Spider

3

San Quirico D'Orcia, Tuscany Neither Jack nor Nancy could get back to sleep. That had become routine too. His wife was the only person he could bring himself to talk to, the only one who could even begin to understand what had happened to him, and how it had left him.

The real nightmare had started long before the nocturnal ones. Overworking and over-caring had led to Jack's collapse at JFK, after a cold case conference in LA, right in the middle of the hunt for BRK and just days before the birth of their son.

Now, he and Nancy went over the ground again, searching for a way to find some peace: Jack's weeks in intensive care, unable to speak or walk properly, afraid that he'd die or be crippled for the rest of his life; Nancy's fears that he'd let his job ruin their marriage, her thoughts of leaving him, taking Zack to her parents' house and starting over again. As usual, they didn't leave a stone unturned. And as usual they didn't make any real progress.

Nancy King was tall, trim and tough. The daughter of a Marine, she knew how to deal with a crisis. Or at least she thought she did. After Jack's crash and burn, they'd seen La Casa Strada on an Internet auction and she'd just known that they had to buy that hotel and start over in a new country.

A new beginning. A new way of life.

That's what she'd said they'd needed, and that was what she'd been determined they'd have. Only now, well now, it seemed that new beginning was on hold.

And on hold was something Nancy wasn't going to settle for.

Dawn was filtering through the shuttered windows when she finally got back to the prickly suggestion that Jack seek some professional help. 'The Bureau gave you a number for a psychiatrist in Florence, a good one who said she'd see you at the drop of a hat. Ring her in the morning.'

'The female trickcyclist -,' Jack tried to joke his way out of it, '- you really think I need to see this shrink?'

His wife raised an eyebrow. 'Honey, we both know you need to see a shrink. Now please get it done, yeah?'

He gave in. 'Yeah, I'll get it done.' He sounded defeated, but even as he spoke, he felt slightly better at hearing himself admit that after all this time there might just be some help on its way. 'You want some breakfast?' he asked, standing in front of an open window in his boxers, patting his belly.

Behind him, Nancy could see the sun shimmering and rising across the velvet green valley. Below them, she could hear their chef, arriving in the kitchen, opening his giant fridges for supplies and starting his routine preparations before his staff arrived. She loved this place, loved her new beginning and she so wanted Jack to love it too. 'Paolo's in, he'll cook us eggs, maybe some pancetta as well.'

Jack leaned over his wife and kissed her. 'I'll get coffee too, I think we both need it.'

She watched him pull on tracksuit pants and a T-shirt. Despite his emotional vulnerability, he still looked every inch the college athlete she'd fallen in love with. 'Eleven years, Jack King. In a few days' time we'll have been married for eleven years. How did it all fly by so fast?'

Jack didn't have the answer. 'I guess the good times always seem to go the quickest and the bad times stick around too long.'

He kissed her again and she squeezed his hand reassuringly. 'Don't worry, honey, everything will be better soon.'

Jack smiled at her, and as he headed for the kitchen he tried hard not to dwell on the fact that July the eighth, the day of his wedding anniversary, was also the day the Black River Killer had claimed his sixth and youngest victim.