julie54

I loved Gideon for these two passages.

His hands brushed the hair away from my face, then wiped my tears of relief. "I'm always hard for you, always hot for you. I'm always half-crazy with wanting you. If anything could change that. I would've done it before we got this far. Understand?"

My hands wrapped round his wrists.

"Now, show me that you still want me after that." His face was flushed and damp, his eyes dark and turbulent. "I need to know that losing control doesn't mean that I've lost you"

Oh Gideon! why didn't you confide in Eva. This would have been an ideal opportunity to bare your soul too.

This evening was an emotional roller caster ride for these two, ending with Eva doing another runner. Shaking my head here!

There is a picture of a Bentley on Sylvia's Facebook feed that says 2 days until EWY Chapter 1 LOL as if we needed a reminder!!

The website will probably crash on Tuesday. This forum will be HOT!!!

You're welcome, Julie. I know there's a huge international following here, with regulars from England (like you), Italy, South Africa, Australia .... Crossfire is a global phenomena.

 

Because I have years of actual professional experience with some of these constitutional rights that govern the criminal courts and the press in the United States, I can recognize the way many things in the fictional story could unfold in real life in the U.S. But other nations have their own systems too, and some of those systems handle things differently. 

 

It makes me smile that you're British, because the way things used to be run in your nation two centuries ago was perhaps the biggest factor in the decisions made by the American leaders who created this country's constitution. The founding fathers didn't want a monarchy, they wanted a democracy. They came up with a system they thought would best protect a democracy -- protect the citizens against possible abuse of power by the rulers of the government.

 

The main body of the Constitution itself created the system of government: Presidency, Congress, U.S. Supreme Court. The Amendments are additions to it. It's been amended 27 times thus far over the years, changes that did things such as outlaw slavery and give women the right to vote.

 

But the first ten of the Amendments came in one fell-swoop at the beginning in order to try to guarantee crucial rights citizens have to protect them from possible abuses of power. We call those first ten The Bill of Rights, and even 200+ years later, they're still in every day use.

 

Among the Bill of Rights guarantees are: free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, rights of individuals accused of crimes to have fair and open trials, the rights of individual states to have their own state government systems .... yada, yada, yada ....

On a different topic .... Magdalene ....

 

Doing this re-reading project has made me re-examine many little details in a new light. The Chapter Twelve mention of Magdalene smiling as she talked to Gideon (that photo a paparazzi got) coupled with the Chapter Fourteen incident where Magdalene shows up unannounced at Eva's office, trying to see Eva, is something I'm reconsidering.

 

Before now, I viewed that incident in the same class as what Corrine did do later: pull a stunt to mess with Eva at the Crossfire, the goal being to drive a wedge between Eva and Gideon, using Eva's insecurities as a weapon. Magdalene never did get to see Eva, and Megumi later reported Magdalene appeared to get mad when she (Magdalene) failed. At the time, I thought -- good for you, Eva! Sic Gideon's own staff on Magdalene to make the b**** go away!! You go, gurl!

 

By now, I'm thinking the whole reason Magdalene showed up was because, as a real friend to Gideon, Magdalene knew she'd hurt Gideon when she'd verbally attacked a woman who turned out to be someone Gideon cared very deeply about. She tried to see Eva that Friday morning in order to try to get Gideon out of any more trouble he might be in with Eva because of her (Magdalene). And the reason she got mad when she realized she wasn't going to get to even talk to Eva was because she (Magdalene) now was frustrated and afraid she'd no longer be allowed to be friends with Gideon.

 

I saw the Magdalene-tried-to-see-Eva in a new light based on what Magdalene did do not too long later, which was to call Eva up at work. Magdalene called Eva the morning after the whole mess of what happened the night before with Corrine - Gideon had (stupidly) allowed Corrine to monopolize his attention, something that got Gideon into real trouble (for good reason) with Eva. When Magdalene, who had eavesdropped on the whole thing the night before, called Eva up the next morning to gossip, I think Magdalene's real purpose was to get Gideon off the hook. And I saw Magdalene as having told the truth when Eva asked her why she was doing it. Magdalene explained she and Gideon were very old friends -- and so Magdalene didn't want things to be awkward when she was around Eva and Gideon in the future.

 

Bared timeline of Magdalene and Eva

• Saturday (fundraiser): Magdalene essentially called Eva as s*** and claimed she (Magdalene) was the one he respected. Being a b****? yes. But dishonest? No. Magdalene had herself fooled into thinking she was somehow filling the hole Corrine left years ago, and she had every reason to believe Eva would go right on the reject pile like every other woman Gideon f****.
• Monday lunchtime: (Eva and Gideon become a couple): Eva expressly warned Gideon she had a problem with Magdalene, including telling him almost word for word what Magdalene had said, details he hadn't known about. He got mad about what happened and promised to deal with Magdalene, so moving forward, Magdalene would not be a problem.
• Monday afternoon? I think Gideon called Magdalene, chewed her out and informed Magdalene that Eva was now his full-fledged girlfriend. And I think Magdalene believed him, felt a little bad about how mean she'd been, and promised him she'd treat Eva with respect moving forward. Sure, Magdalene probably hoped the Gideon/Eva thing was just a fling that would burn itself out. But she valued her old friendship with Gideon enough that she didn't want to endanger it.
• By Tuesday morning: Plastered all over the Internet are pictures of Gideon kissing Eva and stories that they're serious.
• Tuesday night: Magdalene ran into Gideon at the restaurant where he'd attended a business meeting. Outside, they talked, and they both looked happy. Gideon later tried re-assuring Eva the happy look in his eyes was because he was talking about her (Eva). I think that even though Magdalene undoubtedly was jealous, she was happy for him. But .... the two of them standing there together looked incriminating in a paparazzi picture someone got
• By Wednesday morning: Plastered all over the Internet are false stories and pictures Eva and Cary have something going on and that Gideon had run right to Magdalene the night before because of it.
• By Thursday morning: plastered all over the Internet are pictures of Gideon and Eva arguing out in public - stuff that includes them passionately making up.
• Friday morning: Magdalene shows up at Eva's office to try to talk to her.

 

I think Magdalene's main motive was to make sure Gideon wasn't in trouble anymore because of those pictures of him talking to her (Magdalene) that hit the Internet on Wednesday. Perhaps Magdalene might wanted to make sure for herself, too, those rumors Eva was juggling two boyfriends (Gideon and Cary) weren't true. Because Magdalene cares a lot for Gideon as a friend.

Magdalene at last realised her and Gideon was never going to happen, keeping him as a friend was her only option. The penny finally dropped!

All those old court documents are sealed, so why is it Eva's so paranoid the media could find out all about it? She's right to be scared, because there is a serious paper trail that an investigative reporter could follow through interviewing some people with inside knowledge of the case, protecting those people as "unnamed sources." Especially damning would be if a reporter were able to get his/her hands on copies of leaked documents, because Eva's name would be all over them (and Monica's to a lesser extent, most especially though in the monetary damages case.)

 

If you fellow fans can stand a little more about applicable U.S. constitutional law, read on ....

 

The Sixth Amendment that I talked about the other day, the one that protects the right to a lawyer for anyone accused of (or even suspected of being involved with) a crime? That one that Detective Graves violated when she questioned Eva? The Sixth Amendment guarantees additional rights that include a "public" trial. The government isn't allowed to hide prosecutions of citizens behind closed doors.

 

If the government is going to attempt to send someone to prison, the government must handle the whole case in the open where all citizens can see. This is a protection against government abuses of the court system. What this means iis that with only few exceptions, all criminal cases are public proceedings, and nearly all the records are public documents. Any member of the public can watch in court and can read the files. Most especially the press.

 

The major exception to public criminal cases is juvenile cases, which technically are "delinquency" instead of "criminal" proceedings. Juvie cases are handled in closed courtrooms, the files are non-public, and the fact a child was accused of and/or convicted of delinquency is secret. Unless they have an actual reason to, court clerks aren't supposed to root through those files. At best, cops may know someone who goes on to become an adult criminal has a juvie record, but even then cops need good reason to be allowed access to the records.

 

In addition to the criminal case against Nathan, Monica sued his father for damages. There's less secrecy protection there. However in a civil proceeding, the settlement terms can be made a secret if both sides agree and the judge agrees to seal it. This happens quite regularly when someone (here Nathan's father) wants to settle instead of risk going to a civil trial where a jury could possibly award the plaintiff (here Monica) every last cent the defendant has. So it's to someone's advantage to settle -- settle confidentially, lest someone else get ideas about bringing another lawsuit hoping to get big bucks.

 

So if a journalist poked around, he/she would be able to easily determine the existence of a civil suit in which Monica sued her husband. But when a reporter tried to see the court records, nearly all of them would be confidential -- not just because the sides agreed to confidentiality, but the judge signed an order to seal.

 

So how is a journalist supposed to "get the dirt." People who had been involved and know details could talk under circumstances where the journalist would publish the details but keep secret the name of the person who spilled the details. That's an "unnamed source." Too, someone could leak copies of the paperwork they, for whatever reasons, still had copies of. When Stanton paid people money to keep their mouths shut, he was banking on those people being afraid to cooperate with any journalists, lest they (the sources) somehow get caught doing it.

 

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects, among other things, freedom of the press, and it's those rights that journalists fight to protect when someone tries to force a news organization, by bringing them to court, reveal unnamed sources. Judges are reluctant to order media to reveal sources, especially because it usually doesn't work -- journalists almost always will go to jail for contempt of court than reveal a source. The media also relies heavily on the First Amendment any time the government tries to prevent the media from having access to open government proceedings -- including criminal cases.

 

Bottom line in Eva (and Monica's) situation. There's a legal paper trail about everything that happened after the abuse was uncovered, and there were a lot of people involved who would remember. The danger exists any one of them could talk to and/or leak copies of records to a journalist who would keep secret the name(s) of the person(s) who leaked the info. And there are news organizations unscrupulous enough to use the info to create a scandal instead of following the usual media standards the mainstream media abides by - refusing to name sexual assault victims unless the victim specifically wants his/her name revealed.

 

Increasingly, some victims do ask journalists to use their names, wanting the shame assigned to where it belongs -- with the rapists, not the victims -- and wanting everyone to know details of the terrible things the criminals did to them. However, most victims are reluctant to be named. The cases may still get reported, but the widespread voluntary media practice is to leave the victim names out.

 

"Voluntary" is key here. The media is free to report anything about criminal cases, even the names of victims. All cases, including rape. No laws exist forbidding the media to report facts. Even if the media obtains confidential information, still they can report what they want -- as long as what printed is true, journalists commit no crimes by running the stories. When the framework of the U.S. Government was built through our Constitution over 200 years ago, the founding fathers, aware of press censorship under feudal systems in other countries, sought to guarantee the government cannot muzzle the press. Centuries later, the government still finds it hard to impossible to be able to legally try to stop the media from running stories, even stories that contain government secrets.

I am finding this history lesson absolutely fascinating, I had heard about the Amendments but didn't know what they entailed. Keep it coming, because it fits in well with the story.

Thankyou

Morning all. It's a lovely day in England .

Woke up to my Facebook news feed page full of Sylvia Day, and Crossfire series for movie info!

It's gonna be a good day!

Hello Julie!

Monica might have noticed something was wrong with Eva, but she completely misinterpreted her (Eva's) unconscious signals. I'd say Monica simply thought that Nathan and Eva had had some big argument between them, or that Eva was in her teens.

How could she possibly think of one of her children sexually abusing the other? Could you? You are right, though: in the long run she should have guessed Eva's issues with Nathan weren't only due to their age or any existing conflict between stepbrothers, and should have looked into what the matter was with them. Didn't I say I overlooked something?

Good night, sweet dreams!!!

Hope it's a lovely day in Italy as it is in England .

I gave your posting a lot of thought last night, trying to absolve Monica from her neglect.

I just feel that Monica as a mother didn't have a clue when it came to parenting.

Eva was 10 when the rapes started. Just for arguments sakes she was raped twice a week, that was 400 times in that 4 year period! Eva states to Gideon that she lost count.

Eva must have been traumatised, had nightmares, refusing to sleep in her own bed, her behaviour would have changed dramatically I would have thought. For Monica not to see this, makes me wonder if she was living in the same house! Someone stated that the staff didn't say anything, as Eva said they had to know, because they feared losing their jobs?

Yes, as soon as she found out, she did the right thing, but it was too late for Eva . The damage was done. Gideon became her healer, hopefully the box where she put her ordeal, won't be opened ever again.

Just to add. Eva said, she lost count how many times she was raped, tortured and tormented. Four years is a long time.

Poor girl lost her childhood.

Sorry Gabri

She definitely has her issues and self centered but she does love Eva.

How very brave of you!

Yes as soon as she found out about Eva's abuse, she left her marriage. But for four years Eva was abused, how could she not see how her daughters personality had changed. Was she taking any notice of her daughter at all?

Eva must have been withdrawn, her bedding would have told a story too! How did Eva react around Nathan?

I'm sorry to disagree with you, but Monica is bad mother.

Even now she wants to be a friend to Eva , not a mother.

She won't win any prizes for mother of the year in my books.

And that's why the next day he immediately went to Stanton demanding answers about where the ###### Nathan was ....this too make me think about what exactly brought about the end to Gideon's abuse. In Eva's case she had the miscarriage and thus everything was out in the open but in Gideon's case could it have been when Elizabeth finally had Ireland that the shrink stopped coming to the house? How did his torment end. I hope we get the answer in Book 3...

We have one month to go!

Hopefully all our questions will be answered, we need Gideons torment to come to an end, so he can read a fulfilling and loving life with Eva.

Reading chapter 12 made me cry literally for Eva. Never have I read a book that has reduced me to tears. This chapter was heart breaking for Eva, having to spill all that hurt out to Gideon. For him to find out what had happened to his girlfriend would have made his world fall apart surely. What a shock to realise they both had a terrible secret in common.

Perhaps Sylvia hopes we'll be like Eva, who near the end of Reflected, expresses pity for Corrine as desperate and a little pathetic in her (Corrine's) refusal to accept the fact Gideon doesn't love her and doesn't even desire her. Something that's got to be obvious, because she'd be able to see man behind the mask as someone in terrible pain right now.

I hope, though, Sylvia has figured out because so many of us identify with Eva as a character, we'd hate Corrine right from the very start. And we'd get further worked up for Gideon screwing up the situation beyond belief at times.

• Corrine crashed the fundraiser to chase Gideon, and she jumped at a golden opportunity to make Eva miserable (and as an added bonus humiliate Eva with everyone watching.) Gideon had been such an idiot at that dinner table.
• Corrine maliciously jumped at a golden opportunity to make Eva jealous (and as an added bonus make her fear Gideon could be a cheater.) OK, here Gideon tried to do the right thing, but Eva was so triggered she was a little nuts then and there was no getting through. Corrine had scored a knockdown.
• Corrine preened in public once Gideon started taking her out again (instead of being sensitive to the fact he was in a serious relationship with someone else.) Gideon seriously underestimated how shattered Eva would be by his taking Corrine out in a way that made even her believe he'd gone back to Corrine.
• And when Eva finally came to confront her, as was inevitable to happen, Corrine calculatedly did something guaranteed to send Eva running away forever -- not simply running away from a dinner table because Gideon had been ignoring her (Eva), like the first night. She planned to send Eva running out of her (Corrine's) apartment building in agony that Gideon, having just f****** Corrine hard, didn't even care enough to have the decency of telling Eva to her face it truly was over. Some of the earlier stunts were all impulse, but this time Corrine spent 20 minutes pre-mediating how to kill forever any love Eva may have still had for Gideon. Gideon's ultimate rejection, Eva could have believed, and if she had, Corrine would have struck a fatal blow to what Eva and Gideon had been.

And for a instant, Eva tottered on the brink. Had it gone the other way, Eva would have left shattered, probably died a little inside doing a "walk of shame" past an Angus she believed was looking at her in pity. She'd probably refuse to even listen to Gideon again. Perhaps worst of all, with her old wounds opened and raw, she'd run rebound right into Brett's arms, making an even worse mistake, further relapsing into destructive patterns.

But then ....

"Cut the s***, Corrine." Eva just knew. She knew in her heart Gideon loved her (Eva) and would never love Corrine. Dr. Travis had worked miracles in rebuilding her damaged psyche. The turmoil she'd gone through with Gideon made her stronger instead of breaking her. This was the strong even sassy Eva who'd stood up to even Gideon himself. Loved it when Corrine maliciously said "what do you think I was doing" and Eva shot right back "Not Gideon." Go gurl!

Oh if Corinne only knew how hot it is between Gideon and Eva in the bedroom or the car or even the hotel LOL but maybe it's a good thing she doesn't or she would never stop tryin to capture the incredible smokin hotness as Eva describes it...

I wonder what Sylvia thinks when she reads how much we despise Corrine. Does Corrine love Gideon or is it the trappings of his lifestyle, that's attracting her? As Eva said, if she had noticed Gideon was hurting, she should be a friend.

Now THERE'S a possibility. What exactly did Angus do that earned him Gideon's absolute trust? Angus was around Gideon since Gideon was a kid, and in a position (driver) to pay attention to the kid (um, hello - Monica?! like you ought to but didn't pay close attention to your daughter?)

As soon as Gideon was old enough (and financially secure enough) to hire Angus full-time, he did it. Stole Angus right away from his (Angus') job working for the Vidals. That was eight years ago. Gideon would have been just 20 years old at the time.

Poor Gideon -- and "almost" poor Corrine. Really, she has only herself to blame for putting herself into a position to be stone-cold used. But Gideon's now, through his own fault, in a sticky spot with the old ex.

 

I'll bet Gideon thought that second date with Corrine, the party, was going to be the last time he had to take her anywhere. The cops would swallow whole his cover, based on that party photo plus his having taken Corrine out earlier that week. So I'm sure, the night of the party, Gideon was careful that Corrine wouldn't have any "expectations" (ah, Gideon loves that word.)

 

Instead, here he is weeks later now forced into a position where he's still spending time with Corrine. Corrine claimed to Eva he's spending all his free time with her. We gotta take "all" with a grain of salt -- this is Corrine, who effs with Eva's mind. But Corrine certainly would have been telling the truth Gideon is spending quality time with her.

 

Eva with her own eyes caught Gideon red-handed (with his hand at the small of Corrine's back, a very intimate physical gesture) walking Corrine out of the Crossfire. There most certainly must be more incidents. That's the only one Eva knew about for certain, because she was still in the vicinity of the Crossfire, something Gideon hadn't counted on, when he emerged with Corrine and climbed into a waiting car, likely going out to dinner. (It was after 5 p.m.)

Most of what I wrote about Gideon and Angus' timelines are guesses. My guesses include Gideon had a late meeting after the party. He told Eva he had a late meeting (when he fed her his excuse why he was going to meet her at Dr. Petersen's, not ride over with her.) She'd assume by late, she meant immediately after 5 p.m. In actuality though, he'd probably told her a truth -- he did have a meeting. But really late (not right after work.)

 

He had to be somewhere around other people after the party, not home alone. He needed many hours, not a few, for alibi protection -- to limit it to the party hours itself would have been incredibly stupid. A business meeting after the party would work.

 

Even more important, he had to have some sort of good excuse for not extending his date with Corrine past the party, because to do so could tempt her to make a sexual move he's have to rebuff.

• They couldn't hang around the hotel. It's where he used to f*** her the whole time they were sexually involved all those years ago. And given that she was the one who originally seduced him back then, there would be a very high risk she'd try do so right after the party. 
• They couldn't go to her apartment either (she'd almost certainly put the moves on him there too -- even more thrilled at the thought he'd actually want to sleep with her in her own bed, not the hotel.)
• He'd never take Corrine to his own apartment (it would be a form of betrayal of his love for Eva, because she's the only woman he ever let into his inner sanctum. Besides, taking Corrine there would probably be a guarantee Corrine would immediately try to jump his bones.)

Gideon would never put himself in a situation with Corrine, whereby betraying Eva, betraying himself.

Ah, glad you asked. My theories about Angus that night .... his role in the alibis for Eva and Gideon both.

 

But first, some important thing to note about time of death. The only time there is any medical certainty, right down to the minute, when a person dies (by whatever causes) is when there is an eyewitness that can document the time.

• A person dies of a heart attack -- when the emergency room doctor determines the resuscitation efforts won't work, he/she declares the patient dead. The time is noted, right down to the minute, on the death certificate.
• A patient succumbs to cancer in a hospital or hospice setting. Nurses and/or family members will be there when the person breathes his/her final breath. About a minute later, the heart stops beating. The time is noted on the death certification.

When a person dies "unattended" it is impossible to determine right down to the minute when death occurred. At best, a medical examiner can guestimate a window of a couple of hours. And that's under ideal conditions, when the body is still "fresh" -- i.e. the deceased was found around 24 hours or less later. The presence (or lack of presence) of rigor mortis is an important clue, as is the temperature of the body core (determined by inserting a thermometer into the liver.)

 

When Detective Graves showed up at Eva's on Friday night, she didn't ask Eva where she was Thursday evening. How Graves phrased it was exactly this way "Can you just tell us where you were, yesterday, Miss Trammel?" (page 270 and on page 280, Graves' partner, Detective Michna, asked Gideon the same thing while Graves was busy watching Eva like a hawk.)

 

Gideon was careful to manipulate things so that Eva had an unbroken alibi for all of Thursday, starting at work and continuing straight through to the following morning. Every minute of her day, she was around someone else, and if worse came to worse, eyewitnesses could account for her every movement. Gideon must have taken the same care. Angus definitely played a part in Eva's alibi, and I think he was part of Gideon's alibi too. (In fact, I think Angus was an accomplice that helped Gideon commit the killing himself, but for her, I'll stick to the alibi timelines.

 

Eva alibi timeline, all of which is actually laid out in Reflected.

• Thursday daytime in the office all day, including lunch (and including a meeting at Cross Industries, where Gideon coldly ignored her in front of everyone there.)
• Thursday after work: Angus was right downstairs to drive Eva from the Crossfire to Dr. Petersen's office, then from Dr. Petersen's office straight home to her apartment.
• Thursday night: Eva's BFF/roommate, who got out of the hospital the day before, was in home care, including an onsite private nurse. Eva stayed in all night. Even while she and Cary were both asleep, someone was awake (the nurse.)
• Friday dawn: Eva left her apartment, seen by her doorman and with Raul waiting to pick her up. A ride she blew off. Timeline wraps up there.

 

Gideon's likely alibi timeline:

• Thursday daytime in the office all day. 
• Thursday evening: he told Eva (when claiming he's meet her at Dr. Petersen's instead of riding there with her) he had a late meeting. 
• My guess what happened next: Raul picked Gideon up at the Crossfire and drove him right to Corrine's apartment to pick her up for the "date." Raul took them right to the party, getting them there shortly before 6 p.m. (same time Eva would have been arriving at Dr. Petersen's).
• The party went on from 6-9 p.m. At some point, an evacuation of the party hotel forced everyone to mill around outside. Gideon slipped off amid the confusion.

My theory about where Angus was the rest of the night, after he dropped Eva off at home sometime around 7-ish:

• Positioned himself near the party hotel. Gideon met him during the disruption, they rushed to Nathan's hotel, Angus stood lookout, Gideon took care of Nathan forever, Angus rushed Gideon back to the party.
• After the party: Gideon had to be in someone else's company for most, if not all, the rest of the night. To go home alone would be too dangerous. Here's my theory.
• To avoid having to go home with Corrine (or worse, have to deal with an "expectation" he'd get a room so they could have sex)  Gideon actually did have a "late business meeting" set up -- really late, after 9 p.m. He told Eva the truth, and could prove to her where he'd gone after the party, if worse came to worse.  
• Gideon had Raul drive Corrine home while Angus drove Gideon to his meeting.
• Wherever Gideon was, he didn't go home until the wee hours. Maybe he went out for drinks with people after the meeting. Wherever he was, Angus drove him there and ultimately drove Gideon home.
• Raul was sent instead of Angus to get Eva the morning after.

That was awesome. I knew you wouldn't let me down.

I love the detail. But I don't recall a meeting after the party, where was that in the book? Or am I having a senior moment!

Good question since we weren't privy to the time of death established by a forensics team since it was a deemed a homicide...

We only have the detectives word to go by, and she has been a bit tricky dicky with our girl.

She wouldn't have any direct power over which actors and actresses get the contracts to play the roles. That power ultimately rests with the studio, and it's usually the producers and the director who ultimately decide.

 

BUT ....

 

As the author of the series, and someone with star power herself now, Sylvia has a lot of influence to be able to sway fans -- sway her own fans as an author as well as help sway Cavill's fans as an actor. Her influence gives him a huge advantage among the pool of actors who would fight to land the role.

Gideon's skillful manipulating of the media for his own purposes -- staging "candid" photo opportunities for paparazzi and having his PR staff leak anything Gideon specifically wanted reported -- would become crucial in Reflected. Judging by Snapshot One of Entwined (the "Press" clue) it's also going to be important from the get-go in the forthcoming novel.

Thus I was struck by things in contained in chapters 10 through 12 of Bared, which revealed how Gideon handles the avid media attention he draws. He uses it to his advantage both actively (staging things) and passively (ignoring some rampant speculations.)

Here's my thoughts on plot threads about how actions he took to publicly and truthfully lay claim to Eva in Bared would parallel actions in Reflected to publicly and deceptively lay claim to Corrine in Reflected.

First, two key things Gideon says to Eva when she, upset at the time, informs Gideon there's a picture (and coverage about) them as a couple "all over the place" -- she'd seen a Google alert list at least 30 reports only hours after she and Gideon had been caught kissing in public less than 18 hours earlier.

He says he's not bothered. "Why would I be? For once, they're reporting the truth." And when it dawns on her he deliberately set the media up, he revealed, "The photographer happened to be there. I just gave him a picture worth printing, and told PR to make it clear who you are and what you are to me." (page 155).

Timeline of Gideon's Bared manipulation of the story Eva-Gideon (and the ensuing unintended media amok):

• Monday Evening: Gideon stages the kiss photo, and his PR people spin the story.
• By Tuesday Morning: all over the Internet is gossip along these lines: "Gideon Cross in new relationship with socialite Eva Trammel -- it's serious sources confirm!!!!"
• Lunchtime Tuesday, freshly thrust into the spotlight, Eva would eat lunch in a restaurant with her best friend, Cary, an emerging hot model. Secretly, a paparazzi would snap pictures of them in an intimate setting. Their easy affection with one another, totally platonic, would within later get twisted.
• Dinnertime Tuesday - Gideon attended a business meeting (without Eva) at a restaurant, where he ran into Magdalene. Afterward outside, they'd briefly talk, affection as old friends apparent. That's get twisted too, especially because of the already-known former dating relationship between the pair
• By Wednesday Morning: the tabloids are running amok with false reports along these lines, complete with photos that even Gideon and Eva would each flared into jealousy. Basically:
• "Eva Trammel keeping her up-and-coming model boyfriend, Cary Taylor, on the side while reeling in billionaire playboy Gideon Cross!!!!
• Gideon Cross turns to Magdalene Perez for comfort!!!! Good for him, he's got a 'bevy of beautiful socialites!!!!"
• Wednesday Lunchtime: major argument with Gideon paranoid Eva's f***** Cary and Eva paranoid Gideon did not make good on his promise to handle Magdalene.
• They reassured one another, kiss and make up (and get secretly photographed again doing it). But no where does Eva read any denials about Gideon-Magdalene, and she doesn't issue any denials about Cary-Eva. Their strategy is to just ignore it (smart, because to do anything otherwise would accomplish nothing but further fanning the flames.

Timeline in Gideon's Reflected manipulation of the story Corrine-Gideon

• Monday Dinnertime: Gideon takes Corrine to dinner. The restaurant is owned by his good friend (Arnoldo) and the couple ends up with a very visible front table
• By Tuesday morning: all over the Internet are "candid" pictures of Gideon with Corrine, obviously at ease with one another and having a good time. Accompanying captions and stories truthfully report Corrine's his former fiancee. The prospect of them reunited has started a media feeding frenzy.

What Gideon must have done: tip off a photographer to secretly get candids, and made sure his PR people leaked Corrine's name and who she is to him. The leak is the only way the media could have immediately found out Corrine's name/status. She'd lived overseas for many years and had just come back. Plus Gideon was an unknown college kid when he and Corrine were a couple.

Why did he do it: Nathan was out of control over belief Eva was f****** Cary, and Nathan already had been trying to destroy Eva's relationship with Gideon. To try to defuse the now-crisis-situation, Gideon made it look like he'd left Eva for another woman, one he was serious about.

• Thursday evening: Gideon threw a publicity party and Corrine was there.
• Obviously by Friday morning, but not seen until Saturday by Eva - the spin: "The picture was of Gideon and Corrine at some sort of cocktail party. He had his arm around her waist, and their body language was familiar and intimate. He was very close to her, his lips nearly touching her temple. She had a drink in her hand and was laughing." The accompanying caption was tame: simply naming the pair of them (no relationship mentioned) and what the party was for. A bland short story reported when and where the mixer was held. (Reflected pages 283-284)

What he did: He invited Corrine as his date, because it was vital she be there. He had his PR people invite one mainstream media photographer and fed him/her a very bland press release, probably later that evening, close to the newspaper deadline so that the paper would just run it as is, not having the time to ask questions.

Why he did it: He killed Nathan that night, and this staged PR event was his alibi. He made sure the fluff piece gave the exact time of the three-hour-long party, and mentioned by name who Corrine was. He was counting on the cops just accepting the photo at face value, immediately rule he had no opportunity to kill Nathan, and thus speed things along in the cops eliminating him early in any investigation. As a two-fer, he used Corrine to bolster his cover to protect him from motive -- he'd already gone back to Corrine, even while Nathan was still alive, and now it was reasonable to assume he and Corrine were lovers again. He was capitalizing on already rampant speculation about him and Corrine.

Eva didn't look beyond that one photo story, picked out by her father to show her, obviously the only "tame" one there was. Gideon had been counting (idiot!) on Eva not looking any further into what would have been the media running amok with false speculation along these lines: "Gideon Cross back together with the love of his life!!!! She's left her husband for him!!!! Wedding bells as soon as the divorce goes through?!!!!"

Gideon would have "ignored" instead of denied those things. Counting on Corrine to simply believe he obviously was publicly laying claim to her again. Make the cops conclude he had no motive as well as no opportunity -- and so within days at the most, he'd be crossed off the suspect list. Then he'd tell Corrine he couldn't see her anymore. He'd go back to Eva and tell her Corrine was permanently out of his life. Eva would take him back.

Idiot!!! Shattered Eva, who immediately pulled the ultimate runner - accusing him of awful things that shattered him in return, then breaking off their relationship for good.

It was all in vain too, because a very smart homicide detective saw right through the fake Gideon-Corrine affair, then started busting her b*** to break his alibi.

Bearing that in mind, and trusting Eva's safety to Angus, why did Raul (who she had never met before) pick up Eva just before dawn on Friday to take her to the airport to collect Victor? Where was Angus, Nathan would/should be dead now.

Gideon sometimes gets it so right, saying beautiful things to Eva , buying her gifts, taking note of brands of toiletries that she uses. Then other times he's a complete quote " as*hat".

With all his times with women, socially and sexually, he was clueless, bless him.

Good job he's got Eva to put him right.

You please me. I crossed to him, the black robe swaying round my legs. I loved that he put on something that matched what he had given me.

I want to, he said soberly. I'm working on it.

Give him time .

Favourite bits from pages 176 & 177

I love Steven. I love his sense of humour.

Steven stood with his hands in his pockets and a big grin on his attractive face. "I feel like I should applaud. That was better than watching a chick flick"

"What's wrong with you? You can go out with a catty bit*h who calls me a w*ore and thinks she's going to marry you, but I can't have lunch with a dear friend who's been pulling for you from the beginning?"

Plausible deniability is a fancy way of saying "lack of evidence."  If prosecution can't gather enough solid evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt he loved her enough to kill to protect her, his defense could "plausibly deny" Gideon loves Eva.

 

Plausible deniability is why Gideon has tried to limit his contact with Eva. Because contact could show evidence it's true he loves her. When he secretly met with her in that security office, it was to avoid creating any evidence they talked. In Entwined, plausible deniability is the reason they're going to need to meet in secret. So the cops can't gather any more evidence than they already have that they could use to argue Gideon loves Eva.

 

Gideon already has screwed up badly by having some contact with Eva after Nathan turned up dead. If Gideon had been smarter about it, he would have cut off all contact with Eva starting a few days before the killing and then kept up that zero-contact as long as the investigation dragged on. So the plausible deniability thing is even more important now. The pair of them can't be giving Graves any more solid ammo than Graves already has (family dinner at Eva's, phone call Saturday at the police station).

 

Gideon at least managed to keep it up proper I-don't-love-Eva appearances for better than a solid week after Graves saw him fall apart over that phone call. But then he broke down -- right around the time Brett told an interviewer he (Brett) plans to get Eva back.

• Monday in the elevator, approaching her in front of witnesses and in sight of the security cameras? Stoooopid. He tried to counter that by parading Corrine through the lobby after business hours Monday.
• Fetched Eva out of the clutches of the malicious Dr. Lucas, on Tuesday? Really stooopid. Eyewitness with a grudge who can testify Gideon cares about her.
• Going off alone in his car with Eva right after the Lucas incident? Getting spotted by some street cop sitting in that parked car in a way that looked indecent. Dumb, dumb, dumb!!!!

 

 

So at least Gideon came to his senses later Tuesday, when he felt he absolutely had to talk to Eva after Eva had lunch with his snake of a half-brother. More possible rescuing of his lady love needed -- that and he'd been thrown off balance by the crusade she'd been on for days. Meeting with her in a secret place on his property, the security office, was for "plausible deniability." Don't leave any evidence the cops could get that they met.

OK, some fun here amid the deep discussion about U.S. constitutional rights in criminal cases ..... I'm going to teach y'all a piece of cop slang, a phrase cops use when moaning to one another (or to a prosecutor) when an interrogation doesn't go well.

 

"Take the nickle." You learned some trivia today.

 

A nickle is a five-cent coin, but here the "nickle" means another sort of five, the Fifth Amendment (right to silence.)

 

Criminals facing cops know they have the right to silence. The cops even have to go through the motions of reminding them the instant they place a person under arrest. You've seen it on TV and in the movies "You have the right to silence, anything you say can be used .... blah, blah, blah ...."

 

Truth of the matter is most people try to talk their way out of trouble. They figure if they're cooperative, the cops will let them go. When in actuality, all they manage to do is dig themselves even deeper. Some even spit out confessions, because they feel awful and want to unburden their anguish.

 

So when things have been going along great for a cop interrogating someone -- the person is blabbing all sorts of incriminating stuff -- and then suddenly the suspect decides to invoke the right to silence, he/she just "took the nickle." AGHHHHH cops will think inside. 

Where does plausible deniability come into all this. Gideon mentioned this twice near the end of RIY.

In real life, I once covered a murder case where the detectives lost a chunk of a murder confession because they kept pushing. There they were, things going great with the murderer blabbing away in tears. But then she (yes, it was a she -- who'd blown her husband away) sobbed "should I have a lawyer?"

 

The detective should have ended the questioning immediately when the "L-word" came up. But she'd been a bit fuzzy in the way she tried invoking her right. She hadn't crystal clear demanded one. So the interrogation kept going, and she kept saying incriminating things.

 

Fast forward a couple of months later -- her defense team got every single thing she said after "lawyer" tossed out of evidence. Forever.

 

Fortunately though, this woman, guilty as sin, said plenty of incriminating stuff before the L-word. The defense tried to get everything tossed, but the judge ruled that all the things the woman said before "lawyer" could be used against her. And the cops had a lot of other very good evidence. She plea bargained and got 33-years-to-life. The detective didn't destroy the case when he screwed up. But he did have to suffer the professional shame of having messed up, and his mistake ending up in the news.

Oh I love reading your posts. Makes mine look boring.

Great lesson in American history and police speak. Anymore to get Gideon off the hook?