Who is he? Where is he?"
"He's a doctor, we know that, and he must be German." De Vries studied the younger Latham brother as she slowly raised and lowered her bandaged right hand following the doctor's instructions.
"For God's sake, Drew, let it out."
"What?" asked Latham sharply, standing beside her and taking his eyes off her wounded hand.
"You're trying to make believe it didn't happen, and that doesn't make sense. You grieve for Harry as I do undoubtedly more so-but you're holding it inside, and it's shattering you. Stop pretending to be so coldly effi-cent. That was Harry, not you."
"When I saw what they did to him, I told myself that mourning would come later. It's on hold and that's the way it's going to stay."
"I understand."
"Do you?"
"I think so. Your rage can't be contained. You want revenge, and that comes first."
"You used a phrase about Harry before, about the way he approached problems, or crises. You called it sangfroid, which I understand means calmly or dispassionately
"It does."
"My French is limited, a fact I'm reminded of a lot, but there's a variation of that phrase-"
"De sang-fro id-in cold blood," said Karin, her eyes locked with his.
"Exactly. That's what Harry was really good at. He approached everything in life, not just calmly or coolly, but coldly-ice cold. I was the only exception; when he looked at me there was a warmth in those looks I rarely saw otherwise.. .. No, there was one other, our cousin, the one I told you about who died of cancer. She was also special to him, very special. Speaking in the gender sense, could be she was his "Rosebud' until you came along."
"You refer to Welles's Citizen Kane, o course."
"Sure, it's part of our lexicon now. A symbol from the past that has more meaning for the present than a person realizes."
"I had no idea he had such feelings toward me."
"Neither did Kane. In his mind's eye he just saw a thing he loved as a child, and he never found anything else to take its place. That left only his accomplishments."
"Harry was like that as a child?"
"Child, young man', and man. A straights student with an IQ that was off the charts. Bachelor's degree, master's, and Ph.D. before he was twenty-three. He was always driven to be the best there was, and along the way he became fluent in five, or is it six, languages. As I mentioned, he was a piece of work."
"What an extraordinary life."
"Hell, I suppose the Freudians would say he was a gifted kid reacting to a distant father-distant geographically as well as emotionally-and a sweet, intuitively bright but nonintellectual mother who was maritally mismatched and decided that being attractive, loving, and gracious was her role in life, so why get into debates she couldn't win,"
"And you?"
"I guess I inherited a few more of my mother's genes than Harry did. Beth's a large woman and was a damn good athlete when she was young. She captained the girls' track team in college, and if she hadn't met my father, she might have tried out for the Olympics."
"You have a very interesting family," said Karin, once again studying Drew's face, "and you're telling me all this for another reason beyond my curiosity, aren't you?"
"You're quick, lady-sorry, I'll try to stop saying that."
"Don't bother, I'm beginning to find it rather nice.. What's the reason?"
"I want you to know me, where I am and where I came from. At least part of your curiosity should be satisfied."
"Considering your penchant for reticence, that's an odd thing to say."
"I realize that. I'm only just putting it together.. .. Back at the inn, when the firing stopped and the horrible thing was over, I found myself in a panic, rummaging through Harry's pockets, inches from what was left of his skull, his destroyed face, every second hating myself, as though I were committing some despicable act. The strange thing was, I didn't know why, I just knew I had to do it. I was being ordered to and I had -to obey that order despite the fact that I knew it wouldn't make any difference, wouldn't bring him back."
"You were protecting your brother in death as you would in life," said De Vries.
"There's nothing strange in that. You were shielding his name-"
"I think I told myself that," Latham interrupted, "but it doesn't hold water. With today's pathology, his identity would be known in a matter of hours .. . unless his body were taken, quarantined."
"After you got