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Chapters (73)
  1. Goodbye to the Dead
  2. Also By Brian Freeman
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. CONTENTS
  8. PROLOGUE
  9. THEN
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. NOW
  46. 36
  47. 37
  48. 38
  49. 39
  50. 40
  51. 41
  52. 42
  53. 43
  54. 44
  55. 45
  56. 46
  57. 47
  58. 48
  59. 49
  60. 50
  61. 51
  62. 52
  63. 53
  64. 54
  65. 55
  66. 56
  67. 57
  68. 58
  69. 59
  70. 60
  71. 61
  72. FROM THE AUTHOR
  73. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

‘Listen, you should probably go,’ Janine told her. ‘I appreciate your coming to see me, though. Really. No one does now, if they don’t have to. I’m a pariah.’

‘I’m always here if you need me. If there’s any way I can help you, I will.’

‘Thank you.’ Janine looked at her in a strange way, as if seeing her for the first time. Cindy wondered what she saw. For a woman who was typically self-confident and happy with her life, Cindy felt a nagging sense of inferiority around Janine Snow.

‘You know, I envy you,’ Janine went on.

Cindy was so surprised that she laughed. ‘Me?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Why is that?’

Janine reached out and touched Cindy’s long hair. It was a meaningful gesture for a woman who was particular about walls and distances. ‘You’re a woman first. A wife. You’re more than your job.’

‘So are you.’

‘Oh, no,’ Janine said, shaking her head emphatically. ‘That’s not me at all. I don’t think of myself as a woman. And definitely not a wife. I’ve never been good at that. No, I made my choice a long time ago. I’m a doctor. A surgeon. That’s me. That’s what I do, it’s who I am. There’s nothing else.’

She gestured around the office as if it were her home. Her sanctuary.

‘All this,’ she said, ‘this is what I live for.’

6

6

‘So why isn’t that doctor in prison yet?’ Clyde Ferris asked Stride. ‘C’mon, man, if she was black, you’d have closed the book and she’d be rotting behind bars already. We both know it.’

‘The investigation is still in the early stages,’ Stride replied.

Clyde grabbed a lit cigarette from a crinkled piece of aluminum foil on the concrete floor of the garage. Both men were smoking, and the bitter smell clouded over their heads. The wooden garage door was open, letting in cold air and the noise of a truck engine on Grand Avenue. Jay Ferris’s brother sat among the disassembled parts of a rusted snow blower. He ran a small engine shop out of his house in West Duluth, repairing snow blowers during the winter and lawn mowers during the summer. The garage walls were covered with spare motor parts hung on hooks.

‘You saying she didn’t do it?’ Clyde asked. ‘Or is it just that she’s a rich white doctor, so you have to treat her like the queen?’

‘I’m saying we’re still gathering evidence, and that takes time. We have to work our way through a lot of potential suspects.’

‘Including a few cops,’ Clyde said.

Stride didn’t respond to the taunt, even though it was true. ‘Jay made a lot of enemies with the things he wrote.’