Bible that sat on his bedside table. He tucked it into a flap pocket, looked around the familiar room, then closed his eyes in prayer for a brief moment.
Several hours later, he was walking out of the long-stay car park at Atlanta airport. He was in good time for his flight to San Diego. By nightfall, he'd be across the border, anonymous in some cheap motel in Tijuana. It wasn't an ambience he'd normally choose, which made it even safer.
Whoever was out to get him, they weren't going to find him there.
Jackie glowered at Alex. "She's not here."
"I know. It's you I wanted to see."
She snorted, arms folded across her chest. Today, she was dressed in leather jeans and a tight black T-shirt. A diamond twinkled in her eyebrow. "Warning me off, eh?"
"What makes you think that's any of my business?" Alex said coolly.
She raised her eyebrows. "You're Scottish, you're male, she belongs to your family."
"That chip on your shoulder's going to leave one hell of a grease stain on your T-shirt. Look, I'm here because I think you and I can do each other a favor."
Jackie tilted her head at an insolent angle. "I don't do boys. Hadn't you worked that one out by now?"
Exasperated, Alex turned to go. He wondered why he'd risked Lynn's anger for this. "I'm wasting my time here. I just thought you might appreciate a suggestion that could get you off the hook with the police."
"Wait a minute. Why are you offering me a way out?"
He paused, one foot on the stairs. "It's not because of your natural charm, Jackie. It's because it also offers me peace of mind."
"Even if you do think I might have killed your brother-in-law."
Alex grunted. "Believe me, I'd sleep a lot easier in my bed at night if I believed that."
Jackie bristled. "Because then the dyke would have got what she deserved?"
Irritated, Alex snapped, "Could you put your prejudices away for five minutes? The only reason I'd be glad if you'd killed Mondo is that it would mean I was safe."
Jackie tilted her head to one side, intrigued in spite of herself. "That's a very strange thing to say."
"You want to talk about it on the landing?"
She gestured to the door and stepped back. "You'd better come in. What do you mean, 'safe'?" she asked as he walked to the nearest chair and sat down.
"I've got a theory about Mondo's death. I don't know if you know, but another friend of mine was killed in suspicious circumstances a few weeks ago."
Jackie nodded. "He'd mentioned it. This was someone you and David were at university with, right?"
"We grew up together. Four of us. We were best friends at school and we all went on to university together. One night, coming home drunk from a party, we stumbled over a young woman?
"I know about that, too," Jackie interrupted.
Alex was surprised at how relieved he felt at not having to go over all the details of the aftermath of Rosie's murder. "Right. So you know the background. Now, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think the reason Mondo and Ziggy are dead is that someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. That's the girl that died," he added.
"Why?" In spite of herself, Jackie was all attention now, head forward, elbows on her knees. The whiff of a good story was powerful enough to put her hostility on hold.
"It sounds so insignificant," Alex said, then told her about the wreaths. "Her full name was Rosemary," he finished off.
She raised her eyebrows. "That's creepy shit," she said. "I've never come across a wreath like that. It's hard to interpret it except as a reference to this woman. I can see why it would do your head in."
"The police couldn't. They acted like I was a little old lady afraid of the dark."
Jackie made a scornful noise in the back of her throat. "Well, we both know how smart the police are. So what is it you think I can do?"
Alex looked embarrassed. "Lynn had this notion that, if we could find out who really killed Rosie all those years ago, then whoever is taking it out on us will see they have to stop. Before it's too late for the two of us that are left."
"It makes sense. Can't you persuade the police to reopen the case? With the techniques they have nowadays?
"It's already been reopened. Fife Police are doing a review of cold cases, and this is one of