Kate and I walked to the dining room and found most of our workshop friends sitting at our usual table. Tammy and Lois had already driven back to Lois’ Carmel house. Aoife and Theo had left to be with their families.
“What happened?” Lucy asked. “We heard there was a shooting.”
I looked at Julie, Lucy, Norma, Otto, Lucky, and Paul. “Kate and I have something heavy to tell you, but we don’t want to do it here. Why don’t we walk up to the Carl Rogers’ workshop room?”
The eight of us trekked back up the familiar path to the room where we’d been in the transitions workshop. Kate turned on the light. We got out pillows and sat in a tight circle. At Paul’s suggestion, we held hands.
I looked at Kate and realized she was in no condition to tell the others what had happened. “I have bad news, I said.
I gave our friends the same abbreviated version I had given to David Sanders. Kate sat beside me and clutched my hand.
Lucy began to cry. “Cheryl was my therapist.” She sobbed on Kate’s shoulder. Julie and Norma helped comfort her.
We sat in silence, holding hands.
Finally, Otto asked me, “You’ve known Cheryl a long time. What do you think happened to her?”
I told them what David had said.
“Sounds like Cheryl burnt out and had no one to turn to,” Paul said. “I know something about that.” He put his arm around Lucky. “Then Malcolm betrayed her and that was the final straw.”
“I felt like killing my stepfather,” Lucy said in a choked voice. “But then he saved me the trouble by dying in a car crash.” Kate hugged her tight.
“In her closing remarks to the group,” Julie said. “Cheryl talked about Satori being a patriarchy.”
“Like most of the world,” Norma said.
We sat in silence for a few more minutes.
“At the risk of being prosaic,” Paul said. “I think we should try to remember Cheryl for the good she did rather than the bad.”
“I agree,” I said. “I’m attempting to think of her as Fiona’s friend and not as the sick person she became.”
“That’s right,” Otto said. “Satori wore Cheryl down and then she succumbed to mental illness.”
There was a murmur of agreement.
Kate closed her eyes and didn’t say anything. I thought Kate will have a hard time forgiving Cheryl for trying to kill us.
“Are you guys, okay?” Otto asked Kate and me.
“We’re shaken,” I said. Kate closed her eyes and leaned her head against my shoulder.
“I bet you are,” Norma said.
“We’re not going to stay here tonight.” Kate opened her eyes. “Tom got us a room in a Monterey hotel.” She squeezed my hand.
“You shot Cheryl through her desk?” Lucy asked. “That’s fucking amazing.”
“My primitive instincts kicked in,” Kate said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
We sat on the floor for a few more minutes. Then got up, still holding hands, and walked back to the Satori dining room.
“Before you leave, can we do a group photo?” Lucy asked.
The eight of us dutifully assembled on the stairs outside the dining room.
Marcia Ball agreed to be our photographer. Kate and I were in the front row with Julie, and Lucy. The second row had Norma, Otto, Lucky, and Paul.
“Say cheese,” Marcia called out as she took several shots.
Sergeant O’Malley, Laura Sanchez, and Bruno Oliver walked across the lawn. “Why don’t you join us?” Kate called out.
O’Malley demurred. “I’m not photogenic. I’ll sit this one out.”
Kate had Laura stand on one side of her and Bruno on the other side, next to Lucy.
After Stacey snapped the photo, Lucy turned to Bruno. “I’m Lucy. Are you one of the Sheriff’s detectives?”
“I’m an investigator for the coroner,” Bruno said.
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that I specialize in dealing with suspicious deaths.”
“Hmm. What do you do for fun?” Lucy asked.
“I study poisons and I walk my dog, Mendeleev.”
“I like dogs.”
“Lucy is shy, Bruno.” Kate said. “I think she likes you.”
“That’s good to hear. She is very attractive.”
Kate and I packed our bags and walked to my car. “Did Julie agree to drive your car back to San Francisco?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m driving with you in your…?”
“BMW SUV.”
When we got to the parking lot, I clicked the remote control and the back of my SUV opened. We loaded our luggage. Kate put out her hand for the remote. “I’m driving.”
“It’s a big car. Goes fast.”
“I’m a big girl. Trained to drive police pursuit cars by my father; and a graduate of Bondurant Driving School at Laguna Seca.” Kate punched me on the shoulder. “You’re in safe hands, stud.”
Once we got into the car and Kate adjusted the driver’s side seat, steering wheel, and rear-vision mirrors, she took out her iPhone. “Show me how to pair this with your BMW.”
“Why?”
“Duh. You don’t have a phone. Laura, or someone else, may try to contact us.” She gave me a critical look. “This is another part of ‘reallocating our assets.’”
I paired the phone. Kate started the SUV, backed out of the parking space, and headed up the driveway.
Her finger was poised over the radio power-on button. “Here comes a critical point in our relationship. I’m going to turn on the radio. If I don’t like what I hear, I may have to let you out.” She smiled. “Hopefully it’s not Fox News, or sports talk – God forbid, or ‘greatest hits of Kid Rock.’” She hit the button.
A jazz channel came on. “I know that song, but I don’t remember the pianist,” Kate said.
“’Round Midnight’ by Thelonious Monk.” I smiled. “Did I pass the test?”
“For now. Don’t get overconfident.”
We drove north and soon passed by the famous Nepenthe restaurant. The phone rang. Kate put it on speaker.
Laura Sanchez said, “I want to thank you again for your help.”
“You’re welcome, Laura. I meant to tell you this, but I never got a chance to talk to you in private. When you’re in San Francisco, give me a call and we can hang out. Maybe the four of us can go out to dinner. Tom will pay for everything.” Kate squeezed my hand.
“I’d like that,” Laura said. “But I’ll probably see you tomorrow at the Salinas office. By the way, the press just got wind of this case; Sheriff John had a news conference. Good luck.” Sanchez hung up.
“Fuck,” Kate said. “I’d forgotten about the press.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I talked to my partner about it. When we get back to San Francisco, you’re doing an in-depth interview with Laura Davis who is our friend at the Chronicle. And then you are doing a TV interview with Wendy Kim at KPIX.”
Kate looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “You are so competent. It would be easy to just lay back and let you manage my life. Be your courtesan.”
“But you won’t do that.”
“No. I won’t do that because it would mean the death of our relationship. We both need to do our thing.” She smiled. “Besides, I have the feeling that we bring out the best in each other. I look forward to the challenge.”
We drove through Big Sur village and past Molera beach. When we got to Garrapata State Park, we saw fire trucks and road-repair equipment where the road had been closed.
Kate pulled over at China Lookout. “Indulge me.” She got out of the car and pulled out her phone. “Come here Tom. I’m going to take a picture of you and me and the view.” She held out the phone, capturing us with a backdrop of the California coastline. “Kate and Tom and infinite horizons.”