‘They say unrequited love put paid to Nora. Someone broke her heart and it never got put back together again.’

‘Not you, I hope.’

He laughs. ‘That’s one sin I don’t need laid at my door.’ He reaches for his hat and I realize with a start how late it is. He stands up and we face each other a little awkwardly. ‘Well, thank you for dinner, it’s always nice to have a fellow fugitive to break bread with.’

‘Maybe, but the trouble with fugitives is that they get caught eventually.’

‘Ah no.’ He smiles. ‘Some die a bloody death in the desert and have their bones picked clean by buzzards.’

‘I owe you an apology, Duval.’

‘No. You don’t.’

‘I thought pretty bad things of you.’

He puts on his hat. ‘Don’t be fooled, I’m here only until I find what I’m looking for. The same will be true for you.’

‘And what if I never find what I’m looking for?’

‘Then you’ll stay lost,’ he says lightly.

‘Sounds lonely.’

‘Can be.’ He rests his hand on the doorknob, a quick flash of a smile behind his eyes. ‘Goodnight then, Alice Coleman,’ he says and, touching the brim of his hat, steps out into the black night.

part two

22

‘Now this one is my favourite,’ Helen Hogan confides, hands fluttering along the wingspan of a large bronzecoloured eagle. ‘But of course each piece is so special, so absolutely unique’ She turns and glances mistily back at a stallion on another side table and then to a more recently admired wall plaque, which appears to depict a horse’s head dissolving into cloud. ‘They all come from the same gallery in Austin. The artist in question specializes in the wilderness. Look at the detail! The beak! Those eyes! So realistic, don’t you think?’ She angles the sculptured head towards me. ‘Go ahead, touch it! It won’t bite!’

Obediently, I turn the bird by its beak. It moves surprisingly easily over the polished surface. ‘Whoa there!’ Helen chuckles, and I get the feeling that this is a party trick she has played often before.

‘So light!’ I exclaim dutifully.

‘Well, see, that’s the beauty of them!’ she says excitedly. ‘They look like they’re made out of bronze, but in fact they’re made out of composite! Isn’t that clever? We’re travelled people, as you can see, bin all over the Midwest, but I can tell you, I’ve never found this artist’s equal anywhere.’

‘I can imagine.’