I steered her into a small waiting room adjacent to the ICU. Titan scurried along behind us,
his cane tapping along the linoleum floor like a blind man?s. I pushed the door shut behind
him. She stared at me with her saucer eyes, waiting.
“He?s dead, isn?t he?” she said.
“No, but there?s very little hope,” I said.
“Oh, God,” she cried out. “Oh, God, I did this to him.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“That?s pound foolish,” Titan added.
She started to sag. I took her by the shoulders and put her in a chair. She sat there with her
hands between her knees and began to shake.
“Better get a doctor in here,” I said to Titan, and he left to look for one.
“What did you mean, Doe?” I asked, kneeling in front of her.
“I do love Harry, I do. He?s a fine person and he?s been a good husband,” she said in a
whimper.
“I know it.”
“Maybe if I?d been more honest…….
“You had nothing to do with it, Doe. Don?t go off on some guilt tangent.”
“Why did this happen?” she asked as tears burst from her eyes.
“I don?t know.”
“Was it something to do with the horses?”
“1 doubt it,” I said. “Did he tell you where he was going tonight when he cancelled out of the
party?”
She shook her head. “He called me from the track, told me about the accident, and said he
was staying in town.”
“He didn?t say why?”
“No. It was fairly common—not the accident, his staying in town.”
“Look, we?ll find out who did this, I promise you.”
She nodded but she was close to shock. Nothing was getting through to her.
“Where was he shot?” she asked.
“Down at the waterfront, in the Quadrangle.”
“Oh,” she sobbed, “his favourite place in the world.” She stared around as if expecting some
psychic cloud to drift into the room and erase her pain. “It was his idea. We donated the land
for it.”
