“I want to find out if anyone in official law enforcement actually has any solid facts, or if the sanctified theory of the Good Shepherd case is as fragile as I think it is.”

“That’s what you’re doing tomorrow with the fish guy?”

“Yes. Agent Trout. At his cabin in the Adirondacks. On Lake Sorrow.”

Just then Kyle and Kim came in the side door, accompanied by a rush of chilly air.

Chapter 28

Darker, Colder, Deeper

At dawn the next morning, Gurney was back at the table with his first coffee of the day. Sitting by the French doors, he was watching a daddy longlegs dragging a captured earwig along the edge of the stone patio. The earwig was still putting up a fight.

For a moment Gurney was tempted to intervene—until he realized that his impulse was neither kind nor empathetic. It was nothing more than a desire to brush the struggle out of sight.

“What’s the matter?” It was Madeleine’s voice.

He looked up with a start to find her in a pink T-shirt and green madras shorts, fresh from her shower, standing next to him.

“Just observing the horrors of nature,” he said.

She looked out through the glass doors at the eastern sky. “It’s going to be a nice day.”

He nodded without really hearing her. Another thought had absorbed his attention. “Before I went to bed last night, Kyle said something about going back to Manhattan this morning. Do you recall if he mentioned what time he was planning to leave?”

“They left an hour ago.”

“What?”

“They left an hour ago. You were sound asleep. They didn’t want to wake you.”

“They?”

Madeleine gave him a look that seemed to convey her surprise at his surprise. “Kim has to be in the city this afternoon to record something for The Orphans of Murder. Kyle persuaded her to go down early with him, so they could spend the day doing things together. She didn’t appear to need much persuading. In fact, I think the plan is for her to stay over at his apartment tonight. I can’t believe you didn’t see this coming.”

“Maybe I did, but not so fast.”

Madeleine went to the coffeemaker on the sink island and poured herself a cup. “Does it worry you?”

“Unknowns worry me. Surprises worry me.”

She took a sip and returned to the table. “Unfortunately, life is full of them.”

“So I’ve discovered.”

She stood by the table, gazing through the far window toward the widening swath of light above the ridge. “Does Kim worry you?”

“To some extent. I wonder about the Robby Meese thing. I mean, that guy is pretty warped, and she let him move in with her. There’s something wrong with that picture.”