The Sense of Reckoning Read Online Free

seen him. Across from him sat a beautiful woman—Indian or Pakistani—her jet-black hair pulled back in a long braid, her dramatic coloring set off by a cherry-red sweater that looked like cashmere. Next to the woman sat a little girl, the perfect combination of the two adults—dark hair with Dan’s curls, dark brown eyes with Dan’s sparkle. Their table was in front of the restaurant’s large front windows and the light created a halo behind the little girl and shimmered off what must have been metallic threads in her shirt.
    Dan stood. “Hi, Ann.”
    She wiped her palms on her jeans, hoping no one would offer to shake hands. “Hey, Dan.”
    “Ann, this is Dan’s wife, Amita,” said Mike.
    Ann smiled and nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”
    Amita nodded back, a bit formal but not unfriendly.
    “Mike says you’re visiting from the Adirondacks,” said Dan.
    “Yes.”
    “Scott and I are always trying to get her to spend more time in West Chester,” said Mike. “Especially during the winter—Pennsylvania is practically balmy in comparison. But she’s tougher than I am. How’s the vet business?”
    “Going well,” said Dan distractedly. “It’s turning into a family business—Amita’s my partner now.”
    “And how about your daughter?” asked Ann. She turned toward the girl. “Are you going to become a vet and join the family business when you grow up?”
    Amita’s expression froze. Dan followed Ann’s gaze and then looked back at her, the blood draining from his face.
    “I’m sorry,” Ann stammered, “I just thought—”
    Mike took her elbow. “Well, Dan, it was nice to see you,” he said, extending his hand, which Dan took mechanically. “Nice to meet you, Amita. I recommend you stay away from that Scotch cocktail, unless you want to knock down a few cold germs.” He steered Ann back to their table.
    Another old fashioned had appeared at her plate. She took a gulp, clunked the glass down on the table, and leaned forward. “What did I say wrong?”
    Ann had at first thought Mike was annoyed with her, but now she saw his lips were twitching with what might have been an almost-suppressed smile.
    “You didn’t say anything wrong,” he replied.
    “I just thought—” started Ann, turning to glance over her shoulder toward Dan’s table.
    Dan and Amita were bent together across the table, Dan holding his wife’s hands while she whispered low and fast, casting occasional glances toward Ann. It looked to Ann like she was about to cry. And the little girl was not in the chair next to her.
    Ann turned back to Mike. “Where did the daughter go?”
    “She didn’t go anywhere,” said Mike. “It was always only Dan and Amita at the table.”
    *****
    Mike wasn’t buying Ann’s argument that they should leave.
    “I ordered the food while you were gone,” he said. “Plus, it would be weird to leave.”
    “I’m sure they’d be thrilled if I left—I make them think about a little girl who is obviously their dead daughter and now Dan has to try to convince his wife that it’s all parlor tricks.”
    “Well, obviously it’s not parlor tricks,” said Mike, and leaned forward. “That’s extraordinary that you saw a spirit so clearly that you thought it was a living person!”
    Ann took another gulp of her drink. “The sun was behind her, I couldn’t see her that well.”
    Mike shook his head. “Now you’re being silly—this is a huge leap forward and you know it.”
    They both sat back as the server delivered their mushroom soups. Mike tried for a while to engage Ann in a discussion of the movie they had seen the night before— The Blues Brothers , a personal favorite of Mike’s—but she responded in monosyllables and he finally gave up.
    When their entrees arrived, Ann pushed her food around on the plate, her stomach clenched by the distraction of wondering what was going on behind her. Mike gave her periodic updates—“They just got their lunches” ... “Looks like