Guilt Read Free Page A

Annie’s water into it. When he offered it, the woman shied away like a nervous horse.
    â€œThis is Dr. Peter Zak,” Annie said. “He’s my friend. Peter, this is Jackie Klevinski. I know her from Slim Freddie’s.”
    Slim Freddie’s was the dojo where Annie taught self-defense. This was probably one of her students.
    Jackie took the water from Peter and held it in a trembling hand. She sipped and set the cup down. Her face was chalky, her breathing shallow. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her pupils were dilated. Shock. Her pulse would be going a mile a minute. Peter grabbed a chair and put her feet up on the seat.
    â€œAre you hurt?” Annie asked. “Your arm?”
    â€œI’ll call an ambulance,” Peter said, and started to get out his cell phone.
    â€œNo,” Jackie said, the words coming out like a small explosion. Others in the café turned to stare. “No,” Jackie repeated, more quietly this time, tucking a strand of hair into her head scarf. “I’ll be all right.”
    She pushed up her sleeve and examined a skinned elbow. The inside of her arm was scarred. Looked like she’d been an addict, though the tracks weren’t recent. The scars didn’t seem to surprise Annie, nor did Jackie’s reluctance to go to the ER.
    Annie wadded up a napkin and poured some water on it. She dabbed at the scrape, then pressed Jackie’s hand over it to keep it in place.
    â€œAnd your leg?” Annie asked.
    â€œMy leg?” Jackie looked down, as if seeing the torn pant leg and blood for the first time.
    Annie pushed back her chair, leaned forward, and pushed up Jackie’s pants. There was a nasty-looking scrape on her knee.
    â€œWhere were you?” Annie asked.
    â€œI was”—Jackie took a few seconds to finish the thought—“at Harvard. At the law school talking to Mary Alice.”
    Annie seemed to know who Mary Alice was. “What happened?”
    Jackie’s mouth stretched open, her face twisted in anguish. “B … bomb,” she said, hiccupping out the word. “On the steps—” Her shoulders shook as she wept uncontrollably.
    In halting sentences, she explained that she’d taken an hour off from her job at the admissions office to meet with the legal aid intern who was helping her file a restraining order against her husband. She’d left her and started for the Square, then turned back, thinking she heard Mary Alice calling. She saw her standing on the steps of the building holding something.
    Annie turned still, her hands fisted.
    â€œShe was standing there”—Jackie’s voice broke—“and then there was this flash.” She made a little choking sound and put her hand over her mouth.
    Annie gasped as the news socked her in the gut. “Mary Alice?” She put her fingers to her lips. “How could that be? I saw her just yesterday. She came by the office … she came to go over some paperwork … your paperwork with Chip. This was going to be her first real case.”
    Jackie blinked. “I didn’t know that. Seemed like she knew just what she was doing.”
    â€œYou must have been knocked down by the blast,” Peter said.
    Again Jackie seemed surprised. “I guess so. There were people lying on the steps bleeding. Car windows shattered. There was smoke. Yelling. I didn’t know what to do.” The words were spilling out. “I heard sirens. Then I…” Her voice trailed off. “It was so awful. Seems like the next thing I know, I’m here and you’re asking if I’m okay.” She stared out the window. Now drivers were standing by their cars and talking to one another. “I guess I must have walked here.”
    Annie sat forward, her hands unclenched. “You said Mary Alice was holding something. What was she holding?”
    Jackie focused her gaze in midair. She held her hands out,