Page 114 of The Chain

“Come with me and I’ll show you.”

Margaret leads Anthony to the ship’s stern. Oliver is indeed waiting for them.

“What is it?”

“Over there,” Oliver says, pointing into the darkness. “Here, let me lift you up and show you.”

“No, I—” Anthony says, but it’s too late for that now.

Margaret and Oliver have been planning this for months. They made sure the vessel they ended up on was an older one without CCTV cameras. They laid the groundwork with a couple of false reports about Anthony’s humorous sleepwalking adventures.

They hoist Anthony onto the guardrail and push him over into the foaming wake behind the ship.

57

Another handover of Kylie in Newburyport. The girlfriend is the same one. The little blonde. Rachel is determined to pay attention this time and at least get her name while Kylie retrieves her complicated Starbucks order.

“Rachel’s teaching college now,” Marty is saying to the girl.

“Wow, that’s great,” the little blonde says.

“I’m so embarrassed, I really am, but what’s your name again? I’m sure you’ve told me a couple of times, but I’ve been a bit out of it, as you can imagine,” Rachel says.

Marty looks really concerned by this. Not angry, but actually concerned for Rachel’s mental health. Chemo can mess you up in many different ways. “It’s Ginger,” Marty says gently.

“And what is it that you do?” Rachel asks.

“Ginger, believe it or not, works for the feds,” Marty says, speaking for her again.

Pete and Rachel look at each other, eyes wide. This information has clearly never come up before because Rachel can see Pete is as stunned as she is. Kylie has never mentioned it, which is less surprising. It’s been drilled into her that they can’t have anything to do with law enforcement.

“The FBI?” Rachel asks.

“The FBI,” Ginger says, doing a sonorous, deep movie-trailer voice.

“She’s not just an agent, though, she’s also getting her PhD in criminal psychology at BU. Busy gal,” Marty adds.

“That wasn’t my idea. The Bureau sort of forced me into that,” Ginger says modestly in a charming Boston accent.

“PhD? You can’t be old enough—” Rachel begins, wondering if the woman is some kind of freaky Doogie Howser type.

“She’s thirty,” Marty says.

Rachel can’t figure out if he’s saying that apologetically or boastfully. A woman nearly his own age? Who’s a grown-up with a grown-up job? Boastfully, she decides. “You barely look eighteen,” Rachel blurts out. “You must be…” She trails off, not sure how to complete the sentence.

“Bathing in the blood of virgins every night?” Marty finishes for her.

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Rachel says, but her little protest is lost in Ginger’s gales of laughter. She thinks Marty is hilarious.

“Just a healthy skin-care regimen,” Ginger says.

“Where exactly did you two lovebirds meet?” Pete asks, taking more of an interest in Ginger himself now.

“We almost literally bumped into each other jogging on the common,” Marty says.

“He’s done that before,” Pete says. “That’s assault, buddy. One day it’s not going to work and you’ll be headed for the Big House.”

Ginger laughs at that too. She thinks both brothers are a riot.

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