I had known the instant I’d heard Wesley’s voice on the line that his news was very bad, and then he had begun to explain about the bombing in London, about Mark being in the train station walking past at the very moment it happened, and it had nothing to do with him, wasn’t directed at him, but he was dead. Grief was like a seizure that shook me like a storm. It left me spent in a way I had never known before, not even when my father had died. I could not react back then, when I was young, when my mother was weeping and everything seemed lost.
“It will be all right,” Wesley said, and now he was up pouring me a drink.
“What else do you know about it?”
“Nothing else, Kay. Here, this will help.” He handed me a Scotch straight up. Had there been a cigarette in the room, I would have put it between my lips and lit it. I would have ended my abstinence and forgotten my resolve just like that.
“Do you know who her doctor is? Where are the cuts? Did the air bags deploy?” He began kneading my neck again and did not answer my questions because he had already made it clear he knew nothing more. I drank the Scotch quickly because I needed to feel it.
“I will go in the morning, then,” I said. His fingers worked their way up into my hair and felt wonderful. My eyes were shut as I began to talk to him about my afternoon. I told him about my visit in the hospital with Lieutenant Mote. I told him about the people on Rainbow Mountain, about the girl who knew no pronouns and Creed, who knew that Emily Steiner had not taken the shortcut around the lake after her youth group meeting at the church.
“It’s so sad, because I could see it as he was telling me,” I went on, thinking of her diary.
“She was supposed to meet Wren early and of course he did not show. Then he ignored her completely, so she didn’t wait until the meeting was over. She ran ahead of everyone else.
“She hurried off because she was hurt and humiliated and didn’t want anyone to know. Creed just happened to be out in his truck and saw her, and wanted to make sure she got home okay because he could tell she was upset. He liked her from afar just as she liked Wren from afar. And now she’s horribly dead. It seems this is all about people loving people who don’t love them back. It’s about hurt getting passed on.”
“Murder is always about that, really.”
“Where’s Marino?”
“I don’t know.”
“What he’s doing is all wrong. He knows better than this.”
“I think he’s gotten involved with Denesa Steiner.”
“I know he has.”
“I can see how it would happen. He’s lonely, had no luck with women, and in fact hasn’t even had a clue about women since Doris left. Denesa Steiner’s devastated, needy, appeals to his bruised male ego. ”
“Apparently, she has a lot of money.”
“Yes.”
“How did that happen? I thought her late husband taught school.”
“I understand his family had a lot of money. They made it in oil or something out west. You’re going to have to pass on the details of your encounter with Creed Lindsey. It’s not going to look good for him.”
I knew that.
“I can imagine how you feel about it, Kay. But I’m not even sure I’m comfortable with what you’ve told me. It bothers me that he followed her in his truck and had his headlights off. It bothers me that he knew where she lived and had been so aware of her at school. It bothers me a great deal that he visited the spot where her body was found and left the candy.”
“Why was the skin in Ferguson’s freezer? How does Creed Lindsey fit with that?”
“Either Ferguson put the skin in there or someone else did. It’s as simple as that. And I don’t think Ferguson did it.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t profile right. And you know that, too.”