"Did you know?"
Dembe looked up from the book he had been reading. He and Red had flown back Stateside without Mr. Kaplan. He didn't think Red had harmed Mr. Kaplan, but he wasn't sure and he wasn't about to ask. After Red had told him to wait in the car, the older man had emerged alone several minutes later from the house Tom, Lizzie and Agnes had thought was their refuge, got in the backseat and instructed him to drive to the private air field where Red's jet had landed. He could feel the anger coming off Red in waves during the entire trip to the jet and the flight home. They had arrived back at the Reston safe house two hours earlier and this was the first time Red had spoken since they'd left Cuba. "Excuse me, Raymond?"
Raymond was sitting in his easy chair with one leg crossed over the other. He was looking out the window to the trees that lined the property. Without turning around, he repeated himself. "Did. You. Know?"
"No, Raymond, I didn't know, but to be completely honest, I had hoped that Mr. Kaplan had somehow faked Lizzie's death."
That made Red turn around to face Dembe. "You wanted Kate to deceive me."
"No, Raymond. I wanted Lizzie to be alive. I wanted to stop seeing you suffer. I wanted to stop seeing you drinking yourself to sleep and I wanted to stop hearing you crying in your room."
Raymond stared hard at Dembe and the younger man knew that he was being assessed for the veracity of his words. Red's chin dropped to his chest and his eyes closed as he sat quietly for so long Dembe thought maybe he had fallen asleep. He finally raised his eyes to Dembe again. "I think my heart would have shattered if you had told me that Kate had confided in you and you knew what she had done. Knowing that Kate betrayed me…I still can't wrap my head around it, regardless of her reasons."
"Raymond."
"Yes?"
"What has become of Kate? Will I see her again?"
"I don't want to talk about her right now." He stood and began heading toward the stairs. "I'm going to my room. Think about going to get takeout from the seafood restaurant. I'll see you later."
As Dembe watched Red head upstairs he thought, I hope Raymond and Kate can find their way back to each other.