I wrote Troy a detailed message about Doris McKinnon’s relationship with Emerald and her mother, about going out to the farm and finding a dead body but discovering only a putative connection to Ferring and August. if she and august were here, they’ve disappeared. i’m wondering if they returned to chicago. if they’re hiding, do you know who they’d turn to?

I was curter with Bernie. do not come here. if you show up, your dad will be on the first flight out of montreal to collect you. no arguments. Not that anything short of a crowbar over the skull had much effect on Bernie.

Lotty called as I was signaling for the bill, to check on me and to tell me she’d talked to the doctors at the Lawrence hospital. Nell Albritten was doing well; she’d be released in the morning. The news was less promising for Sonia Kiel. The hospital had shared the toxicology report with Lotty.

“Your guess about flunitrazepam—roofies—was correct. Sonia still had Depakote in her bloodstream and a terrifying blood-alcohol level, point two-six. She didn’t seem to have other recreational drugs in her, but the alcohol with the roofies and her depleted immune system have left her seriously compromised. The only hopeful news is that they do have positive readings on the EEGs.”

It warmed me more than wine and food, hearing from Lotty and knowing she’d made these calls out of love for me. We chatted longer, on general topics. She tactfully avoided Jake’s name but hoped I would return home soon.

I signed my credit-card receipt and pushed my sore feet back into my boots. As I gathered up my belongings, I saw I’d dribbled vodka sauce onto my phone. If I was not a clever enough detective to eat and text at the same time, how could I possibly find Emerald Ferring before the law did?

22
Barflies

The hotel bar was on my left as I headed to the front door. I glanced in idly, the way one does. The bartender was watching an NBA game on the TV, desultorily wiping glasses, as bartenders everywhere do when trade is slow. The only customers were a quartet of men deep in conversation in the corner. They looked up as I peered in, and their faces congealed, as if I’d brought an arctic wind with me.