Bonnie by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online

his encountering Jacobs’s killer. “He can take care of himself.”
    Eve smiled faintly. “And it’s over for the time being. Until next time.”
    “Bonnie’s crystal ball again?”
    “Call it what you like. I think it’s closer to the concept of faith.”
    “And that scroll you spoke about gets unrolled a little bit more?” She turned to look at Eve. “Well, I’ve been thinking of a way to jump-start it. Did you and Joe get a good look at that bastard when he was attacking me?”
    Eve shook her head. “He was directly behind you until he actually pounced. He was tall, very thin, and his stride was … springy.”
    “His face?”
    “No, as I said, he was behind you. And when he attacked, he was bent over you. I couldn’t see his features.”
    “Joe?”
    “We can ask him. He had a different angle than I did when he got off the shot. He might have seen his face.”
    “I hope he did. I had a full view of his features for just an instant or two. It would be good if I had another witness to corroborate my take on him. Gallo was in the bayou, close enough to throw that knife. He probably had a good chance to see him,” Catherine said. “You’ve been trained in police sketching as part of your training, Eve. Can we try to get a recognizable sketch of this guy?”
    She nodded. “Since you think that fingerprints aren’t very likely, it would be one of our only options. But it had better be soon. Memory fades in an amazingly short time.”
    “I’ve been trained in memory retention for debriefing situations,” Catherine said. “I’ll concentrate and get a picture that will hopefully stay with me.”
    “Anything remarkable about him?”
    A tan face, pulled tight by the hood of the wet suit. Bushy dark brows flecked with gray. Remarkable? There was something unusual, but it was eluding her at the moment. “I’ll have to think about it. Maybe it will come to me…”
    The fog was growing thicker again, she noticed. Gallo wouldn’t be able to see anything. Why didn’t he give up? She hadn’t been concerned before about Gallo, but now she was beginning to feel uneasy. There was no reason for it. It was probably caused by all of Eve’s talk about scrolls and Bonnie, and that other stuff that was pure mysticism.
    But she wished Gallo would come back.
    *   *   *
    HE SHOULD TURN BACK, Gallo thought as he paused to listen for the hundredth time. He’d been out here for at least ninety minutes, and it had been a futile effort.
    How had he gotten away?
    He knew the answer.
    He was sharp and experienced as he’d always been, and never without an emergency escape plan.
    Give it up and go back to shore.
    Not yet. He would give it a little longer.
    Wait. He heard something.
    A motorboat!
    He turned in the water and swam in the direction from which he’d heard the sound of the motor.
    The second line of defense for the escape plan.
    Get to him before he got away.
    If he didn’t catch him now, the hunt would go on.
    And it would lead Gallo straight to hell.
    *   *   *
    “IS CATHERINE OKAY?” Joeasked, when Eve picked up his call.
    “Yes, she came back to the shore not long after you left. But Gallo is still out in the bayou.”
    “I’m not worried about Gallo. I just wanted to be sure that Catherine hadn’t been hurt.”
    “I take it you didn’t see him?”
    “I think we’ve lost him. I’ve been going up and down this road for hours, with no sign of him. But a while ago, I heard the sound of a motorboat in one of the inlets. He might have had a boat stashed there.”
    “It’s possible.” She glanced at the truck. “But it would seem like overkill. If he followed her from the casino, it would take some fast scrambling to set up a backup like that.”
    “Or someone very practiced in a maneuver like this. I’m on my way back. I should see you in about ten minutes.” He hung up.
    She turned to Catherine. “He thinks that we’ve lost him. Maybe a motorboat in the inlet.”
    “It took