of the apartment without disturbing Renfield. I knew he was awake—there was nothing that happened in any of Luke’s resting places that he wasn’t completely aware of—but if we spoke to each other, he’d feel obligated to offer me breakfast. Or dinner, whichever he felt was appropriate. Then my stomach would rumble, and I’d feel like I was imposing on him even more than just leaving him dirty linens to wash. So I caught a bus back to Jersey City and stopped into a diner for a quick bite to eat before returning to my apartment to plan the night’s activities.
After a quick shower I dressed in a pair of black pants and black military-style boots I’d grown to appreciate while running around parts of Europe in deep wilderness. I put on a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and opened a drawer by my bed. I pulled a Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver from under a stack of handkerchiefs, slipped it into a shoulder holster. I strapped the gun around myself, tugging the straps tight, and drew a lightweight jacket over the whole assembly. It was a little warm for the jacket, but at least it kept the gun hidden. I picked out a dozen extra bullets for the .38 and put six in each pants pocket. Hopefully I wouldn’t need that many. Hopefully I wouldn’t need any, but I wasn’t much of an optimist where demons were concerned.
Dressed for the night, I had nothing to do but think, so I slipped out of my apartment and walked across the street to the park, where at least I could think and keep watch at the same time. My mind wandered down familiar dark alleys as I sat on a bench staring up at the clouds. Images of Anna, of her younger brother Gerald, of the blond Nazi that murdered her, these were the moving pictures of my memory as I sat and waited for my chance at redemption, my chance to right some of the wrongs of my past. Nothing I did would bring Anna back, but maybe if this girl was some relation, and I could keep her safe, it would erase some of the failure on my soul.
I was startled from my reverie by the bench creaking as someone sat down next to me. I started, turning to the side, and barely refrained from a cry of surprise when I saw the woman from last night looking at me.
“Penny for your thoughts, stranger,” she said with a smile tweaking the corner of her lips upward.
“I’m afraid you’d be overpaying, ma’am,” I said, doffing an imaginary cap. The tendency for men to wear hats everywhere was something I never understood. I didn’t want anything limiting my vision, and more than once I’d needed to see things coming at me from above.
“I doubt that, sir. You looked like a man deep in contemplation.”
“Or wallowing in memories,” I said, letting a little too much truth leak out. She’d really shaken me by just appearing on the bench like that. I must have been deeper in thought than I realized. Couldn’t let that happen often, it could be bad for my health.
“What brings you out on this fine evening?” I asked, glancing down at the bag by her side. I couldn’t see anything in it, but I assumed it held her robe and whatever else she needed for her ritual later that night. I was a little surprised she stopped to talk to me, a strange man on a park bench, after dark. She was truly a fearless young lady.
“I’m meeting some friends over at the bandstand,” she said with a wave of her hand. “What had you so lost in thought? You were really in another world. I was a little afraid you were drunk, or maybe sick.”
“No, I’m fine,” I said, turning to look at her for the first time. The resemblance to Anna was strong, and not just in the eyes. There was a similarity to her nose as well, but the auburn hair was all her own, and she was a little heavier than Anna. Pleasantly curvy, I’d call her. “I was just thinking about someone.”
“Someone you lost?” she asked, and I dropped my gaze.