Jan was thirty feet ahead of her, head down as he walked the busy streets, intent on getting home. Occasionally he would cast a quick look over his shoulder, but Kassie kept low, ensuring there was a sufficient knot of shoppers in front of her to mask her pursuit. On the odd occasion when the crowds dispersed and she suddenly became more visible, she kept a beady eye open for doorways that she could dive into if necessary. She wondered if the police officers following her were doing the same thing? Probably, though there was little point – their tailing of her was as clumsy as it was obvious.
Jan turned the corner, arrowing right down West Huron Street. Kassie kept her pace steady, telling herself not to run, casually sauntering around the corner in pursuit of him. This street was also packed, but to Kassie’s alarm Jan was nowhere to be seen. She scanned the sidewalk in front of her, but she could see no sign of his distinctive green hoodie. Where had he gone?
Searching the streetscape frantically, she suddenly spotted him. He had crossed to the other side of the street and was making good progress down the block. Hopping off the sidewalk, Kassie hurried across the road towards him.
A horn screamed, as a car came to an abrupt halt beside her. But she didn’t linger, nervously shooting a glance at Jan, fearing the horn may have attracted his attention. Thankfully he appeared not to have noticed, so Kassie kept on going, ignoring the volley of abuse from the startled driver.
She was now in serious danger of losing him. He was fifty, maybe even sixty yards ahead and there was a host of bodies between them. He kept dropping in and out of sight, so Kassie increased her pace, drawing the ire of shoppers as she barged past them. As she did so, she became aware of something else. The car horn – or a car horn, at least – was still blaring. Putting it out of her mind, she carried on – but the sound seemed to be getting louder. Kassie’s eyes were set dead ahead, but now she became aware that a car was keeping pace with her.
‘Kassie!’
She was astonished to hear her name. She was even more surprised to see that it was Adam Brandt driving the car.
‘I can’t talk now, Adam.’
‘Get in the car, Kassie.’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’
She could still glimpse Jan up ahead, but he was nearly at the next intersection. It was vital that she didn’t lose sight of him.
‘I need to talk to you, Kassie. And it has to be now.’
Still the car kept pace with her. Adam had one eye on the street and one eye fixed on her. He looked wired, even a little unstable.
‘How did you even find me?’ she replied, keeping her pace steady.
‘Found your laptop. Used “Find my iPhone”,’ he replied, utterly unrepentant about rifling through her possessions.
‘Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,’ she mumbled, then broke into a run, dodging shoppers in her desperation to keep up with Jan.
Adam now sped up, roaring away from the kerb and for a brief, wonderful moment, Kassie thought she had got rid of him. But to her horror his Lexus now pulled over twenty yards ahead of her. Ignoring the fact that his car was in a tow zone, Adam leaped out and hurried towards her. Kassie tried to dodge him, but he reacted quickly, blocking her way.
‘Please, Adam,’ she begged, suddenly tearful. ‘I can’t stop –’
‘I don’t care.’
‘It’s a matter of life and death.’
‘You’ll stay and you’ll talk to me.’
His tone was so fierce, his gaze so intense, that Kassie suddenly felt a little scared. She tried to brush past him, but he gripped her right shoulder, pushing her hard against the wall. Passing shoppers looked intrigued, even a little concerned, but they gave the pair a wide berth, leaving Kassie trapped.
‘What did you say to Faith?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘During your conversations together, what did you talk about?’
‘Please, Adam,’ Kassie whimpered. ‘Why is this relevant?’
‘Tell me.’
Kassie slumped against the wall, angry and upset.
‘We talked … about Annabelle. About what happened at the hospital. About everything that has happened since …’
‘What else?’ Adam barked.
‘I don’t know … we talked about the murders. About you. About my mom …’
‘Did Faith talk about herself?’
‘Of course.’
‘What did you say to her?’
‘I tried to comfort her.’
‘Did you talk to her the night before she died?’
Kassie hesitated. Now she knew exactly why Adam was asking these questions. This was a conversation she hoped she’d never have to have.
‘Yes, I did,’ she replied, quietly. ‘We couldn’t sleep, so she asked if she could sketch me.’
‘And?’
‘She drew, we talked.’
‘What about?’
‘About babies, families, how she was dreading Annabelle’s funeral –’
‘Did you talk about the future?’
‘Yeah, I guess –’
‘Her future?’
‘Yes …’
Her words were barely audible. She knew where this was leading and she wanted it to stop.
‘What did she ask you?’
Kassie dropped her eyes to the floor.
‘What did she ask you?’ he demanded, louder.
‘She asked me … if she was going to have kids one day, a baby …’
‘And what did you tell her?’
‘Please don’t do this, Adam.’
‘What did you tell her?’ Adam repeated grimly, tightening his grip on her jacket.
‘I didn’t want to answer her, but she kept on and on at me. She told me she had to know.’
‘And?’
‘And … I told her she wouldn’t.’
‘Fuck!’
The word erupted from him, flecks of spittle landing on Kassie’s face. He released his grip and turned away in anguish, clawing at the air in his exasperation and fury. A woman passing close by paused, as if debating whether to intervene, but her husband hurried her on, casting wary looks at them. As he did so, Adam rounded on Kassie once more.
‘Why? Why would you say something like that?’
‘I didn’t want to, but she begged me.’
‘But how could you know that? How could you possibly know?’
Adam’s eyes were boring into hers, challenging her to respond.
‘You know how I know,’ Kassie responded, bleakly.
Adam stared at her, as if his worst fears had been confirmed.
‘Did Faith understand what you meant?’
‘Not at first. But she could see I was getting upset, which unnerved her. She wanted to know why I was so sure, so certain.’
‘Did she … did she ask you directly if you knew when she would die?’
A sob seemed to escape Kassie, then:
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘And I refused to answer her … but it was too late by then. She saw it on my face.’
‘Saw what?’
‘She realized why I never looked her in the eye, why I avoided talking about the future, why I didn’t want to answer her questions.’
‘What happened?’ Adam demanded angrily.
‘I tried to leave the studio, told her I didn’t want to talk any more, but she grabbed me, told me she had to know if her death was imminent.’
‘And?’ Adam asked, desperately.
‘And …’ Kassie could barely say the words, but she knew she had to. ‘… I told her the truth … that her time was nearly up.’
Adam slammed his hand against the wall behind her head, making Kassie jump. She backed away, but he was no longer looking at her. She could see his mind was elsewhere, turning frantically, as certain pieces of the puzzle finally slotted into place.
‘We argued,’ he breathed, angrily. ‘That last morning we argued. She was upset, hostile, because of what you’d just told her …’
Kassie could barely look at him.
‘Jesus Christ, is that … is that why you were so keen that I should go home? When we were out playing detectives at Lake Calumet, you were trying to get me to go home. Because you knew what she was going to do.’
‘It wasn’t going to happen until the next day. I thought that we … you would be back in time, that maybe you could do something to help her. I didn’t know we would get arrested, questioned. If they had let you out even an hour earlier …’
Adam let out a sound, a nasty inhuman sound that was half scream, half roar.
‘I should have turned you away,’ Kassie continued quickly, ‘made you go home. I had the opportunity to do so and I didn’t. Because I’m selfish. Because I wanted to save Madelaine, save myself …’
‘You looked her in the eye,’ Adam insisted, seeming not to hear her. ‘You looked a vulnerable, grieving woman in the eye and you told her …’
For a moment, he seemed as though he wouldn’t have the strength to finish the sentence, but then:
‘… that she was going to die.’
‘I didn’t know what else to do,’ Kassie pleaded. ‘She would have known if I’d lied to her.’
‘You made her do it. By telling her that, you made her kill herself –’
‘No, Adam, that’s not how it works.’
‘You pushed her over the edge.’
‘No, no. I don’t have any power, any influence over events. Things happen for a reason –’
Adam raised his hand and for a moment Kassie thought he was going to strike her. But instead he jabbed a finger at her.
‘Don’t you say that. Don’t you dare say that …’
But even as he gestured at her, the violence was ebbing from him. He looked washed out, hollow.
‘Why could you not …’ His voice was reedy and broken now. ‘Why could you not just have lied?’
Kassie hesitated, before responding. She didn’t want to say it, but she had to.
‘Because … the result would have been the same.’
A handful of simple words, which had a devastating effect. Adam’s gaze was still fixed to hers, but his expression was changing fast, as if a terrible realization was taking hold.
‘Please believe me, Adam, I never wanted for any of this to happen.’
But he was backing away from her now, looking horrified and bewildered. He crashed against passers-by as he stumbled back to his car and instinctively Kassie wanted to reach out and help him. But there was no chance of that. She had lost him.
Just as she had now lost Jan.