“I noticed that something bothered you at the time,” Carter said. “What was it?”

“First, it was the scars on her neck. She said they came from a car accident, but they looked to me like an animal attack. Like she’d been mauled by a bear or a large cat. Still, that’s nothing conclusive. Then I made some small talk with her. I asked her if she liked football, or soccer for us. She said that she did. And then I asked if she was a Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates fan. She shrugged and said it would depend on who she was dating at the time.”

“I know nothing about soccer. What does that mean?” Nic asked.

“Nothing, really. It could have just been that she never paid close attention. But both of the teams I mentioned are from South Africa, not England. She didn’t seem confused by the names at all, didn’t correct me or say she loved Manchester United or anything. I should have known then that she was our insider.”

Nic shook his head. “Come on, that’s paper thin, and you know it. Some of the women I’ve dated couldn’t name a single American football team. Most of my Super Bowl dates just pick a side based on which uniform they like the best. You couldn’t have—”

“But I did. I knew that something was wrong. I should have said something, but I … I didn’t want her to be one of them.”

Carter cocked his head and leaned forward on the table. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

Burke used his right thumbnail to pick his left, each pick creating an audible clicking sound. “Because, she was a freak like me. People who are disabled or different or cast out, we just sense that pain in each other. I don’t know how to explain, but it’s like being part of something. Part of the unwanted.”

“People don’t judge you because of your condition, and they certainly wouldn’t hold anything against a mute woman.”

Burke shook his head. “You have no idea what it’s like to be different. To know that no matter what you do, you will never be the same as everyone else. You will never fit into a nice little box that normal people will be comfortable with. You’ll never truly be accepted for who you are. Most people mean well. But make no mistake, tolerance and acceptance are two totally different things. I chose to ignore my instincts and the data at hand, and now three people are dead. And who knows how things would have turned out if I would have—”

“Save it, Burke,” Nic said. “You can’t blame yourself for their deaths any more than Carter or I can. We all did our best, and it wasn’t good enough. But second-guessing what’s in the past will only drive you crazy. Another guy with the last name Burke famously said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. We did something today. We were on the front lines, bleeding, dying, and protecting all that’s good in this world. They’re the bad guys. They are the ones who made the choice to take life. And you can’t hold yourself responsible for their choices. You just get up tomorrow and do something else to stop that kind of evil. That’s all you can do. All any of us can do.”