Bonnie

by Iris Johansen

“Don’t go there, Catherine,” Venable said sourly as he got out of the car. “I’m a little fed up with this fog and crawling along on these less-than-wonderful highways. Be polite. Be very polite.”

  * * *

  EVE WATCHED CATHERINE and Venable together for a moment before she turned away. They were sparring with the easy familiarity that spoke of a longtime association. Venable was a powerhouse, but Catherine was having no trouble keeping up with him. Catherine had no trouble keeping up with anyone.

  She glanced at the Danner sketch again and suddenly shivered. How could kindness become malice? Or had the malice always been there, hidden and waiting to break free? She had a sudden memory of Bonnie in her stroller and Danner bending down to pick up a toy rabbit she had dropped while Eve and he were talking. No, it seemed impossible. She had sought out killers before whom she had thought might have killed Bonnie, but they had been monsters. Ted Danner was not a monster.

  But the expression Eve had drawn of the face of the man who had attacked Catherine had been that of a monster. She pulled her eyes away from the sketch and tossed it on the table before she went out the front door. She needed to get away from the house and Jacobs, who was still lying dead in the bed upstairs. She had to think. The recognition of Ted Danner had come as a tremendous shock, and she was both bewildered and uncertain which path was best. Catherine might know what direction she was going to follow, but she had never met Ted Danner. It was Eve whose life had been the backdrop for this horror of pain and sadness to play out. Catherine had only her own experience and instincts to help her make conclusions.

  And that seductive wild card that was John Gallo. Eve knew what confusion he could bring to any woman.

  “Eve?” Catherine turned away from Venable as Eve strode past them.

  “I needed some air.” She nodded at Venable but didn’t stop. A moment later, she entered the trees that bordered the bayou.

  That was better. She drew a deep breath. Silence, except for the sounds of the bayou. The fog was a mere wisp drifting over the waters. Peace. No pushing and prodding for action from Catherine. She could relax and try to get her thoughts together.

  * * *

  “SHE ONLY WANTS WHAT’S best. Catherine doesn’t know any other way.”

  Bonnie.

  Eve stiffened, gazing out at the bayou, remembering the wisp of a spirit that she’d seen on the waters as she’d approached the house. Sad. Bonnie had been so sad, and it had frightened Eve.

  “No, I’m over here.” Bonnie was leaning against a tree, dressed in her jeans and Bugs Bunny T-shirt, her curly red hair blazing against the gray bark. “I’m sorry I scared you, Mama. I was scared, too. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want it to happen.”

  “Jacobs? Then why did you let it happen? Don’t you have any influence?”

  Bonnie shook her head. “What do you expect? I’m kind of new here.” She smiled. “I know it seems a long time since I left you, but it was really only the blink of an eye.”

  Bonnie always sounded so adult when she came to Eve. It was one of the reasons why Eve had had problems for years believing that she was anything but a dream. In spite of the fact that Bonnie had scoffed at her and told her that she shouldn’t expect her to be the same seven-year-old child when she had crossed over. “Blink of an eye. Don’t tell me that. It’s been an eternity,” she said unsteadily. “And I want it over. Catherine almost died. She shouldn’t have been caught up in this nightmare. It’s not fair. If someone has to die, it should be me.”

  “Not you, Mama. We can’t be together yet.” She sighed. “How many times have I told you that everything has its time?”

  “I don’t care what you told me.” She paused. “And you’ve been saying that we’re reaching the end, that’s what you told Joe when he was in that coma. He didn’t imagine that, did he?”

  “No, it’s the truth.” Her luminous smile lit her face. “And I had to give him some reason to come back. It’s very difficult turning anyone around when they’ve gone that far. But I was betting that if he knew that you’d soon need him, I could do it.”

  “I thought you meant that you were talking about … I was wondering if the end you were talking about was—”

  “Dying?” Her smiled faded. “It could be, but I don’t know if that’s coming. I only know that the path is leading somewhere now, and we all have to walk it.”

  “And it’s making you sad. You scared me when I saw you before.”

  “I was scared, too. I didn’t want it to happen, but I couldn’t stop it.”

  “Jacobs’s killing?”

  She didn’t answer. “I have to leave you now, Mama. I only came because I knew that you were worried about me.”

  “Don’t you dare go away.” Her voice was unsteady. “You’ve told me before that you can’t tell me about the person who killed you, that it’s lost in darkness. But I think that’s changing, isn’t it? Tell me who did it.”

  “It is changing. I don’t believe I was meant to know everything before. It’s as if I’ve been moving back and forth on two levels, and neither of them is clear. One has to be with you here and the other one is somewhere else with…” She shook her head. “It’s gone. Once I leave one level, it’s forgotten, yet something lingers, and I know I’ll be going back. I’ve been wondering if the reason there’s no recollection is that it’s a kind of trade-off for letting me come to you. That I’m not allowed to have everything. But lately I’ve been getting glimpses, memories, and I think maybe the two levels are coming together.”

  “That’s confusing as hell.”

  Bonnie smiled. “I’m sorry, Mama. It’s confusing for me, too. I just have to trust that it’s how it should be. Everything else seems to have a wonderful order.”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem very orderly to me. All I want to know is one thing. Ted Danner. Was it Ted Danner?”

  Bonnie didn’t speak for a moment. “I don’t … I’ve been getting glimpses of him. He has something to do with…” She shook her head. “I get a little wisp, but then it goes away.” Her face was grave. “But there’s so much anger and darkness in him. I think that’s part of the reason that he won’t come clear. But he’s part of that other level, and he’s coming closer and closer to you. You have to be careful with him. Watch him.”

  “Closer and closer. Oh, yes, he was pretty close to Catherine today. He almost killed her.”

  “Watch him,” Bonnie repeated. “The levels are coming together. There’s some reason why I have to know now. Some reason why you and my father have to know.”

  “Gallo?”

  “He’s my father, Mama. Of course he has to know. And he’s not like Joe. I’m having trouble leading him. He’s too alone. He’s hurting too much. You may have to help me.”

  “Me? You have more influence on him than I do, Bonnie. You have more influence on all of us. All we want to know is how to find the man who killed you.”

  “I’ll do what I can.” She gazed out over the bayou. “The darkness is getting lighter, and soon I’ll be able to see everything. Maybe I should have seen it already, maybe I’ve been hiding away.”

  “Then don’t look,” Eve said quickly. “Not if it’s going to hurt you, baby. Let it go.”

  “You never wanted me to hurt. When I scraped my knees or I got a cold, I think you felt it more than I did,” she said gently. “And you blame yourself that you weren’t able to keep me safe. No matter how many times I tell you that you did everything you could to make my life everything that it should be.” Her glance shifted back to Eve. “You gave me such love, Mama. Love doesn’t die. It can change, strengthen, become something more than it was in the beginning, but it can’t die.”

  “No, it can’t die.” Eve’s eyes were stinging. “I love you, Bonnie. I’ll always love you.” She swallowed and tried to smile. “But I think someone made a major mistake in taking you away from me before I could spend a lot more years showing you.”

  “And I can’t stop you from being bitter, no m
atter how hard I try. I don’t know why it happened,” Bonnie said soberly. “Maybe we’ll find out soon. I think I know when I’m on that other level. I’m going now, Mama. Look out at the bayou. You don’t want to see me leave.”

  “Because it would make me remember those years when I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating when you came to me? I’ve accepted you for what you are now, Bonnie.” She made a face as she looked out at the bayou. “Though Catherine is going through a major case of skepticism where you’re concerned.”

  “I know. But you’re handling it well. Maybe someday…”

  * * *

  BONNIE WAS GONE.

  Eve didn’t have to look back at the tree where Bonnie had stood to know that her daughter had left her. She could tell by the emptiness, the loneliness, that always came when that small figure disappeared.

  She drew a deep breath and turned away. This visit from Bonnie had not been like any other she could remember. Yes, in one way it had been the same. Bonnie had come to her because she had sensed that Eve was disturbed and unhappy and had wanted to comfort her. That was how the first visits had started about a year after she had lost Bonnie. She had been spiraling downward and would probably have died before she had begun to dream of Bonnie. At least, she had told herself they were dreams. She had not been able to accept that Bonnie was a spirit at that time. Eve was a realist, and ghosts were not acceptable in her life.

  But Bonnie kept visiting her, healing her, and gradually Eve began to believe. Through all the searching that had taken place in the years that had followed Bonnie’s kidnapping, Eve had been able to cling to those visits. Because every visit had been filled with love, and there had been nothing frightening or strange about them.

  Until Bonnie’s appearance when Eve and Joe had been driving up here. It had just been an eerie glimpse, shimmering in the bayou. That had been strange because of the sadness and frightening because in that moment Bonnie had not been the daughter Eve had known.

  But surely it was going to be all right. Bonnie had come back to her and been as loving as always. She had known of Eve’s disturbance and wanted to soothe her and give her peace.

  Soothe her? Not likely. Not when Bonnie’s murderer was out there. Not when Bonnie herself had said that the years of searching were coming to an end.

  Bonnie’s murderer. Bonnie had not really answered her about the possibility of Ted Danner’s being that killer. For a moment, Bonnie had seemed to be on the verge of being able to tell Eve something about Danner. But as usual, Eve had backed away from talking about the details of Bonnie’s actual killing as she had done in the past. She couldn’t bear to bring that terror back to Bonnie. Her daughter had spoken of the darkness surrounding her death more than once and how could Eve ask her to try to pierce that darkness and remember?

  But that darkness was coming closer. Bonnie had said that those two levels, two paths, where she existed were coming together. Eve could feel it and so could Bonnie or she would never have said that she might need Eve’s help.

  That was strange in itself. Bonnie had never asked Eve for help before. She had been the healer, the one who came and gave and drifted away.

  Perhaps to that other level where she could not take Eve?

  You may have to help me.

  Could that request for help be the real reason why Bonnie had come to her?

  “Eve!” It was Catherine, waving at Eve to come to where she was still standing and talking to Venable.

  Eve shook her head to clear it. The darkness might be coming, but this was the real world intruding and she had to deal with it. She’d talk to Venable, then get Catherine to go with her to New Orleans and take the first step toward finding Ted Danner.

  If he was alive. If he was truly the man who had tried to kill Catherine and murdered Thomas Jacobs. That was still not a certainty.

  Is he alive, Bonnie? Is he the one?

  But there were no answers from the darkness.

  * * *

  “YOU WERE TALKING TO VENABLE for a long time.” Eve turned to Catherine, who had just started the car and was driving away from the house. “Were you right? Did he want something from you?”

  Catherine nodded. “A job in South America. The director is pressuring him. Venable doesn’t take pressure well. He tends to explode like that BP well that caused all the havoc down here. It surprised me that he even bothered to come. He knows I won’t go back there now that I have Luke home. He was just feeling me out to see if there was any way he could manipulate me.”

  “You don’t resent that?”

  “Why should I? It’s what he does. It’s what makes him valuable to the Company. You just have to learn how to ignore it and do your own thing.” She shot Eve a glance. “But we may be able to use him. He knows he doesn’t have a chance with me until I find Bonnie’s killer. He’s willing to put manpower on it just to clear my decks.”

  “I don’t know if manpower will do it,” Eve said. “We need information first.”

  “I’ve already told him I need to know when, where, and if Ted Danner died. That’s a start.”

  She should have known that Catherine would already have been on top of things. “Yes, that’s a start.”

  Catherine’s gaze narrowed on Eve’s face. “You’ve been very quiet. Are you okay?”

  Eve nodded. “I’m having a few problems with the idea of its being Ted Danner out there this morning.” She grimaced. “It doesn’t compute. Not with the Danner I met when I was a teenager.”

  “I don’t have that disadvantage,” Catherine said. “I only know the bastard who wanted to cut my throat. You say he looked like him, and he had Ranger training. Gallo had trouble putting him down, and there has to be a reason for that. That’s enough for me to go on.”

  It should be enough for Eve, too. Why wasn’t it?

  Because there was something else bothering her, nagging at her.

  The darkness, looming, impenetrable.

  I may need your help.

  Help with Gallo. It was Gallo whom Bonnie wanted Eve to help.

  Why?

  He’s hurting too much.

  What could she do? She thought in frustration. For some reason Bonnie wanted both her and Gallo to be together in this. It wasn’t enough that Eve had her own problems with Gallo.

  What the hell do you want from me, Bonnie?

  “You’re scowling,” Catherine said. “I’m sorry, I can’t feel the same way you do, Eve. I have to go with reason, and Danner is the logical suspect.”

  Catherine thought Eve was still brooding about Ted Danner, she thought. It was just as well that Eve didn’t set her straight. It would only disturb her if she began talking about Bonnie and this frustrating realization that she wanted Eve to help Gallo. Catherine wasn’t ready to embrace concepts like that one. Hell, she’d start to close up and edge away from Eve if Eve even gave her a hint. No, she’d keep her own confidence. She didn’t need to cope with anything else right now.

  Not with the darkness closing in around her.

  And the beginning of the realization of the steps she would have to take to find her way through it.…

  CHAPTER

  6

  New Orleans

  “PULL OVER HERE,” EVE SAID suddenly. “Now, Catherine.”

  Catherine looked at her in bewilderment, but she slowed the car. “Why? This is only Canal Street. We’re in the French Quarter. I thought you wanted to go downtown to the police department to meet Joe.”

  “Pull over.” Eve put her hand on the knob. “I have to get out. Now.”

  Catherine muttered a curse as she pulled to the curb, ignoring the blaring of horns of the cars behind her. “Dammit, what’s happening?”

  Eve grabbed her suitcase and jumped out of the car. “I have to go after Gallo. You try to work through Venable, but I think Gallo is the key.”

  “Then we’ll both go after him. Don’t you leave Joe and me out of this, Eve.”

  “I won’t. I’ll be in touch.” She move
d toward the alley beside a souvenir shop, ducking past a mime who was performing on the street. “But I have to contact Gallo on my own. He’s on the run, and Joe and you aren’t going to be able to make him stop and listen. He’s on guard. If he knows that you’re with me, he may not listen to me either.”

  “And you’re sure he’ll stop and listen to you?”

  “No, I’m not sure.” She looked over her shoulder. “But he may decide to listen to me. I have a weapon that you don’t have, a card that I can play. I’ll call you.” She vanished into the alley and headed for the door of a restaurant with a wrought-iron balcony on the far end of the street.

  Would Catherine follow her? She wouldn’t have been surprised if Catherine abandoned the car and ran after her. But Catherine was smart and would know that if she did try to intercept Eve, she’d just find another way to handle this on her own.

  Eve ducked into the restaurant and moved past a jazz quartet on the small stage to the left of the door. Move fast. Weave in and out of the stores of the Quarter until she was sure Catherine had decided not to search for her. Then stop and make the call.

  Fifteen minutes later, she had left the Quarter and was in the coffee shop of the Marriott Hotel. She dropped down in a booth and took out her phone.

  Would Gallo answer her? He would know from the ID that it was her, and he might choose to ignore it. And, for all she knew, he might be on an airplane. He had driven away from the house hours before she and Catherine left.

  Stop wondering and make the call.

  She quickly dialed the number.

  It rang three times before he picked up.

  “I don’t want to talk to you, Eve.”

  “Yes you do, or you wouldn’t have picked up the call. You might not want to make explanations or answer accusations, but you do want to talk to me. Even if you don’t, you’ll do it anyway. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to lose Catherine and Joe so that you’ll feel comfortable about this. I’m not going to let you turn away from me.”

  “I’ve already done that. I turned away from you a long time ago, when you were only sixteen.”