LN Cronan

Nope -- I think the location was ALL Corrine's idea. As part of a plot to be able to weasel her way into getting Gideon to invite her up to his own apartment. Based on the fact the only place he used to f*** Corrine is one hotel, and based on the fact he's never invited any women up to where he's living now, it's probably a safe bet he rarely, if ever, invited Corrine into wherever he was living back when they were dating. At best, he may have had her come over (but not laid a hand on her there) after they became engaged. But now thanks to the ever-catty Magdalene, it's a safe bet Corrine knows Gideon is capable of doing the nasty almost anywhere -- because he was caught red-handed doing so with Eva in the library of his parents' mansion. So getting Gideon to invite Corrine into his penthouse might eventually lead to all sorts of possibilities. Or, at the very least to start, making it plausible and all too easy for Corrine to drop by unexpectedly when Eva's there. Just like the fundraiser Corrine crashed, if Gideon invited Corrine in and started talking with her in front of Eva, Eva's going to get really mad at him -- exactly what happened at the fundraiser.

I don't want to give the impression here I most definitely think that when word gets out "Golden" is Eva Trammell, the tabloids are going to trash her. The story could just as easily run as "Former Bad Boy Musician Wins Back The Girl." It could just as easily be sweet, especially if behind the scenes, Eva and Gideon together are manipulating the media. I'm just putting out one of several possibilities. However, of the two, the nasty version leading people to falsely believe Eva cheated on Gideon with Brett is the better of the two when it comes to Gideon's lack of motive for killing Nathan. Why would Gideon, about a week after he caught Eva red-handed cheating on him, kill some guy over her?

GiGi, your observation is a good one that if Christopher Jr. smeared Eva for the benefit of tabloid publicity for Vidal Records, that Gideon could retaliate by seriously professionally messing with him, with Christopher Sr., with even dismantling the label itself. In fact, it may be the final straw that makes Gideon finally make use of the power he's holding over the head the Vidals. The mere ability to wreck them financially is a form of revenge. Doing it is the ultimate get-even. Nasty thing to do? Oh yeah. But we may come to learn they deserve it and much worse once all the Vidal family skeletons are pulled out of that deep dark closet Gideon has kept locked up inside since he was only a boy. My point is this though -- Gideon CANNOT in any way, shape or form openly jump to EVA'S DEFENSE at present. Even if Christopher Jr. puts Eva through the tabloid grinder, turning Eva into a s**** version of wild real-life socialite Paris Hilton. Gideon cannot say words to the effect "You hurt the woman I love body and soul and you're going to pay dearly -- literally pay -- for it. I'm going to ruin your career here at Vidal Records, or maybe even destroy the company itself. I'm doing it because you hurt Eva." Right now, Gideon cannot be Eva's "real" Gideon, her knight in shining armor. He MUST maintain the façade of "fake" Gideon who no longer gives a d*** about Eva Trammell. Because if he lets Christopher know he cares about Eva AND does something very serious to prove it, what's later going to happen if the cops later bring Gideon to trial for murdering someone on Eva's behalf? The prosecution would put Christopher Jr. on the stand as an especially devastating witness against Gideon. HOWEVER .... Gideon could convincingly make the argument that Christopher Jr. used Vidal Records to trash Eva's public image just to embarrass Gideon for spite. Gideon owns a majority of the company AND Gideon is a celebrity. How embarrassing would it be for the world to find out his supposed girlfriend was caught in an alley after a concert Gideon took her to making out with the lead singer of a band under contract with Vidal records. Far worse, it turns out she used to f*** that guy between sets at concerts. In fact, the worst of the tabloids might speculate Eva and Brett were doing more than just kissing out in that alley. Which actually would be Christopher's real motive -- to hurt Gideon's celebrity image out of pure spite. Speculation that ugly would do it too, because trash Eva, and the tabloids would be smearing Gideon's celebrity image. Imagine them running that recent photo of Gideon kissing Eva in the middle of the sidewalk next to a nasty story about Eva and Brett. That photo is the only one in existence showing Gideon Cross in a passionate lip lock with a woman -- a woman he later caught in a passionate lip lock (or worse) with an ex boyfriend who just so happens to be a rock star for Vidal Records. Gideon could say, "That's it. You went too far by making the whole world think that I got fooled into dating a tramp who cheated on me with one of the musicians from this record company. I took her to high society functions -- with pictures to prove it -- as a respectable socialite. Now you've got people thinking I dated a s*** after me for my money. You've embarrassed me by using your power at this record company, which I practically own. I'm getting even by stripping you of all of your power at Vidal Records." See the difference?

Good morning, GiGi. Yes, we're cool -- we're the two biggest board addicts here and it would be a lot less fun without one another. :::: laughing :::: You're in Camp Monica Is Guilty of Murder One. I'm in Camp Because Corrine Tried Fooling Eva Into Thinking Gideon Is Sleeping With Her It's Karma That Gideon Is Fooling The World Into Thinking He Is Sleeping With Corrine. ::: laughing some more ::::

Besides, Gideon has been showing Corrine SOME physical affection that counts as deliberately low-level sexual. He put his arm around her waist at that party (it was for the benefit of the camera, but he did it.) He did something that even strangers would misinterpret as an intimacy gesture. That was the whole point. Male friends at best put a arm around a woman's shoulder -- not around her waist. The waist is in a sexual body zone. Weeks later, Eva caught him off guard with Corrine while he had one hand at the small of Corrine's back while walking her to his car parked outside the Crossfire. Touching a woman's lower back is a sexual gesture, and deliberately keeping a hand there while walking with her is a very sexually proprietary gesture. He did that all the time with Eva. He did it to Eva the very next morning while walking her to the car outside Dr. Lucas' office. With good reason, Eva threatened to "break his fingers" if she caught touching Corrine like that again. There are additional things Gideon could be doing all the time now that could be easily be interpreted as friendly OR misinterpreted by Corrine as more. Holding her hand. Kissing her on the cheek, especially when saying goodnight. Long hugs, especially hugs saying hello and good-night. Then there are additional low-level sexual things too -- like staring into her eyes, lingering touches. And especially kissing her on the mouth. In fact, now that Eva finally trusts he's never going to have sex with Corrine, it'd be OK for Gideon to advance to French kissing Corrine if that's what it takes to continue to string her along. Perhaps Gideon has already resorted to that and will confess it to Eva as part of them finally being able to be open and honest. Or, if they know for certain the cops are trying to trap them, agreeing together what Gideon will do to step things up a notch with Corrine. Eva has no right, really, to object, given she French kissed Brett and Gideon forgave her for doing it. Gideon knows now he can tell Eva anything, however upsetting, and Eva is not going to run. The idea of Gideon making out with Corrine is something that would make Eva squirm -- but she'd trust Gideon that things with Corrine wouldn't go any further than the proverbial "first base" of making out with her. Especially making out with Corrine in the back of the Bentley before letting her out of the car for the night. With a driver up front, things would never progress all the way to home run in the backseat. Keep in mind too that snippet of Eva dirty dancing with a stranger in Gideon's night club. When she saw Gideon coming and knew that he had spotted her, she did something very sexual by grinding her a** into the guy, and she did this in an area of a club specifically set aside for "dry f*****" Gideon didn't like it one bit -- but nor did he punch the guy's lights out and turn angrily on Eva, like he had with Brett. Nope, instead Gideon pinned her up against a wall in order to start doing something that was going to go lead to intercourse right then and there. That snippet has me thinking that Eva now has Gideon in a position of "I trust you doing SOME fooling around with Corrine and now you have to trust me letting other guys touch me as part of my act being out there single and partying without a care in the world, already over you after just a couple of weeks." And perhaps Eva is deliberately testing Gideon too. What did she do to test him as soon as she found out he blew her off the night before to have dinner, one-on-one, with Corrine? Emailed him a copy of one of the many tabloid photos online the next day -- AND -- immediately took Brett out to lunch in order to get even. Now she could test him in a way to make clear that trust between the two of them MUST go BOTH ways. Bottom line: neither one of them is going to be comfortable with the other laying hands and even lips on someone else. But EVERYTHING -- their future together, even Gideon's future period -- depends upon fooling everyone else for the foreseeable future, Corrine most of all. Corrine is one of the few things right now that could prevent a prison sentence of life without parole for Gideon.

Corrine waited two whole years before she finally resorted to trying to FORCE the issue about the fact Gideon refused to spend the whole night with her. That's NOT the same as trying nothing to solve the problem. I'm sure she tried several other things before she finally resorted to a gamble as dramatic as proposing marriage. Corrine thought that because she was now Gideon's fiancée, he would finally start spending entire nights with her. That's the theory Gideon told Eva, and I'm sure he's right about that. Corrine waited another full year after that for Gideon to finally literally sleep with her -- sleep alongside, that is. But still, he refused to spend the night, and he refused to have sex anywhere other than that hotel. Finally, she resorted to something even more dramatic to try to FORCE the issue. She broke off the engagement. Corrine thought the threat of losing her would finally make Gideon change. That's also the theory he told Eva, and again I'm sure he's right about it. My point is this: three weeks -- only three WEEKS -- into succeeding in getting Gideon to start taking her out again, no way in h*** is Corrine going to try to FORCE the issue of the fact Gideon isn't sleeping with her yet. I'm sure she's trying things to attempt to encourage Gideon. But she'll never try forcing the issue to make he do anything beyond what he wants then -- not now, not ever again. Trying to FORCE Gideon to have sex any other way than on his own terms is how Corrine lost him years ago, something she later felt was the biggest mistake of her life. She's not going to make that mistake again. She will wait and wait and wait for however long it takes now. And I'm sure Gideon knows this too -- knows Corrine isn't going to upset the apple cart by demanding sex any time soon. This enables him to continue to manipulate Corrine for however many more weeks (or perhaps months) he needs to (to make authorities finally give up on prosecuting him.) Gideon can do this without resorting to perhaps the only thing he WON'T do, which is f*** Corrine.

 Hi KiMa --  I was trying to be silly about spelling and grammar on a simple misspelling issue. In hindsight I ought to have left the word grammar out -- and worked harder to convey the silly part about the spelling of Cary's first name. Many, many apologies. It's a bad habit folks who write for a living do.  May you ladies all throw dictionaries at me and chase me off the board if I ever turn into one of those annoying grammar cops. Or better yet, sic someone from Penguin Books on me, because there are folks there who edit for a living and can easily start pointing out my own errors. Er, maybe don't bother someone at Penguin, because they have better use of their time doing their crucial part of the process in getting authors' books out. Like Sylvia's.  It's meant to be all in good fun here, especially because all of us have a passion for the written word -- because we read. And we enjoy what we read so much, we discuss it. Book clubs rock.  I can't seem to get the smiley face function to work, but if I could, I'd send you a long line of smiley faces with one winking at the very end.

   Gideon didn't have to get Nathan to open his door -- Gideon did it himself with a master key. He owns the place, and a master key (key card, that is) would be all too easy for him to get. Housekeepers use them every day. Hotel management carries them too.  Not only would a master key get Gideon into the room quickly, it would get him in quietly. No need to knock. No need to argue "open the door" if Nathan was refusing to do so.

 All right, just one more One of the worst things of all would be a fight to get attention backstage would be a fight near the stage door -- security and roadies would start yelling and running. If a fight really gets going (this one most certainly did) it's going to start to draw widespread attention back stage as more and more people scramble and start yelling. By the time this fight was over, the band itself had come out. Normally, a fight would have been quickly broken up by the roadies and security. So what made them stand back in this case and continue to let the two guys go at it? The fact the two biggest VIPs on the premises were the people fighting one another -- and -- two people who actually had very serious real power to order the roadies and the security to keep back were both on hand -- Brett's manager (roadies) and Gideon's body guard (security.) Especially in the case of the body guard, some woman (Eva) was begging him to do something, and he was refusing to intervene. If Gideon's body guard wasn't going to step in, no way would any security flunkie nor roadie do so on his own. Even Brett's own band mates were smart enough to stay out of it.

OK, last post of the day. Â Know when I will be convinced the coast REALLY is clear for Gideon to openly declare Eva as the woman he loves? Â When the cops tell him AND his lawyers right to their faces the case is OH-VER. Â The lead detective casually running into Eva and telling Eva it's safe? And that actually being true? Oh heck no. No way. Sylvia's far too captivating and clever of a writer to resort to something that is so "convenient" it's actually too good to be true. And it'd be rushing to artificially wrap up a complicated story in a single scene. Â What the scene with Detective Graves was, plain and simple, was to set up a very real danger -- a police trap -- and that danger is the first of several things Gideon and Eva will need to overcome in Entwined. They've got to deal with both the darkness of his past and the terrible risk they're under in the present day in order to reach their happy ending.

 She could become truly dangerous if she ever did find out.  Thus far, she obviously doesn't have a clue. The cops haven't needed to question her about being at the party, because they have a picture to prove it. But if they ever did start questioning her about that night or try to force her to say she and Gideon are nothing more than friends, things will get dicey. If Gideon gets arrested, all h*** could break loose, because the cops would be saying his going out with her was all a lie to try to deceive everyone.  She'd have the power to try to save him or sink him. I'd like to think her better nature would win out ---- but ---- I could also see her finally snapping. "If I can't have you, no body can!!!!" is the possible jealous rage reaction of a woman truly scorned and made an incredible public fool of. She's now bet her whole life on becoming Gideon's wife -- divorcing her husband and moving back to New York. She's been fooled into believing Gideon is within reach. Snatch that away from her  -- all because of Eva -- and Corrine might decide to help destroy them both.  For now, Gideon's best bet is to keep allowing her to believe her grand scheme to win him back is slowly but surely continuing to work. She's made a lot of progress already - he's now seeing her, and her alone, as his exclusive social partner, letting the whole world believe they're serious. And she succeeded in easily getting rid of her only competition.  Gideon needs to wait until the cops (and the prosecutor driving them) finally do decide to drop the case -- making it official by telling him AND his lawyers it's over.  Then Gideon can tell her the truth -- he can't go through  with marrying her now any more than he was able to years ago. He misses Eva and still loves her. He wants to go back to Eva and make things work out with her.

Oh my God, GiGi, you're now starting to sound like you're defending Christopher Jr. too!!!!!! I'm laughing in mock horror!!!!! You're ready to hang Monica for murder one. And do I remember correctly you called Angus everyone's "pet"? (Or that might have been someone else.) But you're cutting slack to people Eva, our heroine, doesn't even like with d*** good reason? Oh say it ain't so!!!!!!  Corrrine is a two-faced schemer who has very deliberately caused Eva a lot of anguish. Christopher is a world-class creep who lives for sticking it to Gideon whenever possible, especially where women are concerned (and we may find out MUCH worse when Gideon explains "unstable and dangerous" as he finally will actually talk to Eva about his family) Elizabeth decided her child was a liar -- when in fact he was a boy (yes, boy - he was pre-teen) that had been victimized in the most awful way a child can be.  THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE TO BE DEFENDED!!!!! I APPLAUD EVA FOR SEEING THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE!!!!! ALREADY GIDEON SEES BOTH "MOMMY DEAREST" AND HIS HALF-BROTHER FOR WHAT THEY ARE!!!. AND ONCE HE AND EVA HAVE THE HONEST TALK ABOUT WHAT'S REALLY BEEN THE DEAL WITH CORRINE THESE LAST THREE WEEKS, GIDEON IS GOING TO UNDERSTAND HOW TWO-FACED CORRINE TRIED TO DESTROY EVA'S LOVE FOR HIM!!!!!  (Whew, there, got that off my chest. I feel lots better now, and I'm still laughing.)

 NOT released publicly. The homicide detectives -- and them only at that point -- got to see those records. And those records most certainly would have contained Eva's name. It's the very main reason why those civil records were under seal.  Getting access to them via a subpoena is NOT the same thing as opening records to the general public. Even after death, someone's juvie criminal record and stuff related to it does not simply become public, nor do any civil cases settled under terms of secrecy.  But prior to Nathan dying under the circumstances he did -- murder -- no cops anywhere would have had the right to look at any of that sealed stuff just for the heck of it. The only reason they got to look at it and look at it immediately was because Nathan had been murdered. That makes his past life, including his juvie crimes and any secret civil settlement cases, an open door to the homicide detectives assigned to solve the case.

Now I don't think Gideon was in the middle of the actual interview yet when Eva called him at the police station on Saturday morning, having just seen a picture proving that on Thursday night, Gideon took Corrine to a party at the f*** pad hotel he used to sleep with Corrine (and every other woman since Corrine up to Eva herself). Â He wouldn't have been able to answer a call if he was in the middle of being questioned by homicide detectives. He was probably cooling his jets in the interview room, sitting there with his lawyer, while the cops watched him, maybe through the two way mirror, to see how nervous (or not) he was. It is very common practice for detectives to make an actual suspect wait in an interrogation room for a bit before the questioning starts. Meanwhile, the cops will take advantage of an opportunity to watch a suspect via a two-way mirror. Â Dumb, dumb, dumb of Gideon to answer that call. Maybe he feared Eva leaving a voice mail. Or maybe he just needed to figure out by the sound of her voice just how mad she was after last night -- and get her to let him call her back. He tried coolly saying "I really can't talk right now." But Eva refused to hang up -- and she was a whole lot worse than just mad. And she made it clear -- she wanted exactly one minute of his time for him to listen to exactly what she had called up to say. Â Her side of the conversation starts on page 285. She's on the phone in her bedroom. There's a lot to be read into how Gideon acts on his end plus some background noise. The gist: Â Eva starts immediately by demanding to know whether he saw the Nathan pictures. He keeps trying to cut her off, but he's finally forced to answer yes. He's changed from cool and collected to biting out words. Because OMG Eva has found out about the pictures, he must have been frightened to hear. This is bad. The cops have got to be watching though as he gets more and more tense. Eva then tears his head off about him blowing off couples therapy to go with Corrine to that party that was a publicity thing for the vodka account that had been so important to Eva at work. So now Gideon knows Eva knows about him being with Corrine at THAT hotel (the f*** pad) and she's assuming the absolute worst. Â At this point in the phone call, Eva heard the sound of a chair being abruptly pushed back. Obviously Gideon has just leaped to his feet and is either pacing the interview room or if the door isn't locked, walked out of it. Because things just went from bad to a whole lot worse. Next, Eva got to the heart of what she really wanted to say -- calling him a coward for not ending things before he started sleeping with Corrine again. For the first time, Gideon starts to try to talk to her. "Eva. God*** it" he says. Now he's really dropped the mask, because things are REALLY bad with Eva. She's absolutely convinced he's f****** Corrine. Then comes the worst of all -- Eva telling him he's broken her heart, but she understands how he must feel about her now from having seen those pictures. His voice is barely a whisper as he says "stop." He must have been in agony now. Not only does Eva believe he's sleeping with Corrine but she believes those pictures are what drove him away from her and back into Corrine's arms. She doesn't stop. She still continues to say she doesn't blame him (which is her way of basically admitting she understands she's damaged goods.) She has trouble speaking, so she pauses. When she resumes, she's now started crying. One last time, he tries to get her to stop by saying "Christ, please stop, Eva." She finishes by telling him she's done (clearly meaning done with him.) Then she hangs up. Based on what Detective Graves told her weeks later, Graves had been watching Gideon's face. By the time the call was over, he looked like someone had died. Right then and there, Gideon probably shot right to the top of the suspect list. Because he made a huge mistake taking that call. Better to have let it go to voice mail and called Eva back later.

Based on everything they found in the room with Nathan's body showing interest in Eva (and Gideon too, she was the sole reason Eva was famous) plus the court paperwork they would have quickly gotten unsealed revealing Nathan raped Eva as a child, the cops already clearly had four people to talk to right away:  Eva herself. Gideon (by virtue of being her boyfriend and of some interest to Nathan). Monica (who got the total of $7 million dollars from Nathan's father to settle the civil case.) Stanton (who years later after he married Monica paid a lot of money to further tighten the secrecy of those old records.) In order, this is how they worked their way down that list:  They started with Eva, showing up unannounced at her apartment Friday evening, sometime less than twelve hours after they first found the body. By pure luck, Gideon was there, so the cops got a two-fer. When the cops showed up at Eva's, they didn't come out and say Nathan was dead, much less than he was murdered. They just asked Eva if she knew Nathan (oh yes, her reaction showed) and whether she knew he was in New York (definitely not, her same reactions showed.) Next, Detective Graves asked Gideon "Do you know Nathan Barker." Gideon very carefully replied "You wouldn't be asking that question if you didn't already know the answer." To say "no" would be a lie they could catch him in. He didn't deny knowing Nathan -- but he never said how he knew Nathan, something that would open up additional questioning. And of course, Gideon did not act like he had any clue why a detective was asking. They had still not yet said Nathan was dead, and Gideon was playing dumb. Then they turned back to Eva and asked her where she had been Thursday, Eva's father, a cop himself, recognized the significance of that question. When a detective asks that, a detective is trying to find out if someone's got an alibi. That's when Victor stopped them and demanded to know the reason for the visit. Soon as Victor found out Nathan had been found dead, he told them Eva wasn't saying another word without a lawyer, and he told the cops to leave. The cops backed off on Eva, but turned right around and asked Gideon where he had been Thursday. He offered to walk them out. I'm certain that on the way down, he would have told them. It would be to his benefit to do so -- they might have immediately crossed him off their list of suspects because he did, in fact, have an alibi. Gideon probably was counting on that. Then he'd rebuff any more questions, offering to come down to the station with his lawyer in order to help clear up any more questions. The cops went to see Stanton and Monica at home the early the next morning (Saturday). Obviously, they weren't there very long, and it's safe to say that Stanton would have agreed to make an appointment to go down to the station along with a lawyer. As soon as the cops left, Monica went running to see Eva. After the cops left Stanton and Monica, they went back to the police station to more formally question Gideon (who obviously would have had a lawyer with him.) Because Gideon was at the station when Eva called his cell.

 I think the pictures in the hotel room were clippings of Eva and Gideon from the papers and maybe some candids of her. Nathan wouldn't keep any of the p*** shots in the room -- too dangerous. If Stanton or Gideon decided to sic the cops on him and child p*** images were found in his room, he'd go to prison for a long time.  Besides, Gideon was in and out of that room only long enough to stab Nathan once right through the heart and make sure he was dead. Nathan would have gone into cardiac arrest within a minute. Gideon needed to worry about sneaking away from the scene without getting stopped. God forbid he were to get stopped and be caught red-handed with stuff from Nathan's room. That would link him directly to the crime scene -- game over.  When the cops found Nathan dead, they would have immediately been able to get subpoenas to crack open all sorts of confidential court paperwork on Nathan -- from the secret financial settlement to any juvie criminal records (Nathan was 12 when he started raping Eva and 16 when he got caught.) That's how they'd piece together the connection between Nathan and Eva. They'd also find out Stanton and Monica paid big money to further tighten the secrecy seals. The cops could have had all of this information in their hands within hours of finding the body.  This evidence alone would lead police to conclude Nathan was trying to extort money from Stanton and Monica to stop him from going to the very tabloids that were following Eva and tell the tabloids the big secret Stanton and Monica tried so hard to hide. If Stanton was willing to pay strangers, he'd be more than willing to pay Nathan to continue to hide the secret. And if Nathan were willing to try to blackmail Stanton, it would stand to reason he'd try to blackmail Gideon too -- Gideon is one of the richest men in the whole world.  The cops might not even know about the existence of the p***. I seriously doubt Gideon, Stanton nor Monica would have told them about it. Lawyers next to them, they would have refused to answer any questions about the extortion attempts, because to do so could incriminate themselves by further reinforcing they all had motive for wanting Nathan dead.  If they do know about the p*** by now, it's because they themselves were able to follow the same money trail Gideon had been to find bank boxes or storage units Nathan had as they continued to work the case over the two weeks since they found the body. But a huge difference with the cops is they could do something very easily that Gideon could not - via subpoena seize the contents.

 One more thing to add to the detailed post above about all of Corrine's long history of chasing Gideon, a technique that worked right on up to Corrine making the huge mistake of stopping chasing .... a mistake Corrine is now undoing ....  Corrine would not be fighting so dirty now if she honestly thought she had absolutely no chance whatsoever to get Gideon back. She drove Eva away in order to get Gideon back for herself. She spent weeks plotting, and for the past three weeks (as Reflected closed) she believed she had won. Because Eva was gone -- absolutely gone and apparently for good. Corrine had Gideon all to herself again.  And in a way Corrine HAD won, temporarily. The insecurity and jealousy Corrine so carefully stoked finally made Eva dump Gideon. The reasons for the break-up were far more complicated than Corrine could have ever known, but the last straw was Gideon with Corrine at the f*** pad hotel. As soon as Eva saw the picture, she dumped Gideon.  What did Corrine do when Eva showed up weeks later and threw some very brutal facts into Corrine's face -- what I like to call a "clue-by-four"  Was it resignation? Nope, it was rage. Corrine wouldn't have been so angry if she honestly believed all she (Corrine) and Gideon now were -- all they would EVER be -- is just friends.  "I'm the one he's spending time with," Corrine threw into Eva's face (page 312.)  THAT'S Corrine clinging to her delusion that Gideon's ACTIONS show he's picked Corrine over Eva.

My guess is initially, the cops believed the blackmail was the motive to kill. Monica and Stanton paid a lot of money to keep secret the fact Eva was raped under Monica's nose. Now Eva's a minor celebrity, Monica is a prominent socialite -- and Nathan's got the power to leak the hidden secret about both women.  At that time, they had not yet pieced together that Nathan had jumped Cary and beaten him with a dangerous weapon (a bat) so badly Nathan could have killed him. They never even asked Cary whether he knew about  Nathan. The only people they asked about Nathan in the first crucial 24 hours of the investigation were Eva, Gideon, Stanton and Monica. Eva was the only person instantly ruled out.  I think the cops initially tried finding evidence that one or more of their chief suspects hired a hitman to do it. All of them had motive and all of them were filthy rich enough to pay for a contract killer.  It took three separate detective visits to the party hotel in order to uncover a possible hole in Gideon's alibi on Thursday night. Now Gideon had opportunity to do the crime himself. Probably by then too, they would have finally fit the Cary attack into the picture, which would give Gideon entirely new motive for wanting Nathan dead -- he was a very serious danger to Eva herself.

 Hi Michele --  Probably the key indicator is something Sylvia said in response to a spoiler question when she revealed a huge secret that wasn't spelled out anywhere in Reflected -- Nathan showed up at Gideon's office with hurtful pictures of Eva. That's why he had blood (not Corrine's lipstick) on his shirt cuff -- he physically attacked Nathan. Nathan had shown up unannounced with hurtful pictures of Eva. What else could that be but sexual? Candid shots of her around town wouldn't be "hurtful."  Also: Eva found out about the photos from her mother after Nathan was murdered and the cops had come around. Page 275 of Reflected, this is what Monica said: "He has -- had -- photos, Eva." Her lower lip began to quiver. "And video. Of you." Eva reacted by moaning, crying and coming close to fainting. Monica held her and comforted her, not needing to say anything more. If those pictures had been anything other than sexual, Monica would have quickly re-assured Eva otherwise instead of crying herself.  I think the only reason Monica even told Eva was Eva was bound to find out anyway from the cops as the investigation continued. At that point (Saturday morning) the cops had seen Eva but not questioned her in any great length. But Monica would have feared that was coming next for everyone involved, once everyone was properly "lawyered up."  Consider this: Why would Stanton be willing to seriously consider paying $2.5 million for amateur photos of Eva walking around New York when there were professional paparazzi photos of Eva all over the place? Why would Stanton even be considered as a murder suspect over some harmless pictures? However, evidence of Eva being raped, a secret Stanton and Monica fought very hard to keep, most certainly would be a motive to either shell out even more money -- or worse -- kill Nathan.  Nathan had been a sexual sadist who brutally raped Eva for years. From one of her nightmares we learned the more she struggled, the more excited he became, and he'd start talking dirty. It would be completely within that sadism to secretly videotape that and take secret photographs for his own private p***  Indeed, collecting "trophies" is part of that pathology of sadists, and photographs are a pretty common form of trophy.

In his own way (as best as he was capable of) he did love Corrine and care deeply about her. That's a huge difference between being in love, but Corrine probably mistook love for in-love. Why else would he agree to marry her? He must have loved her!! Certainly, he cared deeply for her. In fact, as Bared wrapped up, Gideon still did care about her -- care enough to let her emotionally lean on him.  The main problem back years was sexual, which Corrine refused to settle for back then, but only after three solid years of waiting for things to improve. She'd most certainly settle for it now -- settle for anything, so desperate is she to get back the man she never got over. Especially because Corrine has learned only very recently Gideon's sexual hang-ups are a thing of the past.  She's waited for Gideon for all of three weeks? That's nothing. Here's my case for the argument Corrine will be patient for however long it takes to get Gideon back into bed and then get him to the altar:  Two years into their relationship, Gideon still would not spend the night with her, nor would he have sex with her any other place but that specific hotel. She waited two whole years before she did something to try to fix that -- convincing him to marry her. "Maybe I'd open up more" is exactly how Gideon put it when recounting the history to Eva (Bared page 328). Once they were engaged, Corrine waited another solid year for things to fix themselves before she finally tried something -- ending the engagement. Gideon was convinced (and I'm sure he was right) Corrine did this not to leave him, but rather, to force him to fight for the relationship. It backfired badly. At that time, I think Corrine actually did cut her losses. She went on to marry another man and move far away from Gideon. She tried for years to get over Gideon. But it didn't work, and her marriage failed. " ... it was the biggest mistake of my life walking away," Corrine herself told Eva. Right around the time Corrine left her husband, Gideon also started telling her about Eva -- including how Eva was getting him to do what Corrine had tried all those years ago -- open up. Corrine herself thanked Eva for that when Corrine crashed that fundraiser. I wonder whether it was the knowledge Gideon had begun opening up that prompted Corrine to leave France and go running back to New York. I am 100% convinced Magdalene (who was there that night and had been talking to Corrine) couldn't resist telling her how crazy Gideon has been over Eva -- including recounting the fact Gideon had sex with Eva in the library of his parents' house in the middle of a a huge party. At the fundraiser, Magdalene most certainly was on Team Eva, not Team Corrine. Magdalene was still on Team Eva the next morning when she called Eva at work to disparage Corrine and convince Eva that Gideon was thinking of Eva, not Corrine, last night. Corrine may have actually found that encouraging everything Magdalene tried using as ammo in a mind game -- Gideon's become very sexually adventurous. Obviously, his old hang-up about hotel sex is gone. Yet at the same time, Corrine must have found deeply disturbing watching Gideon literally fight for Eva against Dr. Lucas and literally watch Gideon chase after Eva when Eva walked out on Gideon. I've said this before but I'll keep saying it again -- I think something inside Corrine snapped then. She turned desperate and willing to do anything to get Gideon. And she started the very next day by trying to get him to see her alone at his office midday, her best shot for getting him to maybe have lunch with her. Showing up unannounced to see Gideon when he was with Eva in public turned out to be a very bad idea. Time to start attempting showing up unannounced where she could have Gideon's sole attention.  Even if -- IF -- he's steadfastly saying "just friends" to the world he's treating her as something definitely more than friends. He's taken her out to dinner, just the two of them. He's taken her as his "date" to a very public work function (which just happened to be at a place of extreme sentimental value to their past, given that for three years, he used to make love to her upstairs there.)  Even now, three weeks later, she's actually meeting him at the Crossfire at the very end of the work day so they can leave together, just the two of them climbing into one of his cars to go somewhere.  Mind you, dinner at Tableau One, the party at the hotel, and Corrine leaving the Crossfire with Gideon after work are the only times that Eva found out about, completely on her own. Especially the third time -- that was pure accident, and Gideon froze when he got caught. So those are the only three that we readers know about. There HAS to be more times. A LOT more times over the course of weeks. We'll find out the full extent in Entwined when (thank God!) Gideon and Eva can FINALLY talk openly about Corrine.  The more the murder investigation pressure mounted, the more time Gideon would have been spending with Corrine in order to fool people into thinking they were getting serious again. Why wouldn't Corrine read something into Gideon spending increasing amounts of time with her -- and only her. During the fight with Eva, Corrine did say one thing that most obviously was true -- she was spending enough time with Gideon to know for a fact he wasn't seeing Eva at all. Which means Corrine's been with him a lot for three weeks now.

The (false public) fact of the matter is Gideon Cross doesn't give a d*** about Eva Trammell anymore. She humiliated him in front of the band itself. Other than losing his temper on the spot, Gideon hasn't done a single thing to the band in retribution. Instead, he retaliated against Eva by dumping her that very weekend. And now (if the tabloids are to be believed) Gideon's once again seeing the great love of his life (Corrine) who he'd wanted to marry years ago. So when Eva is exposed as Golden, the band members won't have anything to lose by gossiping about her wild past -- and Christopher Jr. personally would be thrilled about the "truth" about the "real" Eva. Before she was a socialite, she was a s***. Eva embarrassed Gideon badly in front of some people -- but now it's Eva's turn for humiliation. The public is going to find out from the tabloids just how much of a s*** she used to be -- what those lyrics really mean about how she used to drop down on her knees and beg Brett. Brett might be pretty mad at his band members for painting less than a flattering picture about Eva, but part of that song talks all about how Eva used to throw herself at him. Those lyrics are actually true -- and the band saw it with their own eyes. Brett didn't mean it to be vicious when he wrote the song, but other people could twist the meaning. Gideon himself did while still furious with Eva in the back of his limo. "He's had your mouth" is among the things Gideon said in anger, an obvious evil twist to the lyrics "Later, you'll drop to your knees."  (In fact, Brett himself used to laugh at Eva and say pretty nasty things about her. What finally made Eva pull a runner on Brett was overhearing him talking about -- and laughing about -- Eva to his drummer, Darrin, apparently over the fact Eva had just finished f**** his brains out just outside in a car. Brett later became very sorry about the fact she disappeared, but it doesn't change the fact that everyone could see back then what a hot mess Eva actually was -- was before her Dad put her in therapy and Dr. Travis worked wonders through years of therapy.)  As for Christopher, he'd think he's got an even better shot now at getting Eva to sleep with him. If Eva would throw herself into Brett's arms while she was going out with Gideon, Eva would be open to throwing herself at another man (Christopher) too. Turns out Eva's more than just some wild socialite who had sex in his parents' library while a huge society party was in progress just outside. Eva actually f**** Brett in a bathroom stall between sets at concert back in the day. And she would (and did) f**** Brett every chance she got, even though Brett was f****** plenty of other groupies too at the same time he was sleeping with Eva. In fact, I'll bet Christopher is such a creep he'll think that the night of the concert, Eva snuck outside with Brett to f*** him in the parking area -- she'd have done it too if she hadn't gotten caught before the pair of them really got going. It's a sad truth that although Gideon would do anything to stand up for Eva, protect her and cherish her, the fact is right now he CAN'T do anything of the sort to other people. So anyone (from gossiping band members to Christopher to even Corrine herself) can be as vicious as they want, and Gideon's gotta just sit back acting like he could care less about Eva. BUT  ..... Gideon would be put in a place where he would have trust Eva to handle the situation -- handle Brett, handle the band, handle Christopher. It'd be a great opportunity for Gideon to grow -- which truly IS a silver lining.  Plus the consolation will be that if the story gets out about Eva turning out to be some wild woman who humiliated Gideon in front of other people, now more than ever, the cops cannot hope to sell a jury on the idea he had a motive to kill for her. Because he didn't "conveniently" dump Eva a few days before killing Nathan. Nathan was very much alive when Eva did something to make Gideon despise her.  If it ever came down to it, Gideon could put a parade of witnesses on the stand from his oldest friend (Arnoldo) to a bunch of strangers how furious he was with Eva that night -- so furious he had her dragged out of his very sight. Even one of Eva's own friends (Shawna) could testify to that. Truthfully too. Angus is the only one who knows Gideon later had Eva brought back and they worked out their differences that night.  In fact, faced with the insurmountable task now of showing it wasn't a lie Gideon dumped Eva, maybe that is what's going to make the cops/prosecutor FINALLY drop the case. Their opportunity side of the case is very weak (only a possible hole in Gideon's alibi.) Make the motive side even weaker and they'll maybe decide they don't dare try to prosecute.

Dr. Lucas is, however, a much more dangerous situation, because Gideon did show he still cares for Eva. Gideon went after her at Lucas' office and demanded that Lucas "run the other way" if Lucas sees Eva.  Eva's threats against Lucas tie directly to Elizabeth. Obviously, there is some sort of connection there, so there is a chance Lucas is going to contact Elizabeth, and together they will plot against Eva to stop her from digging into the past.  Plus, Lucas has very strong motive to hurt Eva in revenge for Gideon having hurt Lucas' wife. And of all the people involved, he fears Gideon the least, in terms of reprisal, because the two of them are openly bitter enemies. Now Eva openly made herself Lucas' enemy too.  As Reflected ended, there are three characters who are now open antagonists of Eva: Corrine, Elizabeth and Lucas. Just beneath the surface, Christopher Jr. is a fourth antagonist. A very creepy man (and Gideon has hinted Christopher is "unstable and dangerous") Christopher has made it clear he wants to go out with Eva.  Another potential antagonist is Christopher Sr., currently a seemingly harmless background character. But he was the man with the money and all the power over Gideon as a child -- and a man who it is clear didn't ever care for Gideon. I think Christopher Sr. will emerge as the true villain who had been the architect of the cover-up. And with Eva threatening to expose that cover-up all these years later, Christopher Sr. has very good motive to try to do something very bad to Eva. He'll probably try something too, and that will set up the ultimate showdown Gideon has with his stepfather -- to protect Eva.

This is key: Until it is safe to openly go back to Eva, Gideon has to act like Eva meant nothing to him and he wants nothing more to do with her. So on the surface, he cannot lift a finger to defend and protect Eva against anything his mother, Corrine, and/or Christopher do. To protect Eva would demonstrate he cares for Eva, and that's now become more dangerous than ever. And it's most dangerous of all to have any open contact with Eva.  Gideon's lack of any concern apparent concern for Eva gives all three of them (Elizabeth, Corrine and Christopher) an advantage in that any or all of them can do things to try to hurt Eva and not face any open reprisal. Thus they can keep at it. It also creates a vulnerable situation for Eva in that the three of them, falsely believing Gideon wouldn't care even if he did find out, can declare "open season" on Eva. She's got a bull's eye painted on her.  Why do you think Corrine made sure, because she asked very early in the confrontation, that Gideon had absolutely no idea Eva had shown up on her (Corrine's) doorstep. Once she ascertained that Eva still wasn't in contact with Gideon, Corrine tried going on the offensive (not that it worked -- Eva kept the upper hand throughout the entire fight.)  So what's going to happen when Corrine tells Gideon about crazy Eva, which I'm absolutely certain Corrine will do in order to head Eva off at the pass, covering herself (Corrine) because there's a risk Eva might try to re-establish contact with Gideon. Corrine will lie through her teeth painting Eva as a nutjob. So Gideon's most likely response will be "just ignore her, Corrine -- she doesn't matter." To do anything else, especially for Gideon to offer to "talk to Eva" would be just too dangerous. Meanwhile, Corrine, believing falsely that Gideon plans to continue to keep Eva shut out of his life, now has free reign to openly try messing with Eva. No more stuff behind people's (especially Gideon's) back while maintaining that sweet appearance.  At best, with Christopher Jr., Gideon could tell him "stay away from Eva." And Christopher will respond by "try and stop me." What's Gideon going to do to stop him? He can't (not openly). Besides, Gideon has already admitted to Eva that he's failed in various ways in the past to try to curb Christopher. Everything from making threats to throwing money at him hasn't worked. Gideon told Eva that now, all Gideon does is to try damage control.

Combing responses to a few different points from above: Â Christopher had been sleeping with Magdalene, who in a way was one of Gideon's rejects -- rejects in that Gideon refused to sleep with Magdalene. I'll be Christopher has been lurking around trying to seduce every socialite who failed to seduce Gideon. Probably succeeded in several cases, too, especially among those with self-esteem issues. But Corrine and Eva both represent the ultimate prize as the only girlfriends who also were sexual partners with Gideon. I'll bet Christopher will try his hardest to get both of them in bed. Magdalene has known Gideon for a very long time. Their mothers are best friends. That's the obvious connection. At the very least, Magdalene and Gideon would have been at the same family parties, especially around the holidays. The families may have even sometimes vacationed together, which is quite common with the very wealthy. I agree that Corrine's contact with the Vidals would have been limited in the past -- limited in that Gideon wouldn't be spending much time with his family, so he wouldn't be bringing Corrine along. But I can easily see Elizabeth spending lots of time with Corrine on her own, hoping that her future daughter-in-law could be the means by which Elizabeth could finally bridge the huge gap Gideon created. And I can see Corrine (who was sweet and kind back then) being more than willing to try to help Elizabeth, feeling sorry for how much Elizabeth missed her son and wanting to do whatever she (Corrine) could do to heal the family rift. Remember, Corrine would have had zero idea of why Gideon (with very good reason) did not love his mother nor wasn't close at all to his then-teenaged half-brother nor pre-school half-sister. And as a future daughter-in-law, it would be normal for Corrine to get to know the Vidals as best she can, even if Gideon himself limited his own contact with them. Corrine wouldn't take "sides." (Unlike Eva, who especially when she knew the truth about Christopher and guessed some of the truth about Elizabeth, clearly took Gideon's side.) I can also see present day Elizabeth and Corrine reconnecting -- Corrine is repeating the old pattern of chasing Gideon, which would also involve "chasing" his family, because Corrine's aim is to become family herself. Elizabeth would be all too receptive to any fresh chance to forge a new permanent connection, and Corrine would be open to becoming close to any or all of Gideon's only close blood kin. Corrine will try any and everything to insert herself into Gideon's life for good. Eva hates very much how badly Elizabeth damaged Gideon, by refusing to take the word of a child he was being sexually abused. This is a little different from hating the woman herself. However, Eva obviously has zero respect for Elizabeth, because Elizabeth was horribly at fault. But Eva, as an avenging angel on Gideon's behalf, has sworn to find out what happened about the abuse being covered up. This does pit her against Elizabeth and Dr. Lucas -- so yes, Eva has made herself their enemy.

At the risk of being the spelling and grammar police (because I am a professional writer.) Â The name of Eva's best friend and roommate is Cary Taylor. That's Cary, not Carey-with-an-e. Â O.K. ladies, you can now use against me one of Eva's favorite expressions, "Oh shut up."Â