It was after nine when Tess reached Jo's for a late supper. Jo had made pasta for two and overcooked it while Tess was at home with Mara after the library shift. Tess took the bus across town after Mara left. “I blamed you,” Jo said, stirring the sauce. “It felt good. You're welcome to blame me for the burnt garlic.”
“I came late because Owen called my work, then Mara came by.”
Jo put down the spoon. Tess had planned to wait until they sat. Jo's kitchen, like the library, was a place where ordinary things happened. Tess was tired of entering such places with a hidden announcement that could change the room.
“What did he want?”
“He thinks I'm collecting Alma after her Friday shift. There is no collection. June planned one before she died and didn't ask either of us.”
Jo looked at the second plate on the table. “Is he the man Nell told about your event?”
“I don't know what Nell told him, exactly. He knows it. He knows I have June's case. He said Nell sent him to me.”
“I told her about the event,” Jo said. “On the phone. Before I knew.”
“You told me Tuesday.”
“I said it like a small embarrassment. A public listing she could have found herself.” Jo pushed the pan off the heat. “He might have found it himself. She didn't have to.”
Tess sat and laid her hands on the table. “I'm angry she used what you told her,” she said. “I'm not angry you believed it was me for a minute.”
“You were angry Tuesday. You asked me for the caller's words until I felt like I'd failed a test.”
“I know. I was frightened and made you stand in the part I could measure.”
Jo served the pasta. “That's almost an apology.”
“It is one.”
“Then you can have more sauce.”
They ate, and Tess told Jo the six names belonged to Nell. She did not give her Alma's workplace or the code June feared might be known. Jo listened until Tess got to June's list and Tess's own name below it.
“Your mother wrote you into a drive without calling you,” Jo said.
“She wrote that she should ask. She sent the packet first.”
“You don't have to decide tonight whether that means she loved you.”
“I know.” Tess wound pasta around her fork and set it down. “I still want to.”
Jo reached for the cheese. “When we were fourteen you told me you could tell whether June had chosen you by whether there was a place set for you at dinner. I thought you were being dramatic.”
“I was fourteen.”
“You were hungry. I should have listened.”
Tess laughed. She could remember the exact chipped plate. She had not expected Jo to. She could not remember telling Mara about that plate.
After dinner, Tess called Mrs. Dyer from Jo's sofa. She told her Nell Voss was the woman who had asked for the spare key, and that a man called Owen might ask about her movements. Dyer said she would speak through the door if necessary and not open it. She was annoyed that Tess felt obliged to remind her. Tess thanked her anyway. Tess called the hotel desk next and gave Nell's real name for the disputed record, asking that the record of the hold, pickup, and correction stay with Tess's account. The night clerk confirmed that staff could see the corrected sequence. Tess did not ask the hotel to watch Nell's life.
Jo heard both calls. “Are you going to tell everyone at the library?” she asked.
“The people who answer public questions and tomorrow's event team. I have to tell them a woman called Nell used my name. I don't have to give them June's notebook.”
“Nell will know you've named her.”
“She already knows I know who she is.”
“That isn't what I meant.”
Tess considered it. Jo was asking about the cost to Nell, not arguing Tess should leave her contacts blind. “Nell used your kindness to find me,” Tess said. “I won't leave you guessing if she calls again to protect a cover she no longer needs for June.”
Jo nodded without looking convinced. Tess let her.
They washed the dishes together. Jo's tap squealed unless she turned it gently. Tess had never managed the angle, and Jo always reached past her to fix it. Tonight Tess stood aside before Jo asked. “Don't read a lesson into that,” Tess said.
“I wasn't going to.”
“You had the face.”
“I always have this face.”
Tess left with the remaining pasta in a container Jo pressed into her hands. At the front door Jo asked if Tess wanted company at Friday's event. “As a friend,” she added. “I'm not volunteering to verify anyone.”
“If you want to hear people talk about books, come,” Tess said. “If you want an evening off from me, take it.”
“I'll see how I feel.”
Just after ten, Tess walked home carrying food she had not prepared and a decision she had. She had named Nell to people who could refuse another false request. She could not know whether that would make Nell safer or less safe.