“He probably wasn’t, but it caused difficulties for his wife,” I said.“In these instances, the police start at the home and work outward.”
“But she was innocent, wasn’t she?In which case she had nothing to worry about.”
“They’d already tried to jail her once for a crime she didn’t commit, so I admire your continued faith in the criminal justice system.”
“I have no faith at all in the system.I have faith in you.”
Which was flattering, even allowing for the source.
“Are you engaged in anything interesting right now?”
“A case in The Plains,” I said.
I could almost hear the Rolodex in her brain flipping through cards.
“The missing Norton girl?”
“The dead Theriault boy.”
“Yes, that was odd,” said Sabine.“He must have hated the school a great deal if the wilds were preferable.Of course, there has to be more to it than that.”
“Does there?”
“You wouldn’t be involved otherwise, would you?”
As she picked up her bag and prepared to be on her way, I asked whether anything had changed in her life.
“I’m studying to become a psychotherapist,” she said.“I was always good at listening, but I have to work on my patience.Meeting your two friends just now was good practice.I think I handled them with forbearance.‘The human fortune cookie’: I shall have to remember that.The drowned boy and the Norton girl, are they linked?”
“Only by conjecture.”
“That’s how it starts.You know, I’ve never been to The Plains.”
“Are you offering to help?”
“Are you asking?”
“No.”
“Not to worry,” she said.“I won’t take it amiss.”
Bag in hand, she walked away.
Inside the store, Angel was examining a Fruit Loops-scented candle.Louis had found a brass Chinese ashtray, though he didn’t smoke.
“What did she say?”Angel asked as I joined them.
“That she wasn’t annoyed I didn’t seek her help with the Theriault business.”
“That’s a relief,” said Angel, “given what happens to people who upset her.Do you think she’s nuts?”
“No.”
“Me neither.I can’t decide if that makes her more frightening or less.”
“She’s training to be a psychotherapist.”
“For the living or the dead?”
