by luxuries in life. Bora Bora, I supposed, could never be matched, considering it had been thus far the highlight of my life, marrying Janie there.
“So,” I began, “tell me where she is.”
“She’s gone,” Elodie answered, her eyes fixed on mine.
“What? What the fuck! I thought you knew exactly where she was!”
“Oh, I do. Don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere.”
This was crazy. One minute Kristin was “gone” and now she wasn’t “going anywhere.”
“What exactly do you mean? Elodie, I need to see her.”
“You can’t.”
“Then why the hell did you bring me out here?”
“I didn’t bring you out here, you brought yourself.”
I was beginning to think something was getting lost in translation, after all. “Look, Elodie, I really need to talk to the woman. She’s dangerous, as you know. I don’t want to lose tabs on her. I need to get to the bottom of what she did and make sure she won’t . . . look, she’s a loose cannon, she—”
“She’s dead, Daniel. And disappeared. Like, ‘evaporated’ disappeared. Melted, if you like, like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. She doesn’t exist anymore.”
I remembered Alexandre’s words, “You’ll find Elodie has dealt with that.” I hadn’t paid any attention to their significance. I’d seen movies where they used acids to “melt” bodies. Hell, I’d even seen that on TV—Breaking Bad, for instance—but the idea of it actually happening to someone I knew, however monstrous they’d been, and the thought of someone as innocent looking as Elodie having anything to do with it . . .
“You had her killed?” I asked, incredulous. I’d had fantasies of getting rid of Kristin, but now that Elodie was being so cold blooded . . .
The corner of Elodie’s lip lifted as if of its own accord. “She won’t be bothering anyone again. You know what? She’d volunteered at the hospital here in Bermuda. Can you believe it? ‘Helping out,’ playing nursie. She was up to her old tricks again. Bad enough, but you know what really made me move my ass down here and do something about her, once and for all?”
I shook my head. My imagination had already been stretched as far as I thought possible.
“She took in a stray cat. Fed him with treats, lured him into trusting her with saucers of milk. And the next thing you know? The bitch had put electrodes on his head for her sick little experiments. I’ve got her on film. My spyware caught all sorts of shit. People like that, Daniel, simply don’t deserve to live.”
I was speechless. I thought of Janie. And of my own narrow escape. And all Kristin’s patients over the years, including her very own sister. But now I’d never find out. Never have the chance to know for sure. All I could come up with was, “Where’s the cat now?”
Elodie smiled. A real smile that showed her teeth and made dimples in her cheeks. It was the first time I’d seen her look genuinely happy. “I’m taking him back home with me. I’ve named him Luckster.”
31
Janie.
I COULD GO into details about the next six months, but I won’t. People don’t really want to know about the nitty-gritty details of what it’s like to be a cancer patient. They pretend they do, nod their heads in sympathy, but are too embarrassed to ask questions and really talk about it, or they give you that look, which is even worse. As I said, pity was the last thing I needed—or wanted.
I lost the baby. Nobody would confirm whether or not it had anything to do with the chemo. I also lost my hair and looked uncannily like Natalie Portman in V Is For Vendetta, because I shaved my head completely, joking that I should audition for a part in a Sci-fi movie or join Star as her lesbian boxer sister.
The Dark Edge of Love was postponed indefinitely. I begged Daniel to “rehearse” with me—I’d learned all my lines—but he always refused. Thought me too fragile. I wanted to be strong and fearless, but my body was pale as mottled marble, and weak.
Daniel had bought us a house, not far from Star and Jake’s, overlooking the ocean in Malibu. I watched surfers from my bedroom window, my bruised legs and arms wishing they could ride with the waves like the limbs of those I lived through vicariously every day. My attention span got shorter and shorter, and simple things like reading a book became a huge chore. Daniel would