LN Cronan

Chapter Twelve of Bared To You - The Readers Guide  This chapter starts Wednesday morning (day ten) and goes through Wednesday evening.  Key plot developments: Eva tells Gideon she was raped by her former stepbrother for four years. This is the dark secret that's been hinted in earlier chapters, that something bad had happened to Eva. The full revelation in this chapter is one of the most important plot developments in The Crossfire Series. The gossip/tabloid media interest in her, because she's dating a celebrity, made Eva fear an investigative reporter could unearth the legal paper trail the rape case left. She feared a scandal would embarrass Gideon, and that's why she told him.   New Characters Nathan Barker - previously mentioned in passing as Monica's stepson, this chapter names him. Nathan's father (in passing) The "dirt" Eva fears some reporter could dig up Eva was repeatedly raped (so many times she lost count) by her stepbrother, Nathan Barker, when she was a girl. The abuse started when she was 10 and he was 12. It continued for four years, unnoticed by Eva's mother, and Eva never said anything, because Nathan terrorized her into silence. An emergency room trip finally uncovered the abuse when Eva was 14. Vaginal bleeding too heavy for a menstrual period made Monica rush Eva to the ER, and an exam showed Eva had suffered a miscarriage. The same exam revealed vaginal and anal scarring, physical evidence of past rapes. Child protective services were notified, who in turn would have brought in the police. Sylvia in recent spoiler posts told us more background not included in Bared (or Reflected) -- Nathan was prosecuted as a juvenile offender, and he was sentenced to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison. Monica, who had been happy in her marriage, promptly divorced Nathan's father, and as part of a settlement, received $5 million in damages for Eva and $2 million for herself. Years later when Monica married Stanton (her third husband) Stanton paid money to try to increase the secrecy. The court paperwork was under seal, but it existed as a paper trail that could come out, plus there were many people who had been involved and might talk. To lessen the danger someone might talk to an outsider, Stanton got people to sign non-disclosure agreements. He paid them in return for their signatures on legally-binding contracts to keep their mouths shut. Stanton, a brilliant financier, also invested Eva's millions, growing the fortune even larger (how big, we don't know) in order to further ensure her financial security. However, Eva refuses to touch the money. But all those proceedings left a paper trail that could be unearthed by investigative reporting. The money trail especially would raise a huge red flag - why would a stepchild get $5 million? Discovery is Monica's biggest fear. Now that Gideon unwittingly has made that danger a possibility, Eva's afraid too. Eva told Gideon some family history, too, about how it was she came to be Nathan's stepsister in the first place. Monica had been a debutante when she accidentally got pregnant. Her family tried to coerce her to end the pregnancy. She refused, and they disinherited her. But she also refused to marry the working-class Victor, because money was too important to her. She later landed a millionaire husband, Nathan's father, whose previous wife had died and left him with a young son to raise. Monica got the rich lifestyle, and Barker got someone to raise his child. Gideon's reaction is horror at what happened and deep pity for Eva. And rage toward Nathan. In a prophetic statement, Gideon said "I'm going to find the monster who hurt you, Eva, wherever he is, and I'm going to make him wish he were dead." (Page 182).  Why Eva was so scared the old secrets could come out She feared Gideon would be embarrassed if scandal erupted because some reporter dug deep enough into her past, now that she suddenly was part of the rampant tabloid coverage of Gideon's love life. The gossip media loved portraying him as a billionaire playboy who was the most eligible bachelor in New York since (the real life) John F. Kennedy Jr. Now she was hot news. Not without reason did Eva fear the spotlight -- only three days into their new relationship, the paparazzi were after her, sensationalizing her and twisting truths into big lies.  It had all started Tuesday when the gossip sites went wild about her and Gideon. His bad -- he arranged the leak, including a photo of them in a passionate kiss. He did it for the selfish reason of letting other men know Eva was taken. By Wednesday, wild false rumors about their supposed tangled love lives were being reported. The "scandal" was Eva was keeping up-and-coming fashion model "lover" Cary Taylor on the side while juggling him with Gideon. But photos "caught" Eva with Cary on a lunch "date." Meanwhile, some other paparazzi caught pictures of Gideon and Magdalene hours later outside a restaurant, the pair of them obviously happy as they talked. The spin on that was Gideon "turned" to her for "solace" because of Eva's "cheating" nature. These lies and especially these tabloid photos sparked a fight Wednesday lunchtime between them. Gideon was paranoid that maybe there actually was something sexual between Eva and Cary. Meanwhile, Eva was furious Gideon was nice to Magdalene even after Eva had told him how Magdalene had treated Eva like some s*** and was convinced Gideon was going to marry her (Magdalene). This argument happened out in public, where Gideon had chased Eva down on her way to have lunch with her boss and his longtime lover. From confrontation to make-up kiss, the whole episode also got photographed and published too. The tabloids can't get enough of Gideon Cross.

 Perhaps Sylvia hopes we'll be like Eva, who near the end of Reflected, expresses pity for Corrine as desperate and a little pathetic in her (Corrine's) refusal to accept the fact Gideon doesn't love her and doesn't even desire her. Something that's got to be obvious, because she'd be able to see man behind the mask as someone in terrible pain right now.  I hope, though, Sylvia has figured out because so many of us identify with Eva as a character, we'd hate Corrine right from the very start. And we'd get further worked up for Gideon screwing up the situation beyond belief at times. Corrine crashed the fundraiser to chase Gideon, and she jumped at a golden opportunity to make Eva miserable (and as an added bonus humiliate Eva with everyone watching.) Gideon had been such an idiot at that dinner table. Corrine maliciously jumped at a golden opportunity to make Eva jealous (and as an added bonus make her fear Gideon could be a cheater.) OK, here Gideon tried to do the right thing, but Eva was so triggered she was a little nuts then and there was no getting through. Corrine had scored a knockdown. Corrine preened in public once Gideon started taking her out again (instead of being sensitive to the fact he was in a serious relationship with someone else.) Gideon seriously underestimated how shattered Eva would be by his taking Corrine out in a way that made even her believe he'd gone back to Corrine. And when Eva finally came to confront her, as was inevitable to happen, Corrine calculatedly did something guaranteed to send Eva running away forever -- not simply running away from a dinner table because Gideon had been ignoring her (Eva), like the first night. She planned to send Eva running out of her (Corrine's) apartment building in agony that Gideon, having just f****** Corrine hard, didn't even care enough to have the decency of telling Eva to her face it truly was over. Some of the earlier stunts were all impulse, but this time Corrine spent 20 minutes pre-mediating how to kill forever any love Eva may have still had for Gideon. Gideon's ultimate rejection, Eva could have believed, and if she had, Corrine would have struck a fatal blow to what Eva and Gideon had been.  And for a instant, Eva tottered on the brink. Had it gone the other way, Eva would have left shattered, probably died a little inside doing a "walk of shame" past an Angus she believed was looking at her in pity. She'd probably refuse to even listen to Gideon again. Perhaps worst of all, with her old wounds opened and raw, she'd run rebound right into Brett's arms, making an even worse mistake, further relapsing into destructive patterns.  But then ....  "Cut the s***, Corrine." Eva just knew. She knew in her heart Gideon loved her (Eva) and would never love Corrine. Dr. Travis had worked miracles in rebuilding her damaged psyche. The turmoil she'd gone through with Gideon made her stronger instead of breaking her. This was the strong even sassy Eva who'd stood up to even Gideon himself. Loved it when Corrine maliciously said "what do you think I was doing" and Eva shot right back "Not Gideon." Go gurl!

Corrine, I think is trying to get history to repeat itself. Here's how: Â Then: she chased down young hottie Gideon as relative nobody, his freshman year at Columbia University. Now: she's chased down still hot but now famous Gideon in high society circles in New York City. Â Then: the pair of them fell into a pattern of going together to the same places, so he called it "dating." Now: the pair of them are going out together places for the celebrity watching media, so they (the media) are calling it dating. Â Then: working patiently with the sexually-repressed Gideon, she seduced him, becoming his first lover. He stayed with her three years. Now: she's probably working patiently to get the commitment-phobe (but now with a rep as a stud) to becoming her lover again. It's been only around three weeks since they resumed dating. Lots of time yet. ^^^ This is where things currently stand, her working her way toward getting him into bed. Â Then: she got him to agree to marry her. But she threw in the towel because of the sex problems. Soon: (she deludes herself) he's gotten over his sexual repressions, so there's nothing stopping them from being able to maintain a marriage. They'll quickly go from lovers to engaged to married, ^^^ Where things currently actually stand: as soon as Gideon is able to do so, he's throwing her out of his life forever. Cannot even be friends with her anymore, because of how she hurt Eva.

 Now THERE'S a possibility. What exactly did Angus do that earned him Gideon's absolute trust? Angus was around Gideon since Gideon was a kid, and in a position (driver) to pay attention to the kid (um, hello - Monica?! like you ought to but didn't pay close attention to your daughter?) As soon as Gideon was old enough (and financially secure enough) to hire Angus full-time, he did it. Stole Angus right away from his (Angus') job working for the Vidals. That was eight years ago. Gideon would have been just 20 years old at the time.

 Poor Gideon -- and "almost" poor Corrine. Really, she has only herself to blame for putting herself into a position to be stone-cold used. But Gideon's now, through his own fault, in a sticky spot with the old ex.  I'll bet Gideon thought that second date with Corrine, the party, was going to be the last time he had to take her anywhere. The cops would swallow whole his cover, based on that party photo plus his having taken Corrine out earlier that week. So I'm sure, the night of the party, Gideon was careful that Corrine wouldn't have any "expectations" (ah, Gideon loves that word.)  Instead, here he is weeks later now forced into a position where he's still spending time with Corrine. Corrine claimed to Eva he's spending all his free time with her. We gotta take "all" with a grain of salt -- this is Corrine, who effs with Eva's mind. But Corrine certainly would have been telling the truth Gideon is spending quality time with her.  Eva with her own eyes caught Gideon red-handed (with his hand at the small of Corrine's back, a very intimate physical gesture) walking Corrine out of the Crossfire. There most certainly must be more incidents. That's the only one Eva knew about for certain, because she was still in the vicinity of the Crossfire, something Gideon hadn't counted on, when he emerged with Corrine and climbed into a waiting car, likely going out to dinner. (It was after 5 p.m.)

 No, Gideon would not have killed his abuser. That would be stone cold pre-meditated revenge killing. It'd make Gideon an evil person like Nathan himself.  Sylvia, addressing the outrage some fans had at the thought of our beloved hero being a killer, has made it clear to me Gideon killed Nathan because it was the only option he felt he had. Not for revenge, but to eliminate forever a terrible danger that Eva otherwise would be in all the days of her life. Because Nathan would never get sent to a prison. He'd go through the lather-rinse-repeat cycle of psychiatric hospitalization, sent back out into the community yet again when deemed "safe" because of treatment. Released without warning to other people, most especially Eva.  Sylvia made some fans (me included) see the light when she used her own children as an example -- in life, there are some people so precious that we likely would do anything -- anything -- to save them from terrible danger. This overwhelming love for Eva, not revenge against Nathan, is what led Gideon to kill him. Gideon would not have committed a revenge killing of another person, not even his own abuser.

 Most of what I wrote about Gideon and Angus' timelines are guesses. My guesses include Gideon had a late meeting after the party. He told Eva he had a late meeting (when he fed her his excuse why he was going to meet her at Dr. Petersen's, not ride over with her.) She'd assume by late, she meant immediately after 5 p.m. In actuality though, he'd probably told her a truth -- he did have a meeting. But really late (not right after work.)  He had to be somewhere around other people after the party, not home alone. He needed many hours, not a few, for alibi protection -- to limit it to the party hours itself would have been incredibly stupid. A business meeting after the party would work.  Even more important, he had to have some sort of good excuse for not extending his date with Corrine past the party, because to do so could tempt her to make a sexual move he's have to rebuff. They couldn't hang around the hotel. It's where he used to f*** her the whole time they were sexually involved all those years ago. And given that she was the one who originally seduced him back then, there would be a very high risk she'd try do so right after the party. They couldn't go to her apartment either (she'd almost certainly put the moves on him there too -- even more thrilled at the thought he'd actually want to sleep with her in her own bed, not the hotel.) He'd never take Corrine to his own apartment (it would be a form of betrayal of his love for Eva, because she's the only woman he ever let into his inner sanctum. Besides, taking Corrine there would probably be a guarantee Corrine would immediately try to jump his bones.)

 Ah, glad you asked. My theories about Angus that night .... his role in the alibis for Eva and Gideon both.  But first, some important thing to note about time of death. The only time there is any medical certainty, right down to the minute, when a person dies (by whatever causes) is when there is an eyewitness that can document the time. A person dies of a heart attack -- when the emergency room doctor determines the resuscitation efforts won't work, he/she declares the patient dead. The time is noted, right down to the minute, on the death certificate. A patient succumbs to cancer in a hospital or hospice setting. Nurses and/or family members will be there when the person breathes his/her final breath. About a minute later, the heart stops beating. The time is noted on the death certification. When a person dies "unattended" it is impossible to determine right down to the minute when death occurred. At best, a medical examiner can guestimate a window of a couple of hours. And that's under ideal conditions, when the body is still "fresh" -- i.e. the deceased was found around 24 hours or less later. The presence (or lack of presence) of rigor mortis is an important clue, as is the temperature of the body core (determined by inserting a thermometer into the liver.)  When Detective Graves showed up at Eva's on Friday night, she didn't ask Eva where she was Thursday evening. How Graves phrased it was exactly this way "Can you just tell us where you were, yesterday, Miss Trammel?" (page 270 and on page 280, Graves' partner, Detective Michna, asked Gideon the same thing while Graves was busy watching Eva like a hawk.)  Gideon was careful to manipulate things so that Eva had an unbroken alibi for all of Thursday, starting at work and continuing straight through to the following morning. Every minute of her day, she was around someone else, and if worse came to worse, eyewitnesses could account for her every movement. Gideon must have taken the same care. Angus definitely played a part in Eva's alibi, and I think he was part of Gideon's alibi too. (In fact, I think Angus was an accomplice that helped Gideon commit the killing himself, but for her, I'll stick to the alibi timelines.  Eva alibi timeline, all of which is actually laid out in Reflected. Thursday daytime in the office all day, including lunch (and including a meeting at Cross Industries, where Gideon coldly ignored her in front of everyone there.) Thursday after work: Angus was right downstairs to drive Eva from the Crossfire to Dr. Petersen's office, then from Dr. Petersen's office straight home to her apartment. Thursday night: Eva's BFF/roommate, who got out of the hospital the day before, was in home care, including an onsite private nurse. Eva stayed in all night. Even while she and Cary were both asleep, someone was awake (the nurse.) Friday dawn: Eva left her apartment, seen by her doorman and with Raul waiting to pick her up. A ride she blew off. Timeline wraps up there.  Gideon's likely alibi timeline: Thursday daytime in the office all day. Thursday evening: he told Eva (when claiming he's meet her at Dr. Petersen's instead of riding there with her) he had a late meeting. My guess what happened next: Raul picked Gideon up at the Crossfire and drove him right to Corrine's apartment to pick her up for the "date." Raul took them right to the party, getting them there shortly before 6 p.m. (same time Eva would have been arriving at Dr. Petersen's). The party went on from 6-9 p.m. At some point, an evacuation of the party hotel forced everyone to mill around outside. Gideon slipped off amid the confusion. My theory about where Angus was the rest of the night, after he dropped Eva off at home sometime around 7-ish: Positioned himself near the party hotel. Gideon met him during the disruption, they rushed to Nathan's hotel, Angus stood lookout, Gideon took care of Nathan forever, Angus rushed Gideon back to the party. After the party: Gideon had to be in someone else's company for most, if not all, the rest of the night. To go home alone would be too dangerous. Here's my theory. To avoid having to go home with Corrine (or worse, have to deal with an "expectation" he'd get a room so they could have sex)  Gideon actually did have a "late business meeting" set up -- really late, after 9 p.m. He told Eva the truth, and could prove to her where he'd gone after the party, if worse came to worse.  Gideon had Raul drive Corrine home while Angus drove Gideon to his meeting. Wherever Gideon was, he didn't go home until the wee hours. Maybe he went out for drinks with people after the meeting. Wherever he was, Angus drove him there and ultimately drove Gideon home. Raul was sent instead of Angus to get Eva the morning after.

Gideon's skillful manipulating of the media for his own purposes -- staging "candid" photo opportunities for paparazzi and having his PR staff leak anything Gideon specifically wanted reported -- would become crucial in Reflected. Judging by Snapshot One of Entwined (the "Press" clue) it's also going to be important from the get-go in the forthcoming novel. Â Thus I was struck by things in contained in chapters 10 through 12 of Bared, which revealed how Gideon handles the avid media attention he draws. He uses it to his advantage both actively (staging things) and passively (ignoring some rampant speculations.) Â Here's my thoughts on plot threads about how actions he took to publicly and truthfully lay claim to Eva in Bared would parallel actions in Reflected to publicly and deceptively lay claim to Corrine in Reflected. Â First, two key things Gideon says to Eva when she, upset at the time, informs Gideon there's a picture (and coverage about) them as a couple "all over the place" -- she'd seen a Google alert list at least 30 reports only hours after she and Gideon had been caught kissing in public less than 18 hours earlier. Â He says he's not bothered. "Why would I be? For once, they're reporting the truth." And when it dawns on her he deliberately set the media up, he revealed, "The photographer happened to be there. I just gave him a picture worth printing, and told PR to make it clear who you are and what you are to me." (page 155). Â Timeline of Gideon's Bared manipulation of the story Eva-Gideon (and the ensuing unintended media amok): Monday Evening: Gideon stages the kiss photo, and his PR people spin the story. By Tuesday Morning: all over the Internet is gossip along these lines: "Gideon Cross in new relationship with socialite Eva Trammel -- it's serious sources confirm!!!!" Lunchtime Tuesday, freshly thrust into the spotlight, Eva would eat lunch in a restaurant with her best friend, Cary, an emerging hot model. Secretly, a paparazzi would snap pictures of them in an intimate setting. Their easy affection with one another, totally platonic, would within later get twisted. Dinnertime Tuesday - Gideon attended a business meeting (without Eva) at a restaurant, where he ran into Magdalene. Afterward outside, they'd briefly talk, affection as old friends apparent. That's get twisted too, especially because of the already-known former dating relationship between the pair By Wednesday Morning: the tabloids are running amok with false reports along these lines, complete with photos that even Gideon and Eva would each flared into jealousy. Basically: "Eva Trammel keeping her up-and-coming model boyfriend, Cary Taylor, on the side while reeling in billionaire playboy Gideon Cross!!!! Gideon Cross turns to Magdalene Perez for comfort!!!! Good for him, he's got a 'bevy of beautiful socialites!!!!" Wednesday Lunchtime: major argument with Gideon paranoid Eva's f***** Cary and Eva paranoid Gideon did not make good on his promise to handle Magdalene. They reassured one another, kiss and make up (and get secretly photographed again doing it). But no where does Eva read any denials about Gideon-Magdalene, and she doesn't issue any denials about Cary-Eva. Their strategy is to just ignore it (smart, because to do anything otherwise would accomplish nothing but further fanning the flames. Â Timeline in Gideon's Reflected manipulation of the story Corrine-Gideon Monday Dinnertime: Gideon takes Corrine to dinner. The restaurant is owned by his good friend (Arnoldo) and the couple ends up with a very visible front table By Tuesday morning: all over the Internet are "candid" pictures of Gideon with Corrine, obviously at ease with one another and having a good time. Accompanying captions and stories truthfully report Corrine's his former fiancee. The prospect of them reunited has started a media feeding frenzy. What Gideon must have done: tip off a photographer to secretly get candids, and made sure his PR people leaked Corrine's name and who she is to him. The leak is the only way the media could have immediately found out Corrine's name/status. She'd lived overseas for many years and had just come back. Plus Gideon was an unknown college kid when he and Corrine were a couple. Why did he do it: Nathan was out of control over belief Eva was f****** Cary, and Nathan already had been trying to destroy Eva's relationship with Gideon. To try to defuse the now-crisis-situation, Gideon made it look like he'd left Eva for another woman, one he was serious about. Â Thursday evening: Gideon threw a publicity party and Corrine was there. Obviously by Friday morning, but not seen until Saturday by Eva - the spin: "The picture was of Gideon and Corrine at some sort of cocktail party. He had his arm around her waist, and their body language was familiar and intimate. He was very close to her, his lips nearly touching her temple. She had a drink in her hand and was laughing." The accompanying caption was tame: simply naming the pair of them (no relationship mentioned) and what the party was for. A bland short story reported when and where the mixer was held. (Reflected pages 283-284) What he did: He invited Corrine as his date, because it was vital she be there. He had his PR people invite one mainstream media photographer and fed him/her a very bland press release, probably later that evening, close to the newspaper deadline so that the paper would just run it as is, not having the time to ask questions. Why he did it: He killed Nathan that night, and this staged PR event was his alibi. He made sure the fluff piece gave the exact time of the three-hour-long party, and mentioned by name who Corrine was. He was counting on the cops just accepting the photo at face value, immediately rule he had no opportunity to kill Nathan, and thus speed things along in the cops eliminating him early in any investigation. As a two-fer, he used Corrine to bolster his cover to protect him from motive -- he'd already gone back to Corrine, even while Nathan was still alive, and now it was reasonable to assume he and Corrine were lovers again. He was capitalizing on already rampant speculation about him and Corrine. Â Eva didn't look beyond that one photo story, picked out by her father to show her, obviously the only "tame" one there was. Gideon had been counting (idiot!) on Eva not looking any further into what would have been the media running amok with false speculation along these lines: "Gideon Cross back together with the love of his life!!!! She's left her husband for him!!!! Wedding bells as soon as the divorce goes through?!!!!" Â Gideon would have "ignored" instead of denied those things. Counting on Corrine to simply believe he obviously was publicly laying claim to her again. Make the cops conclude he had no motive as well as no opportunity -- and so within days at the most, he'd be crossed off the suspect list. Then he'd tell Corrine he couldn't see her anymore. He'd go back to Eva and tell her Corrine was permanently out of his life. Eva would take him back. Idiot!!! Shattered Eva, who immediately pulled the ultimate runner - accusing him of awful things that shattered him in return, then breaking off their relationship for good. It was all in vain too, because a very smart homicide detective saw right through the fake Gideon-Corrine affair, then started busting her b*** to break his alibi.

Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter Twelve of Bared  This chapter starts Wednesday morning (day ten) and goes through Wednesday evening.  Key plot developments: Eva tells Gideon she was raped by her former stepbrother for four years, starting when she was ten years old. This is the dark secret that's been hinted in earlier chapters, that something bad had happened to Eva. The full revelation in this chapter is one of the most important plot twists of Bared to You. The high-profile of her new relationship with the celebrity Gideon, now being avidly followed by the gossip/tabloid media, is was made Eva compelled to let him know -- to warn him that scandal could embarrass him if a reporter dug into Eva's family past.   Once each of us has read Chapter Twelve, our homework assignment from Sylvia herself is for each of us to pick our favorite quote or paragraph.  The chapter re-reads also have been the springboard here for lots of discussion. We're continuing to touch upon the chapter of the day, but even more, discussion has been jumping backward into the earlier chapters and forward in the story (even into Reflected and the Entwined snippets) as the re-reading leads us to analyze how different parts of the Crossfire saga have been connecting.

Chapter Eleven of Bared - The Readers Guide  This chapter starts lunchtime Tuesday (day nine). It ends somewhere in the middle of the night Tuesday into Wednesday (day ten).  Key plot developments: Eva found out Gideon leaked their relationship to the celebrity-watch media. Cary's attitude about Gideon shifted from negative (where it had been during the weekend) to positive - for now - in light of Monday's developments. Eva sexually took the lead in another encounter with Gideon, this time in his office. Eva started to get to know Gideon's driver, Angus.  New characters: Angus. He's been in the background before now, making his earliest appearance in Chapter Six. But in this chapter, he emerges by name as a full character.   Can't Be Public Back in Chapter Ten, when Gideon was struggling to not cry in the middle of the restaurant after he'd found Eva, he said "I can't be in public right now."(Page 144). Mindful of his celebrity status, he feared being recognized, or worse photographed, while in a fragile emotional state. Thus it's ironic what he'd already set in motion earlier that evening. To stake his possessive claim on Eva, so that all other men would know she was taken, he made it easy for a photographer who happened to be lurking on the sidewalk get a passionate-kiss candid of him and Eva. Then he made sure his PR staff confirmed to questioning gossip journalists who Eva is, and what she means to him. Much of the terrible that would follow in later chapters was set in motion by him deliberately pulling her into his personal celebrity spotlight. Mere hours after that kiss, more than 30 stories about Gideon's love life were already on the web. From page 154, "Anonymity was my friend. It protected me from my past. It protected my family from embarrassment, and Gideon too. I didn't even have any social networking accounts, so people who weren't actively in my life couldn't find me." "It can't be that way between us, Gideon. We can't be public. I don't want -- D*** it, I'll embarrass you." (page 156). She doesn't get into the reasons why with Gideon, when she said this in a spare moment when she ran into him on her way to lunch. But she did agonize about it with Cary over lunch. Whatever "it" was, he knew the back story and listened to her voice her fears. He reminded her that her stepfather, Stanton, managed to bury "it". She remained scared though that some reporter might dig hard anyway, because fame could spark interest about her past.   Hanging With Cary -- A BFF To Lean On Cary's opinion of Gideon, which had been very low because of how disrespectfully Gideon had treated Eva Saturday, has now rebounded. Since the weekend, Gideon made sincere amends to Eva, and in the ultimate show of remorse and respect, made her his girlfriend. Cary's envious, in a good way, about the hawt sex life Eva's suddenly got, having a stud like Gideon. He's also amused by the extremes Eva's put the guy through in the past week. He teased Eva for having started by complaining Gideon wanted her for nothing more than a f*** to now complaining Gideon had told the world she's his significant other. More importantly though, addressing Eva's insecurity issues -- from group therapy, Cary knows all about them -- he pointed out to Eva that Gideon would find her sharp mind and big heart attractive, not just her body. And Cary pointed out (accurately) Gideon's probably insecure about what someone like Eva would see in him. Eva doesn't need his money, so all Gideon's got going is he's a stud -- one who keeps screwing up. After work, while Gideon is off at a business meeting, Eva spends the evening at home with Cary and Cary's new boyfriend, Trey, eating pizza and watching movies. As Eva describes Trey, "He was very different personality-wise from the type of guy Cary usually dated. Trey seemed more grounded; not quite comber but definitely not flighty. I thought he'd be a good influence on Cary, if they stayed together long enough." (Page 166).  About Angus Our first knowledge of this important character began to unfold in the saga when Eva struck up a conversation with Angus as he, per Gideon's order, drove Eva home after work Tuesday. Angus started driving Gideon as a boy, taking him to school, employed at the time by Gideon's stepfather, Christopher Vidal Sr. Gideon hired Angus away from Vidal eight years ago, and Angus has worked for Gideon since. (Note: Gideon would have been just 20 years old when he had enough money to hire Angus.) Noticing that Angus wears a gun holster under his jacket, Eva realized he's not just a driver, he's an armed bodyguard too, similar to Clancy, the driver/bodyguard who works for Monica and Stanton.   Eva Continues to Rock Gideon's Sexual World On Monday when they'd had their lunch date in his office, Eva had joked about doing sexual things with Gideon there. Tuesday, she made good on that promise/threat by seducing Gideon into a blow-job quickie. More than just to give him physical pleasure, she wanted to give him emotional reassurance because of having twice reacted badly to things (the hotel, the tabloid photo/stories.) Their second full day as boyfriend/girlfriend wrapped up late Tuesday night, when Gideon came over to Eva's after a nighttime business meeting to sleep with her in her own bed. Literally and figuratively: they made love and he stayed the night. She still had no idea how much she's expanded his world beyond the narrow confines his entire adult sex life had been up to that point. From topping him in the limo to being a comforting presence in his own bed, she'd torn down rigid walls he'd holed himself up behind.

 She wouldn't have any direct power over which actors and actresses get the contracts to play the roles. That power ultimately rests with the studio, and it's usually the producers and the director who ultimately decide.  BUT ....  As the author of the series, and someone with star power herself now, Sylvia has a lot of influence to be able to sway fans -- sway her own fans as an author as well as help sway Cavill's fans as an actor. Her influence gives him a huge advantage among the pool of actors who would fight to land the role.

 My theory - she's probably counting on getting away with it. Crossing her fingers her one mistake won't even end up becoming something Gideon's defense team finds out about and tries to dismantle the pile of motive evidence she's been building.  She's hoping it won't even matter, because now she's thrown Eva into the shark pool. She's counting on Gideon hanging himself by doing something really stupid, on top of some mistakes he's already made. I think Graves' goal is to get Gideon to paint himself into a corner where he'd take a plea deal rather ever allow the risk Eva could go down with him now too.  Gideon isn't some master criminal. He's a man who did a very bad thing for what he believed was a very good reason. But he's already made several very bad mistakes in his hastily-executed plot. Graves thinks she can push him over the edge now, as the building pressure makes his screw up even more, screw up to the point where everything comes crashing down.

OK, favorite part of Chapter 11 is the final paragraph. From page 169. It's what's going through Eva's mind while she and Gideon are making love, now in her bed for the first time. Â "Biting my lip, I fought back the sounds of helpless pleasure that might've broken the tranquility of the night .... and betrayed the frightening depths of emotion I was beginning to feel for Gideon Cross."

 Lionsgate does some excellent TV series, including the award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie. Sylvia's agent deserves a standing-O for negotiating the film rights to Crossfire with such a major film and TV studio.

 Plausible deniability is a fancy way of saying "lack of evidence."  If prosecution can't gather enough solid evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt he loved her enough to kill to protect her, his defense could "plausibly deny" Gideon loves Eva.  Plausible deniability is why Gideon has tried to limit his contact with Eva. Because contact could show evidence it's true he loves her. When he secretly met with her in that security office, it was to avoid creating any evidence they talked. In Entwined, plausible deniability is the reason they're going to need to meet in secret. So the cops can't gather any more evidence than they already have that they could use to argue Gideon loves Eva.  Gideon already has screwed up badly by having some contact with Eva after Nathan turned up dead. If Gideon had been smarter about it, he would have cut off all contact with Eva starting a few days before the killing and then kept up that zero-contact as long as the investigation dragged on. So the plausible deniability thing is even more important now. The pair of them can't be giving Graves any more solid ammo than Graves already has (family dinner at Eva's, phone call Saturday at the police station).  Gideon at least managed to keep it up proper I-don't-love-Eva appearances for better than a solid week after Graves saw him fall apart over that phone call. But then he broke down -- right around the time Brett told an interviewer he (Brett) plans to get Eva back. Monday in the elevator, approaching her in front of witnesses and in sight of the security cameras? Stoooopid. He tried to counter that by parading Corrine through the lobby after business hours Monday. Fetched Eva out of the clutches of the malicious Dr. Lucas, on Tuesday? Really stooopid. Eyewitness with a grudge who can testify Gideon cares about her. Going off alone in his car with Eva right after the Lucas incident? Getting spotted by some street cop sitting in that parked car in a way that looked indecent. Dumb, dumb, dumb!!!!   So at least Gideon came to his senses later Tuesday, when he felt he absolutely had to talk to Eva after Eva had lunch with his snake of a half-brother. More possible rescuing of his lady love needed -- that and he'd been thrown off balance by the crusade she'd been on for days. Meeting with her in a secret place on his property, the security office, was for "plausible deniability." Don't leave any evidence the cops could get that they met.

In real life, I once covered a murder case where the detectives lost a chunk of a murder confession because they kept pushing. There they were, things going great with the murderer blabbing away in tears. But then she (yes, it was a she -- who'd blown her husband away) sobbed "should I have a lawyer?" Â The detective should have ended the questioning immediately when the "L-word" came up. But she'd been a bit fuzzy in the way she tried invoking her right. She hadn't crystal clear demanded one. So the interrogation kept going, and she kept saying incriminating things. Â Fast forward a couple of months later -- her defense team got every single thing she said after "lawyer" tossed out of evidence. Forever. Â Fortunately though, this woman, guilty as sin, said plenty of incriminating stuff before the L-word. The defense tried to get everything tossed, but the judge ruled that all the things the woman said before "lawyer" could be used against her. And the cops had a lot of other very good evidence. She plea bargained and got 33-years-to-life. The detective didn't destroy the case when he screwed up. But he did have to suffer the professional shame of having messed up, and his mistake ending up in the news.

OK, some fun here amid the deep discussion about U.S. constitutional rights in criminal cases ..... I'm going to teach y'all a piece of cop slang, a phrase cops use when moaning to one another (or to a prosecutor) when an interrogation doesn't go well. Â "Take the nickle." You learned some trivia today. Â A nickle is a five-cent coin, but here the "nickle" means another sort of five, the Fifth Amendment (right to silence.) Â Criminals facing cops know they have the right to silence. The cops even have to go through the motions of reminding them the instant they place a person under arrest. You've seen it on TV and in the movies "You have the right to silence, anything you say can be used .... blah, blah, blah ...." Â Truth of the matter is most people try to talk their way out of trouble. They figure if they're cooperative, the cops will let them go. When in actuality, all they manage to do is dig themselves even deeper. Some even spit out confessions, because they feel awful and want to unburden their anguish. Â So when things have been going along great for a cop interrogating someone -- the person is blabbing all sorts of incriminating stuff -- and then suddenly the suspect decides to invoke the right to silence, he/she just "took the nickle." AGHHHHH cops will think inside.Â

 Graves is very, very smart -- even Sylvia called her smart in a recent post on this site. Graves is also very aggressive. When she approached Eva, she was being aggressive. She also was winging it .... feeding Eva bits of information at a time, adapting what she was telling Eva as Eva's reactions continued to unfold. What happens when someone aggressively wings something? They sometimes screw up. That's what Graves did here. She was walking a tightrope, and she made one false step. Ooopps.

One more thing to add .... Eva most definitely needs her constitutional rights now to protect herself from the police. Â When this whole situation first started unfolding, Eva was 100% innocent of any crime. She had nothing to do beforehand with any of the crimes tied to Nathan. Not his attempts to extort money from her boyfriend and her mother/stepfather. No knowledge she was a victim of stalking. No knowledge of his near-fatal beating of her roommate. And most certainly, nothing to do with Nathan's murder -- nothing the night it happened and nothing to do with the motive behind it. Â BUT .... Â Just like Gideon chose to break the law in order to protect his love, Eva is breaking the law now in order to protect her love in return. She's trying to stop the police from being able to build enough evidence Gideon had motive to kill Nathan. Â They're definitely in this together now. Â I think this is the trap Detective Graves has tried to lay -- to put Eva in legal danger of being charged herself with serious crimes. Graves may be betting Gideon will lay his life down again for Eva, this time by being willing to go to prison by pleading guilty to murder under a plea deal that will include guarantees Eva won't ever be charged in the case too.

If you can stand a mini-lesson in U.S. history .... Â The criminal laws and the punishments for committing crimes are not all the exact same thing everywhere in the United States. Each of the 50 states has its own particular versions of the laws. Yes, murder is murder everywhere. But in some states, the maximum penalty is execution. Other states don't have a death penalty, and instead their maximum sentence is life in prison. Â Then there are Federal criminal laws too. Certain crimes are prosecuted in the federal courts. Like domestic terrorism, organized crime (i.e. Mafia and similar organizations), taking kidnapped children across state lines, etc. Â However, no matter which set of criminal laws applies - crimes in a particular state (like New York) or Federal crimes, certain things apply everywhere. Most of all what applies are "constitutional rights" -- rights guaranteed every citizen under the U.S. Constitution. When the original framework of the U.S. Government was built over 200 years ago, the founders created a set of principles to try to prevent some sorts of government abuses they'd seen under feudal governments centuries ago -- especially abuses of the government arresting, trying, convicting and imprisoning citizens. Â Most of the "rights" you hear about when reading about American crime cases, fiction and in real life, stem from one of the oldest parts of the U.S. Constitution, what's known as the "Bill of Rights." It's a list of ten things, "Amendments" that spell out basic rights promised to all citizens of this country. Â The "right to silence" is covered under the Fifth Amendment. When you hear something like "I plead the Fifth" it means a person is claiming his/her right to refuse to answer any question police ask that could incriminate him/her. The police cannot force people to tell them things that the police can then use as evidence against them. Â The "right to a lawyer" is covered under the Sixth Amendment. (In fact, most of rights that concern criminal cases fall under the Sixth Amendment.) If a person wants one, he or she can have a lawyer present when talking to the police -- and most definitely, every person standing trial for a crime has a right to a lawyer, even if the government has to pay the bill. Â So why do these rights apply to Eva? She didn't kill Nathan. She didn't even know he was in town. Â She has these rights because it's remotely possible the police could try to accuse her of being involved. She could actually be 100% innocent, but still, the authorities could try to arrest her because they don't believe she's innocent. Because the mere possibility exists she could be implicated, she has a right to have a lawyer with her when the police try to ask her any questions. If she and her lawyer feel it would be bad for her to answer a particular question, she can invoke her right to silence. Â The right to silence and the right to a lawyer do NOT mean the cops are forbidden to approach Eva. The rights do NOT mean the cops are forbidden to tell her things either. But those rights do mean she does not have to TELL the police things in return. She has every right to have a lawyer beside her -- and to even keep her mouth shut, if she chooses. Â Most times, when someone possibly involved in a crime says he/she wants a lawyer, all questioning should immediately cease. If the cops keep asking questions, they've gone into a very dangerous place where they could get caught violating a person's constitutional rights. If a judge determines someone's rights were violated, the police cannot ever later use in court things the person said. Â As soon as Victor figured out the cops were asking Eva questions as a potential witness in a very serious criminal matter, he immediately put a stop to it by telling the cops they'd have to let Eva get a lawyer before she'd do any more talking. Monica reminded Eva the next morning that she needed to have a lawyer with her if the cops wanted to talk to her (Eva) any more than they already had. And when Detective Graves approached Eva at the gym, Eva expressly reminded the detective she (Eva) didn't want to be questioned without a lawyer.

 Every person who ever becomes a police officer starts off by getting accepted to a police academy. That's where the formal education of a police officer starts. It's very competitive to get into police academies. There are waiting lists. And for the most elite police departments (major cities like New York and Los Angeles) usually, would-be applicants have to take a test and score well to even get onto the waiting list for a chance to get into the academy.  All cops start low on the totem pole, often as ordinary officers. Some cops, for various reasons, make a career out of being street level cops for various reasons. For some, it's a desire to work directly with crime victims and arrest criminals instead of getting a cushier desk job, which is higher-level and less dangerous. Eva's Dad, Victor, is still a street cop, so he comes across as someone who is in the work to help people, not just advance a career.  There are two different ladders to climb in the police field. One is through the investigation ranks, where the top of the ladder is detective (and the elite of the elite is homicide detective.) The other is through management ranks, where the top of the ladder is to become a chief of police. Generally, it takes excellent management skills, some political influence and some @$$ kissing to become a police chief. There's only one way to become a detective though -- be better than his/her peers in solving cases that lead to criminals getting convicted.  It's not uncommon for someone to start out as a street cop for a less prestigious police force, build an excellent record of solving crimes, and then apply for and get accepted for a job at a bigger police department. It is, though, unusual for cops to apply for jobs in other states outside of the state in which they went to the police academy. Every one of the 50 states has it's own set of criminal laws, criminal procedures, etc. For someone to apply for a cop job in another state (say from California to New York) he or she would need special police academy training in the new state.  By the way, this same system applies to lawyers. Usually, they attend a law school in the state where they want to work, so that their courses include the laws for that particular state along with the general laws that apply everywhere. Then he or she must pass the "bar exam" for the state in which he/she wants to practice law.  Bottom line, conceivably Victor could leave his cop career in California for a new cop career in New York. But it wouldn't be a simple job change. No way could he simply jump from street cop to detective. Detective positions are hard won on merit. It's like playing for a major league sports team. A person has to be very talented to be a big league player -- or be a detective.

"Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls. For Corrine, sexually frustrated by a guy she's absolutely convinced, by the way he's hanging around her, wants to f*** her, But the guy won't lay a hand on her yet, and it's driving the woman crazy. Â The chorus "loosen up my buttons" is about the woman daring the guy to take her clothes off and .... well. She's sick of waiting and has decided to flat out proposition the guy herself. Â Corrine seduced him once before, many years ago. How much longer is she going to wait now for him to make the first move now? Is she reaching the point where once again, she's going to try to take sexual matters into her own hands? Like she's already taken other matters into her own hands - manipulating her way into his life again through guilt, then moving right around the corner from his place, then destroying a new relationship he'd been in, going out on dates with him, and now hanging out with him every opportunity she gets.

OK, so what did Detective Graves do wrong that makes it impossible (I firmly believe) to get Gideon convicted of murder? I've discussed it in other threads, but I'll summarize here.  First, though, Detective Graves already has succeeded in getting one half of the evidence needed to attempt to convict Gideon of murder. She's got enough evidence to argue he had the "opportunity" to commit the crime. Gideon had the opportunity to get to Nathan's hotel that night and stab him. He was near enough to the location the night it happened and he had access to Nathan. Gideon cannot prove there's no way he could have gone after Nathan that night, because he was somewhere else the entire time and can prove it -- prove his has a solid alibi. The whole party, complete with press photos, was supposed to be Gideon's alibi. He was counting on the cops looking at the press photos and not even bothering to dig any deeper. But the detective dug hard enough and found a one-hour window during which Gideon could have slipped away to commit the killing. Graves broke his alibi.  So now, she's building the other half of the case, "motive." Gideon's motive. She know he did it, his motive being taking extreme measures to save the life of the woman he loves from a very dangerous person. However, there's a difference between knowing Gideon loved Eva all along and being able to prove it beyond reasonable doubt to a jury. Just like Gideon lined up an alibi, he lined up a defense cover story that if worse came to worse and he was charged, he his defense team could offer evidence suggesting Eva meant little to him. Gideon could show that even while Nathan was still alive, Gideon had gotten back together with another woman he's always been in love with - Corrine Giroux. Through witnesses and press photos, Gideon can show he and Corrine were already dating again while Nathan was still alive. Graves' side of the story is she can prove Gideon was in love with Eva all along and was devastated when Eva ended the relationship two days after Nathan died. Graves saw Gideon with Eva's family on Friday evening (after Nathan was already dead.) Graves would have copies of phone records that would prove Eva called Gideon from her home phone to his cell phone on Saturday morning. Graves can provide eyewitness testimony about Gideon's behavior during that phone call on Saturday.  BUT .....  Those phone records only show who called who at what time and how long the call lasted. There's no recording of what was said during the call.  So Graves tricked Eva into confirming that during that telephone call, Eva broke off the relationship -- she dumped Gideon after Nathan died, not Gideon left her while Nathan was still alive. Graves got the evidence.  But Graves obtained it illegally. She questioned Eva without a lawyer after Eva explicitly invoked her right to have a lawyer present for questioning. And because the evidence is illegally obtained, it cannot be used in court. Ever. It's permanently ruined. And because that evidence is now unusable, the motive side of the entire prosecution's case will collapse. They'll never win -- so they won't even attempt to charge Gideon.  Starting on June 5, you ladies either get to say I was right or tease me for guessing wrong.

 In any serious felony case, two weeks would barely cover indictment, arrest and arraignment - basically formally charging a defendant and bringing him/her before a judge for the first court appearance. At most, within the first two weeks could come a second, preliminary hearing that would be the defense's first shot at trying to get the case tossed.  The process of taking a murder case from arrest to trial takes months at a bare minimum, and it can take even longer if the defense asks for extra time to build its case. The trial itself could take days, weeks, sometimes even a few months, depending upon the complexity of the evidence. The OJ Simpson murder trial ran 134 days.  You're right about the so-called "statute of limitations" -- conceivably the murder case could hang out in the background forever.  For nearly every other crime but murder, there's a limit to how long the police have to make an arrest. It varies according to different jurisdictions within the United States (because each of the 50 states has its own set of criminal laws.) But it's rare for the maximum time to exceed seven years. If the cops haven't made an arrest before the time runs out, the case is forever dead.  There is no statute of limitations, however, in cases of murder. There's no clock running for making an arrest. If an arrest isn't made right away and the investigation drags on, it eventually becomes what's known as a "cold case." But it's never gone away for good, not as long as it officially remains "unsolved" -- that is, no arrest has been made. There are unusual cases where years, even decades after a case went cold, the authorities solve it and arrest the murderer. Advances in forensic science have made this possible. It's now possible to test old evidence with new technology.  In the instances where police do charge someone with murder (or any crime for that matter), there are several possible outcomes. Usually, this is the order in which they'd unfold: The case never makes it to trial, because the defense succeeds in getting a judge to throw out the entire case for lack of evidence. This is very unusual, but it does happen. The case never makes it to trial, because the defense succeeds in getting some very important evidence tossed out, and the prosecution realizes what's left for evidence won't be enough to get a conviction. This is also unusual but not as unusual as a judge deciding himself/herself to throw out the case. The case never makes it to trial, because it settles through plea bargain. The vast majority of criminal cases do settle through plea bargains. This involves a defendant pleading guilty, sometimes to a less serious charge. The benefit for the defendant is a deal for a punishment less than the maximum. The benefit for the prosecution is the avoid the risk of losing a trial. The case goes to trial, and the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict. This is known as a "hung jury," The prosecution then has to decide: attempt to go to trial again in order to get a verdict, or, drop the case. Most times, the prosecution will seek another trial, but sometimes they'll drop the case instead. The case goes to trial and the verdict is guilty. Most criminal trials do end in guilty verdicts, because generally only the strongest prosecution cases go to trial. With weaker cases, prosecutors usually cut deals. If the verdict is guilty, the defense then has the option (very often taken) to appeal the verdict. This process can drag on for years, and in the most unusual cases, have guilty verdicts overturned. The case goes to trial and the verdict is not guilty -- an acquittal. This ends a criminal case forever, because the U.S. Constitution forbids the government from attempting to again charge a person with a crime that he/she was found not guilty of at a trial. If the prosecution loses, it's OH-VER. OJ Simpson is an example - the jury came back with a not-guilty verdict. Under U.S. law, he cannot ever again be charged with those two murders he was accused of committing. My belief is that Gideon won't even be charged with the murder, because if the prosecution dared to attempt it, scenario #2 will apply. The prosecution would realize a judge would throw out of evidence a crucial part of it's case - Gideon's motive. Detective Graves obtained her crucial evidence against Gideon illegally, by questioning Eva without a lawyer, so the prosecution can't ever use that evidence at the trial. And without that evidence, what's left won't be enough to win. Knowing that they'd lose the trial, the prosecution will decide to drop the whole case.