“One of my colleagues was murdered because I talked to him about those letters.” She yanked the collar of her shirt down so that he could see the marks around her neck. “Do you see these? I was attacked in my own home! I could have died, and for what? For you? Because of your guilty conscience? Because you’re sitting here bawling while your psycho friends back home try to cover their tracks?”

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, stunned, but no sound came out.

“Who’s behind the Lullaby Club?” she demanded to know. “Who? Is it Johannes Mossing?”

Her father’s face suddenly drained of all color. “Heloise, you must stay away from that man.”

“It’s him, isn’t it?” A wave of adrenaline surged through her body. “If you know something that can help catch him, Dad, then now is the time for you to speak up. If you really want to protect me from him, then say something now!”

“An … Anna has all the information,” he said, disconcerted. “She has the evidence against him.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know … I—”

“How can I use this for anything if you don’t have any idea where she is?”

“She’ll contact you. That’s the plan. She’s somewhere nearby. She’s here. I talked to her, and she—” He started coughing again.

This time he was gasping frantically for breath between exhalations. He spluttered and tried to clear his throat as if he had gotten something down the wrong pipe.

Heloise watched stony-faced and didn’t offer any other assistance.

“Oh, Heloise, sweetie,” he said, once he had recovered. “I’m sick.”

“Stop it!” Heloise stood up, irritated. “I told you that I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

“No, it’s not that. I … I have cancer.”

Heloise stopped and looked down at him. It was quiet for a moment before she spoke.

“Cancer?”

“In my lungs.” He nodded and cautiously touched his chest. “But it’s metastasized to my liver and my bones and … it doesn’t look good.”

Heloise’s hand was shaking as she pulled her chair back out and sat down.

“But you’re … you’re getting treatment?”

“Not anymore.” He shook his head. “There’s nothing else they can do.”

Heloise looked up at the ceiling as she tried to hold back her tears.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve made my peace with it. And now that I’ve seen you one last time, I’m ready to die. I’m not afraid.”

“How long do you have left?”

“They say six months, nine if I’m lucky. But …” He shook his head slightly. “I’m not planning to hang around that long.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a long moment.

He smiled.

Heloise took a deep, shaky breath. “You were my whole world. You know that, right?”

“And you were mine.”