“He told me about
his brother,” Megan said. When Andy
nodded, she asked him, “Did you know what was going on?”
“Not until the
Bergens. Even then we didn’t know it was
him until someone tipped us off that what happened wasn’t some random
thing. But I thought he’d come after
me—I never thought in a million years that he’d go after you.”
“Well, he didn’t
really. He was just confused. He said good henchmen were hard to find.”
Andy laughed
bitterly. “I guess so.”
“It’s not like you
can advertise for them.”
“No.”
“But are you going
to be all right about the Bergens?
Because it wasn’t your fault.”
Andy’s smile
faded.
“Don’t let it ruin
your life,” Megan told him. “They
wouldn’t have wanted that.”
“Yeah,” Andy said. His eyes darted around the room. “Anyway, don’t worry about me. You just worry about yourself.” He paused, jingled his car keys.
“I guess you’ll sell the house.”
“Yeah, but it was
time, anyway. Hopefully it won’t take
too long. A friend of mine who’s an
agent says that everything that happened will only make it more attractive to
potential buyers. I guess there are
people out there who like houses with a back story.”
Andy shook his
head. “People are strange.”
“Sometimes.”
“Will you stay in
town, though?”
“I don’t
know. I have a friend who’s a principal
in Madison and they just had a teacher suddenly retire due to illness, so she’s
offered me the job. I think I might take
it.”
“Really?”
“That’s
right. Moving forward—it’s the only
way.”
Andy shared a halfhearted laugh with her. “Well, good
for you. I hope it works out.”
“Me, too.”
In the silence
that followed Megan wondered again about the cat that Andy had released all of
those years ago. She wondered if he even
remembered it now, or if he had moved forward from those memories, too. “So, anyway,” Andy said, breaking into her reverie, “I just wanted to
stop by, because I’ll be heading off to Chicago tomorrow.”
“Does that you mean
you’ve made a decision about your job?”
“I talked to my
boss when he was here. We have
everything worked out.”
“That’s great,”
Meg said warmly. “I’m sure you did the
right thing.”
“Thanks." He gave his car keys another shake. "I wish it could have been under different circumstances, but--it was good to see you again.”
“You, too.”
Andy turned for the door. When he didn't move, Megan waited. “So I guess you’re going to hate me forever, huh?” he said to the wall.
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“You’ll let me
know if you ever need something?”
“Definitely.”
“Good,” Andy said. He then strode briskly to the door and let
himself out of the hotel room.
