Dark Rivers of the Heart

finest boy who ever lived, thoughtful and kind-served in Vietnam, was a hero, won more medals than you would believe… and died there. Rachel-oh, you should have seen her, so beautiful, her picture was there on the mantel, but it didn't do her justice, no photo could do her justice-had been killed in a traffic accident fourteen years ago. It was a terrible thing to outlive your children; it made you wonder if God was paying attention. Theda and Bernie had lived most of their married life in California, where Bernie had been an accountant and she'd been a third-grade teacher. On retirement, they sold their home, reaped a big capital gain, and moved to Vegas not because they were gamblers-well, twenty dollars, wasted on slot machines, once a month-but because real estate was cheap compared with California.
        Retirees had moved there by the thousands for that very reason.
        She and Bernie bought a small house for cash and were still able to bank sixty percent of what they'd gotten from the sale of their home in California. Bernie died three years later. He was the sweetest man, gentle and considerate, the greatest good fortune in her life had been to marry him and after his death the house was too large for a wido so Theda sold it and moved to the apartment. For ten years, she'd had a dog-his name was Sparkle and it suited him, he was an adorable cocker spaniel-but, two months ago, Sparkle had gone the way of all things.
        God, how she'd cried, a foolish old woman, cried rivers, but she'd loved him. Since then she'd occupied herself with cleaning, baking, watching TV, and playing cards with friends twice a week. She hadn't considered getting another dog after Sparkle, because she wouldn't outlive another pet, and she didn't want to die and leave a sad little dog to fend for itself Then she saw Rocky, and her heart melted, and now she knew she would have to get another dog. If she got one from the pound, a cute pooch destined to be put to sleep anyway, then every good day she could give him was more than he would have had without her. And who knew?
        Maybe she would outlive another pet and make a home for him until his time came, because two of her friends were in their mid-eighties and still going strong.
        To please her, Spencer had a third cup of coffee and a second of the immense chocolate-chip cookies.
        Rocky was gracious enough to accept more paper-thin slices of ham and submit to more belly stroking and chin scratching. From time to time he rolled his eyes toward Spencer, as if to say, "y didn't you tell me about this lady a long time ago?
        Spencer had never seen the dog so completely, quickly charmed as he'd been by Theda. When his tail periodically swished back and forth, the motion was so vigorous that the upholstery was in danger of being worn to tatters.
        "What I wanted to ask you," Spencer said when Theda paused for breath,
        "is if you knew a young woman who lived in the next apartment until late last November. Her name was Hannah Rainey and she-" At the mention of Hannah-whom Spencer knew as Valerie-Theda launched into an enthusiastic monologue seasoned with superlatives. This girl, this special 'ri, oh, she'd been the best neighbor, so considerate, such a good heart in that dear girl. Hannah worked at the Mirage, a blackjack dealer on the graveyard shift, and she slept mornings through early afternoons. More often than not, Hannah and Theda had eaten dinner together, sometimes in Theda's apartment, sometimes ir, Hannah's.
        Last October Theda had been desperately ill with the flu and Hanna had looked after her, nursed her, been like a daughter to her. No, Hannah never talked about her past, never said where she was from, never talked about family, because she was trying to put something terrible behind her-that much was obvious-and she was looking only to the future, always forward, never back. For a while Theda had figured maybe it was an abusive husband, still out there somewhere, stalking her, and she'd had to leave her old life to avoid beiii killed.
        'These days you heard SO much about such things, the world was a mess, everything turned upside down, getting worse all the time. Then the Drug Enforcement Agency had raided Hannah's apartment last November, at eleven in the morning, when she should have been sound asleep, but the girl was gone, packed up and moved overnight, without a word to her friend Theda, as if she'd