“You want to know what the ex said on that last phone call. The one that sent me back to the hospital.”
“Sure I do,” he answered, smiling, and laying a hand gently across one of hers. “But only when you’re ready to tell me. I can wait. You’re safe now. There’s no hurry.”
She smiled up at him and then leaned toward him. He bent down and planted a soft kiss on her lips and then stood up again. She moved back to her normal sitting stance, turned her head, and looked off in the opposite direction. Gazing out of the open French doors of the old hotel and toward the Brown River.
“He said, ‘Hullo, darling. It’s been a long time. I hope you are well.’ And that was it. That’s all he said before he hung up. But I swear to you, Turner. On a stack of bibles. The voice was his. It sounded exactly li
