“What does she say to her?”
“I can’t make it out, but she speaks English. I think she replaces you.”
“What does the friend look like, does she say?”
“She says she doesn’t know. She says she lives in her ear.”
“What?” Julia shifted upward in bed. “That means she hears her.”
“I know, she’s imaginary. Isn’t that the definition?”
Julia swallowed hard, wondering. She flashed on the scream she’d heard in the garden. “What does it say to her?”
“I don’t know. We can’t know. Not all questions have answers, Julia.”
Tell me about it.
“So how is it going? How’s Courtney?”
“As well as can be expected.” Julia didn’t know how much she wanted to tell him.
“What are you up to?”
“You know, the usual. Some old friends of Kay’s came over, and it was touching to see them, friends for decades. We got the house in order, things like that.”
“How are you doing?” Gianluca asked, his voice gentler. “You don’t sound so good.”
“I’m okay but I’m not sleeping that great. I’m totally jet-lagged, and it’s horrifying what she’s going through. There was a bloodstain on the rug, and I think it’s bringing back a lot of Mike’s murder.”
“I understand that,cara. It’s PTSD. It’s to be expected. Take care of yourself.”
“I’m okay though.” Julia felt guilty telling him only half the truth.
“Do the police have any suspects?”
“Not officially, but we found out there was a friend of Kay’s who’d been stalking her.” Julia chose her words carefully. “Courtney’s worried that he might have been the one who killed her.”
“Oh no. Why don’t they arrest him?”
“Well, they just found out about it,” Julia answered, without telling him how they’d found out about it.
“So you’re not having any visions?”
Uh-oh.“I’m having some weird dreams, but not visions.”
“What weird dreams? Wait, hold on.” Gianluca fell quiet a moment. “I think she’s awake, I hear her, she’s calling to me.”
“Should I speak with her?”
“No, it will just wake her up and I’m trying to get her down. I’m going in early tomorrow because it’s a short day.”
“Okay.”
“I have an idea. I’ll call you on FaceTime when I take her to the pediatrician. It will be late morning, your time. Can you take the call?”
“Of course. The funeral is tomorrow but it should be over by then.”
“When are you coming home?”
