“As your future wife, I’d think you’d want me to know,” Laurie said with some surprise. She didn’t expect his response to be a question. “If you didn’t know what I did, I’d certainly want to tell you.”

“My response this morning was to ask if it mattered,” Paul said. “Does it?”

“It could,” Laurie said. “Take my job. My own mother has this distorted idea that it’s ghoulish. You could have felt the same way.”

“Well, I certainly don’t.”

“I’m glad,” Laurie said. “But you get my point. I don’t think my mother would have married my father if he’d been a medical examiner, at least I don’t think so.”

“Are you trying to tell me that if my business is something you don’t approve of, you won’t marry me?”

“Paul, this is not an argument,” Laurie said. “Now you are scaring me by making this discussion into something it needn’t be. Please tell me what your business is.”

“I’m in the defense business,” Paul said with an edge to his voice.

“Okay, that’s a start,” Laurie said. She looked down into the swirled surface of her cappuccino. “Can you be a little more specific?”

“What is this, an inquisition?” Paul demanded.

“No, Paul, as I said, this is a discussion.”

“And such an entertaining discussion!” Paul said sarcastically.

“Why are you being so defensive? This doesn’t sound like you.”

“I’m being defensive because too many people have the same prosaic response about the arms business.”

“And you think I’m going to have the same response?”

“It’s possible.”

“What is it you sell?”

“I sell arms. Isn’t that enough? Can’t we talk about something else?”

“You mean like cannons, bombs, or guns.”

“A little of all of them,” Paul said. “Whatever is in demand.”

“What about Bulgarian AK-47 assault rifles?” Laurie asked.

“Sure,” Paul said, surprised at such a specific question. “It’s one of my preferred products. It’s a reliable, inexpensive, well-made weapon. Much better than the Chinese version.”

Laurie closed her eyes. She could see a montage of images of Brad Cassidy’s body and his grieving parents. She remembered how she’d felt when Shirley Cassidy said that her son was selling Bulgarian AK-47s to other skinheads. To think that Paul could be involved in such things was hard to comprehend, especially recalling the mayhem from guns she’d witnessed over the years in her professional position as a medical examiner.

Laurie took a deep breath. She was conscious her emotions were getting the best of her, and in such circumstances she knew she had a tendency toward tears. She didn’t want to cry. Whenever she did, it irritated her to no end because it invariably precluded further discussion. She opened her eyes and looked at Paul. She read his expression as defensively arrogant.