Five Scarpetta Novels by Patricia Cornwell

easy.”
    â€œIt is for you.”
    She hesitated. “Well, it is now. But it’s not like you have to hang out with HRT.”
    â€œFor that I am thankful.”
    She paused, then added with a sigh, “You know, at first I was pissed when the Academy decided to send me back to UVA for a month. But it may end up being a relief. I can work in the lab, ride my bike and jog around the campus like a normal person.”
    Lucy was not a normal person, nor would she ever be. I had decided that in many sad ways, individuals with IQs as high as hers are as different from others as are the mentally impaired. She was gazing out the window and the snow was becoming bright. Her hair was rosegold in shy morning light, and I was amazed I could be related to anyone so beautiful.
    â€œIt may be a relief not being around Quantico right now, too.” She paused, her face very serious when she turned back to me. “Aunt Kay, there’s something I need to tell you. I’m not sure you’re really going to want to hear this. Or maybe it would be easier if you didn’t hear it. I would have told you yesterday if Marino hadn’t been here.”
    â€œI’m listening.” I was immediately tense.
    She paused again. “Especially since you may be seeing Wesley today, I think you ought to know. There’s a rumor in the Bureau that he and Connie have split.”
    I did not know what to say.
    â€œObviously, I can’t verify that this is true,” she went on. “But I’ve heard some of what’s being said. And some of it concerns you.”
    â€œWhy would any of it concern me?” I said too quickly.
    â€œCome on.” She met my eyes. “There have been suspicions ever since you started working so many cases with him. Some of the agents think that’s the only reason you agreed to be a consultant. So you could be with him, travel with him, you know.”
    â€œThat’s patently untrue,” I angrily said as I sat up. “I agreed to be the consulting forensic pathologist because the director asked Benton, who asked me, not the other way around. I assist in cases as a service to the FBI and . . .”
    â€œAunt Kay,” she interrupted me. “You don’t have to defend yourself.”
    But I would not be soothed. “That is an absolutely outrageous thing for anyone to say. I have never allowed a friendship with anyone to interfere with my professional integrity.”
    Lucy got quiet, then spoke again. “We’re not talking about a mere friendship.”
    â€œBenton and I are very good friends.”
    â€œYou are more than friends.”
    â€œAt this moment, no, we are not. And it is none of your business.”
    She impatiently got up from my bed. “It’s not right for you to get mad at me.”
    She stared at me but I could not speak, for I was very close to tears.
    â€œAll I’m doing is reporting to you what I’ve heard so you don’t end up hearing it from someone else,” she said.
    Still, I said nothing, and she started to leave.
    I reached for her hand. “I’m not angry with you. Please try to understand. It’s inevitable I’m going to react when I hear something like this. I feel certain you would, too.”
    She pulled away from me. “What makes you think I didn’t react when I heard it?”
    I watched in frustration as she stalked out of my room, and I thought she was the most difficult person I knew. All our lives together we had fought. She never relented until I had suffered as long as she thought I should, when she knew how much I cared. It was so unfair, I told myself as I planted my feet on the floor.
    I ran my fingers through my hair as I contemplated getting up and coping with the day. My spirit felt heavy, shadowed by dreams that were now unclear but I sensed had been strange. It seemed there had been water and people who were cruel, and I had been ineffective