“Not now.”
“Then I’m going up the hill and grab that poor kid and bring her down. Eve can take care of you.” She turned and disappeared behind the rocks again.
Eve took another step closer to Joe. “Let me—”
“No, I don’t need you to take care of me.” Joe’s eyes were boring into Black’s. “All I need is for you to listen while this bastard talks to me. It has to end. We both have to be free. He’s going to tell me where he buried Bonnie, or I’ll start cutting him to pieces.”
“Bonnie…” Black was gazing up at him maliciously. “You want to know … where Bonnie is? Screw … you, Quinn.”
“You like making people hurt, don’t you? That kid up on the hill. Her mother.” Joe put the point of the knife at his throat. “You want pain? I’ll show you pain, Black.”
“Joe.”
He didn’t take his gaze from Black. “You’ve got to know, Eve. He’s got to tell you. Where’s Bonnie?”
Black spit in his face.
“Where?” Joe didn’t move the knife to wipe away the spittle.
“Let me have him.” Eve hadn’t realized that Gallo had come and was standing a few yards away. His expression was as grim and savage as Joe’s. No, perhaps more savage. “He’ll talk to me.”
“Gallo.” Black’s gaze was glittering with ferocity. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you. Were you so afraid of me that you had to send Quinn to do your dirty work?”
“Shut up, Black.” Gallo’s voice was almost guttural. “I just came from seeing what you did to Judy’s daughter. She’s so terrified Catherine couldn’t get near her. She’s like a wild animal.”
“But that was the purpose,” Black said. “The hunt wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining if she wasn’t sufficiently primed.”
Joe jabbed him in the throat. Blood ran. Black flinched and began to curse.
“Where did you bury Bonnie?” Joe was ignoring everything around him but his one objective.
“Tell us,” Gallo said.
Uneasiness had suddenly supplanted the mockery in Black’s gaze as it flew to Eve. “Torture? Aren’t you going to stop them?”
“Did you stop when you killed all those children?” Eve said unevenly. “Did you stop when you killed Bonnie? I want to bring my daughter home. Tell me where you buried her after you killed her.”
His lip curled. “Bitch. Gallo’s bitch. I should have killed you when I had the chance. You and your Bonnie and—” He broke off with a cry as Joe’s knife bit down again. “Okay, take him away. I’ll talk to you.”
“Get off him, Joe,” Eve said.
Joe had already swung off Black and moved a few feet away. “Not for long.”
Black was staring malevolently at Eve even as he scooted back. “He doesn’t like to hear the truth. But you were Gallo’s bitch, and now you’re that bastard Quinn’s bitch. All of this is your fault. I wish I had—no!” Joe had made a motion toward him. He scrambled farther away from him. “You want to know about Bonnie. I’ll tell you about her. Such a pretty little girl. Different. I was practically salivating when I first saw her after I followed Gallo to your place. But the job I was being paid for was Gallo. I couldn’t move on her.”
“But you did move on her later,” Gallo said. “Admit it.”
“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Black said softly. “You want the bitch to hear it.”
“I have to hear it,” Eve said. “What difference does it make to you. You’re probably proud that you did it. Isn’t that what you’re all about? The killing and savagery and—”
“Yes, I’m proud of my power.” He smiled, and his gaze never left Gallo. “And I have no need of Bonnie Duncan’s death to add to it. I don’t have to take credit for her anymore. Queen isn’t alive to pay any longer.”
Gallo went rigid. “What are you saying?” he asked hoarsely.
“What do you think I’m saying?” Black asked. “The truth, Gallo. Isn’t it time?”
“And what is the truth, Black?” Eve asked.
“I don’t know where your Bonnie is buried,” Black said. “I didn’t kill her.”
“Liar!” Gallo said.
“Am I?” He shook his head. “You’re not going to be able to convince anyone of that.” His gaze darted to Eve. “Don’t you want to know who did kill her? I find I can’t wait to tell you.”
Eve moistened her lips. “Who?”
“Gallo.”
Gallo made a low exclamation and lunged forward.
Joe jumped up and stepped in front of him. “Stay where you are. I want to hear this.”
“Gallo did it. A fit of madness. One of his blackout periods. Queen said he was always having them.” Black’s words were coming fast, tipped with venom. “He came back to Atlanta after Pakistan. He killed her.”
“No!” Gallo said. “I didn’t. I wouldn’t.”
“You did kill her. Can’t you all see it? Look at Gallo’s face.”
They were looking at Gallo’s face, and what Eve saw there stunned her.
Anger. Fear. Torment.
“Shit. Stop!” Gallo’s gaze was the only one focused on Black, and he tried to push Joe aside. “His boot. He’s going for—”
But Black had already retrieved a dagger from his boot holster and staggered to his feet.
Joe half turned, but it was too late. Black’s dagger sank into Joe’s back.
Eve screamed.
Joe was staggering back, slowly falling to his knees.
“Oh, God.” Eve ran forward and sank to her knees in front of him, trying to hold him. “No.” It couldn’t be happening. “No, Joe…”
Black was running for the rifle on the ground a few yards away. He didn’t reach it before Gallo was on him.
Gallo’s arm went around his neck, jerking it back. “Say it’s a lie, you bastard.”
“You did it.” He was straining to get the rifle. “You know you—”
Gallo’s arm tightened and twisted, breaking Black’s neck.
He fell to the ground, dead.
“Eve.”
Eve was hardly aware that Gallo had spoken. She was carefully laying Joe on the ground.
Her fingers were checking the pulse on his throat. Alive!
Relief surged through her. But unconscious. Going into shock. The blood pouring from his chest. How long would he stay alive?
“Eve.” Gallo was beside her now. “I need to—”
She ignored him as she reached for her phone and called Catherine. “Joe’s hurt. We’re going to need an air ambulance. I hope he doesn’t die before it gets here. Come and help me.” She hung up.
“Let me help you, Eve.”
She didn’t look at him. “You can’t help me.” She was trying to stop the blood. “I can’t even look at you right now. I’ll deal with you later.”
Pressure. She had to apply pressure. But what if the blade had torn an organ?
“You think I killed her.”
“I think Black was telling the truth,” she said unevenly.
Gallo was silent for an agonized moment. “So do I.”
When she glanced up, he was gone.
It was all a hideous nightmare.
Oh, Joe, why did you come?
I knew it would happen.
Why didn’t you let me go?
“Eve.” Catherine dropped to her knees beside Joe. “I should have stayed. I shouldn’t have left you to go after Cara.” She was examining the wound. “It’s bad.”
“I know,” Eve whispered. “I don’t know how bad.”
“Neither do I. I called for help, but I don’t know how long they’ll be. We need bandages, blankets. We have to get him warm. He’s still wet from the lake.”
“He swam the lake?”
“He would have swum the Atlantic to get to you.” She took off her jacket and wrapped it around Joe. “I’m going to hike to the cabin and get some supplies. I have to take Cara with me and tuck her in there until the ambulance comes. She’s waiting on the path. I would have been here sooner, but I had to coax her into coming with me. She was like a frightened animal. She’s sort of shell-shocked, but I was finally able to convince her she was safe now.” She jumped to her feet. “I’ll be back before you know it.”