EPILOGUE

Hagan felt a small tap against his cheek. His head was rested on the rounded curvature of his wife’s stomach. It was a soft gentle push—the briefest encounter that filled him with a sublime joy.

“I felt him kick.”

“Here, move a little further down.” She ran her hands through his hair and readjusted his cheek closer to her navel. He knew how much pleasure Tara took in the feel of his thick salt and pepper curls. He had let his hair grow longer and she enjoyed it.

Bathed in Saturday morning sunlight, Tara and Hagan lay together, still and serene, on the couch. They waited patiently for some further sign of activity from their son to be. Outside, the trees swayed silently on the other side of the windows. White flowers from the magnolia branches were bobbed and buoyed from a gentle wind. The beams of light and shadow undulated and mixed as the two quietly let time go by, content and happy.

Another diminutive percussion.

“Oh, that was a good one.” With his ear pressed against her belly, he could hear gurgling sounds. Tara nodded and tilted her head to the side to catch his eyes. Small straight fronds of blond hair fell forward. Hagan looked up and smiled.

As the two waited for another sign of their child’s movements, a white sphere appeared in Hagan’s field of view. It was his chief resident, Reid.

Hagan lifted himself from the warmth of Tara’s body.

“Got a call from Reid. Mind if I take this?”

“Sure, babe, go ahead.”

“Hey, Reid, what’s up?”

Reid’s voice sounded strained and nervous. “Dr. Maerici, a server has crashed at the lab. Apparently, some problem with the network’s communicating. Seems to be pulling info out and replacing it with noise. If we don’t fix it, we could lose some additional data, especially stuff that wasn’t backed up over the last couple days. Canter is here running around in circles, worried we’re not going to hit some milestone.”

Hagan thought about Devron—his influence, the world he created, and the one Hagan almost destroyed. Since the old magnate had passed, money for his research had ceased to be an issue. The closet is well-funded indeed—more than the whole department makes these days. The lab’s funding only increased as scientific results were generated—the old man always tied support with performance, wouldn’t have expected anything less. It was also the reason Canter now clucked around his lab like a chicken. Funny how things change.

Hagan looked down at Tara who was lying on the couch with her eyes closed. The shifting sunlight through the trees created variegated patterns of illumination that made her hair sparkle. He rested his hand gently on her side and played with the thin diaphanous hem of her dress. He loved her dresses. She took his hand and their fingers intertwined.

“Looks like it’s gonna have to wait until Monday, Reid. See you then.”

The white sphere disappeared and Hagan’s head returned to Tara so they could marvel at the gentle nudges of an emerging life.

*   *   *

The retired detective pushed and kneaded the blackened soil around the velvety green stalks. Satisfied, he stood up and admired the copse of irises in their various stages of growth.

Looking pretty good, he thought to himself.

Far away from the old man standing on his manicured lawn, a precinct in urban St. Louis continued to thrum with activity from the city’s transgressions. In one of the hallways, a plaque with the name Edwin G. Krantz went unnoticed:

IN RECOGNITION OF OUTSTANDING POLICE WORK IN THE INVESTIGATION AND SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF FRANK MINSKY (AKA THE CHAMELEON) FOR HOMICIDE AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT HOMICIDE. YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REGION ARE APPRECIATED.

Mayor Thomas Clagett

For Krantz, the lack of recognition was just fine. He had more important things to worry about. Time to get to work on the ferns.