She stood there, trying to figure out what to do next. Should she wait? If she called the rental office and told them she was worried about him, would they let her in? Tears filled her eyes, and she exhaled in frustration and swiped at them with the back of her hand. The man in the hooded sweatshirt was watching her, and Kate turned away because she didn’t want him to know she was crying. If he asked her what was wrong, she’d probably break down sobbing. Kate decided that if she didn’t hear from Ian by noon, she would call the rental office. And if they let her in and she discovered his things were gone, she had no idea what she’d do.
On the West River Parkway, traffic came to a crawl at Second Street South near the Stone Arch Bridge. It was a little before eight, and at first she attributed the delay to the street conditions and morning rush hour. But as she inched closer, she noticed the people standing in front of a chain-link fence and how the fence was mangled like something had driven right through it. She hadn’t come this way last night, had chosen instead to reach downtown via Hennepin Avenue.
Behind the fence was an embankment, and below that the Mississippi River. Traffic had all but stopped by then, and a few curious motorists, frustrated with the delay, got out of their cars and went to get a closer look. Kate wished she hadn’t taken this route. She wanted to get home. What if Ian was there now?
Kate pounded the steering wheel and threw open her door. She pushed through the crowd, elbowing her way closer to the fence where she hoped to find a policeman who would tell everyone to get back in their cars and clear the way so she could leave.
Bystanders were pointing at something, and Kate craned her neck to get a better view. Her knees buckled when she saw the blue car with white racing stripes, its raised bumper attached to the chain of a tow truck that was parked at the edge of the riverbank.
The voices became a roar in her head as she caught snippets of their conversations:
—“Truck slid on the ice and hit him from behind.”
—“Crashed through the fence and disappeared under the water.”
—“Road conditions were horrible. No reason to be out driving in that.”
—“It must have happened fast, caught him off guard.”
—“Someone said they found him downstream.”
Kate zeroed in on the man who had made the last comment, her heart soaring. He had crashed but someone had found him! He was hurt. That’s why he hadn’t called.
“Where? Where is he now?” Kate screamed, yanking on his sleeve.
“The morgue, probably. Not much they could do for him at that point.”
An anguished cry tore from her throat, and she fled.
The man shouted after her. “Miss? Are you okay?”
There had never been a time in all her years on earth when she’d felt such visceral pain. It was as if the loss was physical, her heart torn in half, beyond repair. The beat itself seemed irregular, and Kate thought she might be going into shock. When she reached her car, she slid behind the wheel and closed the door as sobs wracked her body.
The man was wrong. Someone had found Ian. Taken him to their home and given him a blanket. Warmed him up and called him a cab. He was probably on his way home to her right now. He would walk through the door and say, “Gotcha, Katie Long Legs! Boy, did that suck.”
It’s twenty-two degrees outside, and even colder in the water. If he was okay, he would have called.
The crowd had dissipated and traffic was moving freely by the time she felt capable of driving. Numb, Kate put the car in gear and shivered uncontrollably all the way home. When she entered her apartment, she looked around expectantly, praying desperately that she’d find Ian on the couch with his laptop and a cup of coffee.
Silence greeted her.
She sat on the couch, rocking back and forth, running her hands up and down her arms because she couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t get warm. She turned on the TV. Channel 5 was covering the story, and just before nine the newscaster announced that a body had been recovered and the victim identified as thirty-two-year-old Ian Merrick.
His last name is Bradshaw. It’s not him!