She was standing halfway down the driveway, in the shadows from the pines, dressed in jeans and a thin fleece and holding a camera. For a moment they were trapped in a silent stare, and then Kimberly Crepeaux, who’d been oblivious, followed his eyes and turned to see Liz. She stepped back quickly.
“What’s she doing here?” she snapped, shooting Barrett an accusatory stare. “She’s a reporter!”
“I didn’t call her,” he said.
“No,” Liz said, stepping toward them and speaking to Barrett. “He certainly didn’t.”
She let that remark hang in the air for a moment before returning her attention to Kimberly.
“I got a call this morning from someone saying that you two were out at the Port Hope wharf together. I said, There is no way.”
“I was going to call you today,” Barrett began, and Liz lifted a hand as if to repel the words.
“I’m sure you were.”
“No, really. I got in last night, near midnight.”
Kimberly was looking from one of them to the other, and Barrett saw some understanding flicker in her eyes.
“It’s my fault,” she said, speaking to Liz. “I kept calling him.”
Liz didn’t even look at her. “What are you doing, Rob? What in the world are you doing?”
“Hearing her out. Will you do the same?” He stared hard at her, trying to remind her with eye contact alone of all that lay between them and across the years. “Liz? Please listen to her. Please do that much.”
For a time there was no sound but the rustle of the pines in the breeze as he and Liz stood there with Kimberly Crepeaux shivering between them.
“She needs dry clothes,” Liz said at last. “She’ll fit in mine. They’ll be baggy, but she’ll fit in them.”
“I’ve even got to hem petite jeans,” Kimberly announced. “Can you believe that?”
Liz stared at her for a few seconds as if trying to comprehend a new species, then looked back at him.
“I’m sure I’m not the only one getting calls. Somebody else is going to check the tip out soon enough.”
“We’ll talk to you. She’ll do that.” Barrett nudged Kimberly. “Right?”
“I guess,” Kimberly said softly. “I guess I’m talking to everybody again. It didn’t do much good last time, though, did it?”
No one answered that.