“Oh yeah.” David told him what happened and Tom paled.

“I had lunch with Grandma at the Deli and she never mentioned any of this.”

“It hadn’t happened yet,” David said. “It was at about two.”

“When she was back at your place.” Tom shook his head. “My God, if she’d been in your place and if that crazy guy had gone there.”

“Exactly,” Glenn said, all of his prior levity gone. “That’s why we’re here.”

“We want information on the Moss Web site,” David said. “Who designed, owns, maintains it. Who’s visited it. Do you have any geek friends who can help us?”

Tom nodded grimly. “Hell, yeah. You’re looking at him.”

David’s eyes widened. “You? No way.”

“Me.” He aimed a sidelong glance at David. “I told you I was bagging groceries last summer when I went home for summer break. And I did, part-time. The rest of the time I worked for Ethan. I actually worked for him the past few summers. He pays really well. I made double working for him compared to bagging groceries, in half the time. Sorry.”

David sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t see much need to. Salt in the wound and all that.”

His shoulders sagged. “You knew?” Who hadn’t known he was in love with Dana?

“Sorry. It was kind of obvious. Only if you were looking, of course.”

David’s face heated. “Well, hell.”

Glenn cleared his throat. “I take it Ethan is the husband of the unrequited thing?”

David rolled his eyes, thoroughly embarrassed now. “Yes. God. Back to our point. You can find out all we want to know about the Moss Web site?”

“And nobody will even know I’ve been there.”

“What is this Ethan?” Glenn asked. “Some CIA spy guy?”

“Kind of,” David said uncomfortably. “Does network, shadowy, PI kind of stuff.”

“Ooh.” Glenn winced. “Tough competition.”

David scowled down at him. “Thank you.”

“Just getting back for the defib comment,” Glenn replied cheerfully. “So, young man, you won’t get caught?”

“Nope. I’ve got a study date at eight, but I’ll do it when I’m done and call you.”

“Thanks, kid.” David stood up and met his nephew’s solemn blue eyes. “You’re sure? I don’t want to drag you into anything dangerous. Your mother would kill me.”

“Everybody says that, but Mom wouldn’t. She was doing the dangerous work all those years, picking up families in bus stops in the middle of the night. Hiding them from abusive dads.” He shrugged. “This is nothing compared to that.”

Glenn’s eyes had gone wide. “You have to tell me about this.”

“Unrequited Thing ran a secret shelter for battered women leaving their spouses,” David explained. “Caroline, Tom’s mother, was her right hand and Evie worked for her, too. Olivia’s sister, Mia, was also in on it, but more discreetly, being a cop. They gave lots of women new starts-new IDs, job skills. Even money.”

“And what did you do?” Glenn asked.

David smiled, but sadly. “I fixed the roof, her car, and anything else that broke.”

“I see,” Glenn said, quietly now, and David thought he probably did.

“Who’s watching Grandma?” Tom asked.

“Noah and Evie.” David’s brows lifted. “And I’ve got news.”

Tom’s face broke into the high-wattage grin that made college girls swoon. “Noah finally popped the question, huh?”

“Yeah. And Evie’s smiling.”

Tom’s grin dimmed and he swallowed hard. “Good. That’s good.” Abruptly he hopped off the table and took off, waving good-bye over his shoulder. “I’ll call you.”

David watched him go, once again feeling his own eyes sting.

“And?” Glenn asked. “That was?”

“Family,” David said thickly. “Evie is Tom’s oldest friend. They grew up together, in Unrequited Thing’s shelter. Her happiness has been on his wish list for a long time.”

“Does Unrequited Thing have a name, son?” Glenn asked gently.

“Dana,” David said, then smiled. “I used to dread hearing her name after she married Ethan, dreaded saying it even more.”

“And now?”

“Now… it’s okay.”

“Sounds like this Dana was dedicated to serving others.”

“She was, to the exclusion of everything else. Used to make me nuts, her going after those families in the middle of the night at the bus station in downtown Chicago. Sometimes the husbands would come after her, threaten her, but she didn’t seem to care if she lived or died. But that was then.”

“What changed?”

“She met Ethan. Figured out that there was more to life than…” He stopped, then sighed. “Than helping other people.”

“At the exclusion of everything else,” Glenn murmured.

“I bet you think you’re pretty clever, old man.”

“Yep.” Glenn stood, stretched his back. “I do.”

Tuesday, September 21, 7:40 p.m.

It didn’t take long to find Joel’s shoes. They were in his closet, under a pile of dirty laundry. “Kane,” Olivia said. She held up one of the shoes, sniffed it, then turned it over. “Smells like smoke and looks like glue.”

“Then he was there,” Mr. Fischer said faintly. He stood in the doorway. Mrs. Fischer had stayed in the living room with the rabbi. Olivia couldn’t say she blamed her.

“It looks like it, sir.”

“I don’t see any pill bottles,” Kane said, looking through Joel’s drawers and under his mattress. “CSU can search for residue, but…” He let the thought trail. Usually a kid who did drugs left some evidence behind in his room and Kane was good at finding it.

“Did he ever stay anywhere else?” Olivia asked Mr. Fischer.

“No. He wanted to live at the dorm and we said he could in his third year.”

Kane held up a thick textbook. “Environmental Ethics. What was his major?”

“Philosophy,” Mr. Fischer murmured.

Kane leafed through the book and his brows rose. “Did Joel have a girlfriend?”

“No. He was busy with his studies. He said he was waiting for a Jewish girl.”

“Who were his friends?” Olivia asked.

Fischer closed his eyes. “The Feinsteins’ and Kaufmans’ sons, from Hebrew school. And Eric. Eric Marsh. They’ve been friends since kindergarten, first grade.”

Kane wrote down the names. “Would these boys know about Joel’s interests?”

“I don’t know. Kaufman’s son is going to school out West somewhere. Feinstein’s son is still in town. I don’t know if Joel saw them often. Eric is an engineering student at the university. I think they had lunch sometimes. Eric was always the one to keep Joel steady. Showed him the problems in all the wacky plans he came up with over the years.” His face fell. “I don’t even know if anyone’s told Eric about the accident.”

“Okay,” Kane said. “Here we go.” He’d been going through Joel’s stack of school papers and held up a bound folder. “‘Preston Moss-hero or monster?’ On the last page Joel concludes he was a hero.”

A strangled breath came from Fischer. “Son, what have you done?” he whispered.

Olivia looked around Joel’s room. One wall was covered in plaques, honoring community service, which made her think of David’s bedroom in Chicago. He hadn’t had any plaques or mementos. David didn’t do his service to be noticed. Teshuvah. David was making amends, but for what sin? What about Lincoln had he understood?

She turned to Joel’s father. “I’m betting more than he originally bargained for.”

Fischer’s eyes were anguished. “Oh, God. He did this thing. This terrible thing.”

“I am so sorry, sir,” she said. “We’re going to need to bring in our crime scene unit.”

He nodded unsteadily. “I understand.”

His color worried her. He’d turned gray. “Can I get you anything?”

“No. Nothing.” He turned away then, his back hunched and Olivia heard the familiar muted howl of agony. It was raw grief and always tore at her gut.

“Dammit,” she muttered.

“You did all you could, Liv,” Kane said quietly. “More than most would. How did you know all that about the… What did you call it? Teshu…?”