Quinn

by Iris Johansen

  His eyes were narrowed on her expression. “You really don’t think I did it, do you?”

  “At last, a breakthrough.” Her hands dropped from his shoulders. “How many times do I have to say it? Black was wrong. He may have believed you killed Bonnie, but that doesn’t make it true.” She sat back on her heels. “Dammit, you’d think that you wanted it to be true.”

  “God, no.” His voice was hoarse. “I’ve been living in a nightmare.”

  The pain in his expression was terrible to see. She wanted to reach out and touch him, comfort him. Don’t do it. She was already too close to him.

  “You deserved it. All you had to do was take the situation apart and look at the separate pieces.”

  He started to smile, then shook his head. “You know I still don’t believe you. I want to. But I’m afraid that I’ll find out that I was right, and you’re wrong.”

  “Then you wouldn’t be any worse off, would you?”

  This time the smile actually came into being. “Oh, I would be worse off. It’s a terrible thing to lose hope.” He reached out and gently touched her cheek. “But it would be worth it to have a chance to go down the road you’re leading me.”

  She could feel her skin flush beneath his fingers, and her chest tightened. No, she mustn’t feel like this. It got in the way. She moved her head, and his hand dropped away from her face. “Nice words. Now shouldn’t we get down to business? I completely blew it with Eve tonight. I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t show up here and try to track me down. We need to be gone before that happens.”

  “And where are we going?”

  “If Black didn’t kill Bonnie, and you didn’t kill Bonnie, then we have to find out who did.”

  “Logical.” He was thinking. She could almost see the wheels turning. “Okay. If Black didn’t kill Bonnie and was certain that I did, it was because Queen and Jacobs had told him I had done it. Queen must have even paid Black to shoulder the blame, so that I would search for him all those years. Why?”

  “Eve said that she thought that Queen was afraid that if you found out that you’d killed your daughter during one of your blackouts, you’d have a complete breakdown. He wouldn’t want you to be put away in a mental institution, where he couldn’t control you. Doctors ask too many questions, and you knew too much about his criminal activities.” She frowned. “And I accepted that explanation because it all made sense.”

  “It still makes sense.” His lips twisted. “It’s difficult to discard it and look in any other direction. Why else would Queen go to all that trouble to make Black a decoy?”

  “Unless he killed Bonnie himself.”

  “And why would he do that? He had no reason. Black might have had revenge as a motive, but Queen was still using me to do his dirty jobs all over the world and had no idea that I was beginning to suspect him.”

  “I don’t know why, dammit.” Every question had a roadblock, and her frustration level was climbing. “And we can’t even ask the bastard. Black killed Queen.”

  “Back to square one,” Gallo said. Then suddenly an indefinable expression flickered over his face. “Or maybe not. Jacobs.”

  Her gaze flew to his face. “Queen’s assistant?”

  He nodded. “You could call him that. Lieutenant Thomas Jacobs. He’d been joined at the hip with Queen at Army Intelligence for years. And he was partner in Queen’s various crooked enterprises. He was with Queen from the beginning. He was always there in the background, even in that first meeting when I was sent into North Korea. I never considered him a factor because Queen always dominated.”

  “But he might know something?”

  Gallo nodded. “It’s a possibility. Just because he was in the background doesn’t mean that Queen didn’t trust him. It was a long-standing relationship. Maybe Queen even found Jacobs more valuable because he was the invisible man.”

  Invisible. Yes, Catherine had not considered Jacobs important when she’d been investigating Nate Queen and trying to trace Gallo. He’d been completely overshadowed by Queen. But now he was standing alone and might be the key. “Where is he? How can we get to him?”

  “He was still at INSCOM the last time I talked to Queen weeks ago. But a lot has happened since then. After Black was killed, the ledger that held proof of Queen’s and Jacobs’s smuggling and drug dealing must have been discovered by the local police. There’s no indication in it that it had anything to do with Army Intelligence, but they would have had Eve’s statement about that. And the book had to be on Black’s body at the time I killed him. If the sheriff followed up on it, then Jacobs has to be in big trouble.”

  Catherine shook her head. “The sheriff didn’t mention any ledger to me when I was on the search for you those first few days. But then we weren’t concerned about anything but finding you.”

  “Yes, I felt very important,” Gallo said. “I would have felt still more important if I’d known you’d joined them on the hunt. You were much more interesting.”

  “Don’t bullshit me,” she said bluntly. “You didn’t care a damn about whether I was after you or not. You were too busy trying to get yourself killed.”

  “And you’ve already remarked on that particular idiocy.”

  “It bears repeating. Why didn’t you—” She stopped, and added with exasperation, “If you have this intimate relationship with Bonnie, why didn’t she just tell you that you hadn’t killed her?”

  “I don’t know. I was in torment. There were moments when I didn’t even believe Bonnie was actually there.” He shook his head. “I just knew that I couldn’t take my own life.”

  “Then your daughter is the most unsatisfactory spirit in the universe. What good is she?” She turned away. “And it makes me doubt even more that she actually exists. If you and Eve weren’t two of the most intelligent and grounded people I’ve ever met, I’d be sure of it.”

  “But you’re not sure.” He smiled faintly. “And it’s bothering the hell out of you.”

  “I’ll get over it.” And she’d get over the effect Gallo was having on her. She just had to block those parts of her mind and body that seemed to be acutely and exquisitely attuned to him. “After I find out what happened to Bonnie and I can put you behind me. Then I’ll be able to move on with no looking back.” She took out her phone. “Put out the fire while I call the sheriff and see what I can find out about that ledger. Then we’ll get on the road and try to track down Jacobs.”

  He nodded and began to extinguish the flames. “As you command.”

  For the time being, she thought ruefully. Gallo wasn’t going to accept any will but his own for long. She absently watched him work about the camp as she talked to Sheriff Rupert. Lord, Gallo was stunning. In black jeans and shirt he looked lean and yet muscular, and the way he moved …

  She jerked her attention back to what the sheriff was telling her.

  As she hung up, Gallo turned to face her. “Well?”

  “The day after Black and Queen were taken to the local morgue, Thomas Jacobs showed up with his Army Intelligence credentials and a story about how Nate Queen was undercover and trying to find a way to trap Black. According to him, Paul Black was supposed to be a suspect in the killing of an Army Intelligence officer.”

  “But they already had a statement from Eve about Queen’s involvement with Black.”

  “Evidently Jacobs was very plausible, and Sheriff Rupert isn’t used to dealing with military and government types. He was even impressed with my credentials.”

  “It was probably not your credentials that impressed him. He’s a typical good old boy, and he appreciates a beautiful woman when he sees her.”

  “You should know. Evidently, you became buddies with him and the entire sheriff’s office.”

  “It seemed the thing to do at the time. So did Jacobs get his hands on the ledger?”

  “No, the sheriff wasn’t that gullible. Though Jacobs tried to tell him that it was evidence and was needed to save military lives. It was in Korea, so Jaco
bs had a good shot at convincing him of his story. It hadn’t been translated.”

  “Has it been translated yet?”

  “No, clearly things move slowly up here.” She added, “And Sheriff Rupert was a little suspicious when Jacobs didn’t mention claiming Queen’s body for burial. It didn’t seem to be the proper way to behave when Jacobs was giving him this sad story about Queen’s giving his life for his country.”

  “And he had Eve’s statement to compare with Jacobs’s story.”

  Catherine nodded. “Anyway, the sheriff refused to turn over anything to Jacobs since he was implicated in the story that Eve told him. He told Jacobs to have his superior contact him, and he’d cooperate. So Jacobs didn’t get the ledger, and everything must have seemed to be going downhill for him. His partner was dead, and he was probably going to be revealed as a crook and his Army career would go down the drain.” She picked up her knapsack. “Which means we’d better get on the move. Jacobs has had too long to tie up loose ends and destroy any other evidence against him. We’ll be lucky if we’re able to locate him.”

  “We’ll locate him.” Gallo was already moving down the trail. “Call your chief Venable as soon as we get to the car and see if he can trace him.”

  Gallo’s tone was as grim as his face. He was in battle mode.

  Well, so was she, Catherine thought. It was strange that after being enemies these last weeks, they were walking this path together.

  Strange and somehow right.

  * * *

  AN HOUR LATER, SHE HUNG UP from the callback she’d received from Venable and turned to Gallo, who was in the driver’s seat. “Jacobs took a leave of absence from the office the day after he returned from Milwaukee. His superiors have been trying to get in touch with him since all hell broke loose about Queen’s death. The questions began to fly about Queen’s and Jacobs’s possible criminal involvement. No luck. Jacobs is not answering his phone, and he’s just recently moved out of his apartment.” She shook her head. “We may be too late. He could have panicked and decided to go on the run. He’s probably flown off to someplace in the South Seas from which he can’t be extradited.”

  “Possibly.” Gallo was thinking. “But Jacobs wasn’t the type to turn into a beachcomber. It would be too savage for his tastes. He was very urban oriented.”

  “How do you know? I thought you said he was the invisible man.”

  “That doesn’t mean I didn’t make the effort to see him for what he was. He worked closely with Queen. There was always a chance that I’d find a use for him. If he did go on the run, it shouldn’t be too hard to track him.”

  “You don’t think he’d go undercover?”

  Gallo shook his head. “Maybe. But if he did, then I know what to look for.”

  “What?”

  “A casino. Jacobs is a gambler, an addict. It’s one of the reasons that he never left Queen no matter how hot the situation got. He was nervous all the time, but he couldn’t let go. He needed the money, and he lost more than he won at the tables.”

  “There are a lot of casinos in the world.”

  “Then we’ll narrow them down.”

  “How?”

  He shrugged. “First, we’ll go to Jacobs’s apartment and see if we can find a clue as to where we’d have our best shot. Did you get his address?”

  She nodded at the number she’d typed into her phone. “His apartment is in Georgetown.”

  “Then call and see what’s the quickest flight we can get to Washington out of either Milwaukee or Chicago.”

  She hesitated. “Orders, Gallo?”

  “I believe in balance. You were giving me enough orders before we got on the road.”

  And now he was moving, thinking, functioning with lightning efficiency. Why was she complaining? She should be glad she was going to have to fight for dominance. It would make the possibility of finding Jacobs all the more likely. “Have you forgotten that the police are looking for you? We’d do better to hire a private plane. I have a contact with—”

  “No time. I have several sets of false ID that Queen and Jacobs supplied me and a couple I purchased from private sources. I could never be sure when Queen or Jacobs would decide to send one of their hired killers after me, and I might have to go undercover for a while.”

  “Like Jacobs.”

  “Exactly like Jacobs.”

  “You’re not afraid that security will recognize you?”

  “I’ll send you through in front of me. No one is going to look at me when you’re around. Like Jacobs, I’ll be the invisible man.”

  “Yeah, sure. But if you’re willing to take the risk, it’s okay with me.” She took out her phone. “I’ll bet we’ll find our flight out of Chicago. The traffic is much heavier …

  * * *

  CATHERINE RECEIVED A CALL from Eve two hours later, when they were heading for Gate 23 at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

  Dammit, she didn’t want to face Eve now. Should she ignore it?

  Of course not. Eve would not forgive her.

  Deal with it.

  “Where are you, Eve?” she said when she picked up the phone. “And is Joe with you?”

  “I’m on my way to Gallo’s place in the hills. I wanted to see you.” She paused. “And by the noise I’m hearing in the background, you’re not there. An airport?”

  “Yes, I knew I blew it when I was talking to you before. I had to get out of there before you descended on us. Joe?”

  “He’s not with me. I needed a little time to persuade you to forget this idiocy. Jane is trying to give me a day before she tells him.”

  “She won’t be able to do it. You know it as well as I do. Joe is too sharp.”

  Eve ignored her words. “Us. You said us. You’re with Gallo.”

  “You knew I was, or you wouldn’t have come running to save me,” she said quietly. “I don’t need saving, Eve. He’s not going to hurt me.” She paused. “And he didn’t kill Bonnie.”

  “For God’s sake, he has you believing him.” Catherine could hear the despair in her voice. “He did it, Catherine. I know how convincing he can be, but you have to think.”

  “No, you have to think,” Catherine said. “You and Gallo are both so twisted and turned around about how you feel about Bonnie that you’re willing to jump at any explanation that sounds halfway reasonable. Only this isn’t reasonable. Just because Black believed what he was saying is no sign it was the truth.”

  “You’re the one who is jumping at explanations. What did he do to persuade you?”

  “Nothing. Except try to get himself killed. I figured that was unusual behavior and deserving of a little thought.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. There’s no way that I have time or enough valid arguments to make you listen. All I can say is that I know you’re on the wrong track. I feel it. You’re a great one for believing in instinct. You believed in Gallo when I thought you were a gullible fool for doing it. Now the situation is reversed. All I can ask is that you trust me.”

  Eve was silent. “I do trust you. But I think you’re— Where are you going, Catherine?”

  “When you can tell me honestly that you’ll help instead of try to stop me, I’ll talk to you.” She drew a deep breath. “Please. I don’t want to do this without you, Eve. I’ve fought my way through this. I’m doing the right thing.”

  “Then tell me where you’re going.”

  “Start where I did and work it out for yourself. Good-bye, Eve.” She hung up.

  Gallo was gazing at her expression. “That was painful for you.”

  “Of course, it was. She’s my friend.” Her throat was tight. “All I ever wanted to do was help her, and now she thinks I’ve betrayed her.”

  “And that I lured you from the straight path.” They had reached the gate, and he turned to face her. “Eve should know better than to think I’d have that kind of power over you. She’s usually more clearheaded.”

  But he did have an alluring charisma, and
she had been struggling against it for weeks. She only hoped she’d been telling Eve the truth when she’d told her Gallo hadn’t unduly influenced her.

  Hope? Dammit, of course she’d been honest with Eve. She had to trust in herself as she always had. Otherwise, she had nothing. “You’re Bonnie’s father. Evidently you were Eve’s Achilles’ heel when she was a kid of sixteen. It’s probably easy for her to imagine that you might be able to sway me to your way of thinking.”

  “Achilles’ heel? That could have all kind of meanings.” He looked away from her, and said haltingly, “If it makes any difference to you, it means a good deal to me that you believe so deeply that you’re doing the right thing. In a way, that means you believe in me.”

  “You act as if that’s completely unheard of for anyone to have any trust in you.”

  “Not completely. But I can remember only a couple of people who trusted me to that extent. Maybe my commanding officer, Ron Capshaw, who was in charge of our mission to Korea. I was just a green kid fresh out of Ranger school but he took me under his wing and told everyone he knew I could do the job. I … liked him. He made me feel as if I could do anything if I tried hard enough.” His lips tightened. “But we had to split up, and he and Lieutenant Silak were killed, and I was taken prisoner.” He shrugged. “Other than Ron, I guess the only other person who trusted me to do the right thing was my uncle Ted when I was a kid. He was the only one who gave a damn about me when I was growing up.” He grimaced. “Not that I deserved it even then. I was a real hell-raiser. But sometimes you get more than you’re entitled to get.” He turned toward the gate agent, who was starting to call the flight. “Like now. Like Catherine Ling fighting the friend she loves to save my ass.” He took her elbow. “That’s our section being called. Come on, let’s get this show on the road.”