Chapter 74

The rest of that morning, I couldn’t stay still. I tried to get a hold of Ralph by phone several time and also come up with someone other than Dawn who might be pleased to have Faye out of the way. Mostly, I paced. I also couldn’t stay in the present, as I went back once again to recall the incident that had brought about Aiken’s question concerning my brain function. Archie and I had just been talking about death. Mere minutes later, I’d been at its door, and it had shouted, “Come on in!”

* * * *

“Don’t say that, Archie.” I made him look up at me. “When someone really cares about someone else, they’d want the other person to be fine.”

“You think so?”

I took Archie’s face in my hands. “Yes.” I looked for Dougie in it but saw only Archie. “Yes. All of a sudden, I know that, for sure.”

“It would be hard.”