And when he said that, when those words about making his way east left his mouth… that was when it all started to go wrong.
Have you ever had one of those moments? You are listening, you are nodding, you are paying attention. Everything seems to be making sense and following a logical course, and then you see something, something small, something seemingly irrelevant, something almost worth overlooking and you realize with mounting dread that everything is terribly wrong.
'We buried Mom on a Tuesday,' I said.
'What?'
'We buried Mom on Tuesday,' I repeated.
'Right,' Ken said.
'You were in Las Vegas that day, right?'
He thought about it. 'That's right.'
I played it over in my head.
'What is it? 'Ken asked.
'I don't get something.'
'What?'
'On the afternoon of the funeral' I stopped, waited for him to face me, found his eyes 'you were at the other graveyard with Katy Miller.'
Something flickered across his face. 'What are you talking about?'
'Katy saw you at the cemetery. You were standing under a tree near Julie's tombstone. You told Katy you were innocent. You told her you were back to find the real killer. How did you do that if you were on the other side of the country?'
My brother did not respond then. We both stood there. I felt something inside me start shrinking even before I heard the voice that made my world teeter yet again.
'I lied about that.'
We all turned as Katy Miller stepped out from behind the tree. I looked at her and said nothing. She moved closer.
Katy had a gun in her hand.
It was pointed at Ken's chest. My mouth dropped open. I heard Melissa gasp. I heard my father shout 'No!' But that all seemed a light-year away. Katy looked directly at me, probing at me, trying to tell me something I could never understand.
I shook my head.
'I was only six years old,' Katy said. 'Easy enough to dismiss as a witness. What did I know anyway? Just a little kid, right? I saw your brother that night. But I saw John Asselta too. Maybe I mixed them up, the cops could say. How would a six-year-old know the difference between cries of passion and agony anyway? To a six-year-old, they're one and the same, aren't they? It was easy for Pistillo and his agents to finesse what I told them. They wanted McGuane. To them, my sister was just another suburban junkie.'
'What are you talking about?' I said.
Her eyes turned to Ken. 'I was there that night, Will. Hiding behind my father's old army trunk again. I saw everything.' She looked at me again and I am not sure I ever saw such clear eyes.
'John Asselta didn't murder my sister,' she said. 'Ken did.'
My support beams started giving way. I started shaking my head again. I looked at Melissa. Her face was white. I tried my father, but his head was down.
Ken said, 'You saw us making love.'
'No.' Katy's voice was surprisingly steady. 'You killed her, Ken. You chose strangulation because you wanted to pin it on the Ghost the same way you strangled Laura Emerson because she threatened to report the drug selling at Haverton.'
I stepped forward. Katy turned to me. I stopped.
'When McGuane failed to kill Ken in New Mexico, I got a call from Asselta,' she began. Katy spoke as if she'd been rehearsing these lines for a long time, which, I suspect, she had. 'He told me how they had already captured your brother in Sweden. I didn't believe him at first. I said, if they caught him, how come we didn't know about it? He told me how the FBI wanted to let Ken off because he could still deliver McGuane. I was in shock. After all this time, they were going to let Julie's murderer just walk away? I couldn't allow that. Not after what my family had been through. Asselta knew that, I guess. That was why he contacted me.'
I was still shaking my head, but she pressed on.
'My job was to stay close because we figured that if Ken contacted anybody, it would be you. I made up that story about seeing him at the graveyard, so you would trust me.'
I found my voice. 'But you were attacked,' I said. 'In my apartment.'
'Yes,' she said.
'You even called out Asselta's name.'
'Think about that, Will.' Her voice was so even, so confident.
'Think about what?' I asked.
'Why were you cuffed to the bed like that?'
'Because he was going to set me up, the same way he set up '
But now she was the one shaking her head. Katy gestured with the gun at Ken. 'He cuffed you because he didn't want you to get hurt,' she said.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
'He needed to get me alone. He needed to find out what I'd told you to see what I'd remembered before he killed me. And yes, I called out John's name. Not because I thought it was him behind the mask. I called out to him for help. And you did save my life, Will. He would have killed me.'
My eyes slowly slid toward my brother. 'She's lying,' Ken said. 'Why would I kill Julie? She was helping me.'
'That's almost true,' Katy said. 'And you're right: Julie did see Ken's arrest as a chance for redemption, just like he told you. And yes, Julie had agreed to help bring McGuane down. But your brother took it a step too far.'
'How? 'I asked.
'Ken knew that he had to get rid of the Ghost too. No loose ends. And the way to do that was to frame Asselta for Laura Emerson. Ken figured that Julie would have no problem going along with that. But he was wrong. You remember how close Julie and John were?'
I managed a nod.
'There was a bond there. I don't pretend to know why. I don't think either of them could explain it either. But Julie cared about him. I think she was the only one who ever did. She would bring down McGuane. She would do that gladly. But she would never hurt John Asselta.'
I couldn't speak.
'That's bull,' Ken said. 'Will?'
I did not look at him.
Katy continued. 'When Julie found out what Ken was going to do, she called the Ghost to warn him. Ken came to our house to get the tapes and files. She tried to stall him. They had sex. Ken asked for the evidence, but Julie refused to give it to him. He grew livid. He demanded to know where she had hidden it. She wouldn't tell him. When he realized what was up, he snapped and strangled her. The Ghost arrived seconds too late. He shot Ken as he ran away. I think he would have gone after him, but when he saw Julie dead on the floor, he just lost it. He fell to the floor. He cradled her head and let out the most anguished, inhuman wail I've ever heard. It was like something inside of him broke that would never be fixed.'
Katy closed the gap between us. She grabbed my gaze and would not let it go.
'Ken didn't run because he was afraid of McGuane or of being framed or any of that,' she said. 'He ran because he killed Julie.'
I was tumbling down a deep shaft, reaching, trying to grab on to something. 'But the Ghost,' I said, flailing. 'He kidnapped us…'
'We set that up,' she said. 'He let us escape. What neither of us realized was that you'd be so willing and
