"How would you feel about that?" I asked him.
"Great," he said. He sounded like he meant it.
"I know it would take some getting used to, for everyone," I said. "I haven't even mentioned the idea to your mother. But, suddenly, it seems obvious that it's the right thing to do." I looked toward the ocean, a rippling blue-green blanket beneath the sun-soaked horizon. "I have to tell you, Garret, I've never felt the way I feel about her. When I'm with her, I feel complete. When I'm not with her, I want to be." I looked back at him. "Have you ever felt that way?"
"I don't know," he said. "Maybe."
"Then you haven't. You'd know for sure. It's the best feeling in the world," I said.
He nodded.
"You're leaving for Yale in a couple weeks?" I said. "Believe me, there'll be more than one coed who turns your head. I hope one of them moves you the way your mom moves me."
"I guess I'll find out," he said.
"And, I mean, there's another reason we should make it officiaclass="underline" I don't feel good about-well, you know-sharing a room with your mom until we're married. Neither does she."
Even Garret, at seventeen, recognized I had invited him across a boundary deeper than a World War II trench. "That's between you and her," he said.
"We just want to be respectful," I said. I let a few seconds pass. "I'm thinking we should elope. I'm going to ask her to fly to Vegas with me-maybe leave tomorrow."
"She isn't divorced yet," Garret said, grinning.
"Nevada won't sweat the details," I said. "The paperwork will fall into place, eventually."
"Sounds… amazing," he said.
"Not a word to your mother," I said. I didn't mention keeping Billy out of the loop. I knew Garret would fill him in within the next five minutes. I wanted him to.
"I guess I'll head back," Garret said. "Pretty amazing news."
"I'll see you later?"
"Later," he said.
I watched him as he made his way toward the house. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Julia standing inside the picture window of the living room, staring at us. Then I sensed another pair of eyes on me, looked up, and caught a glimpse of Billy on the second-floor deck. He turned and walked back inside. When I looked at the picture window again, Julia was gone, too.
I lingered where I stood until Garret disappeared through the front door. As he closed it behind him, I could imagine how the psychosexual tension would begin to rise inside Candace' s pristine island retreat, could almost see the flames of an emotional bonfire start to lick at the pristine window-panes.
Dr. Mossberg called my cell phone from the medical records department of the Cornell Medical Center at 1:20 p.m. The data she had gleaned from the Bishops' charts supported my theory that Darwin Bishop, while a violent man, was probably not Brooke's murderer. It pointed directly, in fact, to the person I suspected. As I hung up, the weight of that fact weakened my knees. I had to breathe deeply and swallow hard to stop myself from vomiting.
One of the darkest dramas imaginable had resulted in Brooke's death, and I had unwittingly played into it.
I was still feeling shaky when someone knocked at the door to the cottage. I struggled to my feet and cautiously opened it. Billy, again.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," he said.
"I didn't eat yet," I said. "That's all."
He walked past me and sat right down on the couch. "Garret told me about you and Mom," he said.
As I expected. "Oh?" I said.
"You're eloping?" he said. "Tomorrow?"
"So long as your mother says yes," I said. "I haven't asked her yet." I walked over and sat at the other end of the couch.
"She'll say yes," he said.
"How do you know that?" I said.
"She has trouble saying no," he said.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," he said, leaning toward me, "that not everyone around here is deaf, dumb, and blind."
"I'm listening," I said.
"I don't want to break your heart, but you're not the first guy she's hooked up with. Not even close." He paused, blinking nervously. "She doesn't stay interested very long. Okay?"
Keep the pressure on, I told myself. "I can handle it," I said.
"You'll ruin everything," he deadpanned. "She'll just freak out and leave you, and we'll never be able to live together."
"You're overreacting," I said. "Everything will work out. People change."
He tilted his head, squinted at me. "What are you trying to do here?" he said, studying my face. "Is this the real reason you wanted me out of the way, at that Riggs place? My mother has you that fucked up in the head that you need Garret off to Yale and me out on that funny farm?" He stood up. "You were never going to come through for me."
"You have it all wrong," I said.
"I can't believe I trusted you," he said, shaking his head.
"You can always trust me."
He walked out.
I stood at the window of my cottage and watched him walk away, in the direction of the main house. Then I picked up the phone and dialed the home of Art Fields, director of the State Police crime laboratory in Boston.
Fields confirmed that I had drawn a scientifically valid conclusion from the blood-typing data Laura Mossberg had provided me. That meant direct forensic evidence linked Brooke Bishop and her killer. Fields cautioned me that the evidence was still circumstantial, but allowed that it was powerful.
I hung up, glanced at the clock. It was 1:29 p.m. All I needed to do was wait for Julia.
Two o'clock came and went. So did 3:00 p.m. And 4:00. I started wondering whether my plan wasn't going to net me the quick result I had expected. But then, at four-fifteen, Julia finally called to me from just outside my door. I opened it to find her in a sheer, pale yellow sun dress. The shading of her nipples showed through the cloth. "No looking back," she said. "It's really a deal? The past is the past?"
"Deal."
"Cross your heart and hope to die?" she said.
I stepped outside, pulled her into my arms, and kissed her. I felt myself getting hard as she pressed against me.
"Let's go inside," she said.
I shook my head and ran my hand up her thigh, raising her dress to her hip. My fingers moved under the hem. She was wearing no panties.
"C'mon," she said, trying to wriggle away. "No public displays."
I let her dress drop back into place, kissed her more deeply. "Take me somewhere outside again. Somewhere out of the way. I have a surprise for you."
She glanced at my crotch. "You're giving it away."
"You once mentioned a private place," I said.
Julia smiled. "Okay," she said.
She walked me past her mother's house, through the backyard, then onto a path that cut through a dense grove of trees. An enchanted little forest. About thirty feet inside, I stopped her and pushed her against one of the slim trunks. I ran both my hands up her legs and under her dress, moving my fingers along each side of her inner thighs, not stopping until I had slipped one finger deep inside her. She leaned to kiss me, but I leaned away. I dropped my hands, letting her dress fall into place. I stepped back. "Not here. Take me wherever we're going."
Julia turned her face away from me. For a moment, she looked as though she might be angry. Then she grinned impishly. "Catch me," she said. She bolted down the path.
I chased her. She was moving fast. I had to run almost full tilt to keep up. But even with the sound of my own feet hitting the ground, the wind whistling in my ears, I thought more than once that I could hear footsteps behind me. I hoped they weren't an illusion. If my plan was unfolding perfectly, then Julia and I were being followed, and the cauldron was really starting to boil.
I had almost caught up with Julia when she ran into a clearing. A stream cut between two low hills, gurgling over its rocky bed. The air smelled of lavender. I stopped and watched her jog to the water's edge, then turn around, breathing heavily. Sun filtered through branches, painting her with ribbons of light.
She untied the lace at the neck of her sun dress, pushed it off her shoulders, and let it slide to the ground. She was naked. And perfect. Eve before the Fall. Sinfully beautiful.