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DOWN RIVER“Not for stealing the bike.”“Why not?”“It was Danny Faith’s bike. I guess he didn’t know that she’s the one whotook it. He reported it stolen but wouldn’t press charges. They locked her up,but the D.A. dropped the case. Dolf hired a lawyer to handle the speedingcharge. She lost her license.”I could picture the bike, a big Kawasaki that Danny had had forever. Gracewould be very small on it, but I could see her, too: the speed, the torrent ofnoise, and her hair straight out behind her. Like she’d looked the first timeshe’d ridden my father’s horse.Fearless.“You don’t know her,” I said.“A hundred and twenty miles an hour, Adam. Two in the morning. No helmet.It took the patrolman five miles to catch up with her.”I thought of Grace now, damaged in one of those antiseptic rooms behindme. I rubbed at my eyes. “What am I supposed to feel, Robin?” You’ve seenthis before.”“Anger. Emptiness. I don’t know.’“How can you not know?”She shrugged. “It’s never been someone I love.”“And Grace?”Her eyes were impregnable. “I’ve not known Grace for some time, Adam.”I was silent, thinking of Grace’s words on the dock.Who else cared about me?“Are you okay?” Robin asked.I was not, not even close. “If I could find the guy that did this, I’d kill him.”I showed her my eyes. “I would kill that motherfucker dead.”Robin looked around; no one was close. “Don’t say that, Adam. Not here.Not ever.”Grantham finished his phone call and met us at the hospital door. We walkedin together. Dolf and my father were speaking to the attending physician.Grantham interrupted them.57