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He accepted the notepad fro I can," he told her

She picked up the teacup before her on the table, her eyes distant She drank what must have been very cold tea by then

"I’m very sorry about your cousin," she said softly

"Thank you" The words took hih he knew instantly what she meant

"His death was a tremendous loss to the city, but for you, of course, it was very personal, and I extend an to water "I was there that night, you know," she murmured

"I didn’t know," he said

"I learned later that Gen would have been interested in going In retrospect, I’lad I didn’t know in tih the years She had a lot of close contact with the police--being a social worker and all And she knew Greta through me, of course"

Joe couldn’t help hiht?"

"The lights, the lamour…I was in the entryhen the explosion occurred They rounded us up and got us out i incredulous I remember the sound of the sirens, the as," she said "I am so, so sorry"

"Thank you Eileen, do you reave him a pained smile "You lost someone you loved, so you want there to be a reason, a better explanation than a gas explosion No, I’, there was a noise like thunder So…the cops came and ere all ushered out"

Joe nodded Just what had he been hoping for?

"Thank you," he repeated

Her eyes met his, and her words were desperate "I have to find Genevieve, Mr Connolly Please help al and aloof, he reached across the table and laid his hand on hers "I will do everything I can," he told her solemnly

She alripped his hand in return Her touch was strong, and as desperate as the sound of her voice

They talked for a few irl in the picture began to coan to in his investigation First he would go over the basic police work Then he would move on to where the police, by virtue of their sworn duty, could not go

There were others in the house

He knew that froue sense of awareness They paid hinize him, but even so, he are that he was not alone

There was the woman in the kitchen, for one She was always by the hearth, stirring soined had been a pot over an open fire She was pretty and young, and wore Colonial garb, including a little mobcap on her head He wasn’t sure if she had been an illicit mistress or a servant, but she hummed in a pretty voice as she stirred Every so often she would suddenly straighten, her face pinching into a mask of pain She would turn around, and her eyes would widen, and then she would fall…and fade away

There was the soldier in the entry He staggered into the house, led with theabout a betrayal, and then he, too, would fall and fade away

He didn’t want to be one of the by the hearth in the servants’ pantry, laughing pleasantly, looking across the roo in the memory of an explosion

After a while he realized that in addition to playing out their final nized one another, though they led now and then

While he…

He didn’t need to worry about eternally haunting the servants’ pantry He couldn’t even e that much He could only be…aware

So as he there? Just to ache? Just to yearn and fear constantly for the woman he had loved? Damn it Not fair He’d lived his life as a decent man

Others had died with him, so where were they? He didn’t have any sense of them whatsoever

He saw the work to have even that much contact hat had once been his world To hear their anger that he should have died in such a stupid freak accident They had respected and admired him Nice to know, except that he was still dead

Then came the day when the woave him a little smile Maybe he was somehow real then She walked over, and it felt as if she touched his cheek, like a sweet sister "It takes tiain

All he could whisper was "Why?"