“ ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight,’ yes. And I can’t tell you how strange it was to be sitting in a Manni cabin in Calla Bryn Sturgis, looking toward the darkness of Thunderclap and listening to Elton John.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Susannah said. “You’re way ahead of us, Pere. Last we knew, you were in Sacramento, it was 1981, and you’d just found out your friend got cut up by these so-called Hitler Brothers.” She looked sternly from Callahan to Jake and finally to Eddie. “I have to say, gentlemen, that you don’t seem to have made much progress in the matter of peaceful living since the days when I left America.”

“Don’t blame it on me,” Jake said. “I was in school.”

“And I was stoned,” Eddie said.

“All right, I’ll take the blame,” Callahan said, and they all laughed.

“Finish your story,” Roland said. “Maybe you’ll sleep better tonight.”

“Maybe I will,” Callahan said. He thought for a minute, then said: “What I remember about the hospital—what I guess everyone remembers—is the smell of the disinfectant and the sound of the machines. Mostly the machines. The way they beep. The only other stuff that sounds like that is the equipment in airplane cockpits. I asked a pilot once, and he said the navigational gear makes that sound. I remember thinking that night that there must be a hell of a lot of navigating going on in hospital ICUs.

“Rowan Magruder wasn’t married when I worked at Home, but I guessed that must have changed, because there was a woman sitting in the chair by his bed, reading a paperback. Well-dressed, nice green suit, hose, low-heeled shoes. At least I felt okay about facing her; I’d cleaned up and combed up as well as I could, and I hadn’t had a drink since Sacramento. But once we were actually face-to-face, I wasn’t okay at all. She was sitting with her back to the door, you see. I knocked on the jamb, she turned toward me, and my so-called self-possession took a hike. I took a step back and crossed myself. First time since the night Rowan and I visited Lupe in that same joint. Can you guess why?”

“Of course,” Susannah said. “Because the pieces fit together. The pieces always fit together. We’ve seen it again and again and again. We just don’t know what the picture is.”

“Or can’t grasp it,” Eddie said.