Gabriel was tapping his absinthe spoons in the other room. She could hear the frantic, agitated rhythm of two spoons hitting the desk simultaneously. Absinthe. God. Why had he let her drink it when he knew exactly what it did? He’d admitted it had been his drink of choice prior to his sobriety.

It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. Gabriel had withheld important information from her, had accused Rafe of murder, yet was perfectly willing to let her go to lunch and pal around with Rafe.

Sara leaned over Gabriel’s bed, which neither one of them had bothered to make after her marathon sleep session, to snag her pillow. She never traveled without her down pillow. Dragging it across the bed, she was irritated to see that one of Gabriel’s long caramel-colored hairs was stuck to her white pillowcase. It was irrational, but seeing that made her absolutely furious. He wouldn’t have sex with her, but he could shed on her linens, depositing his DNA all over the place.

The random thought made her pause in the act of picking the hair off the pillow, her original intention to fling it down onto his pillow. Wait a minute. Tossing it defiantly back at him made no sense. It was his DNA. In her possession. Glancing toward the door, reassuring herself that he couldn’t see her, Sara took the hair and unzipped the makeup bag she had already slung into her suitcase. Wrapping the hair around a lipstick, she settled the tube and hair in the bottom of the bag, zipped the case back shut, and jammed it in her purse. She could head down to Royal Street and mail it overnight to Jocelyn with the other samples so she could have the results sooner. Maybe Gabriel wasn’t curious to see what a comparison would show, but she was.

It wouldn’t change the past or the future, but she wanted to know if Jonathon Thiroux was a killer.

From the Court Records of
the Willful Murder Trial of Anne Donovan,
State of Louisiana v. Jonathon Thiroux
January 23, 1850

FOREMAN: We the jury find the defendant, Jonathon Thiroux, not guilty of murder in the first degree.

From the Court Records of
the State of Florida v. Dr. Rafe Marino
July 31, 2007

FOREMAN: We the jury find the defendant, Rafe Marino, not guilty of murder in the first degree.

Gabriel pulled up to the terminal at the airport the next morning and put his car into park. When he glanced over to ask Sara what time her flight was supposed to arrive in Naples, she was already opening the passenger door and climbing out. Great. She was just going to grab her suitcase and leave without saying a word.