“Regardless of what may or may not have happened, you’re not responsible. Do you understand me?”
“There’s something else. I think I’ve seen him. Twice, maybe three times.”
“Seen who?”
“Him, the man who killed Angel. He had a camera with a zoom lens. I looked at the photographs of him that are posted on the Internet. He’s lost weight since he went to prison in Kansas, but I’m almost sure it was him.”
“Did you tell your husband?”
“Yes. It terrified him.”
“I’m not sure what you’re saying. He fears for your safety?”
“He fears Surrette will take both of us. Ms. Horowitz, you’ve been very patient. But I know what I have done, or what I have failed to do. I didn’t protect Angel. I’m partly at fault for her death. I’ll never forgive myself.”
One of the club’s employees held up the heated bagels on a plate so Gretchen could see them, then set the plate on the counter.
“I’ll be right back,” Gretchen said. She charged the bagels to her account, then picked up the plate and returned to the sofa. Felicity had disappeared. Gretchen’s hobo bag lay on the coffee table, the drawstring pulled loose. She rummaged through it. Her cell phone was gone. Through the glass doors, she watched Felicity’s Audi drive away.
ALAFAIR WAS SITTING in the passenger seat of Gretchen’s pickup when they turned off the Higgins Street Bridge and parked down by the river, next to the old train station that had become the national headquarters of a conservation group founded by Teddy Roosevelt.
Six hours had passed since Felicity had stolen Gretchen’s cell phone.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Alafair asked.
“Love Younger is one of the most powerful men in the United States,” Gretchen said. “You think he doesn’t know what’s going on in his own family?”
“I doubt he does.”
“You can say that with a straight face?” Gretchen said. She cut the engine. The river was high, slate-green, coursing over the submerged boulders close to the banks.
“Younger probably used Cronus as a role model,” Alafair said.
“Who?”
“The Greek god who ate his children,” Alafair said.
“I don’t care about Younger’s children. They were born rich. They had choices. I was wrong about Felicity Louviere. She wants to punish herself, and I think she’s going to use Asa Surrette to do it.”
“She’s not innocent in all this, Gretchen.”
“Are you coming with me or not?”
“I’m your friend, aren’t I?”
Gretchen hooked the strap of her hobo bag over her shoulder, but did not get out of the truck. The refurbished train station looked like an orange fortress and had the clean lines of an architectural work of art. It was located at the base of a hill that sloped abruptly down to the river. At the top of the hill was the maple-lined street where Bill Pepper had lived and where he had drugged and sexually assaulted her. “You’re more than a friend,” she said.
“You don’t need to say any more.”
“I’ll say what I feel like. You know what you mean to me, Alafair?”
“Sometimes it’s better not to be too specific about feelings.”
“What did you think I was going to say?”
“I’m not quite sure.”
“You’re everything I want to become. You’re educated and smart and beautiful. You stand up to people without having to threaten them. I sleep with a gun. You can walk away from situations that make me want to tear people apart.”