Chapter 33
There was no road headed west along the river, and it made for a bumpy ride, even though the ground was level. Jessie leaned out the window and called to Nanaki, "You okay back there?"
He gave her a nod, and she settled back down. She looked to Vincent, but his expression didn't give anything away about what he was thinking.
She didn't know the whole of what had happened inside the Temple. Tifa's explanation to Elena had been brief, and Jessie hadn't wanted to push for details while everyone was still processing. But she knew Vincent had seen Sephiroth there for the first time, and nothing anyone had said or done had kept him from proceeding with his plan.
And now Vincent wanted to pay his respects to Lucrecia. Because of what he'd learned from her file, or because of what he'd learned about her son?
"How are you feeling," Jessie ventured, "after yesterday? Aeris healed you up, right?"
"Yes," he answered. "I'm fine."
"I'm sorry it went down like that. I know you were hoping for something different."
Vincent glanced at her. "He may look something like her... but I saw nothing else of her. I suppose it's only an illusion, after all."
So Sephiroth looked like his mother? Jessie hadn't noticed from her photograph, but that must have made it that much harder on Vincent. "Maybe once all this is done," she said, "it'll give you some closure, and you can start moving forward."
"Hmm."
"Or you could stick with AVALANCHE a while longer. I won't complain."
After a pause, Vincent asked, "Why did you choose to come with me?"
"I figured you could use a friend," Jessie said. While they were on their way to visit a place he'd gone with his dead lover was absolutely not the time to confess a crush. "Nanaki's great and all, but he's a little slow to warm up to people. Not like me. Biggs used to say, I made a terrible criminal. Too quick to trust people."
"Biggs was your friend?"
"Yeah." She dropped her eyes to her lap. "I guess we sort of have that in common, losing someone. Not that it was romantic at all, and I know Barret and Tifa lost him, too, but they didn't know him like I did. You... must've known Lucrecia pretty well, too, right?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vincent shake his head slowly. "I wonder," he said. "I couldn't predict the choices she made."
"Well... Even the people we're closest to can surprise us sometimes," Jessie reasoned.
Vincent didn't reply, and she thought that was the end of the conversation, but at length he said, "I'm sorry you lost your friend."
"...thanks."
A couple hours took them to the foothills of the mountains, and they had to leave the truck behind and continue on foot. The peaks rose sharply above them, but the path was easy enough as they followed the river. It was a long hike, though. They stopped to eat early in the afternoon, Jessie and Vincent sharing provisions while they watched Nanaki catching fish.
They pressed on, and at last they came to the crater lake. Jessie had noted it on the model of the Planet in Bugenhagen's planetarium, but it was different seeing it in person. It was so much bigger than she'd pictured, and the water was still enough to allow an imperfect reflection of the mountains that surrounded it on all sides.
The perfect sort of place for a romantic getaway, was her first thought. And then she had to wonder how anyone could want to destroy the world, when there were things like this in it.
"This way," said Vincent, continuing along the shore. "There is a waterfall on the far side, where it comes down from the mountains."
"This view is incredible," Jessie said. "Did you come here a lot?"
"Only when we could get away with it," he said, his expression wistful.
"Was it a secret?" Jessie wondered. She doubted he was meant to fall in love on assignment, and coming here might have interfered with his duties to Professor Gast.
"She was married," was what Vincent said.
"Oh."
Vincent glanced at her, but didn't elaborate.
"I'm not judging," Jessie said quickly, though Nanaki glanced at her dubiously. "I don't know nearly enough to do that. It just never occurred to me. You don't really talk like someone who had to hide it."
"There's no point to it now. That may be the only benefit to learning it was thirty years past."
Jessie couldn't disagree. He didn't have the distance that should have come with all that time, because he hadn't really experienced it. Maybe Tifa was right. That depth of feeling was so attractive in a man, but he was still so consumed by it. She wished she could ask him whether their journey here represented a desire to move on from that, or just a longing to revisit the past.
The waterfall had been in sight for a while before Jessie recognized it for what it was; she'd never seen one before. That ribbon of white cascading down from high in the mountains... The sound of it crashing into the lake waters grew louder and louder, and the white spray churning at its base turned to a mist that tickled her skin as they approached. Vincent kept going, as though he meant to drown in the deluge.
"Is this not our destination?" asked Nanaki, speaking up to be heard above the rushing water.
"There is a cave, behind the falls," Vincent explained. "But you can wait here."
Squinting, Jessie could begin to make out a narrow path behind the waterfall. "Are you sure there's nothing living in there?" she asked.
Vincent could hardly answer that after thirty years, and Nanaki nodded his agreement. "We should make certain of it, before we leave you to it."
"Very well," said Vincent.
The rocky path was slippery, and they went slowly, though Jessie sensed that both of her companions were surer of their footing than her. Thankfully it soon opened up into a tunnel, and strangely there was a light from ahead. The sound of the waterfall behind them faded to a soft echo as they emerged into a huge cavern.
Wherever the light was coming from, it couldn't illuminate the entire cave. Huge pillars of rock where stalactites and stalagmites had long ago joined together disappeared into the darkness beyond, but a human hand had shaped the nearer part of the cave. A wide circle had been smoothed out of the rock floor, leading up to a sort of altar.
And standing beside that altar, having turned at their approach, stood a tall woman Jessie hadn't expected to recognize. Like Vincent, she didn't appear to have aged a day; she looked as young as the photograph in her file, though it clearly didn't do her justice. Jessie knew she shouldn't have, but she felt a pang of disappointment at finding her here. Lucrecia was one of the most beautiful women she'd ever seen. There was no comparison.
Ahead of her, Vincent stopped and stared. "...Lucrecia?" he said.
She drew a sharp breath at the sound of his voice, and he started forward.
"Stay away!" Lucrecia exclaimed, throwing out her hands, and Vincent faltered to a halt. Her eyes swept over him, suspicion in her disbelief. "Is it... really you?" she asked.
"Yes, it's me. Though I know I don't look quite the same," he said, and Jessie wondered how he'd looked before, when it wasn't age that had changed him.
"Hojo told me you were dead. That he'd..." Lucrecia trailed off, and a rueful smile twisted her face. "Of course. I should have known not to believe him."
"And you... I never thought I would find you here."
"Then why did you come here?"
"I was asleep for a long time, but I heard that you had... I thought you were gone, long ago. I wanted to say goodbye."
Lucrecia looked away. "Maybe it's still for the best that you do. I'm no good to anyone, Vincent. Least of all you."
Vincent took a cautious step forward. "But you're alive."
"Not by choice. The Jenova inside of me... won't allow me anything else now. For a long time, I tried to find a way around it, a way to get rid of it, but it's no use."
Jessie had begun to turn away, thinking she'd intruded long enough on what probably should have been a private reunion between lovers, but on hearing that, she stopped. "Wait, are you saying you continued your research?"
Lucrecia looked past Vincent to take in her and Nanaki. Her expression grew a little colder, and Jessie could see it now, the resemblance between her and Sephiroth. "Yes," she said, "I did. To no avail."
Vincent was looking at her now, too, and Jessie scratched her head awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. It's just, we could really use your expertise."
"I don't understand," said Lucrecia.
"Lucrecia," said Vincent, "do you know what Jenova truly is? Surely you learned during your search."
She nodded. "Jenova was no Ancient. I felt it long before I learned for certain."
"Yes," Vincent confirmed. "And it's awakened. It's trying to do harm to this Planet, and the people I'm with... they aim to stop it."
"If you think I can help you to do that... I couldn't even..." Lucrecia trailed off, shaking her head. "As I said, I'm no good to anyone. You should say what you came to, Vincent, as if I really were dead."
"I won't pretend that you aren't here in front of me," Vincent insisted.
"It's an illusion, Vincent."
"It isn't."
Lucrecia regarded him steadily, and then closed her eyes in resignation. "I wanted to look the way that you remember me," she said. "But maybe if I don't, you'll understand that I'm not."
As she said it, that youthful appearance fell away, revealing a woman whom time had touched. She'd aged well, of course, but wrinkles had found the corners of her eyes, and grey had worked its way into her hair, which fell now only to her shoulders. Her clothes were different, a worn shirt and pants rather than the blouse and skirt she'd worn a moment ago.
It wasn't only her, either. The light source that Jessie hadn't been able to identify revealed itself now as an electric lantern set beside a messy bedroll and other gear on one side of the cavern.
But Vincent's attention never left Lucrecia. He approached her again, and this time she let him. "I don't care," he said, coming to a stop just before her.
Lucrecia lifted her hand to touch his face. "This is no illusion, is it? Hojo did this to you?"
"Yes... Does it matter?"
They were definitely intruding on something now, but after the power Lucrecia had just shown, the idea of leaving Vincent alone with her made Jessie uneasy. It would never occur to him to see her as any kind of threat. Jessie glanced at Nanaki, and saw his tail swishing in agitation. He met her eye. They stayed.
"Don't look at me like that, Vincent," said Lucrecia, dropping her hand and looking away. "You say you've been asleep all this time. I haven't. You're a memory, in love with a memory."
Vincent shook his head. "But you're alive. And... Hojo is gone."
Lucrecia looked back at him. "Gone?"
"...Sephiroth killed him."
Some complex mess of emotions played across Lucrecia's face. "Does he know," she asked, "what he did?"
"I don't know. He has learned that you are his mother."
With that brief exchange, Jessie finally put it together. Lucrecia hadn't taken his name, and there'd been nothing in the Shinra mansion library to even imply it, as though her marriage had been as much of a secret as her subsequent affair. But Sephiroth had murdered his own father back on that cargo ship, and there was a good chance he had no idea.
"His mother," Lucrecia murmured. "I wonder if you can really call me that. I never even got to hold him."
"That isn't your fault," said Vincent.
She shook her head. "I thought about going to meet him, when I heard that he had joined SOLDIER. Fighting on the front, away from Hojo... But it was too late then. He was a man grown, and he wouldn't have known me."
Vincent said nothing, and Lucrecia studied his face carefully.
"What do you know of him?" she asked. "The way you speak of him-- have you met him?"
"No... Not the Sephiroth who could have been your son."
Jessie could understand why he wouldn't want to tell her, but if they were going to get her help, then they couldn't coddle her. She took a step forward. "Shouldn't she know the truth?" she asked.
Lucrecia looked from Jessie back to Vincent. "Yes," she said. "I don't need you to lie to me, Vincent. Hojo did quite enough of that."
Vincent's frown disappeared behind his cowl as he dropped his gaze to the floor. His brow furrowed, but he spoke quietly and simply. "Five years ago, Sephiroth learned of the Jenova Project... and the knowledge of it drove him to burn Nibelheim to the ground. Some say that he also died there... and anything could be the truth. Someone with Sephiroth's likeness has obtained a powerful magic, and seeks to destroy the Planet. For your sake... I want to believe that it isn't him."
Lucrecia's expression grew tight as he spoke, and she shut her eyes, turning to the altar. Vincent lifted his hand, but let it fall back to his side. They left her in silence for several minutes.
"I understand," Lucrecia murmured at last. "That is the power of Jenova, to use the faces and memories of our loved ones against us. It might not be him. But then again... the Jenova inside of him wouldn't allow him to die so easily either."
Nanaki padded cautiously forward across the cave floor and sat back on his haunches. "May I ask you something?" he said.
Lucrecia turned to look at him, though she didn't seem surprised that he had spoken. "Yes," she said. "Go ahead."
"You have control over the power of Jenova," Nanaki observed, "but you aren't at its mercy. That doesn't seem to be the case with anyone else who has been exposed to Jenova."
Lucrecia's brow furrowed. "You don't speak only of Sephiroth, do you?"
"No. Hojo performed other experiments using Jenova's cells. Those infected with them appear vulnerable to Sephiroth's command, including two of our party."
"If it's different with you," Jessie added, "if you've overcome that somehow, then maybe you could help them."
"No," Lucrecia said slowly. "I've lived with Jenova a long time, but the powers you see are something I gave into. The temptation to be invisible, to be something I'm not... I haven't overcome anything, and I can't help your friends."
The finality of how she said that made Jessie frown. "So that's it? Do you just plan on staying here, in a cave in the middle of nowhere?"
"I didn't think I could trouble anyone here."
"Well... I think it's pretty selfish of you."
"Jessie," Vincent said sharply, and she flinched at his tone, but she went on anyway.
"I know you love her, Vincent, but... it's still selfish. She wants to hide away from everything, while a man she brought into the world is out there trying to destroy it. You know Tifa lost everything to him..." Jessie broke his gaze and turned to Lucrecia. "I don't blame you for how he's turned out, but that doesn't mean you can absolve yourself of all responsibility and dump it on us. We're asking for your help, and I don't think it's a big ask, but you won't even consider it?"
No one said anything. Lucrecia's expression was pained, and Vincent actually looked angry. Jessie dropped her head.
"I... I've said my piece. I'll wait outside."
Jessie turned back down the tunnel out of the cavern, walked far enough from it that the sound of the waterfall didn't drown out her own thoughts, and let out a shaky breath. Had she really just said all that to the woman Vincent idolized?
But wasn't it the same thing he blamed himself for, just standing by and watching?
She sat down by the water's edge, and only then did she realize that Nanaki had followed her.
"You think it's okay to leave him alone with her?" Jessie asked him.
Nanaki settled down beside her. "I think the greatest danger he faces is the temptation to stay here with her."
"...I guess that's his decision."
"Perhaps, but I believe it would be a poor one. I agree with you entirely."
Jessie gave him a wry smile. "Thanks. But I don't know if Vincent's going to forgive me for that."
"Someone should have said it," Nanaki maintained. "She is the only scientist of the Jenova Project left alive, and she's had decades to continue her research. All that knowledge, she's kept to herself. That isn't how I was taught. There is nothing noble in pursuing knowledge only to hoard it."
"Well, in her defense... Shinra wound up using her research and her kid for some really messed up shit. And that was her own husband."
"We aren't the Shinra. I don't think distrust is the issue."
"...I guess you're right," Jessie conceded.
"She seems very similar to Vincent in that regard," Nanaki observed. "I hope he is able to persuade her, and not the other way around."
If Lucrecia chose to stay... Jessie couldn't help feeling that Vincent would, too. He didn't have much connection to the rest of the world anymore, just a few days he'd spent in the company of some strangers hoping to save the world. And why stay with them on their journey to kill the son of the woman he loved, when he could be with her instead?
But was it selfish of her to think he'd be worse off with that decision? Jessie didn't think it was jealousy. The way Vincent loved Lucrecia, that uncritical, all-consuming devotion... If Lucrecia had made her own decision, with her husband, how had Vincent come to think he was at fault? Maybe it was just how he was, not wanting to blame her for anything, but...
"If he does want to stay..." Jessie began, but she decided to keep those thoughts to herself. "Well, sorry in advance for my driving," she said instead.
Nanaki shook his head. "Not at all. I'll be very grateful you decided to come. This has been uncomfortable enough as it is."
"You think so, too, huh?"
"I was already disinterested in humans and your love affairs."
Jessie laughed. "Well, I can't say the same, but it's still awkward being the third wheel to that. If it works out the other way, I might ride in back with you."
They were a while waiting. It certainly wasn't a bad place to do it, in the middle of all that beauty. The sunlight danced on the surface of the lake, and the mist from the falls kept the summer heat at bay. Jessie pulled her shoes off and dipped her feet in the lake waters, and she thought about asking Tifa for some actual swimming lessons.
She was just starting to wonder if they should go in to check on Vincent when she noticed movement behind the falls, and that telltale red cape. Vincent emerged, and so did Lucrecia, her hand in his as she picked her way carefully across the narrow path. He was carrying a pack, too, that must have belonged to her.
Lucrecia released his hand once she was on solid footing, and the two of them approached. Jessie exchanged glances with Nanaki and got to her feet. She looked to Vincent first, but she couldn't read his expression.
"Jessie... wasn't it?" said Lucrecia, extending a hand. She looked different out in the daylight, more real, and her hand felt solid as Jessie took it.
"Yeah," Jessie said. "And this is Nanaki."
Lucrecia nodded to him. "You're from Cosmo Canyon, aren't you?"
Nanaki blinked. "I... Yes."
"I've been there, several times," she explained. "It's a lovely place."
"So you're coming with us then?" Jessie asked her.
"To Costa del Sol," Lucrecia said. "To... make my apologies to your friends, if nothing else. I expect there won't be anything I can do for them, but... you're right, after all. I won't know for certain without looking into it."
Jessie nodded. "I'm glad you changed your mind," she said.
She retrieved her shoes, and together the four of them started back along the shore path. Jessie wanted to catch Vincent alone for a moment, to see where they stood, but she didn't think she'd have the opportunity for a while; he became Lucrecia's shadow, always walking at her side or a pace behind.
The sun dipped behind the western mountain ridge as they left the crater, and they kept on in the growing twilight until they made it back to where they had left the truck. They made camp there, and Jessie stepped away to call Tifa, figuring it was late enough now she wouldn't be interrupting anything.
But it wasn't Tifa's voice that answered the phone. "Uhh, hey!"
"Zack? Is that you?"
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Tifa lent me her phone earlier, I forgot to give it back."
"Well, can you hand it to her? I've got some news for her."
"Um... Now's not a great time. But I can let her know for you."
His tone began to make her uneasy. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
"I don't know the details, but the prison break didn't exactly go as planned."
"Is Tifa okay?" Jessie pressed.
"Yeah! Yeah, no one's hurt," Zack added quickly. "Just... apparently they had to kill Dyne."
"What?"
"Yeah. Yuffie said he went crazy and started attacking them, and he might've threatened Barret's kid? Tifa's the one who shot him, but she and Barret aren't really talking about it, so that's about all I know. Yuffie wasn't there for the whole thing."
"Oh, gods..." Jessie sat down on the ground. Even what little Zack knew was too awful to process. "Barret must be devastated. And Tifa..."
"She's off with Aeris, so I think she'll be all right," said Zack, and Jessie hoped he was right. But he didn't understand who Dyne was to Barret.
"What about Barret? Can you put him on?"
"Uh... I'll give it a try."
After a minute or so of scuffling and indistinct voices, the background noises subsided, and Barret said,
"Jess?"
His voice sounded so raw, even just saying her name.
"I'm so sorry, Barret," she said. "I wish I could've been there for you."
"I don't," he said bluntly. "Wouldn't've wanted you to see that... the way Dyne looked when he talked about..." He trailed off.
Jessie swallowed. "Did he really... threaten Marlene?"
"Yeah. Don't know how he went so wrong, sayin' all that."
If she could have, Jessie would have volunteered to take the whole thing on herself, in Barret's place. But here she was, miles away, just a voice on a phone. "I can't imagine how awful it must've been," she said. "You finally found your friend, and then..."
"I figured on 'im bein' pissed at me," said Barret. "But he was angry at the whole world. An' I get it, y'know? I got that anger, too. So I gotta wonder... if it was the other way around, if he was the one who made it back an' found Marlene..."
"Are you saying, if he'd been the one to raise her, then you would've...?" Jessie couldn't finish the thought either. "I can't see it, Barret. No way."
"Not much difference between us."
"Well then, not much was plenty. I'm sorry for what happened to Dyne, but don't think for a second that you're like him that way. You're a good man, and a great father."
Barret didn't argue, but he was quiet for a long time. Finally he said, "How do I tell her 'bout this, Jess?"
"...maybe you don't," she said. "It's not what she came from, and it's not a memory that needs preserving. Dyne died four years ago, trying to get back to Corel and his family. Isn't that better?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's better."
"And... it's better for Tifa, too. I know how guilty she must feel."
"It shoulda been me. It was my problem to deal with."
"Well, Marlene is... she's special to all of us, you know?" Especially to Tifa, who'd been the only other person Barret would trust Marlene with, when Jessie had first met them. "So anyone who threatens her, that's not just your problem."
"Still," Barret insisted. "I didn't wanna lay that on Tifa. Not even sure she knows I don't blame her."
"Did you tell her?"
"Tried to. Don't think it's sunk in yet."
"Well... Give it some time. You've both got a lot to work through." And on top of everything else that had already happened... Jessie knew Barret had expected it to be a rough reunion, but not this rough. There should have been some reconciliation, some resolution that might have lifted some of the guilt he felt over what had happened to Corel. Not this.
"...how'd things go on your end?" Barret ventured.
"Oh, uh... Kind of the opposite," Jessie admitted, feeling now like that was unfair. "Turns out Lucrecia's not dead."
"That right?"
"Yeah. We ran into her in this cave by the lake. It took a little convincing, but she's coming with us to the rendezvous, so she can check up on Zack and Cloud."
"Think she'll be able to do anything for 'em?"
"I don't know. She's pretty pessimistic about it, but I think at the least, she'll be able to assess what's wrong with them better than the Cosmo Canyon doctors."
Barret made a soft grunt of agreement, and after a moment he added, "Kinda sucks for you, though, huh? How that worked out."
"Oh, come on, that's nothing," Jessie said. Especially after everything he'd been through today, it felt silly for him to even think of it.
"Doesn't mean it don't sting a little," he said.
"...yeah, I guess not," she admitted. It was nice of him to mention anyway. "Thanks."
"Don't wanna get stuck thinkin' about only my problems," Barret explained. "Tifa's gonna need me to step up this time."
"I understand," said Jessie. They never really got the time to mourn, did they? "I'll be there in a couple days to help out, though. And you can always call if you need to talk in the meantime, okay?"
"...I'll keep that in mind."
"You going to be okay tonight?"
"Yeah. You don't gotta worry."
"I'm going to anyway. You're my friend and I love you."
"Uh..."
"Sorry. I know we don't really say that, but I thought you might need to hear it from someone right now."
"'preciate it," he said gruffly. "G'night, Jess."
Jessie smiled to herself. If he could be awkward about it, then he'd probably be okay. "Good night," she said, and she hung up.
And that was when she noticed Lucrecia standing nearby. How long had she been there?
"...sorry," Lucrecia said slowly, as though she only realized at Jessie's expression that she'd done anything to apologize for. "It's been a long time since I've been around people. I wanted to tell you there's some dinner ready."
Jessie nodded, and picked herself up off the ground. "Thanks."
"Are your friends all right?"
"They've had a rough day, but they've had a lot of those, and they always pull through."
Lucrecia nodded, and she smiled ruefully. "I'm glad for them," she said.
Jessie hesitated. She hadn't been able to catch Vincent alone, but he hadn't followed Lucrecia to check on her, so maybe she could at least talk to the other half of the equation. "How long were you in that cave?" she wondered.
"Only a few weeks," Lucrecia answered. "I've gone back before, but this time, I thought I'd stay. Nothing bad... ever happened there."
"I guess I can see the appeal."
"I never expected anyone would find me there," Lucrecia went on, "least of all Vincent... It's so strange to see him again after all this time. He's changed, but he hasn't changed. I can tell the heartbreak is still fresh for him. He still thinks he can undo it."
"...can I ask what happened between you two?"
Lucrecia glanced behind her, back towards the camp, considering. "How much has he told you?" she asked.
"You were having an affair," Jessie said. "But it sounds like it ended with the Jenova Project."
Lucrecia nodded. "It was my fault from the start," she said. "Hojo was... different, after we married, and when I met Vincent, he was always so kind to me... Shy, though. Nothing would have happened if I hadn't begun it. It was good for a while, but Hojo grew jealous, even before he found out, and I knew I had to end it."
A fear that wasn't exactly unfounded, Jessie thought, considering what Hojo had done to Vincent in the end. That part made a lot more sense now, honestly. Not just some callous experiment on a man who'd questioned his actions, but a vicious attack on the body of his wife's lover, turning it into something at times monstrous and frightening. Like Hojo himself had been, by all accounts.
"And the Jenova Project?" Jessie wondered.
"The child came afterwards," Lucrecia confirmed. "I hoped it would convince Hojo, and stupidly, I thought it might change him. I suppose it did, just not for the better."
Jessie nodded. "Well, he is gone now," she offered. "You don't have to worry about him anymore."
"No. Only his legacy. Our legacy. Vincent thinks he's responsible in some way..." Lucrecia shook her head. "But at least that's led him to you all."
"You think that's a good thing?"
"Yes. I know it's hard on him, the thought of harming my son, but I think fighting alongside you is what will give him a chance of moving on."
"...that's the mistake you really care about fixing, isn't it?" Jessie observed, realizing that it wasn't anything she'd said that had convinced Lucrecia to change her mind, and probably nothing Vincent had said either. Lucrecia just didn't want to trap Vincent in that cave with her.
Lucrecia smiled ruefully. "Maybe I should care more about the fate of the world than about a man I once wronged. But until now, until I realized he was still in it... I wouldn't have minded if the world ended."
"Maybe don't mention that to the others," Jessie suggested. "We're all pretty into the world not ending."
"I'll remember that." Lucrecia turned back towards camp, inviting Jessie along with a nod of her head. "Maybe you could tell me a bit about them? The people Vincent's taken up with."
"Sure," Jessie said. "Some background'll probably help. We're an odd bunch."