Chapter 14: Edgewater

Edgewater Park at midnight in November was empty, black and loud with wind off the lake.

Cyrus parked his old Buick at the far end of the lot, facing the water, and turned off the lights.

"Kyle said Abercrombie spent two hours in the records room," I said.

"What was he looking for?"

"My front desk logs. Who I let in, who I stamped, who I talked to."

"And what did he find?"

"A woman who stamped four hundred cards in March and remembers one man in a scarf."

Cyrus looked at his hands on the wheel.

"I'm going to tell Brenda myself," I said. "Before Abercrombie can. All of it."

"Molly."

"Not tonight. Tomorrow, or Wednesday, in her office, with the door shut."

"And if she has no choice but to act?"

"Then she acts, and I take it, and you stay where you are."

"You keep saying that as if it is a plan."

"It's the start of one."

He turned in the driver's seat to face me, and the dome light stayed off.

The only light was the far-off glow of the city across the water.

"I would rather stand in front of you," he said, "than behind you."

"Then stand in front of me. Next to me. I don't care."

"That is better."

"Cyrus."

"Yes?"

"I didn't drive out to the lake to talk."

He was quiet for a second.

Then he laughed, that low surprised laugh.

"I see."

"I've never done this in a car."

"Neither have I."

"You've had a century of cars."

"And I have never once used one for this."

I climbed over the gearshift.

It was an awkward business, with my knee on the seat and my head against the roof, and he caught my hips to steady me.

I settled astride his lap, facing him, with the steering wheel pressed against my back.

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