“No one who really knows me calls me ‘Elizabeth.’”

He smiled a little, accepting my olive branch, then looked back down at his cup.

Seeing an opportunity to escape, I took my coffee out to the living room and curled up on the couch to look out the window.

Now that I had no trainer to ask, I was full of questions.

Why would Graham betray Cordus? If we were all little more than slaves, it seemed like a huge risk.

What about the lava man on the lawn chair? Limu. The boss of another region, Callie had said. One of Cordus’s rivals, maybe. Was Graham working with him?

Was Justine truly a Second, and was she being hunted by the person I’d photographed? Cordus seemed to think so, and he should know, right?

If she was, did Ben know? What about the kids? Were they really Ben’s children?

And what was wrong with me, anyway? One moment I couldn’t see some basic thing the others expected me to see, and the next I saw more than I should — all the way into the other world, if I’d understood Callie right.

Trailing along like someone’s forgotten kid brother, one last question came into my head: Was Bob really dead?

Well, that was one I might be able to answer.

I got my car keys and headed out the door, moving cautiously until I was sure Williams’s barrier was gone.

Okay, Bob, I thought, getting in the Le Mans, I’m coming for that chat, like I promised. Please be alive.

I sat down on a slanted stone bench near the sad “Daught.” monument and took a steadying breath.

Time had paid no attention to my personal drama. Early April had shaded into middle of the month. Today was the first day we’d had where I really smelled spring. It was earthy and wet and promised renewal.

I’d made several full circuits of the cemetery. There was no sign of Bob.

I felt a strong sense of loss — far more than what I’d feel for some human citizen of Dorf I’d met once and talked to for a few minutes. It was mixed liberally with guilt and anger. If he was dead, it was because of me.

I reminded myself that while Bob’s presence would’ve proven he was alive, his absence didn’t prove he was dead.

Then again, Williams didn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d bother lying.

It’d been silly to come. I’d wanted to escape Callie’s house, with all its tensions and sadness, but really, escape was impossible. The whole situation was dreadful.

I looked down at my hands. My nails had gotten too long. Despite the hot shower I’d taken an hour ago, there was crud under them. I set about cleaning them with my thumbnail.

Depressing thoughts crowded into my mind.