“Yes, but not for sure until he took his cap off.” Julia hadn’t recognized Novak from the photo in the files, either, but his ballcap had covered his hair. She didn’t know if she would ever understand why her gift would show her some things and not others.
“He killed Grandma Kay. He took her life.” Courtney’s eyes welled up, and Paul put his arm around her, but she kept talking, thinking aloud. “I can’t wait to testify against McKenna and the others. They deserve to rot in prison. They have to pay.”
Paul nodded. “They sure do. Bennie will be all over it, we discussed it.”
Courtney straightened. “But some good has to come out of this, I swear. I’m thinking, I have to do something, somehow, to honor Alex and Soroya.”
“What?” Gianluca asked, his tone gentle.
“Well, for Soroya, I know exactly what to do. She asked me a lot of questions about my job because she was going to be out in a year.” Courtney swallowed hard. “She told me that she didn’t know how to act in the business world, and I thought, I can tell her. She mentioned it to two other women who were up for parole, so I told them how to act as a job applicant or when you meet a boss, a customer, or an account.” Courtney’s eyes shone. “Parole is more common than I knew, and these women deserve a second chance. I’m thinking about doing something to help female inmates and parolees enter the workforce. It could be, like, a tribute to Soroya’s memory.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Julia said, touched.
Paul blinked. “So would you quit work?”
“I don’t know if I still have a job anyway.” Courtney shook her head, mystified. “If I do, I don’t care about work the same way I did before, not after this. I don’t want to be a regional manager anymore. Maybe I’ll just go back to sales. I can do well and there’s a lot less travel. I feel like my perspective has changed.”
Paul looked over. “I hope that’s not because of me. I told you, I realized I’ve been such a jerk because I was missing Mike. I was taking it out on you.”
Courtney put an arm around him. “No, it’s not because of you. It’s because of this, it’s because of everything I just went through. I want to live my life better than I have been. I need more meaning, more balance.”
Gianluca smiled. “Courtney, perhaps maybe you turned Italian?”
Courtney chuckled, only briefly. “As for tomorrow, I heard from Alex’s friend Tim that his burial and his service was private, but Shenandoah Preservation arranged a public memorial at the firehouse, tomorrow morning. I’d like to go.”
“We will, too,” Julia said, and Gianluca nodded.
“After, I want to pick up Grandma Kay’s ashes and scatter them over her garden, the way she wanted. Would you guys want to be there, too?”
“Of course,” Julia answered, then flashed on her vision at the funeral home. The shadowy face. The agonizing blow to her chest.
“We’ll be there,” Gianluca answered with a sympathetic smile.
Paul took Courtney’s hand. “You must be exhausted. Let’s call it a day, okay, babe?”
63
So, how are you feeling?” Gianluca asked Julia, his dark gaze soft. They were alone in their room, lying on the bed while Leni slept on the other bed.
“I don’t know,” Julia answered, since it was exactly how she felt.
“You seem upset, and I understand that.” Gianluca met her eye. “Between Alex’s death and the murder of Courtney’s grandmother, you’ve gone through a very difficult time.”
“Compared to Courtney, I haven’t been through anything.”
“There’s no need to compare. You’ve been through a great deal.” Gianluca searched her face. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I don’t feel like myself.”
“It could be the concussion, so you should rest. The doctor said so. We can talk another time.”
“Okay.” Julia wasn’t up to reliving everything right now.
“We have plenty of time to sort it. Two weeks.”
Julia remembered he’d mentioned that. “What’s that about?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, since we’ve been having such difficulty on the phone. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about a lot of things.”
