LN Cronan

Hey Mrs. C. Right after the tabloids ran their first pictures of Gideon and Eva as a couple, they soon ran some pictures of Cary and Eva together, raising (false) speculation that something was going on between them too. It was enough to make Gideon himself wonder, so much so he confronted Eva. This was one of their first arguments.

 

If we're to believe it was the early tabloid fodder that lured Nathan out from whatever rock he was under, then he'd too wonder about Cary. Especially because Cary and Eva live together. And they're often seen in public too. Bear with me: maybe Nathan is so crazy that any man who is, or might be, sleeping with Eva enrages him. And remember, too, the tabloids made some fodder about Gideon and Magdalene at the same time. Trying to make out like there were a couple of love triangles. See page 172 onward in Bared to You.

 

Re: the second time Nathan was in/near the Crossfire (the time Monica and her driver/bodyguard Clancy spotted him outside.) What if Nathan had tried to on impulse get in to see Eva as a way to ratchet up the pressure on both Gideon and Stanton? Detective Graves theory is Nathan's attack on Cary was meant to indirectly threaten Gideon. Which is probably the case. But also the "stay away from her" is Nathan's insane thinking that Cary used to sleep with Eva too, maybe even still might be.

Hi Everyone,

I was just wondering if Vidal Sr. did payoff the individuals responsible for Gideon’s abuse, how has the Vidal’s marriage survived that kind of constant pressure. At some point didn’t Elizabeth figure out what her husband did? Wouldn’t Gideon actions (gaining controlling interest) pit him against his step-father in Elizabeth’s eyes? Even if Elizabeth Vidal were coerced into believing her husband (another theory mentioned earlier), after all these years how has this issue not driven a wedge between these two adults? Is this now a situation of Elizabeth and Christopher Vidal against Gideon?

 

Gideon has pitched himself against both his mother and his step-father. He rarely sees his mother, and he never steps foot in their house (well, except that one time he came charging there to get Eva.) Yes, Elizabeth is caught in the middle. Obviously, it hurts her a great deal that Gideon has alienated himself from her. But she's to blame. 

Gideon has become a potential embarrassment to the Vidals, so it's better to keep him under their roof and watch then send him away to school.

 

He's got definite anger problems, from his father's death - the anger problems pre-date the abuse. In fact, they're the reason he got put into therapy. And now his mother at least is convinced he lied about being abused, doing so for attention as part of being a messed up kid. As far as Vidal Sr., it's one of two things: either he too believes Gideon lied, or worse, he knows Gideon told the truth. And I'll bet by this point, Gideon's anger problems have gotten a lot worse.

 

So why risk sending him to boarding school, where he might start spreading tales, and also where the staff will be able to see much more clearly (because he's around them day and night) that the kid has got issues. Plus, Gideon would probably get himself expelled for fighting.

 

Better to keep Gideon under their roof, where they can control him more than sending him away.

Speaking of Gideon/Stanton red flags, GiGi, when I was reviewing the timeline that led up to Gideon giving Eva back the ring, and starting to ask her to "wait" instead of simply "trust me" I spotted something else. Three little plot developments that happened, one later Monday and the other two the next day Tuesday. All of them concern building security, and they send up what I view as a Gideon/Stanton red flag.

 

Monday evening, shortly after 5 p.m. (same day that at lunchtime, Gideon gave Eva back her ring.) Later that afternoon, he had Corrine in the building. He waited until after Eva left for the day in order to walk through the lobby and out to his second car, his hand at the small of Corrine's back. Unfortunately for him, Eva had just gone around the corner to the store and was coming back toward the building when she caught him.

 

Tuesday after lunch (and after a lot of Gideon/Eva stuff distracted us) Gideon has Crossfire building security bring Eva to the security office, where he's waiting out of sight to talk with her.

 

Tuesday sometime during the day: the police show up at Stanton's office to seize security camera footage. How do we find out, as well as find out the cops are harassing him? Because Monica calls Eva Tuesday after work.

 

What do I read into that? If the cops are still going after more office surveillance tapes of Stanton, they're almost certainly been doing the same thing to Gideon. This may explain why he paraded Corrine past the Crossfire cameras on Monday. Still working on maintaining that cover story he left Eva to go back to Corrine. But there's another explanation too: the cops are trying to link Stanton and Gideon via office tapes. Tapes covering time after Nathan died, not before. Maybe they have caught wind of something between the two men and are trying to prove it.

 

It was almost easy to miss that subtlety in the larger goings on Monday and Tuesday regarding Gideon and Eva. Because those same two days, all sorts of communication resumed between the pair, nine days after they'd had zero communication at all. Gideon gives Eva the ring Monday. She later sees Corrine. It lights a fire under her to once and for all to find out what's the deal with Corrine.

 

Tuesday morning, she went to Corrine's half afraid she was going to find out it was true Gideon was sleeping with Corrine. But in the end, she saw through Corrine, and Corrine gave herself away. Next, she hits Dr. Lucas' office, and Gideon goes running there. Then they have their heart-to-heart in the car, and she agrees to wait. Next, she goes to lunch with Christopher. And finally, there's one last communication with Gideon. After lunch, he has security sneak her into the security office so they can talk.

Some of Monica's actions clearly are red flags. Others might look like red flags but are really red herrings design to mislead us down a plot path only to have that path twist.

 

The fun part about hashing things out here with our various theories is we're all trying to figure out where those red flags are leading. The things Monica is saying, and when she's saying them, are in the story for a reason. There's something there with her and Stanton, no doubt about it. You read those signs as the red flags foreshadowing Monica and/or Stanton as the killers. I read them as some sort of cooperation going on between Gideon and Stanton.

 

Other people view as red flags the things that point to Gideon as the killer. And there are many more red flags tied to him. So much so that some of those have got to be red herrings, designed to mislead us in some ways. But which are which? Only June 4 will tell for sure. Maybe some more snippets in the meantime.

Angus drove Gideon to school. The age spreads among Gideon, Christopher Jr. and Ireland is so great that they'd always be in entirely different schools. Christopher is around six years younger than Gideon, maybe a little more. And Ireland is around five to six years younger than Christopher. The math: Gideon was five when his father died. His mother remarried almost immediately. We don't know how soon Christopher Jr. was born, but nine months would be the absolute minimum. Between one and two years later is more likely. Christopher was five and their mother pregnant with Ireland when the sexual abuse of Gideon started.

 

That's not to say the Vidals had one driver for each of their children. But it would indicate that Angus would spend at least parts of trips to and from school with just Gideon in the car. That would be the time for them to bond. Because by the time Christopher was old enough to start elementary school, Gideon would have already been in middle school. And he'd be in high school soon after.

 

Gideon started amassing money even while he was still an undergrad at Columbia. It would make sense Angus was still working for the Vidals then, because Christopher and Ireland would still be in elementary/middle school. I wonder at what age Gideon did hire Angus away from the Vidals. Also, I find it interesting that Angus would give up the job security of working for a family that would need him for years and instead go to work for some single young man who was gambling his way into a fortune: first literally (blackjack) and then figuratively (the financial markets.) 

 

I hope in Entwined, as we find out about Gideon's past, we find out more of the backstory about why Angus has been a part of his life for so long and what did Angus do to earn such trust.

The week Nathan died, Eva dumped Gideon early Saturday morning. Called him on his cell and read him the riot act. And that's the last they spoke. He never called her back, and he never tried to see her.

 

The following Thursday, she had Clancy swing by Gideon's apartment building. Downstairs at the front desk, she left an envelope containing the ring and her key to his apartment. No note. He didn't call nor try to see her Friday.

 

Then on Saturday, she began transforming into "new Eva." And raised absolute with his mother that night. And danced with his smarmy half-brother. He didn't call her nor try to see her that weekend.

 

Sunday, Brett gives an interview in Florida (remember, he's out on tour) saying he'd reconnected with Eva and hopes to work things out. That interview hit the Internet.

 

So now it's Monday. Well over a week since Eva ended it. Two weeks to the day since he'd pulled away from her. And he approaches her, doing something totally out of character by jumping into a crowded elevator while she's in it with two co-workers, coming back from lunch. Gets her to stay on the elevator until it empties out of everyone but them. Pins her to the wall, shoves the ring back on her finger, kisses her hand, tells her "wait" and just leaves.

 

So why return the ring on Monday instead of Friday? Because over the weekend, a lot happened. And if Gideon is doing his usual stalking her under the pretense of keeping a protective eye, he must have found out about most, if not all, of the weekend developments.

 

Over the weekend, Eva quit quietly licking her wounds and emerged independent and strong and running her life. Also over the weekend, there was a reminder that the Gideon-Eva-Brett love triangle still exists. Before then, Gideon's tune had been "trust me." All of a sudden he's also saying "wait." Besides by Monday he had every reason to be paranoid about Brett.

 

The Friday before Nathan died: Gideon caught Eva kissing, really kissing, Brett. It's the angriest he's ever been with her and sparked the worst (and hottest) fight they ever had. A fight that ended with them figuring out her unconscious motivation for kissing Brett. It was because she was insecure about her relationship with Gideon and jealous (i.e. Corrine.)

 

Tuesday before Nathan died: Eva took Brett to lunch. By then, Gideon had been being a jerk for more than 24 hours. He'd taken Corrine to dinner the night before, to the same restaurant he'd taken Eva on Friday. A cozy picture of them was online Tuesday. Eva found out. And she let Gideon know it - she emailed him the picture, and then saw Brett. It was for spite. Even she recognized it, because at one point she half-hoped someone would get a picture of her with Brett. Gideon never did get to hear the story about what went on at lunch. He and Eva had a quick, but angry argument right after she got back to the building. So Gideon has no way of knowing what how things were left between her and Brett. Certainly she was, with very good reason, jealous and insecure that day.

 

Saturday: Eva tells Gideon he's broken her heart by, amongst other things, sleeping with Corrine (something Eva had VERY good reason to believe at the time, given where the party picture was taken, at the hotel he's taken every woman he's ever slept with, starting with Corrine many years ago.) Especially because Gideon does not defend himself, nor deny the accusations. Eva hangs up on him. He never calls her back, not that day, not even that week.

 

A week from Sunday (eight days after the break-up, during which time Gideon and Eva have had zero contact.)  Brett tells a radio station he and Eva recently reconnected and he's hoping for another shot. And why wouldn't there at least be a chance he could get one. A part of Eva is warm for his form. And Gideon has gone waaay beyond making her insecure: he broke her heart. And gave her (so she believed at the time) the ultimate reason to be jealous: he went back to Corrine.

Given how wealthy Christopher Vidal Sr. is, and the fact Gideon was able acquire a majority, it is almost certain Vidal Records is a publicly traded company. Meaning its shares are sold on the stock markets. And any investor can buy whatever shares happen to be for sale. When a company is privately held, the founders have absolute control over the percentages of actual ownership. But once the company goes public with selling shares, the company founders no longer have any control over who owns the shares.

 

So why give up the control of a privately-held company in order to turn it into a public one? Because if the initial public offering of those shares is successful, the founders get a lot of money. Sometimes, an overnight fortune. When Google first went public, its founders became overnight billionaires. But they no longer control who owns their company. The shareholders own it. And the board of directors runs it -- a board that is answerable to the shareholders, not the founders. 

 

So there's two ways Gideon could have pulled off getting the majority. The first would be if he was already filthy rich when Vidal Records went public. He could have bought the majority then. The other, if the company had been public for some time, before he grew up and got rich so young, he could have started systematically buying shares each time someone holding shares decided to sell. I'm guessing the latter is true; if Vidal was so rich even when Gideon was a kid, then Vidal likely made his fortune by taking his private company public. And this scenario more fits with Gideon's scheming side: he probably just kept buying Vidal Records stock a chunk at a time until he owned more than anyone else.

 

Now there's a couple of ways Gideon can mess with the company. He could dump all his shares onto the market suddenly, a move that almost certainly would cause the stock price to fall very hard very quickly. Maybe fall so hard it doesn't recover. It'd be a form of corporate suicide. Or if someone attempted a hostile takeover, he could sell his shares to the enemy. The way someone does a hostile takeover of a company is to gain control of its shares. 

 

And in any case, for right now, Gideon has great power over the board of directors as the biggest shareholder. Christopher Sr. reports to the board of directors, not the other way around.

 

It doesn't surprise me Gideon does stay involved in the running of the company. Because he's got the power to do so. Yet another weapon he holds over his stepfather's head. Some majority shareholders just sit back. Others get involved in running the company.

Someone else had posted their thought that maybe Gideon was worried about her moving on also b/c of the interview Brett had given that Cary showed Eva. Saying that he wanted to try and reconnect w/ her. I think that couldv'e been another reason why he gave her back her ring.

I wonder how Gideon found out Eva spoke to his mother? Did Elizabeth call him and tell him...asking what he's said to her? Or Christopher mabye saw how upset he was after speaking to Eva, maybe?

 

Good catch, Nathalia. An additional reason why Gideon finally caved that Monday, after having zero contact since Eva dumped him, by cornering her in the elevator, placing the promise ring back on her hand, and asking her to "Wait." When she got home from work that night, Cary told he'd found online a transcript of an interview Brett gave a Florida radio station the day before.

 

So Gideon must have had a really bad weekend to have shown up at the Crossfire on Monday, ring in pocket and taking the huge risk of approaching Eva in a crowded elevator in front of two of her co-workers. Saturday, she's out on the town, looking gorgeous with a sexy new makeover, dancing with Christopher and picking a nasty fight with his mother. Sunday, the rock-star ex-boyfriend she kissed, who's out on a concert tour, is saying in an interview he wants her back.

And I love how Angus' loyalty and protectiveness extends to Eva. Clearly, he can see Eva means the world to Gideon and that he's never loved a woman the way he loves her. And that for all the rockiness of the relationship, Eva's good for Gideon in many way. I'll bet that when Gideon and Eva were apart, Angus felt miserable about it too.

Both the detectives and Gideon found out that Nathan beat up Cary. But Gideon found out first - he found out the Monday after it happened. The detectives found out after Nathan turned up dead. The big question here is: how did Gideon find out so much earlier than the cops?

My guess, Nathalia, is Gideon ended up talking to both his mother and his half-brother that weekend. His mother probably was furious on the phone about the fight Eva picked with her -- how dare his ex-girlfriend go around slandering her as a bad mother. And Christopher probably couldn't resist a prime opportunity to twist Gideon's tail about how his ex-girlfriend was out on the town looking stunning, dancing with him, and picking a cat fight with their mother.

 

I only wonder which one picked up the phone first. If I had to guess, it was Christopher who called Gideon first and then Gideon called his mother second. Christopher is a vindictive S.O.B. and part of his nastiness is going after Gideon's female discards. Elizabeth wants the whole abuse accusations kept a deep, dark secret.

It's so much fun here with each of us trying to find hidden meanings in pieces of the plot. Which pieces are "red flags" -- clues that foreshadow something to come. Which pieces are "red herrings" -- clues deliberately meant to mislead a reader. Red herrings are an especially common literary device in mystery situations: they're the means to twist the plot.

 

Sylvia's especially good with the red herrings, and she's very subtle with the red flags. So we can twist ourselves every which way trying to theorize which is which, and if the clue is a red flag, where is it leading.

 

An example of red herrings are two phone calls Eva placed to Gideon the week Nathan was murdered.

She called him at home Tuesday night, and she called him on his cell phone Saturday morning. Both times, it was apparent he wasn't alone. We were led to believe at the time he probably was with Corrine, and it was even possible that he was sleeping with her. I mean, why else would he have her over to his apartment at night while Eva was tied up at the hospital. And why would he be with her early Saturday morning? We later found out in the book Gideon was at the police station on Saturday morning, and in response to a spoiler question, Sylvia confirmed he was meeting with his security people at his apartment Tuesday night.

 

An example of red flags are the fact both Magdalena and Eva got makeovers that included sophisticated haircuts.

I mean, why even bother filling up space in Bared to You about the fact Magdalena cut her hair after she gave up on Gideon. Why even bother having Eva explain to Gideon why Magdalena had worn her hair the way she had and why she'd suddenly changed. Because it helped set the stage for the part in Reflected, where Eva started turning into "new Eva." Why is the whole Saturday "spa day" important? And why did it matter that right after the makeover, Eva went out on the town that night, running into the Vidals. Sure, part of it was the set up for the showdown Eva had with Gideon's mother. But why have Christopher there too, telling her she looks gorgeous, and even dancing with her? Is it any mistake that the following Monday, after more than a week of absolutely no contact since she'd dumped him, Gideon corners Eva in an elevator at the Crossfire, pulls the promise ring she returned out of his pocket, puts it back on her hand and tells her "wait." Nope. He found out she'd done something a woman who is moving on often does, improves her appearance. And I'll bet it was via a phone call from Christopher over the weekend, twisting the knife, not simply Gideon looking at the lobby cameras Monday when Eva arrived.

 

Why was Gideon carrying the ring that Monday? Why was he risking even approaching Eva in the building? If we were to get into his head, we'd probably find out he was scared. Because Eva had just done the same sort of thing Magdalena had done the instant Magdalena finally threw in the towel, letting Corrine win and walking away for good.

I agree Mrs. C!  I think Gideon's motive for obtaining financial control of Vidal Records is for revenge against Christopher Sr.

 

My theory: his stepfather used money to sweep the whole sexual abuse situation under the rug as a deep, dark secret no official outsiders were ever to find out about. One of the myriad ways Gideon was victimized was financially. Because Christopher Sr. had the money, he had the power - over Gideon, over Gideon's mother, over every adult Gideon came into contact with under that roof.

 

So now Gideon's the one holding the money power. Why would he invest in the Vidal Records? To help his family? Not!!! He can't stand his family. Why would he gain majority ownership of Vidal Records? So that anytime he felt like it, he could start dismantling the company.

 

Gideon's one of the richest men in the world. He can easily afford to take a loss on some subsidiary company he has. It wouldn't damage him -- but it would financially destroy Christopher Sr., and along with him Gideon's mother, Elizabeth Vidal, and his half-brother, Christopher Jr. Think about how Christopher Sr. must squirm knowing that any time Gideon wants to, he can ruin him. And I'll bet the reason Gideon hasn't done so yet is because the mere holding of that power is the revenge.

 

There is a reason why Sylvia has made Eva curious about why Gideon controls Vidal Records. Near the end of Reflected, (right after she has lunch with Christopher Jr.) Eva even says to herself she wants to ask Gideon about it. I think the reason Sylvia slipped that into the story is because now that Gideon is finally willing to talk about the dark past that includes his family, in Entwined, Eva's going to ask him why he gained control of the Vidal family business. And what Gideon tells her is going to reveal exactly how the abuse went down and how it was subsequently covered up.

Let's say for the sake of argument (and conspiracy theory) that Christopher Vidal Sr. used his fortune to utterly conceal the fact Gideon was sexually abused? Because let's not kid ourselves, many people can be "bought." Including doctors. Especially bought by the person hiring the doctor in the first place. Like Dr. Lucas, who would have been around age 28 at the time, fresh out of medical school and probably with six-figures worth of student loans to pay.

 

Here's the motive for Gideon, all those years later, to acquire financial control of Vidal's company. Now Gideon is the man holding the power of the money. At any time, he could do things to wreck the company on a whim, if he wanted to. Gideon's got billions, so taking some loss on one of many subsidiaries he owns is no big deal. But Christopher Sr. would be utterly ruined. And by extension, Elizabeth and Christopher Jr. Ruined by the son of a man who, let's not kid ourselves, financially ruined many people via a Ponzi scheme. Think about the sheer power Gideon has and how that must keep Christopher Sr. up at night.

Sometimes it's what a character does not do that's a red flag. Especially when a character stops doing something. Like Monica phoning Eva daily. You're right, GiGi, about Monica cutting was back on the frequency she phones Eva is red flag. It's a biggie. One could argue that Monica now is no longer paranoid about Eva's safety, because Nathan is dead, so she doesn't need to check on Eva all the time. But I don't think it's that simple. There's definitely something more to it. You sense it too. It's why you're in Camp Stanton/Monica.

 

Here's my own take. Aside from Detective Graves, the only person who has told Eva anything about Nathan's actions in New York is Monica. She's blurted stuff out while upset, especially right after Nathan died. Like Eva, Monica found out (or supposedly found out) from the cops showing up on her doorstep. The cops went to see Eva Friday night. Saturday morning, they saw Monica and Stanton. Soon as they left, Monica went running to Eva's place to give her the news, only to discover the cops had gotten to Eva first. And in this scene (starts on page 273) is when Monica lets slip some of the secrets she'd been keeping from Eva, especially the existence of the pictures and video Nathan had.

 

Bottom line: Monica is still keeping secrets. More now than ever. But she gets very rattled when the cops go after Stanton. Twice, she's been rattled enough to actually mention the cops to Eva. But mostly, she's kept her mouth shut, and I think this is why she's no longer calling Eva daily. Because Monica is now keeping very secret from Eva the ongoing investigation. Yet Monica is highly emotional, gets reduced to tears rather easily, and so she sometimes lets things slip.

 

I've been unabashedly leading Camp The Cops Are Trying To Trap Gideon and Eva. Want to know what THE single biggest red flag I see that makes me believe it's true? Out of many red flags present near the end of Reflected? What Monica said when she called Eva angry and in tears after yet another visit the cops made to Stanton. See the bottom of page 329 and the top of page 330.  They'd shown up that day at Stanton's office to take copies of the security tapes. And Monica blurted out the cops are being "relentless."

 

Know when the cops showed up with a search warrant for Stanton's security tapes? The day before Detective Graves "accidentally" runs into Eva at the Krav Maga studio. And claims among other things she'd burned her notes, and her partner had agreed they'd reached a dead end. Malarkey. Less than 36 hours before, they showed up search warrant in hand to force Stanton to cough up security footage of a particular day or days they were interested in. What did Graves and her partner do, "burn" whatever data device the copy was on instead of taking the time (lots of time) to analyze the footage contained?

 

Um no. If Graves and her partner decided on their own to drop a murder case (unlikely) and destroy their notes (detectives, especially homicide ones, never destroy case files) then why are they one day before serving a search warrant on a high-power (and seriously lawyered-up) financier at his office? And here's where my knowledge of legal procedure comes in: cops have to go through a judge to get a search warrant signed. And once they've served the warrant, they have to file with the judge's court office the fact they did so, including providing an inventory list of what they seized.

 

The cops are still being relentless. In fact, they've turned ruthless. The only "wall" Detective Graves has hit is failing to be able to punch one hole in Gideon's alibi. She's found just one possible hole in that entire day and night, the hour-long disruption caused by the small fire at the hotel where the vodka party took place. But Gideon was far too clever, so Graves can't break it. So the cops have decided instead to try to trap him into incriminating himself. Eva's the bait.

 

Oh and one of the Entwined snippets contains what I think is a related red flag to the cops' recent search warrant for Stanton (his security tapes.) When I spotted it in the snippet, I knew the cops are still running around with search warrants for records. It's the phone call Eva made to Gideon from the nightclub. She chose to use nightclub's phone, figuring it would be safe to use that number because Gideon owns the place. Safe how? Safe for some business-related phone number to show up on his phone records.

 

Because the cops can keep trying to get records like lists of phone calls to and from particular numbers. Copies of security tape footage. Bank records. Travel records. Lots of things. And not just for the time period before Nathan died. They can keep going back for stuff from after Nathan died too. In order to look for evidence of an ongoing cover-up conspiracy. Which could include search warrants for phone records listing the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls on Gideon's various personal and work phones.  And Stanton's. And probably Monica's. And now Eva's.

 

So Gideon and Eva are being very careful about phone calls. And thus far the only two times we've seen him approach her post-Reflected, in the Entwined Snippets, he's disguised his appearance to make himself look like some ordinary 20-something guy, not the young mogul he is. He either thinks the coast is not yet clear, or he actually knows it's not. Thus the secrecy. 

 

All along, he'd been asking for Eva to wait. For what? For him to go back to her. Why did he ever leave? To fool the cops into thinking he'd left Eva to go back to his former fiancé, thereby doing away with his motive. He loved Corrine, who'd left him all those years ago and then married another man. He loved Corrine, not Eva, so why would he killed for Eva. When would it be safe to go back to Eva? Sometime after the cops finally stopped investigating him.

 

Bear with me here in my theories: After the cops backed off, he could after some period of time make it look like his going back to Corrine didn't work out. Remember, she was the one who rejected him years ago; she broke the engagement. Now that she's getting divorced, he leapt at the chance to get her back. But again, the two of them didn't work out. So he's free again and has his pick of the many women waiting in the wings, the two most recent being Eva and Magdalene, both of whom he's publicly dated, you can assume from the tabloid photos. Why not give it another shot with either woman? Especially Eva. If you believe the gossip photos, he ditched Magdalene for Eva, so she'd be the more natural choice of the two. 

 

Graves isn't buying the cover story he jumped at the chance to win back the "one who got away" many years ago, the one he wanted to marry, the one he still loves. Graves knows he loves Eva. So she's set it up to have Eva go running back to him first, while the coast most definitely is not clear. Then to sit back and watch them give themselves away. And go after them soon as they do.  

The pediatricians were ethically and legally obligated to report even the mere accusations of abuse to child protective services. To bring in the authorities. Regardless of whether or not there was physical proof. There's no indications any outsiders ever became involved in looking into Gideon's case. The evidence points to the Vidals quietly bringing in two separate pediatricians to check over Gideon. End of story there.

 

By contrast, the authorities were brought in for Eva's case. Her mother took her to the emergency room because she was bleeding far too heavily for a period. An exam revealed she'd had a miscarriage, and the doctor found scars consistent with repeated forcible rape. When she told Gideon, she said, "The hospital reported the abuse to child services. It's all a mater of public record, which has been sealed, but there are people who know the story."

 

Eva was worried a reporter might follow the money trail (the $5 million dollars Nathan's father paid in damages, a civil case that was settled confidentially (thus under seal). Also, elsewhere, there's mention of Nathan being "lawfully punished." If he was prosecuted as a juvenile, those records too would be sealed. Eva was scared that someone was going to get their hands on the records (which they couldn't do directly but most certainly could obtain via leaks) and run stories that would embarrass Gideon.

Floating some theories for discussion about the "who" Eva is fighting as she continues to stand by her man. Today's candidate: Christoper.

 

Near the end of Reflected, Eva went after four people, and in this order: Gideon's mother, Corrine, Dr. Lucas and Christopher. Christopher was the only one she let off easy. She refrained from treating him like the slime he is and instead simply sat there at lunch listening so that she could get the story on why Christopher hates Gideon. She enraged the first three. But Christopher, she left with a brush off "I'll get in touch" in response to Christopher saying he wants to take her out. (In other words: don't call me Christopher, I'll call you.)

 

Red herring? Could it be that Christopher, already a creep, is going to turn even nastier in Entwined? Eva has made outright enemies of Elizabeth Vidal, Dr. Lucas and Corrine. Maybe in Reflected, she underestimated the threat Christopher poses, but finds out fast in Entwined? And starts making an open enemy of him too? And Gideon is trying (hah!) to get her to back off, that he can fight his own battles? But instead, Eva's out to get Christopher.

 

Jump in, ladies!

i've said it before and i will say it again - gideon does not specifically say it was the doctoral candidate.  he just says he was left alone with 'him' a lot.  it would be fair to assume that it was the doctoral candidate, but also plausible that it was some other male who was around.

 

i accept only 3 possiblities from our current pool of charecters - vidal, the doc lucas, or this unnamed doctoral candidate.  i could be convinced into any of these camps.  and i also accept the 4th option, which is that it was somebody we have not met or spoke of, yet, or may never (as he might have been 'taken care of' in some respect).  the only 2 people i will not accept would be christopher and angus, who were present in gideon's life then and far too unlikely as suspects.

 

You can scratch Dr. Lucas off the list as a candidate. In response to a spoiler question, Sylvia confirmed Lucas was not the abuser.

The whole way the Vidals handled putting Gideon into therapy was appalling start to finish. Christopher Vidal Sr. wrote the big checks, and all of these private professionals, from the shrink to the pediatricians, all danced to the Vidals' tune and did whatever they could to smooth things over and hush things up. Maybe to insulate Elizabeth from any more scandal ever, her being the widow of a Ponzi schemer who killed himself.

 

The more I think about it too, Gideon got the horrible end of the short stick under that roof. Why wouldn't he? Vidal Sr. had his stunning new wife. She gave him a son/namesake, Christopher Jr. And at the time Gideon was really acting out, she was carrying Vidal's second child, Ireland. So everyone's focused on Elizabeth. The only reason Gideon is supposedly getting any help is because he's stressing his mother and is a bad influence on his 5-year-old stepbrother, who is starting to imitate Gideon by throwing physical tantrums too.

 

It makes sense that the shrink, brought in on the pretense of fixing Gideon, instead ended up spending all her time with Elizabeth. And Gideon got shunted off to the side with the PhD candidate. They certainly were ignoring Gideon then, because the guy was raping him right under the Vidals' roof!

   

Hi Mrsmajessick,

I think it will be interesting to see how much of a role, if any, Angus played in Gideon's earlier life. I could imagine Angus going to pick Gideon from school and watching that boy get into fight, after fight, after fight, after fight. I could then see Angus talking to Gideon about his anger on the drive home. Gideon himself said that he was a very angry kid. I think that if other kids picked on him at school, etc. there may have come a point when he just finally snapped and started physically fighting his bullies. If you add the fact that Gideon was being abused at home, that could had added fuel to some serious rage in a kid who tried to go for help but wasn't believed. That could almost be a lethal combination for a kid who is strong and can beat up all manner of schoolyard bully. Just a thought.

Let's also remember that Angus was also Gideon's bodyguard so I find it highly suspect that Angus would know about the abuse. If he was told about it and did nothing (ie. have Gideon removed from the situation and the person causing the abuse), then I would find Angus to be morally reprehensible and derelict in his duty to protect his charge-Gideon. Angus would have had a legal and moral obligation to help Gideon and I really don't think that Gideon would have had Angus in his adult life if that was the case.

I also wanted to clarify that it would be absolutely despicable if Gideon told Angus about the abuse and didn't inform the authorities because he was afraid of losing his job. Again it would be like prostituting this child for financial security (which I don't think is the case). What you say about Angus teaching Gideon how to fight is plausible. It may have given the two of them an opportunity to connect and given Gideon a very useful tool (a manner in which to defend himself).

 

Evening, GiGi!

 

My theory is that Angus, not Gideon, was the one who reported abuse suspicions to Gideon's mother - that Angus was the adult who finally intervened. Because I doubt Gideon spoke up; his abuser was shaming him into silence by making Gideon believe he "wanted" the sex. What if it was Angus, who was Gideon's driver as a kid, raised the alarm. And continued to believe Gideon even after his mother refused to believe anything happened and paid private pediatricians to claim there was no evidence of abuse. 

 

So why wouldn't Angus go to the police next after the Vidals concluded Gideon was lying for attention, because he was such a messed up kid? He might have figured the only thing going to the police would accomplish would be getting himself fired, meanwhile the Vidals would use their private doctors and their wealth to continue to cover up the whole affair. So what if Angus decided instead to keep his mouth shut, remain Gideon's childhood driver, continue to believe Gideon and have faith in him and do everything he could to protect him for the remainder of his childhood.

 

Angus is the only adult from Gideon's childhood that he trusts. Trusts so much that as soon as he was old enough and had the money to do so, hired Angus away from the Vidals. Trusts Angus so much he put him in charge of protecting Eva. Angus had to have done something monumental to earn that trust. I think it was he was the only adult who believed Gideon and who stayed by his side to protect him as best he could even when the other adults in Gideon's life failed him in the most awful way possible.

OK, I'll bite first Megan. We can have a lot of fun with this thread hashing the whole Vidal family.

 

Important to re-read pages 319-321 of Reflected. This is the scene where Gideon finally starts talking about the sexual abuse. If we're to believe every word tells Eva is the truth this time, the actual abuser is a male doctoral student who accompanied a therapist the Vidals hired to treat Gideon for anger issues.

 

What led to the conversation? Eva told him she wasn't coming back. She'd had it with the empty promises and the shutting out and the silences and the secrets. " ... you've never let me in." were her final words on the subject. They sat there in silence for a little bit. Then Gideon started spilling his guts.

 

She didn't get the whole truth, only pieces of it. But I have to believe that every piece she did hear was the truth. Gideon wouldn't dare tell any more lies. He was desperate. "If I lose you Eva," he said hoarsely, "I have nothing."

i think it is interesting that you are applying real-wrorld knowledge to a piece of fiction.  as you said, we hear all the time on court dramas that coroners pinpoint time of death quite exactly - why, then, would we expect anything else from a book?  sylvia's a smart gal, but i won't assume she has the same firsthand knowledge that you do.

 

TV courtroom dramas fairly regularly over-simplify everything to rush the script (and thus the episode) along. Novels are another thing, though. Many of the good mystery writers do in fact get a lot of the police and legal procedural stuff right. Because they do their research. As do the book editors who work with them. And because most writers are also voracious readers, so they're exposed to all sorts of information, fiction and non-fiction alike. I've worked as a non-fiction writer in various capacities all my career, and I've been a bookworm since I was a kid. A lot of the stuff I saw in real life when I worked for 12 years as a journalist, including police/court procedural stuff, fire/emergency medical stuff, political process, I learned a great deal about long before I stepped foot in a newsroom for the first time. Because good novelists get a great deal of the stuff right.

 

Sylvia is an excellent writer who does her homework. And her publisher is Penguin, one of the industry giants. I don't think it was on a whim she had that short newspaper article Eva read give the exact hours of the party. And we have a detective who very aggressively tried to find a hole in his alibi. Sylvia put that in the story for a reason. I saw both as big red flags.

 

I see several other big red flags too. It's why I'm firmly convinced the cops have laid a trap for Gideon and Eva. Because there are actually ways they could use her against Gideon even without her cooperation. On June 5, after we've all sat up all night reading Entwined, we can swap told-you-sos as each of us discovers what we saw coming (via red flags) and what threw us off (red herrings.)  The things that Sylvia has given us through Entwined snippets hint that Gideon and Eva are sneaking around to be with one another. Is it because Gideon doesn't believe the "coast is clear" yet? Or because he knows somehow that the cops are seeking to trap him?

KiMa, I agree with you that Christopher Jr. could be a key character in book three. Dr. Lucas too. Now that Nathan's dead, those two are the only known bad guys in the current cast of characters. Guys who definitely have it in for Gideon and both of whom have already attempted to get at Gideon via Eva. (Christopher keeps coming on to Eva, and Lucas kept trying to poison Eva's mind.)

 

In Bared to You, Gideon's past was the thing that threatened to destroy the relationship. Specifically, his violent nightmares and his former fiance. He broke up with Eva right after she witnessed one of his nightmares for the first time. The break-up lasted four days, then he ran after her. Wouldn't tell her the truth. But did get her to come back. Then an even bigger crisis came when Eva got blindsided by Corrine's existence, and pulled one of her "runners." Gideon immediately ran after Eva and had a frank talk with her. Happy ending (for now).

 

In Reflected in You, Eva's past was the thing that threatened to destroy the relationship. Specifically, Nathan and the mortal danger he posed to Eva. Gideon left her as part of his plan to save her by murdering Nathan. This time, the break-up lasted weeks.  He hoped she would wait. He found out she wouldn't, because she wouldn't put up with the secrecy anymore. So he ran after her again, and this time started telling her some truths about his past. So she agreed to wait. Then someone else, the detective, told her the real truth about Nathan. She immediately ran back to Gideon. Kinda happy ending with them hugging and her saying whatever happens next, they would face it together.

 

So if we're going to come full circle in Entwined, what makes the most sense of being the thing that threatens to keep them apart? What's the thing they need to overcome that stands in the way of happily ever after? Both their pasts -- and how those now affect the present. Him under a cloud of suspicion he committed the murder of the demon from her past. And him having to prove to her -- and especially to prove to himself -- he can trust her with his deepest secrets. The deep secrets of the past involve his family.

 

Christopher is part of his family and the one member currently very hostile. Lucas played some role (we don't know what yet) in alienating Gideon from his family. Toward the end of Reflected, Eva picked a serious fight with Lucas, saying she suspected he covered up the sexual abuse. She kinda set out to pick a fight with Christopher too, but she held off and instead just listened to him so she could figure out why he hates Gideon.

I have been re-reading both books so many times and it just dawned on me that subsequent to the altercation with Brett, ands Gideon and Eva going away for the weekend, all of a sudden while they made love and the like, the actually slept apart the entire weekend. Why is that I am wondering. I know there was that one incident where he attacked her in his sleep but he was given meds and continued to share the same bed but during that weekend, they slept apart.

It could be as easy as he didn't have his meds with him perhaps?

I think we are so obsess with the whole Nathan issue that we are missing a much larger issue and threat being Christopher. I say this based on the last snippet where Eva tells Gideon that he has being fighting his battle alone etc and she is now there to fight for him and the like. I honesty think that the larger issue is with Christopher.

 

Even with the meds, Gideon was still leery of sleeping in the same bed as Eva, because he'd attacked her in his sleep. He insisted that for now they sleep (literally sleep) apart. Eva asked him if he meant different beds or different apartments. His response was different beds. Eva's got her own bedroom at his place. She's got a guest room at her's. (To my knowledge, he hasn't used her guest room but she has used her bed at his place.)