LN Cronan

 That's my main theory about how this case could go away -- and go away for good -- in just a couple of weeks' time. When the police violate constitutional rights, any evidence gained is inadmissable. They cannot use it against someone. But even worse -- for the cops -- the illegal evidence can spread poison to later evidence. "Poison" is the actual word used in the legal world. The phrase "fruit of the poisoned tree" is what defense lawyers put in motions to dismiss evidence they claim was obtained illegally.  If my theory is true, Graves won't be able to use against Gideon the fact he never left Eva. What's more, Graves won't be able to use any of the fruits of the trap she laid with Eva as the bait. The bait is now legal poison.  If the DA loses the evidence, he/she loses key evidence proving Gideon had real motive to murder Nathan. This seriously weakens the whole case, maybe to the point where the DA will decide "we know he did it, but we'll never be able to prove it to a jury."

The Monday after Magdalene tore into Eva, Eva told Gideon almost word for word what Magdalene said. His reaction was to get quiet -- and we now know that's when Gideon is at his angriest. My guess is as soon as Eva went back to work, he picked up the phone and chewed Magdalene out. Â Yet the following night, he was nice to Magdalene when he ran into her outside a restaurant (he'd been there for a meeting, while Eva was at home keeping a promise to hang with Trey and Cary.) I take that as a sign Magdalene felt properly chastened and had apologized to Gideon for having hurt his (Gideon's) new love. Fast forward to Gideon's discovery of the secret Magdalene-Christopher Jr. sex tape. Gideon kindly invited Magdalene to lunch in the privacy of his office so he could let her know about it. She needed to know how bad Christopher was using her. Â Yep, Gideon and Magdalene are definitely very old friends -- and she'd be capable of staying friends with him even after he marries Eva.

 Agree with you, Donnad, that not all cops are liars. Real-life detectives I knew from my journalism days will once in a great while -- a great while -- would mislead suspects into believing they (the cops) knew more than they knew for certain at the time. It's an interrogation technique. But flat out lies? Not good cops.  The smartest cops I ever met were the homicide detectives -- smarter than even the big brass cops, such as the chiefs. Politics can help a cop rise through the management ranks, but detectives earn their positions one way and one way only -- clearing cases. Homicide detectives are the elite of the elite. Sylvia was 100% right during that book discussion Caroline got to attend - Detective Graves would be smart and able to read people. That's a real life homicide detective.  We've got the proverbial "good cop, bad cop" in Crossfire. Good cop, Victor Reyes. Bad cop, Detective Graves if she lied to Eva she'd decided to let Gideon go. Oh and Graves definitely violated Eva's right to a lawyer.

 Plus, I believe Magdalene was sorry for having been such an evil witch to Eva the first time she met Eva -- assuming Eva was the latest Gideon bedroom reject and driving the final nail in Eva's coffin, probably because Magdalene was furious at the time Gideon hadn't taken her (Magdalene) as his date to the fundraiser.  During that phone call she made to Eva weeks later (to defend Gideon and criticize Corrine for the mess that had happened the night before) Magdalene told Eva "I owe you one, Eva, for the way I introduced myself" (Reflected, page 24.) Last, but by no means least, Magdalene explained she and Gideon had been friends for a very long time, so it was likely she (Magdalene) would be seeing Eva around -- Magdalene wanted to " .... avoid any awkwardness." (Reflected page 26.)  Magdalene was being honest with Eva from day one -- even that first cat fight, because Magdalene had absolutely no way of knowing Eva was not just another woman Gideon f****** and would soon forget. Magdalene was nice to Eva the night Corrine blindsided Eva and Gideon both. The next day, Magdalene was a true friend to Gideon and nice to Eva too.  Compare that with that two-faced Corrine, sweet to Eva's face when they met, even while passive-aggressively messing with Eva's mind -- and then ignoring Eva the rest of the night while she (Corrine) stole all of Gideon's time. Corrine acted sweet while Gideon was in the room and they all were at a very public event. But look at the stunts Corrine pulled behind Gideon's back. In fact, during their showdown at the door of Corrine's apartment, weeks later in Reflected, Corrine made a point of confirming Gideon had no clue Eva was there. Once Corrine confirmed that, she turned even nastier.

 Start to finish, Gideon handled the whole thing wrong -- even those of us who feel Nathan's killing was the only guaranteed way to protect Eva from an exceptionally dangerous and insane person who would have murdered her horribly.  I think Gideon took Corrine out Monday night -- and arranged for a photographer to get pictures and leak a blown-out-of-proportion story -- purely to buy some time. He knew his being with Eva was a serious trigger to Nathan. Gideon found out just that Monday morning how much of a trigger it was -- Nathan almost killed Cary just because Nathan thought there might be something going on between Eva and Cary. So pictures of Gideon + Corrine onto the gossip sites in under 24 hours would be the fastest way to buy a little time.  My own belief is Gideon made the decision Tuesday night, after the secret meeting with security people held in his apartment, to kill Nathan as soon as possible. Gideon scrambled to come up with a plan to make sure he had an alibi, as did Eva. He also scrambled to come up with an idea to shield himself from having an obvious motive (and thus indirectly shield Eva from having motive to have been involved in the plot.) That's probably when he decided something along these lines "OK, people already are assuming I'm back with Corrine, why not capitalize on that as my cover. I need an alibi for Thursday night -- the party will cover that. Why not go for a two-fer for extra protection. I need to have the press take a picture proving I was partying at a PR event Thursday night. If I take Corrine as my date, that can provide even stronger cover."  I'll bet he counted on the cops eliminating him as a suspect within days. Instead, his plan blew up in his face. And he paid dearly. I'm sure Graves was telling the truth when she said by the time that call Eva made to him on Saturday morning was over, Gideon looked like someone had just died.

 I think Gideon already owns it. He probably bought it within days of them staying there. Of course, "That Week" began within hours of them arriving back home in New York, when Gideon found out Nathan beat Cary half to death. All the more reason for Gideon to buy that little piece of heaven -- because he was about to start doing some things he knew would hurt Eva, but all along he would have had the intention of seeking forgiveness as soon as it was no longer necessary to keep himself distanced from Eva. I can see him planning during That Awful Week of taking Eva back to that beach house as soon as he could.  Poor Gideon. That photo of him and Corrine at the party a few nights later was all for nothing. It was supposed to get him crossed off the suspect list quickly by bolstering an alibi the cops wouldn't attempt to break. The only thing broken was Eva's heart. He knew she'd react badly, but he underestimated just how badly she ended up doing. Worse, he greatly underestimated Detective Graves. Instead of getting crossed off the list of suspects almost immediately and being able to go back to Eva, he quickly turned into the chief suspect -- and was forced into a position where he couldn't even talk to Eva, much less start making amends for having deliberately hurt her.Â

 Trade-off: Ireland as maid of honor in return for Cary as best man. Both are siblings to the couple: Ireland literally and Cary emotionally.  And if I could take a quick minute for a sweet little personal story about my being a member of a wedding party last year, in which my real-life Cary got married. This friend is my brother in all but blood, the only sibling in my life and one of the greatest friends I have ever had. He wanted me in the wedding -- a wedding that had two grooms (same-sex marriage). I described myself as a "groomsmaid."

 And Eva, even though she could do without the works, would at least want her Dad giving her away. And probably would want the person she considers her brother, Cary, to be part of the wedding too.

 It's not easy, based on seeing one photo of a person, to immediately recognize him or her in person. Much depends upon the quality (or lack of) the picture, and it also depends upon how much of a close-up (or not) the picture is. If Eva later saw a close face shot of Anne, she might connect the dots and say, "Hey, she approached me that night and talked to me." Or maybe not even that, given how much of a miserable daze Eva had been in at the time and how many people had been approaching her. And the picture we know Eva did see was a couple shot of Anne and Terry Lucas at some function -- pictures like that tend not to be close-ups, because a lot of those pictures are taken in a way to show the people's outfits, not just faces.

 Besides, I can't see some big church wedding for Eva (much to Monica's disappointment.) Because could you imagine the groom's side of the church?  Aside from Ireland, Gideon really wouldn't want the rest of the "groom's family" there -- and Elizabeth would likely want to boycott it anyway if it's Eva that Gideon is marrying. Gideon's friends? Arnoldo probably would be best man. The only others we could count on for Gideon's side of the church would be two employees very close to Gideon: Angus and Scott. Perhaps Magdalene, who had been Gideon's closest female friend, might show up out of wishing Gideon happiness. That'd be it for anyone we know of that would actually mean something to Gideon at his wedding. I'm sure he could fill his side of the church with people who care about him for his riches -- but not for him as a person.

 The three redheaded women we know the identities of are: Shawna: Eva's new gal-pal, who for all intents and purposes is also Mark's sister-in-law (because Mark's long-time partner is Shawna's brother.) It was through Mark that Eva met Shawna. The main receptionist for the top floor of the Crossfire, the first person anyone (including Eva) approaches to enter the headquarters of Cross Industries. She's a minor character whose name we don't learn, but she appears in several scenes. Anne Lucas. By name, she's never appeared directly as a character in a scene. She does, however, appear by mention. We know she's a redhead because Eva saw an online picture of the Lucases at some noteworthy social function.  One more redheaded woman appears directly in a scene, in Chapter Six of Bared, but we never expressly learn her identigy later, and she doesn't appear again. However, this woman approached Eva at a noteworthy social function (the advocacy dinner) and was keenly interested in the fact Eva was Gideon's date. Connecting the dots, many of us believe that woman was Anne Lucas.  Hopefully, we'll find out for sure one of two ways: Anne will appear again in Entwined, and Eva will recognize her from that night of the fundraiser. Sylvia will give us a spoiler-question answer the redhead who talked to Eva in Bared Chapter Six was Anne.

 Yes, Audible.com has it already available for pre-order (which I have already done). I've already reserved a copy of the actual book (i.e. paper copy) through my local indie bookstore, to ensure one is set aside for me. If God forbid, the shipment doesn't arrive on time or someone sells inadvertenly sells my reserve copy, my reading back-up will be to download to my Kindle.

 Engaged, definitely. Possibly eloping. When Gideon gave her the promise ring in Bared, he really wanted to give her an engagement ring -- but was smart enough to know she wasn't ready for that.

Up until Eva slammed Gideon (by implying the lovemaking in the limo meant nothing) Gideon had been in snarky mood himself: bickering with Eva as they danced, getting confrontational with Cary when Cary stepped in. Â But as soon as what Eva said hit Gideon and it dawned on him just had badly he'd hurt her, his snarkiness stopped in its tracks. He tried gently saying good-bye (by then, he had to rush off to answer yet another Corrine-in-crisis phone call.) Â He promised to call Eva, and he displayed tenderness by touching her face and looking in her eyes. Â He did call the next day -- almost incessantly. Too bad for him Eva had reclaimed her self-respect and avoided answering the phone or even listening to messages. Monday morning, she planned to drop the plans they'd set Friday afternoon to have lunch together on Monday. Eva set protective boundaries -- a sign that she has as much, if not more, self-respect inside as she does terrible insecurities.

 It saddens me how Eva woke up Sunday morning firmly convinced every nasty thing Magdalene said was the truth.  In Magdalene's defense, she had every reason to believe it was true Eva already was on the reject pile. Because up to that point it was true, given how Gideon never kept around any woman he f******. The only women who got any respect were his female friends, especially the ones he took out (like Magdalene). Plus Magdalene would have watched the pair of them like a hawk that night, able to see how cold Gideon was and how miserable Eva was.  I actually came to like Magdalene in Reflected, because of what Magdalene did the morning after Gideon yet again made Eva miserable in front of a high society crowd (his having spent all dinner sitting between Corrine and Eva, giving all his attention to Corrine and not even looking at Eva.)  Magdalene eavesdropped the whole time, so she knew Gideon was trying to defuse the possibility Corrine would further upset Eva -- but poor Eva ended up walking out on Gideon, and Magdalene was shocked Gideon actually ran after Eva.  The next day, Magdalene called Eva at work to explain everything she witnessed. Yes, on some level Magdalene was siding with Eva purely to thwart Corrine, the person Magdalene believed was the real romantic rival. But mostly, Magdalene was defending Gideon. Doing so proved Magdalene actually is a real friend to Gideon -- she sincerely wants him to be happy, even if that means it's with someone other than her (Magdalene). Magdalene is what Corrine should be but isn't -- selfless enough to wish Gideon happiness, instead of desperately chasing Gideon down to keep him for herself.

 I've already read Chapter Seven and have already drafted my reader's guide (which I'll post tomorrow, after everyone else has had a shot at getting through the chapter themselves today.  I went back and forth on whether to add the redhead as a character, but I held off for now. The reason why is that we never do learn  her identity later in Bared (nor in Reflected either). This is vastly different from Gideon's driver, barely mentioned when he first appeared in the story. Soon, we will learn the driver's name -- and learn he is a major character.  But yes, I believe that redhead who approached Eva at the fundraiser is a red flag -- she was Anne Lucas, and we'll learn more about her in Entwined as we learn more about the role Anne's husband, Dr. Terry Lucas, likely played in the child sex abuse cover-up.

Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter Seven of Bared  This chapter covers the rest of Saturday night, day six of the story, while Eva and Gideon attend the fundraiser. It also covers all of Sunday (day seven) in Eva's apartment. Finally, it also covers Monday morning (day eight) at work, leading up to Eva meeting Gideon for lunch.  Key plot developments: Eva spends much of the fundraiser avoiding Gideon, and he ditches her by leaving alone early. Magdalene also hurts Eva  at the event. Eva avoids Gideon the rest of the weekend. Monday, Gideon desperately tries to apologize for Saturday.  Sometime after each of us finishes reading this chapter, Sylvia would like to read our favorite quotes or paragraphs. No time limit on posting them. Forum discussions about the chapters has been moving both forward and backward, as we connect how various threads of the story have unfolded.

Chapter Six of Bared To You - The Readers Guide  This chapter covers several on hours of Saturday on, day six of the story, starting in Eva's apartment prior to him picking her up for their first date. The chapter ends in his limo with a scene that's one of the most important in the series.  Key plot developments: There is a major turning point in their developing relationship when they make love for the first time. Pages 88-95. We learn more important things about Gideon, especially about his family history. We also learn more about Eva's past, including how Cary entered her life.  New characters: Nathan Barker (not yet named but mentioned as Monica's former stepson) Angus (brief first appearance but not yet named) Victor - already mentioned in prior chapters, he appears directly for the first time in this chapter. Magdalene Perez (mentioned) Elizabeth Vidal, formerly Elizabeth Cross (mentioned) Geoffrey Cross (deceased) Christopher Vidal Sr. (mentioned) Christopher Vidal Jr. (mentioned) Ireland Vidal (mentioned)  Eva's secret keeping from her Dad The chapter opens with Eva telephoning Victor. It's what's unsaid between them that's more important, what goes through Eva's mind on the call. A second important piece of information emerges in the unfolding back story of Eva's childhood trauma, which we readers are learning about bits at a time. Monica's stepson had done something to Eva that if her father, a cop, knew about, would have insisted that charges be pressed. Whatever happened was kept secret - secret from him and apparently secret from the public too, avoiding a scandal that would have devastated Monica. Whatever happened, Monica left a happy marriage over it. About her present life, Eva keeps secrets from her father too. When asked about her plans for the weekend, she told a half truth she and Cary were going out to eat. She avoided saying dinner actually would be a very expensive fundraiser where she would rub elbows with rich and famous people. More significantly, she kept secret that she's actually going to dinner with the guy she met that week, a celebrity and one of the richest men in the world. She doesn't tell her father a word about Gideon. They talked about her first week in New York - she likes her new job, plans to start Krav Maga training, she and Cary went clubbing Friday night. Victor briefly asked how her mother is doing. And Victor promised he'll visit Eva in New York sometime soon.  Gideon's family history reveals childhood trauma too Cary researched Gideon online Saturday, and before Eva's first date, Cary gave Eva some articles and online photos to look at. We learn Gideon had been only five years old when his financier father, Geoffrey Cross, chairman of a investment firm, was exposed for running a massive Ponzi scheme. He killed himself rather than go to prison. Gideon's mother, Elizabeth, remarried soon afterward, to Christopher Vidal, a record company executive, and had two more children: son Christopher Jr. and daughter Ireland. Eva guessed (correctly) a reason why Gideon closes himself off stems from childhood trauma - his father's death when Gideon had been so young. Cary also researched Gideon's current social life, confirming what Monica said is true: he dates brunettes only, celebrity photo shots of him prove. The woman pictured with Gideon most frequently is identified as Magdalene Perez.  Cary's got baggage too We learn that Cary and Eva's friendship began in group therapy, where Cary had started out strung out on drugs and struggling with being used sexually. After Cary came to believe Eva wanted real friendship, not sex, they became close, and Cary is now the brother she never had. As part of his brotherly duties, Cary fetched Gideon from the apartment building lobby when Gideon arrived early to pick up Eva. Note: we'd learn in the next chapter Cary warned Gideon that if he (Gideon) hurt Eva, he'd answer to Cary for it.  Making love - then something goes wrong The first big love scene between Eva and Gideon took place in this chapter, when she seduced him in the back of his limo on the way to the fundraiser. The sex is spectacular for both, and for a brief time in the afterglow, Gideon appears " .... stunned .... and grateful, his eyes warm and tender." (Page 94). Unaware of his sexual past, she had no way of knowing (nor did we readers at the time) how she had helped him break through several serious sexual hang-ups. For the first time in his life, he did more than just f*** -- he made love. But then almost immediately, he turned cold and distant. Eva then became confused and stung, unable to understand what went wrong.

It strikes me that among the photos Gideon treasured of them as a couple, the photos he posted in a collage in his apartment, were paparazzi shots of him and Eva walking the red carpet into the fundraiser. Maybe it's because that's the only time she was photographed how stunning she looked in that red dress. But the smile on her face was forced, and he would have had his public mask. On the outside, they looked to be perfect. On the inside, both of them were miserable when those photographers took pictures.

My favorite part of Chapter Six is immediately what happens in the instant after Gideon has just had the first earth-shattering sexual experience of his life. How tender he is for just a little bit before he comes crashing down from the high and goes on his head trip. From the bottom of page 93 and top of page 94: Â Â Â Â "Eva." He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to him, pressing his damp face into the curve of my neck. Â Â Â I knew just how he felt. Stripped. Laid bare. Â Â Â We stayed like that for a long time, holding each other, absorbing the aftershocks. He turned his head and kissed me softly, the strokes of his tongue into my mouth soothing my ragged emotions.

 They came awful close to their relationship ending after that first date on Saturday night. By the time Monday rolled around, Eva had already decided Gideon was bad for her and she wasn't going to see him anymore. She didn't even want to keep the plans they'd made on Friday to have lunch together Monday. Gideon had to work hard to convince her to go through with meeting him for lunch. And when she did agree to see him, she went into it as a chance to tell him face to face she wanted nothing more to do with their "strangers with benefits" arrangement.  He had to work even harder to get her to give him another chance -- and he did it by convincing her he wanted a full-fledged relationship. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, not just some sex partner and/or socialite arm candy. Against her better judgement at the time, she agreed - her heart won out over her head.

 OMG!!!! SQUEEE!!!! Welcome, Caroline -- a forum rock start from the first, because you've got so much excellent spoiler info directly from Sylvia herself!!!!!  Your details here both confirm some theories I have and have made me drop other theories I've developed. Specifically:  Most important -- Detective Graves lied to Eva when she led Eva to believe the cops had decided to leave Gideon alone. I've firmly believed that from the afternoon I first read that final chapter of Reflected. As soon as it's no longer vital to use Corrine as a cover, Gideon is throwing her out of his life because Corrine deliberately hurt Eva. My theory about Entwined is it will end with Gideon facing down the people in his life who have been trying to hurt him, past and present, and that will include his half-brother. An important element of Book Four will involve now-open enemies striking back at Gideon, and this will include his half-brother. Re: Stanton and Monica, I had been on the fence whether the pair of them had started actively working with Gideon as soon as Nathan showed up in New York. My main theory had been Gideon found out who Cary's assailant was, Nathan, through his (Gideon's) own people. So he found out from Monica instead. This puts Monica and Stanton in legal peril, because it's now possible the cops could try to build some sort of conspiracy case. Because Eva's Dad, Victor, is coming back in Entwined, and we'll be learning more about Monica, your new spoiler info has me connecting dots: Victor is going to find out what happened to Eva as a child and find out how Monica has handled/mishandled things ever since then. Victor will stop short of hating Monica, but his worship of her will end. With that, I hope he'll finally drop the torch and move on to a place in his life where he will risk falling in love again -- he'll get his own happily ever after with a woman he can love.

 Not yet, I think. He knew exactly where she lived, because he owned the property. He'd been waiting for her to call him all day so that he could ask her to accompany him to the fundraiser that night, but she hadn't phoned (she was out with her mother and Cary most of the day.) I think that by the time she called, it was pure coincidence he was close by -- he probably at that point had been on his way to try getting a hold of her in person, given that she (so he thought) was reluctant to phone him. It was a "time sensitive" (his phrase) matter he needed to talk to her about - the event that night.

 He later confessed to Eva (weeks later after she found out he'd ditched her for Corrine the night of their first date) that he screwed up. He apologized for the fact he hadn't been thinking straight that night, and so when Corrine called him in crisis, he did something stupid. (That stupid thing being jumping at an excuse to cut his date with Eva short, the final insult in a date already gone terribly wrong.)  In his defense, he already felt guilty as he was saying goodbye to Eva, and by the next morning, he was desperately trying to apologize. He sent her roses. He tried phoning, but she wouldn't answer (not even listen to messages he left -- good for her!) He even wanted to go see her in person. I think what stopped him was he knew Cary would be there, protecting Eva from him just like Cary had the night before.  Gideon made a heartfelt apology on Monday, admitting he handled things badly on Saturday night. I'll bet that was the first time since Corrine had ended the engagement all those years ago that Gideon felt terrible about having hurt a woman badly -- and found himself asking to be forgiven.

Megumi's roommate set her up on the blind date after the roommate decided the guy wasn't for her (the roommate). Â I have a much more innocent theory -- that Megumi's new relationship is the way many good long-term relationships start: an early comfort level that goes so well the guy introduces her to his family soon after. Â This is a sharp contrast to Eva and Gideon, tumultuous from the start, and his family members are the last people Gideon wants Eva to know (well, the only eventual exception being his sister, Ireland. Gideon's family is responsible for so much damage having been done to him when he was young that his being able to fall in love is against the odds. Â Eva is surrounded at work by people whose relationships are positive -- a stark contrast to how much she and Gideon struggle. Â Mark is in a long-term committed relationship with his college sweetheart, Steve. The woman who is essentially Mark's sister-in-law, Shawna, is in a trusting long-distance relationship with a boyfriend currently in Europe (the story implies he's studying culinary arts there.) Will, the newest hire in Eva's office, is in a long-term relationship with his high-school sweetheart, and they're about to move in together. Â Gideon never had a high school sweetheart. His college sweetheart relationship was very dysfunctional. And there are very serious trust issues in his current relationship.