LN Cronan

I think that picture IS the clue. We're being given one word -- press -- along with a visual of a pen and a newspaper to make sure it is clear that the press is somehow going to factor into Chapter One. Â There's no link to click on to find text (i.e. to read a snippet). It's simply that one word, press. Â Very clever!!!! Sylvia has found all new ways to whet our appetite. And whip us up into a lather. Love it!

I see a fuzzy shot of a newspaper in the background, a pen in the foreground and the word Press. I've got two separate theories: Â More of Gideon continuing to deliberately manipulate the media, especially the tabloids, via continuing to appear in public with Corrine even though he is now secretly seeing Eva. The cops leaking the story to the media that a former step family member of socialites Eva Trammel and her mother Monica Stanton had been found murdered a couple of weeks earlier in New York City. I'm sure the media would mention why Eva is famous enough to be tabloid fodder -- she recently had a hot and heavy thing going on with celebrity billionaire Gideon Cross. Why I like # 1 better: I can see Gideon and Eva making a pact in Chapter One that whatever the danger, they find a way to spend stolen time together. In order to lessen the risk, Gideon is going to need to keep up the public lie he's seeing Corrine. Eva will be willing to put up with that, now that she knows the truth about why Gideon started living that lie. Â His public behavior at the start of Entwined would be a continuation of what he started doing halfway through Reflected. Especially because we know he deliberately set things up to have himself photographed with Corrine on at least two separate occasions the week of the murder. And those are just the ones we know about, because Eva saw those. She quit looking after the picture of the party at the hotel, but Gideon was continuing to spend time with Corrine. Eva caught him red-handed coming out of the Crossfire with Corrine a couple of weeks later. Â Why I think #2 is a possibility Maybe the cops want to continue to turn up the heat on Gideon and Eva, including even draw out of the woodwork people who might know something. Such as a witness who can place Gideon near Nathan's hotel the night of the murder. Or perhaps make it harder for Eva to walk around in public unnoticed, because suddenly she'd be back in the news again, this time for something even juicier than being Gideon's now-former girlfriend.

Being a little silly and snarky here -- just because Corrine entered the Crossfire that day and then came out looking freshly f***** might make it reasonable to assume she met with Gideon, police could conclude if a cop had watched her enter the building and then later emerge mussed up. But because the cops couldn't prove through eyewitnesses inside, including the security desk, she got to go upstairs to Gideon's office, a jury certainly would have reasonable doubt they ever met. (Unlike Eva, who at the time was convinced they "met" and did more than that, ha, ha.)  Note: the fact Gideon had no clue Corrine had even been in the building, when Eva first confronted him, leaves me to conclude Corrine never made it past the lobby. The lobby security desk would have called up to Scott, who if Gideon were available, would have asked Gideon whether he could see Mrs. Giroux. If Gideon said yes, then Scott would have told the desk to send her up, and Scott would have had her wait in reception. But we know at the time, Gideon had Nathan in his office -- and so he would have told Scott no interruptions under any circumstances.  So Scott would have instructed the desk to politely inform Mrs. Giroux Gideon was unavailable and that Gideon would be given a message she had been by. (A message he hadn't yet had the time to deliver when Gideon was literally cleaning up after Nathan and Eva simply barged past him into Gideon's office.)  At the time, Corrine wouldn't have been on a pre-approved list to simply ask Scott to schedule her in to see Gideon, nor would she have been allowed to go past the lobby onto the elevators. Gideon had found out only the night before she was back in town. Plus, she had complained the night before Gideon hadn't been returning all of her phone messages -- so this indicates to me there wasn't any standing order for Scott to interrupt him any time Corrine called, let alone allow Corrine to drop by his office unannounced.  So if it ever came down to it, all the cops could say with any certainty is that Corrine entered the Crossfire at X time and departed at Y time. But when the cops then tried to follow the inside trail through questioning the building staff and the check-in log at the security desk, they would have found out for certain Corrine never made it past the lobby -- that she was in fact, turned away. (And actually in the case of the Crossfire, all the cops really would need to do is check the security camera tapes.)  This is a sharp contrast to the night Eva went straight from Detective Graves to Gideon's building. Through eyewitness accounts, and the downstairs desk check-in log (and maybe even security footage of the apartment building lobby) the police would be able to prove much more than Eva entered the building. They could prove Eva made it all the way upstairs to Gideon's apartment. And that soon after, Gideon arrived home and went upstairs to his apartment too. The prosecutor could convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt Eva and Gideon met face to face. And the longer they were up there together, the stronger the argument that the pair of them seriously talked about what Graves had just revealed to Eva.

Paying for school may or may not have included room and board (i.e the dorms.) It is possible she moved in with Victor, but I think it's more likely she lived on campus at first but saw him often. I can also see Monica eventually persuading her to live in a secure apartment building (like in New York, though not nearly as lavish) instead of a college dormitory. It's very common for students who go away to school full-time to live in a dorm at first, and it's not uncommon for students to eventually move off campus.  Victor insisted on paying for college, but I can see Monica having her way about helping to financially support Eva in other ways, from living expenses to spending money. I can't see Victor saying "no" to that, especially after he'd won the argument to pay for Eva's college education (i.e tuition plus possibly the dorms.) He wanted to make sure she got an education -- he wasn't totally supporting her in order to somehow get back at the fact her mother rejected him financially many years ago.  It's not like Eva was rejecting all of the financial security a wealthy, loving mother could provide, despite the fact her relationship was rocky with Mom. It was rocky -- it wasn't 100% estrangement. Look at how Eva acquiesced to moving (along with Cary) into that very fancy New York apartment. When Eva went away to school, she hadn't "run away from home" cut all ties with her mother and was still a minor that her other parent had to support. She just wanted to go away to school in order to get away from her mother's daily suffocation. I think it's sweet she decided at the same time, now that she was an adult and could live where she wanted, to move across the country in order to get to know her Dad.  As for counseling, full-time college students are required to have medical insurance (schools insist on this.) At the time, the eligibility age to remain on a parent's insurance would have been through age 21 (and now is through age 26). That would have paid for the counseling. Beyond that, Victor (who knew Dr. Travis) could have gotten a sliding-fee scale discount. Or, once Eva turned 21, Monica could have begun paying for Eva's medical insurance out of pocket herself. Again, I can't see Victor saying "no" to his daughter having less than the best insurance, in case she got sick or injured. Especially if that insurance guaranteed she could continue with counseling that apparently was working to help her get her head on straight.  Victor couldn't absolutely force his daughter into counseling (which is mental health medical treatment). She wasn't a minor anymore. But he could convince her to see a therapist, telling her he was very worried about her. And I can see her agreeing to abide by his wishes, because she knew (he didn't) she actually was a mess inside. I'm sure Victor saw lots of signs, open and subtle, that Eva was wild. In Bared, there is passing reference to Victor knowing about at least two wild boyfriends Victor did not approve of - some rock singer (this would have been Brett) and some scumbag boyfriend he pulled over one night (the one getting a b*** job from some other woman while he was driving.)  Bottom line -- Eva gives in to her mother a lot (frankly way too much) in order to appease her into getting off her back. She obviously loves and respects her Dad, and she pays attention to him when he is concerned. So even at her most rebellious, I can see her giving into many of their wishes.

 If she was tailed, Eva would have been seen entering the apartment building. Plus (though she was in a daze and thus didn't remember doing it) she checked in with the downstairs desk in order to go be allowed to enter Gideon's private elevator and go upstairs. So in addition to an eyewitness trail both outside and inside the building, there is a paper trail at the front desk. Additionally, they could question the front desk person to confirm Eva was on the pre-approved list to be allowed to go upstairs whenever she wanted. Finally, because it's a private elevator to the penthouse, there's only one place she could have gone upstairs..  Gideon was at his own gym when she arrived. Sometime soon after Eva got there and was waiting outside his door, he arrived home, and he would have been seen entering by the cop(s) outside. His own doorman and his own front desk person could be questioned to confirm he went to the elevator and rode upstairs.  Together, this would be enough for a jury to believe beyond reasonable doubt the police assertion they met. Not exactly what they talked about. But that they met. What's more, a jury likely would believe beyond reasonable doubt the police theory about why Eva went there and what she wanted to talk about -- exactly what Detective Graves had just told her. Because Eva would have been followed (and timed) the entire way going directly from point A (Detective Graves at the Krav Maga studio) to Point B (Gideon's building) and then to Point C (rode the private elevator to his apartment itself.)  The book excerpt we have for Entwined strongly suggests Eva left (or was sent away) almost immediately after Gideon found her on his doorstep. The excerpt definitely indicates she and Gideon didn't really talk -- and she she had no idea if/when they would be able to. But Gideon felt such a need to talk to her that he sneaked into her apartment an hour later, to do just that.  My theory: he found out from his own people almost immediately upon arriving home that she had been tailed to his building. It's not like his own people would have simply ordered Eva to leave when she was sitting there on his doorstep. But once Gideon got to the building, they would have immediately alerted him to something crucial -- the police had tailed her from her own gym right to his building. So Gideon then immediately sent her away in order to give the appearance they did not, in fact, talk. Or talk at any length. If it came down to it, one or the other could testify he sent her away as a crazy ex girlfriend trying to confront him with a kooky theory. He told her to "leave right now"   Meanwhile, underneath that lie "go away Eva, you're nuts" would be the real truth -- Gideon realized it was incredibly dangerous for her to stay any length of time. The longer she was there, the more convincing the police argument would be that they had a serious conversation about what Graves said -- and the stronger the case Gideon very possibly said something about whether or not some or all of Graves' accusations were, in fact, true. If the cops had very good reason to suspect Gideon talked, they could then start putting pressure on Eva to either voluntarily tell them what Gideon said or try to force her (via means of threatening to charge her themselves) to testify under forced immunity.  Bottom line -- the longer Eva stayed at Gideon's, the greater the argument the trap might have begun working beautifully.

Gideon kept Eva in the dark about Nathan's murder for more than just the reason he feared she'd leave him forever if she knew he was capable of killing.  Because if Eva knows for a fact he did do it, she herself becomes legally tied up in the case and could even face charges herself for everything from keeping quiet (obstruction) to helping him avoid getting charged (accessory after the fact.)  This is the very trap the cops have laid. To put her in a position where she has only two choices  Do the right thing by cooperating with the police Go down herself alongside him  I think Eva and Gideon's best hope now is that the cops will screw up when they spring the trap, doing something that ends up violating constitutional rights -- and thus the evidence they obtain will be inadmissable. They are walking a very thin line right now, especially because Eva's also has expressly invoked her right to have a lawyer.  I think the cops are hoping the case won't ever go to trial period -- that Gideon will sacrifice himself under a plea deal in order to ensure Eva does not go to prison too.

Gideon is NOT free to simply move around anymore, not when he's the chief suspect in a murder case. Not unless he wants to find himself go from suspect to formally-charged defendant so fast it will make his head spin. Nothing will trigger the cops faster than attempted flight while an investigation is underway.  Trust me, that's based on real life stuff I saw for years covering cops and courts. He will have been warned by the cops -- and strongly re-warned by his own lawyers -- to not do anything that would even remotely appear to look like he was fleeing. Cops actually do say such things as "stick around" and "don't leave the state."  Gideon actually could leave the state if his lawyer let the cops know ahead of time, in a show of cooperation, that "my client is travelling to such-and-such place for X amount of time." This would be bending over backwards to prove he is not a flight risk. His benefit to doing this is to help ensure the cops do not rush to get an arrest warrant based on the mere suspicion he's making a run for it.  He could not leave the country -- not unless he absolutely wants to guarantee he'll immediately get indicted for murder, extradited back and held without bail, no matter how strong or weak the police case is at that moment. Leaving the country under any circumstances, when one is a chief suspect in a murder case and has been warned to stick around, would be viewed by any judge as a person being the ultimate flight risk -- and viewed very badly by a jury (because yes, the cops/prosecution most certainly would use it against him.)  Murder is different from every other crime in that chief suspects have very good reason to run -- and look very guilty by doing so. Innocent people stick around -- and bend over backwards through their lawyers to make sure the cops understand beforehand about any need to travel.  And this very idea intrigues me, because of the luggage tags on the cover of Entwined. Will Gideon actually sneak off anyway with Eva while fooling authorities into thinking he's still around? Very risky to do so. But it's even riskier to spend time with Eva in New York. Gideon has the resources (from tinted glass limos to private planes) to be able to (paying trusted people very handsomely to cover his Arse) sneak around. He could consider it the lesser of two evils -- see Eva where the NYPD can't simply tail her.  The U.S. Marshal's service rarely is involved in tracking down a suspect wanted for arrest. The Marshals get involved in tracking down fugitives already convicted (who have either jumped bail while awaiting sentencing or actually escaped from custody, especially Federal custody.) If Gideon took off for Vegas and then New York state indicted him, it likely would be some combo of Las Vegas police, Nevada state police and/or assistance from the FBI in finding him to arrest him. Then he'd face extradition proceedings in the Nevada, and once the way was cleared for him to be taken back to New York, the New York authorities would have to make arrangements to transport him back. The most common way would be to have some New York cops fly to Nevada and drag Gideon back, handcuffed, on a commercial flight. If he were within driving distance (say, North Carolina) New York cops would drive a cruiser down there and haul him back.  This also is done all the time in serious felony cases, most especially murder. Every extradited murder suspect (plus some rape suspects) I ever saw in court was fetched by either the local or state police where the crime happened. If a suspect were within reasonable driving distance, the cops would fetch him/her with a cruiser, driving to the state where the suspect was arrested and held as a fugitive. If he/she were being held in a distant state, the cops fly there on commercial flight, and haul the suspect back on a commercial flight, handcuffed and shackled the whole way.

Hi Mrs. MaJessick, Â You're right about a slew of stuff in your post, especially that the cops are NOT buying Gideon's cover story he dumped Eva. Gideon himself blew that with his reaction to Eva's break-up phone call. Detective Graves saw his face, and at that point, Gideon shot right to the top of the suspect list. Â Knowing it and proving it are two different things. They need more than just their suspicions if they are going to get a slam dunk conviction, or better yet, him to plead under a plea bargain. Technically right now, they do have enough to get an indictment. They've got a good argument for motive. Opportunity is weak -- there's only a tiny possible hole in Gideon's alibi. So their best bet is to build a compelling case for motive, one Gideon's lawyers aren't going to be able to dismantle easily. Right now, it's the cops' word against Gideon's. But Eva's word against Gideon's is a whole other matter. Â Gideon's not going to confess to them -- but they can trick Eva into placing herself in a position where she could incriminate Gideon and/or herself. If Gideon was willing to kill for her, he'd be more than willing to throw himself under the legal bus himself in order to spare her from possibly facing charges herself in connection with the murder. Charges that could range from obstruction (for shielding Gideon after she learned the truth from him) to accessory after the fact (for actively helping him to avoid prosecution by conspiring with him.) Â The cops do have enough evidence to follow Eva around, not only based on Gideon but also based on Stanton and Monica. Eva is a potential "material witness". She's the link between Nathan and all the people who had motive to kill him. Indeed, she herself would have been on the original list of suspects herself. It's why the cops went to see her even before Stanton and Monica (and even before Gideon too -- they got lucky by finding him at Eva's) They eliminated her when they learned she had no clue beforehand about Nathan. But there's a chance she has learned crucial stuff ("material" evidence) since that time. Â There are even legal cases (very, very rare, but I did cover one as a reporter) where a material witness fled the state in order to avoid testifying in a murder trial. She ended up getting extradited back to the state on a warrant for her custody, and getting held in jail herself, because she fled after having been subpoena'd to testify. (The victim was her own child and the accused was her boyfriend. She specifically was fleeing in order to prevent the trial from happening.) Again, this is very rare, and serious murder cases are about the only time this gets done. The point is, though, a potential material witness could be put under surveillance during an investigation, most especially when police are trying to prove direct communication between the witness and the suspect -- and most certainly in a murder case, the most serious of the serious crimes. Â They'll already have been pulling all the electronic paper trail they can on her, from her phone records to her credit card bills, via subpoenas for those documents. They have probable cause to convince a judge to sign a subpoena. But if they want to follow a physical trail, in order to prove she had actually met with someone (in this case, Gideon) they need to actually tail her.

Last word, lest I bore everyone with all the real-life stuff I know about how cops investigate cases and prosecutors take them to trial. Â Even if the cops think Nathan was a scumbag who deserved to die, it is NOT their call to drop the case. That decision rests solely with the prosecution. In Gideon's case, this would be the office of the District Attorney for New York County -- the agency that prosecutes criminal cases in New York City that are being handled under the state of New York laws (here, the murder laws). In a case as involving a celebrity like Gideon, probably the head DA himself/herself would make the final call after a pitch from deputies who worked with the cops during the investigation. Â An ambitious prosecutor would jump all over this case -- it would be the biggest thing since O.J. Simpson (I know, I know, the prosecution lost O.J., but not for lack of trying and spending a fortune on the case.) A smart prosecutor would carefully consider the strength or weakness of the case before formally daring whether or not to charge him -- i.e. unless the state had a very good shot at winning the trial based on solid evidence, the DA might back off. Â In June, I likely get to tell my online friends here "I told you so" when Gideon's case is handled one of two ways: Â The prosecution doesn't dare proceed to the grand jury stage to get Gideon indicted and then arrest him. If the prosecution does arrest him, the case won't go to trial because crucial evidence will get tossed by the judge because the cops end up violating Gideon's and/or Eva's constitutional rights in trapping them. The cops are walking a very narrow line here.

OK, now onto how Detective Graves may have nuked her own case and that all the evidence she gets of Eva and Gideon getting back together because Gideon loved Eva all along might get thrown out of court as inadmissable .....  As soon as Graves started speaking with Eva at the Krav Maga studio, Eva indicated she wanted a lawyer. When Graves opted to continue talking to Eva, technically Graves could do so. Graves even was careful to make it clear she (Graves) was going to do all the talking. This is legal BUT is entering a very dangerous mine field where one wrong step could blow the case. She could talk to Eva but not question Eva.  And Graves blew it when she asked Eva "You broke up with him on the Saturday after we interrupted your dinner." That crossed over from talking to Eva asking Eva a question and getting an answer. It was only one question, and all Eva did was nod in answer, but that was an answer. It was evidence. Graves violated Eva's constitutional rights by questioning Eva without Eva's lawyer present after Eva expressly said she wouldn't talk without one.  Of course Graves knew that Eva called Gideon's cell phone from her home phone at exactly that time on Saturday morning when Gideon was at the station and Graves was watching. A simple check of both of their phone records would show the numbers, time called, and length of phone call. Graves never would have asked if she didn't already know who called who. This is the exact same deal as when Graves asked Gideon whether he knew Nathan, Graves already knew the answer to that.  But Graves did not have proof of what Graves suspected -- that Eva dumped Gideon, not the other way around. She tricked Eva into revealing that one bit of proof. It probably was spur of the moment as Graves kept pressing, knowing that she (Graves) was right all along, Eva's crying confirming Graves' suspicions. Graves was winging it based on the reactions she was getting by talking to Eva, and she pushed just a fraction too hard by actually asking Eva to confirm a suspicion.  So now that little piece of evidence -- Eva's confirmation Gideon didn't break off the relationship -- is now legal poison because it was obtained in violation of constitutional rights. And thus anywhere that piece of evidence leads Graves next is what is known as "fruit of the poisoned tree."  Eva's answer to Graves (the nod) is inadmissable and so anything Graves gathers next based directly and solely on that nod also is inadmissable, because it is the fruit of something inadmissable. Indeed, almost everything else Graves gathers after "running into" Eva is ripe for legal challenge by the defense. But anywhere that answer by Eva to that one question directly lead the cops next is gonna get tossed. What's the first thing Eva did next? Ran to Gideon.  Graves took a huge risk by approaching Eva. Cops do this sometimes. It happens more often than you'd think in real life, pressuring suspects and reluctant witnesses alike. But sometimes, this ends up blowing up in their face. Many cases that never make it to trial end up that way because crucial evidence gets tossed by a judge long before the trial itself, leaving the prosecution without evidence they absolutely need in order to get a conviction.  Graves may now continue to gather her proof the whole Corrine-Gideon-Eva love triangle was one fat lie and central to Gideon's well-planned murder plot. But it'll never get to trial, if a judge rules it's all inadmissable, thanks to Graves' mistake. If Graves can't prove the love triangle was a lie, she can't prove motive. Without motive, the prosecution can't win, especially on a case where the other half, opportunity, is weak. There's a tiny possible hole in Gideon's alibi, but that's shaky at best. Without clear motive to go along with the weak opportunity, the jury won't convict. There's a big enough hole in reasonable doubt "to drive a truck through" as some lawyers would sarcastically say.

Bottom line on the FBI handling murder cases, the FBI sometimes does help lend expertise by express invitation of a state or city police agency -- but the FBI almost never takes over an actual murder case itself from a state. The federal court system (the U.S. Attorney's Office) leaves the vast, vast, VAST majority of homicides to be prosecuted by the state courts. Â There are some circumstances where the FBI almost always takes the case from the get-go and the Federal government, not a state government, prosecutes. But these cases are not your every day ocurrances: Â Serial killers, whose kills are spread wide over many jurisdictions, especially if the serial killers are working multiple states. Even if the kills are just in one state, generally that state will voluntarily relinquish the case to the Feds, because the FBI has such expertise with serial killers. If the kills are inter-state, the Feds automatically have the jurisdiction. Cases where predators lure child victims to other places, such as using the Internet, which is an inter-state means to commit a crime, or in cases where a child is taken across state lines. That's child kidnapping, and all child kidnapping is a Federal crime. (Adult kidnapping is not automatically a federal crime.) Killings committed during bank robberies. Bank robbery is a Federal crime. All bank robberies are investigated by the FBI, and nearly all serious ones automatically prosecuted federally. Sometimes, especially on smaller bank robberies (no one is killed nor seriously injured, and the amount of money stolen is in the thousands, not millions) the Feds might voluntarily relinquish the prosecution of the case to a state court.

Eva went to live in San Diego when she was of college age, and thus legally old enough to move out on her mother. My feeling is she did so to escape Monica's smothering ways. And upon leaving, the wild side she'd had to keep hidden from Mom would erupt. Â Eva went to San Diego to attend San Diego State, which her Dad insisted upon paying tuition for. But nowhere does it say Eva moved in with her father. In fact, that would be highly unlikely -- if the whole point was to have some freedom, Eva isn't going to move out on one parent to move in with another. Especially when the other parent is an ordinary cop, who probably has a modest apartment. Eva would have moved into the college dorms initially and probably gotten her own small apartment sometime later.

 See my answer above about state versus federal (FBI) jurisdiction -- and about the explicit warning Gideon would have been given by the cops to not leave the state of New York.  If Gideon were to leave New York state despite being warned by the cops not to do so and warned by his own lawyer it would be a very bad mistake to do so, then yes the FBI possibly/likely would be involved as soon as the cops got their arrest warrant, but only for the process of getting Gideon arrested and extradited back to New York state, NOT taking over the prosecution. The FBI and/or police in the state where Gideon fled (for example, Nevada) would be involved in arresting him, if Gideon left New York but remained within the United States. If Gideon fled the country, the FBI would get involved with the other country in arresting him.  Eva's trickier. The New York City cops technically can't automatically tail her outside the city, and she's free to go wherever she wants. They would need to ask for and get help from other police agencies, depending upon where Eva went. For example, if she stayed within New York state, the NYPD might ask for help from the New York State Police. If she were to go to Las Vegas, the NYPD would have to ask for help from the Las Vegas Police Department and/or the Nevada State Police -- and/or the FBI, because Eva has crossed a state line. In a real life situation, most likely some NYPD detectives would go to where Eva is in order to do a stake-out along with the express help of another police department, help that most likely would include having some other detectives working alongside the New York cops. And in any case, the NYPD would need to get permission beforehand.

A couple of quick things re: cops and this investigation. Â In real life, the cops would have warned Gideon, in the presence of his lawyer, specifically to not leave the country. They might have even warned him to not leave the state of New York (the murder right now is a state case.)Â Technically, he could leave, because he is not under arrest. BUT to do so, especially to leave the country, would be considered flight. It would make him look guilty, and it would most definitely be used against him in court. Plus it would almost guarantee the cops to immediately get an arrest warrant based on everything they did have at the time. This "don't go anywhere" is done all the time in regular police practice involving murder cases -- if someone is under strong suspicion, the cops bluntly tell the suspect "stick around" so that the suspect and his/her lawyer remain available to them. And his own lawyer would then warn him it would be in his best interest to obey that condition, lest he trigger the cops to get him arrested. An innocent man would stick around. A guilty man, facing a life sentence, would run. Â Right now, Nathan's murder is a state crime -- that is, it is a crime under the laws of the state of New York. No, the FBI would not automatically get called in. The NYPD would have to voluntarily ask the FBI for help -- and even then, the case remains the NYPD's to investigate and the state of New York's to prosecute. Even if the NYPD uncovered a conspiracy between Gideon and Stanton, it still would be a state case initially -- everything happened within the state of New York. The FBI does not have jurisdiction over state crimes, only on certain crimes that are considered federal crimes. A murder case crossing state lines would be one (for example if all the plotting were done in New York, but Nathan was lured to Nevada to be killed in Las Vegas.) Â Â New York would handle a case like Gideon Cross' the way California handled the real-life O.J. Simpson case. With O.J. the Los Angeles police department investigated and the State of California prosecuted him under California state murder laws. The prosecution team was from Los Angeles County. Pre-trial, O.J. was held in the Los Angeles County Jail. had he been convicted, he would have been sent to some maximum security California state prison. And Los Angeles spent a fortune on the case. Unfortunately, the prosecution lost spectacularly because O.J. had an entire team of some of the greatest defense lawyers in the country. Â In real life, the NYPD (or any sizeable police department) would most certainly put Eva under surveillance if they were attempting to trap a suspect using her. And in real life, if the cops need to prove people are meeting in person, they do put one or both of the parties under surveillance. In Eva's case, they need to track her movements in order to document any in-person contact she may have had with Gideon post-murder, such as her immediately running to Gideon's apartment building and then him arriving home. This is one step up from pulling phone records and computer records to show any telephone/text or email contact between the Gideon and her. Â There's a reason why Gideon was very careful to not phone nor text her. Unfortunately, he did not resist the impulse to avoid all in person contact. So if the cops now want to prove in person contact, they have to document it by tailing Eva.

I think that Victor would react as Dad first and then once he calmed down -- and that would take some time -- as a cop second. Â When I said he'd "go postal" I meant his knee-jerk emotional reaction would be to erupt in anger, metaphorically want to lash out. Gideon snapped the stem of a wine glass, but Gideon has had years of practice hiding and controlling his emotions. Victor, as your basic good guy would temporarily lose it. Especially if Eva were not in his presence at the time he learned the truth. If she were (for example, if she were the one to tell him) he'd rage out at the thought of that animal Nathan, but then he'd crumble into sadness at the thought of 10-year-old Eva being raped. I could see Victor weeping. Â And when Victor learns this went on for four years, he's going to be seriously p******* at Monica. Any hidden resentment he has deep inside about her choosing financial security over him would be greatly magnified in his believing (with some reason) that Monica chose financial security over Eva's safety. Yes, Nathan was terrorizing Eva into silence. But Monica should have noticed something was wrong. Â When cop-mode finally would kick in, it'd be interesting to see where this leads Victor. I can envision where it would lead a cop with a great deal of experience working with rape victims -- (i.e. detectives.) But Victor is a street cop, not a detective - and I think there's good reason why Sylvia has made him both a regular good guy and a regular cop. Victor wouldn't have been solving rape cases. But as a first-responding officer, he most certainly would have been seeing victims who immediately reported their crimes to police.Â

One of the advantages of Gideon/Eva sneaking out of the city together is that they could move beyond the official reach of the cops tailing her. For all of its considerable manpower resources within NYC, the NYPD itself couldn't simply tail her outside of its own jurisdiction. Only the Feds have an unlimited jurisdiction to tail someone around the United States, because the whole country is the FBI's jurisdiction. The NYPD would need to get the cooperation of another police agency to tail someone within that other agency's own turf.

I agree Gideon didn't know about Nathan until Eva told him. Remember, all those records were sealed originally, and then years later, Stanton went back and tightened the secrecy even further. He paid people involved money in exchange for them signing non-disclosure agreements. Meaning that if they later violated those agreements they were paid for, Stanton could seriously sue their butts in civil court on top of any other civil or even criminal legal consequences they'd face (for example, a doctor revealing patient info.)  In essence, Stanton quite legally bribed all of those folks to keep quiet. Probably paid them pretty handsomely too in return for signing a piece of paper. Trust me, they'd keep their mouths shut. Stanton may not be the gazillionaire Gideon is, but Stanton is a very wealthy man in his own right, and has the power of money, something he's all too willing to use in order to make Monica happy. And what he was doing was on behalf of the mother of a child rape victim. I'm sure the folks gladly signed those papers and took the payment for doing so, knowing they were helping to shield a victim.  Gideon had been doing some digging into Eva's past. He may or may not have known about Brett and Eva prior to the post-concert kissing incident. His friend, Arnoldo, thinks Gideon would have none (a remark he made in the limo right after Shawna made the connection that Eva was the woman in the song Golden.)

 If I had the chance to ask Sylvia one, and only one, spoiler question topic area, it would be the brunette versus blonde versus redhead topic.  Did Gideon, who dated exclusively brunettes, also sometimes sleep with brunettes -- or -- after Corrine, did he not sleep with any brunettes, ever? Were all his casual sex partners only blondes? Was Anne Lucas as a redhead was an exception he made purely because he was using her for revenge?" The one woman who works in the public reception area of his office is an attractive redhead. Does her hair color matter because he won't have to worry about becoming sexually attracted her?  So much attention is paid to the whole hair color thing that I think there's a story behind it that rises to the level of fetish and is all wrapped up in Gideon's sex issues.  Here's a theory: just like Gideon divided his women into two categories: social escorts and casual sex partners, did he also separate his women into two hair colors: brunette (his dates) and blondes (his sex partners.) Thus Eva being blonde take on even more significance, because she's the only blonde to ever rise above the category of the women who (to use Magdalene's cattiness) " .... once he stuck his d*** in them, he was done."

I can't see Victor calmly hanging out with Eva all weekend, doing touristy stuff, if someone told him Friday night -- "that guy we were asking her about, the one we found dead this morning? He raped your daughter for years starting when she was only ten years old." Victor would go postal, probably cry as he held his now-grown little girl, then shown up enraged on Monica's doorstep. He'd probably almost want to kill Monica herself for failing to notice for four years that Eva was being raped.

The fact Gideon has been tailed for years by the paparazzi has, I'm certain, made him an expert at sneaking around in and out of buildings, and altering his appearance to make him look like some ordinary Joe Schmoe that no one, even a professional photographer, is going to notice.  Ditch $100,000 watch, $20,000 suit, $5,000 shoes. Put on sweatpants, a beat-up college sweatshirt, and a pair of well-worn athletic shoes. Tuck the trademark mane of really nice hair under a New York Yankee's cap. Keep looking down so that the cap's bill helps shield those big blue eyes and fine bone structure. Slip out the service entrance or the side door to an underground garage instead of climbing into a fancy car at the front door. Walk to a busy street to get a cab. At the destination, sneak into the building via the garage or service entrance and voila -- he's gone from his building to Eva's.  On a related matter, I firmly believe Gideon did not pick the f*** pad hotel to hurt Eva. He picked that place because more than anywhere else, he's been sneaking in and out of that building for years to get laid without attracting any outside attention. Yes, the first time he headed there with Eva, there was a photographer in the area. So was Gideon's gym. He actually had to tip off the photographer where to go in order to catch that (not so) candid photo of him kissing Eva. Gideon's way of trying to make sure everyone (i.e. other men) knew Eva was taken. Gideon had been successfully hiding his secret sex life for years. Not by walking in the front door looking like the billionaire he is. I'll bet there was a lot of practice donning less-noticeable attire and slipping in a side door.

 More than any other city police force in the United States, the NYPD has both the manpower and the money to put a 24/7 tail on someone. And they'd be more than willing to spend both in order to bag the ultimate prize: to bag one of the richest men in the world, the son of an infamous financial crook who escaped justice by killing himself. Gideon's case would be even juicier than fraud: first degree murder of a man who raped his girlfriend as a child. Behind the cops would be a very ambitious Deputy District Attorney. And of the crimes that need solving, first degree murder is the highest priority of all. Especially if there's also a conspiracy going on involving other very rich, powerful people. (i.e. Stanton and Monica, your favorite prime suspects.)  Oh yeah, New York would be more than willing to shell out a lot of money. Besides, tailing Eva won't take much manpower nor money. Eva's the bait in the trap, so they'd be following her (the bait) instead of Gideon. She'd be pretty easy to tail too. She doesn't own a car. She often walks to work. And she lives in a crowded part of the city -- it's easier to for a tail to be unobtrusive downtown than in a strictly residential neighborhood. An unmarked car parked near her apartment building. Another unmarked unit near Gideon's. A couple of people on foot to track her going to and from work, to the Krav Maga studio she frequents, plus some of her other spots. Eva keeps a pretty regular schedule.  Organized crime surveillance is not something the NYPD (nor other city departments) conducts. The departments may assist, but organized crime is a Federal government concern, and surveillance is conducted by the U.S. federal police force, the FBI, which has more resources than any other police force in the world.

Gideon has the resources to evade tails, including drivers who are also trained bodyguards. They'd know how to throw off any vehicles following a car they were driving. Regarding flights, true the pilots must file a passenger list as part of any flight plan. But Gideon could easily arrange for his people to file the paperwork but then have someone else (a body double) get onto a flight. Gideon would be paying a fortune to maintain a fleet of five private jets, including full crews to man them. They'd do anything, no questions asked, if he told them he wanted to be listed a passenger to some place like Las Vegas, but never actually take the flight himself. As long as he travels within the U.S., no official will physically check whether he was on the plane. As long at the flight travels strictly within the continental U.S. (i.e. New York to Vegas) Gideon does not have to "check in" before departure nor confirm he arrived. Only if he is leaving and then re-entering the country must he go through U.S. Immigration. At U.S. international airports that have extensive private jetports, there are Customs folks assigned specifically to that area. After a private plane lands having entered/re-entered the U.S. a Customs officer will actually board the plane and personally check everyone's passports (even the crew's) before anyone is allowed to step foot off the plane.

I can totally see why Monica would hide from Eva the fact that Nathan was in New York and trying to blackmail her/Stanton. The Monica we meet early In Bared was practically stalking her own daughter out of paranoia for Eva's safety. Physically monitoring her movements via a cell phone Monica and Stanton had given Eva. That's how they found out Eva went out to Brooklyn to check out the Krav Maga studio. Monica turned it over to Stanton to have a little talk with Eva. Eva turned it over to Monica's shrink to have a big talk with her. Dr. Petersen essentially told Monica she was taking things too far. And the story strongly suggests this isn't the first time Eva's dragged him into the ongoing issue between her and her mother. Monica as someone who tries to manage Eva's safety behind her daughter's back, occasionally getting caught. Look at the fuss getting caught about the whole Krav Maga thing caused. Eva forcing Mom to back off. So yeah, I can totally see Monica with Stanton's help secretly managing the Nathan threat without telling Eva a thing.

You ladies have got me thinking about Monica and Gideon's contact right after Cary landed in the hospital. There definitely had been some ongoing Gideon/Monica/Stanton contact behind Eva's back. The way Eva and Gideon found out Cary was in the hospital was that Monica and Stanton left phone messages with Gideon over the weekend. I think it's safe to presume they left messages for Eva too, but Eva (and thus we readers) find out from Gideon first. They got back from North Carolina around midnight Sunday into Monday (after having been out of contact all weekend.) Gideon happened to be the first to check his voice mail. Thanks to Gideon, Eva spends the rest of the night in Cary's hospital room. Monica comes by first early on Monday, and she's so she's already there when Gideon shows up to check on Eva before he heads to work. At one point, she pulls Gideon aside to talk to him -- we're led to presume it's to berate him for his having kept Eva out of phone contact with the outside world (and thus Monica too) all weekend. But what if this was a red herring meant to throw us off the fact that Monica and Gideon talked about Nathan? Maybe Monica and Stanton had heard from Nathan over the weekend? That after the beating, he used it to put additional pressure on Stanton to pay up? And now on Monday morning, the first chance Monica had to speak fact to face with Gideon, she was relaying to Gideon information about Nathan that was far too sensitive for voice mail? Mind you, I still think Gideon was having Nathan followed, and independently his security people told him too via a live phone call (i.e. no voice mail -- too sensitive.) Gideon answered his cell phone just after he said good-bye. I can't see Gideon practically stalking Eva from day one of their relationship and not having someone who is a potential danger walking around unmonitored. But now I recall that in her own way, Monica practically stalked her own daughter too, paranoid about Eva's safety? The whole incident about Eva finding out her mother had been monitoring Eva's very movements via cell phone? That was how Monica and Stanton immediately learned Eva was going to an area of Brooklyn they felt was a little unsafe -- where the Krav Maga studio is? Stanton invited Eva to lunch at his office in order to berate her for upsetting her mother. Eva's angry reaction was to get rid of the cell phone and to then to force her mother to take her (Eva) to a joint appointment to Monica's therapist, Dr. Petersen. So I can see Gideon/Monica/Stanton all working together to hide Nathan from Eva, continue to have both followed, and possibly end up working together to deal once and for all with the sicko. Mind you, I am still convinced Gideon himself sank that knife into Nathan's chest. But now -- thanks to the ongoing excellent discussions here -- consider the possibility Monica and Stanton were accessories to the killing, either before and/or after the fact (i.e. helped plan it and/or actively helped cover it up afterward.)

I agree, KiMa that Entwined will be very much about Gideon's past. Nathan already has taken up too much of Bared and Reflected. I am waiting for the story behind Gideon's abuse, just how bad the family situation was, and what's now become of the guy who raped Gideon. But the first obstacle Gideon and Eva face is the is-it-safe-to-come-out issue. Initially, they're sneaking around seeing one another, afraid of the cops. So one way or another, they have to deal with the fact the cops may actually still be after Gideon.