Page 66

“Three. Maybe four times. But never when I was with my wife. Only when we were separated.”

“How noble,” Gretchen said.

“I know how it sounds,” he said defensively. “But I cared deeply for Sylvia. We could have made it work. I would have left my wife years ago if I thought for a moment she would have me—or even give things a try between us—but she was more concerned about her reputation as a doula.”

“Her income depended on her reputation,” Josie pointed out.

“Yes, yes, but I would have provided for her,” Holmes said sounding weary, as if he had had this very argument with Sylvia many times in the past.

Just like Louis Fisher had said, Sylvia had been burned too badly to trust another man, especially one like Holmes. Separated or not, he’d been fixated on a woman outside his marriage for years. He’d wanted to be with Sylvia on his terms despite the potential damage to her professional reputation. On top of all that, he’d never actively chosen her, instead wanting her to act as his safety net when his marriage was on the rocks.

“How did you feel when Sylvia rejected your proposals?” Josie asked.

“Devastated, obviously. We could have been very happy together.”

Nearby, a phone rang. The three of them searched out its source. The nurse across from them lowered her tweezers and fished a cell phone from her pocket. Josie recognized it as one of the hospital-issue phones. The patient sighed with relief, throwing her head back against the gurney. Somewhere else in the ER, a series of alarms went off. The movie watcher turned up his volume. The characters were engaged in a heated conversation about bombs. The nurse hurried away, promising to return shortly. As soon as she was gone, the patient reached behind her and lowered the head of the gurney until she was almost flat on her back.

“Did Sylvia ever ask you to stop contacting her?” Gretchen asked, raising her voice to be heard over the movie.

“Yes.”

“When was that?” Josie said.

“About fifteen years ago. Her sons had come into the emergency room. One of them, the younger one, I think, Dean, had hit his head. The older boy brought him in.”

Fifteen years ago, the Last Kiss Killer had murdered his first victim.

Thirty-Eight

“The boys couldn’t reach her,” Holmes continued. “I touched base with her a few days after that to see how things were.”

“At her home?” asked Gretchen.

“Yes. We talked for a long time. It was very different than before. I’m not sure why but when I suggested we go for a drink, she agreed. Later, when I dropped her back home, things got a little heated.”

“In what way?” said Josie.

“I don’t see how this matters.”

“Answer the question,” Gretchen demanded.

“We kissed. That was it though. Sylvia didn’t want to take it any further. It was clear to me that she regretted it.”

Fifteen years ago, Sylvia had rejected his advances after a good night kiss.

Dean had told Josie that the concussion Holmes had treated him for happened after his high school’s homecoming game. In Pennsylvania, those typically took place in either September or October. The Last Kiss Killer had murdered his first victim, Alanna Jarrett, the first week of November—after Sylvia turned Holmes away for what she intended to be the final time.

Two years after that, the Last Kiss Killer tried to murder Sylvia in her home. Josie asked, “Was that the last time you saw Sylvia before she was attacked?”

“What do you want? A list of every time I saw her?”

“We want to know if you went to her house a week before the attack,” Gretchen said. “Thirteen years ago. Two years after she told you she never wanted to see you again.”

“Jesus.” Holmes ran a hand through his thick gray hair. “Fine. Yes, I saw her a week before it happened. I’d recommended her to a young doctor who was having her first child. I thought I’d give her a heads up.”

Josie moved aside to let a tech pushing a patient in a wheelchair go by. “How did that go over?”

Something caught Holmes’s eye. Stepping toward the glass patient, who had just pulled the larger piece of glass from under her collarbone, he said, “Please don’t remove any of the glass yourself. Let the nurses do that. You may need stitches.”