Bonnie

by Iris Johansen

  “You’re trying to trick me.”

  “You could listen to the conversation. I deserve to say good-bye. A short conversation, then I won’t ask anything else of you. What harm would it do? You’re taking everything else from me. Let me say good-bye.” She stared into his eyes. “If you do, I’ll tell Bonnie that you were kind to me, that you let me go with gentleness.”

  His expression was tormented. Then he spun her around and gave her a push up the trail. “No, I won’t do it.”

  Okay, no chance of communicating with Joe. But evidently she’d changed the focus, and Danner wasn’t going to kill her on the trail. She’d take what she could get.

  “Wait.”

  She stopped and turned to face him.

  He thrust his phone into her hand. “Call him. I’m listening to every word. If you try to trick me, then it’s all over.”

  Which is what he wanted anyway.

  She looked down at the phone. What was she going to say?

  Providence?

  It was the only clue she had to give him, and she wasn’t even sure that it was a valid one. And how could she—

  “Call him,” Danner said curtly. “It’s what you wanted. It’s what you say she’d want.”

  Why was she hesitating? She knew that Joe was searching for her though she had no idea how close or far he was to her. She’d try to get him what information she could. If it wasn’t enough to help, then she’d still get to fulfill the purpose she’d given Danner. She had no idea if she was going to survive, and to be able to say good-bye to Joe was a gift that was without price. “That’s right.” She cleared her throat. “I’m just surprised.” She quickly dialed Joe’s number.

  It rang three times before he picked up. “Quinn.”

  Lord, it was good to hear his voice. “Joe.”

  There was a silence. “Eve. My God, where are you?”

  “I can’t talk about that, or he’ll make me hang up. Don’t ask questions. I don’t want to waste our time together.” She paused. “We don’t have much time left.”

  “What do you mean? I’ll kill him.”

  “Hush. Listen to me. I have to make every word count. We’ve been together so long that sometimes I’m afraid that I haven’t said the things that I should. There’s always been Bonnie with us or between us. I didn’t tell you that if you hadn’t come into my life that there would have been no life. You’ve been my friend, my lover, my salvation.” She had to stop as her voice broke. “Pay attention to what I’m saying, Joe, this is important. Fate brought us together that day when you came to my house to try to find my Bonnie. And it’s fate that’s tearing us apart right now. We’ve got to accept it.”

  “The hell we do.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you. You always do what you want anyway. But I just don’t want you to go through anything more for me. I love you, Joe. Thank you for being in my life.”

  She hung up the phone. The tears were running down her cheeks, and she wiped them away on the sleeve of her shirt. She handed the phone back to Danner. Had he caught the word she had slid into the conversation? It had been subtle. Maybe too subtle for Joe, too.

  Danner was studying her face. “You do love him. You didn’t love John like that.” His expression was thoughtful, almost sad, and completely without that hint of vague disorientation that seemed to come and go. In that moment, he reminded Eve of the man she’d met when Bonnie had first been born.

  “No, and he didn’t love me. You have to be a grown-up to know what love’s about. We were just kids.” She drew a deep breath. “Thank you for letting me talk to him. I’m ready to go to Bonnie now.”

  He didn’t move. “I have to do it. I can’t let you go.”

  “I know you can’t.” She met his gaze. “But we made a bargain, and I’ve kept my end of it. I think you’ve been having second thoughts, and you can’t do that. It’s your demons that are making you think those thoughts. You take me to Bonnie, and when we get there, you tell me everything. That’s how it has to be. Do you understand, Danner?”

  He reached out and gently touched her tear-wet cheek. “I have to do it, Eve.” Then he turned and moved through the brush.

  * * *

  JOE DREW A DEEP BREATH as he savagely punched the button to disconnect the call. He felt angry and helpless, and he wanted to tear the phone apart.

  “Joe?” Father Barnabas was gazing at him across the campfire. “Eve?”

  “Yes.” He had to think. But he was so torn up inside that he was having to try to calm down and try to be objective. Objective? Hell, no. “Danner let her make the call. It was a good-bye, have-a-nice-life call. I’m going to kill him. And there’s no way you’re going to stop me, Father.”

  “No, that has to come from you.” He glanced at Ben, sleeping a few yards away. “You made him a promise.”

  “I said I’d try. I didn’t say—” He closed his eyes. “I’m ready to explode. I can’t let him do this to me. I have to go over what she said. Eve’s smart and wouldn’t have wasted time just to tell me good-bye.”

  “Was it a waste?” the priest said gently.

  Eve’s voice telling him she loved him, telling him that their life together had given meaning to hers.

  “God, no.” He opened his eyes. “But she would still have concentrated on finding a way to beat Danner if there was a way. She’d try to tell me where she was or where she was going.” He grabbed his notebook from his pocket. “Give me a minute. I want to put down everything she said word for word and see if I can see anything.”

  You’ve been my friend, my lover, my salvation.

  His hand was shaking as he wrote. Steady it. Don’t think of those words that meant so much, Eve who meant more than life. Search for something else.

  “Anything?” Father Barnabas asked.

  “Nothing. But there has to be—” He stopped. “Maybe … Here she said for me to pay attention, that it was important.”

  Fate brought us together that day when you came to my house to try to find my Bonnie. And it’s fate that’s tearing us apart now. We’ve got to accept it.

  “Accept what? Accept fate. That may be the key word.” Lord, he was reaching. But he was desperate, dammit.

  “But to unlock what door?” the priest asked.

  “I don’t know.” Okay, clear his mind of emotion and think coolly and analytically. Probe deeper. Investigate.

  He grabbed his iPhone and pulled up the dictionary app. Meaning of fate. Destiny. Fortune. Chance. Providence. Luck.

  He called Catherine. “Did you get Venable to zero in closer on that entire ridge area?”

  “Yes, it just came in.”

  “Give me the names of towns or tourist sites anywhere near it.”

  “Narrow it down. What are you looking for?”

  “Fate.”

  She was silent. “No Fate. Americas, Lumpkin, Providence, Eufaula.”

  “Providence?” His heart was pounding as he glanced down at his thesaurus list. “I think that’s it.”

  “What?”

  “I’d bet that Danner will be taking her to Providence.”

  “Why? On what authority?”

  “Eve.”

  She inhaled sharply. “You talked to her?”

  “She got Danner to let her call and say good-bye.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yes, but she’s still alive. And we know where she’s going.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I don’t need skepticism, Catherine. I’ve got to believe that’s what she was trying to tell me.”

  “And I hope you’re right. I just pulled up the info on Providence. It’s your Grand Canyon area. Providence National Park. That’s a sizable acreage, and it can be entered from any number of directions. If we don’t get to him before he gets to it, we’re going to have a hell of a time. I’ll keep after Danner and hope to get a visual on him before or when he enters the canyon so I can call you and let you know an approximate location.” She paused. “And I’ll call
Gallo and tell him that they’re probably heading for Providence.”

  “Call? He’s not with you?”

  “No, we split up. He was going to find a car and truck and drive to the area you told us about. He called me an hour ago and told me that he’d run across a farmer at an apple farm who sold him a dilapidated old Buick. It runs anyway, and he’s on the highway. I’ll let him know that you’ve zeroed in on an approximate location.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. We may need his help if we have to try to intercede with Danner to get Eve away from him. Danner still has affection for him.”

  “I don’t need—” He muttered a curse. He was being stubborn. He should take any help he could get. “Do what you like.”

  “I will.” She hung up.

  “She helped you,” Father Barnabas’s gaze was on his face. “But you’re not pleased.”

  “I’ll be pleased.” He sat back on his heels. “When I get in a position where I can control her. Catherine is used to running the show.”

  The priest’s lips curved in a faint smile. “And you’re not?”

  “But it’s my show. Eve is mine.” He got to his feet, went to the edge of the hill, and gazed out at the ridge. The moon was high and casting a glow over the trees and rocks. The area beyond the ridge still appeared dark and mysterious, but he finally knew what lay beyond it. Wildness and steep rocks and a canyon that shouldn’t have been there. A terrain Joe knew nothing about, across which he’d have to follow or ambush Danner, who was probably familiar with every inch of the canyon. “Six hours. That will make it about dawn when Danner gets here.”

  “What are you planning?”

  “Going down this hill.” He made a face. “I should say sliding down this hill and making my way to Providence. I’ll reconnoiter the area, then camp out with my binoculars and wait until he shows up.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Joe turned to where Ben had raised himself on one elbow. He did not know when the boy had awakened, but he was staring gravely at Joe. “I have to go.”

  “No, you don’t,” Joe said roughly. “The last thing I want is to have to take care of you, Ben. You stay here with Father Barnabas.”

  Ben was shaking his head. “There’s something for me to do. I have to go.” He sat up and began to put out the fire. “I have to be with you when you find them.”

  And Joe might have to kill Danner in front of the kid. What kind of guilt trip would that lay on Ben for bringing Joe here?

  “It’s okay.” Ben was looking at Joe with a gentle smile. “Stop worrying about me, Joe. It’s going to work out as it should for me.”

  Joe felt a sudden chill. The kid was comforting him, yet he felt—

  “Let him go,” Father Barnabas said quietly. “You can’t stop Ben, and I’ll take responsibility for him.”

  “I suppose that means you’re going, too,” Joe said jerkily. “Well, you’re right, I can’t stop you. But stay out of my way.” He turned and strode toward the path leading down the hill. He suddenly whirled back to where Ben was putting out the last of the embers. “Did you … sleep well?”

  The radiant smile that Joe found so like Bonnie’s lit the boy’s face. “Yes, Joe.”

  But that was all he was going to say, Joe realized with frustration and that same flicker of fear. He turned and started down the hill. “That’s good, Ben.”

  * * *

  “PROVIDENCE,” GALLO REPEATED, his grasp tightening on the phone. “It’s possible but not a sure thing, Catherine.”

  “Joe doesn’t care that it’s not carved in stone,” Catherine said. “It’s all we have, and he intends to go for it. You make up your mind what you’re going to do. I’m close to Danner, but I may not be able to verify his precise destination until the last hour or so. By that time, you may not have time to position yourself.” She added without expression, “It might all be over by the time you get there.”

  “You think I want that?”

  “I didn’t say that. Call me from wherever you decide to enter the canyon.” She hung up.

  Gallo pressed the disconnect. He wasn’t angry with Catherine’s suspicions. She had every right to doubt him. He had been fighting with everything within him to find a way to absolve his uncle of blame. But he couldn’t sacrifice Eve on the altar of his love for Ted Danner. He couldn’t forgive Ted if he’d killed Bonnie. And he could only prove himself by acts, not words.

  Providence.

  The old Buick didn’t have a GPS, so he had to access his phone. He dialed it into the apps.

  Do something, anything. Ever since he’d gotten on the highway, he’d been bombarded by thoughts and memories of his uncle Ted.

  His friend, his family, the first person who taught him to trust in a world that was devoid of it.

  Eve. Bonnie. How had the three people he loved become entangled in this nightmare that was tearing him apart?

  It had happened, and now he must deal with it.

  His eyes were stinging as he checked the directions for Providence.

  * * *

  “ANY SIGN?” FATHER BARNABAS asked.

  Joe lowered the infrared binoculars. “Nothing.” It was not dawn yet, but that shouldn’t have prevented him from seeing signs of life. They were inside the canyon area, and he could scan the area immediately outside. But it wasn’t as if there was a fence to seal off the canyon. The surrounding area was as porous as Catherine had said, and there were thickets of trees that could shelter any interloper, dammit. All he could do was keep a constant vigil and hope that Catherine could notify him when Danner approached.

  If she had even been able to get close enough to Danner to give him that information. She would have had to escalate her speed, then make constant observations once she was within sight of Danner and Eve.

  He lifted his binoculars again.

  Nothing.

  Come on, Catherine.

  He glanced at Ben, who was sitting on the ground beside him. The boy was calm and hadn’t said a word since they’d left the hill.

  “Okay?”

  Ben nodded but didn’t look at him. “She’s near, Joe.”

  He stiffened. “Who’s near? Eve?”

  Ben shook his head.

  And Joe wasn’t going to delve any deeper. Eve was the only one he had to worry about at the moment. He scanned the thickets.

  His phone rang.

  Thank God. Catherine.

  “Do you have a visual on them?” she asked.

  “No, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “They’re in the canyon. They have to be. I finally caught sight of them fifteen minutes ago. They were on the trail outside the park, and a few minutes later, they disappeared.”

  He muttered a curse. “We’re watching the area. I haven’t caught a glimpse of them. What were their coordinates when you lost them?” As she read them off, he checked them on the GPS. “That’s twenty minutes north of here, toward the ridge. He didn’t come all the way down to the main Providence area. It’s high country.” He jumped to his feet. “I’m on my way.”

  “I’m following his trail from where he entered the canyon,” Catherine said. “I’ll call you if I spot him.”

  Shit, Joe thought. “Twenty minutes.”

  Too long.

  Panic.

  “Joe!”

  He didn’t pay attention to the priest’s shout as he started to run.

  Twenty minutes. Who knew what could happen in that time?

  Eve …

  CHAPTER

  15

  SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT, EVE thought.

  The ground was sandy, and the trees were thinning on either side of them since they’d made that last turn. The sky was still a cold gray, the trail misty, and she could make out very little in the dimness.

  But something was different.

  “You said we were going to Providence,” Eve said. “When do we get there?”

  “We don’t.” Danner didn’t look at her. “It’s Providence National Pa
rk, and it’s four miles from here. We don’t have to go through the main part of the park. We just have to border the edge. I found this path years ago, and it saves me time when I just have to check.”

  “Check?”

  “Hurry.” His pace increased as the ground beneath their feet began to climb. “You said you wanted to be here, didn’t you? I wanted it, too,” he asked roughly. “Well, you’re here.”

  And Danner’s voice was jerky and his face pale and taut in the dimness.

  She was here.

  Eve felt an excitement that was part eagerness and part dread.

  Bonnie?

  “Look at you,” Danner’s gaze was fixed on her face. “They say I’m crazy, but you know what I’m going to do, and it doesn’t matter to you.”

  “It matters. But I can deal with it.” She wanted him to stop talking. The excitement was building, and she had to control it. Why wasn’t it just sick horror? This had to be her daughter’s murderer. He had not said the words, but it had to be true. “I’ve tried to find answers since the day Bonnie disappeared. I’ve been searching for my daughter for a long time.” Her stride unconsciously quickened.

  I’m coming, Bonnie. I’m going to bring you home. You’ve always said it didn’t matter to you. But it matters to me.

  “You shouldn’t have wasted your time looking for her,” Danner said.

  “Waste? It wasn’t wasted.”

  “It did you no good. And it didn’t help her. You couldn’t keep them away from her.”

  He was talking about his demons again, Eve realized, and she was sick to death of it. And she didn’t have to put up with it now. The end was near. Either he was taking her to Bonnie, or it would all be revealed as a big lie spoken by this madman. “I’ve told you before. I can take care of my little girl. There are no demons who could touch her. They’re all in your mind. I’m sure your doctors have told—” She stopped. They had suddenly come out of the pine trees and were standing on a summit overlooking the canyon. She inhaled sharply. “Dear God. Where are we?”