“Of course not.”

December 12, 2005, 5:16 p.m.

Janie drives home slowly after a long afternoon at Heather Home. With the holidays on the way, the aides try to fit in some decorating in the schedule, along with their regular duties. And Janie managed to help three residents find some peace in their dreams. It was a decent day. On a whim, she drives past Cabel’s house, and is surprised to see his car in the driveway. She slows and pulls into the drive, leaving Ethel running.

She sprints to the front door and knocks briskly.

The door opens, and Cabel gives her a look. “Hey, Janie, what’s up?” He’s making signals with his eyes when Shay comes up from behind him and peers over his shoulder. She wraps her arms around his waist possessively.

“Hey, Janie,” says Shay, a look of triumph in her eyes.

Janie grins, thinking fast. “Oh, hi, Shay. Sorry to disturb. Cabel, I’m wondering if you have those math notes you said I could borrow for tomorrow’s exam?”

Cabel’s eyes flash a message of gratitude. “Yeah,” he says. “Be right back. You want to come in?”

“Nah. My shoes are wet from the snow.”

Cabel reappears and hands her a bunch of papers, rolled up and secured in a rubber band. “We’re heading out to a party now,” he says, “But I kind of need these back tonight, since the exam’s in the morning. How late can I stop by to get them?”

Shay bobs over his shoulder, intent on seeing and being seen. Janie notices Cabel has slowly straightened his posture and is standing at full height, and Shay has to jump to see past him. Janie masks a laugh. “I’ll be up late, but I can put them in the mailbox for you before I go to bed. Thanks, Cabel. Have fun at the party, you guys! I’m sooo jealous.”

Janie trots back to Ethel and heads for home, only a little melancholy over the scene she has just witnessed. She brings the notes in, changes her clothes, and gets out her books. She pages through the papers Cabel gave her, hoping he didn’t give her anything important, since she didn’t actually need his stuff. In the middle of the pile, a scribbled note: I miss you like crazy.

Love, Cabe.

She smiles, missing him. Wanting this mess to be over. She thinks about how he was willing to quit the job, wreck the months of progress the detectives had made, just to get things right with her. Captain is right. He’s a good guy.

Janie studies past midnight, partly hoping Cabe will come over. By one a.m., she’s nodding over her work. She calls it a night and gathers Cabe’s notes to put them in the mailbox. In case he comes for them. In case Shay is with him, and he has to pretend.

She writes a note and slips it inside the papers, then rolls them up and sets them outside in the mailbox. She’s happy she can sleep in, but checks her alarm clock twice to make sure it’s set. The first exam starts at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

And she needs to ace it.

So she can get a scholarship.

Because without that, U of M is just an uncatchable dream. December 13, 2005, 2:45 a.m.

When the phone rings, Janie jumps. She thinks it’s the alarm clock for one confused moment, but by the fourth ring she’s lunging for it.

Hoping it’s Cabel.

Hoping he’s standing outside, wanting to see her.

“Hello,” she croaks, and clears the sleep from her voice.

She hears sniffling. “Janieeee,” cries a voice.

“Who is this?”

“Janieee, it’s me.”

“Carrie? What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“Oh fuck, Janie,” Carrie mourns, “I’m so messed up.”

“Where are you? Do you need a ride? Carrie, get it together, girl. Are you drunk?”

“My parents are gonna kill me.”

Janie sighs.

Waits.

Listens to the sniffling.

“Carrie. Where are you.”

“I’m in jail,” she says finally, and the sobbing starts fresh.

“What? Right here in Fieldridge? What the hell did you do?”

“Can you just come get me?”

Janie sighs. “How much, Carrie?”

“Five hundred bennies,” she says. “I’ll pay you back. Every cent. Plus interest. I promise, so much.” She pauses. “Oh, and Janie?”

“Yessss?”

“Stu’s here too.” Janie can feel Carrie cringing through the phone.

Janie closes her eyes and runs her fingers through her hair. She sighs again. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Stop crying.”

Carrie gushes her thanks, and Janie cuts it short by hanging up. Janie scrambles into her clothes and finds her stash of money that is waiting to be deposited into her college fund. She’s twenty bucks short. “Shit,” she mutters. She goes out of her room and runs into her mother, of all people.

“Was that the phone?” Her mother is bleary-eyed.

“Yeah…” Janie hesitates. “I gotta go get Carrie. She’s in jail. Any chance…any chance you have twenty bucks to spare, Ma? I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

Janie’s mother looks at her. “Of course,” she says. She goes into her room and comes out with a twenty.

“You don’t have to pay me back, honey.”

If Janie had an extra hour to think about that little exchange, she might have come to the conclusion that there are one or two things more bizarre than falling into people’s dreams. 3:28 a.m.

Janie climbs the steps to the front entrance of the police station and gets blown in through the door. It’s snowing furiously. She looks around, and an officer waves her into the metal-detector area and through the security checkpoint. She recognizes him. It’s Rabinowitz. She smiles, knowing he doesn’t have a clue who she is.