Page 54

And then he walked across the room behind the server to a table in the far corner and sat down.

Her grandfather.

Her wonderfully alive and healthy grandfather, the man who had died more than eight years before.

Izzy Out of Sorts

When Izzy awoke the following morning, at around the same time that Cassie and Drummond were leaving the library and traveling to Cassie’s past, she felt immediately sure that something was wrong.

She clambered out of bed and stood in the middle of her bedroom, trying to place the source of her anxiety. It felt like the memory of a nightmare lingering, a sleep terror not yet shaken off. But she couldn’t remember having had any dreams.

She had a shower, hoping it would wash off her malaise, but when she was done, she didn’t feel any better. Had she been drinking the night before? She tried to remember, but the previous evening seemed elusive. She began to wonder if she had been drugged. Maybe she couldn’t remember because someone had slipped something into a drink? Maybe the oddness she was feeling was some sort of aftereffect?

She got dressed for work, carefully checking herself as she did so without admitting to herself that she was looking for bruises or abrasions or other signs that something had happened to her. As far as she could see, as far as shefelt,she was physically fine. Whatever was wrong, it was something more intangible.

As she headed out to work, she noticed that Cassie’s bedroom door was ajar.

“Cassie?” she said, peeking her head around the door. The bed wastidy, like it hadn’t been slept in. Cassie wasn’t in the living area either. Izzy frowned at another anomaly. She couldn’t remember Cassie ever not being at home overnight. It worried her.

She tried calling Cassie but got no answer, and for the first time she wondered if she was feeling strange because something had happened to Cassie. Maybe somebody had attacked or kidnapped her? Maybe Izzy’s odd feeling was because she had heard it in her sleep?

She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know if she was being hysterical, or if something was genuinely wrong. She wondered if she should call the police, and then she wondered what she could possibly tell them.

“I feel funny and I can’t get hold of my roommate,” she said to herself, and then pulled a face. They would look at her like she was stupid. They would joke about her being an emotional woman.

She called Cassie for a second time, and left a voice message: “Cassie, can you call me, please? I am worried and can’t get hold of you.”

As soon as she hung up there was a knock at the door, a jauntytap-tap-tap-tap. She opened the door and saw two men there, an odd couple if she ever saw one. The man closest to her was Asian, short and compact, with high cheekbones and neat hair. He was handsome, Izzy noted. Behind him stood a giant, a man well over six feet tall and broad across the chest like some sort of cartoon superhero. He was white, with a frizz of curly brown hair on his head and a placid, watchful gaze. Both men were dressed in dark suits and raincoats, but the giant’s tie was loose, his suit disheveled.

“Ms. Cattaneo?” the Asian man asked, with a smile.

“That’s right,” Izzy said.

“Do you mind if we come in for a minute and speak to you?”

They were police, Izzy realized.

“Is this about Cassie?” she asked.

The Asian man glanced over his shoulder at the giant and then looked back at her. “I’m afraid so,” he said, with a pained expression.

“Oh god,” Izzy murmured, hands going up to her hair. “What’s happened? Is she all right? Don’t tell me she’s dead... I couldn’t...”

The man raised a hand to try to calm her. “Better if we...” he started, nodding behind Izzy into the apartment.

“Oh god,” Izzy said again, turning around and walking back inside. The two men followed her into the living area. The space felt crowded with the three of them, particularly with the giant standing just in front of the door, hands in his pockets.

“Ms. Cattaneo,” the Asian man said. “My name is Azaki. The walking wall behind you is Lund. He doesn’t say much.”

“I don’t care what your names are,” Izzy said. “What happened to Cassie?”

“Can we ask you a couple of quick questions first?” Azaki asked.

Izzy was conscious of shadows moving and she realized the big man was walking away from the door. He squeezed between her and Azaki and went over to the window to peer out at the day.

“What questions?” Izzy asked impatiently.

“When did you last see Cassie? Had she reported any new friends or strange encounters recently?”