LN Cronan

 Gideon met Eva for the first time Monday evening. Less than 36 hours later, the junior account executive that had Eva as his brand new assistant had a brand new project with Cross Industries. When Cross Industries contacted Waters Field & Leaman, Mark Garrity (Eva's boss) was asked for by name -- something that surprised the heck out of Mark, given his standing. He thought the company was being smart by wanting to hear directly from the junior account executive who would be doing most of the actual work instead of the senior account executive. But Cary saw right through it all as soon as he put two and two together the day after that.  And this little "smooth move" of Gideon's to indirectly insert himself into Eva's office is the subject of today's reading -- Chapter Two of Bared. This is where Gideon went through all that trouble so that he could get to see Eva in order to tell her something very important -- "I want to f*** you, Eva." Which he does tell her (page 28 - love this scene!)

 She timed it for early evening, which would have been busy on the streets of New York, holiday or not. Cary wanted her to hit a happy hour. Instead, she insisted she wanted to time the walk from their apartment building to the Crossfire, then she wanted to hit the gym. The doorman noted the weather had already cooled down from the afternoon. And as she walked up to the Crossfire, Gideon had just climbed into his Bentley at the curb, obviously leaving work for the day. If it had, in fact, been Memorial Day, I could see that being just another Monday for Gideon Cross. What's he going to do on Memorial Day -- the traditional family cook-out?  Again, it's pure conjecture on my part that the hypothetical Tuesday in June in which Bared to You opens was June 1. It would, however, make perfect sense on why Eva was in the middle of still unpacking moving boxes, Cary was christening the kitchen for the first time by cooking one of his (ahem) gourmet meals, and Eva was about to start work the next day. Move over the three-day holiday weekend at the very end of May, then start a new job on the first of the month.

 I was floored too, Kirsten -- floored that she actually answered that question. All along, I believed he had. But I was shocked that Sylvia would actually answer the ultimate Reflected spoiler question instead of sidestepping it with a "wait until June."  But when I thought about it more, I realized we all were going to find out before June 4 anyway. She's releasing Chapter One of Entwined early, on May 7. That picks up right where Reflected leaves off, and Reflected leaves off with Eva now in Gideon's arms, and him knowing she just found out about the murder investigation directly from Detective Graves herself. And from the official book excerpt, we know that one hour later, Gideon sneaks into Eva's bedroom in order to have the most important conversation they'll have ever had as a couple.

For our British fans, the six major U.S. holidays that office workers like Eva almost certainly would get time off are, in order from biggest holidays on down: Â Dec. 25 (Christmas) Fourth Thursday in November (the U.S. Thanksgiving Day) Jan. 1 (New Year's) July 4 (U.S. Independence Day) Last Monday in May (U.S. Memorial Day) First Monday in September (U.S. Labor Day)

 No, the building would not have been closed, not even on a major holiday. Memorial Day is a big U.S. holiday, but for the rest of the world, it's just another Monday. Some people would have been working, especially those who work with international clients. But yes, most companies would have given their employees the day off. Memorial Day is one of the "Big 6" for work holidays in the United States.  Eva picked a good Monday to time her trip door to door from her apartment building to the Crossfire, because she was timing her trip on foot, planning to walk to and from work most days. Because she was still " ...wary of the subway and had trouble hailing cabs."

 I agree. But I wonder whether one of the prosecutors higher up on the food chain had something to do with Geoffrey Cross -- had been the prosecutor who charged Geoffrey with the Ponzi scheme and was thrilled to be able to prosecute such a high profile case that would also earn that prosecutor lots of personal brownie points among the rich and powerful of New York.  Geoffrey slipped through the prosecutor's fingers by blowing his own head off. That was around 23 years ago -- not so long ago that everyone involved in that financial crime case would have been retired by now. So wouldn't it be a "gift" to be able to cap off a long career by sending Geoffrey Cross' only son, a billionaire, to prison.

 Will started the week before the Brett Kline interview, which was on a Sunday. But Will also started the same week Eva gave back the promise ring and the key to Gideon's apartment.  She put both in an envelope -- no note, because there was nothing to say -- and dropped off that envelope at lobby desk in Gideon's apartment building. That was Thursday evening -- the time when the pair of them ought to have been in a therapy session with Dr. Petersen.  Returning the ring, and especially returning the key, were actions that spoke a lot louder than Eva's last tear-filled words to Gideon when she dumped him over the phone. Gideon must have freaked when he got home that night and opened that envelope.  The whole Gideon-Eva-Will-Megumi elevator scene happened lunchtime on Monday, the day after the Brett Kline interview. Oh and Eva had gotten a sexy makeover that weekend. And she'd gone out dancing with Cary, Monica and Stanton on Saturday night,  something that would have gotten back to Gideon too, because Eva ran into his (Gideon's) family that night. Eva danced with his creepy half-brother, Christopher Jr.-- and picked the mother of all arguments with Elizabeth Vidal.  Yep, by the time Gideon approached Eva that Monday, he must have been coming apart inside.

 Now that we don't know whether Gideon planted him .... my mistake to the "yes" part of a question concerning young Mr. Will .....  But as for Eva starting work on a Tuesday, one possibility might be she started June 1.  The story definitely starts in June, and based on a little bit of small talk about the weather that Eva had with her apartment building doorman (see bottom of page 2 and top of page 3), it is still early June -- the weather hasn't yet gotten "wicked hot."  Plus Eva and Cary are still unpacking boxes in their new apartment. People generally move into apartments very close to the first of the month.  I'm guessing that Eva and Cary moved into the apartment that weekend before she started the new job. Especially because if June 1 was a Tuesday, then Monday would have been May 31 -- Memorial Day. The final Monday in May is Memorial Day, one of the biggest national holidays in the United States. So Eva/Cary would have a long weekend to move, then Eva would start the job Tuesday.

 My mistake, Donnad, I thought the "yes" part was about it was no random coincidence Will started working there when he did -- and so he definitely was going to be part of Entwined. I stand corrected -- he's going to show up in Entwined. We don't know yet for sure Gideon put him there to help start watching over Eva the week after things totally fell apart between him (Gideon) and Eva.  I can almost hear you laughing still ..... maybe if I put my ear a little closer to the computer speakers ..... yep, I can hear you.

Donnad says that Will is a Gideon plant -- she read that Sylvia said that somewhere.

 Now that I know, thanks to Donnad's memory that Sylvia revealed Will was deliberately planted in the ad agency where Eva works, it makes more sense Will got flustered when Gideon got into the same elevator as him (Will) and Eva.  The poor guy was probably wondering, "What do I do? How am I supposed to act? Is Gideon Cross going to suddenly ask me to do something here? What happens if Eva Trammel marches out of this elevator instead instead of staying on it like Mr. Cross asked her to? What do I do then?" Poor Will, he must have been sweating bullets. But I bet Megumi would have just written that off as "Will's brand new here in the Crossfire and that's probably the very first time he saw the famous Gideon Cross up close. No wonder Will felt a little nervous."

We'll find out for sure what Graves' own motives are as the case plays out. Â But right now, I don't believe for a second she and her partner unilaterally decided to drop the case. Cops, even homicide detectives, don't have that power -- it rests with the district attorney's office. Â Nor do I believe her claim she burned her notes. Cops don't destroy investigation records,least of all in homicide cases, because there is no expiration date on arresting someone for murder (i.e. there is no "statute of limitations). Besides burning her notes wouldn't make the case file disappear anyway. What about that security videotape the cops seized from Stanton's office? Along with the warrant paperwork for the tape? How about the transcript of the interview Gideon gave Saturday morning at the police station? Did Graves burn all that stuff too? I think -- NOT. Â Plus there's probably a lot more stuff in the file -- interview transcripts, copies of tapes and records gotten via warrants, that Eva doesn't even know about. Graves never mentioned a thing about the cops looking into Stanton, much less seizing copies of office videotape. Eva's mother told her about that. Who knows what else Graves kept from Eva. For that matter, who knows what Monica has been keeping from Eva as well. Monica has a very long, very bad habit herself of keeping things from Eva.

 Nope -- you can go for it now, gabri. I'm done with Chapter Two already as well. I'm still working on assembling my promised "Readers Guide" though (see page three of this discussion thread for what I did late yesterday with Chapter One -- I'm going to do something similar after work today.)

 SPOILER THREADS, SPOILER THREADS, SPOILER THREADS!!!!!  Because yes, every one of us reads at different speeds. So there will be people already done with the book and raring to talk OMG!!!! even while other fans are still in the midst of reading. And who do NOT want the end ruined for themselves.  So we can start discussion threads very clearly marked "spoiler" -- fair warning to everyone who hasn't finished the book that if they don't want anything spoiled for them, hold off on entering the discussion until they've finished the book.

Knowing that big spoiler question was going to come up later in the interview, I had pen and paper ready to take down exact quotes. Â When the interviewer asked the question, he posed it in what's known in the media profession as a "close-ended question" -- a yes/no question. It's the most direct way to get a definitive answer about something. I know verbatim exactly what the question was and verbatim exactly what the answer was. "Yes. Yes he did." Â What's interesting, though, is that the interviewer did NOT press Sylvia for details about exactly how Gideon did it. Because questions like that would be spoilers for Entwined, not Reflected. Reflected told us (via what Detective Graves said to Eva) how the police think he did it. But in Entwined, Eva will (finally!!!!) get the truth from Gideon himself, not second hand from a cop who clearly has an agenda of her own.

Ah hah!!!! Thank you Donnad!!! So Gideon did finagle things to place Will alongside Eva at work during that awful period post-Nathan-killing, when Eva wouldn't even talk to Gideon anymore and Gideon at the time didn't dare approach her in any way.

OK, since we're jumping all over the place even as we try to stick to reading a chapter a day .... something work related about Eva fell into place for me as I was re-reading Chapters One and Two of Bared To You, chapters in which Eva starts her new career in advertising and from day one (well, actually day two of the story) Gideon manages to finagle himself into her company .....  .... why is it the week after Nathan died, which ended with Eva dumping Gideon, did all of a sudden a new character came up at Eva's agency, Will-the-new-hire. See page 290 of Reflected. One of the other junior account executives (i.e. someone low on the totem pole exactly at the same level as Eva's boss) got a brand new assistant (i.e. someone even lower, at the entry level and doing the exact same job as Eva does -- someone she naturally was asked to help train.)  Who wants to bet that Gideon pulled some strings to place Will in Eva's office as a way for Gideon to keep an eye on Eva at work? Not only is Will's timing of starting work there a little too convenient, it just so happens that Will is in the process of moving in together with his long-time girlfriend (his high school sweetheart no less.)  Hmmmm ..... Gideon knows about Will as a person somehow -- knows Will is a good guy, an old fashioned nice guy who would be totally safe to be around Eva, who wouldn't dream of ever pursuing Eva romantically. So Gideon pulls strings for Will to start working right away at Waters Field & Lehman -- and Gideon even arranges for Will and his high school sweetheart to be able to get an apartment together in New York City.  Oh I can't imagine Gideon doing something like that (cough, cough).

Soon after this forum started buzzing about the fact Sylvia confirmed in an interview that Gideon did it, she popped into the discussion threads to tell us some important background stuff about Nathan, stuff I can pretty much sum up like this: Â Had Nathan murdered Eva, he never would have stood trial. It's likely he would have been declared mentally incompetent and hospitalized in a locked psychiatric unit. And probably would have gotten out some day. Just like he did all those years ago after being locked up in a mental hospital because he raped Eva. He got out eventually -- even though he was still crazy and still very dangerous.

 I agree with you KiMa that every last thing Detective Graves told Eva is NOT absolutely true. Graves may think she's got it all figured out. But she may have gotten some things wrong. It's even possible she said certainly things to deliberately mislead Eva (cops do mislead people when trying to trap them.) Some of the stuff Graves said may have been half truths or even lies.  All we know right now is "these are the things that Graves said to Eva." That is NOT the same thing as "this is exactly what happened." As far as Graves goes, there's only one thing we know for certain - Nathan is dead.  But as far as Sylvia saying "Yes. Yes he did" when an interviewer asked her point-blank whether Gideon killed Nathan for Eva, that part is true. On her Facebook and Twitter pages, hours before that live interview was scheduled to happen, Sylvia announced she was going to appear live on that radio show, and she gave fans links to be able to tune into the radio station via live Internet streaming.  Several members of this forum listened live, including me -- and the former journalist in me took careful notes. She said he did it -- and she said it in a very straightforward manner. Nothing evasive about it -- the interviewer asked her a point-blank yes/no question, and she answered yes. She knew beforehand too that the host was planning to ask what really happened at the end of Reflected in You, because the guy said so as much very early in the live interview.

 There's only one exact time-specific instruction - that we all aim to read one particular chapter each day. The goal is for us to be all on the same page, pun intended, each day in terms of exactly where we all have our noses in the Crossfire novels.  So today, the goal is for many of us as possible to get through reading Bared Chapter Two.  Sylvia left other things flexible. For example, after each of us has finished a particular chapter, she'd like to hear which quotes or paragraphs were our personal favorites. But there's no deadline for turning in our homework.  She's left wide open commenting on the chapters, on everything, within these fan forums. She has, however, asked that we not post any spoiler matters on the more widespread fan media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) That's the main reason why I didn't breathe a word on Twitter about the Gideon-Did-It spoiler -- because it was a spoiler. The main reason this forum section of her fan page exists is so we can discuss stuff to our heart's content.

 More of Gideon's control issue, I think: He refuses to step foot in the house he grew up in (the Vidal mansion). Given how cold he is to his mother, he probably avoids her as much as possible in public (I mean, look at how he avoided his brother Christopher at the advocacy dinner and avoided everyone but Eva when he came to "rescue" Eva from the garden party.) What's the only place where Gideon has not only control but privacy? Inside his office and inside his home. Makes sense that the only place he'll allow his mother to meet him would be in either place. Also, Gideon completely re-arranged his days and nights once he and Eva became a couple. Except during those awful times when they're estranged (a few days in Bared and a few weeks in Reflected) he spends as much time as possible with Eva. I'll bet there's a lot of people he started blowing off, and his mother would have been high on his list.

For example, how could any of us have known ahead of time that an in-passing-mention of a Dr. Travis in Chapter Two was going to be the first step down a road where we discovered that Eva and Gideon (and Cary too) have very serious mental health histories of severe trauma, and one of the devastating consequences of that is every single one of them have (among other things) real problems when it comes to intimate relationships.

 We are -- but we're also going for extra credit here.  How can we not carefully re-read Crossfire and not start going crazy about where many things that first come up as little tidbits in early chapters lead to big things later in the story. Sylvia has come up with an excellent way to get us to re-examine where everything thus far has led -- because she's about to wow us with where things lead next. It could be the littlest things that lead to the biggest plot twists.

 SQUEEEEEE!!!! We'll want deets, Donna, deets, right here afterward. (Well, after you've both met Sylvia and finished Entwined.) Tell us all about the experience of seeing her live in person!!!!

 The character of Dr. Travis first surfaces near the very end of Chapter Two, when Cary is hashing out with Eva whether Eva should get involved with this new hottie (Gideon) who is "hot, rich and wants to jump her bones." Cary reminds Eva that her shrink suggested she take calculated risks. It's our first red flag that Eva has a complicated past when it comes to men.