“Thank you. You’ll have to see the whole thing one day. But right now we need to get out to Gretna to see George.”
“Yes, of course.”
They went through the courtyard to the garage. Soon, he’d maneuvered the one-way streets to exit the French Quarter, and then they were on their way to the bridge.
“George will tell you,” she said as they drove.
“George will tell me...what?” he asked.
“She’s real. Jennie is real. And if she’s here, Dan...then I think the man I knew as Dr. Neil Browne could be the current Axeman.”
They reached the little shotgun house where George was living in Gretna. The door opened as they arrived.
The man had been waiting.
He had gotten old, Dan thought. Not that he’d been young when he’d seen them last. Now, however, Dan figured he had to be in his late sixties.
A thought nagged at Dan.
Could he have performed such gruesome murders—could he have swung an axe with the strength needed?
He might have simply retired, but he’d told Katie he was working for the film industry.
As Dan had expected, the man’s face turned white when he saw Dan was with Katie. He’d started to greet her with a hug.
Then he’d seen Dan.
“Oh, God!” he exclaimed, as he seemed to freeze.
“It’s all right, George, it’s all right,” Katie assured him.
“No, no, no,” the man muttered painfully.
“Sir,” Dan calmly addressed him, “Katie has changed my mind. We’re here to see how we can help you, and I hope you can help us.”
George looked at Katie. His eyes were a light powdery blue. His hair was thinning. Once, he had been all bluster and fury.
Now, he just looked tired.
He stared at Dan distrustfully.
“George, it’s true. George, I saw her. Jennie. She’s here. In New Orleans.”
They were still just standing at the front of his house. “Let’s just go in,” he said.
It was a simple place, a single story, and there was a dining table just beyond the small parlor. George led them there. He’d made a pot of coffee. It was on the table along with containers of milk and sugar—and two cups.
He left them to sit, muttering that he’d get another cup.
He did, and they all sat.
George stared at Dan. His tone was dull and dry when he said, “You didn’t want to come and arrest me the minute you heard there were more axe murders and I was in the area?”
“Part of me did, yes,” Dan said. “But Katie asked me to have an open mind. And I’ll be honest, we all doubted the existence of the other couple on the boat with you. It wasn’t just me. My superiors believed Katie was young, you were all that was left, and she’d support anything you had to say in your defense. So I guess right now I’m going to ask you to forgive me. Because I need to know everything you remember.”
“You heard it all in court.”
“I need to hear it all again.”
George nodded and then shook his head. “Anita had just come back from her dive. I knew there was a boat next to ours when she came up, but I didn’t realize anyone else had boarded.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t know how I survived. There was just a shadow, a big shadow behind me. I turned, not expecting anything except maybe Lou, and instead...something smashed my head. I was by the hull, and I fell...and I vaguely remember feeling the water as I hit it again. I didn’t see who hit me. I didn’t know... I didn’t know what had happened to my wife and Katie’s folks until I was in the hospital. And I asked about Dr. Neil Browne and Jennie, and they all acted like I was crazy. Oh, they searched. And bodies have just disappeared out at sea like that. But...”
He exhaled. “I couldn’t bear my home without Anita. I moved to Orlando. And then...well, after Orlando, with half those who knew me still suspicious, I changed my name. A friend there knew some people up here who were new to the movie business and hiring and...it was something to do. I had to have something to do. I couldn’t bear living with just myself hour after hour, thinking about the past.”
“Okay,” Dan said. “Tell me again what you can remember about what happened on the boat before you were struck.”
George was thoughtful.
“Anita had just come up, wondering if Katie had returned to the boat. She was distressed, not sure how she could have lost Katie. So I was on the dive platform, watching for Katie, while Anita ran down to talk to Lou and the group. She was going to get them all out and looking for Katie in the water. She had to be near.” He grimaced, looking at Katie. “You were a good diver, but Anita was worried. She just didn’t understand how you had lost each other.”
Katie shook her head and took his hand. “George, I’m so sorry.”
“Katie, you’re alive because you were in the water, and you didn’t cause any of what happened,” Dan said sharply. “If you had come up with Anita, you’d have been dead, too.”
“Katie, that’s true,” George told her. “I was aft. The scariest part of it now is that I was curious, not frightened, when I sensed the darkness of a shadow behind me. And all I remember—I’ve tried, I’ve tried so hard—is that darkness. And before that... I’d been in the water, too, for a while. I knew there were other boats around, but it was a popular dive spot.” He paused again. “That’s why I believed Neil and Jennie had been killed, too. I believed someone came off another boat, and maybe they’d been struck or killed and thrown over.”
“But their bodies never turned up,” Dan said.
“Right,” George agreed. “And there was a massive search for them.” He shook his head again. “They seemed like the nicest people in the world when we met them. And Lou was always so welcoming to new
