Alice and the old man both looked across the room at Detective Dixon and then briefly at Caitlin. Alice, her mouth slightly open, her eyes blank, showed no reaction, but the old man seemed to look at Caitlin for a fraction longer than he should have. Maybe he’d met Grace, and he was confused by how much Caitlin looked like her. If it was the man from the bookstore, then he probably had met Grace. It was where she’d gone to meet Harry.

The detective went to them, and the three talked quietly for a moment, then slid through the swinging doors into the emergency room, Dixon glancing back at Caitlin, mouthing the words Stay a moment and holding up a finger.

Caitlin stayed, although the adrenaline from earlier had worn off, and she was now exhausted. Part of her just wanted to get up, go back to her car, and drive back to the motel. She had a big day tomorrow, flying back to Michigan, preparing for Grace’s funeral. But the detective had asked her to wait, and besides, she wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to go back to the motel alone.

Thirty minutes later, the detective returned and crouched in front of her.

“He’s going to be fine, but he has a bad concussion,” he said.

“That seemed pretty clear.”

“He wants to talk with you, but his doctor wants him to rest.”

“That’s fine.”

“He’s very insistent that you are in danger, though, so I’d like to have one of my officers escort you back to your motel room, if that’s okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “That sounds good.”

“Great. Five minutes, okay, Caitlin?”

The uniformed officer that arrived at the hospital was about fifty years old. He had jowls, and a sparse, blond mustache. He followed Caitlin back to the Sea Mist Motel, parking the cruiser next to her car, then together they entered her motel room. There was a quarter-sized bloodstain on the patterned wall-to-wall carpet where Harry had sat. She rubbed at it with the toe of her clog, but it had dried.

“You okay here by yourself?” the officer said.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Lock the door after I leave, and don’t open it for anyone who’s not a police officer, okay? And call immediately if you think something’s strange, okay? We’ll be swinging by all night for periodic checks. You’re going to be fine.”

She thanked him, and he left. She showered, then got into bed, thinking there would be no way she could fall asleep. But after texting her mother and brother about her arrival time for the next day, she curled into the fetal position, tucking one hand under her head, and the other, wrist turned, between her breasts—the only way she could fall asleep—and within five minutes she was out.