I thought about Abby. I could re-create her here—not to have sex with, I told myself, but simply to lie next to her.

“Alistair, bring up the image—”

I stopped. It seemed…a violation. Though she would never know, Abby wouldn’t want me in VR with her. Perhaps she was the last person on earth who cared. But I knew she would.

I rolled over, pulled the covers to my neck, and drifted off to sleep alone.

31

Abby looked pale when she came downstairs the next morning. She sat at the kitchen table opposite me.

“Eggs?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“How’s your headache?”

“Still there.”

“I actually have one myself.” I got up, put the rest of the eggs on my plate, and returned to the table. “Abby, will you at least drink something today? It’s too hot this time of year to let yourself get dehydrated.”

She smiled at me. “Okay. This afternoon.”

I touched the top of her hand. “I’m heading to the train station in half an hour.”

She glanced at me hopefully.

“And, no, I still don’t think it’s a good idea for both of us to go.”

She sighed. “All right. Will you return this evening?”

“That’s my plan, yes.”

A few minutes later I kissed her good-bye at the front door.

She held me close and gazed into my eyes. “I’m sorry for being cross with you yesterday.”

I brushed the hair away from her forehead. “That’s all right. We’re both stressed.”

I walked out the door.

“Hey!” she called after me.

I looked back at her.

“Did Lauren tap about the guy in Dallas?”

“She left me a message but didn’t have any details yet. Said she’d tap me back.” I turned toward the car. “See you tonight.”

I settled into a comfortable coach seat on the train. It pulled away from the station in DC and quickly reached a cruising speed of 200 mph. Only the automation of cities’ traffic systems had made such speeds possible. Trains no longer crashed into cars, regardless of the speed. Outside the window the fields of rural Maryland were a blur. The trip to Boston would take two and a half hours, an ideal time frame for something I had been contemplating for several days.

I had more research to do, and it had nothing to do with Ray Caldwell. It was about Abby. As my feelings for her grew, so did the disconnect I felt within me. How could I be falling for a woman whose worldview I had always dismissed? Maybe because the belief came wrapped in a person I respected, even admired. Maybe because along with her beliefs came a goodness that exceeded my own. Was she good because of her beliefs or in spite of them?

Alistair couldn’t answer that for me. But he could complete what was lacking in the biblical research I had begun.