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DOWN RIVERShe made a damp sound, raised a finger. “You’re Adam Chase,” she said.“He talked about you a lot. Yeah. He said you were friends, said you couldnever have killed that boy. He said so to anybody that’d listen. He got in fightsabout it sometimes. He’d get drunk and angry. He’d talk about how great youwere and how much he missed you. Then he’d go out and look for people sayingthings about you. Five times, six times. Maybe more. I can’t remember allthe times he came back bloody. A lot. It used to scare me.”“Blood can have that effect.”She shook her head. “Blood don’t bother me. I have four brothers. It waswhat came after.”“What do you mean?”“After he calmed down, washed the blood off, he’d sit up late and drink byhimself. Just sit in the dark and get all weepy. Not like he was really crying.”She made a face. “It was just kind of pitiful.”The thought of Danny standing up for me hit hard. After five years of silence,I’d assumed that he’d written off the friendship, moved on with his life.While I tried to bury things, Danny was protecting the memory. It made mefeel worse, if possible. I’d interpreted my exile as a mandate. Do whatever ittook to get through the hours. Forget your family and your friends. Forget yourself.I should never have doubted him.I should have kept the faith.“He called me,” I said. “You don’t know what he wanted, do you?”She gave a head shake. “He never mentioned anything.” Her eyes were red,but drying. She sniffed. “Want a cigarette?” she asked. I declined and shepulled a crumpled pack from the back of her shorts. “He has a picture of youin his room. The two of you, I guess I should say. He had his arm around you,but not like he was sweet on you or anything. You were all muddy, laughing.”“Dirt biking,” I told her. “I remember.”She took a drag, and the smile died on her face. She shook her head, andthere was such meaning in the gesture. I thought that she might cry again.“What did you and Danny fight about?” I asked.She dropped the cigarette, crushed it with a green, rubber sandal and Isaw how pink polish had chipped away from her toenails. She did not look231