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Senator Cain swallowed, and suddenly it was as if something broke inside him. He crumpled before their eyes, sagging into his high-backed chair. “Where did you find that?”
“Cheryl hid it in a book.” Dan tilted his head. “You didn’t know of its existence, did you?”
Senator Cain shook his head.
“And you’re not going to deny your feelings for her, are you? Because that would be an insult to her memory.”
Another shake of his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing sharply.
Gary looked around and went over to where two chairs stood against the wall. He drew them closer to the desk, and they sat.
“Lord, I need a drink.” The senator got up, went to the bookcase, grabbed the bottle of whiskey sitting there, and poured a couple of fingers of it into a squat chunky glass. He took a long drink from it, his throat working as he swallowed.
He returned to his chair and sat heavily, placing the glass on the varnished surface. For a moment he said nothing but simply stared at it. Finally he raised his head and gazed at them. “What do you want to know?”
He sounded exhausted.
Gary removed his notepad from his pocket, then sat back, his pen poised. “When did the affair begin?”
Senator Cain rested his head against the back of the chair. “In 1989, shortly after that bastard assaulted her. She came to me.” He sighed. “She was such a mess. And I’m not just talking physically. I got her to calm down and made her tell me the whole story. It wasn’t until later that I learned she’d kept something back.” He paused to take a drink. “Cheryl said her father wanted her to go to the police, but she couldn’t face them. I persuaded her. In fact, I took the two of them to the police precinct. I was determined Reynolds shouldnotget away with it.”
“This was someone you’d known since her birth,” Dan observed.
The senator nodded. “And somehow, the assault brought us closer.” He met Dan’s gaze. “We… we’d always shared a bond. We’d talked about art ever since she was old enough to pick up a pencil. But suddenly she was twenty-five, and I was seeing her in a whole new light.” His face glowed. “I watched her blossom, watched her confidence grow, saw how beautiful she was insideandout…. She blossomed as an artist too, and the more time I spent around her, the more certain I became that she was something special.”
“And you fell in love with her.” Dan’s voice was soft.
Senator Cain nodded. “I encouraged her, supported her, and I loved her with all my heart. What seemed so incredible to me was that she loved me back. She didn’t want her father to know—I was a married man, after all, and she knew he would disapprove—so we did our best to keep it a secret from him. And when we’d been together about four months, she finally broke down and told me the whole story of the assault.”
“What hadn’t she told you?” Gary asked.
The senator’s face tightened. “How Reynolds had worked out she was trans. I saw a solution, but I hesitated to suggest it.” He sighed. “I didn’t want her to think I was trying to fix her—not that she needed fixing, you understand. And because she knew me so well, she saw through me and demanded to know what was wrong. So….” He lifted his chin. “I asked if she’d ever considered breast implants and offered to pay for the surgery.”
Gary remembered the silicone pouches found with her body. “I’m guessing she liked the idea.”
“Liked it? She couldn’t contain her excitement. I told her I’d been reluctant to suggest it because I said I didn’t want her to think I was… building my own girlfriend.”
“How did she react to that?” Dan asked.
Senator Cain’s expression softened. “She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t you think I know the man I love by now? You want to do this because you want me to be happy, because you love me too.’” He stared into his whiskey glass. “What we had…. Yes, it was intensely physical, but it wasmorethan sex. She….” He closed his eyes. “Sheshonewhen we were together.” Pain contorted his face. “When her father came to me with the news she’d been identified as the body in the tunnel, I wept.”
Gary’s heart went out to him. “At least now we know why you pushed the police so hard to find out what had happened to her.”
“I had to do something. I felt so useless.”
“You’d lost someone you loved, and you couldn’t tell a soul about it.” Dan frowned. “But what about your wife? Did she know?”
Gary had a feeling that would explain the hostility Dan had noticed when they first met Mrs. Cain at the house. Maybe that wasn’t so much due to her opinion of Cheryl as a trans woman, but as a love rival.
The light died in the senator’s eyes. “Yes, she knew.”
“And how did she react?” Gary asked.
Senator Cain took a sip of whiskey. “She tolerated it.” He bit his lip. “Maybe this is where I should tell you ours is not a… regular marriage.” He expelled a long breath. “The way I felt about Cheryl? I’dneverfelt like that about Della. And yes, I know that makes me a bad husband, but I couldn’t help it. I had no idea where our love would take us, Cheryl and me. Both of us grabbed every moment we could to be together—and then she was snatched from me.” His voice quavered.
Gary glanced at the framed photos on the senator’s desk. “You said you have children?”
He nodded. “Two, but they’re adopted.” Then he froze at the sound of a knock on the door.
