Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

you capable of, Marie? What are you willing to do?”
    “I used to have dreams about killing my brother, about stabbing him in the heart. I used to tell myself that it was a vision. I used to think it was going to come true someday.”
    I didn’t say anything to that. Neither of us spoke for a while.
    “Maybe it is time for me to go. Maybe it’s time for me to leave the island.”
    “It would be dangerous for you to stay. This place is too small for anyone to stay hidden for long.”
    “I grew up out here, that’s the thing. I love this place—the air and water, all the extra sky. It soothes me. I’d rather not leave it if I can help it.”
    “He’ll find you if you stay.”
    “So you think I should leave.”
    “I do, yeah.”
    “How soon?”
    “As soon as possible.”
    “Scully took care of these kinds of things for me. I feel helpless without him.”
    “I’ll get you out.”
    “You sure?”
    I nodded.
    “Thanks, Mac,” she said. “For everything.”
    “It’s too late to leave tonight. We should rest. And you don’t want to be on any of the roads during the daytime. I guess that leaves tomorrow night, after sundown. I’ll ride with you as far as the expressway to make sure you get off the East End okay. From there on you shouldn’t have any problems. Just follow the expressway to the bridge of your choice and you’re off.”
    “How will you get back?”
    “I’ll hitch a ride, catch a train, whatever. Don’t worry about me.”
    She smiled then. With the exception of her angry smile moments ago, it was the first time she smiled since I saw her on Long Beach. “Why are you so willing to risk your life for me, Mac?” she teased. “Are you in love with me?”
    I smiled at that. “Maybe I can save you the trouble I had to go through to get away from the people who raised me.”
    “They were killed, weren’t they?” she said. “Your adoptive family.”
    I nodded.
    “A boating accident,” she said. “A fire. They went missing at sea.”
    I nodded again.
    “I was at Yale. I saw it in the papers.”
    “It was the start of my senior year at the college.”
    “Southampton, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I remember your adoptive brother. Always getting into fights with other kids, you always bailing him out, running to his side. You two were inseparable.”
    “It was my job.”
    “You cared about him, though. I could tell.”
    I shrugged. “He was my brother.”
    “So what happened?”
    I didn’t answer.
    “You can’t talk about it, can you?”
    “There’s nothing to talk about. It was a long time ago.”
    “I bet you at times it feels like it was yesterday, though, right?”
    “Sometimes it feels like it’s tomorrow. Sometimes it feels like it’s tomorrow and I can’t do a thing to stop it.”
    She nodded. “I know that feeling.”
    “It’s late,” I said. “We should try to get some sleep.”
    “Okay.”
    We stayed dressed and lay side by side on her bed. The neon light outside made the room almost too bright to sleep in. I draped my forearm over my eyes, and that blocked much of the colored light. I could hear Marie breathing, I could feel her lying still beside me. We said nothing as time clicked away. I allowed myself to hope for a night of dreamless sleep, of unbroken unconsciousness. I allowed myself to hope, too, for a route out of town—a way of escape—that didn’t end badly for either of us.

Chapter Twelve

    At dawn I awoke and stared at the ceiling. I listened to the occasional car passing below Marie’s windows. My thoughts raced, and I could feel a tangled nest of panic in my chest. I thought of Frank Gannon and the Chief. I thought of Jean-Marc Bishop and Searls. I thought of Tim Carter and Scully and their violent ends. There were still so many things I needed to know, so many ways that all this could fall in on us.
    Eventually I got out of bed as carefully as I could and pulled on my boots. Marie was sound asleep. I slipped quietly out of her apartment and crept down the stairs to the outer door. I opened it and took a look around. There was a pay phone on the sidewalk across the street. Like last night, the village was quiet and empty. I exited Marie’s building and went straight to the pay phone, inserted two quarters and punched in Frank Gannon’s pager number. I hung up and waited for him to call back. I wasn’t really expecting him to, but I had to try.
    It was a cool morning. The sky was clear, dark blue overhead but fainter along the