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lied to me even if it meant hurting my feelings. She was persistent. She nagged me to death about Ray because she knew I loved him, and she would never have let me marry Robert (Row-Bear) LaFontaine even if she'd had to stand up and object at the wedding."
    She looked at her brother-in-law. She, too, could tell Raif was hovering on the brink of an abyss. She walked near him and squeezed his hand. "When I first met Ray, we played a little game where we used the letters of our names to describe ourselves."
    In a sing-song voice and tapping a rhythm as her auburn hair swayed to some unheard beat, she went on. "This is my Christine: Compassionate —full of love and understanding; Heroic —always willing to sacrifice something of herself; Realistic —dealing in truth but somehow making hard truths less ugly; Independent —able to exist in the worst of times; Saucy —never taking nonsense from anybody; Tenacious —never one to give up; Intuitive —sensing when we needed her most; Nurturing —always offering support to help us grow in some way; Eternal —Her spirit will live forever both in Heaven and here in our hearts."
    Raiford Reynolds put his arm around his wife and met his brother's eyes. He nodded. "Chris was tops. Whatever she was to each of us, she was the best at it. She would never have settled for second best. Yes, Lindsay, tomorrow we'll be angry and we'll cry. Tonight we'll remember and know that all our lives were better for Christine Milovich Gautier having graced them."
    Trista jumped from her chair. "How can y'all act like nothing happened? My mother is dead!" She glared at each person in succession. "Y'all didn't see it. Y'all didn't hear her last word. Want to know what it was?" Glowering directly at her father, jaw clenched and hands fisted, she said, "'Raif.' Her final thought was about you, even though she was looking at me ." She screamed and fled up the stairs.
    Raif started after his daughter, but Patrick caught his father's eye with a shake of his head. He mouthed, "I've got her, Dad," and went to find his younger sister.
    Raif took a deep breath and held up a glass of merlot. "To my strong, beautiful, whimsical unicorn—Chris."
    Glasses tinkled as everyone remembered a person they loved. Raif drifted to the fringe of the crowd. Dupree Parks sat down at the piano in the sunroom and said, "My mother-in-law accepted me with open arms. I had been a street thug, and I'm a different race. But she saw the man I'd become. Above all else, Christine Milovich Gautier was a lady. Mom, this is for you." He sang The Commodores' "Three Times a Lady."
    Raif's voice, not as melodic as Dupree's as a professional R & B recording artist, picked up the tune on the second stanza. When Raif's voice broke, Dupree took over although his heart was breaking too.
     

    Raif walked out the French doors of the brightly painted yellow-and-white sunroom onto his patio into the rain. Ray followed him closely. "Raif," Ray said, putting his hand on his twin's shoulder.
    Through sobs, Raif said, "I can't wait until tomorrow. I'm angry now . I'm crying now . I'm broken now .” He squeezed the wine glass he held, toppling the top as the stem broke. Merlot mixed with blood dribbled down Raif’s hand as Ray grabbed the broken glass to keep it from shattering on the cobblestones at their feet.
    Raif continued to speak, oblivious to the cut in his palm. “I want to know who shot my wife in the head in front of my daughter from a football field away and simply disappeared. Why , for God's sake? Ray, I'm telling you right now: Chris was just the beginning of something very ugly, very evil."
    He fell into his brother's open arms.
     
     

4
    Left for Dead
    September 2, 2028
    New Orleans, Louisiana
     
    N eel y Rivers was frustrated with the slump in business. The rising crime rate in the area made even seasoned residents, let alone tourists, reluctant to wander far off the main drag. The few clients she had these days came as repeat