"Generous of heart, constant of faith--"
"Blah, blah, blah," she said, and he had to smile at that. "Read the important part."
"One could argue that the inscription left by the family is the important--"
"Yeah, yeah. You're just playing with me now."
"Tanya Elizabeth Gross," he said. "She's one of those who reported seeing the woman in white."
"Got your notes handy?"
"Of course." He pulled them up on his phone as Olivia said, "Check the date."
Tanya Gross had died two days after she reported picking up the woman in white.
Forty-eight hours.
He opened his mouth to tell Olivia that. Then he stopped. She wasn't the only one who feared looking foolish by jumping to conclusions.
"And the others?" he said. "You mentioned several."
"Slight exaggeration. Seven people have reported seeing the woman in white over the past couple of years. Two are dead. Both died two days later. I'm sending you the obits. Tell me if you see another commonality."
He opened the clippings and skimmed them. "Suicide." Not that either obituary said that outright, but he recognized the language. "Died suddenly" for Tanya Gross and "Unexpected passing" for Blair Cohen.
"Yep. I've confirmed that. Tanya took a swan dive off an office building, and Blair put a gun to his temple."
"Both forty-eight hours after they reported seeing the woman in white."
He told her about Lambert's frenzied vacation planning. Which he apparently had forty-eight hours to do.
"Yeah," she said. "That wasn't a sale. He was rationalizing a compulsion."
"It would seem so, but compelled to plan a trip? That seems odd."
"The trip is the solution to a problem. His wife is pissed off. He's trying to placate her."
"To undo the damage caused by the report he was compelled to make? That seems labyrinthine."
"Yeah, I'm lost, too."
Lost.
That chill prickled down his neck.
A moment passed. Then, "Gabriel? You still there?"
"Of course."
"There's something else you should see. Turn right."
"If it's Cohen's grave, I don't think that's necessary."
"He's not buried here. It's... No, you're right. It isn't necessary, and you're supposed to be working. I'll just send you--"
"I don't have to leave for another thirty minutes. Turn right, you said?"
A pause, and Gabriel could sense he was losing her.