Page 12 of The Furies

“Never set eyes on her. I didn’t even know she used to be with Buker until he showed up in town. I live a quiet life, likely too quiet. It could be I ought to get out more, but when I do get out, I often end up wishing I hadn’t.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” I said. “Time spent not knowing Raum Buker is never wasted. But I have to ask: Why are you telling me this?”

“Because he’s bad for her, and I think she’s scared of him.”

“Did Dolors admit this?”

“More or less, before she said that we ought not to see each other for a while.”

It might have been the wind, but his eyes were tearing up. He wiped at them with the sleeve of his jacket.

“That breeze does take a shortcut, doesn’t it?” I said.

“ ‘When the wind is in the east, ’tis neither good for man nor beast,’ ” Will recited. “My mother used to say that. I can’t bring to mind the rest, but the part about the east wind always stuck with me. Now that I come to think of it, I don’t believe she ever told me more than those two lines. I love her dearly, but she could never see the doughnut, only the hole.”

Nearby, a great black-backed gull stood on a rock and stabbed with its beak at the underbelly of a crab. The force of the impact sent the crab tumbling to the stones below. The gull followed. The sight did nothing to lighten the mood.

“Did Dolors say why she wanted you gone?” I said.

“Sure. Because of Raum.”

He looked at me as though only an idiot would need that explained to him, and conceivably he’d been wrong to turn to me in his time of tribulation.

“What I mean is, was it because she wanted to get back together with him, or because she was worried about what might happen if he found you warming your feet by her fire?”

Will thought about this.

“I hope it’s the second one, but neither option is very flattering to me, is it?”

“This isn’t about flattery, and whatever you say stays between us.”

He sighed.

“I thought she really liked me. I’d like to presume she still does. I’d even started to consider, you know—”

“Marriage?”

The word came out freighted with more incredulity than I’d intended, and Will couldn’t help but pick up on it.

“She’s a nice woman,” he said reprovingly, “once you get to know her.”

I apologized. “So you think she’s trying to protect you.”

“Still doesn’t make me feel too good about myself. I’d like to go after Buker with a tire iron, but what good would that do? I’m no fighter. I’d just end up like that damn crab.”

The gull had retrieved its breakfast, and was chomping down hard on one of the legs while the rest of the crab dangled helplessly in the air. I hoped the crab was dead. It wasn’t as though the world was running a deficit of misery. The gull adjusted its grip, tossed the crab in the air, and caught it again. I heard the shell snap. Half the crab’s body dropped to the ground, putting the issue to rest.

“Not if you hit him from behind,” I said.

“I couldn’t do that either. With my luck, I’d miss.”

I didn’t mind speaking with Will Quinn, or providing a sympathetic ear for his problems, but I couldn’t see how his difficulties concerned me.

“I’m a private investigator, Will, not a relationship counselor. There’s a limit to what I can do for you here.”

Will turned to face me.

“But this isn’t only a relationship problem,” he said. “It’s also an occult one.”

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