Page 109 of Going Once

“Cameron and Wade are driving us to Jackson, Mississippi, to catch a plane, and then they’re driving the SUV back.”

“I don’t have any identification to travel,” she said.

“And that’s why we’re heading to the DMV first to get you a new driver’s license. We’ll worry about the marriage license when we get to D.C.”

She tied off the braid and looked up.

“I’m not worried about a marriage license. I would willingly live in sin with you for the rest of my life if that’s what it took to not lose you again.”

He laughed out loud. “And your mama’s ghost would haunt my ass for the rest of my life if I let that happen.”

She smiled. “On a different subject, what about the Stormchaser?”

“What about him?”

“Anything new that we should be concerned about?”

Tate shook his head.

“No. If God was fair, although we both know life isn’t about being fair, the man would be lying dead in a ditch somewhere. But we did get confirmation that a man named Hershel Inman had a nervous breakdown after his wife died during Hurricane Katrina, and there were plenty of things with Hershel Inman’s name on them inside the motor home, along with a lot of disguises. We also found out that he and his wife had no children and had been active in their local theater group, which is probably why he was so good at costumes and disguises.”

Nola shuddered. “Lots of people died. Why was he the one who snapped?”

“He claimed while they were stranded on the roof of their home in the Ninth Ward waiting to be rescued, choppers were flying over taking pictures but no one came for them. His wife was a diabetic. She needed insulin, and it was in the flooded house below. She died in his arms while waiting for help, and in the night he fell asleep and her body floated away. When he woke up, help was there and she was gone. He went crazy, and I guess he hasn’t come back.”

“So he’s killing survivors because she wasn’t rescued?”

“One of the doctors at the hospital where he was being treated said he was distraught because God saved some but He didn’t save Louise. He said he was mad at God and someone should kill the ones God meant to save.”

“Oh, Lord, your profile of him was so on target. I can almost feel sorry for him, except for the horrible things he’s done. I wonder why they let him go?”

“I don’t feel sorry for him. Lots of people lose loved ones in tragic ways, and they don’t turn on society. As for his hospital stay, he hadn’t been declared insane, just kept for observation because he pretty much broke down after his wife’s death. According to their records, one day he just got dressed and walked out. They didn’t know it until he was already gone. They had tape of him leaving the hospital, but at the time all they had in his file were the ramblings of a man who’d had a nervous breakdown. He posed no threat to society and they let it pass, because everything he’d said fell under doctor-patient confidentiality.”

She slipped off the side of the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist. He leaned in for a kiss as she closed her eyes. When he finally pulled back, she reached for him again, pulling him close.

He took a deep breath and gave her another bit of news he was afraid might upset her.

“We took a boat out on the river yesterday. The water has gone down enough to see that your house is completely gone. I guess it washed off the foundation.”

“I gave it up in my heart that night in the tree, and I’ve learned the hard way that things are never as important as the ones you love. Take me home, Tate. I need roots and a place to fall asleep in your arms at night.”

He put his arms around her.

“Then we’ve got a plane to catch and a life together to start.”

She looked up at him with her heart in her eyes.

“Whither thou goest…”

He took her hand.

“…I will go.”

EPILOGUE

Washington, D.C.

The first thing Tate did when he got back to D.C. was pick up his mother’s ashes, something he needed to do by himself.

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