and the brightly lit streets were filled with people laughing and talking as they moved between nightclubs, bars, and poolrooms. I drove past Bushwakker Brewpub, the meeting place of choice for my students and the home of my husband’s favourite, the Wakker Burger. Everybody seemed to be having fun, and it occurred to me that Mieka and I might leave Zack with the kids some night and come down and hit a couple of clubs. Maybe it was time my cautious older daughter took a walk on the wild side.
The shift in atmosphere when I crossed Broad Street was sobering. Except for the Pendryn, the developers had not yet reclaimed this part of the district, and I found myself in the dark, lonely world of deserted lumberyards and crumbling buildings. There were streetlights, but no one walked beneath them, and the only sounds I heard came from guard dogs barking.
Acme Store-All and the Pendryn shared a city block. The Pendryn was surrounded by a razor-wire-topped security fence, and the swimming pool and Japanese garden behind the condo were as brightly lit as a prison courtyard. Ed had said that one of the beauties of the Pendryn was the spectacular view it offered of the city. The windows of the individual condominiums were floor to ceiling but, without exception, they were dark. Seemingly, I’d come on a night when there was nobody home.
I chose a parking place that gave me a clear view of the cinder yard beside Acme Store-All. Francesca Pope was nowhere in sight, but her bicycle was propped against the wall. I remembered how frightened she was. She was obviously hiding, waiting for me to show myself. I took a deep breath, picked up the backpack, got out of my car, and clicked the locks on my doors. My cell rang before I’d taken a single step.
Ed Mariani was apologetic. “Jo, I’m know I’m being a pest, but Zack hasn’t called back, and there’s something he needs to know.”
I adjusted the backpack. “He’s probably still at that retirement dinner. I imagine that right about now they’re on the brandy and cigars. Why don’t you leave the message with me? Zack will call me to say goodnight when he gets to his room.”
“All right,” Ed said. “I may be interfering in something that’s none of my business, but do you remember that friend I mentioned who lives at the Pendryn?”
“Of course,” I said. “He was the one who told you that Jason Brodnitz was a frequent visitor of Cristal Avilia’s.”
“Apparently Jason wasn’t the only frequent visitor,” Ed said. “David called this afternoon. He’d seen the photos of Zack’s new partners in the paper, and he recognized Sean Barton. He thought Zack should know that Sean was Cristal Avilia’s boyfriend.”
I felt a coldness in the pit of my stomach. “Is he sure?”
“Positive. David said Sean was there all the time. I guess there were some terrible fights. David even went up to Cristal’s condo once to see if she wanted him to call the police.”
I glanced at the darkened windows of the Pendryn. “But of course she didn’t,” I said.
“No,” Ed said. “You know how these things are.”
“Ed, I’m going to call Zack now. You were right to pass this along. My God, Mieka had dinner with Sean tonight.”
“But she’s not with him now.”
“No. She’s home with her girls.” Even to my own ears, my voice sounded strained. I was having trouble absorbing the truth about Sean. “Ed, let me call you back after I talk to Zack.”
I speed-dialed Zack’s number and got his message immediately. Wherever he was, he’d turned off his cell. I wanted to go home, but I could see the shadow of Francesca’s shambling bulk against the wall of Acme Store-All. She was waiting for me. I started along the sidewalk. I added up the letters in Sean’s name – there were ten, and there were thirteen letters in Cristal Avilia’s name. Thirteen minus ten – three. Sean was Cristal’s perfect 3.
I scanned the street. I was still alone, but Francesca’s silhouette against the brick wall of the abandoned warehouse was a beacon, a reminder that at the moment there was someone even more frightened than me, so I kept on going.
I heard the familiar baritone before I realized Sean was beside me. “Hey, here you are,” he said. “Mieka called me at the office. She was worried about your being down here alone at night. She was right. Anything could happen to a woman alone on this street.” He reached over and took the backpack from me. “In a neighbourhood like this, a woman needs her arms free in case of a sudden threat.”
“I promised to deliver the bears myself,” I said. “May I have them back?”
“Why would you want them?” he said. “They’re disgusting.”
I tried to grab the backpack, but Sean was too fast for me. He threw it to the sidewalk. Reflexively, I bent to grab it. As my hand closed around the straps, he brought his foot down on my fingers. “Garbage,” he said pleasantly. “Not worth dying for.”
After that, everything happened very quickly. Francesca sprang out of the shadows, picked up her bears from the sidewalk, and cradled them against her breast. Then she began yelling. The words were the same words she’d shouted in the courthouse lobby, but this time their target was clear. Francesca’s eyes scanned Sean’s face. “I know who you are,” she yelled. “I know who you are, and I saw what you did. You are evil,” she said. “Evil. Evil. Evil. I saw what you did. You killed her. You killed Cristal.”
Sean raised his arm, and the blade of the knife he was holding flashed in the harsh security lights. He tried to plunge it into Francesca’s chest, but the bears protected her. When he raised the knife again, she ran. He watched her disappear down the block, then he laughed to himself. “Nobody will believe a word she says.” He turned to me. “You, on the other hand, are a credible witness. But you’re in a dangerous neighbourhood, Joanne. Anything can happen here. That’s what I told Mieka.” He moved closer. “A woman like Francesca is unpredictable. She forgets her meds, she sees a good Samaritan like you as a threat, and she attacks.” As he created the scene in his mind, Sean’s voice became dreamy, mesmerizing. He put the point of the knife against my chest. I could feel the steel through the thin material of my shirt.
“I’ll tell them I was too late,” he said. “That Francesca had already killed you by the time I arrived.”
I took a step back, but Sean stayed with me and so did the knife. “Zack knows about your relationship with Cristal,” I said. “Someone recognized your picture in the paper this morning and told him.”
“No,” he said, and there was real anguish in his voice.
“If I tell Zack you helped me, he’ll defend you,” I said. “You know how good he is. He’ll make a jury understand how it was for you.”
Sean’s eyes met mine. “You lying bitch,” he said. I felt the knife cut my skin and I watched as it sliced a half- moon over the top of my breast to my armpit. A dark pool of blood spread over my white blouse and then I collapsed on the sidewalk. My cell began ringing – Zack’s ring tone: the Beach Boys singing “God Only Knows.”
When Angus was born, I hemorrhaged. Ian had left the delivery room to make calls announcing that we had a new son and that mother and child were doing well, then suddenly I wasn’t doing well. A nurse placed Angus on a metal table against the wall. He screamed in protest, but no one attended to him. Everyone was clustered around me. A great warmth was spreading beneath me, and I heard my doctor’s voice, sharp with tension, saying, “Christ, we’re losing her.” And then nothing until I woke up in intensive care.
After I fell to the ground outside Acme Store-All, I felt that same warmth spreading over me. This time I knew what was happening. I was being bathed in my own blood. I wondered how long I had left, if I would ever see Zack or my granddaughters or any of my children again. Then suddenly there were people in uniforms around me – police and EMT technicians. A young voice flatly declarative said, “The knife went deep. We’re losing her.”
There was darkness and then – finally – there was light. It was the sickly light of the intensive care unit and I could see the faces of James, the dean of our cathedral, and Zack. I tried to say something, but my mouth wouldn’t form words, and I drifted away again. When I awoke again, Zack was alone. This time when I moved my lips, I was able to articulate a single word: “Hello.”
“Hello,” Zack said. Reaching through the tubes and wires that measured my vital signs wasn’t easy for a man in a wheelchair, but there wasn’t much my husband couldn’t do. As he touched my hair, he gave me a triumphant grin. “Made it,” he said. “You’re going to be all right, Ms. Shreve.” His fingers stroked my cheek. “Is there anything I can get you?”
“Yes,” I said. “A toothbrush.” Then, for the only time in our life together, I saw my husband weep.
My recovery was slow and frustrating. Someone once told me that the greatest division of life is the one that exists between the world of the well and the world of the sick. After a lifetime of buoyant good health, I was suddenly on the other side of the chasm. Even after I was released from hospital, I lived in a grey world of doctors’
