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“I thought he’d tell you about me. We’re very close.” He smiled gently. “He’s like my own son. He’s a good boy.”
“Why are you here?”
“He asked me to come.”
Another shock. “What?”
“Well, actually, he asked me to keep an eye on you when he left for basic training. He said that I shouldn’t approach you, that you’d resent it.”
“But you’re here.”
“I tried to keep myself from coming. But I had to talk to you.” He looked at the front of her maternity smock. “I saw you on the street three weeks ago, and I was … surprised. How far are you along?”
“Eight months.”
“And it’s John’s child?”
“No, it’s my child.”
“But John fathered him?”
She nodded. “But you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to claim him as the father.” She paused. “I prefer he not know. You should agree to that. John said you were eager that he have a career in the military. A baby would just get in his way.” Her lips tightened. “Don’t tell him.”
Ted Da
“The hell I am. I’m doing fine. Don’t tell him.”
“I don’t have a choice at the moment. I can’t write to him. I don’t know where he is.”
She stared at him, stu
“Right after basic and Ranger training, he was sent overseas. I heard from him from Tokyo right after he arrived, then nothing.”
“That doesn’t make sense. You have to be able to trace him. You’re military yourself.”
“Unless he volunteered for a special mission. John’s smart and ambitious, and that would be a way for him to rise through the ranks.”
“Just what you’d do,” she said dully.
“That’s what I’ve been telling myself.” He shook his head. “It’s different when it’s someone else doing it.” His voice was husky. “I love that boy.”
She could see that he did. His eyes were moist, and his last words had been unsteady. “But you don’t know anything for certain. He could be fine.”
Ted nodded. “I’ve dropped from the radar any number of times, and here I am with nothing but a bad back. I’ve been doing a lot of praying lately.” He stood up. “I thought you should know in case you wanted to do a little praying, too.”
She was so stu
Ted Da
“You have your own problems. Your nephew would want you to take care of yourself.”
“You’re a good girl, Eve,” he said quietly. “I can see why John cared about you.”
She watched him walk stiffly down the street. Poor guy, he was really worried, and John was obviously all he had. But he was jumping the gun. She couldn’t believe that John Gallo was dead just because he was temporarily missing. He was so young and strong and tough. Men like him weren’t easily killed.
But perhaps, even though she couldn’t believe he was truly in danger, she should still pray for the father of her child.
* * *
EVE GAZED IN BEWILDERMENT at the sketch she’d just created from Catherine’s words and description, shaking her head in stu
“That argument doesn’t hold water. If he was a Ranger, he was trained to kill,” Catherine said.
“Joe was in the SEALs, you’re CIA. You were both trained to kill. That doesn’t mean you’re both murderers.”
“It means that we would pull the trigger if we had to do it. Maybe Da
Eve knew that to be true. Joe had told her that the reason he had left the SEALs was that he had started to like it too much. He was afraid he was becoming what he was fighting. “Da
“You said you’d met him twice. The second time after Bo
Eve felt a ripple of shock. She had been thinking of Da
“No, he was smiling. He chucked Bo
“Bitter? Angry with you, too?”
“No, only sad. He asked if I’d mind if he kept an eye on me and Bo
“So he became part of your life?”
She shook her head. “I invited him to come and see us. I felt so sorry for him. I could tell that Gallo had been all the world to him. He said he didn’t want to impose. He just wanted to make sure everything was going well for us. If he was looking after us, it was at a distance. I don’t remember ever seeing him again after that day.”
“I don’t get it,” Catherine said in frustration. “You’re certain that sketch looks like him? There are so many things that don’t add up.”
“The first is that Ted Da
“That’s not bothering me too much. Deaths can be faked. Hell, the Army obviously faked Gallo’s death in Korea. Who told you that Da
“Gallo. When we were at the cabin on the property in Wisconsin, Gallo was telling me how his uncle had brought him up there when he was a kid. He told me that his uncle had died when Gallo was in prison in Korea.”
“And you thought he was telling the truth?”
Eve nodded. “I believed Gallo. It didn’t occur to me to interrogate him about his uncle.” She added slowly, “Though perhaps I should have questioned everything concerning him. Ted Da
“Questioning might not have done any good,” Catherine said curtly. “Gallo could have believed what he told you. Maybe he didn’t know that Da
“Why wouldn’t he know?”
“How do I know?” She went still, her eyes narrowing. “Though it would explain why Gallo was practically in shock when he saw him on the bank. And, if they were as close as you say, he would have found it nearly impossible to try to take him out.”
Eve had been thinking about the reluctance to act that Joe had been so certain he’d seen in Gallo. Joe had assumed that it was deliberate, but Catherine’s explanation was also possible. She just didn’t know.
How could she know? She was still in shock from the moment she’d finished the sketch and recognized Ted Da