2
Ralph barbecued steaks on a grill that was, thanks to his administrative leave, spandy-clean. There was also salad, corn on the cob, and apple pie a la mode for dessert. “Very American meal, señor,” Yune observed as his wife cut his steak for him.
“It was delicious,” Holly said.
Bill Samuels patted his stomach. “I may be ready to eat again by Labor Day, but I’m not sure.”
“Stuff and nonsense,” Jeannie said. She took a bottle of beer from the cooler beside the picnic table, pouring half into Samuels’s glass and half into her own. “You’re too thin. You need a wife to feed you up.”
“Maybe when I go into private practice, my ex will come around. There’s going to be a demand for a good lawyer here in town now that Howie—” He suddenly realized what he was saying and brushed at his cowlick (which, thanks to a fresh haircut, wasn’t there). “A good lawyer can always find work, is what I meant.”
They were quiet for a moment, then Ralph raised his beer bottle. “To absent friends.”
They drank to that. Holly said, in a voice almost too quiet to be heard, “Sometimes life can be very poopy.” No one laughed.
The oppressive July heat had let up, the worst of the bugs were gone, and the Anderson backyard was a pleasant place to be. Once the meal was finished, Yune’s two boys and Marcy Maitland’s two girls drifted to the basketball hoop on the side of the garage, and began playing Horse.
“So,” Marcy said. Even though the kids were a good distance away, and absorbed in their game, she lowered her voice. “The inquest. Did the story hold up?”
“It did,” Ralph said. “Hoskins called the Bolton house and lured us to the Marysville Hole. There he went on a shooting spree, killing Howie and Alec and wounding Yune. I stated my belief that it was me he was really after. We’ve had our differences over the years, and the more he drank, the more that must have eaten into him. The assumption is that he was with some as yet unidentified accomplice, who kept him supplied with booze and drugs—the medical examiner found traces of cocaine in his system—and fed his paranoia. The Texas HP went into the Chamber of Sound, but did not find the accomplice.”
“Just some clothes,” Holly said.
“And you’re sure he’s dead,” Jeannie said. “The outsider. You’re sure.”
“Yes,” Ralph said. “If you’d seen, you’d know.”
“Be glad you didn’t,” Holly said.
“Is it over?” Gabriela Sablo asked. “That’s all I care about. Is it really over?”
“No,” Marcy said. “Not for me and the girls. Not unless Terry’s cleared. And how can he be? He was killed before he got his day in court.”
Samuels said, “We’re working on that.”
(August 1st)
3
As the light of his first full day back in Flint City dawned, Ralph once more stood at his bedroom window, hands clasped behind his back, looking down at Holly Gibney, who was once more sitting in one of the backyard lawn chairs. He checked Jeannie, found her asleep and snoring softly, and went downstairs. He wasn’t surprised to see Holly’s bag in the kitchen, already packed with her few things for the flight north. As well as knowing her own mind, she was a lady who did not let the grass grow under her feet. And he supposed she would be very glad to get the hell out of Flint City.
On the previous early morning when he had been out here with Holly, the smell of coffee had awakened Jeannie, so this time he brought orange juice. He loved his wife, and valued her company, but he wanted this to be just between him and Holly. They shared a bond and always would, even if they never saw each other again.
“Thank you,” she said. “There’s nothing better than orange juice in the morning.” She looked at the glass with satisfaction, then drank half of it. “Coffee can wait.”
“What time is your flight?”
“Quarter past eleven. I’ll leave here by eight.” She gave a slightly embarrassed smile at his look of surprise. “I know, I’m a compulsive early bird. The Zoloft helps with a lot of things, but it doesn’t seem to help with that.”
“Did you sleep?”
“A little. Did you?”
“A little.”
They were quiet for a time. The first bird sang, tender and sweet. Another responded.
“Bad dreams?” he asked.
“Yes. You?”
“Yes. Those worms.”
“I had bad dreams after Brady Hartsfield, too. Both times.” She touched his hand very lightly, then drew her fingers back. “There were a lot at first, but fewer as time passed.”
“Do you think they ever go away entirely?”
“No. And I’m not sure I’d want them to. Dreams are the way we touch the unseen world, that’s what I believe. They are a special gift.”
“Even the bad ones?”
“Even the bad ones.”
“Will you stay in touch?”
She looked surprised. “Of course. I’ll want to know how things turn out. I’m a very curious person. Sometimes that gets me in trouble.”
“And sometimes it gets you out.”
Holly smiled. “I like to think so.” She drank the rest of her juice. “Mr. Samuels will help you with this, I think. He reminds me a little bit of Scrooge, after he saw the three ghosts. Actually, you do, too.”
That made him laugh. “Bill’s going to do everything he can for Marcy and her daughters. I’ll help. We both have a lot to make up for.”
She nodded. “Do what you can, absolutely. But then . . . let the fracking thing go. If you can’t let go of the past, the mistakes you’ve made will eat you alive.” She turned to him and gave him one of her rare dead-on looks. “I’m a woman who knows.”
The kitchen light went on. Jeannie was up. Soon the three of them would have coffee out here at the picnic table, but while it was just the two of them, he had something else to say, and it was important.
“Thank you, Holly. Thank you for coming, and thank you for believing. Thank you for making me believe. If not for you, he’d still be out there.”
She smiled. It was the radiant one. “You’re welcome, but I’ll be very happy to go back to finding deadbeats and bail-jumpers and lost pets.”
From the doorway, Jeannie called, “Who wants coffee?”
“Both of us!” Ralph called back.
“Coming right up! Save a place for me!”
Holly spoke in a voice so low he had to lean forward to hear her. “He was evil. Pure evil.”
“No argument there,” Ralph said.
“But there’s something I keep thinking about: that scrap of paper you found in the van. The one from Tommy and Tuppence. We talked about explanations for why it ended up where it did, do you remember?”
“Sure.”
“They all seem unlikely to me. It never should have been there at all, but it was. And if not for that scrap—the link to what happened in Ohio—that thing might still be out there.”
“Your point being?”
“It’s simple,” Holly said. “There’s also a force for good in the world. That’s something else I believe. Partly so I don’t go crazy when I think of all the awful things that happen, I guess, but also . . . well . . . the evidence seems to bear it out, wouldn’t you say? Not just here but everywhere. There’s some force that tries to restore the balance. When the bad dreams come, Ralph, try to remember that little scrap of paper.”