“What does it mean?” Jeannie asked. “I mean, in practical terms? Was he here, or wasn’t he?”
“I told you, I haven’t had the chance to do anything like the amount of research I’d need to give an answer I felt sure of. But if I was forced to guess, I’d say . . . both.”
Jeannie shook her head, as if to clear it. “I don’t understand.”
Ralph was thinking about the locked doors and the burglar alarm that hadn’t gone off. “Are you saying this guy was a . . .” Ghost was the word that first came to mind, but it wasn’t the right one.
“I’m not saying anything,” Holly said, and Ralph thought, No, you’re not. Because you want me to say it.
“That he was a projection? Or an avatar, like in the video games our son plays?”
“Interesting idea,” Holly said. Her eyes were sparkling. Ralph had an idea （sort of an infuriating one） that she might be holding back a smile.
“There’s residue, but the chair didn’t leave marks in the carpet,” Jeannie said. “If he was here in any physical sense, he was . . . light. Maybe no heavier than a feather pillow. And you say doing this . . . this projection . . . exhausts him?”
“It seems logical—to me, at least,” Holly said. “The one thing we can be sure of is that something was here when you came downstairs yesterday morning. Would you agree with that, Detective Anderson?”
“Yes. And if you don’t start calling me Ralph, Holly, I’ll have to arrest you.”
“How did I get back upstairs?” Jeannie asked. “Did he . . . please tell me he didn’t carry me after I passed out.”
“I doubt it,” Holly said.
Ralph said, “Maybe some sort of . . . just guessing here . . . hypnotic suggestion?”
“I don’t know. There’s a great deal we may never know. I’d like a quick shower, if that’s all right?”
“Of course,” Jeannie said. “I’ll scramble us some eggs.” Then, as Holly started out: “Oh my God.”
Holly turned back.
“The stove light. It was on. The one over the burners. There’s a button.” When looking at the pictures, Jeannie had seemed excited. Now she only looked scared. “You need to push it to turn the light on. There was enough of him here to do that, at least.”
Holly said nothing to this. Neither did Ralph.
5
After breakfast, Holly returned to the guest room, supposedly to pack her things. Ralph suspected she was actually giving him time and privacy to say goodbye to his wife. She had her odd quirks, did Holly Gibney, but stupid she was not.
“Ramage and Yates will be keeping a close eye out,” he told Jeannie. “They both took personal days.”
“They did that for you?”
“And I think for Terry. They feel almost as badly as I do about how that went down.”
“Have you got your gun?”
“In my carry-on for now. Once we land, I’ll have it holstered on my belt. And Alec will have his. I want you to get yours out of the gun safe. Keep it close.”
“Do you really think—”
“I don’t know what to think, I’m with Holly on that. Just keep it close. And don’t shoot the mailman.”
“Listen, maybe I should come.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He didn’t want them in the same place today, but didn’t want to say why and worry her even more. They had a son to think about, one who was currently playing baseball or shooting arrows at targets backed with bales of hay or making beaded belts. Derek, who wasn’t much older than Frank Peterson had been. Derek, who simply assumed, as most kids did, that his parents were immortal.
“You could be right,” she said. “Somebody ought to be here if D calls, don’t you think?”
He nodded and kissed her. “That’s just what I was thinking.”
“Be careful.” She was looking up at him, eyes wide, and he had a sudden piercing memory of those eyes looking up at him in that same loving, hopeful, anxious way. That had been at their wedding, as they stood before their friends and relatives, swapping vows.
“I will. I always am.”
He started to pull away from her. She pulled him back. Her grip on his forearms was strong.
“Yes, but this isn’t like any other case you’ve ever worked. We both know that now. If you can get him, get him. If you can’t . . . if you run into something you can’t handle . . . back off. Back off and come home to me, do you understand?”