into another dimension. The lobby was the transition point between the real world outside and the lost world within.
Pinkie was gone, and a young man was on night duty.
“Have a nice night, sir,” he said.
“Thanks,” Charlie said, and walked outside.
His Jeep was one of only two in visitors parking.
Part of him was afraid to leave, and the other part of him wanted to get in the car and drive away so fast that he outran the nightmare behind him. Instead, he drove straight home, and once inside his apartment, he took a deep breath, tossed his things onto the sofa and then headed for the shower.
It wasn’t until he was getting into bed that he stopped long enough to check messages.
There was one from Baxter and Macie. Good news. Tony was holding his own.
His eyes blurred with tears.
Annie was holding her own, too, but she was on her way out of a life, and the kid was just getting started. God willing, the kid got the chance to live it.
He checked to see if there were any from Wyrick, but there were none. Then he remembered he was the one who was supposed to let her know if he would be available for another case, so he pulled up her number.
No new clients.
He hit Send, and then put his phone on the charger and turned out the lights.
* * *
Wyrick was just getting out of the shower when she heard her phone signal a text. Thinking it might be Charlie, she wrapped a towel around her to catch the drips and went to see who it was from.
To her surprise, it was from Merlin.
I need to talk to you. Do you have time this morning? It won’t take long. I unlocked the door at the top of your stairs. Come up if you can.
Wyrick frowned. This was very unlike Merlin. He was not a social person, but she certainly wasn’t going to ignore the request. She ran back to dry off, then put on sweats and tennis shoes. The stairs leading from her basement apartment to the kitchen above had two doors. One at the bottom of the stairs. One at the top. She unlocked the one from her side and ran up the stairs. Knocked once and then walked into his kitchen.
Merlin was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hands, holding it as if to warm his fingers, and a half-eaten sweet roll on a napkin that he’d pushed aside. His long white hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, and he’d shaved off his beard, which exacerbated the thinness of his long face even more, but his smile was one of delight when she walked in.
“Good morning, Jade. Seeing your dear face is a wonderful way to begin my day. Coffee and rolls are on the counter. Please help yourself.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He shook his head, then pointed. “Coffee first.”
She poured herself a cup, added cream because it was there and got an apricot Danish, then sat down.
“You shaved off your beard,” she said, and then took a bite of her Danish.
He nodded.
“My hair is next,” he said.
She frowned. “Why?”
“Maybe I like your look,” he said.
The cryptic comment hit like a fist to the gut. “You’re sick, aren’t you? What’s wrong? How can I help?”
“You can’t help, dear. No one can. It’s end-stage liver cancer. I don’t have long, and there are things I need to confirm before I’m too ill to focus.”
She reached for his hand. “Oh, Merlin. I’m so sorry. I know people in the medical field. I might be able to get you into some kind of trial on a new cancer drug.”
He shook his head. “No, no, I’m past that. I’m not upset. I’ve lived a good long life. I won’t begrudge this fate.”
“Do you need me to move? I mean... I can understand not wanting a renter at this point.”
“On the contrary. I wanted to tell you that I’ve named you my sole heir.”
Wyrick’s vision suddenly blurred. She’d never belonged to anyone, and would never have thought she mattered enough to anyone else for something like this to happen.
“Oh, Merlin! I don’t know what to say other than I am so touched.”
He smiled and patted her hand. “It doesn’t matter to me what you do with this old barn once I’m gone, but I would like to finish out my days here. I’ve hired around-the-clock nursing for when the time comes, and if it’s