Beaufort watched her tighten into a little seed of a person. His brain clicked from that to the rage that swelled from his groin through his chest, rage that had been tamped down through all the prison years. It clicked to all the things in the room that he could yet destroy. It clicked to how it was better to destroy with an audience in attendance, the way it was the first time. Then, as quickly as the rage had exploded, it subsided. The only sound was his breathing and her breathing in a post-orgasmic way.

What now? He didn’t regret the damage. It felt good and eased his heart. But he watched Gloria balled up in the corner in her stupid lingerie, and felt a feeling that was … bad. He told himself he wasn’t a monster, and he could prove it. He went to her, sagged down beside her, and put his arm around her. She flinched, but he kept his arm there until he could feel her relaxing in his grasp.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said. “I’ll replace everything. I’ve had a helluva day, and now this.”

“What happened?” she asked, her sympathy taking over the way he predicted it always would. He could tell from the way she raised her hand and placed it on his knee that, at least this time, everything would be okay. She was grateful for the apology.

Rather than make up something about the helluva day, he asked her to tell him about Brigid Quinn’s visit.

“She was at the door when I came home for lunch one day last week,” Gloria said. “She didn’t have a car, but said she had been running. She asked about whether I knew you.” Gloria ended with a placating “I’ve been afraid to say anything. Because…” She gestured timidly at the mess around them.

Brigid Quinn was a crazy bitch, he told Gloria. She was a patron at the stables, he said. She was stalking him. She was crazy. He never went over to her house for dinner. That was a lie. Gloria shouldn’t talk to her again, and if the woman came around Gloria should tell him immediately.

As he talked, he thought about Quinn tracking him down and making this connection with Gloria. What else did Quinn know and what would she tell this woman? Right now Gloria was basking in the newfound intimacy of what Beaufort had convinced her was a common enemy. She would believe the lie because she wouldn’t want to imagine where the truth might lead. But what would happen if he had judged Gloria wrong? That business about challenging him and how he spent his time, having his own friends and ignoring hers. Was she respecting him enough? If not, one of them would have to go, and that would be complicated. Complicated if he had to find another place to live.