LN Cronan

it's a reach.  nathan may not have been out to kill cary in the first place.  and if gideon's people wanted to reach him on friday they need only contact the head of their team, angus, who was driving the car.  gideon did realize nathan's involvement early monday, but it could be a guess at that point, or perhaps that his security team had all weekend to look into it.

 

Excellent point, jo_mama that perhaps his security team did spend the weekend looking into it.

 

It's possible (perhaps probable) they didn't know at the time who the guy that got beat up was. It was dark. And Cary's head/face were a mess. Certainly, they'd start working on determining who the beating victim was. It'd take a while, though. But once they did learn his identity and knew he was Eva's roommate/best friend, all sorts of alarm bells would have gone off.

 

The detective who spilled her whole Gideon-did-it conspiracy theories to Eva didn't think the attack was a murder attempt on Cary. Her theory was Nathan's motive was to intimidate Gideon. "At that point, I think Cross perceived you to be in mortal danger," Detective Graves said. That was her theory on what Gideon's motive to kill was: to save Eva's life.

 

Because even if Nathan didn't set out to kill Cary, he could have ended up doing so anyway. He attacked with a dangerous weapon (a bat) and inflicted very serious injuries, including skull and rib fractures. People can die from injuries like that. No wonder Gideon thought that if Nathan could go postal with a weapon on her roommate, what might he do to her?

I think the fact Gideon found out so quickly it had been Nathan who attacked Cary as proof he was being followed by Gideon's people.

 

Cary was jumped from behind outside around the corner from a nightclub Friday night by someone with a bat. "Took me straight down and whaled on me a few times. Never got a chance to defend myself." Why did Nathan take off after only a few blows if he was in such a rage? My guess: someone chased him off, and that someone was the tail Gideon had on him. A tail would be watching from a short distance, not up close.

 

Gideon and Eva were at the concert at the time. Then came the fight in the alley between Gideon and Brett. Followed soon after by the sex-fueled fight Gideon and Eva had in the limo, which at the time was en-route to North Carolina. They arrived early the next day. Gideon made sure both his cell phone and her's were sent back north in the limo. And he deliberately made sure the house did not have a working phone nor Internet connection.

 

They got back to Eva's apartment just before midnight Sunday. That's when Gideon found out first; he checked his messages and found Stanton and Monica called. Early Monday morning, before work, Gideon stopped back at the hospital to see Eva and he was as tender as ever. As he walked away, he took a call to his cell phone.

 

Sylvia said Gideon's plan involving "leaving" Eva did not involve the North Carolina weekend. So it had to start after they got back. If you read closely, you can see things changed Monday. Instead of going back to the hospital after work, he took Corrine out to dinner and made sure their picture was taken. Tuesday morning before work was when Eva figured out something had changed, that Gideon had neither called nor texted her cell for 24 hours.

 

I'm sure Gideon's people were trying to reach him Friday. But he wasn't answering his phone. And no one could get in touch with him all weekend. I can't see his people leaving any sort of voice mails containing information of such a incredibly sensitive nature: that the guy he was paying them to tail committed serious assault and battery. They'd have kept calling until he answered his phone. Monday morning makes the most sense for when they finally did get him to answer a call.

Good morning, GiGi. Those of us in Camp Gideon Did It would conclude, based on what Detective Graves told Eva, that Nathan did die somewhere between 6-9 p.m. while the party was in progress.

Per Graves,: At some point during the party, the hotel was cleared out for nearly an hour because of a small fire in the kitchen of the hotel restaurant. Gideon was seen walking around outside talking to people, such as firefighters. But the scene was chaotic. Somewhere in the middle of this, she claimed to Eva, he slipped away, went to Nathan's hotel (15 minutes away on foot) and stabbed him once through the heart. Nathan's body was discovered sometime Friday morning (Graves told Eva and her Dad this Friday night at her apartment.)

 

In a huge percentage of the time, when someone dies in a hotel room, it's housekeeping that finds the body. Depending upon the hotel's check-out schedule, housekeeping starts work mid-late morning.

 

And this is key: Graves did not ask Eva and Gideon where they were "last evening." She asked them if they could tell her where they were "yesterday." She was casting a very wide net about their movements prior to Friday morning.

Unless a murder is witnessed at the time it happens, a medical examiner cannot say exactly when the victim died. Don't believe what you see on TV dramas where a coroner on the stand says "the victim died at such-and-such time." As a former journalist who covered the criminal courts, I can say that in real life, the best estimate that can be given is a two-hour window. And this is only under ideal circumstances where a body is found within about 24 hours of death. The two means that medical examiners most rely on when they have a "fresh" corpse is how much the body's interior has cooled (via means of taking the temperature of the liver) and the degree of rigor mortis present. The longer a body goes undiscovered, the greater the margin of error, because there are many outside factors that can affect how quickly the body goes entirely cold, how soon rigor mortis begins and ends (it does wear off) and how soon/quickly a body begins to decompose.

So at an absolute bare minimum to cover the two-hour wiggle room, Gideon needs his alibi to run uninterrupted two hours on either side of that party: 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. To be extra cautious (and Gideon was very methodical) he ought to have had an uninterrupted alibi starting earlier in the afternoon (a cinch at work) and continuing through the middle of the night. Being with Corrine until the wee hours of the morning after the party would accomplish two things: give him an unbreakable timeline and fool the cops into thinking he was now in a sexual relationship with Corrine. Given her status as his former fiancé, this would indicate a serious reconciliation between the two. I think this is why he picked Corrine over Magdalene as his cover. If it ever got as far as the cops questioning Corrine, she could say at a bare minimum that Gideon was with her all night, even if all they did was talk.

Gideon was methodical about arranging things so Eva had an uninterrupted alibi starting that afternoon and continuing all night. Because he's been pressuring her, she didn't leave the office for lunch. He had Angus pick her up right after work and drive her to the therapy appointment with Dr. Petersen, then drive her home. And when she arrived home, her roommate was there, because Gideon had arranged for Cary to be moved home from the hospital the day before. Naturally, Eva would stay in for the night, because her roommate/best friend was still in such rough shape he was being cared for by a private nurse.

 

In fact, Eva's alibi continued through early the next morning. Gideon knew she was due to pick up her Dad, who was taking a red-eye flight to  La Guardia. Gideon had a car waiting for her at her place around 5 a.m. And not Angus driving either. This is the first time we see his other driver, Raul. So where was Angus, the only person Gideon ever trusted to drive Eva? Maybe picking up Gideon from wherever he spent the night? Mind you, Eva refused to accept Raul's ride, but he could, if ever questioned, confirmed what time she left her place Friday morning.

 

Yes, GiGi, I've got it bad with all my theories. I'm enjoying myself in these threads as part of re-reading the stories in light of the snippets and while awaiting June 4.

Angus is the only adult from Gideon's childhood with whom he's close. He started out driving Gideon to school when he was still a kid. Gideon hired him away from Christopher Vidal Sr. as soon as he was old enough to do so (and wealthy enough too, but we know Gideon started accumulating his fortune as a young man.) And Gideon trusts Angus so much that he entrusted Angus to protect the person who means everything in the world to Gideon: Eva.

 

Angus had to have done something monumental for him when Gideon was young to earn such trust. Remember, Gideon is a man with very serious trust issues, so serious that those issues kept driving Eva away and ultimately caused her end the relationship. My theory of the day: Angus was the only adult who had the courage to speak out that Gideon was being abused. The red flag went up not because Gideon said something to his parents, but rather, Angus did. And Angus remained the only person in that house who believed Gideon even after his own family concluded he was lying because he was messed up and desperate for attention. To this day, his mother still denies anything happened.

 

Near the end of Reflected, Gideon finally began to reveal some details to Eva about what happened to him as a child. I'm certain that in Entwined, he'll continue to talk more with Eva about his abuse past and about his family, then and now. Certainly, Eva has questions she wants answers to, such as why did Gideon gain financial control of his stepfather's business.

 

He shared only a few pieces of the story as he sat there in the car with Eva. But we have to assume that every word of what he did say was true. The only reason he was finally revealing such closely-held secrets to Eva was he at last believed she had ended things for good. She made it clear she would no longer tolerate him refusing to be honest. She told him point blank she'd already begun moving on with her life, a life that no longer included him. He became desperate that he'd lost her. And so he began to talk. 

 

A summary of what Gideon did reveal to Eva during that crucial conversation:

• The abuser was a male doctoral candidate tagging along with a therapist, a woman, the Vidals originally hired to treat Gideon for anger issues. Gideon's anger issues were so bad that his younger half-brother, Christopher Jr., was starting to imitate his brother by throwing violent tantrums too. 
• Christopher was five at the time. Doing the math, Gideon would be somewhere between the ages of 10-12.
• The therapist was supposed to be treating Gideon, but she ended up instead spending her time with Gideon's mother, who was in the midst of a difficult pregnancy (carrying Ireland) and stressed with parenting two out of control boys (Gideon and Christopher).
• Gideon increasingly was left alone with this doctoral candidate, and that's when the man started abusing him.
• The behavior Gideon described started out as the man telling Gideon he needed to learn how to in order to relieve stress (this is "grooming" behavior). Then the man told Gideon he was doing it "wrong" and he began to "teach" Gideon how to do it the "right" way by touching him (now we're at the level of molestation.) And that every single time, the man forced Gideon to come so that the man could justify Gideon "wanted" it (a common means of keeping young victims from revealing abuse, brainwashing them into believing they're guilty).
• At that point in the conversation, Eva had heard enough. She climbed out of her seat in the car and into Gideon's lap, holding him close and comforting him by shushing him and telling him he didn't need to say more. So Gideon didn't get into any of the things that happened next. But we can guess from his violent nightmares Eva witnessed, (moans of pain and even during one nightmare, him crying out "it hurts!") that forcible penetration of Gideon came next.

What I really hope we learn in Entwined, as Gideon continues to trust Eva, is he'll talk about some of things that did come next:

• How did the red flag go up?
• Who were the two pediatricians Elizabeth Vidal consulted to examine him?
• What came next when his mother concluded he was lying. Did the abuser continue to have access to Gideon?
• When did the abuse finally end?
• How did the rest of his childhood and then his teens unfold?
• How soon into young adulthood did he begin extracting revenge against his family by cutting them off (i.e. rarely if ever seeing them and refusing to step foot in the house again)?
• Why did his revenge include gaining financial control of the Vidal family business?
• The full role Dr. Lucas, a pediatrician, played? Sylvia has told us he was not the abuser. Gideon has told Eva two scraps of info: that Lucas alienated him from his family, and Gideon sought revenge by seducing Lucas' wife, getting her to fall in love with him, then dumping her and sending her back to her husband.
• Most important of all: where is Gideon's abuser today, and what has Gideon done to get revenge against him?

I firmly believe that at some point, Gideon began having Nathan tailed. How long is the question. Was it from day one? Or did it start as soon as Gideon found out that Monday it had been Nathan who nearly killed Cary? Certainly, Gideon needed to know exactly where Nathan was on Thursday evening. And remember, the hotel security camera system had been down for some time in order to be upgraded, if we're to believe what Detective Graves told Eva. Thus Nathan had to have been under physical surveillance at least on Thursday.

Also, Sylvia posted that Gideon had been meeting with his security team at his apartment on Tuesday evening. Eva called him at home from the hospital, and she figured out he wasn't alone. He cut off the call when she started demanding who was with him. A fan later asked a spoiler question about who had been there (because we could have assumed it was Corrine. Certainly Eva did fear that's who it was.) Sylvia said it was his security people.

The books are told from Eva's point of view, so this is why we know nothing about how Gideon was communicating with Stanton and/or Monica once Nathan arrived in New York. We know nothing because Eva knew absolutely nothing. But they had to have been communicating, and probably cooperating on some level.

It was only after Nathan's murder that we found out some scraps from Monica. That Nathan had photos/video of Eva. That he tried to extort $2.5 million dollars from Stanton in return for leaving the country and never contacting Eva. That at first Stanton refused but ultimately Stanton was considering making the payoff. And we found out from Detective Graves that the hotel where Nathan died was owned by a subsidiary of Cross Industries.

One of the Entwined snippets contains a few lines of dialog in which Gideon was telling Eva he tried to balance keeping her safe with allowing her to keep her independence. I'm hoping those lines come from a larger conversation in which Gideon reveals the who/what/when/where/why of how the whole Nathan plot or plots unfolded. The whole story. Because Eva's no longer settling for Gideon keeping secrets, and Gideon understands he'll lose Eva forever if he doesn't start being totally honest.

silly me for not editing my profile.  geez.

 

i'm not sure what to think of magdalene.  she's a family friend of gideon's, which puts her in a position of being the girl he "thinks of like a sister".  we all know that girl.  , i've been that girl.  pathetically fallen for a guy who sees their relationship as friendly - sigh.  that girl, unlike corinne's charecter, will settle for whatever relationship she can get with gideon, and if that means she has to be besties with his current fling (be it corrine or eva) she'll do that.  poor thing is screwing his brother for crying out loud!  if that's not taking what she can get i don't know what is.  i don't want to think she's devious. i think she will be incredibly important, though, since she has known gideon for so long.

 

Wow, you are on to something about Magdalene possibly being important in the next book. Not only has she know Gideon for a long time, she's known Gideon's mother for a very long time. Still does. Elizabeth Vidal's best friend is Magdalene's mother. It might be foreshadowing that Magdalene tattles to Eva when it's convenient for her. She certainly tattled an awful lot about Corrine. What else might she be willing to reveal to Eva? Especially because Magdalene has every reason to believe Corrine's on top now. And it was always Corrine who was Magdalene's chief rival. If she could stir things up in the Gideon/Corrine department by getting Eva involved in something concerning him, it would be to Magdalene's benefit. The more trouble she can cause in the Eva-Gideon-Corrine love triangle, the better. That's exactly what she did do the night of the dinner at the Waldorf and the follow-up phone call she made to Eva the next morning.

LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud (or Laughing Out Loud).

 

Oh there's lots of material, I think, to tide us all over until June 4. Not only analyzing to pieces every last character, major and minor. But also combing through both books to try to figure out what are the red herrings (designed to deflect the reader) and what are the foreshadowings of what's to come. And of course Sylvia, bless her, keeps feeding us appetizers on a regular basis: the snippets.

 

I'd love it if she were able to have some more time in her busy schedule to jump in answers to spoiler questions.

 

Of the three times we do know he was with Corrine, number one was an intimate dinner for two at a friend's restaurant. Number two, the biggie, was at a very public social function. Number three was for all intents and purposes one-on-one, her being at his office and leaving together in his car. Discounting his assistant Scott and his back-up driver, Raul, it was just the two of them leaving.

 

Eva couldn't help but notice Corrine lives almost around the corner from Gideon. I'm wondering whether that's an important tidbit to the plot of Entwined. Did Gideon spend time at Corrine's apartment? Certainly, it's conveniently located to make it easy for him to spend free time. And if he is trying to fool the police, it'd be smart of him to be going in and out of there. Not having papparazzi hanging outside to snap a picture. But certainly having the building's doormen and downstairs desk people able to say, if it came down to them being asked, that yes, she has Gideon over to her place.

 

I suspect the whole reason he had Corrine over to his office that afternoon was so that the building security and the staff in his office could say, if it came down to anyone asking, that he's had her swing by to see him at work too. Especially because he used to have Eva come up to his office regularly.

 

What I really want to know is where did Gideon go after the vodka party. The very short article online said the party was from 6-9 p.m. Having an alibi of only three hours would be very high risk, because an argument might be raised Nathan died sometime after 9 p.m. Determining time of death is not an exact science. Unless a death is actually witnessed, time of death is at best an educated guestimate. To be safe -- and Gideon was very methodical -- he should have had an alibi for the entire night. 

 

When the cops asked him where he'd been that night, he didn't want to offer his alibi in front of Eva. But he did agree to talk to them while he walked them downstairs. "I was at a work-related function" is something he could easily say in front of Eva and her father. "I spent the whole night with Corrine Giroux" is something he couldn't say.

 

Here's a theory: what if right after the party was over, Gideon went back to Corrine's apartment with her? Bear with me here. Maybe he said something like "we didn't get a chance to really talk at the party, why don't we go to your place. I really want to hear about what's going on with the divorce, how you're holding up, how you're getting settled back in here in New York. I know things are rough. How are you doing?" And proceed to sit there listening to her talk until the wee hours, then walking home.

jo_mama, your profile says Gender: male. LOL!!! Gotta update that. Yeesh, how could a web site that is devoted to fans of romance novels, a literary genre aimed at women, have "male" as the default setting for a new profile. Maybe because the site designers were guys? OK, laughing over.

 

GiGi, you raise a great point about Gideon supposedly spending all his free time with Corrine. It is written down on page 311. But the person making that claim is Corrine herself. She said it during her argument with Eva. So I now realize I need to take that with a serious grain of salt, because it's a direct quote from Corrine, who has every reason to lie.

 

But certainly, Gideon is spending time with her. There are three instances that Eva found out about for certain (dinner at Tableau One, the vodka publicity mixer at the &%$! pad hotel, and Gideon emerging from the Crossfire with Corrine sometime shortly after 5 p.m. one afternoon.) There have to be more times that Eva doesn't know about. And it has to be true that Corrine is the only woman that Gideon is seeing right now, if it is true that Corrine is his cover story.

 

After we're done with the current round of hashing Corrine, I'd love to get into hashing Magdalene with you, GiGi. Especially intriguing is the phone call she made to Eva the morning after Eva met Corrine. There's so much that can be read into every last thing Magdalene said to Eva, and about what Eva thought regarding Magdalene's motive (or motives plural). Then there's the whole set of interaction among the three women the night before. Material very rich for speculation.

i think we'll have to agree to disagree on our conclusions.  i think gideon is an honest guy.  he's working desperately throughout reflected to get eva to trust him completely.  he's also not very 'chatty' when it's not about sex, so i can't imagine him offering corinne much more than a "don't worry about eva" or "eva is non of your business" line if she were to question him.  and when would she do all this questioning?  while he's at work and can easily avoid her calls?  when they are at events and he's bombarded with people bidding for his attention?  he might be spending his free time with corinne, but it's all spent in public so to attract attention.

 

corrine's behavior is evidence to me that she does not think gideon and eva are over.  if she thought she had him she wouldn't have to make eva jealous.  she's still playing games and trying to push eva out.

 

i think gideon's behavior is being overanalysed.  he's a man, and in such his motives are very simple.  he says he wants eva and all his actions are working to that end.  even nathan is easy - he wants eva and money, and he is working towards those goals.  it's the females of the story who are stirring the pot and causing friction (eva included).

 

I must say it's great to have a guy here in the thread to lend a guy's perspective to the books. Love it! You're sticking up for Gideon from a guy's point of view. I think the female fans sometimes stick up for Eva more than she deserves. She's also to blame for the fact the relationship was rocky from day one.

Magdalene is pathetic. She was willing to sit around waiting, even if it took years, for Gideon to finish sowing his wild oats and decide to settle down. That he'd naturally settle down with her. Why? Because she wears her hair like Corrine? And Gideon's mother is best friends with Magdalene's mother? Magdalene was so desperate she even slept with Christopher. Why? Because she had to "get some" somehow, and she wasn't getting any from Gideon. Nor would she risk sleeping with Gideon, not until he was ready to commit.

 

Corrine is just sad. And desperate. She chased Gideon, landed him, but then seriously settled for less than a real relationship with a man who kept himself seriously closed off. Gideon claimed Corrine thought the fact they always had sex at the hotel was "romantic." Malarkey. It had to drive her crazy that Gideon would not "sleep" with her in the literal sense of the word. Even after she asked him to marry her, he still would not spend a whole night together. So she delivered an ultimatum by breaking off the engagement. When that didn't work, she settled for some other man on the rebound. Then when that fell apart, she began throwing herself at Gideon again. And rather than being happy for him having fallen in love with someone, she started playing dirty tricks on the woman he loved in order to drive her away. Where the story now stands, she's settling for scraps as a Friend Without Benefits.

 

And Gideon can be really dumb when it comes to women. Corrine has been holding a torch for almost a decade. Corrine even married someone else, but still she ultimately came back to Gideon. Magdalene was willing to wait years for Gideon, even though she wasn't the only woman he let himself be seen with socially by the tabloids and even though he was having casual sex with a lot of other women. And Gideon honestly thought that Eva would wait for him? Wait for however long it took him to go back to her? And that Eva would settle for whatever scraps he threw? Because Corrine and Magdalene both had?

 

Uh, no, Gideon. Eva meant it when she kicked you to the curb. Didn't matter that she was still in love with you. She refused to settle for how you were treating and especially how you were mistreating her. And she decided to move on with her life. It took everything you had to convince her to agree to wait. And the only reason she agreed was you made a serious effort to change your ways.

 

Even then, did you expect her to sit around for more weeks? For months, even years if that's what it took? Um, hello, out there is a rock star who's said in interviews he wants another shot with her. A guy she once wanted with all her heart and a guy you saw for yourself that a part of her still desires him physically. What were you expecting to happen when Brett's current concert tour wrapped up? That he wasn't going to keep trying to see Eva? Because you publicly dumped Eva for another woman, a woman you probably were going to end up marrying, so Eva was now free for the taking.

 

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Brett shows up in New York again as soon as his tour wraps up. And what if word gets out that "Golden Girl" is none other than the well-known young socialite Eva Trammel? Can you see Gideon privately squirming at gossip stories, maybe even pictures, linking Eva and Brett and claiming the two of them have reignited a relationship that used to be really hot? It would serve Gideon right for those tabloid stories and pictures "Gideon Cross and former fiance seen together again!"

is it possible that he was incredibly straight with corinne?  she didn't argue with eva that he wasn't in love with eva, just that he was spending all his time with her (corinne).  he might have made it clear to corinne that he was still with eva, but that he wanted to spend some time with her.  she's desperate enough for him to accomidate, probably knowing full well that if she didn't that magdalene would be more than wiling to jump in.  pathetic women that they are.  a couple leaks to the tabloids via his pr team about rekindling old flames and he's all good.

 

No way would he be straight with Corrine. He wouldn't open up and trust her even when he was engaged to her all those years ago. And a lot of the time he isn't straight with Eva either. Where the story now stands at the end of Reflected, everything is riding on his cover story he left Eva for Corrine. My guess is he's lying by omission to Corrine, refusing to talk about Eva and letting Corrine jump to her own conclusion he's finished with Eva forever. I'm sure he's continuing to tell Corrine he just wants to be friends -- however, his actions don't match his words. By spending all of his free time with her, he's lying by omission he wants more.

 

Basically, for her own protection, he tricked Eva into thinking he'd left her. He's using Corrine by tricking her into thinking he's rebuilding their old relationship.

 

During the fight between Corrine and Eva, Corrine tried to stay on the offensive the whole time. She kept trying to land punches designed to make Eva jealous of her. Trying to trick her into thinking Gideon was sleeping with her. Pointing out truthfully she knew for a fact Gideon was not sleeping with Eva, because Gideon was now spending all of his free time with her (Corrine.) In fact, Corrine twice tried using as a weapon the fact Gideon was spending all his time with her (and thus not seeing Eva at all.) 

 

And Corrine turned evil when Eva got to the point of why she was there on her doorstep. Eva demanded to know what Corrine had been doing at the Crossfire that day she came out looking like she'd just had a nooner with Gideon. Bottom of page 311. Corrine's " ... smile was razor sharp. 'What do you think I was doing.'"

 

I love, love, love Eva's comeback "Not Gideon." You go, gurl! Eva then proceeded to accurately accuse Corrine of exactly what she had done. Gideon had warned Corrine Eva had jealousy issues. So Corrine had pulled a dirty trick that day in order to try to drive Eva crazy. Eva won the whole fight when Corrine gave herself away. "I saw the answer on her face. It was lightning quick, there and gone, but I saw it."

 

And that's when sweet Corrine finally lost her temper entirely, dropped an F-bomb and tried taking one last shot at Eva by again getting in the dig "I'm the one he's spending time with." Eva countered with pointing out that because Corrine was with Gideon so much, Corrine was seeing up close Gideon was hurting.

 

Eva finally walked away with the sassy parting shot "Have a nice day!" and Corrine was so mad she slammed her door. That sassiness was even better than Eva's usual practice of flipping people off. She flips men off (Gideon twice and Dr. Lucas once). But when dealing with rival, catty women, she gets in the last word. Like calling Magdalene pathetic when the two of them had their nasty fight in the ladies room in Bared to You. 

One of many dopeslaps Gideon needs is for spending all his free time with Corrine after he left Eva. How is Corrine NOT supposed to get all her hopes up? Even if he maintained he wanted nothing more than friendship. His words said one thing but his actions said another.

 

In chapter 22 of Bared To You, Eva points out to him "You feel guilty because she still loves you," and he responds, "I do, yes." He knows he's the reason her marriage failed - that she married on the rebound but never dropped the torch she held for Gideon. The divorce in progress is painful. He's trying to be a friend, and he feels it's a cruel time to cut her off.

 

But Eva pointed out to Gideon he's not Corrine's only friend and Corrine needs to find someone more appropriate to lean on during her time of crisis. "You wanna nip her hopes in the bud real quick. Stow the guilt, Gideon, and start weaning her off."

 

How could he not see it's crazy for Corrine to go running to him as a friend to lean on during her divorce. The reason her marriage fell apart is because she's in love with the "friend." She doesn't want friendship, she wants to marry Gideon. Duh, Gideon, hello!! And he's got to know that Corrine is going to be shattered when he does go back to Eva.

 

I think we all agree that Gideon mishandled the whole cover story of leaving Eva. But as far as Corrine goes, he ought to have stuck just to the two times he was out in public with her in order to make sure the press got pictures of them all cozy together out on the town. Proceeding to then spend weeks of his free time with her? He's guilty of seriously leading her on.

Fantastic observations, mrsmajessick, so much so I promoted the post to article status on the site.

 

One thing to add -- I think Gideon is at last making real progress to overcome his worst issue, an inability to trust other people. The catalyst that is changing his life is his love for Eva. All along, he's fought harder for her than he has for anything else in his life. But in the early stages of that fight, he had been trying to run the relationship like he ran the rest of his life -- an existing rigid (and seriously dysfunctional) pattern of trying to control everything, a pattern that includes keeping secrets.

 

He repeatedly found out the hard way keeping secrets kept driving a wedge between Eva and him. The only times he'd open up (and only partially) was out of desperation to get her to come back each time she ran away after something secret came out anyway (the #$&! pad, his violent nightmares, the ex-fiance he'd never mentioned.)

 

Then he really found out the hard way she meant what she said when she told him he had the power to push her away. She ended the relationship. She refused to trust him anymore (as well she should have, because he shattered her trust.) And she had no intention of waiting for him either. After a few weeks of licking her wounds, she began moving on with a life that no longer included him. 

 

Toward the end of Reflected, he finally made a huge leap of faith by opening up to her about details of the abuse he suffered as a child. But he did so only because he finally understood his old way of (mis)handling things meant he really had lost her this time, maybe lost her forever. So he began to open up in order to try to save any hope he ever had of getting her to be with him again. It worked. She promised to wait for him to go back to her.

 

He's got a lot more work to do on his trust issues, though, and it'll be a joy to see him do so in Entwined. Because he's learned that each time he does take the risk of really trusting her, her love for him grows deeper.

Hi LNCronan,

I read your posting and I don’t assume that Nathan was dirt poor. I think that his cash was quickly running out and maybe his dwindling finances, in addition to his mental states were causes of his mental unraveling. There wasn’t anything written other than the fact that Nathan’s father had completely disowned him some time ago. He may have been living off of whatever payoff his father had given him or any trust that he may have had access to. Who knows? I don’t think that the hotel that Nathan was staying at was a nice hotel per se, but probably just an average two/three star rating hotel, but you do have a point. Even the most economical hotel would probably be far more expensive because it was located in New York.

I guess the key question here is; how did Nathan wind up on Gideon’s radar? We the readers don’t have anything to go on here. Sylvia didn’t leave any clues. I suspect that maybe there might be something mentioned in the next book.

Your points about Gideon possibly having Nathan tailed could be a possibility but who knows? I would have found it hard to believe that someone placing a suspect under surveillance could watch that person beat another human being to a pulp? That would make them an accessory to a crime. I wonder if Sylvia will elaborate on this in her next book.

Another question I have is; why would Gideon lure Nathan to New York, to murder him? That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. It would behoove Gideon to travel to Podunk Hicksville to commit the murder. Why would he lure someone into his own backyard where he would obviously be under suspicion? I guess the argument could be made that he would have more control in a setting that he was comfortable with. It just seems like an awfully big risk.

 

Good morning, GiGi

 

I've always been in the camp that Gideon didn't kill for revenge. So whatever Gideon had been planning to do to ruin Nathan was something else, but it changed after Nathan nearly killed Cary. Gideon realized Eva's life was in danger and he hastily threw together a plan to stop Nathan as soon as possible. Gideon set his plan in motion during the day Monday. Thursday night, Nathan was dead. It's a case of justifiable homicide to save a life (though taking the law into his own hands was wrong) rather than revenge killing.

 

You raise a great point, "How did Nathan wind up on Gideon's radar"  that is, end up in New York. You're absolutely right though that it makes no sense for Gideon to lure Nathan to New York in order to do to him whatever Gideon had in mind (Plan Number One). It'd make more sense for Gideon to ruin Nathan from afar. And in any case, Gideon wouldn't ever want Nathan in the same city as Eva. I think Nathan contacted Gideon first. Gideon had last-minute cancelled an outside lunch appointment the day he had Nathan in his office, the day he hit Nathan. My guess is Nathan showed up unannounced at the Crossfire.

 

Nathan having access to a trust fund is intriguing. If he came from an old wealthy family, some grandparent or other relative may have set up a trust fund which his father would control while Nathan was a minor but over which Nathan would gain control as an adult. And probably blew through. But I can't see him getting a cent from his father's own money. "Disowned" means cutting off in every way possible.

 

Re: the hotel where Nathan stayed, Gideon owned it and so I can't see it being anything other than a luxury property. Every property of Gideon's we've seen in the story: his hotels, casinos, nightclubs, his flagship office tower, are all luxurious. Someone else was footing the bill to keep Nathan at that hotel and under close watch. On this point, I'm in camp Stanton/Gideon. Maybe together they arranged it and Stanton put a show of paying for it, looking like he was throwing Nathan a crumb as he (Stanton) was thinking over Nathan's demands. I think as far as handling the extortion, Stanton and Gideon cooperated with one another. Did Monica know is the question I have here.

 

Given how Gideon has Eva tailed (er, stalked - let's be honest; Gideon goes too far), he must have had people watching Nathan 24/7. So how did Nathan get as far into the beating of Cary as he did? It wasn't one blow with the bat: he fractured Cary's skull, broke ribs and broke one of his arms. I hope Eva gets a full explanation of how Nathan ended up in New York, and how Gideon in his obsessive-control way dealt with the situation starting with Plan One to ruin Nathan, then shifting to Plan Two to kill him. And Eva deserves to know all about Plan Three -- Gideon's plan to go back to her as soon as he could. How long did he expect Eva to "wait!" and what was he doing about it on his side. 

Sylvia clarified in answer to a spoiler question that it was after the North Carolina trip when Gideon set in motion the plan that unfolded the week Nathan was killed. In other words, taking Eva away for a romantic weekend wasn't meant to brace her for what was about to come. Sylvia also said his reason for a change in plans was the danger to Eva had become too great. (Remember, while they were away in North Carolina, Nathan nearly killed Cary.)

 

So I can't see him using Corrine as any sort of deflection prior the week everything hit the fan. He was, however, trying to manage Corrine (if we believe what Magdalene tattled to Eva the morning after Eva met Corrine). As Magdalene put it, at the dinner the night before, Gideon had been " .... trying to keep Corrine from upsetting you."

 

Didn't work, duh, Mr. Caveman indeed. Granted, by her own admission, Eva could get crazy with jealousy. She warned Gideon about this the day she agreed to become his girlfriend. The jealousy is one of the major issues Eva is working through. But Gideon seriously underestimated how badly Corrine did upset Eva.

 

In Entwined snippet #1 we see a tiny piece of a past-relationship talk Gideon and Eva have. I'm hoping in that scene, Eva gets the full explanation she deserves about how exactly Gideon "handled" Corrine from the day Corrine came back to New York. Did he even stand up for Eva? And what sort of story did he feed Corrine all those weeks he spent his free time with her, letting the world believe he'd kicked Eva to the curb.

sure, he spoke to corinne of her early on - it's probably the only thing he wanted to talk about!  but their post-eva discussions would be wary to include the subject.  if the man you wanted was still hung up on somebody else, would you keep reminding him of her?  no.  even at that dinner where he was ignoring eva to talk to corinne, we know from magdalene that corinne kept trying to discuss eva by talking about herself.  she's a great manipulater.

 

Excellent points, jo_mama. When Gideon and Eva had their long talk back at her apartment after the dinner, he maintained Corrine's going through a rough time (divorce) and he's being there for her as a friend. That it would be cruel to cut her off. Eva warned him he's kinda clueless about women wanting more, and she told him to start weaning Corrine off.

 

So you're right he probably backed off on talking about Eva after Corrine had met her. Plus there's no evidence he saw Corrine face-to-face between the night of the advocacy dinner and the day he started using Corrine as part of his cover story he left Eva for her. But I'm sure that between the time of the advocacy dinner and the time Gideon began spending time with Corrine again, he must have continued to talk with her on the phone regularly. Not every day. But regularly. And probably listened sympathetically as a friend. And probably didn't talk at length about Eva, not unless Corrine asked him.

 

I can't, however, see Gideon saying absolutely nothing about the fuss Corrine had caused by showing up unannounced at the Crossfire and getting spotted there by Eva. The aftermath was one of the most serious fights Eva and Gideon had. Gideon must have asked Corrine why she even showed up, and I'm sure he would have asked her not do it again. Too, if Corrine did call him angry because Eva showed up at her apartment and picked a fight with her, Gideon most certainly would want to know exactly what was said. Especially exactly what Eva said. Because at the time, Gideon was in trouble with Eva again -- and again for Corrine being at the Crossfire. He got caught red-handed walking her out of the building to his car, and Eva flipped him the middle finger.

Gideon had been discussing Eva at length with Corrine prior to Corrine meeting Eva. See pages 312 to 314 in Bared to You, the scene where Corrine has a talk with Eva at the advocacy dinner while Gideon is off talking to someone. He'd been telling Corrine about Eva from the day he met her.

 

Though actually it's apparent he quit talking about Eva with Corrine later, when he was spending his free time with Corrine after Nathan's murder.

How about a nice switch from hashing Nathan to death (bad pun intended). How about some Corrine theories? Specifically, about what she may have said to Gideon right after both of her stunts in which she made herself looked freshly #!$&ed in order to try to trick Eva into thinking Gideon was sleeping with her.

 

The first incident was at the Crossfire building at lunchtime the day after Corrine met Eva. The incident where Corrine emerged with her hair mussed and her lipstick seriously smeared. And climbed into Gideon's Bentley waiting at the curb. The second incident was the morning Eva showed up unannounced at Corrine's apartment. Corrine kept her waiting 20 minutes then answered the door all flushed and wearing a sexy bathrobe and refusing to let Eva in, instead acting like Gideon was inside the apartment.

 

Incident number one got Gideon into a lot of trouble with Eva. It sparked a huge fight, with Gideon ending up angry at Eva too, angry that she would ever think he'd cheat on her. He must have called Corrine to demand what the heck she thought she was doing, showing up unannounced at the Crossfire, a place where Eva could (and did) run into her. After all, Gideon went after Magdalene somehow in response to her trying to poison Eva's mind that once Gideon had slept with her (Eva) it was over. He turned icy when Eva told him verbatim the catty words Magdalene had said, and he promised to deal with her. I'm sure Gideon decided to deal with Corrine as well for upsetting Eva.

 

So, did sweet little Corrine act all innocent on the phone, making Eva look bad for being so insecure? I'll bet. But I'll bet the incident backfired on Corrine in one way, Gideon's possessiveness. Years ago when they'd been together, Gideon had been very possessive, so much so it bothered her. Only in hindsight did she realize the possessiveness had been a sign Gideon wanted her. So here were are, with Gideon asking her why she emerged from the Crossfire looking all mussed up. But NOT acting jealous in any way toward Corrine. Not acting possessive of her. But acting very protective of Eva because of Eva's insecurities. I'll bet Corrine came away from that conversation finding out the hard way Gideon didn't want her anymore and was truly very serious about Eva.

 

Incident number two: Corrine asked Eva whether Gideon knew she (Eva) had shown up at her (Corrine's) apartment. "No but you'll tell him. And that's fine," Eva answered, then proceeded to demand her own explanation out of Corrine about what she'd been doing at the Crossfire. Even accused Corrine of maybe having been with some other man at the building that day.

 

So how soon did Corrine tell Gideon about the argument with Eva? And what did she say? My theory: Corrine phoned him angrily right after she slammed the door on Eva. And probably tried to paint Eva as some sort of nutjob still obsessed weeks later that some sort of nooner had gone on between Gideon and her (Corrine).

 

But another consequence Corrine didn't want to happen did, and right away: Gideon went to see Eva. He figured out from the GPS tracking on the Bentley where she'd gone (remember, Angus didn't tattle on her, Gideon said.) I'll bet before the Corrine call, Gideon hadn't been watching the Bentley location in real time. Eva had been refusing rides for weeks. But now all of a sudden she was in the car that morning. Where had she gone? Corrine's, spending 20-plus minutes there. And now where was Eva? At Dr. Lucas' office.

 

After Gideon left with/dragged away Eva from Lucas' office, he started talking to her, and the first thing he brought up was Eva stirring up trouble with his mother, Corrine, even Lucas. One way or another, Gideon knew Eva had gone after Corrine that morning. The fact he included Corrine on the stirring-up-trouble list leads  me to believe Corrine called him shortly before he took off in pursuit of Eva.

   

Hi LN Cronan,

You make a really valid point about the videos and photos of Nathan’s crimes. The reader is left to wonder where the original videos and photos are. Somehow I doubt that Nathan would have shown Stanton or Gideon the original copies of videos/photos. There would be too much potential risk for destruction of property. I am sure that these men probably got upset when they saw the photos and could have even ripped them up. I guess my question for the universe would be; who was alerted first that Nathan was even in New York? We know that Gideon vowed to find Nathan and make him wish he were dead, but did Gideon make good on his promise?

Oh LN Cronan, anytime you like, come on over to camp-Monica/Stanton, the water is fine!

 

Well I'm going to come over to camp-Gideon/Stanton on one matter: the hotel where Nathan was staying. Pure co-incidence Gideon owned the building? Maybe: he owns an awful lot of real estate, especially hotels. But pure co-incidence it was a building where the security system had been offline for some time for an upgrade? I think - NOT.

 

Assuming Nathan was dirt poor, how could he afford to stay at a good hotel in a nice section of downtown New York City? Maybe Stanton "offered" to put him up while thinking over his (Nathan's) demands. Throw Nathan a financial crumb to keep him on the line and have him somewhere where they (Stanton and Gideon) could keep track of him via physical surveillance (people) but not leave any electronic surveillance proof (video footage).

 

Maybe this keeping Nathan under their thumb had been for two reasons initially: 1. find out by following him where he had the originals of the Eva photos/video stashed and 2. make sure he's sticking to his promise of staying away from Eva in return for being paid millions. String Nathan along temporarily, in other words.

 

How did Gideon (and maybe Stanton too) find out so quickly it had been Nathan who beat Cary with a baseball bat? Because Nathan could have been being tailed at the time by Gideon's people. (And yes, if this was the case, the "tail" ought to have jumped in, but for whatever reason, the person(s) following Nathan didn't. Or maybe they finally did, so Nathan took off instead of finishing the job of beating Cary to death)

 

And GiGi, you ask a really key question I hope we get an answer to: what led to Nathan showing up in New York? Did he crawl out of the woodwork because he saw lots of gossip photos of Eva with Gideon (and with Cary too). Or did Gideon track him down first? I'd love it if Sylvia would respond with a spoiler question answer.

I wonder whether this new snippet plus two prior ones are pieces of a frank conversation Gideon and Eva had soon after they got back together. Snippet #1 concerns past relationships, with Gideon saying both of them wasted time on the wrong people. Another one of the snippets has Gideon admitting he tried to balance Eva's independence with the need to keep her safe.

 

I can envision the two of them either sitting down or curled up in bed. Maybe even a secret trip back to North Carolina. Eva demanding answers from Gideon about a lot of stuff, and him finally (finally!) being completely honest. And in return, Gideon bringing up the subject of Eva going around confronting his family and Dr. Lucas.

 

Thoughts?

   

Hi LN Cronan,

I read your posting and I think that Gideon probably offered the video tapes voluntarily to the detectives to support his claim that he and Eva had already broken up. I just don’t think that he did anything voluntarily without the presence of counsel. I don’t think that there was nearly enough evidence to support the theory that the detectives could have subpoenaed Gideon’s bank records unless (Big Huge Unless here-Nathan had something written down about trying to extort monies from both Gideon and/or Stanton). I guess the big question for me would be: how much available, untraceable money did either of these men have in a vault or safety deposit box etc.? Monica stated to Eva that Stanton had finally decided to payoff Nathan. How was he planning on doing that? Surely Stanton wouldn’t go to his bank and make such a sizable withdrawal because all bank transactions are traceable and anyone wanting to commit a crime wouldn’t want to lead the police to their doorstep.

I understand what you are saying about offering an explanation to the detectives but I honestly think that Gideon didn’t say word one to the detectives until he was in the presence o cousel. It may be a reason why they were pushing so hard to nail everyone’s stories down (so they could then try to begin breaking them down). I know that there isn’t’ any written documentation of this, it is just my thought. I guess we will have to wait and see on June 4th (fingers crossed ). What do you and everyone else think?

 

The cops subpoenaed security tapes of Richard Stanton's office and kept hounding him. From page 329, Monica upset on the phone, talking to Eva: "I don't understand what they're looking for!" she complained, sounding angry and tearful. "They won't leave Richard alone. They went to his office today and took copies of the security tapes." And at the top of page 330, Monica continued, " ... They're relentless. What do they want?" Note: this was a couple of weeks after the murder.

 

It's likely they were hounding Gideon the same way. I can't see him voluntarily producing security tapes, but the police had enough grounds to get them by subpoena. In fact, it was that same week the cops went after Stanton's office tapes that Gideon paraded Corrine through the lobby of Crossfire, his hand at the small of her back. He must have been putting on a show for the security cameras in his lobby and outside the front of the building, where he helped tuck Corrine into the back of his Mercedes.

 

I wonder whether Eva had come back into camera range at that moment nearby on the sidewalk. She'd left the building for the day a short time before, but rather than heading straight home, she went around the corner to buy a bottle of water and a bag of chocolate. Thus she was walking back toward Crossfire at (for Gideon) the worst possible moment, just in time to see him emerge with Corrine and lead her to the car. He froze when he saw Eva standing there, and the camera would have caught he staring fixedly at something. Was Eva close enough that the camera also caught her flipping him her middle finger (one of my favorite go-gurl Eva moments.)

 

Neither Gideon nor Stanton would be stupid enough to have any bank transactions linking them directly to Nathan. But to dot all the i's and cross all the t's, the cops would have checked the records anyway to determine if there was any evidence that could look like blackmail payoffs. They'd likely have gotten copies of phone records as well. Just because there wasn't anything there doesn't mean they wouldn't try looking.

 

We know Gideon admitted in front of Eva he was familiar with Nathan (this was at her place when the cops first showed up.) Or more specifically, he didn't deny knowing Nathan. He was smart enough to not catch himself in a lie. They also asked him where he'd been Thursday night. He offered to talk to them while walking them downstairs. We don't know exactly what he said, but it's likely he would have said he had been at a party with lots of people there, and there even was a newspaper picture proving it. It would have been extremely to his benefit to offer an alibi at that moment.

 

I'm sure the detectives would have continued asking more questions, but he would have cut them off then by saying he wanted his lawyer present before talking further. Once someone says the "L-word" questioning stops. In fact, as soon as the cops conceded they were investigating Nathan's death, Eva's Dad invoked a desire for legal counsel and cut off further questioning until she could come down to the station with a lawyer present. Her Dad told the cops to leave.

 

Gideon came back upstairs within minutes of escorting them out of the apartment building, so he hadn't spoken long with the detectives. Further questioning would involve him and his lawyer voluntarily coming down to the police station to meet in an interrogation room. We know went to the police station the next morning.

So who is causing Gideon grief, and who is Eva playing avenging angel against? My guess is one of the four people she interacted with near the end of Reflected. In order, they are Gideon's mother Elizabeth Vidal, Corrine, Dr. Lucas and Christopher.

 

Narrowing down this list, the two most hostile interactions (ones where Eva attacked them for helping cover up the childhood sexual abuse of Gideon) are Elizabeth Vidal and Dr. Lucas. They're most tied in to Gideon's past, so it makes sense one or maybe both together are causing trouble. Evidence suggests that Lucas helped Elizabeth cover up abuse.

 

Christopher is third on the list, possibly hatching some new plot against his brother and trying to use Eva as some sort of pawn (believing falsely she'd want to get back at Gideon for his going back to Corrine.) Gideon would want to protect Eva against Christopher, but Eva's strong enough to tell Gideon basically "I got this."

 

I can't see Corrine giving Gideon grief, but I can see her trying to mess with Eva.

OK, got the link: http://www.sylviaday.com/2013/02/24/oscar-night-snippet/

 

Text: 

 

“Shut up, caveman. I’m not into that ‘me Cross, you Cross little woman’ bulls***,†I snapped. “In case you’ve forgotten already, we made a trade. You got me, and I got you. I protect what’s mine.â€

 

“Eva, don’t fight my battles for me. I can take care of myself.â€

 

“I know that. You’ve been doing it your whole life. Now, you’ve got me. I can handle this one.â€

Bunching together several questions about some of my theories: 

Re: Gideon's phone. On Friday night and Saturday morning, the cops had just barely begun examining both Gideon and Stanton. I think the detective told the truth when she saw how devastated Gideon was by that phone call at the police station. She guessed correctly it was Eva. I think then and there, the detective felt Gideon had personal motive for wanting Nathan dead. And so as the detective continued to investigate, she never for one second bought the cover story about Gideon having gone back to Corrine.

 

The cops had more than enough evidence to get a judge to sign a subpoena for Gideon (and Stanton's) phone records. And video tape of their office buildings. And probably their bank records too. Nathan's extortion attempts were the grounds to delve further into ongoing contact both men had with Nathan in the weeks leading up to his death, including his visits to their offices, and any sizeable chunks of money leaving one or both of Gideon and Stanton's bank accounts.

 

Re: Gideon's security team. I'm not sure exactly where I read Sylvia's spoiler-question answer that Gideon met with his security team at his apartment on Tuesday night, but I do remember it. it may have even been somewhere on this site. if not here, Facebook or Twitter. Angus holds a special place with Gideon, having known Gideon since grade school and serving not only as driver but his main bodyguard. Angus was the person above all else Gideon entrusted to watch over Eva. I believe he opened up to Angus about the full danger to Eva, and if anyone helped him (not with the stabbing itself but the logistics that night, including playing a role in alibis) it was Angus.

 

Gideon was lawyered up, but that does not mean refusing to answer all questions. He'd only refuse to answer any questions that could incriminate him. It would be to his benefit to answer certain questions, including those related to his alibi. The fact he has an alibi is what's known as "exculpatory" -- the very opposite of incriminating.

 

I wonder whether Detective Graves, when working so hard to try to break Gideon's alibi, ended up questioning Corrine about the timeline of her being with Gideon that night. It would be to his benefit for her to answer those questions, even with her lawyered up too. He'd have asked her to "just answer their questions about us being together." But I'm guessing Graves didn't ask Corrine anything, because the newspaper photo alone covered the fact she'd been with Gideon. 

 

I don't think the cops questioned Arnoldo. Arnoldo was lined up to be a potential defense witness if the case ever ended up going to trial. He could give good reason why Gideon dumped Eva when he did (the whole kissing Brett incident) and the fact Gideon started "dating" Corrine again just a few days later.