"Obviously, that's the twenty-thousand-dollar question," Marino replied. "Maybe Eddings talked to him at some point, or maybe to his relatives. This thing ain't a photocopy, and it also says right in the beginning of it that you're not supposed to let your Book ever leave your hands. And if you're ever caught with someone else's Book, you can kiss your ass good-bye."
"That's pretty much what happened to Eddings," Lucy said.
I did not want the Book anywhere near us and wished I could throw it into the fire. "I don't like this," I said. "I don't like it at all."
Lucy looked curiously at me. "You're not getting superstitious on us, are you?"
"These people are consorting with evil," I said. "And I respect that there is evil in the world and it is not to be taken lightly. Where exactly in Eddings' house did you find this God-awful book?" I asked Marino.
"Under his bed," he said.
"Seriously."
"I'm very serious."
"And we're certain Eddings lived alone?" I asked.
"Appears that way."
"What about family?"
"Father's deceased, a brother's in Maine and the mother lives in Richmond. Real close to where you live, as a matter of fact."
"You've talked to her?" I asked.
"I stopped by and told her the bad news and asked if we could conduct a more thorough search of her son's house, which we'll do tomorrow." He glanced at his watch.
"Or I guess I should say today."
Lucy got up and moved to the hearth. She propped an elbow on a knee and cupped her chin in her hand. Behind her, coals glowed in a deep bed of ashes.
"How do you know this bible originally came from the New Zionists?" she said. "Seems to me all you know is it came from Shapiro, and how can we be sure where he got it?"
Marino said, "Shapiro was a New Zionist until just three months ago. I've heard that Hand isn't real understanding when people want to leave him. Let me ask you something.
How many ex-New Zionists do you know?"
Lucy could not say. Certainly, I couldn't either.
"He's had followers for at least ten years. And we never hear anything about anyone leaving?" he went on. "How the hell do we know who he's got buried on his farm?"
"How come I've never heard of him?" she wanted to know.
Marino got up to top off our champagne.
He said, "Because they don't teach subjects like him at MIT and UVA."
Chapter 5
AT DAWN, I LAY IN BED AND LOOKED OUT AT MANT'S,backyard. The snow was very deep and piled high on the wall, and beyond the dune the sun was polishing the sea. For a while I shut my eyes and thought of Benton Wesley. I wondered what he would say about where I was living now, and what we would say to each other when we met later this day. We had not spoken since the second week of December, when we had agreed that our relationship must end.
I turned to one side and pulled the covers up to my ears as I heard quiet footsteps. Next I felt Lucy perch on the edge of my bed.
"Good morning, favorite niece in the world," I mumbled.
"I'm your only niece in the world." She said what she always did. "And how did you know it was me?"
"It had better be you. Someone else might get hurt."
"I brought you coffee," she said.
"You're an angel."
"Yo, to quote Marino. That's what everybody says about me."
"I was just trying to be nice." I yawned.
She bent over to hug me, and I smelled the English soap I had placed in her bathroom. I felt her strength and firmness, and I felt old.
"You make me feel like hell." I rolled on my back, placing my hands behind my head.
"Why do you say that?" She wore a pair of my loose cotton flannel pajamas and looked puzzled.
"Because I don't think I could even do the Yellow Brick Road anymore," I said, referring to the Academy's obstacle course.
"I've never heard anyone call it easy."
"It is for you."
She hesitated. "Well, it is now. But it's not like you have to hang out with HRT."
"For that I am thankful. She paused, then added with a sigh, "You know, at first I was pissed when the Academy decided to send me back to UVA for a month. But it may end up being a relief. I can work in the lab, ride my bike and jog around the campus like a normal person."
Lucy was not a normal person, nor would she ever be. I had decided that in many sad ways, individuals with IQs as high as hers are as different from others as are the mentally impaired. She was gazing out the window and the snow was becoming bright. Her hair was rosegold in shy morning light, and I was amazed I could be related to anyone so beautiful.
"it may be a relief not being around Quantico right now, too." She paused, her face very serious when she turned back to me. "Aunt Kay, there's something I need to tell you. I'm not sure you're really going to want to hear this.
Or maybe it would be easier if you didn't hear it. I would have told you yesterday if Marino hadn't been here."
"I'm listening." I was immediately tense.
She paused again. "Especially since you may be seeing Wesley today, I think you ought to know. There's a rumor in the Bureau that he and Connie have split."
I did not know what to say.
"Obviously, I can't verify that this is true," she went on. "But I've heard some of what's being said. And some of it concerns you."
"Why would any of it concern me?" I said too quickly.
"Come on." She met my eyes. "There have been suspicions ever since you started working so many cases with him. Some of the agents think that's the only reason you agreed to be a consultant. So you could be with him, travel with him, you know."
"That's patently untrue," I angrily said as I sat up. "I agreed to be the consulting forensic pathologist because the director asked Benton, who asked me, not the other way around. I assist in cases as a service to the FBI and…"
"Aunt Kay," she interrupted me. "You don't have to defend yourself."
But I would not be soothed. "That is an absolutely outrageous thing for anyone to say. I have never allowed a friendship with anyone to interfere with my professional integrity."
Lucy got quiet, then spoke again. "We're not talking about a mere friendship."
"Benton and I are very good friends."
"You are more than friends."
"At this moment, no, we are not. And it is none of your business."
She impatiently got up from my bed. "It's not right for you to get mad at me."
She stared at me but I could not speak, for I was very close to tears.
"All I'm doing is reporting to you what I've heard so you don't end up hearing it from someone else," she said.
till, I said nothing, and she started to leave.
I reached for her hand. "I'm not angry with you. Please try to understand. It's inevitable I'm going to react when I hear something like this. I feel certain you would, too."
She pulled away from me. "What makes you think I didn't react when I heard it?"
I watched in frustration as she stalked out of my room, and I thought she was the most difficult person I knew. All our lives together we had fought. She never relented until I had suffered as long as she thought I should, when she knew how much I cared. It was so unfair, I told myself as I planted my feet on the floor.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I contemplated getting up and coping with the day. My spirit felt heavy, shadowed by dreams that were now unclear but I sensed had been strange. It seemed there had been water and people who were cruel, and I had been ineffective and afraid. In the bathroom I showered, then got a robe off a hook on the back of the door and found my slippers. Marino and my niece were dressed and in the kitchen when I finally appeared.
"Good morning," I announced as if Lucy and I had not seen each other this day.
"Yo. It's good all right." Marino looked as if he had been awake all night and was feeling hateful.
I pulled out a chair and joined them at the small breakfast table. By now the sun was up, the snow on fire.