Free Atonement by Michael Kerr

Perhaps in the way that nature seemed to regulate numbers of animal species, humanity would eventually be cut back by a super virus or some other catastrophic happening.
    Setting off again, Logan looked forward to having the promised steak meal with Kate.  Decided that he wanted to know her.  And wanting to know someone was a very rare occurrence.  He closed doors behind him as a rule as he moved endlessly on through time and space.  He had almost lost the capacity to truly bond, need relationships or long-lasting friendships, and supposed that he was the personification of what others would label a loner.
    Back at the motel several hours’ later, he found a note taped to his door, it read: Took a call for you.  Drop by for coffee, Clifton.
    He walked over to the house, knocked the door and heard Clifton shout, “It’s open, come on in.”
    Wiping the soles of his boots on a welcome mat inside the door, Logan made his way through to the rear of the house and took a seat opposite were Clifton was pouring freshly brewed coffee into two mugs.
    “You can take the pickup whenever you need to,”  Clifton said, sliding a spare set of keys across the tabletop. “No need to ask.  I’ve got an old Impala in the garage that I use most of the time.”
    “Thanks,”  Logan said, pocketing the keys.
    “Kate phoned.  When I told her you’d gone off hiking, she just said for you to call her back whenever.  Said it was nothing important.”
    “Uh, okay,”  Logan said.
    Clifton smiled.  “Kate’s a nice person and a looker too,”  he said.  “Maybe destiny is keeping you in the Creek, Logan.”
    “I don’t buy that there is a predetermined future laid down for us, Clifton.  We just muddle through the chaos and manage the best we can while we’re here.”
    “I tend to agree.  But it sometimes strikes me as strange how some things work out as if they’re meant to.”
    “Just seems that way.  I don’t believe that anything is laid down for us as individuals; that we have no power of self-determination.  That would make me feel like some kind of puppet.”
    “I still think that you and Kate are on a collision course, Logan.”
    “Whatever.  We don’t even know each other.  What can you tell me about her?”
    “All I’ve got is secondhand info.  I heard from Amy at the Steamboat that she came here from Chicago after being mugged or something.  Wanted to start afresh.  And she implied to Amy that she’d been married, way back.  That’s it.  She’s a damn good lawyer, and would rather help than hinder anyone.”
    Logan nodded.  Asked, “How’s Ray?”
    “Not so good.  He’s finding it hard to accept what went down.  Spends a lot of his time in his room, and hardly talks.”
    “You want for me to have a word with him?”
    “I don’t think so.  I’d rather give him time to work it out himself.  But thanks, Logan.”
    Back in his room, Logan called Kate.  “You wanted a word?”  he said when she picked up.
    “It wasn’t urgent.  Just an update.  I ran into Lyle at the indoor market over in Westcreek this morning.  He took time out to mention that there were no tapes from the CCTV at the Wagon Wheel.  Also said that there had been a minute amount of tissue under one of Tanya’s fingernails, but that it was too degraded to use for matching.”
    “Any good news?”
    “Yes.  Among other things, the market sells fresh local produce, and I bought some choice cut beef.”
    “That sounds like an invite.  When did you have in mind?”
    “Tonight if you aren’t watching TV in your motel room.”
    Logan laughed, which was something of a rare event.  He sometimes looked at the weather channel, and took in an old movie, but that was about it.  “Give me a time and your address,”  he said.  “I’ll find my cleanest dirty shirt.”
    He used the pickup and was parking in the driveway of the linked house on Cherry Street an hour later.
    Kate answered the door wearing a check