Which unlocked the memory of the man, angry and swearing at Madame, leaving Anne’s room. The voice that had sounded familiar to Gabriel, but which he’d spent a hundred and fifty years trying to place without success. It had been Raphael. He was absolutely certain of it, so obvious to him now he couldn’t imagine why he had never realized it before.

Raphael had killed Anne.

Gabriel hadn’t.

Relief and horror mingled together and left him staring blankly at the screen, the words blurring together.

“Are you okay?” the lady sitting next to him asked. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

And then some.

“I’m fine, thanks,” he said automatically, glancing over at her. She was in her eighties, her skin loose and peppered with age spots and veins. Her navy sweater enveloped her as she hunched over the computer keyboard, her glasses perched on her nose.

She patted his knee with her soft and delicate hand. “Whatever it is, this too shall pass.”

“Sure.” Wherever there was evil, there was always good, and this woman was his reminder of that. A memory of duties long ignored. So he smiled at her, and for the second time that day, he let someone see the depths of his power, the beauty, the promise, the vision of his palace in the sky.

Her hand gripped his knee tightly, the strength in her astonishing, as her eyes went wide. “Have you come to take me?” she asked.

“No. It’s not your time yet.” He could feel that in her. She had years of vitality still.

“Are you my guardian angel?”

The longing rose in his soul, aching and heavy, painful, dripping sorrow for what he had done, for what he had lost, for what he had betrayed and could never be again.

Gabriel stroked the top of her withered hand. “No. Just a friend.”

From the Court Records of
the Willful Murder Trial of Anne Donovan,
State of Louisiana v. Jonathon Thiroux
January 16, 1850

ATTORNEY FOR THE DEFENSE: So, Dr. Raphael, what you’re saying is that in your expert medical opinion, Jonathon Thiroux could not have killed Anne Donovan?

DR. RAPHAEL: That is what I’m saying. I do not believe Jonathon Thiroux had the strength to kill Anne Donovan.

From the Court Records of
the State of Florida v. Dr. Rafe Marino
July 26, 2007

PROSECUTOR: So, Detective Manson, what you’re saying is that in your expert opinion, given the lack of forced entry, and the victim’s daughter’s assertion that her mother locked her doors and windows, the victim knew her assailant?

MANSON: That is what I’m saying. I can say there was no evidence anyone came into the house who wasn’t let in by the victim.

ATTORNEY FOR THE DEFENSE: Objection! How can he know that the doors weren’t left unlocked?

JUDGE: Sustained.

PROSECUTOR: Can you explain how you have reached the conclusion the victim knew her assailant?