckled nose wrinkled as she grinned in delight. Then her smile faded. "I don't make the rules. But I'm glad we have something to go by. Otherwise I'd stay with you all the time."

"I'd love that."

"But it's not good for you."

"Bull." She paused. "Then why are you here now? Montalvo?"

"Partly. I was going to come anyway. I don't like it that you're so unhappy about Marty."

"I'm unhappy about all the lost ones."

"Yes, but this one is hurting you more than usual. I can feel your pain. Why?"

"I don't know." She thought about it. "Maybe it's not Marty." She wearily shook her head. "It could be that I've done this too long. These days every one of those skulls they bring me makes me flinch. Maybe it's all the lost ones, all the terrible brutality in the world. Children should be safe and loved. We should find a way to keep the monsters away from them. But we haven't and it goes on and on."