Free Prayer for the Dead by David Wiltse

I’m kind of proud of it.”
    “Let me guess,” he said. “Does it have to do with the way you relate to other people and your feelings of guilt and aggression and codependency and your inability to form a truly lasting bond with another human being?”
    “No. My fear of heights. Alan and I are going up again today. I just thought I’d let you know if you wanted to join us.”
    “I got the impression last time that Alan was a little annoyed that I spoiled the party.”
    “Alan was just upset because during your three minutes of crisis he wasn’t the center of attention. We’re starting around two so the sun won’t be in our eyes. Okay?”
    “If I’m not there, start without me.”
    “We will.” She hung up without saying good-bye. Another thing that annoyed Becker.
     
    Alan had found a new route that obliged him to hang upside down for a distance of five feet before restoring himself to the merely vertical. Going straight up at ninety degrees was bad enough, but one hundred twenty seemed to be pushing beyond stupidity into lunacy. Becker was not even sure that a fly could handle an outcropping like the one Alan was negotiating as Becker arrived. Cindi was halfway up the rockface, spread-eagled against the stone as if she’d been staked out for torture, but calmly watching Alan perform. Becker was relieved to see Tee’s cop car parked alongside the highway; if he talked to Tee long enough maybe Cindi and Alan would get to the top and Becker could tackle the more conventional route up. If he went up at all. His bones ached just thinking about it.
    As he approached Tee, Becker realized there was someone else in the car.
    “Mick Seeger’s wife,” Tee said with a great show of innocence.
    “Oh, subtle. Widows and orphans.”
    “I didn’t know you’d be here, did I? We were just passing by. I saw your friend hanging up there like a chandelier; it’s free entertainment, and I don’t know how it’s going to come out. I didn’t think you’d be here after that spill.”
    “Uh-huh. How long have you been waiting?”
    “Just got here. Swear to God, John …”
    “Good thing God isn’t listening to you anymore. Tee. You’d be in big trouble.”
    “Laurie, come on out here and say hello to John Becker. John’s the man I was telling you about.”
    “Oh, thank you, Mr. Becker. Thank you so much.”
    She was about Cindi’s age, maybe a year or two younger, but she seemed to be from a different generation, one in which innocence still existed. Mick Seeger had married a baby, thought Becker.
    “I’ve been so worried, I just can’t tell you. Mickey and I haven’t been apart for even a day since we got married and now …”
    Her face quivered with the effort to keep from crying. Becker thought she was the kind of woman for whom tears were never very far away.
    Becker looked angrily at Tee, but the policeman was innocently watching the climbers.
    “Tee tells me you’re so good at it,” Laurie said.
    “Tee doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.”
    She laughed, as if the notion of Tee not knowing everything were hilarious. So young, Becker thought. Married, a mother, and so young.
    “Have you been watching these climbers long?”
    “Not long,” Tee said quickly.
    “Only about twenty minutes,” said Laurie. “Tee said you’d be here soon.”
    “I was driving Laurie to the gynecologist. My wife and I didn’t think she should be alone at a time like this.”
    “Nothing wrong at the doctor’s, I hope,” Becker said, knowing he shouldn’t.
    Laurie looked shyly away. “No,” she said.
    “Laurie’s pregnant again,” Tee offered happily, watching Becker.
    Becker rolled his eyes to the sky. It was bad enough being manipulated, but Tee was so clumsy at it he made Becker feel like a puppet with some strings broken. Tee was tugging like crazy at the ones that remained.
    “Oh, I wish you hadn’t told him. Tee,” Laurie said. “I wanted Mickey to be the first to hear the good