Kelly booked a flight to Ohio. The plane, a nonstop flight, left at six in the morning. She would arrive at her destination in the early afternoon. Then she would have to rent a car and drive at least an hour north. Alone, she thought, why did she keep acting like she had to go alone? She almost called the airlines back to make a reservation for Charlie, when something stopped her.

“You saw Banks.”

“How did you know?”

“I have my ways. Don’t worry, I’m the only one at the office who knows.”

“Charlie?” she asked the walls.

The Acid Man had known stuff he should not have known.

Was her old and trusted partner talking to someone?

She did not call the airline and change her reservation.

THE PLANE ride turned out to be a reality check. Kelly sat beside a little Hispanic girl named Maria who had lost her mother in a car accident two years before. Maria was the same age as Anna; they even looked alike. Kelly chatted with her for hours; it brought up a deep longing for her daughter. She was forced to face the fact that her bold decisions were intrinsically selfish. Charlie had tried to tell her that. Heroes made lousy partners in business and in love. The courage to face death was not always a virtue. It could be the ultimate cop-out. If she died in a noble cause, she didn’t have to face the boredom of day-to-day existence. It was partially the plainness of her previous life that had driven to her to become an FBI agent. And that same reason had been there when she had rushed off to confront the Acid Man. Yet she knew there were deeper rewards than those offered by dangerous thrills. When Maria spoke of her dead mother, she had tears in her eyes and Kelly had to hide her own grief.

What kind of life would Anna have without her?

She missed Tony. He had made poor choices, and his timing could not have been worse, but he was a decent man. Once she had been happy with him, and that happiness could return if she gave him another chance. She had to drop her bitterness and forgive. A simple prescription, but she knew it would take tremendous strength. Anna and Tony were real. Matt was a fantasy; a very dangerous one at that. Like many heroes, he had journeyed into the underworld. He had convinced the world he was dead. But he had not returned stronger. She did not believe he could ever leave Amy.