Bonnie

by Iris Johansen

  “Where is Eve, you bastard?” she asked grimly. “Give me an answer in ten seconds, and you’ll live for a little while longer.”

  Eve. He should not have run away even if he’d been sick about killing the boy. Eve was still alive. He had failed Bonnie. It would be okay. He could make it right. But he had to get away from here first. Then he could concentrate on finding Bonnie’s mother again.

  “Is she dead?” Catherine asked.

  He shook his head. “She fought me and ran away. She shouldn’t have done that. It’s not what the little girl wanted.”

  “Where is she?”

  “With the boy.” He was sobbing. “I killed the boy.” Too much pain. Get away. Get rid of her.

  He dove sideways and kicked out and struck her gun with the toe of his boot.

  It fired and the bullet ricocheted off the wall of the canyon. Then he was running into the brush, the thorns and branches whipping at him.

  She was running after him.

  Pull to the side and ambush her.

  Not now.

  Keep running.

  Keep running.

  Keep running.

  Run away from those children in the flaming house in the mountains of Syria.

  Run away from Ben, with blood blossoming on his shirt.

  Run away from Bonnie, lying so still in the trunk of his car.

  Bonnie.

  “You have to stop.” It was John calling from behind him. “Don’t make me come after you.”

  John was hurting. He could always tell when the boy was hurting. How many times had Ted chased after John when Ted’s brother had beaten him? John had always tried to hide it from him, but he always knew.

  “You have to make it right,” John’s voice was hoarse with pain. “I’ll try to help you through it, but you have to give yourself up. And you have to tell me where you left Eve.”

  He kept on running.

  “Stop,” John said. “For God’s sake, stop. Or I’ll have to shoot you. Don’t make me do that.”

  He looked over his shoulder and saw John aiming his gun.

  He kept on running.

  He didn’t hear the shot until the bullet entered his kneecap. Pain. He fell to the ground. Then, as he was levering himself up against a tree, he saw Catherine Ling come out of the shrubs ahead with a gun in her hand.

  She was staring at him with no expression. “You should have stopped, Danner.”

  John was beside them now. “I would have done it, Catherine.”

  “I believe you. But you would have given him every chance to surrender, and I was tired of pampering him.” She bent over Danner and plucked his gun from his jacket. “Is Eve still alive? I want an answer, and I’ll know if you’re lying.”

  Yes, she would know. He had thought when he had first seen her that she was a demon, a Delilah, who was as lethal as she was beautiful. “Yes, but you can’t have her. It wouldn’t be right. I’ll fight you. She belongs to the child.”

  “Wacko.” She turned to John. “I’m going to call Joe and see if he knows anything about Eve. If you can persuade Danner to talk, do it. Or I will.”

  John pushed past her, closer to Danner. “Why?” His voice was ragged. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were sick? It wouldn’t have mattered to me. I would have helped you. I loved you, dammit.”

  Danner shook his head. John’s words were hurting, scalding him with shame. “I couldn’t do it.”

  Catherine hung up the phone and turned back to them. “Eve is safe. She and Joe are together. I told him where we are.”

  John breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.” He turned back to Danner. “You didn’t hurt her. Maybe we can still make this—”

  “Go away, John.”

  “I can’t go away,” he said harshly. “You didn’t kill my daughter. I know you didn’t. Say the words.”

  Of course, he could say the words, Danner thought. It was the demon, Black, who had killed Bonnie.

  But what if it wasn’t?

  Bonnie.

  His head was exploding, he could feel the veins of his neck swell and distend.

  Bonnie.

  “No!” He lunged forward and got to his feet.

  He was running, trying to get away from that hideous truth.

  “Don’t move,” Catherine said.

  He paid no attention, he was hobbling, his leg buckling with every step.

  Catherine took a step forward. “Stop, Danner.”

  Bonnie!

  He slipped, fell, and was tumbling from the path down the sandy incline toward the bottom of the canyon.

  * * *

  “WHAT THE HELL,” EVE BREATHED. She and Joe had stopped on the cliff above the trail where Catherine and Gallo stood. She watched Danner skidding down the side of the incline. “He’ll be killed!”

  “Maybe not. The ground is very sandy, that means soft.” Joe took her elbow and was running toward the trail. He added grimly, “But I may take care of that when I get down there.”

  He meant it, Eve thought, as she tore down toward the canyon floor. She was angry, too, but she was also filled with dread and wrenching sadness. It wasn’t what she had expected to feel toward Danner. He was a murderer. He had tried to shoot Joe. He had killed Bonnie, and he might have killed that boy, Ben. Why couldn’t she just feel the anger and the thirst for revenge? Why did she keep seeing Danner as he had been when he’d smiled down at six-month-old Bonnie in her stroller and handed her the rabbit she had dropped?

  Tragic.

  But all tragedies had to end.

  She stumbled, almost fell, but Joe caught her.

  Joe was always there to catch her, to protect her, to stand by her.

  As Danner had been there to protect Gallo. If things had been different, if Eve had let Danner into their lives when Bonnie was a toddler, would he have been there to love and protect her, too? Would everything have been changed?

  Stop trying to second-guess every action she had taken. She was human. All she could do was play the cards she’d been given.

  “Just below,” Joe said as he took her hand and started skidding down the incline. “I see Catherine, but not Gallo.”

  “And Danner,” Eve said. “I don’t see Danner. Maybe he—”

  * * *

  AND THEN SHE SAW DANNER.

  Blood.

  Danner was lying on his back near the bottom of the canyon. He had fallen on a large branch and the force of the fall had broken the branch and caused the jagged point to pierce his body and exit from his chest.

  She stopped beside Catherine, who was standing a few yards away from Danner. Gallo was kneeling beside him, examining the wound.

  “Is he dead?” she whispered to Catherine.

  “I don’t think so.” Catherine was short of breath, her chest rising and falling. “Not yet. We just got down here, and Gallo has been trying to see if he has a chance.”

  Eve’s gaze flew to Gallo’s face. He was pale, his eyes haunted, and there was a long scratch on his right cheek. He was going through hell, and he looked it. “It doesn’t look good.”

  Catherine shook her head. “I’ll try to get some help for him.” She glanced at Eve. “If that’s what you want. He’s probably not going to last anyway. Tell me what you want me to do. I know how long you’ve been searching for your daughter’s killer. If you want him dead, I’ll let him go.”

  And cause Catherine to shoulder the blame for killing Danner?

  Eve shook her head. “I don’t think he’s going to make it either.” She looked at Gallo. “Make the call. If he lives, then we’ll deal with him.”

  Catherine took out her phone. “We’re surrounded by this rock canyon right here. The best I can do is get out from under these trees and hope I can pick up a signal.” She moved toward an opening in the trees several yards away. “Joe, you’ve got a satellite phone; come with me, and you try if I don’t get through.”

  Joe frowned. “Dammit, I don’t give a damn if he—” He looked at Eve. “Okay
, but it’s a waste.” He strode after Catherine.

  He was probably right, Eve thought. But who the hell knew what was right or wrong? In this moment, she did not. There was too much history, too much pain. And the pain was still here. She could see it in Gallo’s face, feel it in all the memories of the years. She moved closer to where Gallo was kneeling beside Danner and put her hand on his shoulder. “How bad? What do you think?”

  Gallo jerkily shook his head. “I can’t even stop the blood. I don’t know how many organs that branch damaged.”

  “Catherine and Joe are trying to get him help.”

  “That’s more than I expected.” He reached out a hand and gently touched Danner’s hair. “He was so damn good to me, Eve.”

  “I know.”

  “It’s crazy. How could he do it? He killed my daughter.” He reached out blindly and covered her hand on his shoulder. “Our daughter.”

  “Our daughter,” she repeated. Yes, in this moment they were bound together as they had never been during Bonnie’s life. “And it was crazy. He wasn’t sane. He told me … it was an accident. That he was trying to save her.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “Yes.”

  “But it doesn’t take the pain away.”

  “No, but it takes away some of the horror. I’ve always been afraid that Bonnie was helpless, terrified. It was one of my worst nightmares.”

  “He was trying to save her?” Gallo’s eyes were moist. “Like he tried to save me. He did save me, Eve.”

  “But he didn’t save—”

  “Hurts…” Danner’s eyes were suddenly opening, staring up at Gallo. “I … fell.”

  “Yes.” Gallo took his hand. “But I’ll take care of you.”

  “How could you do that? You’re just a kid. Give me a minute, and I’ll get up and get us back to the cabin.”

  Did he think he was back at that cabin in Wisconsin where he’d taken Gallo so many times? Eve wondered.

  But Danner’s gaze was now on Eve. “I know you. You have a little girl.…”

  “Yes, I do.”

  He suddenly tensed. “The demons. You have to keep the demons from finding her.”

  “I have her safe. Forever.”

  “But I have to help. I have to—” He began to cough, and a rivulet of blood flowed out of the corner of his mouth.

  He was dying, Eve realized. There was no doubt in her mind. “I don’t need you. My Bonnie is safe. I’ll watch over her.”

  “No, it’s my job.” His head was thrashing back and forth. “I have to do it. It doesn’t matter if I’m afraid. I have to do it.”

  “I’ll do it for you,” Gallo said thickly. “Just rest.”

  Danner’s eyes were clinging to his. “I tried to save her for you, John.”

  “I know you did.”

  “I failed you. I failed her.” His eyes closed. “Go away.”

  “No.”

  “Go away.” He jerked his hand away from Gallo’s. “I don’t want you. You make me feel— Go away.”

  Eve couldn’t stand it any longer. She turned and moved a few yards from Danner and Gallo. She crossed her arms across her chest to still their trembling.

  “Take him away, Mama.”

  “Bonnie?”

  “Take my father away. They’re both hurting too much. I can’t help him.”

  Eve hesitated, then strode back to Gallo. “Come on,” she said unevenly. “Leave him.”

  “No.”

  “Leave him.” She stared him in the eye with all the force of her entire will. “He won’t need you. I promise.”

  Gallo gazed at her in bewilderment, then slowly got to his feet. “He’s dying, Eve.”

  She nodded. “But he’s hurting because you’re here with him. He’s full of regret and guilt and pain. Let him go, John.” She took his hand and drew him a few yards from Danner. “It will be—”

  Gallo stiffened. “Bonnie?”

  Did he sense her, too? Eve wondered.

  No, he could see her. She was here.

  Bonnie was standing over Ted Danner, looking down at him.

  Her expression …

  Compassion, tenderness, sadness.

  “What are you doing, Bonnie?”

  But Bonnie was not paying any attention to anyone but the man at her feet.

  “Ted.”

  Danner opened his eyes. He saw her. His body stiffened. “Go away. It’s not my fault. I tried to do what you wanted. Why do you keep following me?”

  “Because you won’t listen to me.” Bonnie fell to her knees beside him. “You’ve never listened, Ted. But now you will, won’t you?”

  “No. I want you to go away.”

  “Because you’re afraid of me?” Bonnie smiled. “Why should you be afraid? I’m no stranger to you. We’ve been together a long time.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand that you’re afraid that I’m angry with you, that I want to hurt you.”

  “Yes, because you think that I’m the one who hurt you. You don’t believe it was the demon.”

  “No, because I don’t believe in demons.” She took Danner’s hand.

  He shuddered and tried to pull away.

  “No, hold my hand, and the fear will go. You’re not afraid of me, you’re afraid of the darkness. You’ve been in darkness for a long time and haven’t been able to break free of it. Sometimes it got lighter, then when you weren’t expecting, it came back. Isn’t that right?”

  “And then the demons came.”

  “But it’s light now, and you can see in every corner. Everything is bright and clear and beautiful. And there are no demons. There will never be demons again.”

  He was gazing into her eyes. “You promise.”

  “I promise.”

  Silence. “You’re not angry with me.”

  “I’ve never been angry with you. Why should I? I always knew that you meant no harm, that it was love that made you take me that day. Love for my father, even love for me. I tried so hard to tell you.”

  “I … hurt you. Forgive … me. I wanted to say that to you, but it was too late. Everything was too late.”

  “It’s never too late. You’ll see. I’ll help you.”

  “Will you?”

  “Shall I show you?”

  Silence.

  Then a brilliant smile lit his face. “It starts again? It’s a long road, a hard road, but I can make the ending different. I can begin again.”

  “Is that what you saw? It’s different all the time. Beautiful but different.” She leaned closer, and whispered, “Now go to sleep. It’s time. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be there for you. I won’t let you get lost.” She smiled luminously. “I’ve learned so many things, Ted. You’ll learn them, too. Just hold my hand. Don’t let me go.”

  “Bonnie…” He was smiling back at her, his face alight with sudden eagerness. “No, I won’t let go.”

  He closed his eyes.

  Love, so much love …

  Eve could feel the tears running down her cheeks.

  And then Bonnie was gone.

  “My God.” Gallo was moving back to Danner and standing over him, gazing down at his face.

  But Danner was gone, too.

  * * *

  EVE DIDN’T FOLLOW GALLO. This was a moment of good-bye between Gallo and his uncle. She was shaken and confused, and she needed to be with Joe. She turned toward the edge of the clearing.

  Joe was standing at the tree line, his gaze on Danner. How much had he seen? He turned his head to watch Eve as she came toward him. “So Bonnie kept her word. It’s the end.”

  “Or the beginning. I’m not sure any longer.” She slid her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. She could feel the vibration of his heart beneath her ear. “But it’s the way she wanted it.”

  “Yes, maybe not the way I wanted it.” His hand stroked her hair. “How are you doing?”

  “Mixed-up. Happy, sad, angry. Bonnie may be able to see beyond
the act and forgive, but I’m not there yet. It may take me a long time.”

  She could feel him nod but didn’t lift her head. She wanted to stay here hidden in his arms. “But I can’t hate him. All these years, and I can’t hate him. Because she never hated him. From the beginning, she wanted to help him, ease him.”

  “Yes.” He was silent a moment. “Do you remember that first week after Bonnie was taken when we were doing the interviews with people who had claimed to have seen Bonnie?”

  “Yes, they were all disasters.”

  “Except for one. That vicious woman who claimed to be a psychic and said that she’d seen Bonnie the night after she’d been reported missing. She told you that Bonnie had been murdered.”

  “She just wanted to hurt me.”

  “Yes, but she said Bonnie was trailing after a man and trying to get his attention. She said he wouldn’t pay any attention to her. You asked her if Bonnie was afraid of him, and she said no.”

  Memories of that night were flooding back to Eve. “Even then, Bonnie was trying to get through to Danner and tell him that she forgave him?” A man in a torment of guilt, pushing Bonnie away, denying her existence, denying his responsibility for her death. Yet trying to protect her in the only way he knew how. “And she kept trying and never gave up. Even when she sensed the end coming, she knew she had to be there for him.”

  Danner’s luminous expression in that final moment.

  Perfect faith, perfect love …

  She felt tears sting her eyes again. No, she would not cry.

  She drew a shaky breath and took a step back. “Did you reach 911? I suppose we should call them back and tell them Danner won’t need them.”

  He nodded. “The EMTs should be here soon anyway. They were on the other side of the canyon with Ben.”

  “Is he still alive?”

  “Yes, but they’re going to have to airlift him out of here to the hospital in Columbus. It may be touch-and-go.”

  “I want to go with him. He saved your life, Joe.” She paused. “Ben said something about…”

  “Bonnie? She touched him. He had dreams about her.”

  She’d touched all of them. Dreams and visions and a love that lasted beyond death.

  “I want to talk to him.”

  But would she get the chance? Would he be with Bonnie, too?